The Strange Love of Molly Louvain (DVD), Warner Archives, Drama

In the naughty, bawdy years before the Production Code, filmmakers turned the camera lens toward sin and it's more entertaining consequences. The Strange Love of Molly Louvain is a first-rate example of Hollywood's pre-Code love affair with third-rate dames and the louses who mistreat them. Featuring early-Talkie stars Ann Dvorak and Lee Tracy and crisply directed by Michael Curtiz (whose later credits include The Adventures of Robin Hood and Casablanca), the film follows the misfortunes of an unwed mother who gets mixed up with a wealthy seducer, a thief, a cynical newshound, a devoted bellhop, a sleazy dancehall, gun-blazing crime and plenty of heartache. The moral: sin doesn't pay... except at the box office.