(In our ongoing effort to connect with younger viewers, we’ve decided that 2026 is the perfect time to start a book club. Each month we’ll be highlighting a book, new or old, that celebrates film, provides important insight, or maybe just a fun take on the world of filmmaking.)
The Hays Code, implemented in 1934, and still in effect until the late 1960’s, largely dictated morality in film in the United States. The Code required the major studios to sign on to a series of principles that dictated how things like profanity, sexuality, and illegal drugs could be portrayed in film. (Spoiler: They largely couldn’t.)
But the code’s inception dates back to 1930, meaning that for four years, filmmakers knew what was coming but for the time being, they could continue making their films as they saw fit, perhaps with a new sense of urgency due to the looming enforcement of the code.
This month’s book, Pre-Code Essentials: Must-See Cinema from Hollywood’s Untamed Era 1930-1934, serves as a comprehensive survey of 50 films produced in this time of uncertainty.
Authors Kim Luperi and Danny Reid have taken what could have been a rather dry reference book and instilled it with a sense of vitality through lively writing style and plenty of images, posters and other ephemera. You’ll see names you know, and many you don’t.
If knowing the history of Hollywood film is important to you, you won’t want to miss out on this chronicle of one of the most unique periods in cinema.
You can get Pre-Code Essentials at Bookshop and support local bookstores, or on Amazon. Scrappy Cinema may earn a commission when you use either of these links.