Pre-Code and Early Talkie Films on Blu-Ray

[revgen]

Pre-code films are Hollywood film productions that defied a loose set of moral do's and don'ts called the Hays Code during 1930 to 1934. In July 1934, Joseph Breen took over the MPAA and strictly enforced the code. Hollywood producers during the Great Depression ignored the code almost entirely in order to sell tickets to cash-strapped consumers. Taboo subjects such as adultery, sex out of wedlock, interracial love, abortion, suicide, drugs, and other taboo subjects were explored that were later banned by the Breen office.

Below are early talkies that were produced before the Breen office took over in July of 1934. Some films defy the code outright (Bird of Paradise) while others are relatively tame (Abraham Lincoln).

A-Z

[Show spoiler]Abraham Lincoln (1930)
Alice in Wonderland (1933)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
American Madness (1932)
An American Tragedy (1931)
Animal Crackers (1930)
Anna Christie (1930)
Back Page (1934)
Bad Girl (1931)
Bat Whispers, The (1930)
Behind the Mask (1932)
Benson Murder Case, The (1930)
Big Trail, The (1930)
Bill of Divorcement, A (1932)
Bird of Paradise (1932)
Bitter Tea of General Yen, The (1933)
Black Cat, The (1934)
Black Moon (1934)
Blonde Venus (1932)
Broadway (1929) - Available on the Lonesome (1928) Blu-Ray.
Broadway Melody, The (1929)
Broken Lullaby (1932)
By Candlelight (1933)
Canary Murder Case, The (1929)
Cavalcade (1933)
Chandu the Magician (1932)
Cheat, The (1931)
Christopher Strong (1933)
Cimarron (1931)
City Streets (1931)
Cocoanuts, The (1929)
Cocktail Hour (1933)
Counsellor at Law (1933)
Crime of the Century, The (1933)
Criminal Code, The (1931)
Dance, Fools, Dance (1931)
Death Kiss, The (1932)
Death Takes a Holiday (1934)
Deluge (1933)
Design For Living (1933)
Devil and the Deep (1932)
Dinner at Eight (1933)
Dirigible (1931)
Dishonored (1931)
Doctor X (1932)
Double Door (1934)
Dracula (1931)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Duck Soup (1933)
Eagle and the Hawk, The (1933)
Elysia (1933)
Faithless (1932)
Farewell to Arms, A (1932)
Fast and Loose (1930)
Flight (1929)
Footlight Parade (1933)
Forbidden (1932)
42nd Street (1933)
Four Frightened People (1934)
Frankenstein (1931)
Freaks (1932)
Front Page, The (1931) - Kino Lorber (European Release) - Criterion Collection: His Girl Friday Bonus Feature (American Release)
Glorifying the American Girl (1929)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
Gordon of Ghost City (1933)
Grand Hotel (1932)
Great Gabbo, The (1929)
Greene Murder Case, The (1929)
Guilty Parents (1934)
Hell's Angels (1930)
Hell's House (1932)
Holiday (1930) - Available as an extra on the Holiday (1938) Criterion Blu-Ray.
Honor Among Lovers (1931)
Horse Feathers (1932)
Hot Saturday (1932)
If I Had a Million (1932)
I'm No Angel (1933)
Ingagi (1933)
In Old Arizona (1929)
Invisible Man, The (1933)
Island of Lost Souls (1932)
It Happened One Night (1934)
Jazz Singer, The (1927)
Kept Husbands (1931)
King Kong (1933)
King of Jazz (1930)
Kiss Before the Mirror, The (1933)
Ladies of Leisure (1930)
Ladies They Talk About (1933)
Lady For a Day (1933)
Lady Refuses, The (1931)
Law and Order (1932)
Little Caesar (1931)
Little Man, What Now? (1934)
Little Miss Marker (1934)
Little Women (1933)
Love Me Tonight (1932)
Mamba (1930)
Man of the World (1931)
Man's Castle (1933)
Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933)
Mask of Fu Manchu, The (1932)
Midnight (1934)
Millie (1931)
Miracle Woman, The (1931)
Merrily We Go to Hell (1932)
Monkey Business (1931)
Morocco (1930)
Most Dangerous Game, The (1932)
Murder at the Vanities (1934)
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
Murders in the Zoo (1933)
Mummy, The (1932)
Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, The (1929)
Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
Narcotic (1933)
Night After Night (1932)
No Man of Her Own (1932)
Old Dark House, The (1932)
Old Fashioned Way, The (1934)
Once to Every Woman (1934)
One Hour With You (1932)
One Way Passage (1932)
Painted Desert, The (1931)
Pardon Us (1931)
Pay-Off, The (1930)
Phantom of the Air, The (1933)
Pirate Treasure (1934)
Platinum Blonde (1931)
Public Enemy, The (1931)
Queen Christina (1933)
Rain (1932)
Rain or Shine (1930)
Red Rider, The (1934)
Return of Dr. Fu Manchu, The (1930)
Road to Ruin (1934)
Safe in Hell (1931)
Scarface (1932)
Scarlet Empress, The (1934)
Search For Beauty (1934)
Secret of the Blue Room, The (1933)
Shanghai Express (1932)
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Sign of the Cross, The (1932)
Silver Horde, The (1930)
Sin of Nora Moran, The (1933)
Sin Takes a Holiday (1930)
Son of Kong (1933)
Song of Songs, The (1933)
Sons of the Desert (1933)
Stingaree (1934)
Story of Temple Drake, The (1933)
Street Scene (1931)
Study in Scarlet, A (1933)
Supernatural (1933)
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932)
Thin Man, The (1934)
Thunderbolt (1929)
Tonight or Never (1931)
Topaze (1933)
Torch Singer (1933)
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Twentieth Century (1934)
Vampire Bat, The (1933)
Vanishing Shadow, The (1934)
White Woman (1933)
White Zombie (1932)
Woman Between, The (1931)
Woman in the Dark (1934)
Younger Generation, The (1929)
You're Telling Me! (1934)

