Robert Barrat

Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, until 1934 when the Hays Code virtually neutered film content. No longer portrayed as virgins or vamps, the liberated female of the pre-code films had dimensions. Good girls had lovers and babies and held down jobs, while the bad girls were cast in a sympathetic light. And they did it all without apology.

Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.

Still seeking revenge against ranch owner Tuck Ordway for publicly whipping him years earlier and breaking up his relationship with Ordway's daughter, cowboy Larry Madden plans to oust Ordway from his ranch by having his claim to the land declared invalid. Ordway's daughter Corinna, believing Madden to be the cause of the family's recent misfortunes, is unaware that the local saloon owner also has designs upon the Ordway holdings.

A hired hand gets caught between a noble rancher and ruthless land grabbers.

Jim Vesser and his team of railroading men try to build a rail line through a mountain pass, while a group of less scrupulous construction workers sabotages the entire operation in the hopes that they can get their tracks laid first and get the money from the railroad.

After destroying a Seminole fort, American soldiers and their rescued companions must face the dangerous Everglades and hostile Indians in order to reach safety

Falsely accused by the corrupt Governor Elden of Charleston of fencing stolen pirate booty, young Davey Crandall and friend Tom Botts buy passage on the ship of local buccaneer Bloodthirsty Ben. They avoid being killed by faking a case of the pox, which causes the panicked captain and crew to desert the ship. The two find themselves alone, and when a lucky cannon shot hits a mast on a British ship, they find themselves mistaken for pirates. They sail to Tortuga, where they recruit such notorious corsairs as Henry Morgan, Captain Kidd, Anne Bonney, and Blackbeard to lay siege to Chaleston and expose the villain Elden.

Two absentee American parents get to know their three children again after spending five years in Panama.

Four scientists and a newsman crash land on Mars and meet martians who act friendly.

The U.S. government recognizes land grants made when the West was under Spanish rule. This inspires James Reavis to forge a chain of historical evidence that makes a foundling girl the Baroness of Arizona. Reavis marries the girl and presses his claim to the entire Arizona territory.