Complicated Women (2003)
Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, until 1934 when the Hays Code virtually neutered film content. No longer portrayed as virgins or vamps, the liberated female of the pre-code films had dimensions. Good girls had lovers and babies and held down jobs, while the bad girls were cast in a sympathetic light. And they did it all without apology.
Videos
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Jane Fonda
as Self - Narrator (voice)
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Frances Dee
as Self - Interviewee
as Self - Interviewee
Karen Morley
as Self - Interviewee
as Self - Interviewee
Kitty Carlisle
as Self - Interviewee
as Self - Interviewee
Mae Madison
as Self - Interviewee
as Self - Interviewee
Mark Vieira
as Self - Interviewee
as Self - Interviewee
Mick LaSalle
as Self - Interviewee
as Self - Interviewee
Molly Haskell
as Self - Interviewee
as Self - Interviewee
Barbara Stanwyck
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Bette Davis
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
C. Aubrey Smith
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Chester Morris
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Clark Gable
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Claudette Colbert
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Dolores del Río
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Fred Astaire
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Fredric March
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Gene Raymond
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Ginger Rogers
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Greta Garbo
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Helen Twelvetrees
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Irving Thalberg
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
James Cagney
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Jean Harlow
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Joan Blondell
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Joan Crawford
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
John Gilbert
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Johnny Weissmüller
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Katharine Hepburn
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Kay Francis
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Leslie Howard
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Lewis Stone
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Loretta Young
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Norma Shearer
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Mae West
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Marlene Dietrich
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Maureen O'Sullivan
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Miriam Hopkins
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Myrna Loy
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Ricardo Cortez
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Robert Montgomery
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Ruth Chatterton
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Tallulah Bankhead
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
William H. Hays
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Gilbert Roland
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Lee Phelps
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Nat Pendleton
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Warner Oland
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Maurice Murphy
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Herbert Marshall
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
George F. Marion
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Aline MacMahon
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Dorothy Mackaill
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Paul Lukas
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Jack La Rue
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Allen Jenkins
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Olin Howland
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Jean Hersholt
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Ann Harding
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Cary Grant
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
William Gargan
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Douglass Dumbrille
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Cecil Cunningham
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Gary Cooper
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Maurice Chevalier
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Virginia Bruce
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Charles Bickford
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Robert Barrat
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
John Barrymore
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Lionel Barrymore
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
Wallace Beery
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
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Crew arrow_drop_down
Hugh Munro Neely
Director
Director
Hugh Munro Neely
Writer
Writer
Andie Hicks
Writer
Writer
Hugh Munro Neely
Producer
Producer
Keith Lawrence
Producer
Producer
Andie Hicks
Editor
Editor
Hugh Munro Neely
Editor
Editor
Nigel Holton
Original Music Composer
Original Music Composer
Elaina Archer
Co-Producer
Co-Producer
Mick LaSalle
Book
Book
John J. Flynn
Producer
Producer
Harry Dawson
Director of Photography
Director of Photography
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