Countess Helene Mara Jeanette MacDonald Count Rudolph Farriere Jack Buchanan Prince Otto Von Liebenheim Claude Allister Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed By Ernst Lubitsch Proof That It’s Pre-Code Jeanette MacDonald is probably wearing just a neglige for about 25% of the movie. The Prince Liebenheim’s introductory song assures us 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
Released by Paramount | Directed By Mort Blumenstock A Broadway Romeo: Smarm City “But I hardly know you!” “Baby, that’s my only chance.” I knew a girl growing up who was obsessed with Jack Benny. I suppose many of my older readers will find nothing strange about this, but in Read more
Lisbeth Norma Shearer Alan Neil Hamilton Steve Robert Montgomery Released by MGM | Directed By George Fitzmaurice Proof That It’s Pre-Code A kiss so hot and passionate that it almost crashes a couple into the ground. Never kiss an airline pilot while they’re flying is what I’m saying here. The Read more
Captain Ivan Orloff Ivan Lebedeff Countess Diana Dorchy Genevieve Tobin Baroness Alma Corri Betty Compson Released by RKO | Directed By Richard Boleslawski Proof That It’s Pre-Code Plenty of suggestive hints to the effectiveness of Captain Orloff’s campaign with the ladies. “He made me tell him things I wouldn’t tell Read more
June Betty Compson Russell Courtney John Darrow Sir Gerald Courtney Gilbert Emery Released by RKO | Directed By George Archainbaud Proof That It’s Pre-Code Our heroine is a poor street walker. “Don’t be so Victorian, Dobbs. Cocktails, Dobbs. We must have cocktails!” A bartender from Chicago is called, “one of 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
Claire McIntyre Loretta Young Robert J. Clayton Ricardo Cortez Johnny Saunders Frank Albertson Released by Warner Brothers | Directed By William A. Seiter Proof That It’s Pre-Code A college party sees one couple heading outside to be alone. “Will I be safe with you out there in the dark?” “Safe? Read more
Mabel Joan Blondell Barbara Hemmingway Ruby Keeler Jimmy Higgins Dick Powell Mathilda Hemmingway Zasu Pitts Horace P. Hemmingway Guy Kibbee Ezra Ounce Hugh Herbert Released by Warner Brothers | Directed By Ray Enright and Busby Berkeley Proof That It’s Pre-Code-ish Leading romantic couple Barbara and Jimmy are 13th cousins, or Read more
Arlene Bette Davis Val Margaret Lindsay Tony Donald Woods Spencer Lyle Talbot Izzy Hugh Herbert Chief O’Malley Alan Hale Bradford Arthur Byron Jake Bello Irving Pichel Maynard Douglas Dumbrille Released by Warner Brothers | Directed By William Dieterle Proof That It’s Pre-Code Notably, the night club at the beginning of Read more