William Gargan

Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, until 1934 when the Hays Code virtually neutered film content. No longer portrayed as virgins or vamps, the liberated female of the pre-code films had dimensions. Good girls had lovers and babies and held down jobs, while the bad girls were cast in a sympathetic light. And they did it all without apology.

Ben Matthews gives up the flashy life of a riverboat gambler, hoping to settle down in Galena with his girlfriend, luscious entertainer Zoe. But Galena's leading citizen is murdered on the boat; Ben, on arrival, finds a lynch mob after his neck, and flees. Three years of wandering later, Zoe's letters stop coming and Ben returns to find her and attempt the hopeless task of clearing himself.

Wartime romance about a lonely man and woman who meet one rainy afternoon in New York.

Beat cop Bragan is about to go off duty when he discovers a man standing on the ledge of a hotel more than a dozen stories up. Bragan tries to talk the man, Robert Cosick, down from his threatening perch and in the process learns the reasons for the Robert's suicide attempt.

Father O'Malley is sent to St. Mary's, a run-down parochial school on the verge of condemnation. He and Sister Benedict work together in an attempt to save the school, though their differing methods often lead to good-natured disagreements.

Two dumb soda jerks dream of writing radio mysteries. When they try to pitch an idea at a radio station, they end up in the middle of a real murder when the station owner is killed during a broadcast.

When a barnstorming stunt pilot decides to join the air corps, his two goofball assistants decide to go with him. Since the two are Abbott & Costello, the air corps doesn't know what it's in for.

A young promoter is accused of the murder of Vicky Lynn, a young actress he "discovered" as a waitress while out with ex-actor Robin Ray and gossip columnist Larry Evans.

Ella Bishop is an inhibited girl whose frustrations grow as she approaches womanhood. As a women, her ambitions to teach cause her to lose her only opportunity for true love. Ella's life becomes one of missed chances and wrong choices. As she reaches old age, she reflects back and realizes she allowed the years to go by without achieving what she believes to be her true fulfillment. However, her years have not been without glory, and her moment of triumph arrives when her numerous now-famous students from over the years, return to honor their beloved Miss Bishop.

The descendent of a ghost imprisoned for cowardice hopes to free the spirit by displaying courage when under duress.

Comedy about a bandleader with hypnotic powers.

Three former marines have a hard time readjusting to civilian life. Perry can't deal with the loss of the use of his legs. William is in trouble with bad debts. And Cliff can't decide what he wants to do with his life, although he gets encouragement from war widow Pat Ruscomb.

An unscrupulous private investigator with a penchant for blackmail is found dead in a car and the leading suspect is Janet Bradley, the daughter of a mayoral candidate. With the election just weeks away, shady and ruthless individuals muscle the medical officer into switching the corpse with another body. Lieutenant Sam Carson, one of the few good apples in the bunch must find a way to get to the bottom of it all.

While courting a young woman by mail, a rich farmer sends a photograph of his foreman instead of his own, which leads to complications when she accepts his marriage proposal.

In a remote, mountainous section of Russian-occupied Germany, there is an elaborate post-war Nazi underground dedicated to the achievement of Hitler's dreams of world supremacy. A group of scientists are working on a method of releasing atom bombs through remote control. The FBI learns of the plot and sends an operative in to foil it.

An orchestra leader turns sleuth to clear his ice-skating girlfriend for murder.

There's something very odd about Romano, a notorious gangster serving time in the federal pen. For one thing, Romano doesn't sound much like himself. For another, he always seems to be hiding something. Detective Lee suspects that something's amiss, and he's probably right!

A private detective and a blonde acquaintance whom he has rescued from a misdirected murder charge, discover a body in his beachside cottage; only it has disappeared by the time the police arrive, leaving him to be charged with hoaxing the police. With his license in jeopardy, his would-be fiancee and an inquiring reporter set out to investigate.

A female research scientist conducting experiments on a new anesthetic has a very bad week. Her scheming assistant intentionally scars her face, her almost-fiancee appears to have deserted her and she finds herself being blackmailed by a women she accidentally knocked down with her car.

A framed reporter and the crooks on his trail scramble to locate a book containing the names of American war profiteers and traitors who collaborated with the Nazis during the war.

Myles Vanders feuds with hardnosed stable owner Davis Lockwood. Myles takes revenge by romancing and marrying Lockwood's daughter Linda. But as the big race looms nearer, Myles is distracted to discover that he really loves Linda.

Amateur sleuth Ellery Queen learns the truth about a businessman's two long-lost daughters.

Hoping to put the cuffs on criminal mastermind Socks Barstow, detective Mike Hanrohan is stymied by the fact that his younger brother Denny has joined Barstow's gang. Things get worse after a bloody shootout, in which Mike apparently guns down his own brother.

An adventurer is promised $1 million if he can recover a fortune in pearls, but they are guarded by a tribe of fierce natives.

A man is framed for embezzlement and runs off to San Francisco. His wife hires Ellery Queen to try and track him down before the police get to him.

Two reporters search for a missing body in a wax museum.

A former jockey teaches a newcomer the dirty tricks of the track.

