Self (archive footage)
Before the G, PG and R ratings system there was the Production Code, and before that there was, well, nothing. This eye-opening documentary examines the rampant sexuality of early Hollywood through movie clips and reminiscences by stars of the era. Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and others relate tales of the artistic freedom that led to the draconian Production Code, which governed content from 1934 to 1968. Diane Lane narrates.
(archive footage)
This insightful documentary features some of the major and most beautiful actresses to grace the silver screen. It shows how the movie industry changed its depiction of sex and actresses' portrayal of sex from the silent movie era to the present. Classic scenes are shown from the silent movie 'True Heart Susie,' starring Lillian Gish, to 'Love Me Tonight' (1932), blending sex and sophistication, starring Jeanette MacDonald (pre-Nelson Eddy), and to Elizabeth Taylor in 'A Place in the Sun' (1951), plus much , much more.
Loyette Merval
The marriage of a wealthy and frivolous member of French nobility, Loyette Merval, to an American aristocratic idler named Willard Standish, is a loving one, except for their mutual dissatisfaction with Willard's idleness. After Willard becomes a chauffeur, Loyette's subsequent disgust causes him to quit. When the war begins, Willard joins the French Secret Service, while Loyette continues her social life, upset about their separation. After Willard, wounded, hides in a convent, Loyette leaves to find him.
Ellen Neal
Marion Clark
Marion Clark, a manicurist, is unimpressed by the wealthy but dissipated men who frequent her shop, preferring city editor Dick Strong, who lives in her boardinghouse. Dick's sister Gladys, however, is intrigued by the wilder side of life in New York and allows one of the boarders to take her to a lively party.
Yuki
A Japanese girl becomes a Geisha in order to avoid marrying a dastardly baron.
Anna Mirrel
Anna Mirrel, a young Jewish girl in Czarist Russia, is forced to degrade herself in order to visit her father, whom she believes to be ill. She obtains a yellow passport, signifying that she is a prostitute.
Lorraine Roth
Despite her love for penniless Dirck Mead, Lorraine marries wealthy Aaron Roth to save her family from financial ruin.
Fidele Roget
Two playboys stumble drunkenly home, where the owner falls asleep and the other attacks the maid. The butler intervenes and a fight results in the death of the assailant. A French girl, escaping from a pimp who kidnapped her, witnesses the crime. The butler convinces his master he is the killer, and must flee. He joins the girl but is caught. She helps police expose the real killer by going undercover as another maid.
Edith Hardy
Женщина из высшего буржуазного сословия не в состоянии отдать бездумно проигранные ею на бирже казенные деньги; она занимает крупную сумму у богатого бирманского коллекционера, который в нее влюблен. За это он требует, чтобы она ему отдалась. Она соглашается… И все бы было хорошо, только вот, надо же, у Эдит Харди (так зовут главную героиню) вдруг появляется возможность не отдаваться, а отдать долг. Бирманец с таким оборотом событий категорически не согласен…
Katherine ''Kitty'' Silverton