Category Archives: Pre-Code Film

Update: KING OF JAZZ (1930) Restoration Debuts to Cheers and Tears

Posted on May 15, 2016 by willmckinley

Updated 8/24/16 – New info in italics. “You will be the second audience to have seen this film in a close approximation to its original form since 1930,” film curator Dave Kehr told a capacity crowd at the Museum of Modern … Continue reading →

Posted in Museum of Modern Art, Pre-Code Film, Screening Report, Uncategorized | Tagged King of Jazz | 10 Comments

The Sexy GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 “Sequel” You Haven’t Seen

Posted on May 15, 2015 by willmckinley

Even if you don’t like old movies you’ve probably heard of GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933. The Warner Bros. musical about sassy showgirls and their in-the-money beaus has become iconic, thanks in part to lampoons in Preston Sturges’ SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS (where … Continue reading →

Posted in Pre-Code Film | Tagged Goodbye Again, Joan Blondell, Pre-Code Film, Warren William | 5 Comments

Shampoo = Sex in SMARTEST GIRL IN TOWN (1936)

Posted on March 8, 2015 by willmckinley

I’m a Pre-Code film snob. Or at least I’ve become one in recent years. If a sound film was released before July of 1934 (when enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines began in earnest), it’s a good bet I’ll … Continue reading →

Posted in Pre-Code Film, Uncategorized, Warner Archive Collection | Tagged Pre-Code Film, SMARTEST GIRL IN TOWN, Warner Archive Collection | 7 Comments

Friday on the Couch with Will

Posted on September 6, 2014 by willmckinley

One of the great things about being freelance, unmarried, and childless is, I can pretty much do whatever I want, whenever I want. For example, if I choose to stay home on a Friday and watch movies all day long … Continue reading →

Posted in Pre-Code Film | Tagged FEMALE, Pre-Code, Safe in Hell, WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD | 17 Comments

Screening Report: The 1933 Pre-Code Festival

Posted on May 1, 2013 by willmckinley

On a recent Friday night, I struggled to find an empty seat at Film Forum, the Downtown Manhattan movie mecca where I spend most of my free time and discretionary dollars. Sold out shows are not uncommon at the cinema, … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, Film Forum, Pre-Code Film, Screening Report | Tagged 1933, BABY FACE, Barbara Stanwyck, Betty Boop, Busby Berkeley, Casey LaLonde, Charles McCabe, Columbia, CONVENTION CITY, DANCING LADY, Film Forum, Film Forum Junior, First National, Fleischer Studios, Greg Ford, Hal Wallis, Header Menu, Jack Warner, Joan Crawford, John Gallagher, KING KONG, MGM, Motion Picture Production Code, Paramount Pictures, RKO, THE DONOVAN AFFAIR, The Little Rascals, THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE, Twentieth Century, United Artists, Warner Bros, WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD, William Wellman | 10 Comments

Screening Report: CARTOON CUT-UPS of 1933 at Film Forum

Posted on February 25, 2013 by willmckinley

The cinematic celebration of 1933 – “Hollywood’s naughtiest, bawdiest year!” – continues at New York City’s Film Forum on Monday, February 25 with Cartoon Cut-ups of 1933, a collection of rare animated shorts released by RKO, Columbia, MGM, Warner Bros., … Continue reading →

Posted in Animation, Film Forum, Pre-Code Film, Screening Report | Tagged 1933, Al Michaels, Betty Boop, Blackhawk Films, Bugs Bunny, CANDY TOWN, Casper the Friendly Ghost, CAVE MAN, Charles Mintz, CHRISTMAS NIGHT, Cubby Bear, CUBBY’S WORLD FLIGHT, Daffy Duck, Felix the Cat, Film Forum, FIVE AND DIME, Fleischer Studios, Flip the Frog, FOOTLIGHT PARADE, George Herriman, HAPPY HOBOES, Hugh Harman, Jimmy Durante, Krazy Kat, Leon Schlesinger, Marie Dressler, Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Mighty Mouse, Motion Picture Production Code, Mr. Magoo, Official Films, OPENING NIGHT, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, PALS, Pat Powers, Popeye the Sailor, Pre-Code films, Rudolf Ising, Scrappy, SITTIN’ ON A BACKYARD FENCE, SODA SQUIRT, Superman, the Little King, THE WORD’S AFFAIR, Tom and Jerry, Ub Iwerks, Van Beuren, Walter Lantz, WEDDING BELLS, William Nolan, Willie Whopper, Woody Woodpecker | 6 Comments

