Pre-Code Movies of the Early 1930s

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Man's Castle, 1933

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024302/

This one I highly recommend. Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young scratching out a living in a depression-era Hooverville

Dracula
King Kong
Freaks
The Mummy
Frankenstein
The Invisible Man

(And of course, all of Charlie Chaplin's works.)

I just watched Freaks. What a wonderful movie.

The Maltese Falcon, 1931 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022111

MUCH better than the more highly rated 1941 remake.

GRAHAHHH I’ve been meaning to watch some pre Hayes code movies as that’s what falls under mt special interest.. I’m mostly into the fashion of the early 1900s
(Sorry tho I’m
Not really adding anything to the discussion recommendations wise as everyone recommended movies I would’ve )

Sometimes I get a headache because I get so excited.. like right now

Anyway it’s fun to see a bunch of people collected in this thread with similar interests

Girls About Town (1931) is a fun one that could ONLY have been produced in the pre-code era.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75gNm6C48Ug

The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSVvrxO_8JE

This is Norma Shearer's first talkie, and a must see!! !

in Howard Hughes' "Hell's Angels" [1930] there was much mild profanity, such as GD, D@mn, h@ll, SOB/Bastard, JC, @$$, and variations of all of those. all reissues of that film since then have been hacked up pretty badly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpeN7vdQTk8

My favorite movie was left off the OP list. May I recommend 1932's The Old Dark House which closely follows J. B. Priestly's novel Benighted from 1927. The movie was directed by legendary director James Whale.

Thanks! I will add that one to my Must Watch List.

I'm finding pre-code movies to be more to my taste than recent movies.

The book is set to become part of the US public domain next year,
so I wonder what the movie industry might do with it.

I just watched The Scarlet Empress (1934), which starred Marlene Dietrich as Catherine the Great.

You wouldn't have been able to make a movie about such a scandalous woman after the Hayes Code had been enforced.

My goodness. I recommend it. Some historical inaccuracies that could be forgiven. The scandals associated with England's modern royal family pale in comparison.

I watched it. An obvious precursor to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.



A seeming reference to Charles Laughton's actual lifestyle.

If you liked that movie, then you might also like Wonder Bar: a zany Al Jolson musical. The old Legion of Decency would have hated it. As would the modern purveyors of morality, who tell us what we ought to find offensive. BUT, for completely different reasons.

^^
Yes, that's what some of the reviews have stated -- that it may have inspired Rocky Horror Picture Show. One thing it also did was serve as a model (especially Morgan the butler for Lurch) for the Addam's Family.