Date and Time for this Past Event
- Saturday, Jun 15, 2024 10:15am - 11:45am
Details
"Pre-Code: Sex and Censorship" electrifies the first AFI Silver Classic Film Weekend. Immerse yourself in the thrilling era of pre-Code cinema, a fleeting moment from the late 1920s to 1934 when films defied convention before the Hays Code stifled Hollywood's boldness. These movies, lighthearted or dramatic, showcased complex women and flawed heroes struggling against social injustice, and unflinching explorations of sex, ambition and crime. Witness legendary stars ignite the screen: Clara Bow, James Cagney, Barbara Stanwyck, Cary Grant, Jean Harlow, Joan Blondell, Spencer Tracy, Warren William, Anna May Wong and Josephine Baker. Festival guests, including film historians Richard Koszarski, Steven C. Smith, Farran Smith Nehme, Katie Gee Salisbury and David Stenn, will introduce each film.
COCK OF THE AIR
Introduction by film historian David Pierce
Producer Howard Hughes combined two of his principal interests — one of them was airplanes — for this amazingly raunchy comedy set in Europe during World War I, with Chester Morris as an American pilot with an international reputation as a womanizer and Billie Dove as a French actress determined to teach him a lesson." – MoMA. COCK OF THE AIR showcases the talent and beauty of Dove, while the hand of uncredited director Lewis Milestone is apparent in the long takes and fluid, moving camerawork. Hughes refused to work with the Hays Office, and after previewing the film, an industry council declared it too raunchy to release, resulting in the removal of almost 20 minutes of footage. Presented with that version, New York and Ohio required even more cuts to the film before allowing it on the screen. In 2016, the Academy Film Archive restored COCK OF THE AIR to nearly full length, recruiting voice actors to speak the dialogue where the soundtrack was missing.
