TOP 250 Films of the 30s
My 250 favourite films in alphabetical order
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251 titles
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsBette DavisMiriam HopkinsGeorge BrentThe arrival of an ex-lover on a young woman's wedding day sets in motion a chain of events which will alter her and her cousin's lives forever.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsGreta GarboFredric MarchFreddie BartholomewThe married Anna Karenina falls in love with Count Vronsky despite her husband's refusal to grant a divorce, and both must contend with the social repercussions.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsMiriam HopkinsKay FrancisHerbert MarshallA gentleman thief and a lady pickpocket join forces to con a beautiful perfume company owner. Romantic entanglements and jealousies confuse the scheme.
- DirectorJean VigoStarsDita ParloJean DastéGilles MargaritisNewly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandPatric KnowlesA major countermands orders and attacks to avenge a previous massacre of men, women, and children.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsCary GrantJoan FontaineVictor McLaglenIn 19th century India, three British soldiers and a native waterbearer must stop a secret mass revival of the murderous Thuggee cult before it can rampage across the land.
- DirectorLuis TrenkerStarsLuis TrenkerHerbert DirmoserHeidemarie HatheyerThe Italian mountaineer Carel wants to be the first man to stand on the top of the Matterhorn. Since the climb is very difficult, he agrees to try it together with the British mountaineer Whymper. But due to an intrigue this agreement is dropped and the two man try it on the same day with two different teams and then disaster strikes.
- DirectorKarl HartlLuis TrenkerStarsLuis TrenkerLissy ArnaClaus ClausenShortly before the First World War, an Italian and an Austrian take part in a mountaineering expedition together. Not long afterwards they find themselves fighting on different sides. The plot also features references to the Mines on the Italian Front (World War I).
- DirectorPhil JutziStarsHeinrich GeorgeMaria BardMargarete SchlegelFranz Biberkopf has served four years in prison. His return to normal life is not successful.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinJulien CaretteSimone SimonIn this classic adaptation of Emile Zola's novel, a tortured train engineer falls in love with a troubled married woman who has helped her husband commit a murder.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsBarbara StanwyckNils AstherToshia MoriA Chinese warlord and an engaged Christian missionary fall in love.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsClaudette ColbertGary CooperEdward Everett HortonAfter learning her multi-millionaire fiancé has already been married seven times, the daughter of a penniless marquis decides to tame him.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsEmil JanningsMarlene DietrichKurt GerronAn elderly professor's ordered life spins dangerously out of control when he falls for a nightclub singer.
- DirectorLeni RiefenstahlBéla BalázsStarsLeni RiefenstahlMathias WiemanBeni FührerWhen the moon is full, young men die attempting to reach the mysterious blue light in the mountains.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsSylvia SidneySpencer TracyWalter AbelWhen a wrongly-accused prisoner barely survives a lynch-mob attack and is presumed dead, he vindictively decides to fake his death and frame the mob for his supposed murder.
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsGroucho MarxChico MarxHarpo MarxQuincy Adams Wagstaff, Huxley University's new president, accidentally hires bumblers Baravelli and Pinky to help his school win the big football game against their rival, Darwin University.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsMichel SimonMarcelle HainiaSévérine LerczinskaA bookseller saves a tramp from drowning and shelters him, but the tramp's odd behavior starts to wear everyone down.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsShirley TempleJames DunnJane DarwellAn orphaned girl is taken in by a snobbish family at the insistence of their rich, crotchety uncle, even as her devoted aviator godfather fights for custody.
- DirectorGregory La CavaStarsKatharine HepburnGinger RogersAdolphe MenjouA chronicle of the ambitions, dreams, and disappointments of aspiring actresses who all live in the same boarding house.
- DirectorWalter FordeStarsJack HulbertFay WrayRalph RichardsonBulldog Drummond is injured when his sabotaged car crashes and Jack Pennington agrees to masquerade as the sleuth. He is enlisted to help Ann Manders find her jeweler grandfather who has been kidnapped by a gang of crooks who want him to copy a valuable necklace they want to steal. Their plan backfires in the British Museum and the film climaxes in an exciting chase on a runaway train in the London Underground.
- DirectorWilli ForstStarsWerner KraussHortense RakyOlga TschechowaFriedrich Mitterer is the eccentric and basically socio-phobic star of the Viennese Burg Theater. His prompter takes care of his social interactions. When Mitterer meets the young Leni he relies on the prompter to establish contact.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsCharles LaughtonMary BolandCharles RugglesAn English valet brought to the American west assimilates into the American way of life.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJames CagneyPat O'BrienHumphrey BogartA priest tries to stop a gangster from corrupting a group of street kids.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsCharles FarrellMary DuncanDavid TorrenceA Chicago waitress falls in love with a Minnesota farmer, and decides to face a life in the country.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsMargaret LockwoodMichael RedgravePaul LukasWhile travelling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsDorothy LamourJon HallMary AstorA Polynesian sailor unjustly imprisoned after defending himself against a colonial bully is relentlessly persecuted by his island's martinet French governor.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsFreddie BartholomewFrank LawtonEdna May OliverA gentle orphan discovers life and love in an indifferent adult world.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsCarole LombardFredric MarchCharles WinningerAn eccentric woman learns she is not dying of radium poisoning as earlier assumed, but when she meets a reporter looking for a story, she feigns sickness again for her own profit.
- DirectorJohn G. BlystoneHal RoachStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyGrete NatzlerLaurel and Hardy, rat trap salesmen who are unable to do business in Switzerland, having no money to pay for lunch end up working for the hotel where a composer, who has run away from his wife, has taken refuge.
- DirectorJames W. HorneStarsStan LaurelOliver HardySharon LynnStanley and Ollie are enlisted to deliver the deed to a goldmine in a small village, only for it to be stolen.
- DirectorA. Edward SutherlandStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyJean ParkerOllie has fallen in love with the innkeeper's daughter in Paris. The only problem - she's very much in love with her husband. To forget her he joins the Foreign Legion with Stan. Bad idea.
- DirectorAlfred J. GouldingStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyForrester HarveyAs a reward for capturing a bank robber, Stan and Ollie get scholarships to Oxford, but are met with resentment by other students.
- DirectorJames W. HorneCharley RogersHal RoachStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyThelma ToddA band of Gypsies is camped outside the walls of Count Arnheim's palace. Oliver's wife kidnaps the Count's daughter Arline, then leaves the child and runs off with her lover, Devilshoof. Not knowing her true identity, Oliver, with "Uncle" Stanley's help, raises the girl as his own. Years later, Arline, still unaware of her noble birth, is caught trespassing on the Count's grounds and thrown into the dungeon. Meanwhile, Stanley and Oliver pass the time playing "fingers" and bumblingly ply their trade picking pockets. Finally, just when Oliver needs his help to rescue Arline, Stanley gets drunk while siphoning wine into bottles.
- DirectorHarry LachmanStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyAlan HaleTwo pairs of long-lost twin brothers experience high jinks involving a valuable ring, cases of mistaken identity, and gangsters.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsFredric MarchMiriam HopkinsRose HobartDr. Jekyll faces horrible consequences when he lets his dark side run wild with a potion that transforms him into the animalistic Mr. Hyde.
- DirectorTod BrowningKarl FreundStarsBela LugosiHelen ChandlerDavid MannersTransylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsGary CooperRay MillandRobert PrestonThree adopted English brothers join the French Foreign Legion in North Africa after one of them steals their adoptive family's famous heirloom sapphire.
- DirectorWilhelm ThieleStarsWilly FritschLilian HarveyHeinz RühmannWilly, Kurt and Hans are broke, so they sell their car and open a filling station. Then they all fall in love with the same girl.
