The Indiscreet Charms of Pre-Code Films

It was an exciting era in Hollywood, full of bracing and boundary-pushing films. No, not the “New Hollywood” of the 1970s. We’re talking the Pre-Code era, a brief, shining moment in Hollywood history (1930–34) that shattered taboos with gritty violence, stylish and sophisticated wit, peek-a-boo nudity, and brazen sexual innuendo. Yes, in the 1930s.

The Motion Picture Production Code — or Hays Code — was instituted in 1930, three years after The Jazz Singer ushered in the sound era. The Hays Code regulated what was and was not permissible onscreen. First among its general principles: “No picture shall be produced which will lower the moral standards of those who see it….the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil, or sin.” Further, the sanctity of marriage was to be upheld, while scenes of passion, “lustful embraces,” obscenity, profanity, and nudity were forbidden.

But Hollywood did not get that memo, and up until 1934, when the Hays office cracked down and the Code was fully enforced, studios unleashed wildly entertaining films that offered Depression-era audiences a vicarious escape into sex and vice.

Here are 10 films that gave the Pre-Code era its scandalous reputation.

International House (1933)

International House 1933 Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Trailer Vault)

This underseen gem is set in the titular hotel in Wuhu, China, where an inventor plans to debut his proto-television technology called the “radioscope.” This cinematic vaudeville features a staggering lineup of comic and music talent, including George Burns and Gracie Allen, nine-year-old Baby Rose Marie (later Sally Rogers on “The Dick Van Dyke Show”), and Cab Calloway (singing “Reefer Man”). W.C. Fields as Professor Henry R. Quail blows the proceedings away when he lands his autogyro in the hotel courtyard. “Where am I?” he shouts. “Wuhu,” responds the hotel’s fussy and flustered manager. Flicking away his boutonniere, Fields shoots back, “Don’t let the posy fool ya.” (Available April 21 in a newly-restored edition on Blu-ray).

Baby Face (1933)

Baby Face Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Silver Screen Classics)

This melodrama is Pre-Code at its boldest. Barbara Stanwyck stars as Lily, a self-described “tramp” whose own father pimps her out to his speakeasy customers. She ultimately takes her cue from Nietzsche and exploits her sexual power over men, sleeping her way up the corporate ladder (John Wayne is among her early conquests) to a life of penthouse luxury. It’s a shame the film loses its nerve with a love-conquers-all ending, but until then, it is the 1930s equivalent of OMG. (Available on Turner Classic Movies)

Red-Headed Woman (1932)

Red-Headed Woman Opening Credits and Scene (Uploaded to YouTube by The Jean Harlow Experience)

Screen goddess Jean Harlow stars as Lil, an unrepentant gold digger who makes Stanwyck’s Lily look like Shirley Temple. “A girl’s a fool if she doesn’t get ahead” is her motto. Determined to crash high society, she pursues her happily-married boss while seducing a coal tycoon (not to mention his chauffeur). Lil has kinks the Production Code would not allow (“Do it again — I like it” she proclaims after being slapped), and let’s just say that while the sanctity of marriage ultimately triumphs, Lil gets her own twisted version of “happily ever after.” (Available to rent or buy online)

I’m No Angel (1933)

I’m No Angel Theatrical Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Allusion to Shadow)

We round out our trio of wonderfully wicked women with Mae West as a sideshow performer who becomes the toast of New York. This is one of the wild, wild West’s most quotable films: “When I’m good, I’m very good, but when I’m bad, I’m better”; “It’s not the men in your life, it’s the life in your men”; “Never forget — take all you can get for as little as you can give.” Cary Grant co-stars as one of the ostensibly upright men she soon has in a reclining position. (Available online)

Employees’ Entrance (1933)

Employees’ Entrance Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Trailer Vault)

Why should women have all the fun? Warren William was Pre-Code Hollywood’s greatest cad, and this is one of his most memorable roles: a ruthlessly driven and tyrannical general manager of a department store. Bringing a clothing supplier to ruin, driving one employee to suicide and another to attempted murder (of him!) is all in a day’s work. It’s a sign of the Pre-Code times that we somehow keep rooting for him to succeed instead of hoping he gets his comeuppance. (Included in Forbidden Hollywood, Volume 7 DVD box set)

Night Nurse (1931)

Night Nurse Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Classic Trailers)

If you’re looking for a mondo Pre-Code melodrama, this one is just what the doctor ordered. Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Blondell — the Queens of Pre-Code — star as nurses who become embroiled in a plot to murder two rich children. A young Clark Gable is the heavy, the family chauffeur who barks hard-boiled lines like, “Listen, you’ll do what I tell you,” and “Hang up, or I’ll break your neck.” Frankly, he just doesn’t give a damn. (available to rent or buy online)

Scarface (1932)

Scarface Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers)

Accept no remakes — Howard Hawks’ seminal gangster film is the most brutal of the era, and that’s a pretty high bar to clear. Paul Muni stars as Tony Camonte (any similarity to Al Capone is no coincidence — the film was written by legendary Chicago journalist Ben Hecht), who lives by one law: “Do it first, do it yourself, and keep on doing it.” And he does. Even by Pre-Code standards, Tony’s unhealthy obsession with his sibling (“I don’t want anyone kissin’ my sister”) is cringingly awkward.  (Available to rent or buy online)

Tarzan and His Mate (1934)

Tarzan and His Mate Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers)

The second of 12 Tarzan films to star Olympic gold medalist Johnny Weissmuller (the only Tarzan that matters) is risqué business indeed! Until their jungle paradise is invaded by an ivory poacher and Jane’s former boyfriend, the frolicsome couple (unmarried, by the way) lead an Edenic existence as captured in an extended underwater swimming scene featuring an au naturel Jane (Olympic swimmer Josephine McKim doubling for Maureen O’Sullivan). The scandalous scene was excised from the film, but the footage was discovered in Turner Entertainment’s vaults in the 1990s and was restored to its Pre-Code glory. (Included in The Tarzan Collection DVD  box set)

Jewel Robbery (1932)

Jewel Robbery Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Warner Bros. Classics)

William Powell and Myrna Loy made 14 films together, including the beloved Thin Man series. But he had another onscreen partner in the Pre-Code era that generated comparable sparks — Kay Francis. Powell stars as a gentleman thief whose own heart is stolen by a bored baroness. This romantic heist comedy checks off several major Code violations: marriage is undermined, crime pays handsomely, and the police are mocked. In the film’s unforgettable fade-out, Francis enlists viewers as accomplices. (Included in Forbidden Hollywood, Volume 4 DVD box set)

Design for Living (1932)

Design for Living Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Vincent Dietschy)

Fredric March is a struggling playwright. Gary Cooper is a struggling artist. Miriam Hopkins is the muse who proposes that she live with them as a “mother to the arts.” One condition: she insists they have a gentlemen’s agreement—no sex. “Unfortunately,” she observes to Cooper soon after, “I am no gentleman.” Director Ernst Lubitsch’s very loose adaptation of Noel Coward’s play (screenwriter Ben Hecht retained only a few lines), sparkles with the playfully ticklish Lubitsch Touch—the subtle art of engaging audiences with what is not shown—as the illicit trio reshuffles its romantic arrangements. (Available on Xumo Play)

Pre-Code movies are ripe for bingeing. Their running times are short, they are a blast to watch, and they are a constant revelation of what studios were able to get away with when sound films were in their infancy. For more viewing suggestions, check out Pre-Code.com.