... The Forgettable ... Of The 1930s
First of all, most movies on this list are not really bad. But they are not good either. In order not to bore you with every average movie I have seen I will restrain myself only to those of interest. That means you will find movies here that were successful at the box office but did not deserve that undue success or movies that did not stand the test of time. Other entries concern movies that are acclaimed by critics but to me are nothing short of being pretentious. Other titles could include films that were much talked about for whatever reason upon their initial release and therefore hold some kind of reputation that, however, do not qualify them for quality movies. You may also find movies here to which famous actors or directors contributed to but which are a let-down in the end nevertheless.
So, have fun browsing through my selection of the odds and sods of the movie world and let me know what you think.
PS: This list is by no means complete as I will add new worthwhile films as I stumble across them.
So, have fun browsing through my selection of the odds and sods of the movie world and let me know what you think.
PS: This list is by no means complete as I will add new worthwhile films as I stumble across them.
List activity
6.6K views
• 12 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
- 1 - 250
- 1040 titles
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsWalter HustonUna MerkelWilliam L. ThorneAn episodic biography of the 16th President of the United States.
- DirectorsLudwig BergerErnst LubitschStarsDennis KingJeanette MacDonaldWarner OlandThe story takes place in medieval France. Poet-rogue Francois Villon, sentenced to hang by King Louis XI for writing derogatory verses about him, is offered a temporary reprieve. His hanging will be postponed for 24 hours, and in that time he must defeat the invading Burgundians and win the love of the beautiful Katherine.
- DirectorTod BrowningStarsMary NolanEdward G. RobinsonOwen MooreFingers is planning a half-million-dollar bank robbery in gang boss Cobra Collins' territory. Fingers' moll Connie tries to bluff Cobra into thinking the hit won't be for another week when the call comes through saying it's now.
- DirectorFrank TuttleStarsGary CooperMary BrianPhillips HolmesA Union captain (Gary Cooper) in the Civil War volunteers for spy duty, then meets and falls for a Southern belle (Mary Brian).
- DirectorRowland V. LeeStarsGary CooperJune CollyerRegis ToomeyWhen World War One pulls the U.S. in, builder Jim Baker goes enthusiastically. The misery of life in the trenches seems to take any romantic edge off, until adventure seeking general's daughter Patricia Hunter is caught foolishly wandering around the front line. At length, they fall in love and marry. When he is reported dead, she becomes irresponsible and turns her family's mansion into a wild party site, one which Jim eventually comes to.
- DirectorEdward H. GriffithStarsAnn HardingMary AstorRobert AmesHoliday is a 1930 American Pre-Code romantic comedy film which tells the story of a young man who is torn between his free-thinking lifestyle and the tradition of his wealthy fiancée's family.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsLew AyresJames CagneyDorothy MathewsDespite his efforts to go straight, a young gangster keeps falling back into crime.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsNancy CarrollRichard ArlenWarner OlandHeyst, a hermit on his own tropical island, plays unwilling host to red-headed stowaway Alma. Danger looms...
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsWilliam PowellKay FrancisScott KolkWilliam Powell plays William Foster, a slick attorney who stays within the law, but specializes in representing crooks and shady characters. He's adept at keeping them out of jail, winning acquittals, and having decisions reversed, thus springing criminals out of prison. He is romantically involved with dancer Irene Manners (Kay Francis), who is two-timing him, although she wants to marry him. She kills a man driving while out with her other man, Jack Defoe (Scott Kolk), who takes the blame. Unfortunately, a ring Foster had just given Irene is found at the crime scene. Foster ends up defending Jack, but when the ring is found, he thinks he is protecting Irene, so pleads guilty to jury tampering, which he had done for the first time to save Irene. After his plea, the the prosecuting DA confides that Jack would have gotten off...
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsGary CooperFay WrayEmma DunnAn outlaw and con-man's plan to bilk an old woman out of a fortune takes an unexpected turn.
- DirectorTed WildeStarsLoretta YoungDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Louise FazendaA young heiress plots a scandal to void her inheritance's strict conditions, involving a straight-laced man hired to compromise her. They fall in love, leading to window escapes and schemes, with unexpected help from her aunts.
