Title: Complicated Women
Narrated By: Jane Fonda
Writer:
Andi Hicks
Director: Hugh Monroe Kneely
Running Time: 55 minutes
without commercials
Media: TCM World Premiere
Documentary (NTSC VHS Screener)
World Premiere Tuesday, May
6, 2003, at 8pm (ET)
Network: Turner Classic
Movies (Check your local cable/satellite listings for channel)
TV Rating: Not Available At
The Time Of Review
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
It is simply amazing how the
early motion picture code changed and censored early Hollywood talking films
such as “Tarzan And His Mate,” which actually featured nudity when Jane is
shown swimming underwater following after Tarzan or films featuring Greta Garbo
and Joan Crawford among many other well known and some not so well known
actresses who were empowered with films about premarital sex, a woman taking on
a career, and many other issues both on the light and dark side of the spectrum
years before the feminist movement. Censored in the mid 1930s, these films show
us not only that modern behavior has not changed so much in almost a hundred
years, but the reality that censorship out of fear of moral values with the
institution of what was called “The Code” probably created more troubles in
the long run than if it had not been so strictly enforced.
Should there be a code of
conduct? In my opinion yes, but the sphere in which what is considered
acceptable and what is not is a very dangerous road for both the filmmakers and
those who set what constitutes a film’s rating. The truth is we are
responsible for what we put out as much as by what actions we take and the
responsibility in my opinion is a shared one between the filmmakers, talent,
etc, the people who state what kind of rating a film gets, and the audiences who
see it. I hesitate to use the initials MPAA because it is never made quite clear
if the enforcement of the code spoken about in the film is indeed the same
entity. I got the impression that it wasn’t, but I could be wrong. Never the
less, this documentary is eye opening and at times humorous. Narrated by none
other than Jane Fonda, The Turner Classic Movies presentation of the documentary
“Complicated Women” will make its World Premiere on Tuesday, May 6, 2003, at
8PM (ET) with an encore showing later that night at 10:30pm (ET). Don’t miss
it.
© Copyright 2003 By Mark A.
Rivera
All Rights Reserved.