Welcome to the dog days of August. The good news is, of course, TCM’s annual Summer Under the Stars is back. (This also coincides exactly with the end of summer reading at my library– woo hoo, days off.) While there are some strange selections (only one pre-Code movie for Gable and Crawford on each of their days?), we are treated to days full of pre-Codes starring the likes of Lionel Atwill, George Brent, Lupe Velez, and Miriam Hopkins. There’s a few rarities I’m excited to catch as well.
There’s only one big date for pre-Codes on Filmstruck, but I think I can guess what director is getting spotlighted on August 10th. Can you?
Just a quick note, I completely updated my review of Dr. Monica last month because it needed it. Hopefully I’ll have more time in August to touch up some other ones. While this site itself is only about 6 years old, some of the writing is older and it shows. So sorry about that.
Lastly, just a friendly a reminder: if you want to support my site, you can become a Patron over at Patreon. This month I’ll be posting a 90 minute presentation I gave recently about the complete history of film; it’s nerdy, but I hope you’ll enjoy it. Cheers!
Pre-Codes Added to Filmstruck in August 2018
Please note: movies on Filmstruck rotate on and off the service, so their availability may be limited.
| 10th | Night Nurse |
| 10th | Safe in Hell |
| 10th | The Purchase Price |
| 10th | So Big! |
| 10th | Frisco Jenny |
| 10th | Lily Turner |
| 10th | Heroes for Sale |
| 10th | Midnight Mary |
| 10th | Wild Boys of the Road |
Pre-Code Movies on TCM in June
Please note:
- All times listed here are Eastern Standard. This schedule is subject to change (like if someone dies or the world ends– you know how it is).
- Plot descriptions and casts lists below come from TCM. See the full listings for the month here.
- If you subscribe to TCM via cable, you can watch TCM online via the TCM Watch site.
- If you don’t have cable, check out Sling TV, where (Americans) can watch TCM online, via an app or on their Roku for only $30/month.
| Date & Time | Film |
|
3rd |
The Thin Man (1934) |
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A husband-and-wife detective team takes on the search for a missing inventor and almost get killed for their efforts. Dir: W. S. Van Dyke Cast: William Powell , Myrna Loy , Maureen O’Sullivan . BW- 91 mins, CC |
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3rd |
The Naughty Flirt (1931) |
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A flighty heiress goes to work as a secretary to win the straitlaced man she loves. Dir: Edward Cline Cast: Alice White , Paul Page , Myrna Loy . BW- 56 mins |
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3rd |
The Solitaire Man ( 1933) |
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Crooks double cross each other during a tense flight from Paris to London. Dir: Jack Conway Cast: Herbert Marshall , Mary Boland , Lionel Atwill . BW- 67 mins, |
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3rd |
The Mystery Of The Wax Museum (1933) |
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A disfigured sculptor turns murder victims into wax statues. Dir: Michael Curtiz Cast: Lionel Atwill , Fay Wray , Glenda Farrell . C- 77 mins, CC, |
|
|
3rd |
Secret of the Blue Room (1933) |
| Dir: Kurt Neumann Cast: Lionel Atwill , Gloria Stuart , Paul Lukas .
BW- 66 mins, |
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3rd |
Doctor X (1932) |
|
A reporter investigates a series of cannibalistic murders at a medical college. Dir: Michael Curtiz Cast: Lionel Atwill , Fay Wray , Lee Tracy. C- 76 mins, CC, |
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4th, |
The Vampire Bat (1933) |
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Villagers suspect the town simpleton of being a vampire. Dir: Frank Strayer Cast: Lionel Atwill , Fay Wray , Melvyn Douglas . BW- 63 mins, |
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5th |
Morning Glory ( 1933) |
| A stage struck girl travels to New York determined to make it on Broadway.
Dir: Lowell Sherman Cast: Katharine Hepburn , Douglas Fairbanks , Adolphe Menjou . BW- 74 mins, CC, |
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5th |
Little Women (1933) |
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The four March sisters fight to keep their family together and find love while their father is off fighting the Civil War. Dir: George Cukor Cast: Katharine Hepburn , Joan Bennett , Paul Lukas . BW- 115 mins, CC, |
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7th |
Feet First (1930) |
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A shoe salesman’s involvement with a band of crooks leaves him dangling from the side of a tall building. Dir: Clyde Bruckman Cast: Harold Lloyd , Robert McWade , Lillian Leighton . BW- 91 mins, CC, |
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7th |
Movie Crazy (1932) |
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A stagestruck young actor accidentally receives somebody else’s invitation to test in Hollywood. Dir: Clyde Bruckman Cast: Harold Lloyd , Constance Cummings , Kenneth Thomson . BW- 96 mins, |
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8th |
The Cat and the Fiddle (1934) |
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A struggling composer courts a singing star. Dir: William K. Howard Cast: Ramon Novarro , Jeanette MacDonald , Frank Morgan . BW- 89 mins, CC, |
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8th |
The Merry Widow (1934) |
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A prince from a small kingdom courts a wealthy widow to keep her money in the country. Dir: Ernst Lubitsch Cast: Maurice Chevalier , Jeanette MacDonald , Edward Everett Horton . BW- 99 mins, CC, |
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8th |
The Rich Are Always with Us (1932) |
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A socialite gets a divorce but can’t keep out of her ex-husband’s life. Dir: Alfred Green Cast: Ruth Chatterton , George Brent , Bette Davis . BW- 71 mins, CC |
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8th |
They Call It Sin (1932) |
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An innocent young chorus girl fights the advances of her lecherous producer. Dir: Thornton Freeland Cast: Loretta Young , George Brent , Una Merkel . BW- 69 mins, CC, |
