Top Movies of 1930s


The top movies of 1930s list is calculated by community movie ratings and members' "Top Movies List". Lists are updated daily.

21. Top Hat

Year of Release: 1935
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Musical
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Mark Sandrich
Actors: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes, Eric Blore, Helen Broderick
Plot: Jerry Travers is working for producer Horace Hardwick in London. Jerry demonstrates his new dance steps late one night in Horace's hotel, much to the annoyance of sleeping Dale Tremont below. She goes upstairs to complain and the two are immediately attracted to each other. Complications arise when Dale mistakes Jerry for Horace.

22. Captain Blood

Year of Release: 1935
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Action/Adventure
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Michael Curtiz
Actors: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone, Ross Alexander, Guy Kibbee
Plot: Dr. Peter Blood is falsely accused of treason and sold into slavery. In Port Royale, the governor's daughter purchases him to spite her father - but when he proves to be a capable doctor, he finds himself in the medical service. But when opportunity presents itself he and his friends take over a Spanish ship and become the most feared pirates on the water.

23. A Night at the Opera

Year of Release: 1935
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Sam Wood
Actors: Chico Marx, Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Kitty Carlisle, Sig Ruman, Margaret Dumont
Plot: A pair of wacky characters who manage opera singers use them to get back at their enemies.

24. Dracula

Year of Release: 1931
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Horror
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Tod Browning
Actors: Bela Lugosi, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Herbert Bunston
Plot: A mysterious man arrive in England to seemingly terrorize a young women as he changes from a bat to a man to suck the blood of his victims.

25. Lost Horizon

Year of Release: 1937
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Adventure/Drama
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Frank Capra
Actors: Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, Edward Everett Horton, John Howard, Thomas Mitchell, H.B. Warner
Plot: A plane of westerners fleeing political upheval in China, gets hijacked and ends up in a utopia in himalayas called Shangri-La. Ronald Coleman stars as Robert Conway "England's man of the east" whom find Shangri-La enchanting, whilest his brother insists that Robert must return to England and pursue an illustrious career in politics.
The book the film is based on was written by James Hilton who also wrote Random Harvest and Good-bye Mr. Chips. Beautifully directed by Frank Capra it remains a classic.
Look for Jane Wyatt aka Spock's mom from Star Trek.

26. Grand Illusion ( grande illusion, La )

Year of Release: 1938
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: French
Genre: Drama/War
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Jean Renoir
Actors: Jean Gabin, Dita Parlo, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim, Julien Carette, Werner Florian
Plot: Two French soldiers, and aristocrat and a mechanic, find themselves in the same German POW camp. They meet a variety of prisoners, including Rosenthal, son of a wealthy banker, but are separated before they can escape. The duo are sent to a fortress, said to be impenetrable, where they meet back up with Rosenthal. While one of them befriends the aristocratic operator of their prison, the other two continue to plan an impossible escape.

27. The Invisible Man

Year of Release: 1933
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: James Whale
Actors: Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, Henry Travers, Forrester Harvey , William Harrigan, Dudley Digges
Plot: As a normal scientist works to become invisible to the human eye, he succeeds. But, in doing so, he goes insane as the success and chemicals make him homicidal.

28. The Thin Man

Year of Release: 1934
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Mystery
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Actors: Myrna Loy, William Powell, Maureen O'Sullivan, Porter Hall, Cesar Romero, Nat Pendleton
Plot: A couple that solves murders for fun, they encounter a difficult one to tackle with many different players involved.

29. Pygmalion

Year of Release: 1939
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Drama
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Anthony Asquith, Leslie Howard
Actors: Leslie Howard, Wendy Hiller, Wilfrid Lawson, Marie Lohr, Scott Sunderland, Jean Cadell
Plot: Henry Higgins, a snobbish intellectual languages professor, makes a bet with a friend he can find a low-class woman and pass her off as a society gal. Yet finding the flower-seller Eliza Doolittle is easy, but transforming her into a lady will be something different, especially as she has a mind of her own.

30. Horse Feathers

Year of Release: 1932
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Norman Z. McLeod
Actors: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Thelma Todd, David Landau
Plot: Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff finds himself the new president of Huxley College. His son, Frank, wants nothing more than the college to beat rival Darwin in the big game. He convinces Wagstaff to recruit to ringers, but instead is beaten to punch by Darwin and instead is left with two misfits: Baravelli and Pinky. But he comes up with another plan to win the big game.

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