Cleopatra Claudette Colbert Julius Caesar Warren William Marc Antony Henry Wilcoxon Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed By Cecil B. DeMille Proof That It’s Pre-Code-ish The film’s title card is placed on a strategically lit nude woman. Much of Claudette Colbert’s wardrobe is focused on showing as much of her Read more
Robert Mitchell Ricardo Cortez Dorothea Barbara Robbins Jimmy John Beal Released by RKO | Directed By Worthington Miner Proof That It’s Pre-Code-ish A husband and wife have separated and she is clearly having an affair with a very young artist on the side. A young woman (who gads about in Read more
Mata Hari Greta Garbo Alexis Rosanoff Ramon Novarro General Shubin Lionel Barrymore Andriani Lewis Stone DuBois C. Henry Gordon Carlotta Karen Morley Released by MGM | Directed By George Fitzmaurice Proof That It’s Pre-Code The titular Mata Hari is an exotic dancer who doubles as a spy in Paris during Read more
Temple Drake Miriam Hopkins Stephen Benbow William Gargan Trigger Jack La Rue Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed By Stephen Roberts Proof That It’s Pre-Code I’m going to go ahead and just quote Thomas Doherty’s Pre-Code Hollywood on this one: The Story of Temple Drake is a model of pre-Code Read more
Imhotep/Ardeth Bay Boris Karloff Helen Grosvenor Zita Johann Frank Whemple David Manners Released by Universal Studios | Directed By Karl Freund Proof That It’s Pre-Code Several fairly gruesome deaths, on camera and off. Helen gets put in some Egyptian garb, and apparently Ancient Egyptians were big fans of bare midriffs Read more
The Duchess Constance Bennett Benvenuto Cellini Frederic March Duke of Florence Frank Morgan Angela Fay Wray Ottaviano Louis Calhern Beatrice Jessie Ralph Released by 20th Century Pictures | Directed By Gregory La Cava Proof That It’s Pre-Code-ish It’s a tale of adultery in the old world. The Duke of Florence’s Read more
Jimmy Russell Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Stanley Fiske Lee Tracy Sally Condon Ann Dvorak Bernie Olds Warren Hymer Eddie Shaw Lyle Talbot Mary Wodehouse Frances Dee Released by Warner Brothers | Directed By William A. Wellman Proof That It’s Pre-Code Unpunished murder, my friends. The good old fashioned Read more
Breckenridge Lee Richard Barthelmess Marcia Fay Wray Breezy Reegis Toomey Proof That It’s Pre-Code Sweet drinkin’. Sweet, sweet premarital sex. The Finger Points: It Points for Thee “You can’t kill a reporter.” That’s the mantra of The Finger Points, a pre-Code drama that’s one of the earliest of Warner’s ‘ripped Read more
Karl Brenner … Richard Barthelmess Lotti Brenner … Marian Marsh Martha Brenner … Lucille LaVerne Proof That It’s Pre-Code One very suspicious surgery, and the fact that our hero is in love with his sister. Mind you, he’s adopted, but really. Alias The Doctor: Bond of Brothers The word ‘convoluted’ Read more
Megan Davis … Barbara Stanwyck General Yen … Nils Asther Mah-Li … Toshia Mori Jones … Walter Connolly Bob Strife … Gavin Gordon Captain Li … Richard Loo Proof That It’s Pre-Code You may not be old enough to remember this, but at one time miscegenation was illegal in many Read more