Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood

"Wittily [written]. . . . The examination of women's roles in pre-Code and present-day films is sophisticated and provocative." —Entertainment Weekly In the pre-code Hollywood era between 1929 and 1934, women in American cinema took lovers, had babies out of wedlock, got rid of cheating husbands, enjoyed their sexuality, led unapologetic careers and, in general, acted the way many think women only acted after 1968. Before then, women on screen had come in two varieties—good or bad—sweet ingenue or vamp. Then two stars came along to blast away these common stereotypes. Garbo turned the femme fatale into a woman whose capacity for love and sacrifice made all other human emotions seem pale. Meanwhile, Norma Shearer succeeded in taking the ingenue to a place she'd never been: the bedroom. In the wake of these complicated women came others—Constance Bennett, Ruth Chatterton, Mae Clarke, Claudette Colbert, Marlene Dietrich, Kay Francis, Ann Harding, Jean Harlow, Miriam Hopkins, Dorothy Mackaill, Barbara Stanywyck, Mae West and Loretta Young all came into their own during the pre-Code era. These women pushed the limits and shaped their images along modern lines. Mick LaSalle, film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, takes readers on a tour of pre-Code films and reveals how this was the true golden age of women's films and how the bold, complicated women of the era are about to take their place in the pantheon of film history. "An engaging and often-affectionate account." —Kirkus Reviews "In prose as snappy and sassy as the movies he describes, LaSalle restores [the actresses] to their rightful stature." — Elle View Less