Discovering the cutting edge

I had always bought into the idea that the 1970s was the golden age of cinema, followed by strong efforts in the 1980s and 90s that built on it. You had the greats - Jaws, Star Wars, The Exorcist, The Godfather I & II, Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, All the President's Men, The Graduate, Apocalypse Now, Network, Annie Hall followed by the 80s greats Platoon, ET, Full Metal Jacket and so on.

But I've recently discovered a whole other time when cinema wasn't constrained by censorship and when the viewer was treated like an adult - a time that was probably the most liberal period. I'm of course talking about the 'pre-code' era of the 1920s and early 1930s.

So far I've only watched a couple but I'm loving them and if you can get hold of one in particular, Employees' Entrance, you should definitely check it out. Its the story of an amoral New York department store owner who takes delight in sacking his staff, driving some to suicide and shagging all the sales assistant, including one who uses his lust to work her way up the ladder.

The films of this era made bold references to everything and anything that was considered taboo - sexuality, prostitution, drugs, mixed race relationships, abortion, suicide, and so on and so forth. Naturally this raised the ire of the religious and morally conservative elements and the Hays Code or Motion Picture Production Code was introduced to rein productions in and indeed destroy copies of some works.

There is some mind-blowing stuff out there that would still shock today - if you're a movie buff I think its definitely worth taking look.