When skinny-dipping didn't violate the Code ★★★ 1/2

In the early sound era, especially between 1930 and mid-1934, Hollywood movies enjoyed a freedom of expression — salacious, violent, often outrageous expression — we know today as the pre-Code era. The film industry's self-appointed watchdog agency, the Production Code Administration, looked the other way for a while, until the Catholic Legion of Decency and other forces leveraged a cleanup. Before that, however, the studios managed to sneak some hints, at least, of the roughed-up desperation of the Depression onto the nation's screens.

Michael Phillips

January 31, 2013