Bill Wescott Wallace Reid Jr. King Kelly Paul Fix Marian Martin Phyllis Barington Released by Willis Kent Productions | Directed by Jerome Storm Proof That It’s Pre-Code “Bull.” Marian has a Japanese chauffeur who she constantly calls an idiot. Our hero jokes to him, “We ought to be good friends. Read more
Joan AKA Mary Smith Blanche Mehaffey Buddy John Darrow Scoop Raymond Hatton Released by Mayfair Pictures Corporation | Directed by E. Mason Hopper Proof That It’s Pre-Code The A.D.A. is visited by a woman named Mary Smith. His butler was absent because he was, “playing ping pong with the maid next Read more
Pre-Code.Com Site News for November 2015 And a happy November to you. This month is especially great for pre-Codes on your local Turner Classic Movies channel, with star of the month Norma Shearer getting to shine on the big screen. Also, the programmers wisely stuck her Romeo and Juliet at Read more
Any fan of the comedies of the early 1930s is certain to get an eyeful of Thelma Todd at one point or another. Tall, blonde and with a striking smile and a stunning set of comedic chops, she started in silent films before making waves for Hal Roach in the Read more
Marvin Blake Richard Barthelmess Betty Wright Dorothy Jordan Madge Bette Davis Released by Warner Brothers | Directed by Michael Curtiz Proof That It’s Pre-Code “That girl ain’t got a bit of a soul, she ain’t. But she sure got a body. Some body.” A fade out hints that Madge slipped Read more
Carol Genevieve Tobin John Adolphe Menjou Charlotte Mary Astor Eric Edward Everett Horton Janet Patricia Ellis McTavish Hugh Herbert Released by Warner Brothers | Directed by William Keighley Proof That It’s Pre-Code Married man John spends his afternoons “playing polo” over at friend Charlotte’s house. Realizing she has to win Read more
Dan Louis Wolheim Larry Robert Armstrong Mary Jean Arthur Released by RKO | Directed by George B. Seitz Danger Lights: Training Day “Look here. This means sidetracking everything along the way. The Olympian, the Pioneer… the whole timetable! Why, this will cost a fortune. And all for one man.” “For Read more
Cheri-Bibi John Gilbert Cecile Leila Hyams Costaud Lewis Stone Released by MGM | Directed by John S. Robertson The Phantom of Paris: Now You See Him… “I saw Bibi fall into the abyss with my own eyes. No one could survive that fall.” The Phantom of Paris is one of Read more
Mendel Marantz George Sidney Bernard Schnaps Charles Dale Sam Shtrudel Joe Smith Released by Warner Brothers | Directed by Mervyn LeRoy Proof That It’s Pre-Code The family’s daughter walks around in her scanties in front of the family’s store window. She threatens to bathe there, too. Off screen: “Well, Betsy, Read more
The second issue of The Pre-Code Companion is now available at Amazon. It runs 81 pages and costs $2.99, with all profits being donated to the ASPCA. (And, yes, it’s a week early. Some of us are just bad at calendars, okay?) This issue’s contributors are: Three On A Match Read more