Eddie / Oedipus Eddie Cantor Josephus David Manners Princess Sylvia Gloria Stewart Emperor Valerius Edward Arnold Olga Ruth Etting Empress Agrippa Verree Teasdale Released by United Artists | Directed By Frank Tuttle Proof That It’s Pre-Code “The empress Agrippa, the one I was sleeping with, was his wife.” The chief Read more
Nora Moran Zita Johann Dick Crawford Paul Cavanagh John Grant Alan Dinehart Edith Crawford Claire Du Brey Father Ryan Henry B. Walthall Paulino John Miljan Released by Majestic Pictures | Directed By Phil Goldstone Proof That It’s Pre-Code Nora is called, “a common cheap hooker,” which is surprisingly blunt for Read more
Jamil El Shehab Ramon Novarro Diana ‘Di’ Standing Myrna Loy Gerald Hume Reginald Denny Cecil Harwood C. Aubrey Smith Achmed Pasha Edward Arnold Powers Louise Closser Hale Released by MGM | Directed By Sam Wood Proof That It’s Pre-Code Myrna Loy takes a dip in the film’s most infamous scene: Read more
Rasputin Lionel Barrymore Prince Chegodieff John Barrymore The Czarina Ethel Barrymore The Czar Ralph Morgan Natasha Diana Wynyard The Czarevitch Tad Alexander Released by MGM | Directed By Charles Brabin and Richard Boleslawski Proof That It’s Pre-Code Rasputin, the charmer, is clearly blackmailing women into having sex with him. Rasputin Read more
Flint Walter Huston Kingsland Conrad Nagel Ann Whitehall Virginia Bruce Tula Lupe Velez Hogan Mitchell Lewis Gregg C. Henry Gordon Released by MGM | Directed By William J. Cowen Proof That It’s Pre-Code Lupe Velez enters the movie in thin strips of cloth. Flint likes calling the Read more
Jekyll / Hyde Fredric March Muriel Rose Hobart Ivy Miriam Hopkins Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed By Rouben Mamoulian Proof That It’s Pre-Code Men need to control their passions, lest they let their dark side run rampant and turn into horrifying monsters who sexually abuse and murder women. Sound Read more
Michael Richard Cromwell Dora Arline Judge Betty Dorothy Wilson Duke Eric Linden Prof. Matthews John Halliday Barbara Aileen Pringle Released by RKO | Directed By Gregory La Cava Proof That It’s Pre-Code There is kissing in this film. Some damn good kissing. A nice car is like a hotel, but 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
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
Lt. Bob Denton … John Wayne Evelyn … Laura La Plante Bonnie … June Clyde Proof That It’s Pre-Code In a men’s locker room, you sometimes see men’s hinders lurking in the background. A Mexican prostitute keeps accusing a jerkwad of being a “Poco hombre!” which probably ain’t super risque, Read more