Each installment focuses on a different era of American movie history, from the invention of the first moving pictures to the revolutionary, cutting-edge films of the 1960s.

Produced for Turner Classic Movies, this documentary looks at the early days of the gangster film.

A look at the forces that shaped Pre-Code Hollywood and brought about the strict enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934.

A biography of the short-lived character actor Laird Cregar.

A look at the life and films of the expressionistic movie and television director John Brahm.

Film historians, and survivors from the nearly 30-year struggle to bring sound to motion pictures take the audience from the early failed attempts by scientists and inventors, to the triumph of the talkies.

An examination of "Little Caesar" (1931) by film historians and critics.

Short documentary about the making of "The Petrified Forest."

Documentary covering the Warner Bros. James Cagney /Pat O'Brien classic "Angels with Dirty Faces" (1938), hosted by film historian Rudy Behlmer.

This documentary is featured on Warner Brothers' DVD for The Roaring Twenties (1939), released in 2005.

An examination of "The Public Enemy" (1931) by film historians and critics.

An examination of "White Heat" (1949) by film historians and critics.

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.