- DirectorRichard WallaceStarsGary CooperBeryl MercerDaisy BelmoreBased on J.M. Barrie's play "The Old Lady Shows Her Medals," about a young Canadian soldier (Gary Cooper) wounded while fighting in World War I. While recovering from his wounds in London, a YMCA worker tells him that a Scottish widow (Beryl Mercer) without a son believes that he is in fact her son. To comfort the widow, the soldier agrees to pretend to be her Scottish son. After fighting with British sailors who make fun of his kilts, he wants to desert, but moved by his mother's patriotism he returns to the war front and is killed in battle. Later the proud Scottish widow receives the medals that her "son" was awarded for bravery. Produced by Louis D. Lighton and Richard Wallace for Paramount Pictures, the film was released on January 25, 1930 in the United States, (Wikipedia)
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsJohn BarrymoreLoretta YoungWilliam AustinWhen a nobleman loses his way in the fog and enters a house where there's a party going on, he's mistaken for a hired butler.
- DirectorFrank TuttleStarsClara BowRalph ForbesCharles RugglesAn American movie star vacationing in France gets mixed up with a songwriter, mistaken identity, and winds up married to someone she doesn't know.
- DirectorPaul L. SteinStarsLillian GishRod La RocqueConrad NagelA scheming mother wishes to make a successful match between her daughter and a prince, yet another man, a commoner, may stand in the way.
- DirectorLouis J. GasnierStarsWilliam PowellMarion ShillingNatalie MoorheadJohn Nelson, a well-to-do businessman, is escorting a woman he knows as Ethel Barry to the door of her apartment suite when a man steps out of the shadows and angrily demands to know where she has been. The embarrassed Nelson excuses himself and goes to his rooms in the same hotel. The woman rushes into his apartment followed by the man who met her in the hall. The man threatens her with violence and Nelson comes to her defense. In the ensuing fight, the man is knocked out of the window and falls to his death to the pavement many stories down. He is charged with the killing and his only witness that can prove self-defense for him has disappeared, and can not be found.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineStarsAlice WhiteEdward G. RobinsonNeil HamiltonMobster Dominic brings con man Swifty East, but Swifty seemingly dies. Detective Henderson impersonates Swifty to infiltrate the mob but is killed. Henderson's sister Polly then poses as Swifty's widow, until the real Swifty resurfaces.
- DirectorRussell MackStarsEddie QuillanSally StarrFrances UptonAs assistant window-dresser, Willie is the lowest man on the totem pole at a department store. To add insult to injury, he is also the store's designated "Fired Man": when a disgruntled customer demands that somebody-must-be-fired, Willie is summoned and summarily fired, only to be rehired once the now-satisfied customer has departed. Willie inadvertently adopts a 4-year-old orphan at a cost of $10-a-week, and things go from bad to worse since Willie doesn't make $10-a-week. But with help from beautiful young nurse Mary, Willie manages to turn some corners and improve his lot in life--with some skids along the way.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsKay JohnsonReginald DennyLillian RothAngela and Bob Brooks are an upper-class couple. Unfortunately, Bob is an unfaithful husband, but Angela has a plan to win back her husband's affections.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsColin CliveIan MaclarenDavid MannersIn France, 1917, an alcoholic captain is afraid that his new replacement, his sweetheart's brother, will betray his downfall.
- DirectorRussell MackStarsEdward Everett HortonEsther RalstonLaura La PlanteA lonely husband whose wife has been away hires a lookalike impersonator to fill his place and fool his mother-in-law while he plays around with a pretty coquette. Confusion prevails when his wife returns that evening.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsGreta GarboCharles BickfordGeorge F. MarionA young woman reunites with her estranged father and falls in love with a sailor, but struggles to tell them about her dark past.
- DirectorsLloyd BaconMichael CurtizStarsDorothy MackaillLewis StoneNatalie MoorheadLarry asks Kate to write about "Office Wives" - executive stenographers whose work creates wife-like bonds with bosses. He's unaware that such stories can reflect reality.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsDorothy MackaillBasil RathboneLeila HyamsPhyllis wants to marry Bobby, but Father won't permit it until older sister Celia weds. So Celia invents a military fiancée in Arabia, unimaginatively christens him John Smith, writes him a love letter, and then kills him off. Only there really is a Col. John Smith.
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsWarner BaxterMyrna LoyNoah BeeryFour one-for-all and all-for-one privates in the French Foreign Legion are all in jail for disorderly conduct, but they break out and rejoin their regiment and fight off a band of marauding Arabs, and are soon in Casablanca getting decorated by the French Minister of War. Deucalion spots Eleanor, a spy who had done him dirt and after tangling with the local gendarmes, they take her and head back for Morocco where they are charged with desertion, and have to go out and defeat some more marauding natives, and dodge the machine-gun fire directed at them by the highly-displeased Eleanor, and one thing just follows another.
