Tweet Pre-Code Gross-Outs

Pre-code films are known, of course, for pushing the envelope, so it's not surprising if they occasionally really cross the line.

On Tuesday, TCM featured the films of Ann Dvorak, including Three on a Match (1932). This is a very good film, but it includes a lingering close-up of Edward Arnold plucking his nose hairs with a pair of tweezers. Truly revolting.

Is this unique, or are there other examples of such blatant crudities in the pre-code era?

Jim Gettys

Okay, I've got a strong stomach . . .

John Gilbert picks his nose in DOWNSTAIRS (1932) -- and I think he plucks his nose hairs, too.

In GUILTY AS HELL (also 1932), while talking to the police at a murder scene, reporter Edmund Lowe casually flicks the ash from his cigarette on the corpse.

Then there's THE WET PARADE (still another from 1932), where alcoholic Lewis Stone wanders out on the family farm one night and passes out in a pigsty. The aftermath isn't clearly shown, but you could tell what happened by the faces of those who discovered his body in the morning . . .

I think someone puked in The Girl in the Show.

greta

Ok everybody! DINNER TIME!!!!!!!!!!
Bon Appetite

I found the coliseum sequence in DeMille's SIGN OF THE CROSS (1932) very disturbing, especially the spearing of pygmies. I mean, really!

Okay, I've got a strong stomach . . .

In GUILTY AS HELL (also 1932), while talking to the police at a murder scene, reporter Edmund Lowe casually flicks the ash from his cigarette on the corpse.

Victor McLaglen throws a crumpled gum wrapper on the corpse as well.

A friend claims that Eugene Pallette dry-humped a barmaid in one film. There's a mental picture to lose your dinner on.

The entire premise of Chinatown Nights is Florence Vidor as Wallace Beery's willing sex slave, if that's not a gross-out i don't know what is!

greta

Let's not forget the opening scene of MURDERS IN THE ZOO. Yikes!

Mike S.

Let's not forget the opening scene of MURDERS IN THE ZOO. Yikes!

Mike S.

What, a little sewing? You must cringe at seeing knitting needles


...just funnin' one of my favorite people from a.m.s in the old days who probably knows Bunuel's El, too. Now there was a man who didn't want to drop a stitch.

The entire premise of Chinatown Nights is Florence Vidor as Wallace Beery's willing sex slave, if that's not a gross-out i don't know what is!

greta

In a related note (although not a precode), Walter Huston and Mike Mazurki "likee-ing Chinee New Year" in The Shanghai Gesture had me fleeing the room yelling "Eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwww!!"

Gilbert also burps disgustingly in DOWNSTAIRS [puke]

Sorry to keep picking on good old Edward Arnold, but he’s involved in another sequence in a Pre-Code movie that could be classified as gross-out material. It’s the opening scene of Thirty Day Princess (1934), a nifty comedy co-authored by Preston Sturges. The setting is a bathhouse, the “Natural Baths” of Taronia, a mythical kingdom. Two middle-aged men are sitting in mud up to their necks, presumably nude. One of them is Arnold, playing a banker, and the other man is character actor Henry Stephenson. Although he’s coated in mud, Arnold is smoking a cigar. The two men are chatting, and in the midst of their conversation Stephenson reveals that he’s Anatol XII, King of Taronia. Arnold quickly makes to stand, as a gesture of respect, and when he does we get a startling eyeful of his ample girth, obviously nude, slathered in mud. The King says: “Oh no no, don’t get up,” so Arnold sits down again. Mercifully.

By the way, Sylvia Sidney and Cary Grant are the romantic leads in this film, so I think it’s fair to say that Edward Arnold would not be the winner of a poll asking: Which Performer in Thirty Day Princess Would You Most Like to See Naked?

Sorry to keep picking on good old Edward Arnold, but he’s involved in another sequence in a Pre-Code movie that could be classified as gross-out material. It’s the opening scene of Thirty Day Princess (1934), a nifty comedy co-authored by Preston Sturges. The setting is a bathhouse, the “Natural Baths” of Taronia, a mythical kingdom. Two middle-aged men are sitting in mud up to their necks, presumably nude. One of them is Arnold, playing a banker, and the other man is character actor Henry Stephenson. Although he’s coated in mud, Arnold is smoking a cigar. The two men are chatting, and in the midst of their conversation Stephenson reveals that he’s Anatol XII, King of Taronia. Arnold quickly makes to stand, as a gesture of respect, and when he does we get a startling eyeful of his ample girth, obviously nude, slathered in mud. The King says: “Oh no no, don’t get up,” so Arnold sits down again. Mercifully.

Stephenson said that loooong (well it seemed so) after I did. Though mine was more, "NOOOOOO! Don't get up!".

does anyone remember Barrymore's barfing in DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE, when he's about to change uncontrollably into Mr Hyde right in front of Brandon Hurst? a long stream of phlim or vomit slides down the front of his night robe.

Tully Marshall dribbling tobacco juice in QUEEN KELLY is pretty nasty, but the worst instance is is the Duncan Sisters 1927 TOPSY AND EVA. Topsy eats a large block of chewing tobacco and eventually vomits. We don't see it leaver her mouth, but a huge brown puddle hits the ground and ducklings swim in it.

For those with a strong stomach it's clip number seven on this page: http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/onstage/fi ... clips.html

but the worst instance is is the Duncan Sisters 1927 TOPSY AND EVA. Topsy eats a large block of chewing tobacco and eventually vomits. We don't see it leaver her mouth, but a huge brown puddle hits the ground and ducklings swim in it.

For those with a strong stomach it's clip number seven on this page: http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/onstage/fi ... clips.html" target="_blank

SUPERB!

To quote Peter Lorre:

" Oh, How Vomitable"

I know this is pre-pre-code, but one of the most grossest gags i've ever seen is one where Max Linder pukes in a hat and later someone puts it on.

greta