🏷 Discover The Best Pre-code Movies & TV Shows To Watch Today

20 titles with this tag

Uncovering the Forgotten Gems of Pre-Code Cinema

Pre-code movies and TV shows are a treasure trove of cinematic delights, offering a glimpse into the unbridled creativity and freedom of the early days of Hollywood. From the risqué humor of the 1920s to the socially conscious dramas of the 1930s, pre-code entertainment is a fascinating reflection of the era's values and attitudes. In this article, we'll delve into the best movies and TV shows from this bygone era, exploring the hidden gems that continue to captivate audiences today.

M
Cast
Peter Lorre Peter Lorre
Ellen Widmann Ellen Widmann
Inge Landgut Inge Landgut
Otto Wernicke Otto Wernicke
8.1 2.5K votes
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Germany
Duration: 110 min.
Audience: PG-13
Story:  In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.
Plot:  berlin, germany, psychopath, detective inspector, child murder, investigation, film noir, organized crime, ...
Place:  germany
▶ TRAILER ▶ MOVIE ▶
Freaks
Cast
Harry Earles Harry Earles
Olga Baclanova Olga Baclanova
Daisy Earles Daisy Earles
Henry Victor Henry Victor
7.8 1.3K votes
Genre: Drama, Horror
Country: United States of America
Duration: 64 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
Style:  provocative
Plot:  infidelity, dwarf, attempted murder, clown, beauty, carnival, romance, revenge, ...
▶ TRAILER ▶ MOVIE ▶
All Quiet on the Western Front
Cast
Louis Wolheim Louis Wolheim
Lew Ayres Lew Ayres
John Wray John Wray
Arnold Lucy Arnold Lucy
7.7 937 votes
Genre: Drama, War
Country: United States of America
Duration: 133 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  When a group of idealistic young men join the German Army during the Great War, they are assigned to the Western Front, where their patriotism is destroyed by the harsh realities of combat.
Plot:  friendship, army, based on novel or book, disillusion, steel helmet, patriotism, boot camp, battlefield, ...
Time:  world war i
Place:  germany
▶ TRAILER ▶ MOVIE ▶
The Invisible Man
Cast
Claude Rains Claude Rains
Gloria Stuart Gloria Stuart
William Harrigan William Harrigan
Henry Travers Henry Travers
7.5 959 votes
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction
Country: United States of America
Duration: 71 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  After experimenting on himself and becoming invisible, scientist Jack Griffin, now aggressive due to the drug's effects, seeks a way to reverse the experiment at any cost.
Plot:  based on novel or book, insanity, chemical, train accident, mad scientist, murder, fugitive, snow, ...
▶ TRAILER ▶ MOVIE ▶
Scarface
Cast
Paul Muni Paul Muni
Ann Dvorak Ann Dvorak
Karen Morley Karen Morley
Osgood Perkins Osgood Perkins
7.4 699 votes
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: United States of America
Duration: 93 min.
Audience: 15
Story:  In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant and notorious thug, Antonio 'Tony' Camonte, aka Scarface, shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.
Plot:  chicago, illinois, sibling relationship, based on novel or book, police, alcohol, gangster, gang war, ...
Time:  prohibition era
▶ TRAILER ▶ MOVIE ▶
Sons of the Desert
Cast
Stan Laurel Stan Laurel
Oliver Hardy Oliver Hardy
Mae Busch Mae Busch
Dorothy Christy Dorothy Christy
7.1 267 votes
Genre: Comedy
Country: United States of America
Duration: 65 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  Ollie and Stan deceive their wives into thinking they are taking a medically necessary cruise when they are really going to a lodge convention.
Plot:  husband wife relationship, deceived wife, deception, pre-code, next door neighbor, domineering wife, convention, subterfuge, ...
▶ TRAILER ▶ MOVIE ▶
Shanghai Express
Cast
Marlene Dietrich Marlene Dietrich
Clive Brook Clive Brook
Anna May Wong Anna May Wong
Warner Oland Warner Oland
7.0 240 votes
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Country: United States of America
Duration: 82 min.
Story:  A beautiful temptress re-kindles an old romance while trying to escape her past during a tension-packed train journey.
Plot:  prostitute, rape, shanghai, china, rebel, ex-lover, insurgence, chinese civil war, ...
Place:  china
▶ TRAILER ▶ MOVIE ▶
Waterloo Bridge
Cast
