Category Archives: Pre-Code Reviews

The Story of Temple Drake
Directed by Stephen Roberts
Written by Oliver H.P. Garrett from the novel “Sanctuary” by William Faulkner
1933/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/YouTube

Ruby Lemar: [to Temple Drake] Now you’re satisfied. You got ’em all fightin’ over ya. You nice women. I know your kind. You get a kick out of playin’ with kids. Burnin’ their gas. Eatin’ their food. Spendin’ their money. And whatdya give em? Always got away with it before, ain’t ya? And now you’re scared. ‘Cause these ain’t kids, they’re men. If one of em laid a finger on ya, you’d faint.

Frank treatment of rape and lurid violence label this film pre-Code practically from word go.

Temple Drake (Miriam Hopkins) is the granddaughter of the local judge and has been raised to be a Southern Belle.  Grandad wants her to marry attorney Stephen Benbow (William Gargan).  But Temple is “wild” and has unfulfilled desires that prevent her from committing to one man.  On the night he proposes once again, she goes joyriding with an already drunk boy from her set and he crashes the car.  Miles from home and in a rainstorm, the two proceed to a cabin where the boy swiftly leaves the picture.

The cabin is occupied by some hillbilly types and a bootlegger (Jack La Rue).  All of them eye Temple with great interest.  In the end, it is the bootlegger that attacks her.  He takes her to town where he basically makes her a prisoner.  I won’t reveal much more.  The film ends up as a courtroom drama.

This movie is strong on sexual menace and expressionist lighting.  Sometimes Hopkins grates on me but here she hits all the right notes between terror and outrage.

The film was banned in Pennsylvania and Ohio and heavily censored in New York.  The Breen office ordered that it never be re-released after the Code came into effect in 1934. Seems pretty tame by modern standards, but it’s still strong stuff if you read between the lines.

The film is currently available on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHnI4nGiMek

Clip – Hopkins explains why she can’t marry

Red Dust
Directed by Victor Fleming
Written by John Lee Mahin from the play by Wilson Collison
1932/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/FilmStruck

Vantine: [sarcastically] What a pleasant little house party this is gonna be

The sparks fly when Clark Gable gets all pre-Code with Jean Harlow and Mary Astor.

Dennis Carson (Gable) is the manager of a Southeast Asian rubber plantation.  Conditions are primitive and the coolies stop working any time the boss’s eyes are turned.  Into this milieu comes Vantine (Jean Harlow), a sassy “working girl” who is lying low from authorities at the moment.  At first, Carson looks down his nose at her but soon they are going at it hot and heavy.  It is clear there is a genuine affection.  She gets on the boat back to Saigon at the same time rookie engineer Gary Willis (Gene Raymond) arrives to take up duties at the plantation with his wife Barbara (Astor) and some tennis rackets in tow.

It is clear the Willises are out of their depth.  To make matters worse, Gary comes down with a serious bout of malaria and Dennis must nurse him back to health.  This brings Dennis and Barbara into alliance and he is drawn to the beautiful and proper married lady at first sight.  While Dennis schemes to get alone with Barbara, Vantine returns from the boat, which will be out of commission for the next six weeks. This is going to get very interesting …

I have been dying to see this for ages.  It just turned up on FilmStruck with a bunch of other movies starring Harlow.  Red Dust did not disappoint.

Gable and Harlow were at the peak of their sex appeal and the tension among the three leads is palpable.  The film has the kind of snappy 30’s dialogue that I love so much and Fleming provides the energy that makes everything hang together beautifully.  Highly recommended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSTFagCpsAM

EThe Trespasser
Directed by Edmund Goulding
Written by Edmund Goulding
1929/USA
Gloria Productions
First viewing/YouTube

[box] “We seem to be unable to resist overstating every aspect of ourselves: how long we are on the planet for, how much it matters what we achieve, how rare and unfair are our professional failures, how rife with misunderstandings are our relationships, how deep are our sorrows. Melodrama is individually always the order of the day.” ― Alain de Botton, Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion[/box]

Every ounce of heartbreak is wrung from this early talkie.  Gloria Swanson’s excellent performance and Edmund Goulding’s direction make the melodrama easier to take.

The basic premise is this.  Stenographer Marion Donnell elopes with boyfriend Jack Merrick, who is the heir to a great fortune.  When his outraged father interrupts their honeymoon, she expects her husband to act like a man, reject the family wealth, and get a job.  Instead, the weakling does not stand up for her virtue and agrees to a “temporary annullment”.  She walks out for good.  When she finds she is pregnant, her stubbornness and pride prevent her from informing the father.

Now imagine every single melodramatic possibility that this scenario lends itself to.  I bet you can’t get them all!  The tears of the susceptible should well up for at least the last half hour of the film.

This is not my kind of movie but I have to admit that Swanson did a remarkable job, especially considering it was her first talkie.  She is, of course, bigger than life but convincing for all that.  The rest of the cast is adequate and Goulding keeps things moving.

Swanson was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar.

From approx. 2:19 to 5:15, clips show Swanson singing in the film

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I seem to be unable to resist bingeing on some pre-Code (1929-1934) films at the moment.  I might do a month’s worth after I finish off 1964 in the next few weeks.