Narrated by Diane Lane in a near-soporific voice, writer-director Elaina Archer's Why Be Good?—executive produced by Hugh Hefner—offers an overview of sex and censorship in pre-Hays Code Hollywood (from the mid-1910s through the mid-1930s) that is more a compilation of mini-biographical-profiles than a scholarly history of the period. Briefly touching on the early rise of the star system (culminating in the bold formation of United Artists by D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.), Why Be Good? singles out the Fatty Arbuckle scandal of 1921 (revolving around the death of a starlet after a wild weekend party) as the turning point that ushered in a new watchdog era in the film industry. But the story of what happened over the next decade-plus is largely told piecemeal through the careers of a number of significant actresses: “It” girl Clara Bow, feisty Louise Brooks, independent-minded Gloria Swanson, envelope-pushing Mae West, and foreign émigrés Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo, with Rudolph Valentino being the only male actor discussed in any depth. Although poorly organized, Why Be Good? nevertheless does feature some solid interviews with various film scholars (including Jeanne Basinger and Marc Wanamaker), biographers, and studio execs (Paramount's A.C. Lyles recalls the code crackdown during the mid-'30s as a time when “we couldn't have women being strangled in the bedroom…so often”), as well as archival interviews with stars. And even though many of the film clips (Intolerance, It, Baby Doll, Of Human Bondage) are readily available elsewhere, others (such as Windy Riley Goes to Hollywood) are not. While not as insightful as This Film Is Not Yet Rated (VL-3/07), which offers a more comprehensive look at the subject of film censorship, Why Be Good? is still recommended, overall, for larger collections. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)
Why Be Good? Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
(2008) 70 min. DVD: $14.98. Image Entertainment (avail. from most distributors). Volume 24, Issue 2
Why Be Good? Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
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