Pre-Code.Com Site News for May 2014

Times are still pretty good in Tokyo as I wrap up this semester of grad school (one to go!). I’ve finally grown comfortable with driving, so we’ve been making small side trips to places like Tachikawa, Hachioji, and Yokohama (I could be making these names up, you’d never know). I’ve also been in a bit of a movie watching drought as I continue a tradition: whenever I’m unemployed, I watch through all of “Frasier”. I don’t know why I do it, I just like “Frasier”.

Looking over May’s TCM schedule, it’s a pretty light load even if some are fairly obscure– and almost all in the early morning hours. There’s a night devoted to Anna Sten, William Goldwyn’s answer to Garbo. There’s also a few Gary Cooper movies one morning, and another morning completely dedicated to movies with the word ‘scarlet’ in their titles. Some enterprising TCM programmer must be bucking for a promotion considering how that ties into the network’s favorite movie, Gone With the Wind.

I’m excited for June since it’s the rainy season here– more excuses to stay inside and watch movies. 🙂 I’ll also be hitting a lot of films from a certain actress who had a very productive year in 1934, but we’ve got a lot of great reader requests before we get there.

Upcoming Reviews in May

Since May was reader request month, there’s not much of a point in being playful with what I’ll be covering. Here you are:

5/5 – The Cheat
5/2 – Blessed Event
5/9 – The Story of Temple Drake
5/12- Merrily We Go to Hell
5/16- I’ve Got Your Number
5/19- Million Dollar Legs
5/23- One Hour with You
5/26- June’s TCM Schedule
5/30- Faithless

Pre-Code Hollywood Movies on TCM in May

Please note: All times are Eastern. This schedule is subject to change. See the full listings here. To watch TCM online, check out their TCM Watch site.

Date	Time	Film	Link
1st	6:00 AM	The Cat and the Fiddle (1934) A struggling composer courts a singing star. With Jeanette MacDonald and Ramon Novarro.	My Review
2nd	7:45 AM	Going Hollywood (1933) A girl poses as a French maid to catch a singing star. With Bing Crosby and Mario Davies.	n/a
4th	8:00 AM	Queen Christina (1933) Romantic tale of the 17th century Swedish queen.	n/a
6th	8:00 AM	Scarlet Pages (1930) A female attorney makes a startling discovery about the woman she’s defending.	n/a
6th	9:15 AM	Scarlet Dawn (1932) A Russian nobleman and his fiancee elope to live as peasants in Turkey.	n/a
6th	10:15 AM	Scarlet River (1933) A movie cowboy is called upon to act like a real cowboy.	n/a
6th	11:15 AM	A Study in Scarlet (1933) Sherlock Holmes is played by Reginald Owen and Anna May Wong is in it. And it’s based on A Study in Scarlet.	n/a
7th	6:15 AM	A Farewell to Arms (1932) A young man goes to war and loses his limbs. Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes.	n/a
7th	7:45 AM	One Sunday Afternoon (1933) A dentist longs to avenge a friend who stole his love, but discovers there’s no need. Gary Cooper and Fay Wray.	n/a
7th	9:15 AM	Today We Live (1933) An aristocratic girl’s tangled love life creates havoc during World War I. Gary Cooper and Joan Crawford.	n/a
9th	6:30 AM	Before Dawn (1933) Detectives compete to solve murders at a mysterious mansion.	n/a
11th	6:00 AM	Lady for a Day (1933) A gangster helps an apple vendor pose as a society woman. With Warren William and May Robson.	My Review
12th	6:00 AM	Little Women (1933) George Cukor’s popular take on the popular novel. They show it every month.	n/a
13th	4:45 AM	Easy to Love (1934) A woman pretends to be having an affair to compensate for her husband’s supposed unfaithfulness. With Adolphe Menjou and Genevieve Tobin.	n/a
13th	8:00 PM	Nana (1934) A streetwalker rises to stage stardom. Starring Anna Sten and directed by Dorothy Arzner.	n/a
17th	5:45 AM	Jimmy the Gent (1934) A lousy movie.	My Review
20th	6:15 AM	Hold Your Man (1933) A Gable/Harlow picture.	n/a
22nd	10:15 AM	The Silver Horde (1930) An Alaskan fisherman is dogged by a ruthless competitor and an ambitious dance hall girl. With Louis Wolheim and Joel McCrea.	n/a
22nd	11:45 AM	Danger Lights (1931) A family railroad is threatened when the owner’s girl falls for a conductor. … wait, what?	n/a
22nd	9:45 PM	House on 56th Street (1933) A woman loses her family after being falsely convicted of a crime. With Kay Francis and Ricardo Cortez.	My Review
28th	8:00 AM	Frisco Jenny (1932) A district attorney prosecutes his own mother for murder.	My Review

Questions? Comments? Or do you just want to bug me? Leave a comment below!

10 Comments

shadowsandsatin · April 28, 2014 at 4:18 am

Thanks for this list, Danny! I’m looking so forward to your posts — you have some great ones lined up.

Danny · April 28, 2014 at 6:51 am

Thanks Karen! I look forward to your opinion on my opinion of Faithless, which I saw you adored (as did I!).

Andrew Gilmore · April 28, 2014 at 6:22 am

As you might remember from some of our previous conversations, “Blessed Event” is one of my favorite Pre-Code movies- can’t wait to read your review!

Danny · April 28, 2014 at 6:55 am

I may or may not have intentionally put that one in there for you. 😉 Hope my review lives up to your expectations!

Andrew Gilmore · April 29, 2014 at 3:16 am

In that case, thank you! Or not, as the case may be.

Danny · May 2, 2014 at 9:47 am

I hope you were pleased with the results!

La Faustin · April 28, 2014 at 7:08 am

A great month for Jack La Rue: Danny reviews TEMPLE DRAKE (do, please, also note his funny bit in BLESSED EVENT) and he appears in a yummy double bill at the BFI: https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=storyoftempledrakevirtue

I already had Blessed Event in the bag when I read this comment, but, yeah, he definitely gets some funny moments as the hitman who shoots the wrong guy. And I do believe it’ll be difficult to talk about Temple Drake without mentioning him…

Judy · May 6, 2014 at 6:42 am

They’re showing Nana? Wow, I’d love to see that – can’t see it ever turning up in the UK, somehow. Ditto for ‘One Sunday Afternoon’. I must stop reading the US TCM listings!