Pre-Code Movies on TCM in April 2024

And we’re back. (Still.)

Apologies for running a day late on this, my family went to the Balkans for spring break and I brought back a cough. I saw dozens of stray cats sunning themselves in the streets of Montenegro, stepped into a mosque in Bosnia, was almost blown away by the wind in Croatia, and stood atop an ancient castle in Albania. And a pipsqueak behind me on the bus gave me this cold, so a mixed bag overall.

For anyone following the TCM skeddaddle, I wanted to highlight April 2nd, which features a ton of pre-Codes, including a bunch that highlight Ms. Ann Dvorak. (If you haven’t heard of her or somehow haven’t done it yet, please be sure to pick up a copy of Christina Rice’s book on Dvorak, still one of the best star biographies I’ve ever read.) This showcase includes the rarely seen Friends of Sweeney from 1934; let me know if it’s any good.

Also be sure to check out the double feature on April 25th, with two of the pre-Code era’s raciest entries with Bed of Roses and The Half Naked Truth.

Lastly, this month is the 15th annual Turner Classic Movies Film Festival (TCMFF) in Los Angeles. While I unfortunately can’t make it this year– trans-Atlantic travel costs a bit more than I’d like it to– I will be deeply jealous of anyone who makes it to see The Sin of Nora Moran on the big screen or the midnight showing of Heavenly Bodies. If you go, I hope you have fun!