Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 8

Back in the days before “The Code” forced Hollywood to walk away from its wild side, the silver screen enticed escape-craving Depression-era audiences with salacious slices of life. Hungers and thirsts that would shortly become taboo for more than a generation were on ample display in movie palaces across the country. Amoral and amorous working class anti-heroes, high-living, free-loving dilettantes and dog-trackers who gambled as hard as they drank— no kink or bit of lingerie was not worthy of a wink or a peek.

Volume 8 includes these 4 films:

Blonde Crazy (video above) sees James Cagney and Joan Blondell melting the screen as a bellhop and chambermaid out to con criminals while enjoying each other.

Norma Shearer finishes shredding her good girl image in Strangers May Kiss as a desperate lady on a love trek across the continent.

In Hi, Nellie Paul Muni takes a rare turn at comedy as newspaperman demoted to the lovelorn column, finding comfort in a glass.

Finally, Dark Hazard stars Edward G. Robinson in an altogether different sort of dog movie, as a gambling addict torn between good girl Genevieve Tobin and glamour girl Glenda Farrell who bets it all on one special pooch.