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeStarsClaudette ColbertJames StewartGuy KibbeeWhen a tycoon (Ernest Truex) is accused of murder, the private eye (James Stewart) tracking him finds himself roped in as an accessory and attempts to evade police, kidnapping a poetess (Claudette Colbert) along the way.
- DirectorStuart WalkerMitchell LeisenStarsFredric MarchCary GrantJack OakieThe pilots of a Royal Air Force squadron in World War I face not only physical but mental dangers in their struggle to survive while fighting the enemy.
- DirectorMichael PowellStarsNiall MacGinnisBelle ChrystallJohn LaurieA way of life is dying on an Outer Hebridean island fishing port, but some of the inhabitants resist evacuating to the mainland.
- DirectorRaymond BernardStarsHarry BaurCharles VanelPaul AzaïsThe lives of numerous people over the course of 20 years in 19th century France, weaved together by the story of an ex-convict named Jean Valjean on the run from an obsessive police inspector, who pursues him for only a minor offense.
- DirectorGerhard LamprechtStarsRolf WenkhausKäthe HaackFritz RaspEmil goes to Berlin to see his grandmother with a large amount of money and is offered sweets by a strange man that make him sleep. He wakes up at his stop with no money. It is up to him and a group of children to save the day.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsMarlene DietrichHerbert MarshallMelvyn DouglasA woman and her husband take separate vacations, and she falls in love with another man.
- DirectorH.C. PotterStarsMargaret SullavanJames StewartWalter PidgeonShortly after the United States enters World War I in 1917, a Broadway actress agrees to let a naive soldier court her in order to impress his friends, but a real romance soon begins.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsMarlene DietrichVictor McLaglenGustav von SeyffertitzThe Austrian Secret Service sends its most seductive agent to spy on the Russians.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsClaudette ColbertDon AmecheJohn BarrymoreA chorus girl stranded in Paris is set up by a millionaire to break up his wife's affair with another man, while being romantically pursued by a cab driver.
- DirectorElliott NugentStarsBob HopePaulette GoddardJohn BealWhen an eccentric family meets in their uncle's remote, decaying mansion on the tenth anniversary of his death for the reading of his will, murder and madness follow.
- DirectorAleksandr DovzhenkoStarsStepan ShkuratSemyon SvashenkoYuliya SolntsevaIn the peaceful countryside, Vassily opposes the rich kulaks over the coming of collective farming.
- 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.
- DirectorKarl HartlStarsHans AlbersSybille SchmitzPaul HartmannUrged by famous airman Ellissen the Lennartz Company puts into reality the project proposed by his friend Droste: F.P.1, a huge floating platform in the Atlantic that makes long-distance flights viable. Ellissen is in love with company heiress Claire, but when he returns from his adventures to save the endangered F.P.1 he finds out that he has lost her to Droste.
- DirectorIrene StarewiczWladyslaw StarewiczStarsClaude DauphinRomain BouquetSylvain ItkineWhen Renard the Fox's mischievous pranks go too far, King Lion is forced to attempt to bring the trickster to justice.
- DirectorFrank WisbarStarsSybille SchmitzAribert MogCarl de VogtA beautiful young drifter comes to a small village and battles Death itself to save the man she loves.
- DirectorWilliam KeighleyStarsJames CagneyMargaret LindsayAnn DvorakJames Cagney helped jump-start the gangster genre as The Public Enemy. Outcries against movies that glorified underworld criminals put Cagney on the side of the law in 'G' Men.
- DirectorClyde BruckmanHarold LloydStarsHarold LloydConstance CummingsKenneth ThomsonAfter a mix-up with his application photograph, an aspiring actor is invited to a test screening and goes off to Hollywood.
- DirectorGarson KaninStarsGinger RogersDavid NivenCharles CoburnAn unemployed woman discovers an abandoned baby on the steps of an orphanage, and accepts an offer to take responsibility for the child in return for a job.
