This unique course on cinema history continues with a detailed exploration of the films produced during three vital years, 1931–1933, the height of the Depression. In America, with talkies now fully established, but with box-office takings in decline, the major studios reacted by increasing the level of violence and sex in their films, resulting in an increased backlash from conservatives which would eventually lead, in 1934, to the severe tightening of the Production Code. In this Pre-Code era, almost anything went; the films were fast, provocative, funny and daring. The superstars of the era – Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Mae West, the Marx Brothers, James Cagney, Marlene Dietrich and all the rest – were at their peak. Elsewhere, we will explore the cinema of Europe, especially Britain, France and Germany (the latter entering the Nazi era) and Asia. A feature film will screen at every session and there will be hundreds of film excerpts.