SIN! SEX! SHOCK! SCANDAL! Welcome to the sordid cinema of Pre-Code Hollywood! Classic film scholar Michael van den Bos is your tour guide on a 5-part trek through the seamier, steamier and sinister side of Hollywood movies from the early 1930s.
This Film Studies series delves into the outrageous and salacious movies created by Hollywood in a time known as the Pre-Code era. These films were produced from 1930 – 1934, a period when studios pushed the boundaries of indecent and intense adult themes deemed objectionable and offensive by American morality organizations before Hollywood’s Production Code Office strictly enforced its previously ignored censorship rules. Get ready for deliriously debauched delights on a Babylonian scale!
Tickets
| Adult | $18 | VIFF+ | $15 |
| Senior | $16 | VIFF+ Premium | $13 |
| Student | $16 | VIFF+ Patron | Free |
| Series Pass | $70 |
Baby Face
In the first of our new five-week Film Studies course exploring the notorious pre-censorship era of American cinema, Michael van den Bos introduces the 1933 shocker Baby Face, with Barbara Stanwyck sleeping her way up the corporate ladder.
Red-Headed Woman
The second stop on our tour of Hollywood's pre-Code naughty neighbourhood is a racy rendezvous with Jean Harlow as the lustfully liberated "Red" who turns on her titillating allure for advancement in upper society. Introduced by Michael van den Bos.
Scarface
Our tour through Hollywood's pre-Code precinct takes a left turn into the dangerous district of organized crime with Scarface, starring Paul Muni in a ferocious performance as the ambitious low-level gangster, Tony Carmonte.
Freaks
Beautiful circus trapeze artiste Cleopatra likes to flirt with one of the sideshow attractions, Hans, a dwarf. When she learns that Hans is a wealthy man she decides to marry him. It's a choice she will live to regret... An unforgettable 1932 shocker.
Trouble in Paradise
Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins play lovers and thieves attempting to fleece the chic owner of a French perfume company, played by Kay Francis. What ensues is a modern ménage à trois in the most elegant, innuendo filled film comedy of all time.