After the dawn of sound and before the Production Code, Hollywood ran wild and free. Fearlessly and frankly tackling subjects and scenes that would quickly become forbidden to a generation of filmmakers, these seldom-seen pre-Code wonders are both revelatory and sin-sational. This fifth volume takes a walk on the wild side. Hard to handle: Con leads to con when the prize money for a rigged dance marathon is stolen. Ladies they talk about: "Nan Taylor,...

Big city blues: A free-wheeling chorus girl hooks up with the ultimate hick. Hell's highway: A cool convict works the road crew for a corrupt warden. The cabin in the cotton: Sharecroppers are taken advantage of by the planter who keeps them as virtual slaves. When ladies meet: A female novelist whose latest work extols the virtues of extramarital amour has a fling with her married publisher. I sell anything: A Second Avenue auctioneer gets played...

The divorcée: When a woman discovers that her husband has been unfaithful to her, she decides to respond in kind. A free soul: An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with his client. Three on a match: Although Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a...