Pre-Code Films with Film Noir Flavor
Next to film noir, my favorite type of classic movie is pre-Code – films released roughly between 1929 and July 1934, before the strict enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code (also known as the Hays Code). The Hays Code represented a set of censorship guidelines for what could and could not be shown in American movies, but before the enforcement of these guidelines kicked into high gear in 1934, filmmakers had more freedom to explore a variety of subjects like crime, sexuality, adultery, drug use, and moral ambiguity. Once the enforcement of the Code became more rigorous, many of these themes either disappeared from films – or forced filmmakers to become more creative in their efforts to depict them.
It’s no wonder, then, that I’m so fond of pre-Code films – many of them served up plots that would have made near-perfect film noirs. In fact, there are a handful of pre-Codes that were remade as noirs, including the 1933 Walter Huston starrer, The Criminal Code, which emerged in the noir era as Convicted (1950), featuring Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford; and, of course, the pre-Code Maltese Falcon (1931), which was remade into the classic 1941 Humphrey Bogart noir of the same name. But there are many great pre-Codes that never saw the noir light of day (or shadow of night, if you will) – and this month’s Noir Nook offers Part 1 of two-parter that takes a look at these features.
City Streets (1931)
Gary Cooper stars here as, simply, The Kid, whose sweet-faced girlfriend Nan (Sylvia Sidney) has close ties with the underworld, thanks to her shady stepfather, Pop Cooley (Guy Kibbee, in a rare bad-guy role). The Kid vehemently resists Nan’s efforts to draw him into Pop’s criminal enterprise, but when she winds up in prison, he finds himself straying to the dark side.
With its organized crime setting, City Streets offers several noirish elements, especially the theme of ordinary people drawn unwittingly into a world of corruption and wrongdoing. One of the most memorable aspects of the film is its visual style, which is strongly reminiscent of the noirs to come; in one striking scene, for instance, two characters walk along a darkened street, but the image of one man (who plans to murder the other) is briefly shown only as a menacing, looming shadow.
Safe in Hell (1931)
This feature centers on Gilda Carlson (Dorothy MacKaill), a call girl who finds herself in hot water when she accidentally kills the man whose misdeeds led her into prostitution. Her sailor fiancé (Donald Cook) comes to her rescue by arranging for her to hide out on a remote Caribbean island, but there, she joins a motley crew consisting of murderers, thieves, and other unsavory types – and she finds herself in a far more precarious existence than the one she left behind.
There are few clearly defined villains or heroes in this film – most of the characters are tinged with a tenor of moral ambiguity; even Gilda’s honorable and highly principled fiancé breaks the law to help her evade the long arm of the law. The film also functions under a constant pall of doom, signaling to the viewer that a happy ending is not necessarily on the horizon.
Three on a Match (1932)
Ann Dvorak, Joan Blondell, and Bette Davis star in this film as childhood friends who grow up to lead vastly dissimilar lives; Davis, as Ruth Westcott, becomes a secretary and Blondell’s Mary Keaton turns her life around after spending her teen years in a reformatory. But it’s Ann Dvorak who gets the juiciest role – Vivian Revere Kirkland, a wealthy but wholly unfulfilled wife and mother who abandons her comfy life and jumps feet first into a world of crime, drugs, and abuse.
The paramount noir-like theme of Three on a Match focuses on the spate of bad decisions made by Vivian Kirkland, and the manner in which she throws away a safe and comfortable life with both hands. Further, like Safe in Hell, the film operates under a near-constant sensation of dread, as the plot steam rolls its way to a shocking and unforgettable end.
Night World (1932)
This feature unites a range of intertwining stories, viewed on one single night via the lens of a New York nightclub. The players include Ruth Taylor (Mae Clarke), a hard-boiled but soft-hearted chorus girl, and Michael Rand (Lew Ayres), the emotionally unstable victim of a tragic family scandal. Also on hand in this mélange of personalities and circumstances is the club’s owner, Happy (Boris Karloff); his duplicitous wife, Jill (Dorothy Revier); and a crooked gambler (George Raft), who has eyes for Ruth.
The aptly named Night World offers just that – not only literally, but metaphorically as well, as it depicts a realm populated by characters who are alternately disillusioned, immoral, world-weary, and cruel. The atmosphere is rife with despair, and few of the club’s occupants – even one of its most positive and likable characters – are unable to escape the inevitable outcome.
The House on 56th Street (1932)
Opening in turn-of-the century New York, and spanning several decades, this tale stars Kay Francis as Peggy Martin, a chorus girl who marries wealthy and handsome Monte Van Tyle and lives in a beautiful mansion with her husband and their young daughter. But when she has a chance encounter with a former lover (John Halliday), her idyllic existence is turned upside down, and her life will never be the same.
The plot of the film centers on the impossibility of escaping one’s destiny. In addition to a protagonist who is haunted by her past, and who struggles to reclaim a life that is out of her reach, the events are characterized by a noirish series of coincidences, fate, and injustices, leading to a conclusion that you won’t see coming.
Stop by the Noir Nook next month for Part 2 of Pre-Code Films with Film Noir Flavor. Any guesses as to the pre-Codes that might be covered next time? Leave a note in the comments 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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