Kay Francis is star of the month on TCM! What else do you need to know?
Pre-Code Movies on TCM in January 2022
- All times listed here are Eastern Standard. This schedule is subject to change.
- Plot descriptions and casts lists below come from TCM. See the full listings for the month here.
1/3, 8:00 PM – Jewel Robbery (1932)
A jewel thief falls for a tycoon’s wife in Vienna.
Dir: William Dieterle Actors: William Powell,Kay Francis,Helen Vinson
Runtime: 70 mins .. Genre: Romance .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/3, 9:30 PM – Trouble in Paradise (1932)
A love triangle ignites trouble between two jewel thieves and their intended victim.
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch Actors: Miriam Hopkins,Kay Francis,Herbert Marshall
Runtime: 81 mins .. Genre: Comedy .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: N
1/3, 11:00 PM – Raffles (1930)
A distinguished British gentleman hides his true identity as a notorious jewel thief.
Dir: Harry D’abbadie D’arrast Actors: Ronald Colman, Kay Francis, Bramwell Fletcher
Runtime: 80 mins .. Genre: Romance .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: N
1/5, 8:30 AM – 42nd Street (1933)
When revered Broadway director Julian Marsh falls on hard times with both his health and his finances, he helms an ambitious musical as a final production before his retirement.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon Actors: Warner Baxter,Bebe Daniels,George Brent
Runtime: 85 mins .. Genre: Musical .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/5, 11:30 PM – Sons of the Desert (1933)
Two friends hatch a harebrained scheme to attend a lodge convention over their wives’ objections.
Dir: William A. Seiter Actors: Stan Laurel,Oliver Hardy,Charley Chase
Runtime: 68 mins .. Genre: Comedy .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/6 – 03:00 PM – Down to Their Last Yacht (1934)
A society family gone bust uses their yacht for charter tours.
Dir: Paul Sloane Actors: Mary Boland,Polly Moran,Ned Sparks
Runtime: 64 mins .. Genre: Musical .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: N
1/6, 4:15 PM – Top Speed (1930)
A humble clerk pretends to be a millionaire and gets mixed up in a yachting race.
Dir: Mervyn Leroy Actors: Joe E. Brown,Bernice Claire,Jack Whiting
Runtime: 80 mins .. Genre: Comedy .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/7, 6:15 AM – The Bachelor Father (1931)
An aging Don Juan decides to get better acquainted with his grown children.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard Actors: Marion Davies,Ralph Forbes,C. Aubrey Smith
Runtime: 90 mins .. Genre: Comedy .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/7, 8:00 AM – Payment Deferred (1932)
A milquetoast kills for money and finds it a hard habit to break.
Dir: Lothar Mendes Actors: Charles Laughton,Maureen O’sullivan,Dorothy Peterson
Runtime: 75 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: N
1/10, 12:00 PM – Mata Hari (1931)
Romantic biography of World War I’s notorious lady spy.
Dir: George Fitzmaurice Actors: Greta Garbo,Ramon Novarro,Lionel Barrymore
Runtime: 90 mins .. Genre: Romance .. Rating: TV-PG .. CC: Y
1/10, 01:30 PM – After Tonight (1933)
A female Russian spy falls for the enemy during WWI.
Dir: George Archainbaud Actors: Constance Bennett,Gilbert Roland,Edward Ellis
Runtime: 71 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-PG .. CC: Y
1/10, 02:45 PM – Flesh (1932)
A simple-minded wrestler falls for a woman with a dark secret.
Dir: John Ford Actors: Wallace Beery,Karen Morley,Ricardo Cortez
Runtime: 95 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/10, 08:00 PM – Mandalay (1934)
A woman with a past tries to get rid of a former lover.
Dir: Michael Curtiz Actors: Kay Francis,Ricardo Cortez,Warner Oland
Runtime: 65 mins .. Genre: Suspense/Mystery .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/10, 9:15 PM – One Way Passage (1932)
An ocean voyage leads to romance for a dying heiress and a condemned criminal.
Dir: Tay Garnett Actors: William Powell,Kay Francis,Aline Macmahon
Runtime: 69 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/10, 10:45 PM – British Agent (1934)
An Englishman falls in love with a Russian spy.
Dir: Michael Curtiz Actors: Leslie Howard,Kay Francis,William Gargan
Runtime: 81 mins .. Genre: Suspense/Mystery .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/10, 12:15 AM – Cynara (1932)
Infidelity threatens a lawyer’s marriage when his fling decides to steal him from his wife.
Dir: King Vidor Actors: Ronald Colman, Kay Francis, Phyllis Barry
Runtime: 75 mins .. Genre: Romance .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: N
1/11, 06:15 AM – The Keyhole (1933)
A private eye specializing in divorce cases falls for the woman he’s been hired to frame.
Dir: Michael Curtiz Actors: Kay Francis,George Brent,Glenda Farrell
Runtime: 69 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: N
1/11, 09:00 AM – Street of Women (1932)
A property developer is torn between his wife and his mistress.
Dir: Archie Mayo Actors: Kay Francis,Roland Young,Alan Dinehart
Runtime: 70 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/11, 12:00 PM – Our Betters (1933)
An American heiress marries into the British nobility.
Dir: George Cukor Actors: Constance Bennett,Violet Kemble-cooper,Phoebe Foster
Runtime: 83 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-PG .. CC: Y
1/11, 01:30 PM – Bed of Roses (1933)
A girl from the wrong side of the tracks is torn between true love and a life of sin .
