Pre-Code Hollywood Articles

THE LETTER (1929) Direction: Jean de Limur Cast: Jeanne Eagels, O.P. Heggie, Reginald Owen, Herbert Marshall, Irene Browne, Lady Tsen Mei, Tamaki Yoshiwara Screenplay: Garrett Fort; from W. Somerset Maugham's 1927 play, itself based on a Maugham story found in the 1924 collection The Casuarina Tree Oscar Movies, Pre-Code Movies Jeanne Eagels, Herbert Marshall, The Letter Having watched William Wyler's masterful 1940 film adaptation of [...]

Ann Dvorak, Paul Muni, Dr. Socrates Ann Dvorak Pt.3: SCARFACE, Warner Bros. Leading Lady, But Never a Star Ann Dvorak played opposite most big names at Warner Bros. in the 1930s. In addition to the aforementioned Joan Blondell and Bette Davis, there were Warren William, Paul Muni, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., James Cagney, Dick Powell, Pat O'Brien, and Richard Barthelmess, among others. How did she get [...]

THE BARKER (1928) Direction: George Fitzmaurice Cast: Milton Sills, Dorothy Mackaill, Betty Compson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Sylvia Ashton, George Cooper Screenplay: Benjamin Glazer; dialogue by Joseph Jackson; titles by Herman J. Mankiewicz, from Kenyon Nicholson's 1927 play Oscar Movies, Pre-Code Movies Dorothy Mackaill, Milton Sills, The Barker Directed by George Fitzmaurice, by then already a film veteran, The Barker is one of those strange hybrids [...]

SORRELL AND SON (1927) Direction: Herbert Brenon Cast: H. B. Warner, Nils Asther, Anna Q. Nilsson, Alice Joyce, Carmel Myers, Mary Nolan, Mickey McBan, Louis Wolheim, Norman Trevor, Lionel Belmore Screenplay: Elizabeth Meehan; from Warwick Deeping's novel Oscar Movies Recommended H. B. Warner, Alice Joyce, Sorrell and Son A skilled melodrama about paternal devotion in the face of both personal and social adversity, Sorrell and [...]