Pre-Code Films

A Pre-Code social comedy directed by Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast for Paramount. Peggy (Nancy Carroll) is a cabaret dancer who marries a wealthy industrialist for security, only to find herself trapped in a loveless marriage. When she reconnects with Paul (Fredric March), a carefree old flame, she must choose between respectability and happiness. The film was a deliberate attempt to capture the spirit of Ernst Lubitsch's sophisticated comedies, and d'Arrast—who had worked with Chaplin on A Woman of Paris—brings a similar visual elegance and wry observation of class manners. Though less well-known than the films it emulated, Laughter is a sharp, stylish look at the tension between wealth and freedom in the Jazz Age. The film is in the public domain.

Comedy · Romance · Pre-Code

The first film to feature the Three Stooges, directed by Benjamin Stoloff for Fox Film Corporation. Ted Healy stars as the obnoxious owner of a dress shop whose employees include the three men who would become the most famous comedy team in history: Moe Howard, Shemp Howard, and Larry Fine. The plot involves a fire insurance scam gone wrong, but the real attraction is seeing the Stooges in their original incarnation as Healy's comic foils. The film captures the rough, violent, vaudeville-style humor that defined their act before they broke from Healy and refined their slapstick for the two-reel shorts that made them legends. The film is in the public domain.

Comedy · Pre-Code

A Pre-Code comedy directed by Lowell Sherman, produced by Samuel Goldwyn. Three Broadway showgirls—Schatzi (Joan Blondell), Jean (Madge Evans), and Teddy (Ina Claire)—share an apartment and a talent for extracting gifts from wealthy men. When Teddy announces her engagement to a respectable businessman, the other two try to sabotage the wedding, each scheming to land a rich husband of her own. The film's frank depiction of gold-digging and sexual maneuvering is pure Pre-Code Hollywood, and the three leads sparkle with wit and chemistry. The film was later remade as How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) with Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall. The film is in the public domain.

Comedy · Pre-Code