by the events leading up to the Second World War.
The values stressed in these movies were heroism,
fidelity, family life, citizenship, community, and of
course, fun. Movies with important ideas were most
often softened with comic touches and happy end-
ings. So despite the large output, it is hard to find
more than a few movies in Hollywood’s golden age
that stretched cinematic conventions, challenged
prevailing social concepts, or provoked new ways of
looking at the world. Hollywood during the golden
age was not Europe, with its passion for the avant-
garde, the revolutionary, or the film as art; few ofCensorship threatens the release of Baby FaceThe
forces that wanted to censor the movies would have found
plenty to dislike in Alfred E. Green’s Baby Face(1933). Indeed,
the released version would not have received a Breen Office
seal of approval after July 1, 1934. It tells the story of Lily
Powers (Barbara Stanwyck), who sleeps her way from her
father’s rough Pittsburgh speakeasy to Wall Street and then,
floor by floor, up to the executive suite, the camera following
her conquests by panning up the side of the obviously phallic
building. At each new floor, she gets a better job and a more
powerful lover. Lily’s a Depression-era stereotype: a
calculating, relentless “gold digger.” And at a time when
interracial friendships in the movies were virtually taboo, the
industry’s critics would have been further annoyed by Lily’s
keeping her African American friend and coworker by her
side through her adventures. Eventually, she is in deeper
than she thinks: one lover murders another (a married man)
and then commits suicide (in this image, she has just
discovered the two bodies). The movie ends when yet
another lover attempts suicide but recovers with Lily looking
on, not knowing what’s coming next. Because the Motion
Picture Production Code was not yet fully in power, the
studio tried to get away with this version, but the New York
State Censorship Board rejected it, so it trimmed one
lascivious male’s gaze; some of Lily’s seduction scenes; a
reference to Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy, which
improbably prompted Lily’s rise to power; and a potentially
offensive reference to African American food preferences.
Finally, it added a new ending: after the last lover recovers
from his suicide attempt, Lily returns the money and jewels
he’s given her, helps him to restore his reputation in the
banking world, and then they both move to Pittsburgh where,
presumably, they will live happily ever after. This new ending
conformed with the code’s principle that movies should
endorse morality, not exploit it for entertainment purposes.
The golden age at its popular best: Gone with the
Wind Many people think of Gone with the Wind(1939;
director: Victor Fleming) as theenduring symbol of the
golden age of Hollywood. Its romantic story is told against
the sweep of the Civil War, its cast is formidable, its mise-en-
scène and music are memorable, and it was the first movie to
dominate the Oscars. Furthermore, it has won every award
imaginable, and while it isn’t a great movie in purely
cinematic terms, it is a great crowd-pleaser, as attested to by
its periodic theatrical revivals and television screenings. It
also reflects the highest possible production values for its
time—the studio system at its best—a tribute to the
extraordinary commitment of its producer, David O. Selznick,
who maintained tight, demoralizing control over every aspect
of production. For example, the process of casting Scarlett
O’Hara, which was not typical of Hollywood at the time (or at
any time), involved a two-year process in which Selznick
tested nearly twenty-five major Hollywood and Broadway
actors. Ironically, this quintessentially American role went to
Vivien Leigh (left), a British actress virtually unknown in the
American film industry.A SHORT OVERVIEW OF FILM HISTORY 453