And a nice warm July greetings to you! As I noted before, I am moving this summer to Germany, with it looking like the flight is happening in mid-August. I am juggling a lot between moving houses, shipping my dog Harpo, and all of the other fun stuff that comes Read more
Gertie Bebe Daniels Jimmy Hartigan Ben Lyon Kelsey Robert Emmett O’Connor Released by RKO Directed by George Archainbaud Run time: 68 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film A frantic Jimmy reaches down the front of Gertie’s dress to retrieve a stolen necklace. We follow a pair of career criminals Read more
Leopold TrebelFrank Fay Gustave CortonJames Gleason SylvaineLilyan Tashman Released by Warner Bros. Directed by Michael Curtiz Run time: 67 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film That old cliche about promiscuous hairdressers that are handsome sex machines… I guess it had to start somewhere. Plenty of gay panic jokes, with Read more
Kitty King Evelyn Knapp Ted Hunter James Murray Sylvia Carleton Thelma Todd Released by Columbia Directed by Albert Rogell Run time: 67 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film By now I am very used to the cringe in old movies when the husband sticks his wife over his knee Read more
Ah, June! What is June’s deal? At least it’s not as useless as a month as March is, but it’s close. I say that partially inspired by the paltry number of pre-Codes present on Turner Classic Movies this month. While there a few obscurities– a Frank Fay movie that I Read more
Elissa Landi is a woman with a past who seduces a dolt in colonial Africa on the eve of World War I. And it gets more complex from there.
Edward G. Robinson displays his MAGNIFICENT. ACTING. TALENT. in this misbegotten talkie from 1930.
Well, would you put a good movie on the shelf for five years?
An interview with Film Forum programmer and pre-Code progenitor Bruce Goldstein about the joys of pre-Code Hollywood (and also The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three).
An interview with author and film historian Alan K. Rode about the restoration and background of 1932’s DOCTOR X.