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
Ted Taylor David Manners Judy Mason Ann Dvorak Peter Sturgis Ken Murray Released by Warner Bros. | Directed by Lloyd Bacon Proof That It’s Pre-Code Saxophone player Ted Taylor thinks he’s getting a good reaction from a stage manager, but the guy’s only checking out a woman in a leotard Read more
Helen Helen Twelvetrees Goldie Gorio Ricardo Cortez Steve John Garrick Released by RKO Pathe | Directed by Tay Garnett Proof That It’s Pre-Code Plenty of drinking and gambling. To tell a person to get lost, they’re simply ordered to “Screw.” A butler has had multiple wives A nasty gangster lures 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
Bud Eric Linden Vida Joan Blondell Cousin Gibby Walter Catlett Hummell Guy Kibbee The Station Agent Grant Mitchell Ms. Cartlich Jobyna Howland Released by Warner Brothers | Directed by Mervyn LeRoy Proof That It’s Pre-Code A bootlegger, before informing a client about yet another ‘change of address’, pleasantly tells his 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
Bill Poster Ricardo Cortez Peggy Helen Twelvetrees Mildred Jill Esmond Tony Sidney Toler Maloney Robert Armstrong The Operator Zasu Pitts Released by RKO | Directed by William A. Seiter Proof That It’s Pre-Code An old man is running around with a showgirl who calls him ‘popsie wopsie’. Our protagonist smacks Read more
Good Guy John Preston Bad Guy Eugene Sigaloff Woman Mae Stuart Released by Far Eastern Films | Directed by Harry Garson Proof That It’s Pre-Code Our villainous, nigh-incomprehensibly-accented villain plans to vivisect an orangutan! To show the world that all these things he thinks about evolution are true! And he’s Read more
Joan AKA Mary Smith Blanche Mehaffey Buddy John Darrow Scoop Raymond Hatton Released by Mayfair Pictures Corporation | Directed by E. Mason Hopper Proof That It’s Pre-Code The A.D.A. is visited by a woman named Mary Smith. His butler was absent because he was, “playing ping pong with the maid next 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