- DirectorWolfgang LiebeneinerStarsHeinz RühmannHerti KirchnerChristl MardaynNazi version of a play more famously done as the French silent, An Italian Straw Hat: en route to his wedding, the groom's horse eats the chapeau of a baroness whose husband would be suspicious if she returned without it.
- DirectorJack ConwayRobert Z. LeonardStarsRonald ColmanElizabeth AllanEdna May OliverA pair of lookalikes, one a former French aristocrat and the other an alcoholic English lawyer, fall in love with the same woman amidst the turmoil of the French Revolution.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsJames CagneyPat O'BrienJune TravisWar veteran pilots Dizzy Davis, Texas Clark and Jake Lee are working in an airline in Newark. Dizzy is flirting with the girlfriend of a younger pilot and, due to this, he feigns illness to get Texas to take his flight assignment to Cleveland. Returning from Cleveland to Newark, Texas' plane crashes attempting to land on the airfield under extremely bad weather circumstances and he dies from this accident. Dizzy feels guilty for his friend's death and takes the next flight to Cleveland under even worse circumstances, testing a new anti-ice device on the plane.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsColin CliveMae ClarkeBoris KarloffDr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsBoris KarloffElsa LanchesterColin CliveMary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Baron Henry Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.
- DirectorHal RoachCharley RogersStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyDennis KingTwo wannabe bandits join the service of a dashing nobleman who secretly masquerades as notorious outlaw Fra Diavolo.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsJames CagneyMae ClarkeMargaret LindsayA former gangster makes it big in Hollywood, but his old life catches up with him.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsWallace FordLeila HyamsOlga BaclanovaA circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
- DirectorCarl BoeseStarsHeinz RühmannLeny MarenbachVera von LangenAccording to his last will, the rich American uncle of vacuum cleaner salesman Peter Pett only leaves his 5 million dollars to Peter if he is married happily. Otherwise the five million will fall to Peter's Scottish cousin Patrick.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsWarner BaxterGloria StuartClaude GillingwaterThe story of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who was imprisoned after innocently treating President Lincoln's assassin in 1865.
- DirectorJohn CromwellW.S. Van DykeStarsRonald ColmanMadeleine CarrollC. Aubrey SmithAn Englishman on a Ruritarian holiday must impersonate the king when the rightful monarch, a distant cousin, is drugged and kidnapped.
- DirectorArchie MayoMichael CurtizStarsHumphrey BogartAnn SheridanDick ForanA hard-working machinist loses a promotion to a Polish-born worker, he's seduced into joining the secretive Black Legion, which intimidates foreigners through violence.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsSylvia SidneyHenry FondaBarton MacLaneThe public defender's secretary and an ex-convict get married and try to make a life together, but a series of disasters sends their lives spiraling out of control.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsGary CooperMadeleine CarrollAkim TamiroffAmid the anarchy of China, an American mercenary tangles with a ruthless warlord.
- DirectorGustaf MolanderStarsIngrid BergmanTore SvennbergAnders HenriksonAn embittered woman, leader of a criminal gang, has a change of heart.
- 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.
- DirectorPaul MartinStarsLilian HarveyWilly FritschPaul KempJournalist Gil Taylor has to write a report about the night court, when Ann Gardens case is heard. The young lady seems to be homeless. Gil tries to help her. Thats when trouble starts.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsClark GableLoretta YoungJack OakieDuring the Klondike Gold Rush, a traveler purchases a dog to lead the way toward the treasure, but reconsiders his journey when he finds a stranded widow.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMargaret SullavanHerbert MarshallFrank MorganA naive girl just out of a cloistered orphanage finds that being a 'good fairy' to strangers makes life awfully complicated.