Dir: Gregory Lacava Actors: Constance Bennett,Joel Mccrea,John Halliday
Runtime: 67 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/13, 9:45 AM – Romance (1930)
An opera singer leaves her wealthy lover for a young priest.
Dir: Clarence Brown Actors: Greta Garbo,Lewis Stone,Gavin Gordon
Runtime: 76 mins .. Genre: Romance .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/13, 11:15 AM – Kiss Me Again (1931)
A French army officer and a cabaret singer chase each other across Europe.
Dir: William A. Seiter Actors: Bernice Clair,Edward Everett Horton,Walter Pidgeon
Runtime: 77 mins .. Genre: Musical .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: N
1/14, 5:15 PM – Mother’s Cry (1930)
A widowed mother struggles to raise her four children.
Dir: Hobart Henley Actors: Dorothy Peterson,David Manners,Helen Chandler
Runtime: 73 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-PG .. CC: N
1/14, 6:30 PM – The Washington Masquerade (1932)
A widowed U.S. Senator finds himself embroiled in scandal when he remarries.
Dir: Charles Brabin Actors: Lionel Barrymore,Karen Morley,Diane Sinclair
Runtime: 87 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: N
1/20, 3:00 AM – It Happened One Night (1934)
A spoiled rich girl escapes her father, who wants to stop her from marrying a worthless playboy. En route to New York, she gets involved with an out-of-work newsman and the couple sets off on a hitchhiking expedition.
Dir: Frank Capra Actors: Clark Gable,Claudette Colbert,Walter Connolly
Runtime: 105 mins .. Genre: Comedy .. Rating: TV-PG .. CC: Y
1/20, 05:00 AM – Lady for a Day (1933)
A gangster helps an old apple-vendor pose as a society woman to fool her visiting daughter.
Dir: Frank Capra Actors: Warren William,May Robson,Guy Kibbee
Runtime: 88 mins .. Genre: Comedy .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/20, 07:00 AM – Behind Office Doors (1931)
An under-appreciated secretary finds a new job and takes her former boss’s success with her.
Dir: Melville Brown Actors: Mary Astor,Robert Ames,Ricardo Cortez
Runtime: 86 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/21, 06:45 AM – The Man with Two Faces (1934)
An actor uses his skills to protect his sister from her sinister husband.
Dir: Archie Mayo Actors: Edward G. Robinson,Mary Astor,Ricardo Cortez
Runtime: 72 mins .. Genre: Suspense/Mystery .. Rating: TV-PG .. CC: Y
1/24, 8:00 PM – Transgression (1931)
When her lover is killed, a straying wife tries to intercept the confession she mailed her husband.
Dir: Herbert Brenon Actors: Kay Francis,Paul Cavanagh,Ricardo Cortez
Runtime: 70 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-PG .. CC: N
1/24, 9:30 PM – I Loved a Woman (1933)
A Chicago meat-packer tries to keep a rein on his social-climbing wife.
Dir: Alfred E. Green Actors: Edward G. Robinson,Kay Francis,Genevieve Tobin
Runtime: 90 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/25, 06:15 AM – Storm at Daybreak (1933)
Fictionalized account of the events leading up to Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination and the start of World War I.
Dir: Richard Boleslavsky Actors: Kay Francis,Nils Asther,Walter Huston
Runtime: 78 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/27, 10:00 AM – Men of America (1933)
A modern-day rancher faces lynching when he’s suspected of a mob killing.
Dir: Ralph Ince Actors: William Boyd,Charles “chic” Sale,Dorothy Wilson
Runtime: 58 mins .. Genre: Western .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: N
1/27, 12:45 PM – Men of Chance (1932)
Gamblers go after a man with a knack for picking winning horses.
Dir: George Archainbaud Actors: Ricardo Cortez,Mary Astor,John Halliday
Runtime: 63 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: Y
1/27, 2:00 PM – Wild Boys of the Road (1933)
An impoverished girl masquerades as a boy to run with a gang of young hobos.
Dir: William A. Wellman Actors: Frankie Darro,Edwin Phillips,Rochelle Hudson
Runtime: 77 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-PG .. CC: Y
1/27, 3:15 PM – Men of the North (1930)
Mounties track gold mine robbers.
Dir: Hal Roach Actors: Gilbert Roland,Barbara Leonard,Arnold Korff
Runtime: 61 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-G .. CC: N
1/30, 6:00 AM – Grand Hotel (1932)
The lives of the denizens of the Grand Hotel intertwine: a lonely ballerina, a noble thief, an ambitious stenographer, a dying man on a last fling and a ruthless industrialist.
Dir: Edmund Goulding Actors: Greta Garbo,John Barrymore,Joan Crawford
Runtime: 105 mins .. Genre: Drama .. Rating: TV-PG .. CC: Y
1/31, 11:00 PM – Guilty Hands (1931)
A district attorney tries to frame an innocent girl for the murder he committed.
Dir: W. S. Van Dyke Actors: Lionel Barrymore,Kay Francis,Madge Evans
Runtime: 71 mins .. Genre: Suspense/Mystery .. Rating: TV-PG .. CC: Y
Questions? Comments? Or do you just want to bug me? Leave a comment below!
1 Comment
amycondit · February 4, 2022 at 10:45 pm
I wish I could account for my whereabouts in January so I could explain why I missed so many of the pre-codes on TCM! One good thing about having YouTube tv is that I can retroactively record some of last month’s programming, and then try to catch up! Thank you for the comprehensive listing!
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