Friday, April 01, 2022

The Bad Sister

The Bad Sister is a 1931 pre-Code drama film starring Bette Davis (in her screen debut) and Humphrey Bogart. I watched it on YouTube:

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18 comments:

  1. Tom4:46 AM

    ...and I have one too!

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  2. Jeanie4:59 AM

    This is one I'll seek out!

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    1. Divers and Sundry6:20 AM

      I just happened across it somehow...

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  3. My name is Erika.5:19 AM

    I had to look back because I thought you shared this photo the other day. What is a pre-code drama? Something before things were rated would be my guess. Happy Friday!

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    1. Divers and Sundry6:30 AM

      Yes, somehow the video got connected to a previous post. I must've had a bad day on blogger that day. I caught it when I was previewing this post before it was set to publish.

      Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in pictures in 1929 and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known as the "Hays Code", in mid-1934.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Code_Hollywood

      The Hays code required the bad folks always get their just deserts, the good people win out in the end, there be no sex... There were all kinds of rules, and creativity galore was employed to get around them.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_Code#Pre-Code:_%22Don'ts%22_and_%22Be_Carefuls%22,_as_proposed_in_1927

      from that Wikipedia link above:
      Pre-Code: "Don'ts" and "Be Carefuls", as proposed in 1927

      In a resolution passed on June 29, 1927, the MPPDA codified lists of "don'ts" and "be carefuls" into what they colloquially called their "Magna Charta".[20] Many of these would later become key points in the Code.[21] Specifically, the MPPDA resolved, "that those things which are included in the following list shall not appear in pictures produced by the members of this Association, irrespective of the manner in which they are treated":[20]

      Pointed profanity—by either title or lip—this includes the words God, Lord, Jesus, Christ (unless they be used reverently in connection with proper religious ceremonies), Hell, S.O.B., damn, Gawd, and every other profane and vulgar expression however it may be spelled;
      Any licentious or suggestive nudity—in fact or in silhouette; and any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture;
      The illegal traffic in drugs;
      Any inference of sex perversion;
      White slavery;
      Miscegenation;
      Sex hygiene and venereal diseases;
      Scenes of actual childbirth—in fact or in silhouette;
      Children's sex organs;
      Ridicule of the clergy;
      Willful offense to any nation, race or creed; and

      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that special care be exercised in the manner in which the following subjects are treated, to the end that vulgarity and suggestiveness may be eliminated and that good taste may be emphasized:

      The use of the Flag;
      International Relations (avoid picturizing in an unfavorable light another country's religion, history, institutions, prominent people and citizenry);
      Arson;
      The use of firearms;
      Theft, robbery, safe-cracking, and dynamiting of trains, mines, buildings, et cetera (having in mind the effect which a too-detailed description of these may have upon the moron);
      Brutality and possible gruesomeness;
      Technique of committing murder by whatever method;
      Methods of smuggling;
      Third-Degree methods;
      Actual hangings or electrocutions as legal punishment for crime;
      Sympathy for criminals;
      Attitude toward public characters and institutions;
      Sedition;
      Apparent cruelty to children and animals;
      Branding of people or animals;
      The sale of women, or of a woman selling her virtue;
      Rape or attempted rape;
      First-night scenes;
      Man and woman in bed together;
      Deliberate seduction of girls;
      The institution of marriage;
      Surgical operations;
      The use of drugs;
      Titles or scenes having to do with law enforcement or law-enforcing officers;
      Excessive or lustful kissing, particularly when one character or the other is a "heavy".


      It's fascinating to read about the history of it and the effect it had on movie-making. The Hays Code was in effect into the '60s. The MPAA film rating system followed it.

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  4. CJ Kennedy5:36 AM

    I like Bette Davis.

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    1. Divers and Sundry6:31 AM

      I'm not a particular fan, but there's no denying her huge talent. And those eyes!

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  5. Valerie-Jael7:42 AM

    I have bookmarked it for when I hae some time to watch! Valerie

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  6. DVArtist9:10 AM

    Anything with Bette. She has always been one of my faves. Have a nice day.

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    1. Divers and Sundry6:39 AM

      The story is that after she saw the film she thought it would sink her chances of a career. She had a distinctive look.

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  7. Bleubeard and Elizabeth5:23 PM

    I saw a film of her life and times recently. That film, Bad Sister, was included and showed it was her first part. I never liked her voice, but she was a phenomenal actor.

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    1. Divers and Sundry6:40 AM

      She had scope, that woman. She could do anything. And she adapted so well to available parts when she got older.

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  8. Bleubeard and Elizabeth5:30 PM

    Some of those things in the Hays Code should never be shown, anyway, like young children and youth genitalia. Nude babies on a rug are OK. 6 to 13 year olds should never be shown nude. That is strictly MY opinion, though.

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    1. Divers and Sundry6:42 AM

      Yes, I think these suggestions for Hays Code rules are more transgressive than the films they were trying to clean up. I mean were those issues ever a likely problem?! I don't think so.

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  9. Rita6:09 PM

    Ah--the old movies with their morals. Bad sister learns her lesson and does a miraculous turn around--LOL! And the bad sister wasn't even Bette! The turn around was way too abrupt to be believable, but wasn't bad. :)

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    1. Divers and Sundry6:44 AM

      The old movies were sometimes so simplistic, weren't they. I guess no more so than some films now, though, and there's something to be said for a simple, straightforward story.

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