Irene Dunne and Richard Dix in Cimarron (1931)

John Wayne and Shirley Jean Rickert in 'Neath the Arizona Skies (1934)

Bob Steele and Marion Weldon in Colorado Kid (1937)

My attempt at a comprehensive list of feature-length and short sound films produced in America between 1930 and July 1934 (plus others included on pre-code.com, and Wikipedia's and Letterboxd's Pre-Code film lists).

Warner Baxter, George Brent, Bebe Daniels, Allen Jenkins, Ruby Keeler, Guy Kibbee, Una Merkel, Ned Sparks, and George E. Stone in 42nd Street (1933)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Universal_Pictures_films_(1930%E2%80%931939)

List of Universal Pictures films (1930–1939)

Joseph Schildkraut in The Night Ride (1930)

Joseph Cotten, Shelley Winters, Suzan Ball, and Scott Brady in Untamed Frontier (1952)

Can there even be a thing like 'nearly good B-pictures'? At first I wasn't so sure either. But after years of watching B-movies, more often than not I stumbled across a B-picture which I wouldn't exactly consider to be a good (or even brillant) one. On the other hand it didn't reach the absolute bottoms of z-grade moviedom that connoisseurs of this kind of pictures are used to either. It was simply a movie which, in terms of B-pictures, was competently done, had all those ingredients we love so much in this kind of movies, yes, possibly it was even done bad for all the right reasons. But nevertheless, it didn't click with me, didn't offer that special something which makes B-pictures so enjoyable. What you can expect on this list are B-pictures which are not bad per se, they are more like near misses which can still offer plenty for the B-movie fan. Especially if you are a fan of a certain subgenre, actor or whatever. So have fun browsing through the nearly, but not quite, good B-pictures of the 1930s. 

If you're up to it, don't hesitate to leave a comment.

PS: The movies are sorted by year and not necessarily by my preference. This list is by no means complete as I will add new worthwhile films as I stumble across them.

George Arliss, Alice Joyce, and H.B. Warner in The Green Goddess (1930)

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