Joe Grant Joe E. Brown Sally Evelyn Knapp June Lillian Bond Released by Warner Brothers/First National | Directed By Lloyd Bacon Fireman, Save My Child: Take My Base, Please Growing up in the Midwest meant one thing: summertime is baseball time. My parents grew up in Maryland, and both were Read more
The Sergeant Victor McLaglen Sanders Boris Karloff Morelli Wallace Ford Brown Reginald Denny Hale Billy Bevan Cook Alan Hale Released by RKO | Directed By John Ford The Lost Patrol: An Oasis of Death “We’re gravediggers now.” “Out here? But where are we going to bury him?” “Doesn’t make much Read more
Pre-Code Retro is my examination of post-1934 media that is heavily influenced by or significantly related to pre-Code cinema. Madge Barbara Stanwyck Helene Joan Blondell Jacques Dan Duryea Aired on NBC | Directed By Jacques Tourneur Sign of the Zodiac: The Future is Grim What is it about having your Read more
‘Smoothie’ King Spencer Tracy Wanda Gale Pat Paterson Hal Reed John Boles Limey Brooks Herbert Mundin Spud Mosco Sid Silvers Judith Marlowe Thelma Todd Released by Fox | Directed By David Butler Proof That It’s Pre-Code A selected joke: “I always wanted to be a virtuoso!” “I didn’t ask about Read more
Baron Munchausen Jack Pearl Joe McGoo Jimmy Durante Zasu Zasu Pitts Dean Primrose Edna Mae Oliver The Janitors Ted Healy and His Three Stooges Baron Munchausen Henry Kolker Released by MGM | Directed By Walter Lang Proof That It’s Pre-Code Well: Plus a number of borderline racy jokes. … look, Read more
Sadie McKee Joan Crawford Michael Alderson Franchot Tone Tommy Wallace Gene Raymond Jack Brennan Edward Arnold Opal Jean Dixon Dolly Merrick Esther Ralston Released by MGM | Directed By Clarence Brown Proof That It’s Pre-Code Sadie and Tommy move into a one room apartment where it’s noted that the landlord Read more
Oscar Jaffe John Barrymore Lily Garland Carole Lombard Oliver Webb Walter Connolly Owen O’Malley Roscoe Karns George Smith Ralph Forbes Matthew J. Clark Etienne Girardot Released by Columbia | Directed By Howard Hawks Proof That It’s Pre-Code A couple lives together despite not being married. They share a bed shaped Read more
Duke of Charmerace John Barrymore Guarechard Lionel Barrymore Sonia Karen Morley Released by MGM | Directed By Jack Conway Proof That It’s Pre-Code This film has more euphemisms and double entendres than you could shake even possibly three or four sticks at. The Duke of Charmerace first makes the acquaintance Read more
Rid Riddell Clark Gable Jim Rellence Ernest Torrence Ruby Madge Evans Angela Marie Prevost Tip Scanlon Lew Cody Tommy Boy Released by MGM | Directed By Charles Brabin Proof That It’s Pre-Code Heavy narcotics use. Well, by horses, but still. Sporting Blood: A Legacy of Tragedy “Since the beginning of Read more
Blacky Gallagher Clark Gable Jim Wade William Powell Eleanor Packer Myrna Loy Proof That It’s Pre-Code We get to see a kid, along with many other people, die. It’s fairly gruesome. The gangster dies a noble death, notable even if it is to help out his law abiding friend. Manhattan Read more