Pre-Code Films with Film Noir Flavor – Part 2
Next to film noir, my favorite era of filmmaking is pre-Code – and it’s no wonder that I’m so fond of these pictures – so many of them served up plots that would have made near-perfect film noirs. In my Noir Nook for July 2026, I took a look at five pre-Codes with shadowy, noir-like stories and characters. This month, I’m concluding my two-part series with another five features with early ‘30s pedigrees but 1950s vibes – check ‘em out!
Two Seconds (1932)
This don’t-miss feature stars Edward G. Robinson as John Allen, an everyman skyscraper worker who, at the film’s start, is about to get grilled in the state’s electric chair. Literally. We learn early on the meaning of the title – the prison doctor reveals that Allen’s body will be paralyzed after the electric current is turned, but his brain function will continue for two seconds, or “long enough for him to relive his whole life.” And the film gives us access to those two seconds, in the form of an extended flashback that shows us exactly what Allen did in order to find himself in this ignoble predicament.
In addition to employing the use of the flashback – a staple of film noir – the picture operates under an ever-present cloud of inescapable misfortune; after all, what could be more noir-like than the knowledge that our hero (or, anti-hero, if you will) is going to die in the final reel? The noir-ness of it all is also served up in the form of a femme fatale – a taxi dancer (Vivienne Osborne) who uses her feminine wiles to lead poor, dumb John down the path to ruination. Pure noir.
The Story of Temple Drake (1933)
This is one of the few pre-Codes that I’ve never really wanted to see more than once. I mean, it is so icky that I practically wanted to take a shower after I saw it. Miriam Hopkins plays the title role, the granddaughter of a small-town Mississippi judge, whose syrupy sweet drawl and refined manners belie a hot-blooded nature and a penchant for mendacity. We learn early on that Temple has rejected the marriage proposal of an upstanding local attorney, Stephen Benbow (William Gargan), and while her grandfather insists that she is a “good girl,” he also observes that he would “feel better about Temple if [he] knew she had someone steady and reliable like [Stephen] to take care of her.”
The film’s plot is rather labyrinthine (another trait that is sometimes common to film noir), but notwithstanding its disturbing, unsettling tone, it’s not as noir-like as Temple herself. In turning down Stephen’s second proposal, Temple tells him that she is the problem, not he – that she’s “no good . . . it’s something inside” her; it’s an admission that’s reminiscent of several noir femmes, including Annie Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins) of Gun Crazy (1949), and Born to Kill’s Helen Brent (Claire Trevor), who were both fully aware of their shadowy personas and were unable to avoid their inevitable ends.
Blood Money (1933)
This underrated film features a performance by the habitually sweet Frances Dee that you have to see to believe. She plays Elaine Talbart, a spoiled, reckless, adventure-seeking socialite, who’s got more than a touch of sociopathy in her soul – not to mention larceny and nymphomania. When we first meet Elaine, she’s recently been arrested for grand theft and pays a visit to bail bondsman Bill Bailey (George Bancroft), giving him a $6,000 diamond ring as collateral so he’ll post her $1,500 bail and secure her release from jail while she awaits trial. After Elaine accepts Bailey’s offer to take her home, she swipes a cigarette lighter (inscribed by prizefighter Jack Dempsey) from his desk; when Bailey later sees her using the lighter, she looks at him with an impish grin and says, “So what?” She’s a piece of work, I’m telling you – and this introduction doesn’t even scratch the surface. Incidentally, Bailey is no bastion of virtue – he’s as crooked as San Francisco’s Lombard Street and as corrupt as a two-headed coin.
One of the most noir-like aspects of Blood Money is the fact that there are no clear heroes – almost every character is at least tinged – if not soaked – with danger, dishonesty, or depravity (or perhaps all three), and their lives intersect in a collision course to disaster. Nightclub owner Ruby Darling (Judith Anderson in her big screen debut) is the most honorable of the group, but her brother, Drury (Chick Chandler) is a reckless career criminal, and Ruby is in love with Bailey, who falls for Elaine, who’s attracted to the menace that Drury represents. An atmosphere of doom surrounds this quartet, as – in true noir fashion – one bad decision after another guarantees no good end.
Midnight Mary (1933)
This feature opens as the title character – played by Loretta Young – is on trial for murder and awaiting the jury’s verdict. Like we saw in Two Seconds, a flashback lasting nearly the length of the film shows Mary’s journey from an impoverished childhood, through confinement in juvenile detention (for a crime, incidentally, that she didn’t commit), and her eventual involvement with a group of petty criminals led by the charming but deadly Leo Darcy (Ricardo Cortez).
It’s Mary’s relationship with Leo that provides the film with its noirish aura. Leo initially provides a port in a storm for Mary, offering her food and shelter when she’s close to starvation and unable to find work. She even willingly takes part in his illegal activities – at first. Later, Mary manages to extricate herself from Leo’s criminal exploits, but fate keeps sticking out a foot to trip her up, and she’s unable to resist the gravitational force that keeps pulling her back into Leo’s orbit. The movie ends with a decidedly un-noir-like happy ending, but the road taken to get there has enough darkness to satisfy any noir fan.
Heat Lightning (1934)
Coming in at the tail end of the pre-Code era is this first-rate feature starring Aline MacMahon and Ann Dvorak as sisters who run a service station and auto camp in the Arizona desert. The younger sister, Myra (Dvorak), is unhappy with her isolated surroundings and is (a little too) eager to grow up, while Olga (MacMahon) is sensible and hard-working, but harbors a long-held secret past. That past comes back to haunt her when two criminals on the lam from the law show up on the gas station’s doorstep.
Heat Lightning is chock-full of noirish plot points, characters, and decisions, not least of which is the air of impending jeopardy. One of the criminals – Jeff (Lyle Talbot) – is skittish and paranoid, and the other, George (Preston Foster) – who was romantically involved with Olga years before – exudes a sensation of suppressed violence. Olga is tormented by the dual conflict caused by her rebellious kid sister and the sudden re-emergence of George in her life. And the atmosphere of tension and uncertainty is compounded by the oppressive desert heat, the threat of an electrical storm, and a trio of stranded travelers staying at the auto camp. It’s a perfect set-up for the shadowy presence that inhabits the world of film noir.
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Can you think of any other pre-Codes with noir-like plots? Leave a comment and let me know!
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– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub
You can read all of Karen’s Noir Nook articles here.
Karen Burroughs Hannsberry is the author of the Shadows and Satin blog, which focuses on movies and performers from the film noir and pre-Code eras, and the editor-in-chief of The Dark Pages, a bimonthly newsletter devoted to all things film noir. Karen is also the author of two books on film noir – Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film and Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. You can follow Karen on Twitter at @TheDarkPages.
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