Favourite movies from the 1930s?

[Amy Jeanne]

Me -- I have way too many to name! But I'm interested in hearing what some of your favourite films are from this wonderful decade -- which is also my very favourite!

I'm very fond of pre-Code movies the most, but I also love early musical talkies, anything by Busby Berkeley (no matter how bad), cheapie programmers/"educational" films, and "chick flicks" like those made famous by Kay Francis and Ann Harding.

 

[hepkitten]

I recently saw Ten Cents a Dance (1931) starring Barbara Stanwyck (she looks about 16 in this film!) It's a fun little movie based on the popular song of the time, and Barbara is terrific. My favorites are Jezebel, Holiday, Marked Woman, and The Women. I loved Babes on Broadway, my first Busby Berkeley film, so I'm looking forward to watching its predecessor, Babes in Arms. I'm still exploring the early 30's and movies "off the beaten path," so to speak, from later in the decade. Suggestions?

 

[Liz]

I love Busby Berkeley movies! I just had an awful week, and was planning on watching Gold Diggers of 1933 this afternoon to cheer me up! The early '30s pre-codes are one of my two favorite eras for movies. Some of my favorites: Red-Headed Woman, Ladies They Talk About, The Scarlet Empress, Night Nurse, Possessed, Duck Soup and The Blue Angel. I've noticed that TCM is going to be showing a lot of pre-codes in December -- I'll have to get my tapes ready!

Other '30s favorites: Top Hat, Nothing Sacred and The Women.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Oh, boy -- where to start. I like the old horror movies from the 30's, especially Bride of Frankenstein and The Mummy. Also, King Kong.

I like pre-code movies, loved Morrocco with Dietrich and that divine Gary Cooper.

Also Shanghai Express and Seven Sinners. Not to mention Destry Rides Again.

Pretty much anything with Garbo in it. Ditto Stanwyck.

Loved Lost Horizons, Wizard of Oz, Dead End, Grapes of Wrath, West of the Pecos, The Plainsman, Stagecoach, Wizard of Oz, Beau Geste, All Quiet on the Western Front, The 39 Steps, The Invisible Man, Angels with Dirty Faces, Public Enemy, The Thin Man, and some parts of Gone with the Wind.

Probably missing others. Ingrid Bergman debuted in Intermezzo, not my favorite films, but it was Bergman's American debut.

It is too, too difficult to pick a favorite from these films. Depends on the day. Or my mood.

karol

 

[Camille]

Camille (1936) and Gone with the wind (1939).

I love movies that makes me cry like a baby.

 

[A.R. McVintage]

His Girl Friday, a classic and clever movie.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm a big fan of Vitaphone/Movietone-era musicals, the blowsier the better, and I'm also a huge fan of Wheeler and Woolsey comedies, especially their pre-1935 product. ("Hips Hips Hooray" and "Diplomaniacs" are first-class pictures all the way.) And the Fox musicals of the mid-thirties are a lot of fun too, even though they're nearly impossible to see these days.

 

[pennyseranade]

"Night at The Opra"...Marx Brothers

....."Booga, Booga!"....

 

[Sarge]

Some of my favorite pre-Hays Code movies are The Public Enemy, Little Caesar, I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, Dinner at Eight, and It Happened One Night.

 

[The Wolf]

"High Pressure" and "Jewell Robbery" are two of my favorites, but really any William Powell from the Thirties is reet with me.
Also any Marx Bros. from the period.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Favourite Movies By Year

I tried to keep it narrowed down to 5 movies per year, but 1932, 1933, and 1934 are my favourite years for movies so it was impossible to pick just 5 for those years...

1930
Just Imagine!
The Matrimonial Bed
Our Blushing Brides
The Truth About Youth
Way Out West

1931
Broadminded
Five Star Final
God's Gift To Women
Lonely Wives
The Smiling Lieutenant

1932
42nd Street
Are You Listening?
Call Her Savage
I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang
Make Me A Star
Red Headed Woman
Thirteen Women
Three On A Match
Weekend Marriage

1933
Beauty For Sale
Damaged Lives
Design For Living
Female
Footlight Parade
Flying Down To Rio
Gold Diggers Of 1933
The House On 56th Street
Mary Stevens, M.D.
Melody Cruise
Road To Ruin

1934
365 Nights In Hollywood
Dames
Easy To Love
The Girl From Missouri
Happiness Ahead
Hips, Hips Horray!
Journal Of A Crime
Maniac
We're Not Dressing
Wonder Bar
Young & Beautiful

1935
Convention Girl
In Person
Miss Pacific Fleet
Page Miss Glory
Women Must Dress

1936
The Bride Walks Out
The Law In Her Hands
Marihuana
Theodora Goes Wild
Wife vs. Secretary

1937
Back In Circulation
Ever Since Eve
Hollywood Hotel
Sh! The Octopus
Women Are Like That

1938
Child Bride
Delinquent Parents
Dramatic School
Men Are Such Fools
Merrily We Live

1939
Beauty For The Asking
Lucky Night
Mad Youth
Sweepstakes Winner
The Women


Anybody see any of these? Comments?

