52 Code Films

In this new year, PEPS is beginning a weekly feature exclusively about Code films. That way, our readers will have a clear contrast to the films we breen every week in our Breening Thursdays series. This new series is called 52 Code Films. Unlike the breening articles, which are always published on Thursday, 52 Code Films articles will be published at anytime during each week. However, one will definitely be published per week.

Like many classic film fans, I often am struck by the huge amount of wonderful movies I haven’t seen yet. There are so many movies from the Breen Era with favorite actors that I haven’t watched. With over 17,000 Seals of Approval having been issued by the PCA during Joe Breen’s tenure, it would be almost impossible to see all of them in one’s lifetime. However, one can try to make an effort to frequently find new classics, which might become new favorites.

To expand my horizons in terms of Code films, I am challenging myself this new year. Every week, I will watch a Code film which I have never seen before. Then, some time during that week, I will write an article about it. That way, I will watch and review 52 previously unseen Breen Era films during this new year. I invite my readers to join me in this challenge!

If you want to join 52 Code Films, just post this banner on your website, link to this article, and start watching and reviewing! If you aren’t able to join during the first week of January, that’s fine. You can join any time during the year! If you are unable to commit to the challenge for the whole year, you could try it for just a month or two. You could commit to the watching without writing a whole article about each film you see. You could just publish an overview of all the films you watch each month. No matter how you decide to join, carefully observe the dates of the new films you see. Only American-made films from the Greater Breen Era (1934-1954) qualify. Be wary of films from 1934. Only those released in or after July were approved by the PCA. Those which were released before July are considered pre-Code films, so they don’t count. After all, the point of the challenge is to discover new Code films, so the dates are important.

Every time I publish an article in this series, I will include the link to it in this article. Keep checking back here to see the complete roster of the films I am watching and reviewing! In each article, I will include a brief plot of the film, the cast, the movie’s Code classification, my thoughts on recommendation, and my general opinion of it. I can’t wait to watch and review some wonderful new movies!

My 52 Film Reviews

Week 1: Since You Went Away from 1944

Week 2: The Barkleys of Broadway from 1949

Week 3: And So They Were Married from 1936

Week 4: Something in the Wind from 1947

Week 5: Guest in the House from 1944

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Week 6: Can’t Help Singing from 1944

Week 7: Lady on a Train from 1945

Week 8: Three Coins in the Fountain from 1954

Week 9: Casanova Brown from 1944

Week 10: Three Husbands from 1950

Week 11: Random Harvest from 1942

Week 12: Royal Wedding from 1951

Week 13: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty from 1947

Week 14: A Song to Remember from 1945

Week 15: Winged Victory from 1944

Week 16: Double Dynamite from 1951

Week 17: Wedding Present from 1936

Week 18: They Were Expendable from 1945

Week 19: She Married Her Boss from 1935

Week 20: Young Man with a Horn from 1950

Week 21: Salome, Where She Danced from 1945

Week 22: For Me and My Gal from 1942

Week 23: No Time for Comedy from 1940

Week 24: Double Wedding from 1937

Week 25: Wonder Man from 1945

Week 26: The Santa Fe Trail from 1940

Week 27: The World Moves On from 1934

Week 28: A Star is Born from 1937

Week 29: Colonel Effingham’s Raid from 1946

Week 30: The Dark Mirror from 1946

Week 31: The More The Merrier from 1943

Week 32: Meet the Stewarts from 1942

Week 33: After the Thin Man from 1936

Week 34: Brigadoon from 1954

Week 35: Destination Tokyo from 1944

Week 36: The Heiress from 1949

Week 37: Nothing Sacred from 1937

Week 38: A Star is Born from 1954

Week 39: The Spanish Main from 1945

Week 40: All This, and Heaven Too from 1940

Week 41: The African Queen from 1951

Week 42: Another Thin Man from 1939

Week 43: It’s a Wonderful World from 1939

Week 44: Cover Girl from 1944

Week 45: Key Largo from 1948

Week 46: Dark Victory from 1939

Week 47: Du Barry Was a Lady from 1943

Week 48: Mr. Belvedere Goes to College from 1949

Week 49: A Christmas Carol from 1939

Week 50: Up in Arms from 1944

Week 51: Ziegfeld Follies from 1945

Week 52: Swing Time from 1936

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