Paul; Yes, female sexuality has always been a feature of the movies, even in the silent days - think of Theda Bara and Clara Bow, for instance, and the Roaring Twenties films. But that was long before the Production Code was introduced in 1934, which was the point I was trying to make. Also, male sexuality (beefcake) has also been a long standing feature of the movies, long before Brando. He just had a different, more animalistic version of it, that's all. In the silents there were Rudolph Valentino (the greatest "heartthrob" of them all), Ramon Novarro and John Gilbert. Clark Gable and John Wayne were "tough guy" lovers, there was the sophisticated William Powell, and actors like James Stewart and Gregory Peck in their early films were considered "sexy". Peter Warren > From: paul wiener <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Cc: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: QUERY:femme fatales of 90's > Date: Tuesday, November 16, 1999 9:42 AM > > I don't seew how you can say this. Female sexuality - long before West and > Marlene - has always been visible, exploited, enacted and expected in > films. It is MALE sexuality that almost never appeared before Brando. > > At 05:57 PM 11/15/99 -0500, Peter Warren wrote: > >Louie: As some of the replies to your query have indicated, the major > >difference between classic and current film noir femmes fatales was the > >Hollywood Production Code, which was finally abandoned in the mid sixties. > >While it was acceptable to show greed (allowing for "compensating moral > >values") overt sexuality was not allowed - particularly female. After all, > >it was the aggressive, if comical, sexual come-ons of Mae West - and the > >androgony of Marlene Dietrich - which finally made the Hays Office > >implement the Code - thanks mainly to the Catholic Church's Legion of > >Decency and its threat to boycott all Paramount Studios movies. (Both Mae > >and Marlene were under contract to the studio). Also, social movements such > >as female equality helped the neo-noir females to show their sexuality, as > >well as their classic-noir greed and manipulation of the often weak male > >protagonist. A worthwhile exercise is to compare the 1946 and 1981 versions > >of THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, particularly the seduction scenes. Also, > >DOUBLE INDEMNITY in 1944 and BODY HEAT (a virtual remake) in 1981. > >Peter Warren > > > >---------- > >> From: louie reayner <[log in to unmask]> > >> To: [log in to unmask] > >> Subject: Re: QUERY:femme fatales of 90's > >> Date: Monday, November 15, 1999 6:22 AM > >> > >> Hi, > >> I am researching the change between the femme fatales of the early noir > >> period and those of the nineties. In particular, I am searching for any > >> tit-bits on the femmes of the 90's. If anyone can provide any examples > >> of how the new femme differs to that of the old then I would be indebted > >to > >> them. > >> > >> Thankyou.........Louie Rayner. > >> > >> ______________________________________________________ > >> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com > >> > >> ---- > >> To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF > >Screen-L > >> in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask] > > > >---- > >To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L > >in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask] > > > > > Paul B. Wiener > Special Services: > Anglo-American literature, Gifts, Film & > Video, Publicity & Programming > SUNY at Stony Brook Library > 631-632-7253 ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu