Most Popular Pre Code Film Movies and TV Shows
- Movies or TV
- Genres
- Keywords
- IMDb Rating
- Instant Watch Options
- In Theaters
- On TV
- Release Year
1. Footlight Parade (1933)
Passed | 104 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Chester Kent struggles against time, romance, and a rival's spy to produce spectacular live "prologues" for movie houses.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell
Votes: 4,344
2. Three on a Match (1932)
Passed | 63 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Although Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Joan Blondell, Warren William, Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis
Votes: 3,027
3. Make Me a Star (1932)
Passed | 86 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Merton Gill is longing to become a cowboy actor and leaves his hometown to try his luck in Hollywood, but there his acting ability is regarded as non-existent. Actress Flips gives him a ... See full summary »
Director: William Beaudine | Stars: Joan Blondell, Stuart Erwin, Zasu Pitts, Ben Turpin
Votes: 374
4. The Smart Set (1928)
Passed | 80 min | Comedy, Romance, Sport
An American polo player, arrogant and full of himself, must vindicate his actions to win the heart of a girl, Polly, after getting himself booted off the U.S. polo team.
Director: Jack Conway | Stars: William Haines, Jack Holt, Alice Day, Hobart Bosworth
Votes: 959
5. The Sign of the Cross (1932)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, History
A Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: Fredric March, Claudette Colbert, Elissa Landi, Charles Laughton
Votes: 1,842
6. The Circus (1928)
Passed | 72 min | Comedy, Romance
The Tramp finds work and the girl of his dreams at a circus.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Merna Kennedy, Al Ernest Garcia, Harry Crocker
Votes: 23,719
7. The Scarlet Empress (1934)
Passed | 104 min | Drama, History, Romance
A German noblewoman enters into a loveless marriage with the dim-witted, unstable heir to the Russian throne, then plots to oust him from power.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, John Lodge, Sam Jaffe, Louise Dresser
Votes: 5,328
8. Red-Headed Woman (1932)
Passed | 79 min | Comedy, Romance
Lillian relentlessly attempts to seduce a married man.
Director: Jack Conway | Stars: Jean Harlow, Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, Leila Hyams
Votes: 2,483
9. Svengali (1931)
Approved | 81 min | Drama, Horror, Romance
Through hypnotism and telepathic mind control, a sinister music maestro controls the singing voice, but not the heart, of the woman he loves.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: John Barrymore, Marian Marsh, Donald Crisp, Bramwell Fletcher
Votes: 1,614
10. Chandu the Magician (1932)
Passed | 71 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
When delusional madman Roxor kidnaps a scientist in hopes of using his death ray to achieve world dominance, he is opposed by Chandu, a powerful hypnotist and yogi.
Directors: William Cameron Menzies, Marcel Varnel | Stars: Edmund Lowe, Irene Ware, Bela Lugosi, Herbert Mundin
Votes: 828
11. I've Got Your Number (1934)
Unrated | 69 min | Comedy, Romance
Two telephone repairmen have many adventures and romance a pair of blondes.
Director: Ray Enright | Stars: Joan Blondell, Pat O'Brien, Allen Jenkins, Glenda Farrell
Votes: 246
12. The Circus Queen Murder (1933)
Passed | 63 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Suave, lip-reading DA Thatcher Colt plans to get away from the big city for a while. So he and his secretary, Miss Kelly hop on a train for an Upstate NY town called Gilead. They expect a ... See full summary »
Director: Roy William Neill | Stars: Adolphe Menjou, Donald Cook, Greta Nissen, Ruthelma Stevens
Votes: 248
13. The Docks of New York (1928)
Not Rated | 76 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A blue-collar worker on New York's depressed waterfront finds his life changed after he saves a woman attempting suicide.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga Baclanova, Clyde Cook
Votes: 3,611
14. Jimmy the Gent (1934)
Passed | 67 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
An unpolished racketeer, whose racket is finding heirs for unclaimed fortunes, affects ethics and tea-drinking manners to win back the sweetheart who now works for his seemingly upright competitor.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: James Cagney, Bette Davis, Allen Jenkins, Alan Dinehart
Votes: 1,476
15. Smarty (1934)
Passed | 65 min | Comedy, Romance
Vicki Wallace (Joan Blondell) takes great pleasure in teasing her husband,Tony Wallace (Warren William), who takes no pleasure at all in being teased and it isn't long before he ups and ... See full summary »
Director: Robert Florey | Stars: Joan Blondell, Warren William, Edward Everett Horton, Frank McHugh
Votes: 296
16. American Grindhouse (2010)
Not Rated | 80 min | Documentary, Action, Comedy
A documentary about the history of exploitation movies, from the silent movie era to the 1970s.
Director: Elijah Drenner | Stars: Robert Forster, Eric Schaefer, Eddie Muller, John Landis
Votes: 2,094 | Gross: $0.01M
17. The Lash (1930)
Passed | 77 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
Don Francisco Delfina, a nobleman of Southern California in 1848, disguises himself as El Puma and leads a revolt against the tyrannical land agent and politician Peter Harkness.
Director: Frank Lloyd | Stars: Richard Barthelmess, Mary Astor, Fred Kohler, Marian Nixon
Votes: 123
18. Convention City (1933)
Passed | 69 min | Comedy, Music
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Joan Blondell, Adolphe Menjou, Dick Powell, Mary Astor
Votes: 43
19. The Private Life of Helen of Troy (1927)
Passed | 87 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Queen Helen of Troy, in response to her husband Menelaus' lack of interest in her, elopes with Paris to Sparta. Menelaus, egged on by his henchman, starts a war with Paris, finally ... See full summary »
Director: Alexander Korda | Stars: María Corda, Lewis Stone, Ricardo Cortez, George Fawcett
Votes: 38 | Gross: $0.48M
20. Show of Shows (1929)
Passed | 128 min | Musical
It's 1929. The studio gave the cinema its voice gave offered the audiences a chance to see their favorite actors and actresses from the silent screen era to see and for the first time can ... See full summary »
Director: John G. Adolfi | Stars: Frank Fay, William Courtenay, H.B. Warner, Hobart Bosworth
Votes: 320
21. Show People (1928)
Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Romance
A young lady from Georgia goes to Hollywood in the hopes of becoming an actress.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Marion Davies, William Haines, Dell Henderson, Paul Ralli
Votes: 3,354 | Gross: $1.10M
22. Female (1933)
Unrated | 60 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Alison Drake, the tough-minded executive of an automobile factory, succeeds in the man's world of business until she meets an independent design engineer.
Directors: Michael Curtiz, William Dieterle, William A. Wellman | Stars: Ruth Chatterton, George Brent, Lois Wilson, Johnny Mack Brown
Votes: 1,447
23. Employees' Entrance (1933)
Passed | 75 min | Drama, Romance
A working girl is menaced by her tyrannical employer.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Warren William, Loretta Young, Wallace Ford, Alice White
Votes: 994
24. Beauty and the Boss (1932)
Passed | 66 min | Comedy, Romance
An executive hires a mousy, plain woman as his secretary so she will not divert him from his work, but she still becomes determined to win his heart.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Marian Marsh, David Manners, Warren William, Charles Butterworth
Votes: 455
25. Virtue (1932)
Passed | 68 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A relationship gradually develops between a savvy New York street girl and a good-hearted cab driver, but other matters keep getting in their way, including financial problems and a murder.
Director: Edward Buzzell | Stars: Carole Lombard, Pat O'Brien, Mayo Methot, Jack La Rue
Votes: 596
26. The Barker (1928)
Passed | 80 min | Drama, Romance
A carnival barker wants his son to become a lawyer, but his son gets side-tracked into joining the carnival too.
Director: George Fitzmaurice | Stars: Milton Sills, Dorothy Mackaill, Betty Compson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Votes: 66
27. Brown of Harvard (1926)
Passed | 85 min | Action, Drama, Romance
Tom Brown shows up at Harvard, confident and a bit arrogant. He becomes a rival of Bob McAndrew, not only in football and rowing crew, but also for the affections of Mary Abbott, a ... See full summary »
Director: Jack Conway | Stars: William Haines, Jack Pickford, Mary Brian, Francis X. Bushman Jr.
Votes: 1,380
28. The Dove (1927)
Passed | 90 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A despot falls for a dancing girl. After she rejects him, he has her other beau framed for murder.
Director: Roland West | Stars: Norma Talmadge, Noah Beery, Gilbert Roland, Eddie Borden
Votes: 47
29. The Death Kiss (1932)
Passed | 75 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Murder during film shoot sparks search for a killer.
Director: Edwin L. Marin | Stars: Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Adrienne Ames, John Wray
Votes: 861
30. Dixiana (1930)
Passed | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
In antebellum New Orleans, two men vie for the affections of a beautiful young girl during Mardi Gras.
Director: Luther Reed | Stars: Bebe Daniels, Everett Marshall, Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey
Votes: 299
31. Ladies of Leisure (1930)
Passed | 99 min | Drama, Romance
An upper-crust artist hires a 'party girl' as a model; romance follows.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Ralph Graves, Lowell Sherman, Marie Prevost
Votes: 988
32. Girl Crazy (1932)
Passed | 74 min | Comedy, Musical
New York playboy Danny Churchill is sent to a small town in Arizona, where being sheriff is very dangerous, to keep away from girls, but he decides to open a dude ranch there. He asks his ... See full summary »
Director: William A. Seiter | Stars: Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Dorothy Lee, Eddie Quillan
Votes: 226
33. Three Wise Girls (1932)
Passed | 68 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Cassie moves to New York and jumps from one job to another until she lands a modeling gig.
Director: William Beaudine | Stars: Jean Harlow, Mae Clarke, Walter Byron, Marie Prevost
Votes: 500
34. Paramount on Parade (1930)
Passed | 102 min | Music
A musical revue that basically has Paramount stars and contract-players doing things some had never done on screen, and wouldn't again; such as Ruth Chatteron , in a French-café setting ... See full summary »
Directors: Dorothy Arzner, Otto Brower, Edmund Goulding, Victor Heerman, Edwin H. Knopf, Rowland V. Lee, Ernst Lubitsch, Lothar Mendes, Victor Schertzinger, A. Edward Sutherland, Frank Tuttle | Stars: Jean Arthur, Clara Bow, Maurice Chevalier, Gary Cooper
Votes: 232
35. Christopher Strong (1933)
Passed | 78 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A famous female flier and a member of Parliament drift into a potentially disastrous affair.
Director: Dorothy Arzner | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Colin Clive, Billie Burke, Helen Chandler
Votes: 1,210
36. Rome Express (1932)
94 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
A sinister character boards the Rome Express on the trail of a valuable Van Dyck painting, recently stolen from a Paris gallery. Much to his annoyance he finds the train populated with a ... See full summary »
Director: Walter Forde | Stars: Conrad Veidt, Esther Ralston, Hugh Williams, Donald Calthrop
Votes: 368
37. The Shadow of the Eagle (1932)
Passed | 218 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The Eagle uses sky writing to make threats against a corporation. Nathan Gregory owns a traveling fairground and is thought to be the Eagle. Craig McCoy is a pilot who goes looking for the Eagle when Gregory turns up missing.
Directors: Ford Beebe, B. Reeves Eason | Stars: John Wayne, Dorothy Gulliver, Walter Miller, Kenneth Harlan
Votes: 310
38. Words and Music (1929)
Passed | 81 min | Comedy, Music
Phil and Pete compete for Mary's love and also in a contest for best song written by a college student.
Director: James Tinling | Stars: Lois Moran, Tom Patricola, David Percy, Helen Twelvetrees
Votes: 53
39. The Texan (1930)
Passed | 79 min | Western
An outlaw, the Llano Kid is the scourge of south Texas and a Bible quoting lawman named Thacker. The kid joins a con man in a plot to deceive a wealthy old woman that he's her long-lost son... See full summary »
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Gary Cooper, Fay Wray, Emma Dunn, Oscar Apfel
Votes: 53
40. Way Out West (1930)
Passed | 71 min | Action, Comedy, Music
Wise-guy carnival barker Windy bilks a group of cowboys out of their money, gets caught and is forced into working off the debt on their ranch. He falls in love with Molly, the pretty owner... See full summary »
Director: Fred Niblo | Stars: William Haines, Leila Hyams, Polly Moran, Cliff Edwards
Votes: 683
41. Only Yesterday (1933)
Passed | 105 min | Drama, Romance
A one-night fling during World War I results in a young girl getting pregnant. Years later, she meets him again. Now a successful businessman, he doesn't even remember her, but tries to seduce her.
Director: John M. Stahl | Stars: Margaret Sullavan, John Boles, Edna May Oliver, Billie Burke
Votes: 295
42. White Heat (1934)
Passed | 62 min | Drama, Romance
Plantation owner William Hawkes (David Newell) doesn't approve of the fact that most of the white men on the island have married, or are living with native girls. He doesn't approve of ... See full summary »
Director: Lois Weber | Stars: Virginia Cherrill, Mona Maris, Hardie Albright, David Newell
Votes: 35
43. Hell's Highway (1932)
Passed | 62 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Chain gang prisoners forced to construct a "liberty highway" for their overseer chasten under his brutal stewardship, causing Duke Ellis to mastermind a mass riot.
Directors: Rowland Brown, John Cromwell | Stars: Richard Dix, Rochelle Hudson, Tom Brown, C. Henry Gordon
Votes: 555
44. Orchids and Ermine (1927)
Passed | 70 min | Comedy, Romance
A telephone operator at an opulent hotel falls in love with a young man who turns out to be a rich oil millionaire.
Director: Alfred Santell | Stars: Colleen Moore, Jack Mulhall, Sam Hardy, Gwen Lee
Votes: 112
45. Goodbye Again (1933)
Unrated | 66 min | Comedy, Romance
Flirtatious mix-ups abound when a celebrated novelist tangles with an old flame and her irate husband in Cleveland. Will his savvy secretary save his neck if she is secretly in love with him also?
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Warren William, Joan Blondell, Genevieve Tobin, Hugh Herbert
Votes: 373
46. Seven Footprints to Satan (1929)
Passed | 60 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A young man of society wants to make an expedition to Africa, but his fiancée asks him for help about one of her fathers guests shortly before his planed departure. Her suspects about that ... See full summary »
Director: Benjamin Christensen | Stars: Thelma Todd, Creighton Hale, Sheldon Lewis, William V. Mong
Votes: 261
47. Gambling Lady (1934)
Passed | 66 min | Drama, Mystery
Lady Lee, gambler's daughter, plies her trade while pondering the proposal of a social-register suitor.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Pat O'Brien, Claire Dodd
Votes: 757
48. The Yellow Ticket (1931)
Passed | 88 min | Adventure, Drama, War
A young Russian girl is forced into a life of prostitution in Czarist Russia, and she and a British journalist find their lives endangered when she reveals to him information regarding the ... See full summary »
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Elissa Landi, Lionel Barrymore, Laurence Olivier, Walter Byron
Votes: 142
49. Frisco Jenny (1932)
Unrated | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Music
Frisco Jenny was orphaned by the 1906 earthquake and fire and has become the madame of a prosperous bawdy house. She puts her son up for adoption and he rises to prominence as district ... See full summary »
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Ruth Chatterton, Louis Calhern, Helen Jerome Eddy, Donald Cook
Votes: 844
50. Shopworn (1932)
Passed | 72 min | Drama, Romance
A poor woman and a man from an upper-class family fall in love, but his mother will go to any lengths to stop their marriage.
Director: Nick Grinde | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Regis Toomey, Zasu Pitts, Lucien Littlefield
Votes: 579