Carol Owen Dorothy Mackaill Jim Leonard Humphrey Bogart Bruce Hardy Hale Hamilton Released by Columbia Directed by Thornton Freeland Run time: 67 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film The film opens with Mackaill in a negligee. Late in the film, Bogart and Mackaill clearly spend the night together, with Read more…
Uncle Dudley Jack Holt Bob Dudley Richard Cromwell Dorothy Joan Marsh Released by Columbia Directed by Edward Sedgwick Run time: 68 minutes Maker of Men: Fumbles “When you’re talking against football, you’re talking against me!” “Wow,” I muttered about 20 minutes into Maker of Men. “My desk is filthy!” Fifty Read more…
Laura Diana Wynyard Edward Seward Lewis Stone Bob Seward Phillips Holmes Released by MGM Directed by Edgar Selwyn Run time: 61 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film The film opens with a nurse and flyer getting dressed in a secluded room. As a result, an unmarried woman gets pregnant. Read more…
Hey hey, ho ho, it’s … 31 Days of Oscar on TCM, which means that pre-Code content is slim. There’s quality, but I mean– there’s not a single pre-Code on the network until the 7th. Really, the only good news in the pipe is that the Criterion Channel launches on Read more…
Helen Parr Belle Bennett Brentwood Parr John Halliday Peggy Price Dorothy Burgess Released by Warner Bros. Directed by John G. Adolfi Run time: 65 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film Marriage, affairs, and remarriage. “Don’t you love erratic books?” “You mean erotic, dear.” Recaptured Love: Toss it in the Read more…
Laura Dorothy Mackaill Jay James Rennie Kate Dorothy Petersen Released by Warner Bros./First National Directed by Clarence G. Badger Run time: 73 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film “Aw, go to–” “Naughty naughty!” There’s a marriage where both agree to a certain level of freedom with the opposite sex, Read more…
Toto Dureyea Frank Fay Diane Churchill Laura La Plante Fifi Joan Blondell Released by Warner Bros. Directed by Michael Curtiz Run time: 72 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film The film follows a Lothario who is diagnosed with an illness that could kill him if he were to ever Read more…
It’s a new year! I guess that’s a good thing. I doubt– I hope– this year is one filled with better news. Find Convention City! Sort out the mess with Letty Lynton! Someone with some sense start cranking out the pre-Codes from the Fox and Universal vaults! And while I Read more…
Anne Murdock Dorothy Mackaill Lawrence Fellowes Lewis Stone Katherine Joan Blondell Released by Warner Bros. Directed by Lloyd Bacon & Michael Curtiz Run time: 59 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film Katherine is an author who dresses in suits and chomps on strong cigars. She’s clearly coded as a Read more…
John Day Richard Dix Dorothy Day Madge Evans Mamie Una Merkel Released by MGM Directed by Charles Brabin Run time: 68 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film Adultery. One man asks the prison librarian, “Do you have a book on sex?” There are a couple of murders here, and Read more…