her the part, and MGM was willing to release her from her contract as a chorus girl. Dvorak had to both receive permission from her mother Anna Lehr and to win a petition presented to the Superior Court to be able to sign on with Howard Hawks as a minor. Filming Filming lasted six months, which was long for films made in the early 1930s. Howard Hughes remained off-set to avoid interfering with the filming of the movie. Hughes urged Hawks to make the film as visually exciting as possible by adding car chases, crashes, and machine-gun fire. Hawks shot the film at three different locations: Metropolitan Studios, Harold Lloyd Studios and the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles. Filming took three months with the cast and crew working seven days a week. For the most violent scene of the film in the restaurant, Hawks cleared the set to avoid harming extras and had the set fired on by machine guns. The actors acted out the scene in front of a screen with the shooting projected in the back, so as everyone crowded under the tables in the restaurant, the room appeared to be simultaneously under fire. During filming, Hawks and Hughes met with the Hays Office to discuss revisions. Despite that, Scarface was filmed and put together quickly. In September 1931, a rough cut of the film was screened for the California Crime Commission and police officials, neither of whom thought the movie was a dangerous influence for audiences or would elicit a criminal response. Irving Thalberg was given an advanced screening and was impressed by the film. Despite the positive feedback the film was given, the Hays Office was insistent on changes before final approval. Censorship Scarface was produced and filmed during Pre-Code era of Hollywood, which spanned from 1930 to 1934. The Pre-Code era is characterized by its informal and haphazard screening and regulation of film content, before the establishment of the Production Code Administration (PCA) on July 1, 1934. Before the influence of the PCA, censorship was overseen by the Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA). In 1930, Will Hays, the chairman of the MPPDA, attempted to regulate the content of movies; the MPPDA became known as the Hays Office. The goal of the Hays Office was to censor nudity, sexuality, drug use and crime. More specific to Scarface, the Hays Office wanted to avoid