5. Safe In Hell
1931
Sex, more than violence, helped to create the Hays Code. Safe in Hell, a film that features a prostitute accused of murder as its main protagonist, was a film tailor-made to irk the self-appointed censors in Hollywood. Famous for a scene that displays the bare legs of actress Dorothy Mackaill, Safe in Helltakes its title from prostitute Gilda Karlson’s inability to escape the lecherous advances of the men around her. From New York to a remote tropical island, Karlson is threatened with rape at almost every turn. Therefore, only deathoffers her any sort of respite.
Although director William Wellman added touches of slapstick humor and light romantic comedy to Houston Branch’s original stage play, Safe in Hellremains a lurid portrayal of lust, desperation, and sin. Even Karlson’s eventual conviction at the end of the film was not enough for those moral crusaders who disliked Mackaill’s portrayal of a “fallen woman” as tough and independent. Unfortunately, Hollywood’s rush to repeat the success of Safe in Hell with other films featuring hard-boiled females (many of whom were also prostitutes) only helped to further the cause of the Motion Picture Production Code, which attempted to reinforce the very same taboos that Karlson rails against in Safe in Hell.
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