Madeline / Shanghai Lily Marlene Dietrich Doctor Harvey Clive Brook Hui Fei Anna May Wong Henry Chang Warner Oland Sam Salt Eugene Pallatte Mr. Carmichael Lawrence Grant Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed by Josef Von Sternberg Run time: 83 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film This film’s most Read more
Duke Ellis Richard Dix Johnny Ellis Tom Brown C. Henry Gordon Skinner Released by RKO | Directed by Rowland Brown Proof That It’s Pre-Code One convict had been married– to three wives at the same time. The cook is a homosexual. One guard’s wife is having an affair– and pays Read more
Frankie Helen Twelvetrees Johnnie Ricardo Cortez Dan Phillips Holmes Annie Marjorie Rambeau Sport Frank Pangborn Nelly Thelma Todd Released by Pathe (RKO) | Directed by Tay Garnett Proof That It’s Pre-Code Look, you can’t say it, but this movie is filled to the brim with prostitutes. Oh, and murder. And Read more
Flo Helen Twelvetrees Babe Robert Armstrong McTeague Charles Bickford Released by Fox Pathe | Directed by Ryan Murphy Proof That It’s Pre-Code Drinking and speakeasies. Everyone is after Flo’s virtue. Or if they haven’t got it, they don’t believe she still has it. Not the nicest portrayal of South American 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
Bugs Alhern Edward G. Robinson Al Daniels Russell Hopton Polly Cass Helen Vinson Ruth Wayburn Mary Astor Donald Cass Berton Churchill Edith Merriam Shirley Grey Released by Warner Brothers | Directed by Roy Del Ruth Proof That It’s Pre-Code Robinson’s Bugs Ahern is known as a mad gangster who murders Read more
Paul Frank Morgan Maria Nancy Carroll Walter Paul Lukas Hilda Jean Dixon Schultz Charlie Grapewin Lucy Gloria Stuart Released by Paramount | Directed By James Whale Proof That It’s Pre-Code A premeditated murder is committed, and surely it’s okay to do that sometimes, right? One of the reporters seems a Read more
George Simon John Barrymore Rexy Gordon Bebe Daniels Doris Kenyon Cora Simon Roy Darwin Melvyn Douglas Harry Becker Vincent Sherman Lillian La Rue Thelma Todd Released by Universal | Directed by William Wyler Proof That It’s Pre-Code Ya’ll like class warfare? Our hero previously rigged a court case with a Read more
Hildy Johnson Pat O’Brien Walter Burns Adolphe Menjou Peggy Grant Mary Brian Bensinger Edward Everett Horton Earl Williams George E. Stone Molly Mae Clarke Released by United Artists | Directed By Lewis Milestone Proof That It’s Pre-Code Digging through his desk, Bensinger finds a discarded woman’s slip. Plenty of dark Read more
Flicker Hayes James Cagney Rose Lawrence Joan Blondell Nick Gardella Victor Jory Released by Warner Brothers | Directed By Lloyd Bacon Proof That It’s Pre-Code Early on, Flicker Hayes (Cagney) agrees to rob a safe filled with junk and “nose candy.” Rose Lawerence (Blondell) plays a prostitute who decides to Read more