Pre-Code Films
by vicsabal | created - 4 months ago | updated - 4 months ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Bowery (1933)
Passed | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
In New York's Bowery during the Gay Nineties, a saloon owner and a rebel share a rivalry.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Wallace Beery, George Raft, Jackie Cooper, Fay Wray
Votes: 615 | Gross: $4.36M
2. While Paris Sleeps (1932)
67 min | Drama
To save his daughter Manon (Helen Mack) from falling into the hands of a vicious gang of pimps, convict Jacques Costard (Victor McLaglen) escapes from jail.
Director: Allan Dwan | Stars: Victor McLaglen, Helen Mack, William Bakewell, Jack La Rue
Votes: 135
3. Mata Hari (1931)
Passed | 89 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A semi-fictionalized account of the life of Mata Hari, an exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I.
Director: George Fitzmaurice | Stars: Greta Garbo, Ramon Novarro, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone
Votes: 3,956 | Gross: $0.93M
4. Red Dust (1932)
Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The owner of a rubber plantation becomes involved with the new wife of one of his employees.
Director: Victor Fleming | Stars: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Gene Raymond, Mary Astor
Votes: 4,932 | Gross: $1.70M
5. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Passed | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Wrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Noel Francis
Votes: 14,440 | Gross: $1.42M
6. Design for Living (1933)
Passed | 91 min | Comedy, Mystery, Romance
A woman cannot decide between two men who love her, and the trio agree to try living together in a platonic friendly relationship.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Miriam Hopkins, Edward Everett Horton
Votes: 7,763
7. Little Caesar (1931)
Not Rated | 79 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A small-time criminal moves to a big city to seek bigger fortune.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, William Collier Jr.
Votes: 14,540
8. The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
PG-13 | 63 min | Action, Adventure, Horror
A psychotic big game hunter deliberately strands a luxury yacht on a remote island, where he begins to hunt its passengers for sport.
Directors: Irving Pichel, Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Leslie Banks, Robert Armstrong
Votes: 14,016 | Gross: $0.97M
9. Romance (1930)
Approved | 76 min | Drama, Romance
Young Harry is in love and wants to marry an actress, much to the displeasure of his family. Harry thinks that Bishop Armstrong knows nothing about love, so Armstrong tells him the story of... See full summary »
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Greta Garbo, Lewis Stone, Gavin Gordon, Elliott Nugent
Votes: 1,032 | Gross: $1.60M
10. The Old Dark House (1932)
Passed | 72 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Seeking shelter from a storm, five travelers are in for a bizarre and terrifying night when they stumble upon the Femm family estate.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Gloria Stuart
Votes: 13,106 | Gross: $0.03M
11. The Broadway Melody (1929)
Passed | 100 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
A pair of sisters from the vaudeville circuit try to make it big time on Broadway, but matters of the heart complicate the attempt.
Director: Harry Beaumont | Stars: Bessie Love, Anita Page, Charles King, Eddie Kane
Votes: 8,021 | Gross: $6.12M
12. Cavalcade (1933)
Passed | 112 min | Drama, Romance, War
A portrayal of the triumphs and tragedies of two English families, the upper-crust Marryots and the working-class Bridgeses, from 1899 to 1933.
Director: Frank Lloyd | Stars: Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor, Herbert Mundin
Votes: 5,990 | Gross: $7.63M
13. Son of Kong (1933)
Passed | 70 min | Adventure, Family, Horror
The showman who brought Kong to New York returns to Skull Island and finds Kong's son, a spunky 12-footer with a winning personality and his dad's awesome strength.
Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack, Frank Reicher, John Marston
Votes: 5,299 | Gross: $1.34M
14. Scarface (1932)
PG | 93 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An ambitious and nearly insane violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.
