Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Baby Face (1933), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933), The Big Broadcast (1932), Flying Down to Rio (1933), Roman Scandals (1933), Ten Cents a Dance (1931) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Pre-code Hollywood movies.
Storyline: Chorus girls Polly, Carol and Trixie are ecstatic when they learn that Broadway producer Barney Hopkins is putting on a new show. He promises all of the girls parts in the new show and even hires their neighbor Brad Roberts, an unknown composer, to write some of the music. There's only one problem: he doesn't have the money to bankroll it all. That problem is solved when Brad turns out to be quite rich but he insists that he not perform. When opening night comes, the juvenile lead can't go on forcing Brad to take the stage. He's recognized of course and his upper crust family wants him to quit. When he refuses, they tell him to end his relationship with Polly or face having his income cut off. When Brad's snobbish brother Lawrence mistakes Carol for Polly, the girls decide to have a bit of fun and teach him a lesson.—garykmcd
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, drama, romance, show business, dance, song and dance ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Lilly (Baby Face) sleeps her way from basement speakeasy bartender, literally floor by floor, to the top floor of a New York office building. Bank sub-manager Jimmy McCoy finds her a job in the bank only to be cast aside as she hooks up with the bank's president. When he complains of not seeing her she says: "I'm working so hard I have to go to bed early every night."—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: pre-code hollywood, drama, romance, feminism, prostitution, ambition, sexual liberation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men - a good and an evil side. He believes that by separating the two man can become liberated. He succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes. When he discontinues use of the drug it is already too late...
Plot Keywords: horror, thriller, drama, psychological, classic, black and white, adaptation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Bumper (Al Jolson) is a vagabond leader of a strange group of tatterdemalions and eccentrics who hang around New York's Central Park. Among his followers are Egghead (Harry Langdon), Sunday (Chester Conklin), Acorn (Edgar Conner) , The General (Victor Potel), Orlando (Tammany Young) and Apple Mary (Louise Carver). Bumper's idol is Mayor Hastings (Frank Morgan), whose life he once saved and frequently has lunch at the Park Casino. Bumper is always on hand to open the door of the Mayor's Rolls Royce, and the Mayor makes it a point to linger a moment at the entrance and listen to the whimsical Bumper's philosophy and ideas abut life. Through his contact with the Mayor, Bumper is able to "fix" things when the other vagabonds get in trouble. The Mayor cannot fathom why Bumper, an unusually bright fellow, is content to spend his life in the park, doing nothing. The Mayor, for all his power and popularity, is unhappy. He's in love ----and madly jealous. He believes his sweetheart June Marcher (Madge Bellamy) is "two-timing" him. At lunch he slips a $1,000 in her purse. She loses it and the Mayor accuses her of giving it to another man. Bumper find the purse and takes it to the address in the purse and is met there by the exiting Mayor. He does not see nor know June. Later,The grief-stricken June attempts suicide by jumping from a bridge and is rescued by Bumper, but has lost her memory. He takes her to the tenement home of the Sundays, and asks the Mayor to get him a job, as he has a new interest, known to him as Angel, in his life. He spends his money making Angel happy and she falls in love with him. Meanwhile, the Mayor, despondent over not being able to locate the missing June, goes on a drinking binge and is found asleep in the park by Bumper's friends, who take him hoe and notify Bumper. While Bumper is trying to sober him up, Hastings begins talking to a photograph. Bumper discovers the woman in the photograph is that of Angel, and that the girl of his dreams is the Mayor's sweetheart. Bumper takes his friend to the Sunday family tenement and the sight of the Mayor and his voice as he clasps her in his arms restores June's memory. She pleads to be taken away from "this awful place". All she remembers is walking in the park at night. Bumper is a stranger to her. The Mayor takes her away, out of Bumper's life. Bumper returns to the park and his former life.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, romance, satire, social commentary, great depression, poverty ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A radio-singer, Bing Hornsby, is none-too-concerned about his job, and an affair with Mona leads to his dismissal. When it appears Hornsby is getting and paying a lot of attention to his fiancée, Anita Rogers, station manager Leslie McWhinney buys the station, gives Hornsby his job back, and goes on a honeymoon with Anita.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, romance, pre-code hollywood, ensemble cast, 1930s, black-and-white ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Aviator and band leader Roger Bond is forever getting his group fired for flirting with the lady guests. When he falls for Brazilian beauty Belinha de Rezende it appears to be for real, even though she is already engaged. His Yankee Clippers band is hired to open the new Hotel Atlântico in Rio and Roger offers to fly Belinha part way home. After a mechanical breakdown and forced landing, Roger is confident and makes his move, but Belinha plays hard to get. She can't seem to decide between Roger and her fiance Júlio. When performing the airborne production number to mark the Hotel's opening, Júlio gets some intriguing ideas...—Gary Jackson <garyjack5@cogeco.ca>
Plot Keywords: musical, romance, comedy, dance, 1930s, fred astaire, aviation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A kind-hearted young man is thrown out of his corrupt home town of West Rome, Oklahoma. He falls asleep and dreams that he is back in the days of olden Rome, where he gets mixed up with court intrigue and a murder plot against the Emperor.
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, golden age of hollywood, satire, ancient rome, slapstick, pre-code hollywood ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Men pay a dime to dance with Barbara and her fellow taxi dancers. She marries Eddie and quits dancing, but before that, she meets with the handsome and very rich Bradley. Barbara eventually starts dancing again, since her marriage is plagued by financial tension, and Bradley begins visiting her again. Eddie becomes jealous, accusing his wife of infidelity. He sees that alleged infidelity as an excuse to steal money from Bradley.—Ulf Kjell Gür
Plot Keywords: musical, drama, romance, dance, working class, nightclub, love triangle ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Clark Gable plays a card cheat who has to go on the lam to avoid a pesky cop. He meets a lonely, but slightly wild, librarian, Carole Lombard, while he is hiding out. The two get married after Lombard wins a coin flip and they move back to the city. Gable continues his gambling/cheating scheme unbeknownst to Lombard. When she discovers his "other life", she presures him to quit. Gable feels crowded and tells her that he is leaving for South America. In fact, Gable has decided he wants to go straight and turns himself in to the cop...—Jordan Caldwell <jcaldwell@tamu.edu>
Plot Keywords: romance, drama, comedy, pre-code hollywood, marriage, gambling, deception ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A musical comedy about a Brooklyn boy (Eddie Cantor) who inherits a fortune from his archaeologist father, but has to go to Egypt to claim it.—Alessandro Martini <alemartini@geocities.com>
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, 1930s, black-and-white, inheritance, song and dance, slapstick ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Western sheriff Bob Wells is preparing to marry Sally Morgan; she loves part-Indian Wanenis, whose race is an obstacle. Sally flees the wedding with hypochondriac Henry Williams, who thinks he's just giving her a ride; but she left a note saying they've eloped! Chasing them are jilted Bob, Henry's nurse Mary (who's been trying to seduce him) and others.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, romance, western, pre-code hollywood, song and dance, mischief ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A vaudeville star has to leave her daughter with her dead husband's stuffy Boston parents while she makes a living. But when the daughter shows some talent, the mother become a stage mother and pushes her daughter into becoming a Broadway star. The mother is a monster with a heart of gold, and after breaking up the daughter's love affair, finally sees the error of her ways.—Ed Lorusso
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, drama, theatre, backstage, show business, mother-daughter relationship ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A sassy female cattle rancher, Cleo Borden (Mae West), wants nothing more than to sashay her way into the moneyed class.
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, romance, western, 1930s, wealth, nightclub ...
Movie Details Click Here !