Pre-Code Movies on TCM in January 2019
It’s a new year! I guess that’s a good thing. I doubt– I hope– this year is one filled with better news. Find Convention City! Sort out the mess with Letty Lynton! Someone with some sense start...
View ArticleGod’s Gift to Women (1931) Review, with Frank Fay and Laura LaPlante
Toto Dureyea Frank Fay Diane Churchill Laura La Plante Fifi Joan Blondell Released by Warner Bros. Directed by Michael Curtiz Run time: 72 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film The film follows a...
View ArticleParty Husband (1931) Review, with Dorothy Mackaill
Laura Dorothy Mackaill Jay James Rennie Kate Dorothy Petersen Released by Warner Bros./First National Directed by Clarence G. Badger Run time: 73 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film “Aw, go to–”...
View ArticleRecaptured Love (1930) Review, with Belle Bennett and John Halliday
Helen Parr Belle Bennett Brentwood Parr John Halliday Peggy Price Dorothy Burgess Released by Warner Bros. Directed by John G. Adolfi Run time: 65 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film Marriage,...
View ArticlePre-Code Movies on TCM in February 2019
Hey hey, ho ho, it’s … 31 Days of Oscar on TCM, which means that pre-Code content is slim. There’s quality, but I mean– there’s not a single pre-Code on the network until the 7th. Really, the only good...
View ArticleMen Must Fight (1933) Review, with Diana Wynyard, Lewis Stone, and Phillips...
Laura Diana Wynyard Edward Seward Lewis Stone Bob Seward Phillips Holmes Released by MGM Directed by Edgar Selwyn Run time: 61 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film The film opens with a nurse and...
View ArticleMaker of Men (1931) Review, with Jack Holt
Uncle Dudley Jack Holt Bob Dudley Richard Cromwell Dorothy Joan Marsh Released by Columbia Directed by Edward Sedgwick Run time: 68 minutes Maker of Men: Fumbles “When you’re talking against football,...
View ArticleLove Affair (1932) Review, with Dorothy Mackaill and Humphrey Bogart
Carol Owen Dorothy Mackaill Jim Leonard Humphrey Bogart Bruce Hardy Hale Hamilton Released by Columbia Directed by Thornton Freeland Run time: 67 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film The film opens...
View ArticlePre-Code Movies on TCM in March 2019
The 31 Days of Oscar is over, so let the good times roll! There’s a ton of great pre-Codes showing in February of all shapes in sizes. Feeling like a ton of Fredric March dramas? Got ’em– he’s star of...
View ArticleThe Road to Reno (1931) Review, with Lilyan Tashman and Buddy Rogers
Lee Peggy Shannon Tom Charles “Buddy” Rogers Jackie Lilyan Tashman Released by Paramount Directed by Richard Wallace Run time: 73 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film It’s set in Reno, the 1930s...
View ArticleMoby Dick (1930) Review, with John Barrymore and Joan Bennett
Captain Ahab John Barrymore Faith Joan Bennett Queequeeg Noble Johnson Released by Warner Bros. Directed by Lloyd Bacon Run time: 77 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film “I’ll be 18 next Tuesday!”...
View Article#TCMFF 2019 – Full Schedule Posted and Where You’ll Find Me!
It’s here. I breath a sigh of relief. The arrival of the full TCMFF Schedule means that the countdown is real– tangible, even. I spent the last week at my job covering double shifts no one else could,...
View ArticleThe Hot Heiress (1931) Review, with Ben Lyon and Ona Munson
‘Hap’ Harrington Ben Lyon Juliette Ona Munson Clay Walter Pidgeon Released by Warner Bros./First National Directed by Clarence G. Badger Run time: 79 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film Our heroine...
View ArticlePre-Code Movies on TCM in April 2019
April is shaping up to be a bang-up month for pre-Code fanatics– finally. Sometimes we get our moments. A new book on pre-Code, Forbidden Hollywood: When Sin Ruled the Movies is now on sale. Mark...
View Article#TCMFF 2019, Day 1: “Can I get you anything else, sir?”“… for instance?”
Thursday — yes, it’s somehow already Thursday– is the first official day of the 2019 Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival (#TCMFF). Here’s a run down of the events I participated in during the...
View Article#TCMFF 2019, Day 2: “I think you’re swell.”
The second (!) day of the annual Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival (TCMFF) was, for me, a packed affair, full of old favorites and new discoveries. It was a cornucopia of decades, tones, and...
View Article#TCMFF, Day 3: “You know, I’m too old for this sort of evening. I always was.”
Sleep eludes me. While Friday was a lot of fun, my third day at TCMFF was hectic and probably my toughest of the festival. Starting off the day, I made it into All Through the Night, a very fun Bogart...
View Article#TCMFF 2019, Day 4: “Big clocks are never wrong!”
The fourth and final day of the 2019 Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival (TCMFF) (I’ve done this literally every day, why) arrived with a warm breeze, a blue sky, and an episode of “Frasier” to...
View Article#TCMFF 2019, Wrap Up: “Long way to go for a party.”“For the record, it’s a...
I went back to work today and my coworkers asked me where I’d been. “L.A.,” I replied. “To see some friends.” The 10th TCMFF (and my fifth) was a rollicking good time. I saw some good movies, I saw...
View ArticleDishonored (1931) Review, with Marlene Dietrich
Marie / X-27 Marlene Dietrich Colonel Kranau Victor McLaglen Chief Gustav von Seyffertitz Released by Paramount Directed by Josef von Sternberg Run time: 91 minutes Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film The...
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