Directors: Howard Hawks, Richard Rosson | Stars: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, Osgood Perkins
Votes: 30,326
15. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Passed | 152 min | Drama, War
A German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy
Votes: 67,706 | Gross: $3.27M
16. Men Without Women (1930)
Passed | 77 min | Action, Drama
U.S. Navy divers race to save the crew of a foundered submarine as the sailors hopelessly prepare to die.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Kenneth MacKenna, Frank Albertson, J. Farrell MacDonald, Warren Hymer
Votes: 407
17. Three on a Match (1932)
Passed | 63 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Although Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis, Warren William
Votes: 4,395
18. 42nd Street (1933)
Passed | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
When the leading lady of a Broadway musical breaks her ankle, she is replaced by a young unknown actress, who becomes the star of the show.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler
Votes: 13,041 | Gross: $2.30M
19. Anna Christie (I) (1930)
Passed | 89 min | Drama, Romance
A young woman reunites with her estranged father and falls in love with a sailor, but struggles to tell them about her dark past.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Greta Garbo, Charles Bickford, George F. Marion, Marie Dressler
Votes: 3,503 | Gross: $1.01M
20. Little Women (1933)
Passed | 115 min | Drama, Family, Romance
A chronicle of the lives of sisters growing up in 19th-century New England.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Paul Lukas, Edna May Oliver
Votes: 7,932 | Gross: $4.58M
21. What Price Hollywood? (1932)
Passed | 88 min | Drama, Romance
The career of a waitress takes off when she meets an amiable drunken Hollywood director.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Constance Bennett, Lowell Sherman, Neil Hamilton, Gregory Ratoff
Votes: 2,587
22. King Kong (1933)
Passed | 100 min | Adventure, Horror
A film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.
Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Frank Reicher
Votes: 91,002 | Gross: $10.00M
23. Disraeli (1929)
Passed | 90 min | Biography, Drama, History
Prime Minister of Great Britain Benjamin Disraeli outwits the subterfuge of the Russians and chicanery at home in order to secure the purchase of the Suez Canal.
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: George Arliss, Doris Lloyd, David Torrence, Joan Bennett
Votes: 1,381
24. Min and Bill (1930)
Passed | 69 min | Comedy, Drama
Min, the owner of a dockside hotel, is forced to make difficult decisions about the future of Nancy, the young woman she took in as an infant.
Director: George W. Hill | Stars: Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Dorothy Jordan, Marjorie Rambeau
Votes: 1,900
25. Animal Crackers (1930)
G | 97 min | Comedy, Family, Musical
Mayhem and zaniness ensue when a valuable painting goes missing during a party in honor of famed African explorer Captain Spaulding.
Director: Victor Heerman | Stars: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, The Marx Brothers
Votes: 15,270 | Gross: $0.91M
26. The Divorcee (1930)
Passed | 84 min | Romance, Drama
When a woman discovers that her husband has been unfaithful to her, she decides to respond to his infidelities in kind.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery, Chester Morris, Conrad Nagel
Votes: 3,657
27. Montana Moon (1930)
Passed | 89 min | Western
A vacuous and flirtatious daughter of a wealthy rancher falls in love and marries a Texas cowboy and rancher, who calls her 'Montana', and eventually clash over their different lifestyles, to the point of almost ending their marriage.
Director: Malcolm St. Clair | Stars: Joan Crawford, Johnny Mack Brown, Dorothy Sebastian, Ricardo Cortez
Votes: 612
28. Billy the Kid (1930)
Passed | 98 min | Drama, Western
In this version of the Billy the Kid legend, Billy, after shooting down land baron William Donovan's henchmen for killing Billy's boss, is hunted down and captured by his friend, Sheriff ... See full summary »
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Johnny Mack Brown, Wallace Beery, Kay Johnson, Karl Dane
Votes: 462
29. Quick Millions (1931)
72 min | Crime, Drama
Truck driver Bugs Raymond organizes the trucking associations and takes protection money. Now rich, he decides to marry socialite Dorothy Stone. She rejects him for another, so he plots to kidnap her on her wedding day.
