Pre-Code Hollywood
Pre-Code films are films created during the period of 1930-1934, before the Motion Picture Production Code or Hays Code was created. Although there was an existing code of conduct for the film industry, many ignored it. Films from this period are very risque for the 1930's and could include sexual innuendos, drug references, references to homosexuality, as well as women in their undergarments, which was quite a tabu at the time. Popular character roles are tough talking assertive women, gangsters, and ladies of the night.
Many classic film fans today prefer these pre-code films for their mix of class and trash.
Popular Pre-Code Stars
- Joan Blondell
- Ann Dvorak
- Joan Crawford
- Clara Bow
- Barbara Stanwyck
- Humphrey Bogart
- Jean Harlow
- Dorothy McKaill
- Alice White
- Miriam Hopkins
- Evelyn Brent
- Ruth Chatterton
- Bert Wheeler
- Una Merkel
- Anita Page
- Helen Twelvetrees
- Nancy Carroll
- Bette Davis
- Greta Garbo
- Allen Jenkins
- Norma Shearer
- Mae West
Notable Pre-Code Films
- Anna Christie (1930)
- The Blue Angel (1930)
- The Divorcée (1930)
- Hell's Angels (1930)
- Morocco (1930)
- Blonde Crazy (1931)
- The Easiest Way (1931)
- Frankenstein (1931)
- A Free Soul (1931)
- Night Nurse (1931)
- The Public Enemy (1931)
- Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931)
- Blonde Venus (1932)
- Call Her Savage (1932)
- Dracula (1932)
- I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
- Rain (1932)
- Red Dust (1932)
- Red-Headed Woman (1932)
- The Sign of the Cross (1932)
- Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932)
- Three on a Match (1932)
- Trouble in Paradise (1932)
- The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)
- 42nd Street (1933)
- Baby Face (1933)
- Employee's Entrance (1933)
- Female (1933)
- Queen Christina (1933)
- Design for Living (1933)
- I'm No Angel (1933)
- King Kong (1933)
- Ladies They Talk About (1933)
- Wild Boys of the Road (1933)
- Riptide (1934)
- Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
- The Mayor of Hell