Pre-Codin' it up!

"Pre-Code films were created before the Motion Picture Production Code or Hays Code took effect on 1 July 1934 in the United States of America. Although an existing code of conduct for the film industry came into being in 1930, many ignored it and it was not enforced very enthusiastically." - Wikipedia


June 3 Bitter Tea of General Wu, Mask of Fu Manchu
June 4 Mary Stevens MD (Kay Francis decides to have a baby w/out marriage...and isn't doomed to a miserable life!)
June 5 Shanghai Express (assortment of people on a train in China that is hijacked by a warlord--Anna May Wong is great as a Chinese hooker--also Dietrich as the "White Flower of the China Coast--"It took more than one man to change my name to...Shanghai Lily")
June 12 The Thin Man (wonderful dialogue!)
June 27 Public Enemy (Cagney as a street hood who makes it big as a gangster--features the famous grapefruit scene)
June 29 Rain (Joan Crawford as a South Seas floozy)


July 19 King Kong
July 30 The Most Dangerous Game (a crazy millionaire hunts shipwreck victims on a desert island) The Old Dark House


August 4 Dinner at Eight (snappy dialogue and Harlow all in white), Annie Christie (Garbo's first talkie)
August 7 Queen Christina (Garbo as a bisexual queen of Sweden), Mata Hari (Garbo as the famous spy) Grand Hotel (Joan Crawford as a stenographer who "understands")
August 19 pretty much the entire morning
August 20 Little Caesar (Edward G Robinson as Rico the gangster)
August 31 Man's Castle (Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young)



Thanks to traceyk65 from the TCM Forums for this list of all the Pre-Code films airing on TCM this summer. Happy viewing!