USA Silent Films Released During the Pre-Code Era

[Show spoiler]City Girl (1930)
City Lights (1931)
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931)

Foreign Early Talkies with English Dialogue

[Show spoiler]
Blackmail (1929)
The Blue Angel (1930)
The Ghoul (1933)
Looking on the Bright Side (1932)
Love, Life, & Laughter (1934)
Money Talks (1932)
Murder! (1930)
Number Seventeen (1932)
On Secret Service (1933)
Perfect Understanding (1933)
Rich and Strange (1931)
Romance of Seville, A (1929)
Rome Express (1932)
Sally in Our Alley (1931)
Skin Game, The (1931) - included in the Hitchcock: British International Pictures Collection boxset.
You Made Me Love You (1933)

USA Silent Films Released During the Pre-Code Era



Foreign Early Talkies with English Dialogue





Post-Code Films Popular With Pre-Code Film Enthusiasts

[revgen]

The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933) has been added.

[Havenbull]

Thanks for the list. I was just researching pre-code films on blu, and am glad you compiled this.

[javi92]

Great thread idea.

[happydood]

Great thread. Lot of titles available but so many great ones still missing.

[lilboyblu]

Though only in Standard Definition, Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) and Scarface (1932) are included as extras on the House of Wax (1953) and the 2-Disc Scarface (1983) Blu-rays, respectively.

[John_Drake]

Brilliant thread

Let's not forget:

[Gone2HiDef]

Thanks for the list, OP!

[revgen]

Originally Posted by John_Drake

Brilliant thread

Let's not forget:

I've added The Old Dark House (1932).

Cleopatra (1934) was released in October 1934, which postdates the time when Breen took over enforcement of the code in July 1934. So while it doesn't belong on this list, it's still a very worthwhile early talkie.

The Ghoul (1933) and The Blue Angel (1930) are both European productions. Not Hollywood productions, so they don't really belong on the list. But they are worth checking out.

Another British early talkie I like is Rome Express (1933), available on blu-ray from the UK.

[thatguamguy]

For the purposes of this list, would it be worth noting that "Horse Feathers" was produced (and, in this case, initially released) pre-Breen but was re-released post-Breen with footage removed and today only exists in the edited form? I doubt that's the only example, just the one that stands out to me.

[John_Drake]

Originally Posted by revgen

I've added The Old Dark House (1932).

Cleopatra (1934) was released in October 1934, which postdates the time when Breen took over enforcement of the code in July 1934. So while it doesn't belong on this list, it's still a very worthwhile early talkie.