Screening Report: Pre-Code Fun at Film Forum’s 1933 Festival

Posted on February 11, 2013 by willmckinley

This weekend, Film Forum kicked off 1933: Hollywood’s Naughtiest, Bawdiest Year – a monthlong, 66-film retrospective of my favorite year in movie history. I didn’t say it was the best year in movie history, of course. That honor, at least during … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Forum, Pre-Code Film, Screening Report | Tagged 1933, Busby Berkeley, Carlotta Vance, DINNER AT EIGHT, early Talkies, EMPLOYEES' ENTRANCE, Film Forum, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Cukor, Ginger Rogers, GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933, Great Depression, Header Menu, Jean Harlow, LITTLE CAESAR, Marie Dressler, Roy Del Ruth, Scrappy's Party, SITTING PRETTY, THE LITTLE GIANT, Warren William | 12 Comments

GOD’S GIFT TO WOMEN (1931) from Warner Archive: One Kiss and You Die!

Posted on January 2, 2013 by willmckinley

The year is 1931. Three undressed women catfight over the lover they share – wrestling in his bed, tearing at each other’s skimpy negligees. One of them is Louise Brooks, pansexual star of some of the sultriest silent films ever … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, DVD Blu-Ray Review, Pre-Code Film, Warner Archive Collection | Tagged "Raymond Griffith", 1931, A STAR IS BORN, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Barbara Stanwyck, Billy House, Charles Winniger, DIARY OF A LOST GIRL, Eleanor Gutchrlein, Frank Fay, Frederick Hazlitt Brennan, G.W. Pabst, GOD'S GIFT TO WOMEN, Hays Code, Header Menu, Joan Blondell, Joseph Jackson, Karla Gutchrlein, Laura La Plante, Louise Brooks, Margaret Livingston, Michael Curtiz, Motion Picture Production Code, Norman Maine, PANDORA’S BOX, Safe in Hell, Sisters G, The Code, The Devil Was Sick, Warner Archive Collection, Warner Bros, Yola d’Avril | 7 Comments

She Works Hard For the Money: The Columbia Pictures Pre-Code Collection on DVD from TCM

Posted on December 10, 2012 by willmckinley

Sex sells, the old saying goes. It also employs, or at least it did in movies made before enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code began in 1934. In the The Columbia Pictures Pre-Code Collection, a five-film DVD set from … Continue reading →

Posted in Classic Film, DVD Blu-Ray Review, Pre-Code Film, TCM | Tagged ARIZONA, Barbara Stanwyck, Carole Lombard, Columbia Pictures, Columbia Pictures Pre-Code Collection, Forbidden Hollywood, Great Depresson, Hays Office, Header Menu, Jean Harlow, Jo Swerling, John Wayne, Joseph Breen, Laura La Plante, Lionel Barrymore, Mae Clarke, Marie Prevost, Mayo Methot, Motion Picture Production Code, Pat O’Brien, Regis Toomey, Robert Riskin, SHOPWORN, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, TEN CENTS A DANCE, THREE WISE GIRLS, VIRTUE, Will Hays | 24 Comments

THE AGE OF CONSENT (1932) from Warner Archive: Pre-Code Passion At Its Most Lustful

Posted on November 4, 2012 by willmckinley

People in old movies don’t seem to know how to kiss. Without a doubt, there are plenty of iconic lip locks from the films of the 1930s and ‘40s, often accompanied by lush orchestrations that infer burning passion. But characters … Continue reading →