Favorite Pre-Code Films
by allietracy-14-251063 | created - 05 Jan 2015 | updated - 10 Apr 2018 | PublicPre-Code Films 1929-1934
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1. Beauty and the Boss (1932)
Passed | 66 min | Comedy, Mystery, Romance
An executive hires a mousy, plain woman as his secretary so she will not divert him from his work, but she still becomes determined to win his heart.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Marian Marsh, David Manners, Warren William, Charles Butterworth
Votes: 697
2. Bed of Roses (1933)
Passed | 67 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Determined to reform upon leaving prison, a former prostitute falls in love with a cotton-barge owner and must choose between him and her banker lover.
Director: Gregory La Cava | Stars: Constance Bennett, Joel McCrea, John Halliday, Pert Kelton
Votes: 995
3. Born to Love (1931)
Passed | 81 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A war officer who is thought dead returns to the woman he loves, only to find she has remarried.
Director: Paul L. Stein | Stars: Constance Bennett, Joel McCrea, Paul Cavanagh, Frederick Kerr
Votes: 325
4. Call Her Savage (1932)
Passed | 88 min | Drama
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.
Director: John Francis Dillon | Stars: Clara Bow, Gilbert Roland, Thelma Todd, Monroe Owsley
Votes: 901
5. The Divorcee (1930)
Passed | 84 min | Romance, Drama
When a woman discovers that her husband has been unfaithful to her, she decides to respond to his infidelities in kind.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery, Chester Morris, Conrad Nagel
Votes: 3,647
6. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Passed | 98 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Dr. Jekyll faces horrible consequences when he lets his dark side run wild with a potion that transforms him into the animalistic Mr. Hyde.
Director: Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart, Holmes Herbert
Votes: 15,796 | Gross: $2.79M
7. Female (1933)
Passed | 60 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Alison Drake, the tough-minded executive of an automobile factory, succeeds in the man's world of business until she meets an independent design engineer.
Directors: Michael Curtiz, William Dieterle, William A. Wellman | Stars: Ruth Chatterton, George Brent, Lois Wilson, Johnny Mack Brown
Votes: 1,914
8. Freaks (1932)
Not Rated | 64 min | Drama, Horror
A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
Director: Tod Browning | Stars: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates
Votes: 50,547 | Gross: $0.63M
9. A Free Soul (1931)
Passed | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with him.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore, Clark Gable
Votes: 2,932
10. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Passed | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Wrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Noel Francis
Votes: 14,425 | Gross: $1.42M
11. The Invisible Man (1933)
TV-PG | 71 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A scientist finds a way of becoming invisible, but in doing so, he becomes murderously insane.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan, Henry Travers
Votes: 39,894
12. The Kennel Murder Case (1933)
Passed | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Philo Vance, accompanied by his prize-losing Scottish terrier, investigates the locked-room murder of a prominent and much-hated collector whose broken Chinese vase provides an important clue.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: William Powell, Mary Astor, Eugene Pallette, Ralph Morgan
Votes: 4,071
13. The Letter (1929)
Passed | 65 min | Drama
Jeanne Eagels plays the bored and restless Leslie Crosbie who turns to another man, Geoffrey Hammond (Herbert Marshall) for attention when neglected by her husband Robert (Reginald Owen). ... See full summary »
Director: Jean de Limur | Stars: Jeanne Eagels, Reginald Owen, Herbert Marshall, Irene Browne
Votes: 875
14. Midnight Mary (1933)
Passed | 74 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
An abused orphan sinks into a life of crime.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Loretta Young, Franchot Tone, Ricardo Cortez, Andy Devine
Votes: 1,614
15. Of Human Bondage (1934)
Passed | 83 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A young man finds himself attracted to a cold, unfeeling waitress who might ultimately destroy them both.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Bette Davis, Leslie Howard, Frances Dee, Kay Johnson
Votes: 8,365
16. Parole Girl (1933)
67 min | Crime, Drama
A young woman released on parole vows to ruin the life of the man who insisted on sending her to jail.
Director: Edward F. Cline | Stars: Mae Clarke, Ralph Bellamy, Marie Prevost, Hale Hamilton
Votes: 354
17. Red-Headed Woman (1932)
Passed | 79 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Lillian (Jean Harlow) relentlessly attempts to seduce a married man (Chester Morris).
Director: Jack Conway | Stars: Jean Harlow, Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, Leila Hyams
Votes: 3,533
18. Shanghai Express (1932)
Approved | 82 min | Adventure, Drama, Film-Noir
A notorious woman rides a train through a dangerous situation with a British captain she loved.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong, Warner Oland
Votes: 10,309
19. Smarty (1934)
Passed | 65 min | Comedy, Romance
Vicki Wallace (Joan Blondell) takes great pleasure in teasing her husband,Tony Wallace (Warren William), who takes no pleasure at all in being teased and it isn't long before he ups and ... See full summary »
Director: Robert Florey | Stars: Joan Blondell, Warren William, Edward Everett Horton, Frank McHugh
Votes: 563
20. The Story of Temple Drake (1933)
Not Rated | 70 min | Drama
A 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.
Director: Stephen Roberts | Stars: Miriam Hopkins, William Gargan, Jack La Rue, Florence Eldridge
Votes: 1,836
21. The Thin Man (1934)
TV-PG | 91 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Former detective Nick Charles and his wealthy wife Nora investigate a murder case, mostly for the fun of it.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton
Votes: 32,493
22. Three on a Match (1932)
Passed | 63 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Although Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis, Warren William
Votes: 4,391
23. Young Man of Manhattan (1930)
Passed | 79 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Toby McLean, a reckless sports writer on a New York City newspaper, covers the Gene Tunney-Jack Dempsey heavyweight-championship fight in Philadelphia. There he meets Ann Vaughn, a feature ... See full summary »
Director: Monta Bell | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Norman Foster, Ginger Rogers, Charles Ruggles
Votes: 222
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