Defining Era
THE 1930S
THE FIRST GOLDEN AGE
The Hays Code arrived, screwball comedies ran riot, and the studios learned how to make magic by the foot.
1930 — 1939
1,384
Films Catalogued
66.1
Avg Master Score
6.6
Avg IMDb
MICHAEL CURTIZ
Top Director
76
Oscar-Winning
The Defining Three
ESSENTIAL VIEWING
Top-ranked by master score. If you only saw three films from this decade, these are the three.
Filter the List
1,384/1,384 films
Master Score
Awards
Showing 60 of 1,384
01
Gone with the Wind
1939 · Victor Fleming · 8 Oscars
93.8
02M
1931 · Fritz Lang
93.4
03Frankenstein
1931 · James Whale
91.5
04The Grand Illusion
1937 · Jean Renoir · 1 nom
90.9
05King Kong
1933 · Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack
90.9
06It Happened One Night
1934 · Frank Capra · 5 Oscars
90.6
07I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
1932 · Mervyn LeRoy · 3 noms
89.6
08The Thin Man
1934 · W.S. Van Dyke · 4 noms
89.5
09Make Way for Tomorrow
1937 · Leo McCarey
89.3
10Freaks
1932 · Tod Browning
89.3
11A Night at the Opera
1935 · Sam Wood, Edmund Goulding
89.2
12Bringing Up Baby
1938 · Howard Hawks
89.1
13The Lady Vanishes
1938 · Alfred Hitchcock
89.1
14The Roaring Twenties
1939 · Raoul Walsh
89.0
15L'Atalante
1934 · Jean Vigo
88.8
16Duck Soup
1933 · Leo McCarey
88.8
17Holiday
1938 · George Cukor · 1 nom
88.6
18Captain Blood
1935 · Michael Curtiz · 5 noms
88.3
19The 39 Steps
1935 · Alfred Hitchcock
88.1
20Port of Shadows
1938 · Marcel Carné
87.9
21Trouble in Paradise
1932 · Ernst Lubitsch
87.8
22Way Out West
1937 · James W. Horne · 1 nom
87.7
23Gold Diggers of 1933
1933 · Mervyn LeRoy · 1 nom
87.5
24Top Hat
1935 · Mark Sandrich · 4 noms
87.3
25Bride of Frankenstein
1935 · James Whale · 1 nom
87.3
26The Blue Angel
1930 · Josef von Sternberg
87.0
27Animal Crackers
1930 · Victor Heerman
86.8
28Daybreak
1939 · Marcel Carné
86.8
29Pépé le Moko
1937 · Julien Duvivier
86.7
30The Wizard of Oz
1939 · Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Norman Taurog · 2 Oscars
86.6
31Only Angels Have Wings
1939 · Howard Hawks · 2 noms
86.5
32After the Thin Man
1936 · W.S. Van Dyke · 1 nom
86.3
33Of Mice and Men
1939 · Lewis Milestone · 5 noms
86.3
34Sons of the Desert
1933 · William A. Seiter
86.3
35Vampyr
1932 · Carl Theodor Dreyer
86.3
36Horse Feathers
1932 · Norman Z. McLeod
86.2
37Ruggles of Red Gap
1935 · Leo McCarey · 1 nom
86.0
38City Lights
1931 · Charles Chaplin
86.0
39Broken Lullaby
1932 · Ernst Lubitsch
85.7
40The Petrified Forest
1936 · Archie Mayo
85.5
41Destry Rides Again
1939 · George Marshall
85.5
42The Four Feathers
1939 · Zoltan Korda · 1 nom
85.4
43Beau Geste
1939 · William A. Wellman · 2 noms
85.4
44Libeled Lady
1936 · Jack Conway · 1 nom
85.3
45Young Mr. Lincoln
1939 · John Ford · 1 nom
85.3
46The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
1933 · Fritz Lang
84.7
47The Hound of the Baskervilles
1939 · Sidney Lanfield
84.7
48Monkey Business
1931 · Norman Z. McLeod
84.5
49Easy Living
1937 · Mitchell Leisen
84.3
50Camille
1936 · George Cukor · 1 nom
84.2
51Boudu Saved from Drowning
1932 · Jean Renoir
84.1
52Mad Love
1935 · Karl Freund
84.0
53A Tale of Two Cities
1935 · Jack Conway, Robert Z. Leonard · 2 noms
84.0
54The Public Enemy
1931 · William A. Wellman · 1 nom
83.8
55On Borrowed Time
1939 · Harold S. Bucquet
83.8
56You Only Live Once
1937 · Fritz Lang
83.6
57L'Age d'Or
1930 · Luis Buñuel
83.5
58The Scarlet Empress
1934 · Josef von Sternberg
83.5
59Lady for a Day
1933 · Frank Capra · 4 noms
83.4
60Westfront 1918
1930 · Georg Wilhelm Pabst
83.3
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THE NEXT CHAPTER
A hundred years of cinema in eleven decade-shaped chunks. Step forward, step back, or jump straight to the era you want.
Step Back
THE 1920S
THE BIRTH OF SOUND
Silent giants gave way to the first talkies. The studio system took shape and a century of cinema began in earnest.
Step Forward
THE 1940S
NOIR AND THE WAR
Out of the shadows of wartime came film noir, Welles, and the films that taught Hollywood it could mean something.