Complicated Women
(2003, 1h , PG)
No Rating
(2003, 1h , PG)No Rating

Complicated Women

(2003, 1h , PG)

(2003, 1h , PG)
No Rating

No Rating

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WHERE TO WATCH

THIS TITLE IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR RENT OR PURCHASE

Add this title to your Watchlist and we will let you know when it is available on one of your preferred services.

Genre

Documentary, Drama, History, Art

Synopsis

Before the Motion Picture Production Code transformed virtually all movie heroines into unworldly virgins in the year 1934, actresses were able to get their teeth into meaty roles which allowed them the full gamut of emotions, a vast array of sexual experiences, and, most importantly, an innate wisdom beyond their years. Based on the book by Mick LaSalle, the 60-minute cable documentary Complicated Women provides modern viewers with fascinating glimpses of celebrated Hollywood actresses during the pre-code years (1929-1933). Highlights include Norma Shearer's advocacy of an open marriage in 1930's The Divorcée (a role which earned her an Oscar); Jean Harlow's casual carnal hijinks with Clark Gable in 1932's Red Dust; Barbara Stanwyck sleeping her way to the top of the business world in Baby Face (1933); Greta Garbo's knowing portrayal of the bisexual Queen Christina in the 1933 film of the same name; and, of course, the censor-baiting innuendoes of Mae West. The premise of Complicated Women can be summed up thus: they weren't all "good girls" in those pre-code years, but they were certainly far more interesting and multilayered than the corsetted iron butterflies of the post-code era. In addition to vintage film clips, the documentary features interviews with a handful of survivors from Depression-era Hollywood, among them actress Frances Dee, whose portrayal of a masochistic thrill-seeker in 1933's Blood Money still packed a wallop seven decades later. Narrated by Jane Fonda, Complicated Women kicked off a month-long festival of pre-code films on the Turner Classic Movies cable channel.

Cast

Self - Narrator (voice)

Jane Fonda

Herself - Interviewee

Frances Dee

Herself - Interviewee

Karen Morley

Herself - Interviewee

Kitty Carlisle

Self - Interviewee

Mae Madison

Himself - Interviewee

Mark Vieira

Self - Interviewee

Mick LaSalle

Self - Interviewee

Molly Haskell

Self (archive footage)

Barbara Stanwyck

Herself (archive footage)

Bette Davis

Self (archive footage)

C. Aubrey Smith

Himself (archive footage)

Chester Morris

Himself (archive footage)

Clark Gable

Self (archive footage)

Claudette Colbert

Herself (archive footage)

Dolores del Río

Self (archive footage)

Fred Astaire

Self (archive footage)

Fredric March

Self (archive footage)

Gene Raymond

Self (archive footage)

Ginger Rogers

Self (archive footage)

Greta Garbo

Self (archive footage)

Helen Twelvetrees

Self (archive footage)

Irving Thalberg

Self (archive footage)

James Cagney

Self (archive footage)

Jean Harlow

Self (archive footage)

Joan Blondell

Herself (archive footage)

Joan Crawford

Himself (archive footage)

John Gilbert

Himself (archive footage)

Johnny Weissmuller

Herself (archive footage)

Katharine Hepburn

Self (archive footage)

Kay Francis

Self (archive footage)

Leslie Howard

Himself (archive footage)

Lewis Stone

Self (archive footage)

Loretta Young

Herself (archive footage)

Norma Shearer

Self (archive footage)

Mae West

Self (archive footage)

Marlene Dietrich

Herself (archive footage)

Maureen O'Sullivan

Self (archive footage)

Miriam Hopkins

Self (archive footage)

Myrna Loy

Himself (archive footage)

Ricardo Cortez

Himself (archive footage)

Robert Montgomery

Herself (archive footage)

Ruth Chatterton

Herself (archive footage)

Tallulah Bankhead

Himself (archive footage)

Will H. Hays

Self (archive footage)

William H. Hays

Himself (archive footage)

Gilbert Roland

Self (archive footage)

Lee Phelps

Self (archive footage)

Nat Pendleton

Himself (archive footage)

Warner Oland

Himself (archive footage)

Maurice Murphy

Self (archive footage)

Herbert Marshall

Self (archive footage)

George F. Marion

Self (archive footage)

Aline MacMahon

Self (archive footage)

Dorothy Mackaill

Self (archive footage)

Paul Lukas

Self (archive footage)

Jack La Rue

Self (archive footage)

Allen Jenkins

Self (archive footage)

Olin Howland

Self (archive footage)

Jean Hersholt

Self (archive footage)

Ann Harding

Self (archive footage)

Cary Grant

Self (archive footage)

William Gargan

Self (archive footage)

Douglass Dumbrille

Self (archive footage)

Cecil Cunningham

Self (archive footage)

Gary Cooper

Self (archive footage)

Maurice Chevalier

Self (archive footage)

Virginia Bruce

Self (archive footage)

Charles Bickford

Self (archive footage)

Robert Barrat

Self (archive footage)

John Barrymore

Self (archive footage)

Lionel Barrymore

Self (archive footage)

Wallace Beery

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Complicated Women (2003, 1h , PG)No Rating (2003, 1h , PG)No Rating

(2003, 1h , PG)No Rating

(2003, 1h , PG)No Rating

Complicated Women

(2003, 1h , PG)

(2003, 1h , PG)No Rating

WHERE TO WATCH

THIS TITLE IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR RENT OR PURCHASE

WHERE TO WATCH

THIS TITLE IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR RENT OR PURCHASE

Genre

Synopsis

Cast

Complicated Women
(2003, 1h , PG)
No Rating
(2003, 1h , PG)No Rating

(2003, 1h , PG)
No Rating

(2003, 1h , PG)
No Rating