Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
2007 • Documentary
Elaina Archer
Director
Elaina Archer
Writer
Scott Eyman
Writer
Status
Released
Release date
May 23, 2007
Duration
70 Min
Language
en
Popularity
1.1503
Budget
$0
Revenue
$0
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.
Cast
Diane Lane
Leatrice Joy Gilbert
A.C. Lyles
Maria Riva
Budd Schulberg
Mark Viera
Marc Wanamaker
William Wellman Jr.
Michael Westmore
Holly Madison
Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle
Theda Bara
Clara Bow
Louise Brooks
Charlie Chaplin
Joan Crawford
Bebe Daniels
Bette Davis
Cecil B. DeMille
Marlene Dietrich
Douglas Fairbanks
Greta Garbo
John Gilbert
Cary Grant
D.W. Griffith
Texas Guinan
Ann Harding
Jean Harlow
Sessue Hayakawa
William H. Hays
Leslie Howard
Myrna Loy
Mary Miles Minter
Colleen Moore
Owen Moore
Pola Negri
Mabel Normand
Mary Pickford
Edna Purviance
Virginia Rappe
Theodore Roosevelt
Barbara Stanwyck
Gloria Swanson
Rudolph Valentino
Fannie Ward
Mae West
Woodrow Wilson
