Millie Helen Twelvetrees Helen Lilyan Tashman Angie Joan Blondell Released by RKO Directed by John Francis Dillon Run time: 85 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film We’re introduced to Blondell and Tashman’s characters shacked up in bed together. Frank McHugh has a musical number (yes) about being a beautiful Read more…
Marie / X-27 Marlene Dietrich Colonel Kranau Victor McLaglen Chief Gustav von Seyffertitz Released by Paramount Directed by Josef von Sternberg Run time: 91 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film The opening shot is of Marlene Dietrich adjusting her stockings. It’s called an attention-getter. The opening also involves a Read more…
Kitty Alice Faye Happy Jimmy Durante Jimmy Rudy Vallee Released by Fox Film Directed by George White Run time: 79 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film “You Nasty Man!” features gams galore and oodles of men focusing in on various lady appendages with delight. Jimmy Durante has lost his Read more…
Marian Joan Crawford Mark Whitney Clark Gable Al Manning Wallace Ford Released by MGM Directed by Clarence Brown Run time: 76 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film Joan Crawford plays a fallen, kept woman who loves her life no matter how many times she gets trampled on or slapped. Read more…
Valentine Joan Crawford Bob Neil Hamilton Tony Monroe Owsley Released by MGM | Directed by Nick Grinde Run time: 68 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film An inter-generational tale where a girl is shielded from the fact that her long-estranged mother is in fact a ‘kept’ woman. “I’m going Read more…
Cherry Evelyn Brent Boyd Joel McCrea Mildred Jean Arthur Released by RKO | Directed by George Archainbaud Run time: 75 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film Our suffering heroine, Cherry, is a former prostitute who is known up and down the coast. “You’re nothing but a–“ “Don’t call me Read more…
Josie Sally O’Neil Whiskey Johnny Reginald Sharland McEwan Mitchell Lewis Released by RKO | Directed by Bert Glennon Run time: 65 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film “That one was old when ‘Fanny’ was a girl’s name!” Josie is a former burlesque dancer and girl of all ports. She Read more…
Elsa Helen Twelvetrees Karl William Bakewell Otto Lew Cody Katie Zasu Pitts Muller C. Henry Gordon Hans Frank Pangborn Released by RKO Pathe | Directed by Harry Joe Brown Run time: 74 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film The title implies exactly what you think she’s had experience with. Read more…
Danilo Maurice Chevalier Sonia Jeanette MacDonald Ambassador Edward Everett Horton King George Barbier Queen Una Merkel Orderly Sterling Holloway Released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer | Directed by Ernst Lubitsch Proof That It’s Pre-Code-ish How sexually carefree and attractive is the Chevalier character this go around? At a mod Parisian brothel, Read more…
Madeline / Shanghai Lily Marlene Dietrich Doctor Harvey Clive Brook Hui Fei Anna May Wong Henry Chang Warner Oland Sam Salt Eugene Pallatte Mr. Carmichael Lawrence Grant Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed by Josef Von Sternberg Run time: 83 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film This film’s most Read more…