Behind the Mask of Innocence"All the issues that torment America today were rampant in the silent-film era: crime, poverty, alcohol, drugs, racial and ethnic prejudice, epidemics, and the controversies over birth control, abortion, and the death penalty. And there were others that persist today but were then even more explosive: sexual mores, government and police corruption, prison conditions, immigration, and strife between capital and labor. Although many early moviemakers ignored harsh realities, choosing to depict a society shielded by a "mask of innocence," others went behind that façade, fighting the ever-present censors and producing films that made even the most sheltered moviegoer aware of deep rents in the country’s social fabric. Some films were exploitative, some serious, but together they add up to a revelation of the dark side of American life—a revelation startling to us today because it was later, in the era of the Hays Office, so thoroughly ignored, indeed denied, by Hollywood"-- |
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Page 531
Kevin Brownlow. CHAPTER EIGHT : PRISONS CHAPTER NINE : POVERTY. 10. Moving Picture World . May 18 , 1912 , p . 617 . II . Moving Picture World . June 1 , 1912 , p . 811 . 12. Kay Sloan ... Moving Picture World , February 14 , 1914 , Notes ...
Kevin Brownlow. CHAPTER EIGHT : PRISONS CHAPTER NINE : POVERTY. 10. Moving Picture World . May 18 , 1912 , p . 617 . II . Moving Picture World . June 1 , 1912 , p . 811 . 12. Kay Sloan ... Moving Picture World , February 14 , 1914 , Notes ...
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... Moving Picture World , April 11 , 1914 , p . 214. The film was also known as Joliet Prison , Joliet , Ill . 17. New York Dramatic Mirror . April 1 , 1914 . 18. Moving Picture World , March 11 , 1916 , p . 1871 . 19. Moving Picture World ...
... Moving Picture World , April 11 , 1914 , p . 214. The film was also known as Joliet Prison , Joliet , Ill . 17. New York Dramatic Mirror . April 1 , 1914 . 18. Moving Picture World , March 11 , 1916 , p . 1871 . 19. Moving Picture World ...
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... Motion Picture Story Magazine , July 1911 , p . 79 . 6. Ibid . 7. New York Dramatic Mirror , Janu- ary 20 , 1915 . 8. Ibid . 9. Ibid . 10. Ibid . II . Motion Picture News , February 6 , 1915 , p . 47 . 12. Moving Picture World , March ...
... Motion Picture Story Magazine , July 1911 , p . 79 . 6. Ibid . 7. New York Dramatic Mirror , Janu- ary 20 , 1915 . 8. Ibid . 9. Ibid . 10. Ibid . II . Motion Picture News , February 6 , 1915 , p . 47 . 12. Moving Picture World , March ...
Contents
The National Board of Review 48 | 4 |
Will Hays | 13 |
Chapter Two MATTERS OF SEX | 26 |
Copyright | |
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