Shearer, Stanwyck and Chatterton Highlight Forbidden Hollywood Collection Volume 2

DVD Times is reporting the March 4th release of TCM Archives: Forbidden Hollywood Volume 2. This time we have 5 precode classics along with an all-new documentary, "Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood." Here's the much-anticipated lineup of films:

Norma Shearer in "The Divorcee" and "A Free Soul" on Disc One.

Bette Davis, Ann Dvorak, and Joan Blondell make "Three on a Match" along with Ruth Chatterton's racy business exec in "Female" on Disc Two.

And Disc Three brings us Blondell with Barbara Stanwyck and a menacing Clark Gable in "Night Nurse" along with the original documentary on pre-code films!

Warner Home Video has upped the ante this time with some additional extras, including two commentaries and original trailers for some of the movies.

Artwork and pricing to follow.

Barbara Stanwyck at 100

For many, Barbara Stanwyck epitomizes pre-code film: her portrayals of hard-edged, strong women who were not afraid to use their sexuality to get ahead in the world most definitely contributed to stricter enforcement of the Hays Code starting in 1934. The fact is, Stanwyck remained a unique presence in American film and television in a career spanning over 50 years. Though one could argue that she often played variations on the "tough cookie" role, her range was quite extraordinary - film noir ("Double Indemnity," "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers"), westerns ("Forty Guns," "The Big Valley"), comedy ("The Lady Eve," "Ball of Fire"), tearjerkers ("Stella Dallas"), thrillers ("Sorry, Wrong Number"),and drama ("Meet John Doe").

Many repertory film theatres are running Stanwyck tributes this year in honor of the 100th anniversary of her birth (July 16th, 1907). Besides the just-wrapped tribute at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a lengthy series is running at the UCLA Film and Television Archive through June 16th. If you are not familiar with her trademark raw emotion and take-no-prisoners demeanor, get to know Barbara by checking her out on the big screen or on DVD, where she is fairly well represented.

The New Yorker's Anthony Lane does a nice job of summing up Stanwyck's allure in this recent "A Critic at Large" piece.

Stanwyck Before the Code

Much has been written about the classic Barbara Stanwyck film "Baby Face" since the newly restored version complete with previously censored footage has been making the rounds of the repertory theaters. Just as entertaining are two other Warner Brothers films featuring a young Stanwyck: "Night Nurse" with Clark Gable as a heavy and Joan Blondell as Stanwyck's roommate, and the women in prison flick "Ladies They Talk About."

All three pre-code dramas play over the next week at the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square, one of my favorite places to see classic films. Don't miss them if you are in the Boston area. Each movie contains the hallmarks and joys of the best of the pre-code films. This review from the Boston Phoenix sums up the appeal and raw emotion of Stanwyck who seemingly is restrained from jumping off the screen at times. Stanwyck had a long career, with success on the small screen as well. But her early work shows what made her such a hit with audiences - there was no one quite like her.