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
Sally/Mimi/Jenny Claudette Colbert Tony Ricardo Cortez Mike David Manners Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed By Alexander Hall and George Somnes Proof That It’s Pre-Code That infamous ‘h-e-double-hockey sticks’ word gets dropped. “I get a lot of proposals, too… marriage isn’t one of them.” Our main character has a child Read more
Mata Hari Greta Garbo Alexis Rosanoff Ramon Novarro General Shubin Lionel Barrymore Andriani Lewis Stone DuBois C. Henry Gordon Carlotta Karen Morley Released by MGM | Directed By George Fitzmaurice Proof That It’s Pre-Code The titular Mata Hari is an exotic dancer who doubles as a spy in Paris during Read more
Carol Morgan Tallulah Bankhead Bill Wade Robert Montgomery Peter Blainey Hugh Herbert Released by MGM | Directed By Harry Beaumont Proof That It’s Pre-Code The film opens with a montage of newspaper headlines over the years promising that the end of the Depression is at hand. The papers are greeted Read more
Temple Drake Miriam Hopkins Stephen Benbow William Gargan Trigger Jack La Rue Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed By Stephen Roberts Proof That It’s Pre-Code I’m going to go ahead and just quote Thomas Doherty’s Pre-Code Hollywood on this one: The Story of Temple Drake is a model of pre-Code Read more
Elsa Carlyle Tallulah Bankhead Jeffrey Carlyle Harvey Stephens Hardy Livingstone Irving Pichel Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed By George Abbott Proof That It’s Pre-Code Once again, everyone is amazed by a marriage that involves love. Tallulah Bankhead tries to transform into Wonder Woman but forgot to put her outfit Read more
It’s Picture Snatcher again, only crappy.
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
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