This film had a brief joint smoking clip. Hays pre-code did things that really enhanced a film. As soon as Hays came into effect in 1934, movies took a decided downward fall. It took until about 1939 until Hollywood learned to work around the code's stiffling hold.
What's so funny to me about the pre code films of the early 30s that people made such a fuss about is that they are still much more innocent than many modern movies in the past few decades. Women in pre code films show a little more skin than post code films but you still never see naked breasts or genitals. It's talked about but you never actually see two totally intercourse. Pre code films may have had sexual innuendos, but people make blunt sexual comments openly today all the time. As for cussing, I've never heard anyone say the s word or f word in pre code films. There's gang films and shootings such as in James Cagney films, but you just never see the gory violent details such as, for example, in the "Saw" movies. Pre code films may have shocked a lot of people in the 1930s, but they're pretty tame by today's standards. The pre code films were still a lot more similar to post code films of the late 30s and 40s than they are to films today. Times have changed. Alot.
Also, there were a considerably higher level of people back then who were completely disgusted with the content in precode films, a high enough number that they succeeded in getting Hollywood to enforce the code. You think with the much smaller percentage of conservatives today, they would have even a one in million chance of getting Hollywood to do anything? People who say that people in the 1930s acted just like people today do, they are wrong. People have changed a lot.
A lot has changed, but some stuff is still the same.
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