Category Archives: Pre-Code Reviews

Ex-Lady
Directed by Robert Florey
Written by David Boehm; story by Robert Riskin and Edith Fitzgerald
1933/US
Warner Bros.
IMDb page
First viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 7

Hugo Van Hugh: Oh, those modern young people. Give me the old fashioned girl. Do you remember the bustle?
Don Peterson: Do you?
Hugo Van Hugh: No, more’s the pity. I remember the hobble skirt. Oh, there was an invention! The hobble skirt – they couldn’t walk fast nor far in the hobble skirt. You could trust them. And now… Iris is gone.

This remake feature Bette Davis still in the blonde ingenue mode that she fought so hard to get past.  She’s quite good nonetheless but give me Barbara Stanwyck in the original.

This is basically a remake of Frank Capra’s Illicit (1931) starring Stanwyck.  Helen Bauer (Davis) is a successful commercial artist.  Don Peterson (Gene Raymond ) runs a fledgling advertising agency.  Don spends most night at Helen’s apartment.  Her parents are furious. Don is tired of sneaking around but Helen believes marriage takes the fun and spontaneity out of relationships.  She’s also not interested in having children.  But finally she relents.

Most of Helen’s predictions come true.  So she declares the wedding experiment a flop and separates from him.  She doesn’t stop seeing him though and soon he is a frequent visitor at her new apartment.  The separation gives Don the opportunity to respond to a married lady’s advances.  Helen begins to date Nick Malvyn (Monroe Owsley).  Both partners are extremely jealous.  I won’t say how this works out.  But I bet you will need only one guess.  With Frank McHugh as an intellectual (!) and Claire Dunn as his bored wife.

This is definitely pre-Code but is somewhat tamer than Illicit (1931).  It’s a solid production and everyone, even the always bland Raymond, are fine.  A short enjoyable watch.

Bette Davis sure wore clothes well for such a petite woman.

Employees’ Entrance
Directed by Roy Del Ruth
Written by Robert Presnell Sr. from a play by David Boehm
1933/US
First National Pictures (Warner Bros.)
IMDb page
First viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 7

Kurt Anderson: When a man outlives his usefulness, he ought to jump out a window.

Another,  better expose of ruthless capitalism has similarities to Skyscraper Souls (1932).

Kurt Anderson (Warren William) is the workaholic General Manager of an upscale department store.  Anderson’s motto is “smash or be smashed”.  He has no hesitation in firing loyal long-term employees whom he considers to be “dead wood” or ruin a supplier that misses a deadline by one day.  His behavior with the ladies is equally deplorable.  He believes that love and marriage are unnecessary distractions from business.  Senior management is appalled by Anderson’s behavior and are trying to get the Board of Directors to oust him.  Anderson will stop at nothing to stay at the helm.

One day Anderson comes across Madeline Walters (Loretta Young) hiding out in one of the store’s bedroom displays.  She is desperate for work and Anderson gives her a job but not before taking advantage of her.

Madeleine is hired as a salesgirl/model in the dress department.  Sexy Polly Dale (Alice White) shows her the the ropes.  Later, Madeline falls for up-and-comer colleague Martin West (Wallace Ford).  Martin impresses Anderson with his idea to market boxer shorts to women (!) and Anderson makes him his executive assistant.  Anderson expects Martin to be at his beck and call 24/7.

Before long the Madeleine and Walter want to marry.  They hold off for awhile but then secretly marry.  But they can’t keep the secret for long.   As part of his effort to keep his job Anderson has already doubled Polly’s salary in order to use her to “distract” a rival executive.  Next he attempts to wreck Madeleine and Walter’s marriage.  I will stop here. With Ruth Donnelly as a secretary.

I thought this was quite entertaining. The story moves right along and has only a couple of plot threads to follow.  William is good at playing bastards.  Young looks lovely in her Orry-Kelly gowns.  She models a backless fringed wedding gown that is something to behold!

Skyscraper Souls
Directed by Edgar Selwyn
Written by C. Gardner Sullivan from a novel by Faith Baldwin
1932/US
Cosmopolitan Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
First viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 7

David ‘Dave’ Dwight: They laughed at me when I said I wanted a hundred-story building. They said it wouldn’t hold together. But I had the courage and the vision and it’s MINE and I own it! It goes halfway to hell and right up to heaven and it’s beautiful!

Director Selwyn tries to stuff an expose of capitalism run rampant, a love triangle, and a couple of other romances into 90 minutes with mixed success.

