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.

Opera prima donna leaves the Metropolitan to form her own company with Tibbett as leading man. She leaves this company too which means Tibbett and company must carry on without her.

While a distinguished astronomer is giving a lecture in a planetarium, a shot rings out and one of the audience members is found dead. A tough detective and a brassy female reporter lock horns as they both try to break the case.

A mining engineer teams up with a crusty deputy sheriff to solve the mystery killings at an old mine where the owner's family waits for him to die, and where a valuable radium strike may have been made.

A gangster's girlfriend on the run from the police, who suspect her of helping her boyfriend commit a robbery, holes up in a waterfront bar. She stows away on a fishing boat headed out to sea, and winds up falling in love with and marrying one of the fishermen, but doesn't tell him about her past. However, a year after they're married and have a child, her ex-boyfriend gets out of jail and comes looking for her.

A camp butcher on an Albany night boat dreams of the South Seas.

A murder victim is brought back to life by a scientific experiment. However, the effects only last for six hours, and he must find his killer in that time.

Ivy Stevens is a cafe entertainer in love with a shifty salesman who deserts her. In attempting to commit suicide, she is saved by Carl, a Salvation Army officer. Encouraged by Carl, Ivy joins the Salvation Army. When her old flame re-enters her life, Ivy finds she is still attracted and begins another affair with him.

Two fast-talking insurance salesmen meet Mary, who is running away from her wealthy mother, and they agree to help her run a hotel that she owns. When they find out that the hotel is run down and nearly abandoned, they launch a phony PR campaign that presents the hotel as a resort favored by the rich. Their advertising succeeds too well, and many complications soon arise.

A young man attempts to overcome the memory of his father, who was sent to jail for committing a murder.

Romantic biography of Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind and her famous affairs.

A thug robs a young engaged couple of their last few dollars. When the thug's gang boss hears of the robbery, he gives them back their money and takes them under his wing. The thug, resentful of the couple, plans to organize a mutiny against the gang's boss, but when he is killed in a botched robbery, the police focus their attention on the young couple.

The sister of a sponge diver killed by a stingray loves an escaped convict posing as a priest.

Convicted of manslaughter for a drunken driving accident, Kent Marlowe is sent to prison, where he meets vicious incarcerated figures who are planning an escape from the brutal conditions.

Old sailor Chris Christofferson eagerly awaits the arrival of his grown daughter Anna, whom he sent at five years old to live with relatives in Minnesota. He has not seen her since, but believes her to be a decent and respectably employed young woman. When Anna arrives, however, it is clear that she has lived a hard life in the dregs of society, and that much of spirit has been extinguished. She falls in love with a young sailor rescued at sea by her father, but dreads to reveal to him the truth of her past. Both father and young man are deluded about her background, yet Anna cannot quite bring herself to allow them to remain deluded.

The murders start with the body of Robin. He is found with a arrow through the heart, but Vance deduces that the body was placed and not found where he was killed. The note found dealing with the murder was part of a nursery rhyme and signed by 'Bishop'. The only witness may have been Mrs. Drukker and Adolph, but they are not talking. As the murders progress, each one is accompanied by a nursery rhyme. It is up to Philo Vance to unravel the clues and unmask the identity of the murderer 'Bishop'.

The Isle of Lost Ships is a 1929 talking film released in an alternative silent version with a Vitaphone track of effects and music. It was produced by Richard A. Rowland and distributed by Warner Bros..

A young Acadian woman spends years searching for her lost love after the two are separated and forcibly relocated by the British.

Laconic cowboy Maverick Brander just happens to be a very wealthy rancher, but the money doesn't really mean that much to him. The same can't be said for his social-climbing wife and his man-crazy daughter Bossy. His wife, with the help of some political bosses, helps Maverick get elected to Congress, where he manages to get in all sorts of trouble, including getting blackmailed by opponents of a bill he's trying to get passed.

Bud Harris, who is in love with Molly Vernon, leaves the Vernon ranch when there is an oil boom in the territory, then returns to find the property encumbered with debt. Bush, who holds the mortgage on the ranch, attempts to foreclose when he learns that there is oil on the land, and Bud enters a horserace to pay the debt.

Nat Alden, a promoter, has had bad luck on his deal and is broke. He meets an old army pal who is now a chauffeur of the businessman who threw the luckless Nat out of his office. Nat is on his way back to his small hometown, where he is believed to be a millionaire. To keep the belief alive he has his pal drive him there in the businessman's automobile. Complications arise quickly.

A carnival huckster who decides to turn pennies into dollars by passing himself off as a hellfire-and-brimstone evangelist.

The Highbinders

A disgruntled 18th century Bostonian who while wishing that he was a pirate, dons the clothes and play-acts the part. He is mistaken for the real pirate, Dixie Bull. More importantly, Errol "slays" the villain and puts his foot upon the pirate's head. This is more than enough and he heads back home to his unappreciated wife

William S. Hart stars in this 1925 silent film as a cowboy intent on claiming land during the 1889 land rush in the Oklahoma Territory. Though hardened from years of taming the new frontier, he falls in love with a beautiful woman. Before he settles down, however, he must contend with men who wish to bring him harm. In the prologue of the 1939 Astor Pictures revival of this film, Hart gives a moving eight-minute introduction-- the first and only time he appeared in a film accompanied by his striking voice.

Two hundred fifty thousand have read this startling novel with its revelations on married life-its intimate story of the times and follies of new conventions that hurl their challenge to the old!

O'Day, the terror of Red Gulch, wins the entire stake of a gambler named Granger in a poker game but gives it all to Denver Nell, a dancehall girl, when she tells him her sad story. O'Day later discovers that she has returned the money to Granger, and he decides to reform. He goes to another town, where (now known as Good Deed O'Day) he meets an old friend, a wealthy rancher with whose sister, Mary, he is in love. Snowden takes a trip to Denver and returns with Nell, whom he has married.

Bill Drake is a cowpoke who must prove himself innocent of robbing the general store. The real culprit, as our hero detects, is Tom Evans, the weakling son of a local rancher.

Plot concerns happy-go-lucky rancher who decides to spruce up in order to win the affection of a girl. Enemies seeking to have him put out of the way, plan to rob a stagecoach with one man dressed in Bill's clothes. He hears of plot and in vigorous fight with gang he whips them and brings them to justice.

Galloping Gallagher (1924)

A troubled young woman comes to live with her estranged father on the New York waterfront. A tough sailor falls in love with her, sparking conflict between her father and her suitor. What neither knows is that she has a secret that could cause her to lose both of them.

John Middleton is distressed to learn that his family is taking in an orphan girl named Mary. He turns aside all her attempts to befriend him. But with the passage of time, John discovers (long after everyone else has) that he loves Mary. But by now it's too late. She plans to marry his friend Willie.

A milquetoast Easterner who on a trip to the Wild West is mistaken for a U.S. marshall.

Young minister Keith Rollins comes to a backwoods community in Kentucky and finds that lawless and political elements are against him and threaten his position with the congregation.

Henry Mallory, U.S.A., receives orders to join his regiment which is to embark for the Philippines. The Overland Limited is the only train that will enable him to reach the coast in time to escape a court-martial. Having a little time to spare he persuades Marjorie to elope with him and reserves two berths.