- DirectorIrving PichelErnest B. SchoedsackStarsJoel McCreaFay WrayLeslie BanksA psychotic big game hunter deliberately strands a luxury yacht on a remote island, where he begins to hunt its passengers for sport.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsMarlene DietrichJames StewartMischa AuerDeputy sheriff Destry tames the town of Bottle Neck, including saloon singer Frenchy.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinDita ParloPierre FresnayDuring WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsWilliam PowellMyrna LoyLuise RainerThe ups and downs of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., famed producer of extravagant stage revues, are portrayed.
- DirectorSidney FranklinVictor FlemingGustav MachatýStarsPaul MuniLuise RainerWalter ConnollyAlthough married Chinese farmers Wang and O-Lan initially experience success, their lives are complicated by declining fortunes and lean times, as well as the arrival of the beautiful young Lotus.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsJean GabinMichel SimonMichèle MorganA military deserter finds love and trouble (and a small dog) in a foggy, French port city.
- DirectorAllan DwanStarsShirley TempleJean HersholtArthur TreacherA plucky little orphan girl gets dumped abruptly into her gruff, hermit grandfather's care, then later gets retaken and delivered as a companion for an injured girl.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsGary CooperJean ArthurJames EllisonWild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody attempt to stop an Indian uprising that was started by white gun-runners.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandAnn SheridanA Texas cattle agent witnesses first hand, the brutal lawlessness of Dodge City and takes the job of sheriff to clean the town up.
- DirectorGeorge W. HillWard WingStarsChester MorrisWallace BeeryLewis StoneA convict falls in love with his new cellmate's sister, only to become embroiled in a planned break-out which is certain to have lethal consequences.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsCarole LombardJames StewartCharles CoburnWhile on a business trip, an ambitious young lawyer meets and immediately falls in love with a stranger. They wed the following day, and tragedy soon strikes.
- 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.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsRonald ColmanJane WyattEdward Everett HortonWhen a revered diplomat's plane is diverted and crashes in the peaks of Tibet, he and the other survivors are guided to an isolated monastery at Shangri-La, where they wrestle with the invitation to stay.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMiriam HopkinsMerle OberonJoel McCreaTwo schoolteachers and the man they both love face ruin when a malicious student cooks up a lie.
- DirectorGregory RatoffStarsIngrid BergmanLeslie HowardEdna BestA violinist's piano accompanist retires. He hears his daughter's piano teacher (Ingrid Bergman) play, asks her to play on his next international tour, and they fall in love.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsPaul MuniGlenda FarrellHelen VinsonWrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.
- DirectorHenry KingIrving CummingsStarsTyrone PowerHenry FondaNancy KellyAfter railroad agents forcibly evict the James family from their family farm, Jesse and Frank turn to banditry for revenge.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsBette DavisHenry FondaGeorge BrentIn 1850s Louisiana, a free-spirited Southern belle loses her fiancé due to her stubborn vanity and pride, and vows to win him back.
- DirectorVeit HarlanStarsKristina SöderbaumEugen KlöpferHermann BraunAnnie is an illegitimate child brought up by her uncle, a fanatical priest. After her first sexual experience, Annie is so overwhelmed by guilt, it profoundly affects the lives of those closest to her.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsNova PilbeamDerrick De MarneyPercy MarmontA man on the run from a murder charge enlists the help of a beautiful stranger who must put herself at risk for his cause.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaAlice BradyMarjorie WeaverA fictionalized account of the early life of the American president as a young lawyer facing his greatest court case.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsGreta GarboRobert TaylorLionel BarrymoreA Parisian courtesan must choose between the young man who loves her and the callous baron who wants her, even as her own health begins to fail.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsAlexander GranachFritz KampersErnst BuschPlea against war and for friendship between peoples, through the story of French miners rescued by German colleagues after a firedamp explosion.
- DirectorPaul CzinnerAlexander KordaStarsDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Elisabeth BergnerFlora RobsonStraightforward biography of the Russian Empress, up to her assumption of the throne.
- DirectorMaurice TourneurStarsDanielle DarrieuxJohn LoderAimé ClariondThe love affair, between Alexander II and Princess Katia