Mae Clarke Mae Clarke
Douglass Montgomery Douglass Montgomery
Doris Lloyd Doris Lloyd
Frederick Kerr Frederick Kerr
6.9 47 votes
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Country: United States of America
Duration: 81 min.
Story:  In World War I London, Myra is an American out-of-work chorus girl making ends meet by picking up men on Waterloo Bridge. During a Zeppelin air raid she meets Roy, a naive young American who enlisted in the Canadian army. After they fall for each other, Roy tricks Myra into visiting his family, who live in a country estate outside London, his mother having remarried to a retired British Major. Myra is reluctant to continue the relationship with Roy, he not aware of her past.
Plot:  marriage proposal, prostitute, bridge, based on play or musical, rent, soldier, showgirl, pre-code, ...
Time:  world war i
▶ MOVIE ▶
Red Dust
6.9 76 votes
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: United States of America
Duration: 83 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  Dennis, owner of a rubber plantation in Cochinchina, is involved with Vantine, who left Saigon to evade the police. When his new surveyor arrives along with his refined wife Dennis is quickly infatuated by her.
Plot:  infidelity, prostitute, love triangle, tiger, monsoon, plantation, based on play or musical, indochina, ...
▶ TRAILER ▶ MOVIE ▶
Queen Christina
Cast
Greta Garbo Greta Garbo
John Gilbert John Gilbert
Ian Keith Ian Keith
Lewis Stone Lewis Stone
6.9 141 votes
Genre: Drama, History, Romance
Country: United States of America
Duration: 99 min.
Story:  Popular monarch Queen Christina of Sweden must choose between love and loyalty to her nation when she unexpectedly falls for a Spanish envoy.
Plot:  ambassador, peace, queen, forbidden love, duty, biography, mobster, female protagonist, ...
Time:  17th century
Place:  sweden
▶ TRAILER ▶ MOVIE ▶
Smart Money
Cast
Edward G. Robinson Edward G. Robinson
James Cagney James Cagney
Evalyn Knapp Evalyn Knapp
Ralf Harolde Ralf Harolde
6.9 30 votes
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: United States of America
Duration: 81 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  Two brothers' trip to the big city to do a little gambling results in a fateful turn of events.
Plot:  cheating, poker, gambling, gangster, blonde, revenge, death, pre-code, ...
▶ TRAILER ▶ MOVIE ▶
The Mummy
Cast
Boris Karloff Boris Karloff
Zita Johann Zita Johann
David Manners David Manners
Arthur Byron Arthur Byron
6.8 707 votes
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Country: United States of America
Duration: 73 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  An ancient Egyptian priest named Imhotep is revived when a British archaeological expedition finds his mummy and one of the researchers accidentally reads an ancient life-giving spell. Imhotep escapes from the field site and searches for the reincarnation of the soul of his lover.
Plot:  virgin, excavation, museum, mummy, halloween, incantation, reincarnation, buried alive, ...
Place:  egypt
▶ TRAILER ▶ MOVIE ▶
Street Scene
Cast
Sylvia Sidney Sylvia Sidney
William Collier Jr. William Collier Jr.
Estelle Taylor Estelle Taylor
Beulah Bondi Beulah Bondi
6.8 42 votes
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: United States of America
Duration: 78 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  The setting is a city block during a sweltering summer, where the residents serve as representatives of the not-very-idealized American melting pot. There is idle chitchat, gossip, jealousy, racism, adultery, and suddenly but not unexpectedly, a murder.
Plot:  infidelity, new york city, neighbor, summer, tenement, gossip, apartment building, pre-code, ...
▶ MOVIE ▶
Berth Marks
Cast
Stan Laurel Stan Laurel
Oliver Hardy Oliver Hardy
Paulette Goddard Paulette Goddard
Charlie Hall Charlie Hall
6.8 59 votes
Genre: Comedy
Country: United States of America
Duration: 19 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  Stan and Ollie are musicians attempting to travel by train to Pottsville.
Plot:  pre-code, short film
▶ MOVIE ▶
Rain
Cast
Joan Crawford Joan Crawford
Walter Huston Walter Huston
Matt Moore Matt Moore
Guy Kibbee Guy Kibbee
6.6 59 votes
Genre: Drama
Country: United States of America
