name='TimR']I would agree that sentimentality does interfere with many of the Hollywood films of the "code" era, and that many examples of product were simply junk.
But I would strongly disagree with your positive comparison between the post-code films and the pre-code talkies. The era from the 30s through the 50s was the heyday of Welles, Ford, Wyler, Hawks and Hitchcock's American films, and later Zinneman and Huston.
It was the time of Preston Sturges and the screwball classics and well as many individual examples of films that were either enjoyable entertainement or, in the best cases, works of art. It was also the era of classic musicals.
The pre-code talkies were, very often, trash. The great film makers of the silent era were either no longer working or no longer producing outstanding films. The sound technology was often very poor. They are highly enjoyable, but the mere that fact the producers and writers and directors were allowed to get away with R-rated material did not guarantee a good, or even an acceptable film.
Midnight Mary is a crackerjack melodrama and Loretta Young is indeed very beautiful. But it isn't more than that.
A Free Soul with Gable, Shearer and Barrymore is the same.
Perhaps you are also including the silent films? In that case I would agree with you. But the code would make very little difference there.
I will stop now - discussion of American films is not part of this forum, but the title of the thread seems to allow this.