Favourite movies from the 1930s?

[zaika]

i'm gonna be boring and say 'it happened one night.' i could watch that movie a million times over and never get tired of it.

the other one i like to watch over and over is 'angels with dirty faces.' although...i haven't seen it in so long! *sigh* jimmy...

 

[HadleyH]

Me -- I have way too many to name!

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)

Ditto.
Too many to name, pre-code, early musicals, anything Busby (he was a genius! :eusa_clap ), etc... I don't have a favourite or favourites! [huh]
Like'em all (or almost).

 

[Smithy]

For me it has to be Gunga Din and Dawn Patrol, two great films!

 

[Joe_Frances]

A Word from the William Powell Fan Club on 30s Movies

First and foremost I love anything with William Powell with our without Myrna Loy, although I love her too. The Thin Man; Libeled Lady is a total scream and maybe the best sophisticated screwball comedy of them all. Bill Powell in the trout stream is not to be missed. Also, I love My Man Godfrey; The Last of Mrs. Cheney; The Kennel Murder; Double Harnessl all the 30s Astaire-Rodgers films, and almost anything with Adolfe Menjou; Robert Montgomery; Cary; Norma Shearer; Kay Francis; Melvin Douglas; and countless others I can't think of right now.

First would be The Thin Man; Then Libeled Lady; Godfrey; and Top Hat.

No other decade comes close, although some of the 40s stuff is good too, but not like the thirties!

 

[jazzzbaby]

"Of Human Bondage" with Leslie Howard & Bette Davis.
"M" with Peter Lorre
"Thin Man" series
"Topper" with Cary Grant & Constance Bennett
Bela Lugosi films
"Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs"
"King Kong"
"Ninotchka"
"The Wizard of Oz"
"Gone With the Wind"

Many more have been named....The thirties were a great time for films!
Crime, drama, horror, musicals, comedy - Just fab stuff!

 

[Dagwood]

Many movies by Frank Capra - (1) It Happend One Night, (2) Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, (3) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

This is me rambling..

I can not express how much a ADORE 30s movies. LOVE THEM. They really did save my life. I discovered 20s and 30s cinema at a very LOW point in my life and learning about them and watching them gave me something to be happy about. I had to learn everything I possibly could about the films and stars.

From 1998 until 2004 I was on fire with movie knowledge! When I met my husband in 2004, unfortunatly, my hobby began to cool, but it never went away (and never, ever will!) I'm still learning and watching the movies whenever I get a chance -- although I wish I had more time like I once did.

Thanks everyone for sharing your favourites with me!

 

[imoldfashioned]

I can not express how much a ADORE 30s movies. LOVE THEM. They really did save my life. I discovered 20s and 30s cinema at a very LOW point in my life and learning about them and watching them gave me something to be happy about. I had to learn everything I possibly could about the films and stars.

Same here Amy Jeanne. This reminds me of a scene in Hannah and Her Sisters where Woody Allen is going to commit suicide but botches it. He's so upset he goes for a walk and ends up in an old movie house watching Duck Soup (1933). Watching the Marx Brothers he realizes that life is meant to be enjoyed and how stupid he was to even think about killing himself. Very resonant for me.

 

[Midnight Palace]

Great question Amy! (..and a tough one!)

Right off, in no order, I'd have to say...

Baby Face
Freaks
Ruggles of Red Gap
Little Caesar
The Thin Man
Angels With Dirty Faces

By NO means is that a complete list lol

 

[Ed Bass]

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!

Absolutely correct!
This film is a definite "must see" for those of you who haven't. Seek it out. The acting is stellar from beginning to end. Ruth Donnelly is a hoot.
Best, Toots

 

[Marlowe P.]

Bringing up Baby... One of the first movies I know I saw, being the grandparents fave and it was when I learned what funny was.
But there are so many! so just my favorite funny ones... My Man Godfrey, The Awful Truth, It Happened One Night, The Thin Man.
And it's not funny but it is what everybody in my line alway says... Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

 

[Brian Sheridan]

Of course, I agree with almost all of the films posted: The Thin Man, Bringing Up Baby, anything with Fred Astaire...

One of my more obscure favorites (not on DVD and not frequently on TCM) is "Star of Midnight" (1935). A "Thin Man" rip-off but starring Nick Charles himself, William Powell. Ginger Rogers fills in for Loy. A swanky mystery/comedy with awesome sets and the pair getting hammered on Sidecars at lunch!

 

[Lensmaster]

So many good movies have been mentioned already. It was a great decade for movies. But one I discovered about a year ago on TCM is a drama, Dodsworth from 1936. Staring Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton it is an amazingly realistic story of two people going through marital issues.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Dodsworth is one of my favorite films of the thirties, and it's indeed a remarkably mature treatment of a serious, believable story that has aged well.

It's one of those classy Sam Goldwyn productions. Beautifully acted by Huston, Chatteron, Mary Astor, David Niven, Maria Ouspenskya, etc. Excellent screenplay by Sidney Howard, from his Broadway adaptation of the Sinclair Lewis novel. And (typically) brilliant direction by William Wyler. (Yeah, I really love it: I've had a 16mm print of this film for many years!)

BTW, the original Sinclair Lewis novel is even better.

