Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 2: DVD Review (2008)

Forbidden? There was a time when some in power wanted them to be, but those people likely are dead now and these hardboiled movies live on, proving just as necessary as ever.

The five films comprised in this blue collection from Warner all came before the Hays Code began its corrupt squeeze of censorship. As such, these films are more racy, free and entertaining than many that came after it.

Included are Norma Shearer in 1930’s “The Divorce” and 1931’s “A Free Soul,” with Shearer winning the Academy Award for the former; 1931’s harrowing “Night Nurse,” with Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Blondell and a sleazy Clark Gable hustling in the shadows; and 1932’s “Three on a Match,” in which Blondell appears opposite Anne Dvorak and an impossibly good-natured Bette Davis.

Rounding out this satisfying set is 1933’s “Female,” with Ruth Chatterson taking her share of male secretaries to bed--and then coldly ditching them to the curb when she’s finished with them.

Lovely woman. Fine collection. Commentaries abound.

Grade: B+