My favourite movies from the 1930's

194. Algiers




Though "Algiers" is not so well-remembered today, it's not hard to see why it was quite popular in its time. It's a good atmospheric drama that makes you feel as if you were part of the story, and it also has a good cast and interesting characters. The story is told well, and most of the time it moves at a good pace.

The atmosphere of the 'Casbah' is set up nicely from the beginning. The opening scene, as the police discuss how they might catch the notorious Pepe Le Moko, is very efficient in describing the city and its peculiarities, and it is a good prologue to the story that follows. As it progresses, there are a lot of interesting details with some good photography that bring everything to life. Boyer and Lamarr are pretty good as the leads, although the supporting cast and characters are least as important to making everything work. It has several fine character actors such as Gene Lockhart, Alan Hale, Joseph Calleia, and Paul Harvey, who all play interesting roles.

Aside from a couple of slow spots and perhaps a few minor signs of age, this is an entertaining drama that is well worth tracking down for anyone who enjoys classic cinema.

193. Dodge city



Michael Curtiz directed this large-scale western. Colour is used to great effect in this early experiment with the new process. For the first half of the film, while characters and storyline are being established, the Technicolor palette is restrained, keeping mostly to browns and ochres. As Errol Flynn's character, Wade Hatton, emerges as the hero, colour begins to reinforce meaning. Wade wears a succession of impressive shirts (prussian blue, plum). Others wear plaid, but Wade's shirts are each of a single hue, emphasising his monolithic moral certainty. Wade is a bigger man than the others, and he wears a bigger hat.

Dodge is a wild cattle town. The railhead for transport back to the 'civilised' United States, it is the point to which Texan cattle are driven. The interface of rail and hoof is significant. When the cowpokes hit town after weeks on the trail they have a strong inclination to kick up their heels, and bulging pay packets with which to do it. There is no effective law in Dodge, and gunfights are commonplace. Powerful cattle dealers like Jeff Surrett (Bruce Cabot) cheat the merchants with impunity. Dodge City needs a strong, principled man if it is to change its lawless ways.

The film's opening image is a train hurtling westward at full throttle, a symbol of the burgeoning industrial strength of the USA, and of the Manifest Destiny which is already turning America's energies towards the Pacific and obliterating the frontier. We see the train slicing across the magnificent Kansas plains, and 'racing' the stagecoach. Machines are supplanting horses, and the train wins the race.

Olivia de Havilland is at her wide-eyed prettiest as Abbie Erving, the young woman who treks north with the cattle and eventually falls in love with the handsome sherriff. Flynn is an aussie actor playing an Irishman in Kansas, and both he and de Havilland are terrific as the romantic leads. A young Ann Sheridan plays Ruby the showgirl, Alan Hale is Rusty the abstemious cowhand and Ward Bond is Taylor the minor baddie. Victor Jory has fun playing Yancey, the mean ornery villain with the straggly beard.

Wade Hatton personifies the American Way. An immigrant who has done well for himself by dint of hard work, sharp intelligence and plenty of talent, he is fearless when it comes to protecting the weak or righting wrongs. When the call comes to pin on a badge and restore law and order to Dodge City, he doesn't hesitate. Wade stands up to an angry lynch mob, even though the 'victim' is a worthless crook.

A liberal alliance between the new sherriff and the town's newspaper proposes to bring down the evil Surrett. The newspaper's office has a portrait of Abe Lincoln on the wall. Appropriately, a killer is brought to justice because his hand is stained with indelible printer's ink - serving notice on all bad guys that the Press will always be there to expose wrongdoing.

The clowning is well done. Watch for the cowpoke who has his head driven against a post, or Flynn athletically tripping, falling and being hit in the back by a swing door. Rusty preaches temperance, but is gradually overcome by the tempting sounds of the saloon punch-up.

Wade's clean-up policy is depicted skilfully in the scene where a newspaper headline dissolves into the arrival of peaceful settlers by train, showing us neatly how Dodge is being tamed.

Verdict - A good-natured western with appealing performances by Flynn and de Havilland.

