John Wayne's first leading role came in 1930 with the pre-code Western The Big Trail, directed by Raoul Walsh, and it set the 23-year-old actor on a path to stardom and Western dominance. Before this ...

The Western genre has had its fair share of highs and lows over the years. While it's given us some of cinema's greatest achievements - films like The Searchers and Unforgiven that helped define ...

About 20 years ago I was in a kind of partnership with another film historian who told me that, no, there wasn’t a market for a book on pre-code movies. I can only wonder what he thinks today after ...

Thomas Butt is a senior writer. An avid film connoisseur, Thomas actively logs his film consumption on Letterboxd and vows to connect with many more cinephiles through the platform. He is immensely ...