Hollywood Uncensored (1987)

Good movie but grossly overrated

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I was very interested in seeing a documentary about the history of censorship in Hollywood. After all, movies back in the 'good old days' were FAR dirtier than most folks would imagine--with topics such as adultery, homosexuality, extreme violence and nudity! Yep...these films were often VERY different than we'd have expected our grandparents and great-grandparents to watch. Unfortunately, however, most of this is barely discussed in this indifferent film. No discussion of gays--just a solid focus on sex...and a bit on drugs. Unfortunately, many of the best examples of these pre-Code excesses are never even mentioned. My assumption why they never discussed "Tarzan and His Mate" and many of the other films is that they didn't own the rights to the pictures--so they focused more on films in the public domain. This really shows, as the prints are often pretty bad--and the whole thing comes off as mildly interesting when it SHOULD have been a lot more exciting. About the only parts I really did like were a few clips of excised portions of classic films--and I sure wanted a lot more of this. Worth seeing, perhaps, but there simply are better films out there on the topic--and my advice is to see them instead. "Complicated Women" and "Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood".

First off I want to say I liked this movie, but I do think it missed the boat on some very important movie censorship issues. The fact they did not even mention the Hedy Lamarr movie filmed, 'Ecstasy', in Germany, where Hedy was totally nude, is irresponsible. Also , they did not mention the exploitation of Brooke Shields, in the movie 'Pretty Baby', where she was completely nude at 12 years old. These were 2 very blatant omissions, in my opinion. I also think there should have been some mention of the evolution of Xrated movies and including the far right , headed by Richard Nixon, to ban the showing of 'Deep Throat'. Some very important social issues were missed in a great opportunity for this movie to be more complete. That said, I still enjoyed the commentary, the scenes and the various collages with music that rounded this movie . I did not realize it was 20 years old and it did hold up well , where I got the gist of censorship in Hollywood. I would definitely suggest to others to see this movie.

I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary about Hollywood censorship and it's rarefactions. Poor Mamie Van Doren,the censors didn't like her and automatically put any film with her in the banned category and killed off her career. I loved bit when she explained about the pyramid bras. U could extend your breasts across the room but had to be covered up,no cleavage. Another bit surprised me,when Douglas Fairbanks jr. talks about the exploitation of children,he shows a miniature Mae West singing to Cary Grant,supposedly this was a child. Actually it was a midget whose specialty was an imitation of Mae West. Check out the naughty Porky Pig cartoon,it's hilarious.

I picked this movie up after reading about it in my Psychotronic Video Guide. This is a real cool flick. Lots of extremely rare clips from movies like KING KONG (a nasty ape!) and HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL (NUDITY!) as well as a very young Shirley Temple acting way to old in a very early film role. I loved the parts with Carrol Baker and Eli Wallach talking about Baby Doll. And it makes it extra cool since Peter Fondas one of the hosts!!