192. The last days of pompeii



The spectacular ending of the 1935 version of "The Last Days of Pompeii" is an early example of Hollywood's fixation with the concept of disaster movies. The plot involves a blacksmith in Pompeii named Marcus (a very believable Preston Foster) who is forced to enter the gladiator ring after his wife and child die from injuries sustained in a tragic accident. Because he lacked the fiscal means to give them proper care, Marcus soon decides that money is everything and becomes the star of the arena. He adopts a small boy who's father he killed and retires from his brutal profession after suffering a severe wound. He ends up in Judea with his kid and, in short succession, meets Jesus (who miraculously cures his son from a sudden illness), has an interview with Pontius Pilate (an excellent and pensive Basil Rathbone), bumps into Alan Hale (a professional horse thief), and even later watches Jesus being crucified. That would be enough for any one man, but Marcus' career is just beginning. He relocates himself back to Pompeii and, with his newfound wealth from rounding up stray horses, is able to become the head honcho at the local coliseum. Years pass, and his son is still fixated on that nice guy who cured him back in the old days. He meets up with some Christians who are hiding from the authorities and falls in love with the best looking gal in the bunch. There he finds out the truth about that "nice guy" and decides to throw his lot in with these wonderful folks. It doesn't take long before he and his friends are captured by the Romans and condemned to death as they are summarily tossed into the arena to be butchered by barbarian captives. Seeing his son about to be slaughtered, Marcus pleads for his release with the local Prefect (a cold and patrician Louis Calhern) but it's all for naught. Just as this desperate battle begins....Mt. Vesuvius blows its stack and the movie really picks up steam, in more ways than one. In the end, Marcus has a change of heart and decides to help the Christians at the expense of his fortune. He's able to get them on a boat to escape the catastrophic effects of the volcano and locks the city gates to prevent the Romans from stopping them. For this, he gets a well-aimed spear through the chest. Then the lava, the ash and the smoke envelop everything and everyone is presumed dead. Luckily for Marcus, he still has five seconds of life left in him and is visited by that "nice guy" Jesus who hands him a first-class ticket to Heaven. Let's face it, no one deserved it more for all the problems this poor guy went through. Of course, this would all be a bit overdone and corny if it weren't for the outstanding performances of the cast and the spectacular special effects during the destruction of Pompeii. Special note has to be made for Basil Rathbone's portrayal of Pontius Pilate. Although he's on the screen for less than ten minutes, he's able to convey the man's ambiguity and guilt-ridden conscience for having sentenced Jesus to death. His gravitas sets the tone for the entire film and it hangs over it like a shroud. As an early example of a Hollywood disaster movie, "The Last Days of Pompeii" is in a class by itself and still worth viewing for modern-day audiences

191. Little lord fauntleroy



This is a good adaptation of the story of "Little Lord Fauntleroy", with a very good cast that brings the characters to life in a believable and entertaining fashion. Besides telling the enjoyably old-fashioned family story, the movie adds some nice scenes that simply emphasize the relationships among the characters.

This is one of Freddie Bartholomew's best roles, and he seems pretty natural in the part of Fauntleroy. The adult cast features some very good performances. Dolores Costello is a good choice as the gentle 'Dearest', Henry Stephenson is well-cast as the faithful Haversham, and C. Aubrey Smith seems the very embodiment of a bad-tempered Earl.

But perhaps the best performances come from Guy Kibbee and a young Mickey Rooney, as Cedric's American friends. Their camaraderie in their scenes with Bartholomew works particularly well, and they figure in some of the movie's best moments.

The story is just the familiar old tale, with young Cedric leaving his humble but cozy existence in Brooklyn to go to England, where he must contend with his grandfather's coldness towards his mother and with other challenges. But it's the kind of story that's easy to watch over again when it is told the right way.

190. The flying deuces




A pretty good Laurel & Hardy feature. It's sort of like a short they did called Beau Hunks where Ollie and Stan join the Foreign Legion to forget a girl, but in that one they engage in battle. Of course, this one contains many hilarious Laurel & Hardy antics, like they continuously bump their heads on the low ceiling of their hotel room, and when convinced not to jump, Stan throws the stone--with Ollie still tied to it, into the river, and such. Watch for veteran Laurel & Hardy player James Finlayson as the kooky jailer. There's a memorable scene in the movie in which Ollie sings to "Shine on Harvest Moon" and Stan dances. But in conclusion, I recommend The Flying Deuces! It's got Laurel and Hardy so you know it's good!

Ok that's the first 10 up

Good job! I've seen some of those. Dodge City is a favorite.

Nice list! 200 titles! Impressive. I've only seen 136 movies from the 30's.

189. She done him wrong



A True Mae West Gem! This is Ms West's first feature film, and it certainly has her "signature" come-back lines throughout. For the first time her most famous line "come up and see me sometime" was taken in by cinema goers, and for years to come it was America's favorite "quote".

The plot centers around New York's bowery ca. 1900. Mae West is "Diamond Lil", the mistress of a big-time gangster, who two times her man because she can't resist tall, dark and handsome Cary Grant. The heat is on, but soon the story takes a twist (nothing that could take away any "cool confidence" from Diamond Lil, of course; she laughs it all off with more clever come-back lines).

