Collections/March 2023

Pre-Code Paramount

Featuring an introduction by critic Imogen Sara Smith In the era before the enforcement of the Hollywood Production Code—when sex, sin, and sleaze were splashed across the screen with abandon, and chiselers and gold diggers were cinematic staples—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: the worldly wit of Ernst Lubitsch ( Trouble in Paradise ), the luxuriant exoticism of Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich ( Shanghai Express ), the jaw-dropping double entendres of Mae West ( She Done Him Wrong ), the stylish musical rapport between Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier ( Love Me Tonight ), and the subversive feminist sensibility of trailblazing director Dorothy Arzner ( Merrily We Go to Hell ). This collection of pre-Code classics and rarities spotlights the delightfully risqué side of a studio that knew how to be naughty while (almost) always keeping it classy.

13 films — 0 on the Channel, 13 unavailable