The Prude Code

A look at pre Hays Code US cinema

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Miriam Hopkins (after jazzing up her lingerie) in The Smiling Lieutenant (1931).

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Claudette Colbert in the infamous milk bath sequence of The Sign of the Cross (1932).

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Joan Blondell 1931

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Hollywood doing sexy back in 1931.

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Pre and post Code versions of Jane from the Tarzan series. Quite a difference.

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Fay Wray

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Clara Bow in " Call Her Savage"

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Even supposed 'family' entertainment like the Tarzan series pushed what was acceptable. Check out Janes costume. She is basically wearing a cloth on her lower half, with nothing underneath.

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This is Theda Bara in costume for the pre Code version of Cleopatra.

Even these days, that would be considered risque for a mainstream 'blockbuster' film.

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Most folks forget that before the introduction of the HAys Code, Hollywood was a pretty wild place, making transgressive films, and shocking audiences perhaps even more so than today.