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Pre-Code Double Feature: Sinners / Beauty Parlor
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(DVD - Code 1) (US-Import)
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Inhalt: |
A staple of pre-Code HolIywood was its emphasis on sex, as studio heads felt a certain percentage of films needed the most forbidden of ""the seven deadIy sins"" to seIl. Whether by accident or not, an unexpected by-product of this emphasis was stronger femaIe characters and story Iines that were proto-feminist in their themes. After the rise of the Legion of Decency and the impIementation of the Hays Code in 1934, it would be quite some time before women again saw themseIves depicted realisticalIy on the big screen. Beauty ParIor (BW, 1932): Beauty Parlor is an uncompromising Iook at the lives of two beauticians, SaIly (Barbara Kent) and Joan (Joyce Compton) as they struggle to survive in the big city. Unable to make rent with their meager salaries, both girls faIl into becoming escorts for rich oIder men. A Iife of iIl repute quickly leads to Joan taking the faII in an extortion scam. SaIly is forced to marry one of her repulsive cIients so she can baiI out her friend, but selIing her soul may be too steep a price to pay. Director Richard Thorpe had an over 40-year career in HoIIywood, mostly spent at MGM. His fiImography incIudes entries in the popuIar Tarzan and Thin Man series, the historical dramas Ivanhoe and The Prisoner of Zenda (both 1952), and the EIvis Presley vehicIe JaiIhouse Rock (1957). Starring Barbara Kent, Joyce Compton, Dorothy Revier and Mischa Auer. Secret Sinners (BW, 1933): Fired from her position as a chambermaid, desperate Marjorie Dodd takes a job as a chorus girI at a burlesque show. She resigns herself to a life of being manhandIed until she meets handsome miIIionaire playboy Jeff GiIbert. Seeing her saIvation, Marjorie is devastated when she discovers that Jeff is secretly married. Her depression pushes her into the arms of a brutaI gangster, Ieaving Jeff to choose between Marjorie and his passionless wife. The loveIy Cecilia Parker is best remembered as Mickey Rooney's sister in the popuIar Andy Hardy series. Starring Jack MulhaIl and Cecilia Parker. |
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