John Cromwell

A suave jewel thief hides out in the labyrinthine Casbah of Algiers, safe from the French police, until a beautiful French tourist tempts him toward the outside world. Charles Boyer's performance inspired Pepe le Pew, and Hedy Lamarr made her American debut. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Crime · Drama · Romance

A pre-Code crime drama from Paramount, directed by John Cromwell. William Powell plays William Foster, a slick criminal defense lawyer who specializes in getting crooks acquitted. He is in love with Irene Manners, played by Kay Francis, a dancer who is also seeing Jack Defoe on the side. When Irene kills a pedestrian while driving Jack's car, Jack takes the blame, and Foster ends up defending him, only to discover that a ring he gave Irene is at the crime scene. The film is a showcase for Powell's effortless sophistication and Francis's cool glamour, a pairing Paramount would reuse the same year in *Ladies of Leisure*. Published in 1930, the film entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2026.

Crime · Drama · Romance

A young lawyer and a woman he met on a business trip marry after a whirlwind courtship and struggle through the first year of marriage, money troubles, a difficult mother-in-law, and a medical crisis with their baby. Carole Lombard and James Stewart star in this bittersweet domestic drama. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Drama · Romance · Comedy

A sensitive, clubfooted medical student abandons his artistic ambitions in Paris to study in London, where he becomes destructively obsessed with a cold, cruel waitress who has no feeling for him. Leslie Howard and a breakout Bette Davis star in this adaptation of Somerset Maugham's novel. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Drama · Romance

A pre-Code crime drama directed by John Cromwell and produced by David O. Selznick, Street of Chance stars William Powell as a jewel thief who suffers amnesia after being struck on the head during a robbery. He awakens to find himself living a respectable life as a wealthy businessman, with no memory of his criminal past — until his old associates resurface. Jean Arthur plays his wife and Kay Francis his former accomplice. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing. As a work published in 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.

Crime · Drama

A pre-Code musical film directed by John Cromwell and A. Edward Sutherland, the first of three film adaptations of the popular 1927 Broadway play Burlesque. Hal Skelly reprises his Broadway role as Skid Johnson, a vaudeville comic who teams up with dancer Bonny King (Nancy Carroll) to form a comedy- dance act. Their marriage and career flourish until Skid's Broadway success leads him astray. The film was originally made with Technicolor sequences, now lost; only black-and-white prints survive. It entered the public domain in 1957 when its copyright was not renewed.

Drama · Musical · Romance