Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
2007
70 minutes
Overview
Before the G, PG and R ratings system there was the Production Code, and before that there was, well, nothing. This eye-opening documentary examines the rampant sexuality of early Hollywood through movie clips and reminiscences by stars of the era. Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and others relate tales of the artistic freedom that led to the draconian Production Code, which governed content from 1934 to 1968. Diane Lane narrates.
Top Cast
Diane Lane
Narrator (voice)
Chris Basinger
Self
Jeanine Basinger
Self
Cari Beauchamp
Self
Leatrice Joy Gilbert
Self
A.C. Lyles
Self
Bob Mitchell
Self
Barry Paris
Self
Maria Riva
Self
Michael Schlesinger
Self
Budd Schulberg
Self
Kevin Thomas
Self
Mark Viera
Self
Marc Wanamaker
Self
William Wellman Jr.
Self
Michael Westmore
Self
Holly Madison
Model: Special Shoot
Betsy Moore
Silent Movie Theatre Actor
Paul Tucci
Silent Movie Theatre Actor
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle
Self (archive footage)
Theda Bara
Self (archive footage)
Clara Bow
Self (archive footage)
Louise Brooks
Self (archive footage)
Charlie Chaplin
Self (archive footage)
Joan Crawford
Self (archive footage)
Bebe Daniels
Self (archive footage)
Bette Davis
Self (archive footage)
Cecil B. DeMille
Self (archive footage)
Marlene Dietrich
Self (archive footage)
Douglas Fairbanks
Self (archive footage)
Greta Garbo
Self (archive footage)
John Gilbert
Self (archive footage)
Cary Grant
Self (archive footage)
D.W. Griffith
Self (archive footage)
Texas Guinan
Self (archive footage)
Ann Harding
Self (archive footage)
Jean Harlow
Self (archive footage)
Sessue Hayakawa
Self (archive footage)
William H. Hays
Self (archive footage)
William Randolph Hearst
Self (archive footage)
Leslie Howard
Self (archive footage)
Myrna Loy
Self (archive footage)
Mary Miles Minter
Self (archive footage)
Colleen Moore
Self (archive footage)
Owen Moore
Self (archive footage)
Pola Negri
Self (archive footage)
Mabel Normand
Self (archive footage)
Mary Pickford
Self (voice) (archive footage)
Edna Purviance
Self (archive footage)
Virginia Rappe
Self (archive footage)
Theodore Roosevelt
Self (archive footage)
Barbara Stanwyck
Self (archive footage)
Gloria Swanson
Self (voice) (archive footage)
Rudolph Valentino
Self (archive footage)
Fannie Ward
Self (archive footage)
Mae West
Self (archive footage)
Woodrow Wilson
Self (archive footage)