Elliot Lavine, programmer of pre-Code films at the Castro Theatre (every Wednesday through March 30), was raised in Detroit, moved to the Bay Area in the 1970s with the thought of becoming a filmmaker ...

Despite only lasting four short years from 1930 to 1934, the pre-code era of Hollywood’s Golden Age produced films that pushed the boundaries of cinema and storytelling, even by today’s standards.

Frequent Pasatiempo contributor Mark Tiarks is a freelancer, and it’s a good thing, too. Otherwise, we’d have to bust him for sneaking out during the day to work on other projects. But his newest one ...