PALMY DAYS (’31): Why have I been sleeping on Eddie Cantor films? This one really cracked me up. And between the laughs, there’s bonkers Busby Berkeley numbers for songs like “Bend Down, Sister”- what’s not to love? Sure, there’s some plot here involving a fake fortune teller and a donut factory, but really just sit back and enjoy the laughs. (Speaking of which, that random moment where Eddie just kicks a huge plate of donuts out of a girl’s hand, I howled for hours over that…) #PreCode

THE STRUGGLE (’31): Before watching this I thought, could this possibly be as bad as its reputation suggests? Sadly the answer is “yes and then some”. Poverty Row production values employed for D.W. Griffith’s swan song about alcoholism. I mean, seriously, this is terribly staged and photographed, worse than some early Biographs. Not all that well acted either, Zita Johann (kinda) excepted, although much of her performance muffled by lousy production. #PreCode #oldhollywood

A VERY HONORABLE GUY (’34): Change of pace of sorts for Joe E. Brown, as he plays it a bit straighter in this funny setup of a guy who desperately needs money to pay off gambling debts and agrees to sell his body to science imminently- then goes on a hot streak and tries to back out. A huge fan of Alice White and her early talkie films, so seeing her as Joe’s constantly verklempt girl was a treat. Also love those little things like Joe’s name being “Feet” for who knows what reason. #PreCode

“Week-End Marriage” (1932) — excellent performance from Loretta Young as a skilled personal secretary married to a pathetic whiner. Alas, at the end she is shamed by a doctor into giving up her lucrative career to play housemaid to the whiner. The photo on the poster symbolizes the message of the movie.

#OldHollywood #LorettaYoung #PreCode #TCMParty

STREET OF CHANCE (’30): Gambler (but he’s got a good heart, trust me!) William Powell balances his desire to save marriage to Kay Francis with desire to save brother Regis Toomey from following in his footsteps. I can tell you what I’d pick. See ya Reege! The last third is pretty good, but thought this a bit staid until that point. Kay looked fabulous, her natural acting style standing out even then. Nice to see Jean Arthur in support. #PreCode

Theresa Harris & uncredited black actors have a scene at the railway station • Union Depot • 1932

#theresaHarris #unionStation #unionDepot #ThePansyCrazeMusical #musical #pansy #pansyCraze #precode #movies #classic #film #vintage #theater #1930s #pride #lgbt #gay #queer #History #black #drag #dragQueen #newyork #tuesday #tbt #throwbackThursday #broadway #blackAndWhite #hollywood #altText #newYorkCity #video #facebook #tikTok @AManAndAMouse #crewdteesdotcom #crewdtees

THE PURCHASE PRICE (’32): There was a period, many years ago, where I was (understandably) obsessed with Pre-Codes, and in particular Barbara Stanwyck’s. Somehow I missed this one until now. Maybe that was subconsciously intentional. This is just a weird one, even more so when you consider it’s Barbara under Wellman’s direction. Babs escapes to North Dakota with arranged marriage to naive farmer George Brent (!), though can one ever really escape? Just odd. #PreCode

@QuirkyFilms W.C. Fields in The Dentist (1932). #film #precode

Is that a pistol in your pocket or are you just glad to see me? —Mae West

Well, who else! #BoTD 130(!) years ago.

#MaeWest #film #PreCode

WOMAN TRAP (1929): Hard to believe that a film with Chester Morris and Evelyn Brent, and directed by William Wellman, could be this bad. But it is! One of what probably felt then like a million “crime” pictures. Shockingly many poorly staged shots in this, including the key murder scene where you just see feet! There’s a ludicrous blinding angle, and Morris disappears for like half the film. Brent is a fave of mine but even she isn’t used to her best. Many better ways to spend an hour. #PreCode

Mary Morris and Anne Revere in the gothic thriller “Double Door” (Paramount, 1934). Morris had been the star in the Broadway stage version the previous year. This was her only film role.

#OldHollywood #PreCode #DoubleDoor

Remembering Violet Mary Klotz, a.k.a. #MaeClarke (1910-92), the American film, theatre and television actor, born in Philadelphia #OnThisDay. In Hollywood from 1929, she was unforgettably mistreated by James Cagney in #ThePublicEnemy (1931) and #LadyKiller (1933) and immortalised as Colin Clive's bride in her second collaboration with James Whale, #Frankenstein (1931).

#BornOnThisDay #BOTD #OTD #UniversalMonsters #GothicHorror #WarnerGangsters #PreCode

Torch Singer (1933), a pre-code melodrama. A singing star searches for her lost daughter. A bit sentimental for my tastes but Claudette Colbert makes anything worth seeing (and she wears some stunning gowns). In its own way it's quite pre-code.

My review: https://dfordoom-movieramblings.blogspot.com/2023/08/torch-singer-1933.html

#classicmovie #classicmovies #goldenagehollywood #1930smovie #1930smovies #precode #precodehollywood #precodemovie #precodemovies #ClaudetteColbert

#3agosto #cinemastodon #botd #fineartphotography #precode #classichollywood #oldhollywood

#NataOggi nel 1903 l'attrice americana #AdrienneAmes († 1947)

photo by Otto Dyar

Here are 10 things you should know about Ann Dvorak, born 112 years ago today. She was never a huge star, but she delivered many memorable turns and remains a favorite among discerning movie buffs. #OldMovies #PreCode #ClassicHollywood

The 1929 version of The Letter might not be as good as the 1940 version and it doesn't have Bette Davis but it is pre-code so it's much more salacious and sexually honest and Jeanne Eagels' performance is outrageous. It's worth a look.

My review: https://dfordoom-movieramblings.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-letter-1929.html

#classicmovie #classicmovies #goldenagehollywood #1920smovie #1920smovies #precode #precodehollywood #precodemovie #precodemovies #JeanneEagels #WSomersetMaugham

> You'll go under like all the others.

#OnThisDate, August 1, White Woman (Stuart Walker, 1933) is the #FilmDuJour. #USA #PreCode #StuartWalker #CaroleLombard #CharlesLaughton #1930s #film #cinema #FilMastodon #CineMastodon @film ★★★★☆

WINNER TAKE ALL (’32): When you’ve gone a long time between Warners #PreCode movies, you forget just what a trip they are, how even the most basic of them is a rollicking, breakneck-paced adventure into their own gritty but exceedingly enthralling world. And here you’ve got Cagney! He’s a boxer sent west for R&R, but can’t resist the ring, especially when women like Marian Nixon and Virginia Bruce are involved. (Bonus: Super-young George Raft footage from a now-lost film. Enjoy the randomness!)

#27luglio #cinemastodon #precode #otd #filmastodon #oldhollywood

#AccaddeOggi nel 1968 muore l'attrice inglese #LilianHarvey attiva nel cinema tedesco, lascia la Germania nel 1940 perché controllata dalla Gestapo in quanto non discriminava i colleghi ebrei e aiutò anche un coreografo a fuggire

Labbra traditrici (My Lips Betray) di John G. Blystone, 1933

Aug. 1934 — The press uses Ida Lupino to illustrate the new era of censorship in Hollywood.

They contrast a studio-released photo from early 1934 of Lupino wearing a “yachting costume that is charmingly revealing” with a recent photo of her in “non-exposure garb”—short sleeves and slacks holding an exercise ball.

Left unsaid was that the recent photo was Lupino demonstrating her recovery from an attack of polio in June.

#IdaLupino #PreCode #OldHollywood