Pre-Code.com's Essential Pre-Code Films
Published on Pre-Code.com. I have no relationship with that site beyond browsing it. "Please note that this list skips a few movies that have long been categorized as ‘great films’ regardless of the period. . . . I wanted to save this list for the more discerning connoisseur whose goal is to dig a bit deeper into pre-Code Hollywood."
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- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsBarbara StanwyckGeorge BrentDonald CookA young woman, sexually exploited all her life, decides to turn the tables and exploit the hapless men at a big city bank by gleefully seducing her way to the top.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsJames DunnSally EilersMinna GombellA man and woman, skeptical about romance, nonetheless fall in love and are wed, but their lack of confidence in the opposite sex haunts their marriage.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsBarbara StanwyckNils AstherToshia MoriA Chinese warlord and an engaged Christian missionary fall in love.
- DirectorEdgar G. UlmerStarsBoris KarloffBela LugosiDavid MannersAmerican honeymooners in Hungary become trapped in the home of a Satan-worshipping priest when the bride is taken there for medical help following a road accident.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsMarlene DietrichCary GrantHerbert MarshallA cabaret singer takes up with a millionaire to pay for her gravely-ill husband's operation.
- DirectorJohn Francis DillonStarsClara BowGilbert RolandThelma ToddSexy Texas gal storms her way through life, brawling and boozing until her luck runs out, forcing her to learn the errors of her ways.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsBert WheelerRobert WoolseyMarjorie WhiteBarbers Willy Nilly and Hercules Glub have opened a barbershop on an Indian reservation, where they have no customers. When suddenly a white man asks for a shave, several Indians of the Oopadoop nation also enter, hearing the usual barbershop banter about foreign debts, they force them to be ambassadors of their nation at the Peace Conference in Geneva. Ammunition industry executive Winkelreid is scheming to prevent their mission becoming an success, but vamp Dolores aboard the ship fails, falling in love with Nilly, and so does Fifi, the world's toughest person in Paris, falling for Glub. Although Winkelreid is able to steal their secret papers, Nilly and Glub don't give up after being reminded by constant observation of their Indians and enter the Peace Conference, which turns out to be a battlefield.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsNorma ShearerRobert MontgomeryChester MorrisWhen a woman discovers that her husband has been unfaithful to her, she decides to respond to his infidelities in kind.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsFredric MarchMiriam HopkinsRose HobartDr. Jekyll faces horrible consequences when he lets his dark side run wild with a potion that transforms him into the animalistic Mr. Hyde.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsWarren WilliamLoretta YoungWallace FordA working girl is menaced by her tyrannical employer.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsWallace FordLeila HyamsOlga BaclanovaA circus' beautiful trapeze artist Cleopatra agrees to marry Hans the leader of side-show performers, but Hans' deformed friends discover that she is only marrying him for his inheritance. So they seek revenge.
- DirectorGregory La CavaStarsWalter HustonKaren MorleyFranchot ToneA political hack becomes President during the height of the Depression and undergoes a metamorphosis into an incorruptible statesman after a near-fatal accident.This movie is pro-Soviet propaganda.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsWarren WilliamJoan BlondellAline MacMahonA wealthy composer rescues unemployed Broadway performers with a new play, but insists on remaining anonymous.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsLoretta YoungRichard BarthelmessAline MacMahonA veteran fights drug addiction to make his way in the business world.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsPaul MuniGlenda FarrellHelen VinsonA World War I veteran and aspiring engineer tries to re-enter civilian life. After being unwillingly caught up in a robbery, he suffers the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, struggling to clear his name and prove his worth.
- DirectorWesley RugglesStarsMae WestCary GrantGregory RatoffCircus performer Tira seeks a better life pursuing the company of wealthy New York men with improbable comic complications along the way.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsVictor McLaglenBoris KarloffWallace FordA dozen British soldiers, lost in a Mesopotamian desert during World War I, are menaced by unseen Arab enemies.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsCarl BrissonVictor McLaglenJack OakieA homicide detective with an eye for the ladies, investigating a murder in Earl Carroll's Vanities, allows the music revue to continue during the investigation.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsBarbara StanwyckBen LyonJoan BlondellA nurse enlists the help of a petty criminal to foil a sinister plot to murder two children.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsGreta GarboJohn GilbertIan KeithQueen Christina of Sweden is a popular monarch who is loyal to her country. However, when she falls in love with a Spanish envoy, she must choose between the throne and the man she loves.
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsClark GableJean HarlowGene RaymondThe owner of a rubber plantation becomes involved with the new wife of one of his employees.Was remade in 1953, also starring Clark Gable, as Mogambo.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsJean HarlowChester MorrisLewis StoneA gold-digging secretary will do whatever it takes to get ahead in society-including luring her morally minded boss away from his happy marriage.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsDorothy MackaillDonald CookRalf HaroldeAfter accidentally killing the man who raped her and forced her into prostitution, a New Orleans woman flees to a Caribbean island. While she awaits her fiancé, the vicious local police chief sets his sights on her.
- DirectorHoward HawksRichard RossonStarsPaul MuniAnn DvorakKaren MorleyAn ambitious and nearly insane violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.
- DirectorStephen RobertsStarsMiriam HopkinsWilliam GarganJack La RueA wealthy but neurotic Southern belle finds herself trapped in the hideout of a gang of vicious bootleggers. The gang's leader lusts after her, and is determined not to let anything stand in the way of his having her.