Movies from the 30s worth watching (since most of us have seen so few)

[90sCoffee]

I guess based on that thread of top 5 films from each decade, most of us have seen very few films from the 30s so maybe we can figure out the ones worth seeing. I have 130 on my watchlist I've copied below, these are all talkies with generally good reviews I came across. Sorry the list doesn't have proper musicals or horror films on it and it excludes the dozen or so I saw but those are the more famous ones already well known like M. Ignore the number below it (it's my PSI and I'm pasting) and feel free to say which ones are awful or don't hold up:

After the Thin Man (1936)
77
American Madness (1932)
70
Angel (1937)
+
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
80
Anna Karenina (1935)
70
Another Thin Man (1939)
+
Arigato-san (1936)
+
The Awful Truth (1937)
77
L'Âge d'or (1930)
70
Baby Face (1933)
73
La Bête humaine (1938)
77
Beau Geste (1939)
+
The Big House (1930)
70
The Big Trail (1930)
+
The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
73
The Blue Angel (1930)
80
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938)
73
Bombshell (1933)
+
Le bonheur (1934)
+
Camille (1936)
74
Captain Blood (1935)
75
Captains Courageous (1937)
77
Carnival in Flanders (1935)
+
Come and Get It (1936)
70
The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936)
80
Dark Victory (1939)
73
The Dawn Patrol (1938)
+
The Dawn Patrol (1930)
+
A Day in the Country (1936)
73
Dead End (1937)
74
Design for Living (1933)
77
Destry Rides Again (1939)
73
The Devil Is a Woman (1935)
70
Dinner at Eight (1933)
77
Dishonored (1931)
+
The Divorcee (1930)
65
Dodsworth (1936)
77
Drôle de drame (1937)
+
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
65
Easy Living (1937)
+
Fanny (1932)
+
The Four Feathers (1939)
80
Fury (1936)
77
Gone with the Wind (1939)
80
The Good Fairy (1935)
+
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
77
Grand Hotel (1932)
75
Grand Illusion (1937)
80
Hôtel du Nord (1938)
+
Heroes for Sale (1933)
+
History Is Made at Night (1937)
+
Holiday (1938)
77
Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)
93
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
83
In Name Only (1939)
+
The Informer (1935)
77
The Invisible Man (1933)
77
Island of Lost Souls (1932)
77
It's Love I'm After (1937)
+
Jewel Robbery (1932)
+
Jezebel (1938)
75
Le Jour se lève (1939)
80
The Kennel Murder Case (1933)
+
L'atalante (1934)
77
Ladies of Leisure (1930)
+
Libeled Lady (1936)
77
The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
73
Little Caesar (1931)
73
Little Man, What Now? (1934)
+
Lost Horizon (1937)
75
Love Me Tonight (1932)
77
Man's Castle (1933)
77
Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
70
Marius (1931)
+
The Masseurs and a Woman (1938)
+
The Mayor of Hell (1933)
+
Midnight (1939)
70
Morocco (1930)
70
The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
70
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
80
My Man Godfrey (1936)
80
Night Must Fall (1937)
+
Night Nurse (1931)
+
Ninotchka (1939)
77
The Old Maid (1939)
+
One Way Passage (1932)
73
Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
77
The Only Son (1936)
77
Osaka Elegy (1936)
77
Pépé le Moko (1937)
81
People on Sunday (1930)
77
The Petrified Forest (1936)
75
Port of Shadows (1938)
77
The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)
70
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
77
The Public Enemy (1931)
73
Queen Christina (1933)
74
Red Dust (1932)
77
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
75
Le Roman d'un tricheur (1936)
77
Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
80
Sabotage (1936)
73
San Francisco (1936)
77
Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935)
+
Scarface (1932)
75
The Scarlet Empress (1934)
77
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)
70
Shanghai Express (1932)
77
Sisters of the Gion (1936)
77
Stage Door (1937)
77
A Star Is Born (1937)
73
Stella Dallas (1937)
65
The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939)
77
Tabu (1931)
77
A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
80
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
80
Theodora Goes Wild (1936)
+
These Three (1936)
77
The Thin Man (1934)
81
Three Comrades (1938)
+
Three on a Match (1932)
+
Toni (1935)
77
Topper (1937)
77
Twentieth Century (1934)
70
The Women (1939)
75
Wuthering Heights (1939)
77
You Can't Take It with You (1938)
77
You Only Live Once (1937)
75
Young and Innocent (1937)
65
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
75
Zéro de conduite: Jeunes diables au collège (1933)
77

[SirStuckey]

The Adventures of Robin Hood
King Kong
M
Modern Times
Mr Smith Goes to Washington

[3dRevelation]

Of the whopping 11 rankings I have from the 30s, there are only 3 that I've given scores high enough to recommend. One is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which is probably one of the most well known of the decade. The second is Fury, which I felt was one of Spencer Tracy's best roles (it has been a long time since I've seen it though, which probably applies to all of these films). The last is Juarez (which is not on that list). I found this one to be maybe not the most exciting film, but it is well acted.

