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Babes in Arms (1939)
"Babes in Arms" is the story of children of vaudevillians who decide to put on their own show to prove their talents and hopefully have a big hit on Broadway. Director Busby Berkeley ("Gold Diggers of 1937" 1936) put together a top-rate musical featuring pairing [..]
Grand Hotel (1932)
The Best Picture of 1931-1932 is....."Grand Hotel." This black-and-white melodrama was the first major all-star ensemble film. The story is set over two days in a luxury Berlin hotel following five intertwined lives, well directed by Edmund Goulding. The excellent screenplay by [..]
Cimarron (1931)
The Best Picture of 1930-1931 is....."Cimarron." This is the story of a newspaper editor who moves to an Oklahoma boom town with his reluctant wife in the 1890's. Director Wesley Ruggles and screenwriters Howard Estabrook and Louis Sarecky adapted the 1930 novel of the same name by Edna [..]
Up the River (1930)
"Up the River" is a pre-Code comedy film where Humphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy play veteran convicts who repeatedly break in and out of jail to save a fellow inmate from a blackmailing crook. The film is only mildly humous and marginally interesting due to lack of [..]
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
The Best Picture of 1929-1930 is....."All Quiet on the Western Front." This is a pre-Code war film which tells the story of idealistic German schoolboys who enlist in World War I. Their patriotic ideals are quickly shattered by the brutal realities of trench [..]
The Public Enemy (1931)
James Cagney got his big break in the picture business in "The Public Enemy." Along with "Little Caesar" starring Edward G. Robinson, this film started the gangster movie genre which continues to this day. Harvey F. Thew authored a hard-hitting screenplay which was brought [..]
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is a pre-Code horror film about a doctor who invents a potion meant to suppress man's evil side and liberate the good. However, he tests it on himself and the potion instead unleashes an evil and sadistic side and turns him into [..]
Little Caesar (1931)
"Little Caesar," released in 1931 by First National Pictures (later bought out by Warner Bros. Pictures), served as a template for all other gangster pictures to follow. It stars Edward G. Robinson as Caesar Enrico Bandello, following his rise through the criminal underworld of Chicago. [..]
Pennies from Heaven (1981)
"Pennies from Heaven" is a musical romantic drama film set in Chicago in 1934 about a traveling salesman who is down on his luck. Director Herbert Ross ("The Goodbye Girl" 1977) put together a rather dark drama which is also a musical; not the most uplifting or [..]
The Four Seasons (1981)
"The Four Seasons" is the story of three upper-middle class couples who vacation together four times a year. The group's tight-knit dynamic is broken when one couple divorce and he introduces a new and much younger wife into the group. The drama and comedy [..]