4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films.  As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films is all about letting the visuals do the talking.

All of the scenes below come from films that were made and released between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the adoption of the infamous Hays Production Code in 1934.  This was truly an exciting time for film as an art form.  Not only were filmmakers intoxicated with discovering what they could accomplish through the medium but they were also unhindered by censorship or regulation.  The end result was some of the most visually imaginative and narratively daring films to ever be released by the major American studios.

There’s a reason why film lovers continue to eagerly seek out pre-code films.  And if you want to experience what made the pre-Code era so memorable, you could not do any worse than to start with the four films featured in this post.

Madam Satan (1930, dir by Cecil B. DeMille)

Safe in Hell (1931, dir by William Wellman)

Rasputin and the Empress (1932, dir by Richard Boleslawski)

Search For Beauty (1934, dir by Erle C. Kenton)