Knobby Walsh Jimmy Durante Nina Madero Lupe Velez Joe Palooka Stuart Erwin Mayme Palooka Marjorie Rambeau Pete Palooka Robert Armstrong Trixie Thelma Todd Released by United Artists | Directed By Benjamin Stoloff Proof That It’s Pre-Code The rather disgusting “National Geographic”/”it’s okay to show black women’s breasts if they’re uncivilized Read more
Andy Robert Wheeler Dr. Dudley Bob Woolsey Daisy Dorothy Lee Released by RKO | Directed By Mark Sandrich Proof That It’s Pre-Code The opening features a number of fetching young women wearing as little as a few strips of cloth and as much as some strategically placed strips. Our heroes Read more
Margie Nichols Dorothy Mackaill Myrtle Nichols Joan Blondell Allen Crane Walter Byron Eddie Adams Conrad Nagel Harry Gleason Joe Donahue Walter Nichols H.B. Warner Released by Warner Brothers | Directed By John Francis Dillon Proof That It’s Pre-Code “They padlock a speakeasy one day and the next day the same Read more
Tira Mae West Jack Clayton Cary Grant Slick Wiley Ralf Harolde Benny Pinkowitz Gregory Ratoff Big Bill Barton Edward Arnold Kirk Lawrence Kent Taylor Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed By Wesley Ruggles Proof That It’s Pre-Code It’s a film about Tira, “The woman who discovered you didn’t need to Read more
Helen, AKA The Blonde Venus Marlene Dietrich Ned Herbert Marshall Nick Cary Grant Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed By Josef Von Sternberg Proof That It’s Pre-Code There’s a bevy of beautiful women skinny dipping in the opening scene. Most seem to be wearing flesh-colored underwear for a few of Read more
Chick Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Ruth Joan Blondell Scrap Iron Guy Kibbee Bushy Sloan Alan Hale The Drunk Frank McHugh Kendall David Landau Released by Warner Brothers | Directed By Alfred E. Green Proof That It’s Pre-Code The film’s opening minutes read like a checklist of Code no-nos. There are prostitutes, Read more
Tom Cardigan John Barrymore June Perry Helen Twelvetrees Vanny Powers William Boyd Released by RKO | Directed By George Archainbaud Proof That It’s Pre-Code Our lead character has a fridge full of alcohol. And a table full. Several table fulls. The dude likes to drink. He may Read more
Cleopatra Claudette Colbert Julius Caesar Warren William Marc Antony Henry Wilcoxon Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed By Cecil B. DeMille Proof That It’s Pre-Code-ish The film’s title card is placed on a strategically lit nude woman. Much of Claudette Colbert’s wardrobe is focused on showing as much of her Read more
Stephen Jones Bing Crosby Doris Worthington Carole Lombard Edith Ethel Merman Hubert Leon Errol George George Burns Gracie Gracie Allen Released by Paramount | Directed By Norman Taurog Proof That It’s Pre-Code No one in the film actually declares whether or not they’re dressing (I imagine whoever pitched the title Read more
Marky Shirley Temple Sorrowful Jones Adolphe Menjou Bangles Carson Dorothy Dell Released by Parmount | Directed By Alexander Hall Proof That It’s Pre-Code “Clothes don’t mean a thing!” “Yeah, I hear they even get married in those nudist colonies!” “All I know, boss, is that I’m supposed to be a Read more