Director: Rowland Brown | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Marguerite Churchill, Sally Eilers, Bob Burns
Votes: 405
30. The Secret 6 (1931)
Passed | 83 min | Crime, Drama
After rising bootlegger Slaughterhouse Scorpio eliminates his gangland competition, two reporters and a cabal of six businessmen work to expose him.
Director: George W. Hill | Stars: Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Johnny Mack Brown, Jean Harlow
Votes: 1,050
31. The Finger Points (1931)
Unrated | 90 min | Crime, Drama
A rookie reporter receives bribes from gangsters to suspend negative press.
Director: John Francis Dillon | Stars: Richard Barthelmess, Fay Wray, Regis Toomey, Robert Elliott
Votes: 484
32. Night Nurse (1931)
Passed | 72 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A nurse enlists the help of a petty criminal to foil a sinister plot to murder two children.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell, Clark Gable
Votes: 4,492
33. Bad Girl (1931)
Passed | 90 min | Drama, Romance
A man and woman, skeptical about romance, nonetheless fall in love and are wed, but their lack of confidence in the opposite sex haunts their marriage.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: James Dunn, Sally Eilers, Minna Gombell, Frank Darien
Votes: 1,604
34. Cimarron (1931)
Passed | 123 min | Drama, Western
A newspaper editor settles in an Oklahoma boom town with his reluctant wife at the end of the nineteenth century.
Director: Wesley Ruggles | Stars: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Taylor, Nance O'Neil
Votes: 6,937
35. A Free Soul (1931)
Passed | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with him.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore, Clark Gable
Votes: 2,936
36. An American Tragedy (1931)
Approved | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A poor factory worker employed by a wealthy uncle falls in love with a beautiful heiress, but his happiness and promising future are jeopardized by a previous affair with a coworker he impregnated.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Phillips Holmes, Sylvia Sidney, Frances Dee, Irving Pichel
Votes: 949
37. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Passed | 98 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Dr. Jekyll faces horrible consequences when he lets his dark side run wild with a potion that transforms him into the animalistic Mr. Hyde.
Director: Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart, Holmes Herbert
Votes: 15,813 | Gross: $2.79M
38. Trader Horn (1931)
Passed | 122 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Two white traders in the darkest Africa of the 1870s find a missionary's daughter, who was captured as a child by a savage tribe and now worshiped as a goddess.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Harry Carey, Edwina Booth, Duncan Renaldo, Mutia Omoolu
Votes: 1,122
39. The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)
Passed | 93 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
An amorous lieutenant is forced to marry a socially awkward princess, though he tries to keep his violin-playing girlfriend on the side.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins, Charles Ruggles
Votes: 4,118
40. The Criminal Code (1930)
Passed | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
After a failed attempt at running for governor, D.A. Mark Brady is appointed warden of the state prison where many of the criminals he prosecuted are incarcerated.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes, Constance Cummings, Boris Karloff
Votes: 1,381
41. Five Star Final (1931)
Not Rated | 89 min | Crime, Drama
The City Editor of a sleazy tabloid goes against his own journalistic ethics to resurrect a twenty year old murder case... with tragic results.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Marian Marsh, H.B. Warner, Anthony Bushell
Votes: 2,531
42. Frankenstein (1931)
Passed | 70 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Dr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, Boris Karloff, John Boles
Votes: 79,738
43. Dracula (1931)
Passed | 75 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Transylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.
Directors: Tod Browning, Karl Freund | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Dwight Frye
Votes: 58,654
44. The Champ (I) (1931)
Passed | 86 min | Drama, Family, Sport
An alcoholic ex-boxer struggles to provide a good living for his son.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Irene Rich, Roscoe Ates
Votes: 3,623
45. Indiscreet (1931)
Passed | 92 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A young woman jeopardizes the relationship with the man she loves when a no-account from her past shows up.
Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Gloria Swanson, Ben Lyon, Monroe Owsley, Barbara Kent
Votes: 1,552
46. Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931)
Approved | 76 min | Drama, Romance
Fleeing her cruel uncle and an arranged marriage Susan Lenox falls in love with a kind stranger but circumstances force her to become a woman of easy virtue.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Jean Hersholt, John Miljan
Votes: 1,361 | Gross: $0.81M
47. The Public Enemy (1931)
Passed | 83 min | Crime, Drama
An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell
Votes: 23,027 | Gross: $1.01M
48. One Way Passage (1932)
Passed | 67 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A terminally ill woman and a debonair murderer facing execution meet and fall in love on a trans-Pacific crossing, each without knowing the other's secret.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: William Powell, Kay Francis, Frank McHugh, Aline MacMahon
Votes: 4,447
49. The Strange Love of Molly Louvain (1932)
Not Rated | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Molly Louvain's plans for a respectable marriage with her sweetheart Ralph fall through so she takes to the road with a two-bit crook and becomes wanted by the police in connection with a high-profile crime.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Ann Dvorak, Lee Tracy, Richard Cromwell, Guy Kibbee
Votes: 587
50. Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
Passed | 61 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
A mad scientist seeks to mingle human blood with that of an ape, and resorts to kidnapping women for his experiments.
Director: Robert Florey | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Sidney Fox, Leon Ames, Bert Roach
Votes: 5,265
51. So Big! (1932)
Unrated | 81 min | Drama, Romance
After Selina's father dies, she's offered a job as a teacher in a small town and a new chapter of her life begins.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Dickie Moore, Bette Davis
Votes: 1,825
52. Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
Passed | 100 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
A trader and his daughter set off in search of the fabled graveyard of the elephants in deepest Africa, only to encounter a wild man raised by apes.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Johnny Weissmuller, Neil Hamilton, C. Aubrey Smith, Maureen O'Sullivan
Votes: 8,219
53. 6 Hours to Live (1932)
Approved | 72 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A murder victim is brought back to life by a scientific experiment. However, the effects only last for six hours, and he must find his killer in that time.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Warner Baxter, Miriam Jordan, John Boles, George F. Marion
Votes: 180
54. Devil and the Deep (1932)
Passed | 78 min | Drama
A man sets out for revenge after learning of his wife's affair.
Director: Marion Gering | Stars: Tallulah Bankhead, Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton, Cary Grant
Votes: 823
55. The Story of Temple Drake (1933)
Not Rated | 70 min | Drama
A wealthy but neurotic Southern belle finds herself trapped in the hideout of a gang of vicious bootleggers. The gang's leader lusts after her, and is determined not to let anything stand in the way of his having her.
Director: Stephen Roberts | Stars: Miriam Hopkins, William Gargan, Jack La Rue, Florence Eldridge
Votes: 1,842
56. Female (1933)
Passed | 60 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Alison Drake, the tough-minded executive of an automobile factory, succeeds in the man's world of business until she meets an independent design engineer.
Directors: Michael Curtiz, William Dieterle, William A. Wellman | Stars: Ruth Chatterton, George Brent, Lois Wilson, Johnny Mack Brown
Votes: 1,915
57. Heroes for Sale (1933)
Passed | 76 min | Drama, Romance, War
A veteran fights drug addiction to make his way in the business world.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Loretta Young, Richard Barthelmess, Aline MacMahon, Gordon Westcott
Votes: 2,515
58. Red-Headed Woman (1932)
Passed | 79 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Lillian (Jean Harlow) relentlessly attempts to seduce a married man (Chester Morris).
Director: Jack Conway | Stars: Jean Harlow, Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, Leila Hyams
Votes: 3,537
59. I'm No Angel (1933)
Passed | 87 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
Circus performer Tira seeks a better life pursuing the company of wealthy New York men with improbable comic complications along the way.
Director: Wesley Ruggles | Stars: Mae West, Cary Grant, Gregory Ratoff, Edward Arnold
Votes: 3,980 | Gross: $6.21M
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