The New York Times has given Universal’s new Pre-Code Hollywood collection an enthusiastic thumbs up. Obviously inspired by Warner Bros critically acclaimed Forbidden Hollywood series, Universal has cracked open its vaults and released this new six DVD set of Paramount productions from that deliciously influential period before the H ayes crack-down in 1934. The set includes, much to our delight, Mitchell Leisen’s geninely bizarre Murder at the Vanities , famous for two particularly memorable musical numbers: “Cocktails for Two,” which went on to become a standard and a big Duke Ellington hit, and “Marijuana.” That’s right, Marijuana.
The set also includes a Dorothy Arzner melodrama, Talullah Bankhead as a hellcat gambler and a Cary Grant/Randolph Scott starrer that features a knicker-stripping catfight.
Sassy, steamy, pre-code fun.
The Kitty Packard Pictorial 