This movie is a classic Hollywood gem. It was a smash hit when it opened, and since then it has lost none of its appeal. Mae West remains one of my favorite true movie stars, and she was never given proper credit for her screen writing genius! You're gonna like this picture!

188. Pepe le moko



"Pepe Le Moko" (1937) directed by Julien Duvivier - is a wonderful movie with the great performance from very young Jean Gabin. It just happened that I've seen several movies with him in the older age where he is serious, not very talkative man with the head full of grey hair and I like him in the later movies, too but it was so much fun to see him as Pepe - young, charming, dangerous, smart, brutal, irresistible, and so much in love with Paris that he'd lost forever. As much as I enjoyed the film as an early noir and crime, I think it is about the longing for home, about the nostalgia and as such it is even more interesting, deeper, poignant that just a noir. The celebrated film director Max Ophüls, who knew a lot about nostalgia and immigration said about Paris,

"It offered the shining wet boulevards under the street lights, breakfast in Monmartre with cognac in your glass, coffee and lukewarm brioche, gigolos and prostitutes at night. Everyone in the world has two fatherlands: his own and Paris."

I could not help thinking of his words when I watched the film. There is one scene that almost reduced me to tears - a middle-aged former chanteuse plays one of her records on a gramophone and sings along with her voice that has not changed at all even if she looks nothing like the picture on the wall from the days of her youth. The time may play very nasty jokes with a woman - she may get fat or skinny, lose her teeth and hair but her voice will stay as strong or tender, ringing or melodious as it was in the long gone days that stay forever in her memory. She sings about Paris and there are tears on her eyes and the scene simply can't leave any viewer indifferent. There is another scene - between Pepe and Gaby the girl from Paris with whom Pepe falls in love (Mireille Balin). They talk about Paris remembering different places which are dear to both of them, and in the end, they both named La Place Blanche where they both belong and not in Algiers's Casbah where Pepe is safe and he rules the world of criminals but can't forget the sound of Metro in Paris. When Pepe wants to tell Gaby that he loves her, he tells her that she reminds him of Metro in Paris...

I have not even mentioned how masterfully the film was shot by Julien Duvivier and how well it was acted, how fast it movies, and there are so many wonderful scenes that I have not mentioned...Great, great movie.

187. The life of emile zola



Paul Muni, one of the five best actors EVER, is magnificent in recreating the life of one of France's most controversial literary figures. Zola reveals every facet of the great man's complex personality and personal successes and learning experiences in a manner that delivers rare insights and consummate entertainment to the audience at the same time. The supporting cast and the direction match Muni's magnificence to the best of their abilities every step of the way. I recommend this as one of the great forgotten films of all time

186. Treasure island



It is easy to spot great acting in this movie. Wallace Beary is great cast as Long John Silver. Jackie Cooper gives another fine child performance. As a matter of fact, the entire cast does very well.

What might be over looked often is that part of the reason this is so so good is that it is well based on the Robert Lewis Stevenson novel. The rest goes to the most often overlooked Direction of Victor Fleming.

Fleming proves in this early film that his work in the films Wizard of Oz & Gone With The Wind is no accident (some critics have called him an erratic Director for hire). He does a great job directing this cast & this story. Some of the sequences show how good a director Fleming really is.

After seeing this film recently, I am now convinced that Victor is a much better director than his detractors give him credit for. While this film does not have all the whiz bang special effects that newer pirate films have created, the great acting & directing more than makes up for that.

Add to that the amazing fact that this film brings in so much good stuff that it only needs 101 minutes to cover a major novel is enough to make you wonder if some of the new longer films about pirates just aren't very efficient in telling their tales

185. Follow the fleet



This is just a great, fun, lovely film. It captures the true essence of the decade and of the people, and tells a beautiful love story of two sisters with two sailors. Though this film may only be in Black and White, it definitely doesn't count against it now in modern days. The main basic purpose of the movie is timeless. This movie features great acting, beautiful song and dance numbers, and great design work and film shots. Follow the Fleet is also comical, there are funny moments, moments that will make you laugh, but other moments where the acting just gets you so involved into the storyline. Its amazing how though this movie may be set in a certain decade, how it can affect those today. If you want to see something great, check this out.

