Film review - Forbidden Hollywood | The uncensored cinema of the Pre-Code

The film festival at Palazzo delle Esposizioni celebrates the American cinema of the so-called Pre-Code, that is, from 1930 to 1934, an unrepeatable season in the history of Hollywood, thanks to its profoundly unconventional aspects. These were a few years during which the triumph of sound - born in 1927 - and the effective entry into force of the infamous Hays Code, the self-censorship rules that imposed what could not be shown and told in films, took hold.

In fact, Hollywood began to produce a series of films capable of dealing with burning issues such as sex, criticism of the prison system, violence, the racial question and the emancipation of women, thanks to the contribution of brilliant directors such as Lubitsch, Hawks, Sternberg, Curtiz, Fleming, Capra and divas such as Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Harlow who embodied a new female model, ironic and uninhibited.  The producers and distributors, to avoid the emergence of a real censorship by the government bodies, thus imposed some basic rules - contained in the Hays Code - to which everyone had to comply. It was a blow to the US film industry which was forced to limit its creativity and its great independence.

The screenings are at 08:00 p.m. Admission is free with reservation. For the complete programme, visit the website: https://www.palazzoesposizioni.it/rassegna/hollywood-proibita-il-cinema-senza-censure-del-pre-code

Photo credits: courtesy of Palazzo delle Esposizioni official site