Best Ever Films of The 30's [List]

[badseed]

Good stuff. Quite a few between 50-100 that I haven't seen. Couple surprises in the top 10 (holy cow Stagecoach!). Loads of good underrated movies that I wasn't expecting to make it (Design for Living, Twentieth Century, Dinner at Eight); thrilled all the essential Garbo films made it.

[Norman Bates]

Cool list. Thanks again, Hayden!

[Hayden]

http://letterboxd.com/besteverfilms/lis...f-the-30s/

There's the Letterboxd

Plenty of things on the list I haven't seen (I think I clock in around 30% watched), even in the top 40 or so.

Definitely a few surprises with this one. I was really shocked at how low Blood of A Poet was. I figured it'd be a shoe in for top 10 to be honest. Was really rooting for Trouble In Paradise to make the top 10 too, but ah well. Close enough.

I apologize for the lack of gifs this time around. They were surprisingly difficult to come by for nearly all the films outside of the top 25. Also, fun tidbit, there are only four films with colour.
_________________
Submit Your List for BEA's 2023 Film Poll!

[Hayden]

Annual breakdown:

30: 5
31: 13
32: 12
33: 11
34: 6
35: 8
36: 11
37: 9
38: 9
39: 16
_________________
Submit Your List for BEA's 2023 Film Poll!

[Hayden]

Directors with more than one film on the list:

7 films: Jean Renoir
5 films: Howard Hawks, Frank Capra
4 films: Alfred Hitchcock, Leo McCarey, George Cukor, Fritz Lang
3 films: Victor Fleming, Josef von Sternberg, Ernst Lubitsch, James Whale
2 films: George Stevens, René Clair, John Ford, Clarence Brown, Marcel Carné, William A. Wellman, W. S. Van Dyke, Edmund Goulding, Gregory La Cava, Rouben Mamoulian, Luis Buñuel, William Wyler, Lewis Milestone, Michael Curtiz, Mervyn LeRoy, Tod Browning, Jean Vigo, Charlie Chaplin

Which leaves only 19 directors with only 1 film on the list.
_________________
Submit Your List for BEA's 2023 Film Poll!

[AwaitingAndrew]

Cool list, thanks, Hayden!

I wonder how many official best of '30s lists would have Wizard of Oz outside of the top 20. It actually would have been #51 on my list but I didn't have enough interest to stretch mine to 60.

Happy to see a large portion of my list on here, albeit most in the second half. Also just have to say Holiday at #61... criminally underrated film. In my opinion the best from both Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn.

[CA Dreamin]

A few reactions:

I was right about my prediction of M being #1

I was wrong about City Lights being #2. But what really surprised me was that it was behind Modern Times. Don't get me wrong, they're both outstanding films. I only thought City Lights was more popular and more highly regarded.

The 39 Steps is the only film in the Top 10 I disagree with. Top 100, sure. But #6? Hell no. Robert Donat was the man in this film, and I think it's Hitchcock's best film of the decade, but his later work is far superior. And there are many better films from the '30s overall. Hitchcock's name alone must carry a lot of weight.

Happy to see The Most Dangerous Game make it. One of my favorite short stories I read in school. I like how they added a female companion in the film adaptation. It raised the stakes, and made the Rainsford's task of survival that much tougher. (Btw, fuck The Hunger Games. This is way better.)

James Whale was a great horror director. Glad to see him get fair representation. (Ian McKellen played him well.)

Michael Curtiz was also a great director, with arguably the best body of work of any director between 1935 and 1945. Our poll got Angels with Dirty Faces and The Adventures of Robin. But no Captain Blood? What the heck. Excellent movie that began the Michael Curtiz-Errol Flynn-Olivia de Havilland historical adventure trend. That trio simply had great chemistry together. (de Havilland turned 100 last year. See, not every old celebrity died in 2016.)

badseed, why does Stagecoach in the Top 10 surprise you? It's one of the finest Westerns ever made. And cinematically wonderful. Orson Welles cited it as his biggest influence when directing Citizen Kane.

[Norman Bates]

[Norman Bates]

[Mercury]

Hey I'm late to saying bravo and thanks again, Hayden. Cool list. 30s is a big area of ignorance for me so you can imagine there are a lot of great recommendations here I will try to delve into.

Also while surprised and saddened by the surprisingly low ranking of The Wizard of Oz (I'm a big fan) I love how crazy the picture from the WoO jumps out and explodes with color compared to everything else in the 55-11 page. Just like it must have done when it first showed up on the cent in 39. So beautiful! It's a. Ice eye popping touch. (Okay, Snow White too I suppose)
_________________
-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!