Pre-Code Hollywood Collection Disc 3

Locations
Call Number: DVD Drama Pre Disc 3
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 1st Floor 1-week checkout	DVD Drama Pre Disc 3	1-week checkout	On Shelf

Murder at the Vanities is based on a play by Earl Carroll and Rufus King.
Search for beauty is based on the play "Love your body" by Schuyler E. Grey and Paul R. Milton.
Murder at the Vanities violated the Production Code's strictures against semi-nude women, cocktails for two and smoking marajuana and violated almost every section of the Code (six months later and it would not have been made). Search for beauty violated the Production Codes strictures against scenes of naked bodies. The film was heavily censored and was never re-issued or re-made.
Accompanying booklet entitled: Code to govern the making of talking, synchronized and silent motion pictures and the reason supporting it / formulated by Association of Motion Picture Producers, Inc. and Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc., June 13, 1934.
Murder at the Vanities / Paramount Pictures ; dialogue, Sam Hellman ; writers, Joseph Gollomb, Carey Wilson ; directed by Mitchell Leisen ; (1934 ; 90 min.) -- Search for beauty / Paramount Pictures ; story by David Boehm, Maurine Watkins ; dialogue, Sam Hellman ; writers, Claude Binyon, Frank Butler ; directed by Erle C. Kenton ; (1934 ; 78 min.)
Murder at the Vanities cast: Carl Brisson, Victor McLaglen, Jack Oakie, Kitty Carlisle, Dorothy Stickney, Gertrude Michael.
Search for beauty cast: Larry 'Buster' Crabbe, Ida Lupino, Robert Armstrong, James Gleason, Toby Wing, Gertrude Michael, Bradley Page.
In 1934, Hollywood was turned upside down by the enforcement of a strict "Production Code" that would change the way movies were made for the next 34 years. But during the "pre-Code" period (1929-1934), censorship barely existed and filmmakers had free reign to make the movies they wanted and the public demanded. No subject was taboo including adultery, murder or sex.
Murder at the Vanities: Shortly before the curtain goes up the first time at the latest performance of Earl Carroll's Vanities, someone is attempting to injure the leading lady Ann Ware. She wants to marry leading man Eric Lander. Stage manager Jack Ellery calls in his friend, policeman Bill Murdock, to help him investigate. They find the body of a murdered women. Bill suspects Eric of the crime. Rita Ross, a second female lead, tells Bill that she saw the women leaving from Eric's room. Rita is shot onstage with Eric's gun. Jack and Bill decide not to stop the show, but Bill prepares to arrest Eric.
Search for beauty: Inspired by the L.A. Olympics, a trio of con artists lure some prize-winning athletes into endorsing their newly-acquired fitness magazine. They stage an international publicity stunt to find the healthiest young bodies in the English-speaking world. While the athletes are out scouting for specimens, the three rogues turn the magazine into a lurid cheesecake rag. This spins off into a health farm, which they try to turn into a high-priced facility for Hollywood swells out to exploit eager young talent.
DVD, region 1, full screen (1.37:1); Dolby Digital 2.0 mono., digitally remastered, dual-layer, NTSC.
Contents: Love your body.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

murder at the vanities..great movie submitted by Jackie77 on August 10, 2015, 8:11pm Murder at the vanities was the best out of the 3 discs. It must have cost alot to make as it had tons of costumes and very elaborate stages and props. Doesnt seem very "taboo"...accoeding to the description of pre-code hollywood.

collection submitted by smr on July 5, 2022, 10:33am disc 3