 

[Twitch]

For me Lost Horizon was a high point.

 

[postercollect]

The Wizard Of Oz

I've seen this one a good number of times and it holds up well.

 

[Classydame]

There are so many movies...it is hard for me to remember them all. I really enjoy most of the movies from the thirties era but I really like the MGM films. They really were more about fantasy and spectacular staging.

I really enjoy Warren William, I was first introduced to him in the 1933 flick "Lady for a Day"...just love this movie. Haven't seen it in awhile but it has stuck.

And mentioned by others, "Dodsworth" just love that movie. Walter Huston is just adorable and so real.

Shellie

 

[Bill Taylor]

I like all of the thirties movies, especially Ginger and Fred, The Thin Man movies and the horror movies. I'm surprised four of my favorites have not been mentioned. Back Street, 1932, with Irene Dunne, John Boles (I think). There have been several remakes, but Irene Dunne is the perfect Rae Schmidt. Show Boat, 1936, with Irene Dunne, don't remember the male lead, Paul Robeson, Hattie McDaniel. After hearing Robeson sing "Old Man River", you don't want to hear anyone else sing it. I believe most of the cast did the original Broadway Show as well, or at least on the road. Stella Dallas, about 1935 or 36, with Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles (same author of book as Back Street - Olive Higgins Prouty (I think that is correct if I'm not losing my mind). Dark Victory, 1939 (or 1938), Bette Davis, John Boles. Ok, so I like John Boles. He was one of the biggest stars of the thirties, but then just sort of disappeared. He may have gotten too old for leading man roles.

And always, "Gone With The Wind". Saw it first in 1940, when I was about 8 years old. Mother took me and my brother and sisters to see the movie when it first was in theatres. We went to Fort Worth, Texas to see it and I was so shocked. It cost FIFTY CENTS. I couldn't believe that anyone would pay that much for a movie. Regular "kid" movies cost nine cents. I especially remember liking it because old Clark cussed in it. Oh well, what can you expect from an eight year old kid.

For the movies of the 30's that I saw in the 30's, it was mostly Tom Mix and some Gene Autry Saturday afternoon movies and of course the horror movies. And the serial, cartoon, newsreel. The was before the time of Roy Rogers - by the time he came along, I had mostly outgrown Saturday westerns. Tom Mix was the biggest kids cowboy star of that period. (of the 20's silents also). Tom Mix knew his audience. Word got out that maybe he wasn't living the clean and simple role model life he should, so he publlicly apologized to the boys and girls who were his fans and watched his movies. That took guts. He was killed about 1939 or 1940 (or so) in an automobile crash in Arizona. By that time, he had been a cowboy star for probably 25 years. He was driving a Cord, top down and he crashed and went off the road; a steel suitcase in the back seat flew forward and hit him in the neck or back of the head.

I always got a quarter to go to the movie. Nine cents for the ticket, a nickel for popcorn, a nickel for second bag of popcorn and what ever was left over for maybe a Dixie Cup with the little wooden spoon that attached to the top, or some jawbreakers which were 2 for a penny. The quarter was always tied in a corner of my white starched handkerchief. Usually, I could never get it untied, so the movie ticket person had to untie it for me. Also, each day for school, I got a nickel also tied in the corner of my handkerchief. Mostly I couldn't get it untied, so I came home with it. But sometimes, I could finally worry it loose and then I would save it for a big "blowout" at the movies. About 20 years ago I mentioned this to an old friend who was born in San Francisco in the early thirties and has lived there all of his life. He sort of looked at me and said the exact same thing happened to him as a kid. You wonder how Mothers 3,000 miles apart could know the same knot in the handkerchief drill. Most have really been a "thing" of the times.

Bill

 

[pdxvintagette]

While the Wizard of Oz holds a special place in my heart, both in books and on film, there's one 30's movie in particular that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it... Trouble in Paradise by Ernest Lubitsch.

It has an almost European flavor, full of wit, charm and double entrendre. The Criterion Collection DVD is terrifically produced (as always.) Herbert Marshall absolutely charms in his role - there is not a line out of place, a mis-cast role. In my inexpert opinion, it is the perfect comedy of the era.

Trouble in Paradise on Amazon.com

 

[dahliaoleander]

The Thin Man Series

Only Angels Have Wings
Holiday
Stage Door
Cleopatra "Queens don't hiccup. *hic!*"
Love Finds Andy Hardy
Dark Victory
It's Love I'm After
Grand Hotel
The Kennel Murder Case
One Hour With You
The Public Enemy
Little Caesar
The Women "There's a name for you ladies But It isnt used in High Society. Outside of a Kennel!" "Chin up darling! That's right, both of em!!" I could quote it till I turn 21 and still have more!
Ninotchka
Duck Soup
A Free Soul
The Divorcee
Broadway Melody of 1938 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCrxpDwZX4U
A Day at the Races
Dracula (Saw it at 3 in the morn... didn't get to sleep till 9! NEVER AGAIN!!!)
Four Daughters
Freaks
Gone With The Wind
Horse Feathers
I'm NO Angel
Little Women
Reefer Madness
She Done Him Wrong
Wizard of Oz
Wuthering Heights
etc.