Must Have Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 10

Remember to knock five times, as the Cinema Speakeasy is open again with a quintet of controversial pre-Code classics. Lionel Barrymore stars as a DA who commits the perfect crime in W.S. Van Dyke’s Guilty Hands, costarring Kay Francis. Next Warren William is crowned the pre-Code King with his breakout performance in James Flood & Elliott Nugent’s The Mouthpiece. Then Edward Sutherland spills the Secrets of the French Police as a Surete inspector (Frank Morgan) and a thief (John Warburton) scour the underworld for a waif (Gwili Andre), who may be the Princess Anastasia. Warren William follows with Howard Bretherton & William Keighley’s acclaimed biopic The Match King, with Glenda Farrell on hand to deliver the glam. Finally, Babyface Barbara Stanwyck sizzles as a spouse torn between love (Otto Kruger) and country in Archie Mayo’s Ever in My Heart, with Ralph Bellamy as the other guy (naturally!).