Forbidden Hollywood: Volume 7

Warner Home Video continues its celebration of the sauciest films made before the infamous Production Code forced Hollywood to clean up the big screen, and this seventh volume represents one of the best compilations to date. Edgar Selwyn's Skyscraper Souls (1932) stars Warren William as tycoon David Dwight, who's a shark at work and a wolf with the women. Maureen O'Sullivan is the much younger mistress of the married Dwight, a man whose mercenary business dealings are equally shady—a kind of Depression-era Gordon Gekko, obsessed with building his own empire at any cost. Employees' Entrance (1933), helmed by Roy Del Ruth, is a perfect companion piece, with William playing executive Kurt Anderson in the same ruthless manner, and Loretta Young cast as job applicant Madeline, who sleeps with Kurt and lands a position as a store model as a result. Filmmaker William A. Wellman's The Hatchet Man (1932) offers a crude cross-cultural exchange with Edward G. Robinson portraying Chinese Tong assassin Wong Low Get in yellowface and slanted eyes. Offering an offensive and truly paranoid caricature of the Chinatown underworld, the film's one satisfying element is a shot of revenge in the final act. Completing the set is Robert Florey's Ex-Lady (1933), with Bette Davis as Helen Bauer, a modern woman who doesn't believe in marriage but nevertheless weds her lover (Gene Raymond), only to discover that he doesn't believe in fidelity. Although these are not well-known films, the Forbidden Hollywood brand alone will draw interest from fans of classic and offbeat Hollywood cinema. Presented on DVD-R as part of Warner Archive's manufacture-on-demand line, the image quality is good here, especially considering the vintage of the films. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)