Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema

Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema

70 mins | Documentary | May 23, 2007

Before the G, PG and R ratings system there was the Production Code, and before that there was, well, nothing. This eye-opening documentary examines the rampant sexuality of early Hollywood through movie clips and reminiscences by stars of the era. Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and others relate tales of the artistic freedom that led to the draconian Production Code, which governed content from 1934 to 1968. Diane Lane narrates.

Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema

70 mins | Documentary | May 23, 2007

Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Before the G, PG and R ratings system there was the Production Code, and before that there was, well, nothing. This eye-opening documentary examines the rampant sexuality of early Hollywood through movie clips and reminiscences by stars of the era. Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and others relate tales of the artistic freedom that led to the draconian Production Code, which governed content from 1934 to 1968. Diane Lane narrates.
IMDb rating 6.2
Producers Playboy Enterprises, A&F Productions
Original title Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Directors Elaina Archer
Writers Scott Eyman, Elaina Archer

Cast

Diane Lane

as Narrator (voice)

Chris Basinger

as Self

Cari Beauchamp

as Self

A.C. Lyles

as Self

Bob Mitchell

as Self

Barry Paris

as Self

Maria Riva

as Self

Budd Schulberg

as Self

Kevin Thomas

as Self

Mark Viera

as Self

Marc Wanamaker

as Self

Holly Madison

as Model: Special Shoot

Betsy Moore

as Silent Movie Theatre Actor

Paul Tucci

as Silent Movie Theatre Actor

Roscoe Arbuckle

as Self (archive footage)

Theda Bara

as Self (archive footage)

Clara Bow

as Self (archive footage)

Louise Brooks

as Self (archive footage)

Charlie Chaplin

as Self (archive footage)

Joan Crawford

as Self (archive footage)

Bebe Daniels

as Self (archive footage)

Bette Davis

as Self (archive footage)

Cecil B. DeMille

as Self (archive footage)

Marlene Dietrich

as Self (archive footage)

Douglas Fairbanks

as Self (archive footage)

Greta Garbo

as Self (archive footage)

John Gilbert

as Self (archive footage)

Cary Grant

as Self (archive footage)

D.W. Griffith

as Self (archive footage)

Texas Guinan

as Self (archive footage)

Ann Harding

as Self (archive footage)

Jean Harlow

as Self (archive footage)

Sessue Hayakawa

as Self (archive footage)

William H. Hays

as Self (archive footage)

William Randolph Hearst

as Self (archive footage)

Leslie Howard

as Self (archive footage)

Myrna Loy

as Self (archive footage)

Mary Miles Minter

as Self (archive footage)

Colleen Moore

as Self (archive footage)

Owen Moore

as Self (archive footage)

Pola Negri

as Self (archive footage)

Mabel Normand

as Self (archive footage)

Mary Pickford

as Self (voice) (archive footage)

Edna Purviance

as Self (archive footage)

Virginia Rappe

as Self (archive footage)

Theodore Roosevelt

as Self (archive footage)

Barbara Stanwyck

as Self (archive footage)

Gloria Swanson

as Self (voice) (archive footage)

Rudolph Valentino

as Self (archive footage)

Fannie Ward

as Self (archive footage)

Mae West

as Self (archive footage)

Woodrow Wilson

as Self (archive footage)