Dave Duke (Warren William) is obsessed with the skyscraper he owns and is named after him.  He needs capital to continue to own the building and will resort to low tricks to keep it.  Duke is a great womanizer.  He has an open marriage with his wife (Hedda Hopper) who lives in Europe.  Currently he is having an affair with his executive assistant Sarah Dennis (Verree) Teasdale whom he keeps at arms length by claiming his wife won’t divorce him.  Soon he begins to mess with Sarah’s secretary and protege Lynn Harding (Maureen O’Sullivan).

Meanwhile, Lynn is being pursued by bank teller Tom (Norman Foster).  She gives him the cold shoulder initially but soon begins to date him.  They fall in love but she tells him she can’t marry a man without money.  Then Dave pounces.  There are a couple of other unresolved romances – one between Jake Sorenson (Jean Hersholt) and prostitute Jenny (Anita Page) and one between Slim (Wallace Ford) and the perpetually hard up Myra (Helen Coburn).  I’ll stop here.  The film gets more and more lurid until its stunning climax.

This movie simply has too much plot.  It could have cut a couple of unnecessary romances that only confuse the point.  Then maybe we would have the time to explore  Maureen O’Sullivan’s sudden and disconcerting change from good girl to bad girl and back again.  Warren William’s character is so despicable that you can only applaud his fate.  We do get a nice art deco office building and some pretty good acting.

The Hatchet Man
Directed by William A. Wellman
Written by J. Grubb Alexander from a play by Achmed Abdullah and David Belasco
1932/US
First National Pictures (Warner Bros.)
IMDb page
First viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 7

Opening Title Card: San Francisco’s Chinatown of fifteen years ago had the largest Oriental population of any colony outside China. Its forty thousand yellow residents were divided into various political factions known as ‘Tongs”, each governed by a President and Council. These various Tongs were almost constantly at war, so the office of “Hatchet Man” was one of special importance. The honorable title of “Hatchet Man” was passed from father to son by inheritance only, and it was he, with the aid of his sharp axe, who dispensed the justice of the great god Buddha.

If you can get past a ton of racial stereotyping and exclusive use of yellowface, this is an OK gangster/love triangle film with another fine performance by Edward G. Robinson.

The setting is San Francisco’s Chinatown.  Chinatown is full of opposing tongs that are at all out war.  The elders of a tong send for Wong Low Get (Robinson) and his hatchet.  He arrives from San Francisco only to find that the man he is to murder is Sun Yat Ming (J. Carrol Naish), his boyhood friend.  Wong protests but finally goes to call on Sun.  Sun already knows the jig is up.  He shows Wong the will which leaves him everything including his young daughter’s hand in marriage.  Then he calmly accepts his fate.

Segue to 15 years later.  Wong has become a wealthy businessman and the girl has grown up to be Loretta Young.  Both are thoroughly Westernized.  Loretta loves a good time but Wong proposes and she obediently accepts.

Eventually Wong is called on to use his hatchet again on a rival tong member in Sacramento.  Wong’s bodyguard thug Harry En Hi (Leslie Fenton) takes his absence as an opportunity to make Loretta his own.  What will happen when Wong discovers Loretta in a passionate embrace with Harry?  I’ll stop here with plenty of plot yet to come.

I enjoyed this but BOY if you cannot get past the racial stereotyping this movie is not for you.

Massacre
Directed by Alan Crosland
Written by Ralph Block and Sheridan Gibney
1934/US
First National Pictures (Warner Bros.)
IMDb page
First viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 6

Chief Joe Thunderhorse: You used to shoot the Indian down. Now you cheat him and starve him and kill him off by dirt and disease. It’s a massacre, any way you take it!

I enjoyed this social justice film about the plight of Native Americans.

Chief Joe Thunderhorse (Richard Barthelmess) is a Sioux who was sent off the reservation to college.  Thereafter he became the headliner in a Wild West Show.  He is wealthy and has white girlfriend Norma (Claire Dodd).  She appears to be collecting novelty sex partners and has her bedroom filled with Native American artifacts for the moment.  Joe has not been back to the reservation in 15 years and  Norma is disappointed when he can’t explain the meaning of some objects in her collection.

Joe’s family writes to say that his father is dying.  So he sets off in his luxury automobile to the reservation for a couple of weeks.  One of the first people he meets is Lydia (Ann Dvorak) and he is immediately attracted to her.  Lydia is not impressed and says Joe should go away because he will never understand the oppressive conditions the Sioux suffer.

Ann Dvorak does not appreciate Richard Barthelmess’s get up or citified ways.

