Collections/March 2022

Pre-Code Paramount

Featuring a new introduction by critic Imogen Sara Smith Before the enforcement of the Hollywood Production Code, sex, sin, and sleaze were splashed across the screen with abandon, and chiselers and gold diggers were cinematic staples. It was an era when Paramount Pictures stood out for the sophisticated amorality and continental flair it brought to its productions. Among the uncensored wonders that emanated from the studio’s back lots during the early years of talkies were the anarchic antics of the Marx brothers ( The Cocoanuts ), the luxuriant exoticism of Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich ( Morocco ), the worldly wit of Ernst Lubitsch ( Trouble in Paradise ), and the jaw-dropping double entendres of Mae West ( I’m No Angel )—plus forays into quasi-Dadaist delirium ( Million…

20 films — 0 on the Channel, 20 unavailable