Complicated Women (2003)

Before Hollywood had boundaries, they weren't afraid to push the limits.

Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, until 1934 when the Hays Code virtually neutered film content. No longer portrayed as virgins or vamps, the liberated female of the pre-code films had dimensions. Good girls had lovers and babies and held down jobs, while the bad girls were cast in a sympathetic light. And they did it all without apology.

Cast (71)CrewGenresDetailsReleasesMediaAwards

Jane Fonda

Self - Narrator (voice)

Frances Dee

Self - Interviewee

Karen Morley

Self - Interviewee

Kitty Carlisle

Self - Interviewee

Mae Madison

Self - Interviewee

M

Mark Vieira

Self - Interviewee

M

Mick LaSalle

Self - Interviewee

Molly Haskell

Self - Interviewee

Barbara Stanwyck

Self (archive footage)

Bette Davis

Self (archive footage)

C. Aubrey Smith

Self (archive footage)

Chester Morris

Self (archive footage)

Clark Gable

Self (archive footage)

Claudette Colbert

Self (archive footage)

Dolores del Río

Self (archive footage)

Fred Astaire

Self (archive footage)

Fredric March

Self (archive footage)

Gene Raymond

Self (archive footage)

Ginger Rogers

Self (archive footage)

Greta Garbo

Self (archive footage)

Helen Twelvetrees

Self (archive footage)

Irving Thalberg

Self (archive footage)

James Cagney

Self (archive footage)

Jean Harlow

Self (archive footage)

Joan Blondell

Self (archive footage)

Joan Crawford

Self (archive footage)

John Gilbert

Self (archive footage)

Johnny Weissmüller

Self (archive footage)

Katharine Hepburn

Self (archive footage)

Kay Francis

Self (archive footage)

Leslie Howard

Self (archive footage)

Lewis Stone

Self (archive footage)

Loretta Young

Self (archive footage)

Norma Shearer

Self (archive footage)

Mae West

Self (archive footage)

Marlene Dietrich

Self (archive footage)

Maureen O'Sullivan

Self (archive footage)

Miriam Hopkins

Self (archive footage)

Myrna Loy

Self (archive footage)

Ricardo Cortez

Self (archive footage)

Robert Montgomery

Self (archive footage)

Ruth Chatterton

Self (archive footage)

Tallulah Bankhead

Self (archive footage)

William H. Hays

Self (archive footage)

Gilbert Roland

Self (archive footage)

Lee Phelps

Self (archive footage)

Nat Pendleton

Self (archive footage)

Warner Oland

Self (archive footage)

Maurice Murphy

Self (archive footage)

Herbert Marshall

Self (archive footage)

George F. Marion

Self (archive footage)

Aline MacMahon

Self (archive footage)

Dorothy Mackaill

Self (archive footage)

Paul Lukas

Self (archive footage)

Jack La Rue

Self (archive footage)

Allen Jenkins

Self (archive footage)

Olin Howland

Self (archive footage)

Jean Hersholt

Self (archive footage)

Ann Harding

Self (archive footage)

Cary Grant

Self (archive footage)

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