184. Secret agent



Hitchcock was an extremely visual film-maker as a rule and this film took an entirely different direction. What I remember most are the sounds - or more specifically, the noises. The discordant sound of the organ, for example, stands out. It isn't pretty and why should it be? The organist's dead after all. The noise in the chocolate factory is a continuous din relieved only by a fire alarm! Then, two of the main characters are caught in the bell-tower of a church when the bells begin to ring. Again, the sound isn't pleasant at all but quite annoying. A "musical" scene with yodelers ends up with coins being swirled around plates and is almost overbearing. The dog's howling in its psychic moment is long and unnerving. In all, these sound effects set the audience on edge which I think was part of the original plan. The two central characters are uneasy with their task and we are made to suffer too. This is an unusual film for Hitch and well worth the time.

183. I'm a fugitive I'm a chain gang



"I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" is possibly the finest film of the early sound era. Considering how filmmakers weren't adapt yet to the new medium, its impressive how this film seems to be devoid of much of the awkwardness that usually plagues films from this time. There isn't too much music, but it doesn't slow down the pace or distract the viewer. Also, Mervyn LeRoy's workman direction is quite adequate. Between "Little Caesar" and this, he seemed to become much more comfortable with the new sound medium.

While some of the supporting acting is a bit campy (I realize how many modern viewers don't enjoy pre-method acting), Paul Muni delivers a subdued and absolutely powerhouse performance. Its a shame he never became a bigger star, because as far as I'm concerned he's just as fine as Clark Gable or Gary Cooper. Also, the social message of this film was far ahead of its time in decrying what was a government institution. This was a very progressive film. In addition to the historical significance, the film is just as powerful as when it was initially released. In particular, the ending is a complete knockout (one of the finest closing lines ever for a film). Thankfully, this was made before the Hayes Code, so it includes some interesting (and realistic) depictions of sex. This deserves a ten the whole way.

182. Dancing lady



"Dancing Lady" is a breezy & enjoyable backstage musical, a vehicle for Joan Crawford, co-starring Clark Gable & Fred Astaire. Crawford & Gable are fantastic together.

Brilliantly directed by Robert Z Leonard, the film swiftly moves from a burlesque setting to Broadway as Crawford chases Gable, and ends ecstatically with a grand Busby Berkeleyish number with Astaire.

Nelson Eddy & The Three Stooges make an early intriguing appearance.

181. The hurricane



For a film that's billed as a romance movie, this has got a surprising amount of good suspense and action. It's really an adventure story with a romance angle. It's also very interesting and a good film with decent special effects, at least for when this was made.

It's almost a "Count Of Monte Cristo" story with an innocent man imprisoned on an island and finally succeeding in escaping. However, in this story, the escapee "Terangi" (John Hall) also has to battle a hurricane after escaping!

The film starts slowly in the first half hour, but stick with it, it's worth it. The story becomes very involving as "Terangi" begins his battle against "the law," which is not pictured very flattering here. In that respect, the film is ahead of its time with its anti-government message. However, it's behind the times with the typical classic-era white man trying to pass himself off as a dark-skinned island native. Dorothy Lamour is likewise as "Marama," Terangi's wife.

The cinematography is very good and the direction excellent. Then again, one of the best directors of all time did this film: John Ford. It also has a nice cast. Look at the supporting actors: Mary Astor, Raymond Massey, C. Aubrey Smith, Thomas Mitchell and John Carradine!

A solid Golden Age adventure story and one of the best of the 1930s decade.

180. The 3 penny opera



G.W. Pabst's version of 'The 3penny Opera' is simply sublime with a formidable casting and a magnificent cast with: Ernst Busch as a street singer, Carola Neher, who died in a soviet prison, as Polly and Lotte Lenya as Jenny. The mass scenes (without the help of computer games) are nothing less than masterful. But, above all are the texts of Bertolt Brecht and the magical songs by Kurt Weill; just delicious stuff.

This eternal masterpiece doesn't paint a rosy picture of human affairs, with a city (pars pro toto – the world) in the hands of people with shark teeth, venal civil servants and a corrupt police force. Bertolt Brecht formulates in simple words the rules of the game, the basics of human society: first grub, then morals. If the primary conditions for human survival (food, safety) are not available, then there is absolutely no ground for any kind of morality. For Bertolt Brecht, in a 'free for all' society the poor, the vast majority of the population, can only survive by (organized) begging and stealing, by dirty works ('Missetat'). After fighting one another, the crime bosses find a far better solution for the consolidation of their power. They make a super deal, pool their resources and create a financial syndicate of criminals, in other words, a bank, with the former corrupt police chief as CEO. What an awesome prophetic idea! With brilliant theatrical histrionics and a perfect 'London' atmosphere, G.W. Pabst shot an ageless movie masterpiece based on an everlasting opera. A must see.

The next 10 is up

179. Partie de champagne