Twentieth Century is a 1934 American pre-Code screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Barrymore and Carole Lombard. Much of the film is set on the 20th Century Limited train as it travels from Chicago to New York City. Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur adapted their 1932 Broadway play of the same name – itself based on the unproduced play Napoleon of Broadway by Charles Bruce Millholland – with uncredited contributions from Gene Fowler and Preston Sturges.
Charles Sherman Ruggles was an American comic character actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films, often in mild-mannered and comic roles. He was also the elder brother of director, producer, and silent film actor Wesley Ruggles (1889–1972).
Berkeley Square is a 1933 American pre-Code fantasy drama film produced by Fox Film Corporation, directed by Frank Lloyd, and starring Leslie Howard and Heather Angel. It recounts the tale of young American Peter Standish, played by Howard, who, explained by S.T. Joshi, is a "portrayal of a man of the 20th century who somehow merges his personality with that of his 18th-century ancestor." The film was based on the play of the same name by John L. Balderston, itself loosely based on Henry James' incomplete 1917 novel, The Sense of the Past. The play premiered in London in 1926. Howard played Standish in the hugely successful 1929 Broadway production, which he co-produced and co-directed with Gilbert Miller.
Cimarron is a 1931 pre-Code epic Western film starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne, and directed by Wesley Ruggles. Released by RKO, it won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay (written by Howard Estabrook and based on Edna Ferber's 1930 novel "Cimmaron", and Best Production Design.
Bed of Roses (1933) is a pre-Code romantic comedy film co-written and directed by Gregory La Cava and starring Constance Bennett. The picture was released by RKO Radio Pictures with a supporting cast featuring Joel McCrea and Pert Kelton.
Mark Sandrich was an American film director, writer, and producer.
One Way Passage is a 1932 American pre-Code romantic film starring William Powell and Kay Francis as star-crossed lovers, directed by Tay Garnett and released by Warner Bros. The screenplay by Wilson Mizner and Joseph Jackson is based on a story by Robert Lord, who won the Academy Award for Best Story.
Thirty Day Princess is a 1934 pre-Code comedy film directed by Marion Gering and starring Sylvia Sidney, Cary Grant and Edward Arnold. The film was based on a story of the same name by Clarence Budington Kelland, adapted by Sam Hellman and Edwin Justus Mayer, and written by Preston Sturges and Frank Partos.
Fog Over Frisco is a 1934 American Pre-Code drama film directed by William Dieterle. The screenplay by Robert N. Lee and Eugene Solow was based on the short story The Five Fragments by George Dyer.
Jimmy the Gent is a 1934 American pre-Code comedy-crime film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring James Cagney and Bette Davis and featuring Allen Jenkins. It was the first pairing of Cagney and Davis, who would reunite for The Bride Came C.O.D. seven years later.
Bureau of Missing Persons is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film with comic overtones directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Bette Davis, Lewis Stone, Pat O'Brien and Glenda Farrell. The screenplay by Robert Presnell is based on the book Missing Men by former New York City Police Captain John H. Ayers and Carol Bird.
Doctor Bull is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film directed by John Ford, based on the James Gould Cozzens novel The Last Adam. Will Rogers portrays a small-town doctor who must deal with a typhoid outbreak in the community.
So This Is Harris is a 1933 American pre-Code short comedy film directed by Mark Sandrich. It won an Oscar in 1934 for Best Short Subject (Comedy). The Academy Film Archive preserved So This Is Harris in 2012.
Blood Money is a 1933 American Pre-Code crime drama film directed by Rowland Brown about a crooked bail bondsman named Bill Bailey, played by George Bancroft, with Chick Chandler as crime boss Drury Darling, Judith Anderson, in her film debut, as Drury's sister and Bailey's lover, and Frances Dee as a thrill-seeking, larcenous beauty who fatefully catches Bailey's eye. The film was considered to be lost for nearly forty years before reappearing.
The Devil is Driving is a 1932 American pre-Code film directed by Benjamin Stoloff and starring Edmund Lowe. The film's title was typical of the sensationalistic titles of many pre-Code films. It runs a mere 63 minutes, and like many Pre-Code movies deals openly with issues like sex and violence. Lowe plays a chronic gambler who drifts into a life of crime. The New York Times gave the film a mixed review upon its release.
Laughter in Hell is a 1933 American Pre-Code drama film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Pat O'Brien. The film's title was typical of the sensationalistic titles of many Pre-Code films. Adapted from the 1932 novel of the same name by Jim Tully, the film was inspired in part by I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang and was part of a series of films depicting men in chain gangs following the success of that film. O'Brien plays a railroad engineer who kills his wife and her lover in a jealous rage and is sent to prison. The movie received a mixed review in The New York Times upon its release. Although long considered lost, the film was recently preserved and was screened at the American Cinematheque in Hollywood, CA in October 2012.
Seven Days Leave is a 1930 American Pre-Code drama film produced and directed by Richard Wallace and starring Gary Cooper, Beryl Mercer, and Daisy Belmore.
The Mind Reader is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Roy Del Ruth and written by Robert Lord and Wilson Mizner. The film stars Warren William, Constance Cummings, Allen Jenkins, Natalie Moorhead, Mayo Methot and Clarence Muse. The film was released by Warner Bros. on April 1, 1933.
The Silk Express is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Ray Enright and written by Houston Branch and Ben Markson. The film, starring Neil Hamilton, Sheila Terry, Arthur Byron, Guy Kibbee, Dudley Digges and Arthur Hohl, was released by Warner Bros. on June 10, 1933.
The Music Master is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Philip Klein, adapted from the play The Music Master by David Belasco. The film stars Alec B. Francis, Lois Moran, Neil Hamilton, Norman Trevor, Charles Lane and William T. Tilden. The film was released on January 23, 1927, by Fox Film Corporation.
