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Pre-Code Columbia

Pre-Code Columbia

8 Episodes

In the early 1930s—when the censorial Hollywood Production Code wasn’t yet enforced and sex, sin, and sleaze were splashed across the screen with abandon—Columbia Pictures was distinguished by the working-class, populist milieu of their productions, which stood in contrast to the polished, escapist gloss of larger studios like MGM and Paramount. Under the direction of humanist masters like Franks Capra and Borzage, stars such as Barbara Stanwyck (FORBIDDEN), Carole Lombard (VIRTUE), and Spencer Tracy (MAN’S CASTLE) shone brightly in films that blended bold, realistic narratives with sharp, Depression-era social commentary.

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Pre-Code Columbia

8 Episodes

  • Pre-Code Columbia Teaser
    01:04
    Pre-Code Columbia Teaser
    Episode 1

    Pre-Code Columbia Teaser

    Episode 1

  • Man’s Castle
    1:18:38
    Man’s Castle
    Episode 2

    Man’s Castle

    Episode 2

    Directed by Frank Borzage • 1933 • United States
    Starring Spencer Tracy, Loretta Young, Marjorie Rambeau

    Finding her homeless and half-starved, happy-go-lucky wanderer Bill (Spencer Tracy) takes in Trina (Loretta Young) to stay with him and the other eccentric denizens of a New York City shan...

  • Forbidden
    1:25:28
    Forbidden
    Episode 3

    Forbidden

    Episode 3

    Directed by Frank Capra • 1932 • United States
    Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou

    On a cruise ship en route to Havana, small town librarian Lulu Smith (Barbara Stanwyck) meets Bob Grover (Adolphe Menjou), an ambitious, married attorney with his sights set on public office. It’s the beg...

  • Ladies of Leisure
    1:39:49
    Ladies of Leisure
    Episode 4

    Ladies of Leisure

    Episode 4

    Directed by Frank Capra • 1930 • United States
    Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Ralph Graves, Lowell Sherman

    In the first of her remarkable collaborations with Frank Capra, Barbara Stanwyck plays a “party girl” who finds genuine love when she begins modeling for the wannabe-painter son (Ralph Grave...

  • Shopworn
    1:06:08
    Shopworn
    Episode 5

    Shopworn

    Episode 5

    Directed by Nick Grinde • 1932 • United States
    Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Regis Toomey, ZaSu Pitts

    Barbara Stanwyck brings her trademark grit and gumption to one of her memorable early performances in this class-conscious melodrama. She plays Kitty Lane, a poor working girl whose engagement to t...

  • Ten Cents a Dance
    1:16:49
    Ten Cents a Dance
    Episode 6

    Ten Cents a Dance

    Episode 6

    Directed by Lionel Barrymore • 1931 • United States
    Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Ricardo Cortez, Monroe Owsley

    Directed by acting legend Lionel Barrymore, this distinctly pre-Code drama stars a typically bracing Barbara Stanwyck as Barbara O’Neill, a taxi dancer who, despite being courted by wealt...

  • Three Wise Girls
    1:08:51
    Three Wise Girls
    Episode 7

    Three Wise Girls

    Episode 7

    Directed by William Beaudine • 1932 • United States
    Starring Jean Harlow, Mae Clarke, Marie Prevost

    Jean Harlow is irresistible in this Depression-era tale of working girls setting out to make it in the big city. Tired of small-town life, Cassie Barnes (Harlow) heads for the glamour of New York,...

  • Virtue
    1:08:54
    Virtue
    Episode 8

    Virtue

    Episode 8

    Directed by Edward Buzzell • 1932 • United States
    Starring Carole Lombard, Pat O’Brien, Mayo Methot

    In this very pre-Code drama, streetwalker Mae (Carole Lombard) is arrested for soliciting and ordered to leave New York or face jail time. Though she has no intention of complying, Mae has second ...

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