Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood: (Abradale) - Hardcover

Vieira, Mark A

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810982285 ISBN 13: 9780810982284

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2003

Synopsis

Showcasing the "pre-Code Hollywood" era, this is an account of the making of films between March 1930, when the film industry adopted the Production Code, and July 1934, when it became fully enforced. Mark Vieira documents the infamous power struggle between Hollywood producers and the censors, who sought to forbid profanity, excessive violence, illegal drugs, sexual perversion and explicitness, white slavery, racial mingling, suggestive dancing, lustful kissing and the like. Illustrated with film stills and production shots, the book captures the visual artistry of the era's controversial films and highlights the careers of screen luminaries such as Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, James Cagney, Mae West, Clara Bow, Joan Crawford, Claudette Colbert, Norma Shearer, Gary Cooper and Clark Gable.

About this title

Review:

"Sin in Soft Focus lingers lovingly on the pre-code films themselves....This is an oversize book with hundreds of beautifully chosen images laid out for maximum impact....[It provides] many detailed stories that convey exactly what was going on."

About the Author:

Mark A. Vieira is an acclaimed portrait photographer and film historian specializing in the photographic legacy of Hollywood. In addition to Abrams' Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits, he has written production histories of pre-Code films for Bright Lights Film Journal and two pictorial histories, Hollywood Portraits, 1929-1941 and Hollywood Portraits, 1939-1951.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0810982285
• ISBN 13: 9780810982284
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240