The Ghoul (1933) and The Blue Angel (1930) are both European productions. Not Hollywood productions, so they don't really belong on the list. But they are worth checking out.

As thatguamguy points out, films like DeMille's Cleopatra or Horsefeathers, that may have been released after the Code were written and produced before its implementation and in many cases should make them relevant to the spirit of a list such as this.

As for films like Ghoul, one can see from their casting but also their narratives that they were directly in dialogue with US-produced horror films in a way that other European fare (Rome Express) was not.

Von Sternberg's presence and influence on US filmmaking both before and after Blue Angel would seem more than justifiable for inclusion on the list. We know that the film was screened in parts of the United States and became part of a larger controversy over the sort of moral issues that the Code was supposedly established to resolve.

[revgen]

Added Stingaree (1934), Topaze (1933), and the MOC version of The Old Dark House (1932).

Added "Foreign Early Talkies with English Dialogue" and "Post-Code Films Popular With Pre-Code Film Enthusiasts" sections.

[AsOldAsRhyme]

I wish that Katherine Hepburn’s first Oscar winner Morning Glory was on blu-ray.

It’s the only pre-Code film I’ve ever seen (though there are a number listed that I hope to get to someday), and possibly my favorite Hepburn performance that I’ve seen as well.

[revgen]

I've added King of Jazz (1930) to the list.

[revgen]

Originally Posted by AsOldAsRhyme

I wish that Katherine Hepburn’s first Oscar winner Morning Glory was on blu-ray.

It’s the only pre-Code film I’ve ever seen (though there are a number listed that I hope to get to someday), and possibly my favorite Hepburn performance that I’ve seen as well.

Katharine Hepburn's screen debut, A Bill of Divorcement (1932) will be released on blu-ray later this year by Kino Lorber.

[revgen]

Added The Eagle and the Hawk (1933).

[revgen]

New additions:

All 4 pre-code films from the upcoming Dietrich and von Sternberg in Hollywood boxset from Criterion.

Blonde Venus (1932)
Dishonored (1931)
Morocco (1930)
The Scarlet Empress (1934)

Masters of Cinema/Eureka releases of Tabu (1931) and Island of Lost Souls (1932).

Kino Lorber release of White Zombie (1932).

[hoytereden]

My favorite era. There's a lot of untapped gold out there as far as unreleased titles to Blu-ray go. I'd love to see some of those Forbidden Hollywood DVD sets get upgraded.

[revgen]

Warners/WAC is responsible for the Forbidden Hollywood series. So far, the only pre-code film WAC has published on blu-ray is 42nd Street (1933).

Pre-code actresses I'd like to see more of on blu-ray. Jean Harlow, Clara Bow, Joan Blondell, Joan Bennett, and Myrna Loy. Pre-code actors. James Cagney, William Powell, Warren William, Wheeler & Woolsey, and Spencer Tracy.

Bow and Tracy aren't with Warners. Myrna Loy freelanced until she landed a permanent contract with MGM.

So far, Warner only deals with Shout Factory and Criterion as 3rd party licensees. Criterion is the only label who will do pre-code titles. I'm hoping Shout will take a chance and try Doctor X (1932) or Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933).

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by revgen

Warners/WAC is responsible for the Forbidden Hollywood series. So far, the only pre-code film WAC has published on blu-ray is 42nd Street (1933).

Pre-code actresses I'd like to see more of on blu-ray. Jean Harlow, Clara Bow, Joan Blondell, Joan Bennett, and Myrna Loy. Pre-code actors. James Cagney, William Powell, Warren William, Wheeler & Woolsey, and Spencer Tracy.

Bow and Tracy aren't with Warners. Myrna Loy freelanced until she landed a permanent contract with MGM.

So far, Warner only deals with Shout Factory and Criterion as 3rd party licensees. Criterion is the only label who will do pre-code titles. I'm hoping Shout will take a chance and try Doctor X (1932) or Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933).

Some other actresses who flourished in the Pre-Code years: Dorothy Mackaill, Miriam Hopkins, Ruth Chatterton, Glenda Farrell, Helen Twelvetrees (Gotta love the name!), Kay Francis, Constance Bennett, Ann Dvorak, etc. Some like Barbara Stanwyck, Loretta Young, Joan Crawford had great careers after '34 but others faded.
A great book on these ladies is Complicated Women.