It Happened One Night (1934), Trouble in Paradise (1932), Freaks (1932), Footlight Parade (1933), Love Me Tonight (1932), Design for Living (1933), One Way Passage (1932), Island of Lost Souls (1933) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Pre-code movies.
Storyline: A young woman is on trial for murder. In flashback, we learn of her struggles to overcome poverty as a teenager -- a mistaken arrest and prison term for shoplifting and lack of employment lead to involvement with gangsters. In a brothel, she meets a young lawyer, scion of a wealthy and prestigious family, who falls for her and helps her turn around her life. But her past catches up with her, and she must face the music rather than cause him scandal.—GoblinHairedGuy
Plot Keywords: crime, drama, film noir, female lead, courtroom drama, romance, tragedy ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Sexy Texas gal storms her way through life, brawling and boozing until her luck runs out, forcing her to learn the errors of her ways.—Ed Lorusso
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, melodrama, 1930s, controversial, female protagonist, scandal ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: When a movie theater usher is fired, he takes up with criminals and finds himself quite adept at various illegal activities. Eventually though, the police catch up with him, and he runs to hide out in Los Angeles. There he stumbles into the movie business and soon rises to stardom. He has gone straight, but his newfound success arouses the interest of his old criminal associates, who are not above blackmail...—Ken Yousten <kyousten@bev.net>
Plot Keywords: crime, comedy, black comedy, classic, 1930s, hollywood, female lead ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Professor Wong has invented a television and invites everyone to see it at China's International House Hotel. Every time Tommy Nash attempts to wed his fiancée Carol Fortescue, he comes down with an illness, and when he breaks out in a rash, the hotel is quarantined. Into this hotel flies Professor Quail in his auto-gyro.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: comedy, musical, romance, song and dance, absurd, slapstick, ensemble cast ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Eddie Hall and his partner Slim are a pair of nickel-and-dime con men on the hustle. Nearly caught by the police, Eddie ducks into Ruby Adams's apartment and convinces her to hide him. Ruby isn't averse to taking advantage of the gullible herself and has even tried to manipulate money out of Al, the square shooter from Cincinnati who adores her. Ruby and Eddie hit it off, but when Eddie accidentally kills a drunk who was pawing Ruby, he takes off and she ends up in a women's reformatory, where she discovers she is pregnant. Devastated at the thought that Eddie has deserted her, she doesn't realize that Eddie has undergone a great change--one that will have a powerful impact on her.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
Plot Keywords: romance, comedy, drama, crime, classic, 1930s, american film ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In a luxury hotel stage director Nicoleff stages a show to get the money to pay his bills. Mrs. Prentiss, who is backing the show wants her daughter Ann to marry the millionaire T. Mosely Thorpe, but Ann falls in love with Dick Curtis, while Dick's girl friend marries Ann's brother Humbolt. But the hotel secretary Betty knows a way to avoid dificulties with old Mrs. Prentiss.—Stephan Eichenberg <eichenbe@fak-cbg.tu-muenchen.de>
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, romance, wealth, social satire, show business, 1930s ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Allen claims he his being executed for the wrong murder. Flashbacks show him working with Clark as a riveter. When he makes a killing on the horses he meets Shirley and gets married. When Clark tells him Shirley is unfaithful they fight and Clark falls to his death. Later he finds that Clark was telling the truth.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: crime, drama, film noir, mystery, thriller, courtroom, death penalty ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Toni Le Brun, a beautiful Viennese singer, becomes the ward of the wardrobe mistress of a Monte Carlo nightclub. Her benefactor, however, is actually a baroness incognito. Toni falls in love with the handsome Richard, but as they prepare to marry, she comes to believe he is only after the wealth accompanying her new noble status. But truth, like true love, will not be kept secret long.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
Plot Keywords: silent film, black and white film, drama, romance, adaptation, 1920s, american film ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Jerry and Ted are young, in love, and part of the New York 'in-crowd'. Jerry's decision to marry Ted crushes a yearning Paul. Distraught Paul gets drunk and wrecks his car, disfiguring young Dorothy's face in the process. Out of pity, Paul marries Dorothy. Years later, the apparent perfect marriage of Ted and Jerry falls apart from infidelity on both sides. Inwardly unhappy, popular Jerry lives a party life while Ted sinks into a life of alcoholism. Jerry then runs into Paul, who still loves her. After spending time together with Jerry, Paul plans to divorce Dorothy. When Jerry sees Dorothy again, she has second thoughts about where her life is heading.—Gary Jackson <garyjack5@cogeco.ca>
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, marriage, divorce, betrayal, morality, social norms ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Judge Foster throws his daughter out because she married a circus man. She leaves her baby girl with Prof. McGargle before she dies. Years later Sally is a dancer with whom Peyton, a son of Judge Foster's friend, falls in love. When Sally is arrested McGargle proves her real parentage.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: silent film, comedy, drama, circus, 1920s, black and white, american film ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Jerry Strong's the son of a wealthy businessman, but he wants to be a painter. He hires Kay Arnold, a woman with a questionable past, as a model. They fall in love, and plan to get married. But Jerry's parents raise strong objections.—John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, classic, black and white, 1930s, american film, paramount ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Cassie has come to New York and goes to work as a model where her friend Gladys works. She falls in love with wealthy young Jerry who is already married. Gladys has the same probelm with her man Phelps.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: comedy, romance, drama, classic, 1930s, american film, female lead ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Commercial artist Helen Bauer believes marriage kills romance. She lives with advertising writer Don Peterson. He convinces her to marry him. He later carries on with client Peggy Smith; Helen takes up with Don's competitor Nick Malvyn. In the end, the couple agree to give marriage another chance.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: drama, romance, comedy, 1930s, black-and-white, warner bros, remarriage ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: The parallel stories of a modern preacher and a medieval monk, Gabriel the Ascetic, who is killed by an ignorant mob for making a nude statue representing Truth, which is also represented by a ghostly naked girl who flits throughout the film.
Plot Keywords: silent film, allegory, early cinema, black and white, controversial, symbolism, social critique ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: After an extended stay in Paris to care for her ailing mother, wealthy Nancy Gibson is happy to be heading back to her Long Island home to be reunited with her husband, Don Gibson, who she dearly loves. Upon her arrival at the house, Don is not there. Nancy learns from husband and wife Billy and Sally Ross - Don's business partner and Don's sister - that Don is with his mistress, Peggy Preston, who he intends to marry if Nancy will grant him a divorce. Apparently, everyone is aware of the situation and most, including Billy and Sally and the household servants, are on Nancy's side. After composing herself following receiving this devastating news, Nancy, who still loves Don and wants to be with him, decides that there are better ways of getting him back than to be the devastated wife. Acting the modern woman, Nancy pretends that she too has fallen in love with another man she met in Europe. As the other man, she uses the unwitting help of Brit, Sir Guy Harrington, a man she met on the transatlantic sailing back to New York, he who is merely an acquaintance but who is often viewed as the most eligible bachelor in all Britain. Beyond setting in motion her plan which includes her modern self inviting Peggy and her mother to spend the weekend at their estate, Nancy has to try and convince Sir Guy to help her, which may not be an easy thing to do since he himself is attracted to her, and thus would like to see her and Don break up.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: comedy, drama, romance, female lead, independent woman, marriage, divorce ...
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