Hollywood Uncensored

Hollywood Uncensored (1987)

*** (out of 4)

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Peter Fonda host this look at Hollywood and the trouble they've always had in regards to their products being censored. We start off hearing from Will Hayes from an archival video and then we learn about the various no-no's that were forced on Hollywood including no kisses lasting over three seconds, no nudity, no profanity, during kisses one foot must remain on the floor, no graphic violence and of course crime or the bad guys could never win. Fairbanks starts off talking about a film he did in 1930 (PARTY GIRL) and from here we see clips from films like BABY FACE, I'M NO ANGEL, THE DENTIST and KING KONG. From here we see troubled films like THE GANGS ALL HERE, THE OUTLAW, THE FRENCH LINE, HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, BABY DOLL, PEEPING TOM, TAXI DRIVER, CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, WOODSTOCK and finally the outrage caused by SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT. Since this documentary first aired there have been plenty of movies to take a look at various problems that filmmakers have had with the censors and the MPAA. This one here is actually pretty good because you get to hear from some of the actual people involved with the battles. Jane Russell is interviewed about her work on THE OUTLAW and THE FRENCH LINE and she discusses the battle getting the movie released and even battles she had with the producers because of what he wanted her to do. Carroll Baker and Eli Wallach talk about their experience on BABY DOLL and Mamie Van Doren discusses the pyramid breasts. Martin Scorsese is also interviewed about TAXI DRIVER and he also comments on PEEPING TOM and how he was finally able to see an uncut version of it. Sheree North is also interviewed about replacing Monroe at Fox and about various issues she had with her sexuality on film. Fans of this "dirty" movies will certainly enjoy hearing their stories and it's always funny how in so many cases it was one person trying to determine what everyone should watch, shouldn't watch or what everyone should think.

I was very interested in seeing a documentary about the history of censorship in Hollywood. After all, movies back in the 'good old days' were FAR dirtier than most folks would imagine--with topics such as adultery, homosexuality, extreme violence and nudity! Yep...these films were often VERY different than we'd have expected our grandparents and great-grandparents to watch. Unfortunately, however, most of this is barely discussed in this indifferent film. No discussion of gays--just a solid focus on sex...and a bit on drugs. Unfortunately, many of the best examples of these pre-Code excesses are never even mentioned. My assumption why they never discussed "Tarzan and His Mate" and many of the other films is that they didn't own the rights to the pictures--so they focused more on films in the public domain. This really shows, as the prints are often pretty bad--and the whole thing comes off as mildly interesting when it SHOULD have been a lot more exciting. About the only parts I really did like were a few clips of excised portions of classic films--and I sure wanted a lot more of this. Worth seeing, perhaps, but there simply are better films out there on the topic--and my advice is to see them instead. "Complicated Women" and "Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood".

A valuable documentary over censorship stablished in Hollywood spanning since early twenties passing through Hays code in thirties until mid-eighties when this doc was made, hosted by Douglas Fairbanks jr. Exposing the silent movie era when the productions starts out of control exposing nudity and lascivious language, to worst ravaged by several sexual scandals behind the scenes, upon strong complaints from many line of through of the society as church and league of decency force a changing, this first effort aiming for mitigate it was draw up some elementary rules to stop such outrageous productions, it really work out at first moment, nonetheless some producers somehow got outwit the system.

Perceiving the matter enters the Hays code in 1934 after heated quarrel, often focusing in some specific Hollywood figures as Mae West, Barbara Stanwyck just named a few, then came up others characters as the producer Howard Hughes in the suggestive OUTLAW exposing Jane Russell's breast, later the Hays code target Marylin Monroe, Jane Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren, and the Marilyn Monroe's doppelganger Sheree North on sex-reel tapes addressed for small theatres, lastly the contentious BABY DOLL explained by own Carroll Baker and Eli Wallach both stating as harmless feature.

On second part came up Peter Fonda concerning the drugs and violence on pictures, as EASY RIDER, WOODSTOCK, further Martin Scorsese talks about previous ones and TAXI DRIVER as well, also argues over the hard beaten up PEEPING TOM, without forget the Santa Claus has been tainted by the fierce SILENCE NIGHT,DEADLY NIGHT, it triggered an uprising of the puritans letting the movie banned for one year, it was back nonetheless no Santa Claus should be implied in the title, thus they switch the title as wrote above, aiming for detaching the holy image of Santa Claus, overall a decent and enlightening documentary.

Thanks for reading.

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First watch: 2024 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.

I picked this movie up after reading about it in my Psychotronic Video Guide. This is a real cool flick. Lots of extremely rare clips from movies like KING KONG (a nasty ape!) and HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL (NUDITY!) as well as a very young Shirley Temple acting way to old in a very early film role. I loved the parts with Carrol Baker and Eli Wallach talking about Baby Doll. And it makes it extra cool since Peter Fondas one of the hosts!!