Based partially on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, Eddie Taylor is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. When he is framed for murder, Taylor is forced to flee with his wife Joan Graham and baby. While escaping prison after being sentenced to death, Taylor becomes a real murderer, condemning himself and Joan to a life of crime and death on the road.

The coquettish granddaughter of a respected small-town judge is stranded at a bootleggers’ hide-out, subjected to an act of nightmarish sexual violence, and plunged into a criminal underworld that threatens to swallow her up completely.

A simple Pennsylvania coal miner is drawn into the violent conflict between union workers and management.

Timid milkman, Burleigh Sullivan, somehow knocks out a boxing champ in a brawl. The fighter's manager decides to build up the milkman's reputation in a series of fixed fights and then have the champ beat him to regain his title.

Due to a possible cholera epidemic onboard, passengers on a ship are forced to disembark at Pago Pago, a small village on a Pacific island where it incessantly rains. Among the stranded passengers are Sadie Thompson, a prostitute, and Alfred Davidson, a fanatic missionary who will try to redeem her.

A mobster's moll leads a newsman, cub reporter and photographer to a scoop.

Joe and Ethel Turp are up in arms when their faithful old mailman is fired. Unable to get satisfaction on a municipal level, Joe and Ethel plead their mailman's case to the President himself.

Shopgirl Mary Turner, sentenced to prison for someone else's theft, is released and takes revenge upon those who wronged her in powerful but lawful ways.

The story of the training and adventures of several airline stewardesses.

A young boxer gets caught between a no-good father and a crime boss when he starts dating the boss's daughter, although she doesn't know what daddy does for a living.

Dwight Stanford and his wife, Penny, are a pair of spendthrifts who can't hold on to money, dependent for support on Dwight's rich uncle, who sends them a monthly allowance. Conrad Norris, Dwight's cousin, disapproves of Dwight and Penny, and resents his uncle's generosity. The uncle is the victim of a hit-and-run accident and, there being no will, Conrad, as next of kin, inherits. Switch, the uncle's lawyer, tells Dwight he is shutout with no hope of appeal. Dwight starts writing mystery novels about a fictional detective named Steven Knight, which become instant hits and the money pours in.

Reporter Jane Arden goes undercover to try to expose a gang of jewel thieves and smugglers. Her mission becomes more dangerous when her identity is discovered early on by one of the gang leaders.

In the days leading up to the Russian Revolution, Stephen Locke, a minor British diplomat in St Petersburg, falls in love with a Russian spy.

Story of South American mail pilots, and the dangers they face flying at night.

Tough Aggie gives a street guy polish and a rich kid gumption.

Tom Collier has had a great relationship with Daisy, but when he decides to marry, it is not Daisy whom he asks, it is Cecelia. After the marriage, Tom is bored with the social scene and the obligations of his life. He publishes books that will sell, not books that he wants to write. Even worse, he has his old friend working as a butler and Cecelia wants him fired. When Tom tries to get back together with Daisy to renew the feelings that he once felt, Daisy turns the tables on him and leaves to protect both of them.

A Broadway producer is in a quandary when he discovers that the opening of his newest big production coincides with that of a major charity event. He despairs that the show will close after opening night until an ingenious writer suggests that he simply give the production snob-appeal by making the tickets nearly impossible to get by fabricating a story that they were all purchased by a flamboyant Texas oil baron who is totally besotted by the show's star.

A Navy pilot gets involved in a romantic triangle while stationed in Hawaii.

A scatterbrained circus lady must cover for her sour schoolmistress sister.

A surgeon and an ambulance driver fight racketeers who take over their hospital.

Owen, a small time bookie, decides to open an insurance business as it involves lesser risk. His first client is Colonel Youngblood who insures his daughter, Marilyn, against marriage.

A detective goes undercover as a producer to investigate an actor's murder, which occurred during the performance of a play...

A failed poet ends up becoming a gag writer for a bombastic comedian.

"Iron Man" Mason is a talented but rather dimwitted prizefighter. Against the advice of his crusty old manager George Regan, Mason dumps his ever-loving girlfriend Judy Williams in favor of sexy blonde Rose Whitney.

Two Hollywood stuntmen compete for the same pretty extra.

A parade highlights the Screen Actors Guild's Film Stars Frolic, hosted by Walter Winchell as Master of Ceremonies.

A PR man talks a swanky hotel into hiring his girlfriend's brother as chef.

A radio commentator named Perry Travis fancies himself a brilliant amateur detective. The cops wish he’d stick to his microphone and let them do the detecting. This proves impossible when a famed scientist is murdered in Perry’s studio, right in the middle of the interview. All evidence points to Perry, and he sets out to clear his name before the Shadow-like villain roaming the hallways of the radio station gets away with murder.

A married singer, pianist/composer team are struggling to hit it big in New York. Finally, they audition before a Broadway producer, but the producer only wants the singer, leaving the husband without a job and feeling a failure.

Doctor in jungle works on cure for fever.

A tough Irishman tries to help a logging company owner on Vancouver Island who is being sabotaged by a nearby competitor.

Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1935.

A kooky waiter and sometimes vaudevillian promises to get his employer's daughter into a Broadway show. When he kidnaps the show's star, she gets her opportunity, as the understudy, to play the role and become a star herself.