Better a thousand times to die than for to live so tormented: dear, but remember it was I who for thy sake did die contented

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX

1939

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Written by Norman Reilly Raine and Aeneas MacKenzie (based on the play Elizabeth the Queen by Maxwell Anderson)

Spoilers: welllll, how familiar are you with the reign of Elizabeth I?

20 years ago, we took over their land, their cotton, and their daughter

THE LITTLE FOXES

1941

Directed by William Wyler

Written by Lillian Hellman, Arthur Kober, Dorothy Parker, and Alan Campbell (based on the play by Lillian Hellman)

Spoiler alert: moderate

Believe women, sure, but Bette Davis?

THE LETTER

1940

Directed by William Wyler

Written by Howard E. Koch (based on the play by W. Somerset Maugham)

Spoiler alert: moderate

Maybe I love her most when she's her meanest

JEZEBEL

1938

Directed by William Wyler

Written by Clements Ripley, Abem Finkel, and John Huston (based on the play by Owen Davis)

Spoiler alert: moderate

Busby Berkeley: When good Americans die, they go to Paris

FASHIONS OF 1934

1934

Directed by William Dieterle

Written by Harry Collins, Warren Duff, F. Hugh Hubert, Carl Erickson, 

Spoile alert: moderate