Why Pre-Code Talkies Are the Perfect Indulgence for Right Now

When the stock market crashed in October 1929, half of the banks in America failed, and millions of people found themselves out of work. How did a desperate population cheer itself up? By going to the movies—the early years of the Depression coincided with a magical period in the history of U.S. cinema. These motion pictures, known as “pre-Code” films, were fast-talking, funny, and sometimes, frankly, filthy, flaunting a degree of sexual permissiveness that would not return for decades.

The cinematic hijinks were short-lived. In 1934, a conservative establishment pushed back, instituting a puritanical set of regulations known as the Hays Code, and the wild pre-Code days came to a screeching halt. The new rules prohibited a movie from “lowering the moral standards of those who see it,” and forbade, among other things, depictions of homosexuality, nudity, lustful kissing, and suggestive dancing. Religion and the traditional family were to be revered; evil could never be seen to triumph. Even cartoon characters were not exempt—Betty Boop had to lengthen her skirts.

But in the brief window that preceded the prudish Hays Code, Hollywood had so much fun: so much unbridled passion, so much dirty dancing! In our own dark hour, don’t you want to see booze-soaked soirees, faithless spouses, illicit affairs, shameless ladies of the evening, and irresistibly sexy hoodlums? These days, you don’t even need to go to the cinema—you can obey social distancing rules and stream these films straight to your living room. Here, a list of our favorite pre-Code talkies, as fresh and irreverent today as they were 90 years ago.