 

[deadpandiva]

I love 30's movies. I love anything with Myrna Loy and Jean Harlow
Some of my favorites are:
The Thin Man, Four Daughters, Hold Your Man, Reckless, Red Headed Woman, China Seas, Test Pilot, It happened On Night, A Free Soul, Three On A Match and so many more.

I love the big studio films and the B movies.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

How could I have forgotten? -- My Man Godfrey and Gunga Din.

karol

 

[Haversack]

_The Prisoner of Zenda_: 1937. Ronald Colman, David Niven, C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Mary Astor, and Madeline Carroll.

Haversack.

 

[imoldfashioned]

Gosh, so many, but off the top of my head:

1931
Platinium Blonde Jean Harlow, Loretta Young and Robert Williams (I think he would have been a huge star had he not died so young); this is an early Frank Capra

1933
Topaz John Barrymore, Myrna Loy
Little Women Katharine Hepburn

1934
Twentieth Century John Barrymore and Carole Lombard
The Black Cat Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi
It Happened One Night Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert

1935
Captain Blood Errol Flynn, Olivia De Haviland and Basil Rathbone

1937
Stand In Leslie Howard, Joan Blondell and Humphery Bogart
Maytime Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy and John Barrymore
Nothing Sacred Carole Lombard and Fredric March
Shall We Dance Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Prisoner of Zenda Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, Mary Astor, Raymond Massey

1938
Mad About Music Deanna Durbin
Marie Antoinette Norma Shearer, Tyrone Power and Robert Morley (I love him in this)
Test Pilot Clark Gable, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy
Captains Courageous Spencer Tracy and Freddie Bartholomew
The Adventures of Robin Hood Errol Flynn, Olivia De Haviland, Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone

1939
In Name Only Carole Lombard, Cary Grant and the wonderful Kay Francis
The Wizard of Oz and Babes in Arms both Judy Garland
The Women Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce and Ida Lupino (LOVE the Music Hall scene!)
Ninotchka Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas (oh, but it should have been Cary Grant!)
Midnight Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore

All of the Thin Man films.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Right now I'm into depression era Gangster movies... I just re-watched "Bullets Or Ballots" with Edward G.... so great! I really enjoy that film!

Also, another Robinson flick I totally get a kick outa is "A Slight Case of Murder" from 1938... so funny! The version of "Little Red Riddin' Hood" Allen Jenkins tells is CLASSIC: Little Red Riddin' hood grabs her self a basket of chow and hot-foots it to Grandma's... the wolf, who was up to no good, spies Little Red Riddin' hood and tails her. The wolf get's to Grandma's and the ol' bag of bones is out takin' a powder so, the woolf waits for Little Red Riddin' Hood... with a Look on his pan like a tramp takin' a hinge in a lunch room.... lol

For those who haven't seen it, it's A MUST!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Some great films mentioned in this thread -- gotten me to thinking about my own year-by-year list...

1930 -- The King Of Jazz
Follow Thru
The Life Of the Party
The Cuckoos
Feet First
Whoopee

1931 -- Peach O' Reno
Monkey Business
City Lights
Five Star Final


1932 -- The Big Broadcast
Horse Feathers
The Kid From Spain
Love Me Tonight

1933 -- Diplomaniacs
The Berkeley Trilogy (42nd Street, Gold Diggers of '33, F'light Parade)
Duck Soup
Gabriel Over The White House
Sitting Pretty
Dinner At Eight
Flying Down To Rio
Going Hollywood
Dancing Lady
Roman Scandals

1934 -- Hips Hips Hooray
Kid Millions
It Happened One Night
The Gay Divorcee
Dames
It's A Gift
Stand Up And Cheer
We're Not Dressing
Evergreen

1935 -- Page Miss Glory
The Big Broadcast of 1936
Top Hat
Every Night At Eight
Hooray For Love
George White's Scandals

1936 -- Modern Times
Cain and Mabel
My Man Godfrey
The Green Pastures
Big Broadcast of 1937
Swing Time
Pigskin Parade
The Milky Way

1937 -- Wake Up And Live
Nothing Sacred
The Awful Truth
Stage Door
Shall We Dance
On The Avenue
You Can't Have Everything

1938 -- Boy Meets Girl
Hollywood Hotel
Bringing Up Baby

1939 -- Made For Each Other
The Wizard Of Oz
Babes In Arms


Not my choices for The Greatest Films Of the Decade, but some of the ones that have given me the most pleasure.

 

[Miss Brill]

The Thin Man
Bringing Up Baby
The Women
The Moon's Our Home
Bachelor Mother

 

[pennycarrol]

I have to say that I love musicals from the thirties , with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire! Their talent for dance was fabulous, but what I like is their sense of comedy! There is nothing better than "swing time" or "the gay divorcee" to recover from a hard day!

 

[imoldfashioned]

How could I have forgotten Stage Door and Bringing Up Baby? I haven't seen it in a million years but I loved Kid Millions with Eddie Cantor too. Ethel Merman looks like she's 12 years old in that--she's so young!