Joe does begin to understand when the corrupt Federal overseer of the reservation Elihu P. Quissenberry (Dudley Digges – was there ever a more nasty villain?) and his cronies attempt to milk his father’s estate and his sister gets raped by the tribe’s greedy white undertaker (Sidney Toler).  The officials see Joe only as a Sioux and a second class citizen. Joe is then out for revenge.  He also becomes a fighter for justice and wins Norma as a friend and ally.  Can he overcome the massive odds against him?

I thought this was very good.  The acting and pacing are excellent and it tells a story that had been ignored by Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans.

It’s not particularly pre-Code except for the bedroom scene with Claire Dodd and the theme of the sister’s rape.

Most non-PC trailer I’ve seen in a while.  Claire Dodd’s description of the plot is a scream!

Mandalay
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Written by Austin Parker and Charles Kenyon; story by Paul Hervy Fox
1934/US
First National Pictures (Warner Bros.)
IMDb page
First viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 6

Madame Lacalles: Well, I don’t suppose it’s any use in my telling you. You’ll have to find out for yourself. But if you’ve got any sense, you’ll make the best of it. You’ll go on living. And before you get through, you’ll find out that it’s easier to make men do what you want them to, than it is to fall in love, and have *them* make a fool of *you.* Anyway, you’re pretty enough to go a long way – if you use your head.

Director Curtiz managed to fit a complex plot in a 60 minute film and to do it well.

The setting is Rangoon, Burma.  Gun runner Tony Evans (Ricardo Cortez) has pulled into port on his yacht. He is accompanied by beautiful Russian refugee Tanya Bodoroff (Kay Francis), who is madly in love with him.  Tony needs capital to make his next gun purchase.  He turns to Nick (Warner Oland), the owner of a luxurious nightclub/brothel, for a loan.  Nick refuses to make a loan but he will give Tony the money in exchange for Kay Francis, whom he expects to be the main draw at the club.  The unscrupulous Tony agrees.

Tanya takes awhile to adapt to her new job as “hostess”/entertainer.  Once she does though she learns the art of seduction and blackmail.  This skill finally allows her to escape from her life of degradation and head off by riverboat to Mandalay where she hopes to make a fresh start.

She meets alcoholic doctor Dr. Gregory Burton on the boat.  He also has a past he is trying to escape.  They become confidants and then Gregory declares his love.  While this is going on fugitive scumbag Tony boards the boat and tries to take up again with Tanya, who is now using the name Marjorie Lang.  I’ll stop here.  Rest assured the drama only amps up.

I thought this was good in all aspects.  Most of these short movies try to cram in too much plot.  This also has a complex plot but the film tells its story well.  I think this was the first time I saw Lyle Talbot play anything other than a thug and he did quite well as did all the actors.  I must say I prefer Kay Francis in her flirtatious, comedic mode, though.  Her Orry-Kelly gowns are to die for.

When the Hays Code came into effect Joe Breen declared that the film could not be fixed or reissued because the central character was an immoral woman.

Downstairs
Directed by Monta Bell
Written by Lenore Coffee and Melville Baker from a story by John Gilbert
1932/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
First viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 6

Albert, the Baron’s Butler: Life downstairs is very simple. But, up there, the rules are different.

John Gilbert pushed making this film to revive his career.  I wonder why he thought his thoroughly amoral character would appeal to audiences.

The setting is a country in Central Europe between the World Wars.  Aristocracy still thrives.  The film opens with a wedding hosted by the Baron and Baroness for Albert , their chauffeur, and Anna (Virginia), their lady’s maid.  Karl (Gilbert), the new chauffeur, strolls in and it is immediately clear that servile decorum is not for him.  In fact, he is a born trouble-maker.  His first move is on Anna, whom he relentlessly pursues.

Paul Lukas walks into his room and finds John Gilbert attempting to seduce his new wife Virginia Bruce.

Gilbert then moves on to seduce the Baroness and even the old cook.  He also lies and steals freely.

John Gilbert makes nice with past conquest Hedda Hopper and future conquest Olga Baclanova

If this had starred Ronald Coleman the character would have been portrayed as a charming rapscallion.  Gilbert plays him more like an uncouth bad boy whose looks have helped him get along all his life.  I found the character unlikeable and his actions deplorable.  So this is not a movie I love.  That said, the acting, even Gilbert’s, is fine and it does have that MGM glamour going for it.

