William Harrison Hays Sr. was an American politician, and member of the Republican Party. As chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1918–1921, Hays managed the successful 1920 presidential campaign of Warren G. Harding. Harding then appointed Hays to his cabinet as his first Postmaster General. He resigned from the cabinet in 1922 to become the first chairman of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. As chairman, Hays oversaw the promulgation of the Motion Picture Production Code, which spelled out a set of moral guidelines for the self-censorship of content in American cinema.
True Crime is a 1999 American mystery thriller film directed by Clint Eastwood, and based on Andrew Klavan's 1995 novel of the same name. Eastwood also stars in the film as a journalist covering the execution of a death row inmate, only to discover that the convict may actually be innocent.
Goodbye Again is a 1933 pre-Code romantic comedy film made by First National Pictures and Warner Bros.
Goldie is a 1931 American pre-Code black-and-white romantic comedy film starring Warren Hymer, Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow. The script was written by Paul Perez and Gene Towne, and directed by Benjamin Stoloff. It was made before the Hays Code was rigidly enforced. It is a remake of Howard Hawks' 1928 silent film, A Girl in Every Port.
Up the River is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy film directed by John Ford, and starring Claire Luce, Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart. The plot concerns escaped convicts, as well as a female convict. It was the feature film debut role of both Tracy and Bogart. Despite Bogart being billed fourth, Tracy's and Bogart's roles were almost equally large, and this is the only film in which they appeared together. Up the River is also Bogart's only film directed by John Ford. Bogart's image is featured with Luce on some of the film's posters rather than Tracy's since Bogart was the romantic lead with Luce. Fox remade the film in 1938 starring Preston Foster and Tony Martin playing their roles.
Convicted is a 1950 American crime film noir directed by Henry Levin and starring Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford. It was the third Columbia Pictures film adaptation of the 1929 stage play The Criminal Code by Martin Flavin, following Howard Hawks's The Criminal Code (1931) and John Brahm's Penitentiary (1938).
Honor of the Family is a 1931 American Pre-Code drama film released by First National Pictures, starring Bebe Daniels and Warren William. It was based on the play by Emil Fabre, from the Honoré de Balzac novel, La Rabouilleuse.
The Noose is an American silent drama film adaptation of the Willard Mack play The Noose, which was released in 1928. It stars Richard Barthelmess, Montagu Love, Robert Emmett O'Connor, and Thelma Todd. The movie was adapted by Garrett Graham and James T. O'Donohoe from the play. It was directed by John Francis Dillon and Richard Barthelmess's performance was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
20,000 Years in Sing Sing is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film set in Sing Sing Penitentiary, the maximum security prison in Ossining, New York, starring Spencer Tracy as an inmate and Bette Davis as his girlfriend. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and based upon the nonfiction book Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing, written by Lewis E. Lawes, the warden of Sing Sing from 1920 to 1941.
The Criminal Code is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic crime drama film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Walter Huston and Phillips Holmes. The screenplay, based on a 1929 play of the same name by Martin Flavin, was written by Fred Niblo Jr. and Seton I. Miller, who were nominated for Best Adaptation at the 4th Academy Awards but the award went to Howard Estabrook for Cimarron.
Plunder is a 1923 American drama film serial directed by George B. Seitz. During the production of this serial, on August 10, 1922, John Stevenson, a stuntman for Pearl White, was killed doing a stunt from a moving bus to an elevated platform. The film survives in the UCLA Film and Television Archive and a trailer is preserved at the Library of Congress.
Cairo is a 1942 musical comedy film made by MGM and Loew's, and directed by W. S. Van Dyke. The screenplay was written by John McClain, based on an idea by Ladislas Fodor about a news reporter shipwrecked in a torpedo attack, who teams up with a Hollywood singer and her maid to foil Nazi spies. The music score is by Herbert Stothart. This film was Jeanette MacDonald's last film on her MGM contract.
Prosperity is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy-drama film starring Marie Dressler and Polly Moran. The two leading actresses play longtime matriarchal ladies comically sparring off each other, and trying to control their intertwined lives.
Source Code is a 2011 American science fiction action thriller film directed by Duncan Jones and written by Ben Ripley on spec. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal as U.S. Army Captain Colter Stevens, who is sent into an eight-minute digital recreation of a real-life train explosion, tasked with determining the identity of the terrorist who bombed it. Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, and Jeffrey Wright play supporting roles.
Hellgate is a 1952 American Western film directed by Charles Marquis Warren and starring Sterling Hayden. It was the second of three films Warren made for Robert L. Lippert as a writer/director.
Hold 'Em Jail is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film starring Wheeler and Woolsey. They play a couple of boobs who are wrongfully convicted for firearm possession and sent to prison, where they somehow end up playing on the warden's football team.
Penitentiary is a 1938 American crime film directed by John Brahm starring Walter Connolly, John Howard, Jean Parker and Robert Barrat. It was the second Columbia Pictures film adaptation of the 1929 stage play The Criminal Code by Martin Flavin, after Howard Hawk's The Criminal Code (1931) and followed by Henry Levin's Convicted (1950).
Silence is a 1931 American pre-Code crime film directed by Louis J. Gasnier and Max Marcin and written by Max Marcin, adapted from his play. The film stars Clive Brook, Marjorie Rambeau, Peggy Shannon, Charles Starrett, Willard Robertson, John Wray and Frank Sheridan. It was released on August 29, 1931, by Paramount Pictures.
Range Law is a 1931 American pre-Code Western film directed by Phil Rosen and starring Ken Maynard. It was produced and distributed by Tiffany Pictures. A print is preserved in the Library of Congress collection.
Jail House Blues is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Albert S. Rogell and written by Paul Gerard Smith and Harold Tarshis. The film stars Nat Pendleton, Anne Gwynne, Robert Paige, Horace McMahon, Elisabeth Risdon, Warren Hymer, and Samuel S. Hinds. It was released on February 1, 1942, by Universal Pictures.
