In 1929, Bessie Love starred in "Broadway Melody". She received an Oscar nomination for this role--yet by 1931, she was starring in trash like "Morals For Women". What happened to her promising career? And, how did she go from a top-notch studio like MGM to a poverty row outfit like Tiffany Pictures (wow...talk about a ridiculously over-hyped name for a studio!).
While the movie never uses words such as prostitute or hooker, this film is about a high-class 'professional girl' (Love) and her decision to visit her home in the country. While her family has no idea she's a prostitute, word gets out--and in order to spare her family the embarrassment, she returns home to 'the big city'. It's too bad, as she longs to quit the racket and marry her old sweetheart. He's willing--but will he be after he learns the truth? And, when her mom and dad drop by for a surprise visit, what will happen next?
Despite many people assuming that sex wasn't invented until the 1960s and the birth of the pill, sex was VERY common in films up until the new Production Code was enacted in mid-1934. So, while films rarely used words like these in the Pre-Code era, the films strongly implied LOTS of immorality. This was because films were unrated and to slip topics like this past families with kids, they often used euphemisms and innuendo to deal with extremely adult subjects.
As for "Morals For Women", it's just a cheap-o trash film--but a bit better written than most. A lot of the acting is pretty bad and the plot is filled with salacious material. But, at the same time, it's very entertaining. My advice is to watch it but even today I wouldn't show it to young kids--mostly because they'll have no idea what's happening. Plus, in this Pre-Code world, sin ISN'T usually punished--as in the end, everything magically works out great--a great lesson for the youth out there (sort of what they learned from the much more recent film "Pretty Woman")! Weird but watchable.
While the movie never uses words such as prostitute or hooker, this film is about a high-class 'professional girl' (Love) and her decision to visit her home in the country. While her family has no idea she's a prostitute, word gets out--and in order to spare her family the embarrassment, she returns home to 'the big city'. It's too bad, as she longs to quit the racket and marry her old sweetheart. He's willing--but will he be after he learns the truth? And, when her mom and dad drop by for a surprise visit, what will happen next?
Despite many people assuming that sex wasn't invented until the 1960s and the birth of the pill, sex was VERY common in films up until the new Production Code was enacted in mid-1934. So, while films rarely used words like these in the Pre-Code era, the films strongly implied LOTS of immorality. This was because films were unrated and to slip topics like this past families with kids, they often used euphemisms and innuendo to deal with extremely adult subjects.
As for "Morals For Women", it's just a cheap-o trash film--but a bit better written than most. A lot of the acting is pretty bad and the plot is filled with salacious material. But, at the same time, it's very entertaining. My advice is to watch it but even today I wouldn't show it to young kids--mostly because they'll have no idea what's happening. Plus, in this Pre-Code world, sin ISN'T usually punished--as in the end, everything magically works out great--a great lesson for the youth out there (sort of what they learned from the much more recent film "Pretty Woman")! Weird but watchable.