Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood

Mick LaSalle

ISBN 10: 0312284314 / ISBN 13: 9780312284312

Published by Thomas Dunne Books, NY, 2001

About this Item

Trade Paperback Edition. First Soft Cover Edition, 1st Printing. Near Fine book without dust jacket as issued. All our books are bubble wrapped and shipped in a sturdy box with Delivery Confirmation. NO remainder mark, NO previous owner markings or inscriptions, NOT price clipped, NOT a Book Club Edition, NOT an Ex-Lib.

Seller Inventory # 017248

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books, NY
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312284314
• ISBN 13: 9780312284312
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Near Fine

About this title

Synopsis

Between 1929 and 1934, women in American cinema took lovers, had babies out of wedlock, got rid of cheating husbands, enjoyed their sexuality and led unapologetic careers. Before then, women on screen had come in two varieties - sweet ingenue or vamp. Then two stars came along and blasted away those stereotypes. Greta Garbo turned the femme fatale into a woman whose capacity for love and sacrifice made all other human emotions seem pale. Meanwhile, Norma Shearer succeeded in taking the ingenue to a place she'd never been: the bedroom. These complicated women paved the way for a deluge of indelible stars - Marlene Dietrich, Jean Harlow and Mae West to name a few. Then in 1934, the draconian Production Code became law in Hollywood, and these women were banished, not to be seen again for three decades.

About the Author

Mick LaSalle is the author of Complicated Women and was an associate producer of the Timeline Films/Turner Classic Movies documentary of the same name. He is the San Francisco Chronicle's movie critic.