The Wet Parade
Directed by Victor Fleming
Written by John Lee Mahin from a novel by Upton Sinclair
1932/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
First viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 6

Roger Chilcote: [speaking of his drunken son to Judge Brandon and Major Randolph after dinner] Republican tendencies, George, that’s what’s the matter.
Major Randolph: I never knew a Republican who could hold more than a pint.

This is a historically interesting look at alcoholism in America, the potential cure via Prohibition, and its utter failure to fix the problem.

The film spans the period from 1916 to 1932 and examines the fate of two related families. The wealthy Chilcote family still live the plantation lifestyle in the deep South. Roger Chilcote (Lewis Stone), the patriarch of the family, seems to drink all day long and has many buddies who do the same. Roger Jr., his son, is also usually soused. Daughter Maggie May (Dorothy Jordan) is a teetotaler and keeps begging her father and brother to stop drinking and get to work. She has very poor success.

The Tarlton family are the Chilcote’s poor Northern cousins.  Mrs. Tarlton and her teetotal son Kip (Robert Young) struggle to keep the family’s hotel running while patriarch Pow Tarlton is busy drinking heavily and campaigning on behalf of Woodrow Wilson.  Roger Chilcote turns up trying to flee his family and drink in peace.  His sister Maggie May follows and eventually she and Kip fall in love.

The introduction of Prohibition in 1919 is very hard on Pow.  Finally he is brought low by bad liquor he is sold for cheap on the black market.  With Jimmy Durante as a G-man.

I thought this was pretty interesting.  Walter Huston is fantastic in it.  The other actors are a mixed bag.  Fun to see Jimmy Durante in a somewhat serious role, though he is always cracking jokes.  Dorothy Jordan is not a good actress and overdoes the melodrama whenever she has the chance.  The film is almost two hours long and it held my interest throughout.

Nothing for this specific movie so here’s a tribute to Walter Huston. The film is currently available for free on YouTube.

Miss Pinkerton
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
Written by Niven Bush and Lillie Hayward from a novel by Mary Roberts Reinhart
1932/US
First National Pictures (Warner Bros.)
IMDb page
First viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 5

Nurse Adams, aka Miss Pinkerton: Oh, I’m tired and I’m bored! I think I’ll donate my pink and white body to science and commit suicide.

Move over Una O’Conner.  Move over Fay Wray.  Joan Blondell has you beat in the screaming department.

This is a 66-minute old dark house murder mystery.  Nurse Adams (Joan Blondell) is complaining about boredom.  Her boss assigns her to assist the police to solve a mystery that took place is said old house.  Adams’s cover is to tend to an elderly bedridden relation of the victim.  She certainly gets the excitement she was seeking!  And then Police Inspector Patten (George Brent) is easy on the eyes.

You can’t guess the mystery because key suspects are introduced in the last ten minutes of the mystery.  Plus the length does not allow character development.  It’s actually more of a scary movie than a mystery and there are some effective jump cuts.  Blondell is always fun to watch and she does not disappoint here.

Hard to Handle
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Written by Robert Lord and Wilson Mizner; original story by Houston Branch
1933/US
Warner Bros.
IMDb page
First viewing/Forbidden Hollywood Vol. 5

Lefty Merrill: Did Ruth tell you I was in town?
Lil Waters: Yeah. You and the rest of the Depression.

A dose of James Cagney is always a great pick-me-up.  The rest of this cast not so much.

The story begins in Southern California.  Lefty Merrill (Cagney) is a con man.  His latest scam is a rigged dance marathon.  His girlfriend Ruth Waters (Mary Brian) is one-half of the winning pair.  Her mother Lil (Ruth Donnelly) is counting on the $500 to pay her back rent. But the joke is on Lefty when he is left holding the bag by his partner who takes the entire proceeds including the prize money.  Now Lil hates Lefty and wants her daughter to have nothing to do with him.  Lil proves herself to be a pretty ruthless scam artist herself.

Ruth and Lil move to New York City and Ruth gets a job as a photographer’s model.  The photographer is sweet on her and Lil covets his $25,000 a year salary.  Lefty can’t stay away and comes up with more crooked get-rich-quick schemes to try to win Ruth back. The scams are both outrageous and obvious and Lil’s opinion of him rises and falls with his fortunes.  With Allen Jenkins as a radio announcer reporting on the dance marathon.

Jimmy Cagney, as always, is a magnetic force of nature in this film.  However none of the rest of the cast can match him.  Also, I love Ruth Donnelly.  She overacts shamelessly to provide a lot of stupid comic relief here.  Also I thought the fact the mother and daughter wear matching outfits throughout much of the movie was distinctly odd.  Not a bad way to kill an hour and 18 minutes I suppose.