This intriguing book on pre-Code cinema -- although the title does not identify it as such, any book that covers the films of the Depression must also necessarily be about the pre-Code era, before the Hays/Breen office imposed a censorial stranglehold on filmic content -- does not disappoint. As the title promises, it offers interesting, unexpected "intersections" between US life in the early 1930s and the ways in which that world was depicted on screen. Chapters cover (among other topics) the depiction of prostitution in early 1930s films, shifts in US foreign policy, changes in sexual politics during the era, and the gap between reel and real worlds during this traumatic period. Moving smoothly through the films made in the aftermath of WWI, through 1930s films, and ending with a discussion of the connections between Depression-era cinema and the film noir movement of the early 1940s, Hanson (American studies, Univ. of San Francisco) provides a thoughtful, thought-provoking book that displays superb scholarship and a carefully nuanced appreciation of Depression-era cinema. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers, all levels.
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