Duration: 94 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  Due to a possible cholera epidemic onboard, passengers on a ship are forced to disembark at Pago Pago, a small village on a Pacific island where it incessantly rains. Among the stranded passengers are Sadie Thompson, a prostitute, and Alfred Davidson, a fanatic missionary who will try to redeem her.
Plot:  prostitute, quarantine, missionary, rain, deluge, remake, pacific island, religious fundamentalism, ...
▶ MOVIE ▶
Tarzan the Ape Man
Cast
Johnny Weissmu00fcller Johnny Weissmu00fcller
Maureen O'Sullivan Maureen O'Sullivan
Neil Hamilton Neil Hamilton
C. Aubrey Smith C. Aubrey Smith
6.6 228 votes
Genre: Adventure
Country: United States of America
Duration: 100 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  James Parker and Harry Holt are on an expedition in Africa in search of the elephant burial grounds that will provide enough ivory to make them rich. Parker's beautiful daughter Jane arrives unexpectedly to join them. Jane is terrified when Tarzan and his ape friends abduct her, but when she returns to her father's expedition she has second thoughts about leaving Tarzan.
Plot:  based on novel or book, africa, expedition, hippopotamus, chimpanzee, tarzan, jungle, black and white, ...
▶ TRAILER ▶ MOVIE ▶
Tarzan and His Mate
Cast
Johnny Weissmu00fcller Johnny Weissmu00fcller
Maureen O'Sullivan Maureen O'Sullivan
Neil Hamilton Neil Hamilton
Paul Cavanagh Paul Cavanagh
6.6 152 votes
Genre: Action, Adventure
Country: United States of America
Duration: 104 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  Harry Holt returns to Africa with his friend Martin Arlington to head up a large ivory expedition.
Plot:  elephant, africa, crocodile, greed, expedition, lion, chimpanzee, rhinoceros, ...
▶ TRAILER ▶ MOVIE ▶
Morning Glory
Cast
Katharine Hepburn Katharine Hepburn
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Adolphe Menjou Adolphe Menjou
Mary Duncan Mary Duncan
6.2 56 votes
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: United States of America
Duration: 74 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  Wildly optimistic chatterbox Eva Lovelace is a would-be actress trying to crash the New York stage. She attracts the interest of a paternal actor, a philandering producer, and an earnest playwright. Is she destined for stardom, or will she fade like a morning glory after its brief blooming?
Plot:  mentor, diva, seduction, ambition, unrequited love, theatrical producer, playwright, tutor, ...
▶ MOVIE ▶
Anna Christie
Cast
Greta Garbo Greta Garbo
Charles Bickford Charles Bickford
George F. Marion George F. Marion
Marie Dressler Marie Dressler
6.0 56 votes
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: United States of America
Duration: 89 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  Old sailor Chris Christofferson eagerly awaits the arrival of his grown daughter Anna, whom he sent at five years old to live with relatives in Minnesota. He has not seen her since, but believes her to be a decent and respectably employed young woman. When Anna arrives, however, it is clear that she has lived a hard life in the dregs of society, and that much of spirit has been extinguished. She falls in love with a young sailor rescued at sea by her father, but dreads to reveal to him the truth of her past. Both father and young man are deluded about her background, yet Anna cannot quite bring herself to allow them to remain deluded.
Plot:  prostitute, based on play or musical, sailor, pre-code
▶ TRAILER ▶ MOVIE ▶
Millie
Cast
Helen Twelvetrees Helen Twelvetrees
Lilyan Tashman Lilyan Tashman
Robert Ames Robert Ames
James Hall James Hall
5.3 22 votes
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: United States of America
Duration: 85 min.
Audience: NR
Story:  After a tumultuous first marriage, Millie Blake learns to love her newfound independence and drags her feet on the possibility of remarriage. The years pass, and now Millie's daughter garners the attentions of men - men who once devoted their time to her mother.
Plot:  infidelity, unfaithful boyfriend, love affair, divorcee, pre-code, gold digger, elopement, party girl, ...
▶ MOVIE ▶
🔞
Age Verification Required
You are about to enable adult titles. This content is strictly for adults.

By clicking Yes, you confirm that you are at least 23 years old and consent to viewing adult-oriented material.