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8th |
Baby Face (1933) |
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A beautiful schemer sleeps her way to the top of a banking empire. Dir: Alfred E. Green Cast: Barbara Stanwyck , George Brent , Donald Cook . BW- 76 mins, CC, |
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8th |
The Painted Veil (1934) |
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A wife strays, then fights to redeem herself to her husband. Dir: Richard Boleslawski Cast: Greta Garbo , Herbert Marshall , George Brent . BW- 84 mins, CC, |
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14th |
The Squaw Man (1931) |
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After saving the life of a British aristocrat, an Indian maiden bears his child. Dir: Cecil B. DeMille Cast: Warner Baxter , Lupe Velez , Eleanor Boardman . BW- 107 mins, |
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14th |
Kongo (1932) |
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A crippled madman seeks revenge on the daughter of the man who betrayed him. Dir: William Cowen Cast: Walter Huston , Lupe Velez , Conrad Nagel . BW- 86 mins, CC, |
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14th |
Laughing Boy (1934) |
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A young Navajo defies tribal custom to marry an outcast. Dir: W. S. Van Dyke Cast: Ramon Novarro , Lupe Velez , William Davidson . BW- 79 mins, CC, |
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14th |
Strictly Dynamite (1934) |
|
A radio comic runs out of jokes, triggering a desperate search. Dir: Elliott Nugent Cast: Jimmy Durante , Lupe Velez , Norman Foster . BW- 71 mins, CC, |
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14th |
Hot Pepper (1933) |
| Dir: John Blystone Cast: Edmund Lowe , Lupe Velez , Victor McLaglen .
BW- 74 mins, CC, |
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15th |
The Half Naked Truth (1933) |
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A carnival pitch man turns a sideshow dancer into an overnight sensation. Dir: Gregory La Cava Cast: Lupe Velez , Lee Tracy , Eugene Pallette . BW- 77 mins, CC, |
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15th |
The Cuban Love Song ( 1931) |
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An ex-marine returns to Cuba to find the child he fathered on leave. Dir: W. S. Van Dyke Cast: Lawrence Tibbett , Lupe Velez , Ernest Torrence . BW- 86 mins, CC, |
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16th |
The Stranger’s Return (1933) |
|
A divorcee visits her grandfather’s farm to recover and discovers a life she never expected to love. Dir: King Vidor Cast: Lionel Barrymore , Miriam Hopkins , Franchot Tone . BW- 87 mins, CC, |
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16th |
The Richest Girl in the World (1934) |
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To put off fortune-hunters, an heiress trades places with her secretary. Dir: William A. Seiter Cast: Miriam Hopkins , Joel McCrea , Fay Wray . BW- 76 mins, CC, |
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16th |
Trouble in Paradise (1932) |
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A love triangle ignites trouble between two jewel thieves and their intended victim. Dir: Ernst Lubitsch Cast: Miriam Hopkins , Kay Francis , Herbert Marshall . BW- 82 mins, CC, |
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16th |
The Story of Temple Drake (1933) |
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A society girl gets mixed up with blackmail and murder after a vicious sexual assault. Dir: Stephen Roberts Cast: Miriam Hopkins , William Gargan , Jack La Rue . BW- 71 mins, CC, |
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17th |
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) |
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Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale of a scientist who unleashes the beast within. Dir: Rouben Mamoulian Cast: Fredric March , Miriam Hopkins , Rose Hobart . BW- 96 mins, CC, |
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17th |
It Happened One Night (1934) |
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A newspaperman tracks a runaway heiress on a madcap cross-country tour. Dir: Frank Capra Cast: Clark Gable , Claudette Colbert , Walter Connolly . BW- 105 mins, CC, |
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21st |
Everything’s Rosie (1931) |
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A carnival con artist tries to mend his ways when his adopted daughter gets engaged. Dir: Clyde Bruckman Cast: Robert Woolsey , Anita Louise , John Darrow . BW- 67 mins, CC, |
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28th |
The Doorway to Hell (1930) |
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Despite his efforts to go straight, a young gangster keeps falling back into crime. Dir: Archie Mayo Cast: Lew Ayres , Charles Judels , Dorothy Mathews . BW- 78 mins, CC, |
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28th |
All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) |
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Young German soldiers try to adjust to the horrors of World War I. Dir: Lewis Milestone Cast: Louis Wolheim , Lew Ayres , John Wray . BW- 133 mins, |
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31st |
Rain (1932) |
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A missionary tries to reform a streetwalker trapped on a Pacific island. Dir: Lewis Milestone Cast: Frederic Howard , Ben Hendricks , William Gargan . BW- 94 mins, |
Questions? Comments? Or do you just want to bug me? Leave a comment below!
1 Comment
Honey Bee86 · August 2, 2018 at 9:24 am
“GOOD news”? The only thing I like about TCM’s ‘Summer Under the Stars’ is that it gives me time to catch up on all my old DVR’d pre-codes I haven’t had a chance to watch yet.
PS. The air times are actually in ‘Eastern DAYLIGHT Time (EDT)’, not ‘Eastern STANDARD Time (EST)’. EST is observed in Fall/Winter (Nov. – March), but it’s Eastern Daylight Time for Spring/Summer, when ‘Daylight Savings Time’ is in effect.
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