Tag Archives: Pre-Code

The Camera Loves…

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes: …Miriam Hopkins. Click on the image to enlarge.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Hollywood, Miriam Hopkins, Pre-Code | 1 Comment

Book Notes: “Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career”

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes: I semi-enjoyed this biography of the ’30s film star Kay Francis, a once hugely popular and famous actress from the Hollywood Golden Age who is now remembered only by film buffs. For the uninitiated, Francis was known as … Continue reading →

Posted in Books Publishing and Writing, Movies | Tagged Hollywood, Kay Francis, Pre-Code | 2 Comments

Movie Still Du Jour

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes: Kay Francis and William Powell in Tay Garnett’s ONE WAY PASSAGE (1932). Not only was this Francis’s personal favorite of all her films, but Charles Willeford was a fan. Thirteen years old when he saw it, he later … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged Hollywood, Kay Francis, Pre-Code, Tay Garnett, William Powell | Leave a comment

“Lawyer Man” (1933)

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes: I enjoyed this Pre-Code film directed by William Dieterle starring William Powell as Anton Adam, a lawyer who is “just a small time mouse trying to be a big time rat.” Tired of defending nobodies on the Lower … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Movies, Performers | Tagged Joan Blondell, Kay Francis, lawyers, Pre-Code, William Dieterle, William Powell | 4 Comments

“Female”

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: In the 1933 “Female,” Ruth Chatteron plays a successful industrialist who goes through men with the efficiency of a Catherine the Great. When she fancies a secretary (they’re all male), she invites them to her manse for dinner, … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Performers | Tagged Female, Film, George Brent, Michael Curtiz, movies, Pre-Code, Romantic Comedy, Ruth Chatterton, William Dieterle, William Wellman | 1 Comment

She Has Killed Our Grandmothers

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: Norma Shearer has killed our grandmothers. She has killed what they stood for. She has murdered the old-time Good Woman. She has cremated the myth that men will never marry ‘that kind of woman.’ She has … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Performers, Sex | Tagged Feminism, Film, movies, Norma Shearer, Pre-Code | Leave a comment

Notes on “Man Wanted”

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: Although William Dieterle had a long, distinguished career, I think he was at his best in his early Hollywood pictures. Movies like “Jewel Robbery” and “The Last Flight” have a light, off-the-cuff quality that leavens the director’s taste … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Performers | Tagged David Manners, Film, Kay Francis, Man Wanted, movies, Pre-Code, Romantic Comedy, Slim Pickens, Una Merkel, William Dieterle | 3 Comments

Notes on “Finishing School”

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: This RKO production about young ladies making their way through a stuffy Manhattan finishing school tries its darndest to be a drag, particularly when it focuses on Frances Dee and her involvement with Bruce Cabot’s sturdy do-gooder. (He … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Performers | Tagged Billie Burke, Film, Finishing School, Frances Dee, Ginger Rogers, movies, Pre-Code | 2 Comments

“Baby Face”

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes: Barbara Stanwyck and her legs star in this engaging Warner Bros. pre-Code Hollywood work from a story by Daryl Zanuck writing under a pseudonym. A sort of femme fatale Horatio Alger story, Stanwyck plays a teenage tramp pimped … Continue reading →