Louanne Dorothy Mackaill Wally Dean Frank Fay Miguel Parada Noah Beery Released by Warner Brothers | Directed by Michael Curtiz Proof That It’s Pre-Code “Why don’t you marry that guy and forget him?” We meet Dorothy Mackaill in the movie lounging in a negligee cooing a parrot on her outstretched Read more
Ruby Jean Harlow Eddie Clark Gable Gypsy Dorothy Burgess Lily Mae Theresa Harris Bertha Muriel Kirkland Al Stuart Erwin Released by MGM | Directed By Sam Wood Proof That It’s Pre-Code Our introduction to Ruby (Harlow) involves Eddie (Gable) running into her apartment and Read more
Bob Brown Warren William Caroline Jean Muir John Smith David Landau Released by Warner Brothers | Directed By Robert Florey Proof That It’s Pre-Code The film’s opening shot, before it’s revealed to be an innocent examination (but still with plenty of pointed jokes about it): “You said you were bringing Read more
Andy Robert Wheeler Dr. Dudley Bob Woolsey Daisy Dorothy Lee Released by RKO | Directed By Mark Sandrich Proof That It’s Pre-Code The opening features a number of fetching young women wearing as little as a few strips of cloth and as much as some strategically placed strips. Our heroes Read more
Margie Nichols Dorothy Mackaill Myrtle Nichols Joan Blondell Allen Crane Walter Byron Eddie Adams Conrad Nagel Harry Gleason Joe Donahue Walter Nichols H.B. Warner Released by Warner Brothers | Directed By John Francis Dillon Proof That It’s Pre-Code “They padlock a speakeasy one day and the next day the same Read more
Wong Low Get Edward G. Robinson Sun Toya San Loretta Young Harry En Hai Leslie Fenton Released by Warner Brothers | Directed By William A. Wellman Proof That It’s Pre-Code It’s a movie about Chinese-Americans which means, yes, the main cast is caked in yellow face. It also deals with Read more
Harold Hall Harold Lloyd Mary Sears Constance Cummings Vance Kenneth Thompson Released by Paramount Pictures | Directed By Clyde Bruckman Proof That It’s Pre-Code When Harold dons a magician’s coat and accidentally lets loose a flood of mice at a ritzy party, the person who flips out the most is Read more
Robert Mitchell Ricardo Cortez Dorothea Barbara Robbins Jimmy John Beal Released by RKO | Directed By Worthington Miner Proof That It’s Pre-Code-ish A husband and wife have separated and she is clearly having an affair with a very young artist on the side. A young woman (who gads about in 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