Pre Code Hollywood 2: Bird Of Paradise/The Lady Refuses (Roan Group)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Films: C+/B-

 

 

One of the most interesting film series from The Roan Group has been their titles including censored films in uncensored form before The Hayes Code kicked in during the 1930s, in part as a way for Hollywood to censor itself.  The films often seem tame now and some can wonder what the big deal is, but Roan’s second volume offers tow of the most interesting films they have issued to date.  King Vidor’s Bird Of Paradise and George Archainbaud’s The Lady Refuses, both issued by RKO in 1931.

 

The Paradise is a love story that many would consider sexist and all at the time pretty much though racy for its nudity and interplay between co-stars Joel McCrea (never thought of as a guy with few clothes on) and Dolores Del Rio (in her cheesecake years) as a visiting American and native island waif.  Not unlike similar swimming in the MGM/Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan The Ape Man, they may be swimming in a tank, but that only makes the lack of clothes more obvious.  Stereotypes of natives abound, but the location shooting in Hawaii is a plus with the uncensored material and the downbeat ending.

 

The Lady Refuses is even better, with Betty Campson way ahead of her time as a streetwise, upscale hustling lady who “gets around” and has the mouth to back it up.  The screenplay by Wallace Smith has exceptional dialogue, still very smart and sharp by today’s standards, 75 years later.  For all those would-be streetwise Gangster genre films, driven by Hip Hop or “extreme” Rock, they have absolutely nothing on this film for brains and believability.  Their scripts sound like they’re written by poseurs as compared to this one.  It is the epitome of excellence in exchanges of “city wit” and the only problem with the film is that it is not longer.  And to think this one is set in Britain!

 

The 1.33 X 1 image on both are average, which is to be expected considering the age of both RKO films’ prints.  Paradise is in a sepia-tone print throughout and though it lacks depth and detail, is consistent in this wash.  Those who only know a sepia wash from the more recent prints of the 1939 Wizard Of Oz (where it used to be black and white in older prints) will see that this is more than a gimmick.  The Lady Refuses print also lacks depth and detail, but the black and white there is consistent for an old print.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on each shows its age, but that is as much a problem with the age of the print and flaws in the old RCA optical recordings as anything, but Warner would have issued these in Dolby 1.0 Mono.  Why they have not put out these gems uncut is odd, so good thing Roan did.  Extras include very brief cast and history text on both films, which appear on either side of the single DVD, first released in 1999.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo