Pre-Code August is back!
Join us for our annual Pre-Code Film Fest celebrating cinema of the pre-code era (roughly from the beginning of talkies to July of 1934) every Monday evening in August! We’ll chat a bit about the history of cinema and watch some gems from the era. This year we will screen five films, and show them in chronological order, from an early example from 1929 up to a film released mere weeks before the adoption of the Hayes Codes that changed Hollywood for decades to come. Our 2026 lineup features two films that are widely credited with the adoption of the Codes!
This year we have a selection of the spicy, weird, and wonderful world of early cinema, featuring:
Aug 3 – Their Own Desire (1929) Starring Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery, Belle Bennett, and Lewis Stone. A briskly paced romantic melodrama that features a whole lot of infidelity and confusion.
Aug 10 – Waterloo Bridge (1931) Starring Mae Clark, and Kent Douglass. A WW1 era romantic drama about a chorus girl turned prostitute with an absolutely pre-code ending.
Aug 17 – Red-Headed Woman (1932) Starring Jean Harlow, Chester Morris, and Leila Hyams. In this comedic romance, a shrewd woman uses her sexuality to get what she wants from men.
Aug 24 – Baby Face (1933) Starring Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent. A romantic comedy with the salacious tagline of “She had it and made it pay.” A woman uses her sexuality to garner social and financial power.
Aug 31 – Murder at the Vanities (1934) Starring Kitty Carlisle, Carl Brisson, Victor McLaglen, and Gertrude Michael, featuring a brilliant bit part of Duke Ellington playing himself! A mystery with enough musical numbers to make Busby Berkeley blush, this film was said to break pretty much every code that the Hayes Codes attempted to put in place mere weeks later.
Films start at 6:30pm, with a few minutes to chat after the screening. No registration required!
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