Pre-Code
by MrHeiterkeit | created - 16 Jan 2021 | updated - 2 months ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Anna Christie (I) (1930)
Passed | 89 min | Drama, Romance
A young woman reunites with her estranged father and falls in love with a sailor, but struggles to tell them about her dark past.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion, Marie Dressler
Votes: 3,505 | Gross: $1.01M
6/10 German version is slightly better.
2. Safe in Hell (1931)
Passed | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
After accidentally killing the man who raped her and forced her into prostitution, a New Orleans woman flees to a Caribbean island. While she awaits her fiancé, the vicious local police chief sets his sights on her.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Dorothy Mackaill, Donald Cook, Ralf Harolde, John Wray
Votes: 2,041
6/10
3. Girls About Town (1931)
80 min | Comedy, Romance
Two gold-diggers prey on rich old men, but one of them falls in love with a rich young man.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Kay Francis, Joel McCrea, Lilyan Tashman, Eugene Pallette
Votes: 705
7/10
4. Night Nurse (1931)
Passed | 72 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A nurse enlists the help of a petty criminal to foil a sinister plot to murder two children.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell, Clark Gable
Votes: 4,496
7/10
5. The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
PG-13 | 63 min | Action, Adventure, Horror
A psychotic big game hunter deliberately strands a luxury yacht on a remote island, where he begins to hunt its passengers for sport.
Directors: Irving Pichel, Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Leslie Banks, Robert Armstrong
Votes: 14,021 | Gross: $0.97M
7/10
6. Jewel Robbery (1932)
Passed | 68 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
A gentleman thief charms a Viennese baron's wife and also conducts a daring daylight robbery of a jewellers.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: William Powell, Kay Francis, Helen Vinson, Hardie Albright
Votes: 2,582
9/10
7. One Way Passage (1932)
Passed | 67 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A terminally ill woman and a debonair murderer facing execution meet and fall in love on a trans-Pacific crossing, each without knowing the other's secret.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: William Powell, Kay Francis, Frank McHugh, Aline MacMahon
Votes: 4,448
9/10
8. Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
A gentleman thief and a lady pickpocket join forces to con a beautiful perfume company owner. Romantic entanglements and jealousies confuse the scheme.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, Charles Ruggles
Votes: 16,208 | Gross: $1.04M
9/10
9. Frisco Jenny (1932)
Passed | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Music
The San Francisco earthquake shakes up the life of Jenny, a madam who gives birth to an illegitimate son and gives him up to protect him.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Ruth Chatterton, Louis Calhern, Helen Jerome Eddy, Donald Cook
Votes: 1,188
10. 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: 4,395
8/10
11. Thirteen Women (1932)
Passed | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
Ursula plots to murder 12 women with her supernatural powers.
Director: George Archainbaud | Stars: Irene Dunne, Ricardo Cortez, Jill Esmond, Myrna Loy
Votes: 1,867
8/10
12. Scarface (1932)
PG | 93 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An ambitious and nearly insane violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.
Directors: Howard Hawks, Richard Rosson | Stars: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, Osgood Perkins
Votes: 30,338
7/10
13. Employees' Entrance (1933)
Passed | 75 min | Drama, Romance
A working girl is menaced by her tyrannical employer.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Warren William, Loretta Young, Wallace Ford, Alice White
Votes: 1,640
14. She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Passed | 66 min | Comedy, Drama, History
In the Gay Nineties, a seductive nightclub singer contends with several suitors, including a jealous escaped convict and a handsome temperance league member.
Director: Lowell Sherman | Stars: Mae West, Cary Grant, Owen Moore, Gilbert Roland
Votes: 7,046 | Gross: $4.80M
6/10
15. I'm No Angel (1933)
Passed | 87 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
Circus performer Tira seeks a better life pursuing the company of wealthy New York men with improbable comic complications along the way.
Director: Wesley Ruggles | Stars: Mae West, Cary Grant, Gregory Ratoff, Edward Arnold
Votes: 3,984 | Gross: $6.21M
16. Baby Face (1933)
Approved | 71 min | Drama, Romance
A young woman, sexually exploited all her life, decides to turn the tables and exploit the hapless men at a big city bank by gleefully seducing her way to the top.
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Donald Cook, Alphonse Ethier
Votes: 8,173
9/10
17. 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: 1,843
6/10
18. The Keyhole (1933)
Passed | 69 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Anne Brooks is being blackmailed by her old dancing partner Maurice. They married when she was young but broke up after which he said he was getting a quickie divorce. Anne married the much... See full summary »
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Kay Francis, George Brent, Glenda Farrell, Monroe Owsley
Votes: 665
5/10
19. Ex-Lady (1933)
Unrated | 67 min | Comedy, Drama
Although free spirit Helen Bauer does not believe in marriage, she consents to marry Don, but his infidelities cause her to also take on a lover.
Director: Robert Florey | Stars: Bette Davis, Gene Raymond, Frank McHugh, Monroe Owsley
Votes: 1,692 | Gross: $0.50M
7/10
20. Design for Living (1933)
Passed | 91 min | Comedy, Mystery, Romance
A woman cannot decide between two men who love her, and the trio agree to try living together in a platonic friendly relationship.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Miriam Hopkins, Edward Everett Horton
Votes: 7,766
8/10
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: 32,564
7/10
22. 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: 8,392
8/10
23. Blonde Venus (1932)
Passed | 93 min | Drama
A cabaret singer takes up with a millionaire to pay for her gravely-ill husband's operation.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, Cary Grant, Herbert Marshall, Dickie Moore
Votes: 5,627
24. 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: 905
25. 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: 3,657
26. 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: 2,936
27. 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: 1,916
28. Mandalay (1934)
Passed | 65 min | Drama
Abandoned by her lover, a woman becomes the main "hostess" in a decadent nightclub, but tries to put her past behind her on a steamer to Mandalay.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Kay Francis, Ricardo Cortez, Warner Oland, Lyle Talbot
Votes: 1,125
29. Strangers in Love (1932)
76 min | Comedy, Drama
A 1932 American Pre-Code comedy film directed by Lothar Mendes and written by Grover Jones, William J. Locke, and William Slavens McNutt; it stars Fredric March, Kay Francis, Stuart Erwin, ... See full summary »
Director: Lothar Mendes | Stars: Fredric March, Kay Francis, Stuart Erwin, Juliette Compton
Votes: 189
30. Union Depot (1932)
Passed | 67 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Travelers of different and varied backgrounds meet and interact on one night in a metropolitan train station and its environs.
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee, Alan Hale
Votes: 1,185
31. Man Wanted (1932)
Passed | 62 min | Romance, Comedy, Drama
A female editor of a magazine falls in love with her male secretary.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Kay Francis, David Manners, Una Merkel, Andy Devine
Votes: 857
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