The 1930s may be looked back on as a depressing time to be alive (literally), but it was a decade during which cinema thrived. By 1930, talkies had already been established for several years, and filmmakers were experimenting more and more with how to push the medium of film forward (even if one of the era’s best filmmakers held out and continued to make silent films).
One way of exploring the best of what the 1930s had to offer is by using the film-related social media app Letterboxd to see the highest-rated film from every year for the decade in question. The following films are what the users of Letterboxd consider to be the best of each year in the 30s, beginning with 1930 and ending with 1939.
10 ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ (1930)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.1/5
Nowadays, the 2022 version of All Quiet on the Western Front might be more well-known, but time will tell whether it has the same enduring legacy as the 1930 film adaptation of the novel of the same name. It’s arguably the definitive World War I film, taking a powerfully anti-war stance on the conflict, and depicting how it ruined the lives of numerous young men.
For its time, this 1930 version is genuinely shocking when it comes to the visceral nature of its violence, and the tragic nature of how it concludes. It understandably shook viewers at the time, and the film ended up being one of the earliest Best Picture winners at the Oscars. Time might’ve diluted its impact a small amount, but it still packs a considerable punch, all things considered.
9 ‘City Lights’ (1931)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.3/5
The users of Letterboxd love City Lights, and so too does famed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. This 1931 movie is one of the best Charlie Chaplin ever made, standing as one of the few silent films made during the 1930s, with the director continuing to develop his singular filmmaking style despite his contemporaries largely moving on to making talkies.
The film’s a perfectly bittersweet romantic-comedy, telling the story of a man who falls for a blind flower girl, and does all he can to raise money for her to get an operation that’ll restore her eyesight. It’s moving, hilarious, and romantic, all in equal measure, and easily stands as one of the best films of the entire 1930s.
8 ‘Trouble in Paradise’ (1932)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.1/5
Ernst Lubitsch was a German director who made some of the most acclaimed comedies from Hollywood’s Golden Age, with Trouble in Paradise being one of his best. It’s a playful mashup of romance, comedy, and crime, following a couple who both love each other and love the criminal lifestyle, only to find themselves challenged when a second woman enters their lives.
It might sound like it’s “another” love triangle movie, but it’s much more than that, and has the kind of fast pace and sense of humor that makes it stand out from many other comedies released in the 1930s. It’s easy to call Trouble in Paradise ahead of its time, and it remains entertaining more than 90 years on from release.
7 ‘The Testament of Dr. Mabuse’ (1933)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.0/5
A thriller that’s aged shockingly well, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse was a Fritz Lang movie that also served as a sequel to his groundbreaking 1922 crime epic Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler. It was the final movie Lang made in Germany before he began his career in Hollywood, and is undeniably one of his best.
It’s an influential crime/thriller/mystery movie, following the quest to discover the identity of the mysterious titular character, and work out how he’s able to influence so many criminals to do his dirty work. Alongside 1931’s M, it shows how Lang was instantly able to transition from making great silent films to great talkies, with The Testament of Dr. Mabuse holding up surprisingly well to this day.
6 ‘It Happened One Night’ (1934)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.1/5
Frank Capra movies don’t get much better than It Happened One Night, which is arguably the film that laid the groundwork for how many future rom-coms would operate. This level of influence can make it seem run-of-the-mill at first, given it’s a (now) familiar story about two people who initially hate each other, get forced to spend time together, and then eventually fall in love.
It’s a movie that’s timelessly successful at being romantic, funny, and just overall entertaining, with it also featuring phenomenal performances from Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. The two won Oscars for their roles, and the film also won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, making it one of the decade’s most successful films awards-wise.
5 ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’ (1935)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.0/5
Of the various Frankenstein movies released throughout the 1930s and 40s, most will agree that the original Frankensteinand The Bride of Frankensteinare the best. The original from 1931 was a great film adaptation of the classic novel, but 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein pushed things further and felt more ambitious, being unafraid to do its own thing.
The film’s plot sees Frankenstein’s monster seek revenge against his creator, kidnapping his wife and forcing the scientist to make the monster a companion of his own. It’s tremendously eerie for a film of its time, and tells an interesting story that genuinely builds on the first movie in creative, natural ways, making it an all-time great sequel.
4 ‘Modern Times’ (1936)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.3/5
Modern Times was the last silent film Charlie Chaplin ever made, and it was one that he used to comment on changing times. Narratively, it’s about industrialization, but a more subtextual reading could reveal it as a movie about the world moving on from the way cinema used to be, and embracing sound in the world of film, for better or worse.
Of course, at a more straightforward/emotional level, it’s also fantastic, being just as funny and heartfelt as the various other great Chaplin movies proved to be. It’s a movie made during The Great Depression that was unafraid to comment on the effects of The Great Depression, in the process likely being a very cathartic watch for viewers in the 1930s.
3 ‘Make Way for Tomorrow’ (1937)
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Letterboxd Rating: 4.2/5
Growing old isn’t easy, and that’s a fact that the classic 1937 film Make Way for Tomorrow makes abundantly clear. It’s a downbeat family drama centering on a pair of grandparents who move in with their now middle-aged children, due to financial stresses, but find their relatives don’t seem to have any time to spare anymore, causing them great sadness.
It may be quite an old movie, but it’s safe to assume that it remains just as devastating when watched today as it would’ve been in 1937. It’s a compassionate film in the end, though, reminding viewers to look out for their older relatives, and serving as a tremendously empathetic look at how periods of economic instability particularly affect the older members of society.
2 ‘Bringing Up Baby’ (1938)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.0/5
Classic Hollywood screwball comedies don’t get much funnier than Bringing Up Baby, with this being the rare movie that’ll likely amuse even those who find most 1930s comedies dated. It’s about two mismatched people being drawn together, and the misadventures they have while one of them – a professor – tries to obtain a rare bone for his museum collection.
It stars Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant at the height of their powers, and they’re also joined in the film by a leopard: the titular Baby. It’s the kind of film that feels as though it’s a series of non-stop jokes, and the fact it can be so relentlessly funny while also working as a romance movie is really just icing on the cake.
1 ‘The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum’ (1939)
Letterboxd Rating: 4.1/5
1939 was a landmark year for Hollywood, but according to Letterboxd users, the best film of that year was actually made in Japan. That film is The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum, which is set towards the end of the 19th century and is a tragic story about a young actor trying to make his mark on the world, alongside one of his wealthy family’s servants, whom he’s fallen for.
It’s quite a slow-moving film, and that pacing coupled with its relatively long runtime of 144 minutes might not make it sound super exciting. But it is a beautifully made film with great performances, and patient viewers will likely find watching this downbeat story unfold slowly to be unexpectedly absorbing, and certainly worth devoting time to.
