List of pre-Code films

Pre-Code Hollywood is the era in the American film industry after the introduction of sound (talkies) in the early 1920s[1] and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code (Hays Code) censorship guidelines.

Although the Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor and it did not become effectively enforced until July 1, 1934.

Before that date, movie content was restricted more by local laws, negotiations between the Studio Relations Committee (SRC) and the major studios, and popular opinion than strict adherence to the Hays Code, which was often ignored by Hollywood filmmakers.

The criterion for inclusion on this list is the direct mention or discussion of the film as pre-Code in a mainstream source.

A screen shot from the trailer for 1932's Murders in the Rue Morgue . The ape Erik enters Camille's room, with the shadow of his hand appearing over her head. What follows has been dubbed "interspecies miscegenation " by film historian Thomas Doherty. [ 6 ]
Barbara Stanwyck in the trailer for the 1933 film Baby Face . Movies in the Pre-Code era were frequently marketed with suggestive tag lines like this one for a picture in which Stanwyck sleeps her way up the corporate ladder of a New York bank.