Date and Time for this Past Event
- Saturday, Jun 15, 2024 9:10pm - 10:20pm
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.
THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE in 35mm
Special Features: Introduction by author and film historian David Stenn
"Utterly unthinkable as a motion picture" was the Hays Office view of William Faulkner's shocking 1931 novel "Sanctuary," with its graphic depictions of prostitution, rape, murder and depravity. In the film adaptation, Southern belle Temple Drake (an outstanding Miriam Hopkins) spurns respectability. After a car wreck on a stormy night, she is held captive by a local gang who fight and kill over her. Later, she resurfaces working in a brothel. At trial, Temple Drake is offered the chance to save her reputation at the price of condemning an innocent man. Some story elements were toned down for the film — which features expressionistic cinematography by Karl Struss, who lit one crucial scene using only a match and a cigarette — while others were only suggested. The industry's failure at self-censorship led to the intervention of the Legion of Decency the following year and the enforcement of a stricter Production Code.
