Date and Time for this Past Event
- Sunday, Jun 16, 2024 9:15pm - 10:30pm
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.
EMPLOYEES' ENTRANCE in 35mm
Introduction by film historian Steven C. Smith
The king of pre-Code at Warner Bros., Warren William was a magnetic screen presence, often portraying an amoral businessman or attorney who used his power and position to dominate all around him while seducing innocent and vulnerable young women who fell under his spell. William's finest role was here as a ruthless, cold-blooded department store manager who destroys anyone he sees as weak, undermines those he can't destroy and treats young women as a perk of his position. His latest victim, a store model (Loretta Young) desperate to keep her job, finds that the price she must pay is even higher than she feared. The film is a stunning indictment of market capitalism at the bottom of the Depression; it goes unstated that the power dynamics mirror the studio system where every actor was treated as interchangeable and disposable. The fast pacing, rapid dialogue and cast of skilled character actors combine to make this a classic of the pre-Code canon.
