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Your favorite movie quotes

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"The Women" 1939

Norma Shearer's mother trying to convince Norma, her married adult daughter, to take her advice, delivers this line in support:

You mustn't kid mother, dear, I was a married woman before you were born, Mary.
 
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From "Pal Joey" on TCM now.

Sinatra, not getting his way with "good girl" Kim Novak:

Don't let her fool you, she's a nice girl - she just acts like all nice girls act: lousy.
 
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Monroe must’ve been a Harlow fan! o_O

Agreed, very easy to draw a direct line.

What I like about the pre-codes is that the sex is there and talked about - and roles and opinion were, in many ways, very modern - but it didn't (usually) feel forced, pushed and ideologically driven the way it does today.

Pre-code women were open and proud of their sexuality and, quite often, were the initiators of, even, casual sexual encounters. And, as noted, they weren't shy about leaving their underwear home or vamping it up. But it had, IMHO, a more honest feel - a more genuine fun feel - than today's gratuitous and politicized sexuality.

And they only showed so much. Sure there is the no-underwear thing and plenty of dressing / undressing shots and, of course, the famous Jane swimming scene (all but a one-off), but pre-code sex wasn't today's ever increasing full-frontal nudity and on-camera fornication. I have nothing against pornography - those who want to see it should; I just think serious or even just mainstream movies are better served when some things are left to the imagination.

As to Marylyn's sexuality, it fits the '50s style and contradictions, but feels much more manufactured than Harlow's and the general approach of the pre-codes.
 

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
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9,680
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Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
:)
Agreed, very easy to draw a direct line.

What I like about the pre-codes is that the sex is there and talked about - and roles and opinion were, in many ways, very modern - but it didn't (usually) feel forced, pushed and ideologically driven the way it does today.

Pre-code women were open and proud of their sexuality and, quite often, were the initiators of, even, casual sexual encounters. And, as noted, they weren't shy about leaving their underwear home or vamping it up. But it had, IMHO, a more honest feel - a more genuine fun feel - than today's gratuitous and politicized sexuality.

And they only showed so much. Sure there is the no-underwear thing and plenty of dressing / undressing shots and, of course, the famous Jane swimming scene (all but a one-off), but pre-code sex wasn't today's ever increasing full-frontal nudity and on-camera fornication. I have nothing against pornography - those who want to see it should; I just think serious or even just mainstream movies are better served when some things are left to the imagination.

As to Marylyn's sexuality, it fits the '50s style and contradictions, but feels much more manufactured than Harlow's and the general approach of the pre-codes.

Pre-code Barbara Stanwyck.

She might not have had the Harlow/Monroe packaging...
but when she enters the room.... all I notice is her...
working her magic!
Same with Mae Busch!

(My 2¢) ;)
 
Last edited:
Messages
17,264
Location
New York City
:)

Pre-code Barbara Stanwyck.

She might not have had the Harlow/Monroe packaging...
but when she enters the room.... all I notice is her...
working her magic!
Same with Mae Busch!

(My 2¢) ;)

My preferences always lean toward Stanwick's, Ann Harding's and Loretta Young's - as examples - understatement versus Harlow's or Mae West's full-force gale.
 

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
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9,680
Location
Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
9CC54295-747A-49EC-8482-12BD7ECF02A2.gif

“It’s all about the Depression, dearie!”
Gold Diggers of 1933.
Ginger Rogers
 
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Location
New York City
Joan Blondell giving Claire Dodd the bum's rush in "Footlight Parade:"


⇧ That's how a pre-code woman handles a gold digging b*tch.

Ruth Chatterton in "Female" as the head of an automobile company who is guilty of several #MeToo crimes against men. She's stronger in the movie than even the trailer implies. This is one of my favorite lesser-known pre-codes.
 

HanauMan

Practically Family
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809
Location
Inverness, Scotland
I always liked the scene in the neo-noir film Blade Runner when, having saved Deckard, the replicant Roy finally says "Time to die" and in doing so releases the white dove that he was holding. As it flies off into the dark rain Gaff turns up and says to Deckard, who is an implied replicant, "You've done a man's job, Sir".

Works on so many levels.....
 
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17,264
Location
New York City
Miss Monroe was old hat.

Edison filmed the same gag for the Bioscope more than fifty years before:


I think that the fin de siecle chippie had better gams.

I've learned a lot from my years at FL, one of which is that almost everything dates back much farther than most of us think it did / almost everything has antecedents / almost everything is derivative.

I remember seeing a video clip of someone moonwalking in the '40s or '50s. Until then, I thought - and I think a lot of us did - that Michael Jackson had invented it.
 

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