Favourite Movies of the 30's
70's is my favourite decade in movies, but the 30's is a close second; 30's gangster movies with Cagney and Bogart and Edward G Robinson are just the coolest genre to ever exist. Early/mid-30's Busby Berkely musicals are STILL some of the most innovative, unique, yet totally unpretentious film-making ever, and just a beautiful, crazy spectacle, showcasing some wild physical skills. Vaudeville-style 30's comedy like Marx bros, Mae West, Laurel & Hardy, or W.C Fields movies are still some of the most hillarious stuff ever put on a screen, and the more story-driven "screwball" comedies from people like Frank Capra still have a timeless charm. Huge, lavish period epics like Mutiny on the Bounty, Hunchback, Queen Christina and Robin Hood somehow feel more authentic in the 30's, than other decades. The Western matured from cheesy 'Singing Cowboy' schmaltz, to . And the end of the decade saw arguably the greatest, most timeless kid's movies, ever ('Snow White' and 'Oz') and the birth of Disney's Golden Age.
I don't know if it's the youth of the medium at the time, or maybe the on-screen optimism, that served as escapism for the Depression, but even at almost a century old, there's something about 30's movies which feels so fresh and unpretentious, that you just don't see in any other decade.
1930 & earlier, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939
40's Faves, 50's Faves, 60's Faves, 70's Faves, 80's Faves, 90's Faves, 00's Faves, 2010's Faves, The Death of Cinema....
I don't know if it's the youth of the medium at the time, or maybe the on-screen optimism, that served as escapism for the Depression, but even at almost a century old, there's something about 30's movies which feels so fresh and unpretentious, that you just don't see in any other decade.
1930 & earlier, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939
40's Faves, 50's Faves, 60's Faves, 70's Faves, 80's Faves, 90's Faves, 00's Faves, 2010's Faves, The Death of Cinema....
List activity
863 views
• 4 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
- 49 titles
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsJames CagneyJean HarlowEdward WoodsAn Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsWarren WilliamJoan BlondellAline MacMahonA wealthy composer rescues unemployed Broadway performers with a new play, but insists on remaining anonymous.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsLeslie HowardHumphrey BogartBette DavisA waitress, a hobo and a bank robber get mixed up at a lonely diner in the desert.
- DirectorStephen RobertsStarsMiriam HopkinsWilliam GarganJack La RueA wealthy but neurotic Southern belle finds herself trapped in the hideout of a gang of vicious bootleggers. The gang"s leader lusts after her, and is determined not to let anything stand in the way of his having her.
- DirectorVictor FlemingKing VidorStarsJudy GarlandFrank MorganRay BolgerYoung Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others" wishes.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLew AyresLouis WolheimJohn WrayA German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJames CagneyPat O'BrienHumphrey BogartA priest tries to stop a gangster from corrupting a group of street kids.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsJames CagneyJoan BlondellRuby KeelerChester Kent struggles against time, romance, and a rival"s spy to produce spectacular live "prologues" for movie houses.
- DirectorMichael CurtizWilliam KeighleyStarsErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandBasil RathboneWhen Prince John and the Norman Lords begin oppressing the Saxon masses in King Richard"s absence in 1190s England, a Saxon lord fights back as the outlaw leader of a resistance movement.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersVictor MooreRoguish gambler/dancer "Lucky" Garnett is challenged by his fiance"s father to come up with $25,000 to prove he"s worthy of her hand. But after he falls in love with a dance instructor, Lucky"ll do anything to keep from earning the bucks.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsGroucho MarxHarpo MarxChico MarxRufus T. Firefly is named the dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of his wealthy backer Mrs. Teasdale, contending with two inept spies who can"t seem to keep straight which side they"re on.Hell, everything Marx Bros did between '30 and '37. Even their late-30's stuff is merely 8 or 9/10's, instead of wall to wall 10/10's, like their early/mid-30s stuff.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsErrol FlynnBasil RathboneDavid NivenBritish flying aces in World War I contend with the harsh realities of war.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsClark GableClaudette ColbertWalter ConnollyA rogue reporter trailing a runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops along the way.
- DirectorErle C. KentonStarsCharles LaughtonBela LugosiRichard ArlenA mad doctor conducts ghastly genetic experiments on a remote island in the South Seas, much to the fear and disgust of the shipwrecked sailor who finds himself trapped there.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinVirginia CherrillFlorence LeeWith the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLon Chaney Jr.Burgess MeredithBetty FieldA mentally disabled giant and his level headed guardian find work at a sadistic cowboy"s ranch in depression era America.
- DirectorMerian C. CooperErnest B. SchoedsackStarsFay WrayRobert ArmstrongBruce CabotA film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPaulette GoddardHenry BergmanThe Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsColin CliveMae ClarkeBoris KarloffDr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsPaul MuniGlenda FarrellHelen VinsonA World War I veteran and aspiring engineer tries to re-enter civilian life. After being unwillingly caught up in a robbery, he suffers the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, struggling to clear his name and prove his worth.
- DirectorMark SandrichStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersEdward Everett HortonAn American dancer comes to Britain and falls for a model whom he initially annoyed, but she mistakes him for his goofy producer.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsWallace BeeryJackie CooperIrene RichAn alcoholic ex-boxer struggles to provide a good living for his son.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsBarbara StanwyckGeorge BrentDonald CookA young woman, sexually exploited all her life, decides to turn the tables and exploit the hapless men at a big city bank by gleefully seducing her way to the top.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsCharles LaughtonMaureen O'HaraCedric HardwickeIn 15th-century France, a gypsy girl is framed for murder by the infatuated Chief Justice, and only the deformed bellringer of Notre Dame Cathedral can save her.
- DirectorWilliam CottrellDavid HandWilfred JacksonStarsAdriana CaselottiHarry StockwellLucille La VerneExiled into the dangerous forest by her wicked stepmother, a princess is rescued by seven dwarf miners who make her part of their household.