Of the other films on the list that I've seen, I wouldn't necessarily recommend, but of course that is my opinion. I was excited to watch Grand Hotel as it seemed like it was one of the first ensemble films, but I found the film to be rather uninspiring. I also wasn't impressed by The Invisible Man. I hardly remember The Petrified Forest, but 2014 me was hardly a fan.

[snallygaster]

Of your list, the ones I've seen and ranked highly are Grand Illusion (T10) and Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (T8).
Outside of your list, I have All Quiet on the Western Front, Make Way for Tomorrow and City Lights at T10 and A Story of Floating Weeds and Bringing up Baby at T9.

[PetrosTser]

Sabotage (1936)

I gotta say I was pretty disappointed by this one. It's not awful by any means, but it was a totally unremarkable let-down for me.

For me, the must-watch highlights from what I have seen from the '30s are:
Duck Soup, Horse Feathers and Monkey Business with the Marx Brothers
Frankenstein and The Invisible Man from the Universal Monsters
City Lights and Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin
The Lady Vanishes
M
Tabu
and The Old Mill and Mickey's Trailer from short films.

Also recommended:
The 39 Steps
42nd Street
The Black Cat
Camille
Drácula (the Spanish-speaking one)
It Happened One Night
Little Caesar
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Stagecoach
Trouble in Paradise
The Wizard of Oz
Young and Innocent

Also worth watching:
Angels with Dirty Faces
Dracula (the English-speaking one)
Dracula's Daughter
Island of Lost Souls
Jamaica Inn
King Kong
Scarface
and Porky in Wackyland from shorts.

[10kfilms]

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) 100
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) 100
Bringing Up Baby (1938) 100
Captains Courageous (1937) 100
City Lights (1931) 100
A Day in the Country (1936) 100
Dodsworth (1936) 100
Duck Soup (1933) 100
Grand Illusion (1937) 100
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) 100
I Was Born, But... (1932) 100
It Happened One Night (1934) 100
The Lady Vanishes (1938) 100
M (1931) 100
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) 100
Modern Times (1936) 100
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) 100
My Man Godfrey (1936) 100
A Night at the Opera (1935) 100
Ninotchka (1939) 100
Olympia 1. Teil - Fest der Völker (1938) 100
Olympia 2. Teil - Fest der Schönheit (1938) 100
The Rules of the Game (1939) 100
The Thin Man (1934) 100
Trouble in Paradise (1932) 100
The Awful Truth (1937) 97
The Blue Angel (1930) 97
Frankenstein (1931) 97
Freaks (1932) 97
Fury (1936) 97
Gone with the Wind (1939) 97
Holiday (1938) 97
Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937) 97
L'atalante (1934) 97
The Lower Depths (1936) 97
Midnight (1939) 97
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) 97
Only Angels Have Wings (1939) 97
The Only Son (1936) 97
The Roaring Twenties (1939) 97
Stage Door (1937) 97
Stagecoach (1939) 97
A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) 97
The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939) 97
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) 97
The Wizard of Oz (1939) 97
You Can't Take It with You (1938) 97

[lisa-]

two that i really love and are less well known are the russian "earth" (1930) by aleksandr dovzhenko and the german "girls in uniform" (1931) by leontine sagan. as far as the US goes...well, unfortunately, 1930 sparked the first full decade of sound, so just as contemporary hollywood is obsessed with graphical fidelity above all else, the initial part of the golden age consists largely of meaningless glitz and glamour.


...


imo.

[paulofilmo]

they're pretty similar to my '40s films. i suppose something like Top Hat might have been a bit insensitive if it came out 5 years later. M is more interesting, as an early exploration into sound and silence and fear. Likewise, Vampyr is on the cusp, and feels like deep-sea ancient ship-wreck diving, where any sounds are echoes of the dead.

'20s has more potential for discovery. i'd like recs. less camera movement and the lack of sound meant some furious editing, where the succession of images create the experience, like collage via montage.

A Cottage on Dartmoor


A Page of Madness


Borderline (1930)

[ribcage]

The Thin Man series is a favorite of mine. Fun, light and with a style fast wit that's almost signature to the decade. The chemistry between Loy and Powell is phenomenal.

I'll throw in for Island Of Lost Souls as well for being grim and shadowy, for having Lugosi, and Laughton is just...well damn I could recommend it on his performance alone.

[90sCoffee]

Why no horror films? The result of that is one of the most highly acclaimed films of the early thirties, C. T. Dreyer's Vampyr, doesn't make the cut.

Oh I just meant I don't have any horror films from the 30s listed on the wishlist I copied (it also doesn't really have musicals). Feel free to recommend any genre you'd like I was just talking about the list I had because I'm a wimp and avoid adding horrors to my own. I re-worded the OP to be clearer.