Movies by Decade: 30s

This year I’m doing something that might seem crazy (besides all the reading).  Each month I am listening to movie and watching movies from specific months.  The basic plan is: January Christmas/Winter; February 30s and 40s; March 50s/St. Patrick’s Day; April 60s; May 70s; June 80s; July 90s; August 00s; September 10s; October Halloween/Fall; November 2020s; December new movies (for me)/Advent

As I’m going through this, I’m definitely seeing patterns in decades of movies I never noticed before.  I also thought it would be fun to do a little decade battle for the best movies.  Basically, come up with a top 10 list for each month, then the winners of the months face off for the best of the best.  So, starting with the 30s.

The 30s are an interesting decade for movies.  There’s the Universal monster movies, a lot of comedies (the rise of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, and my favorites are the “screwball” comedies), swashbucklers (which are also huge in the 40s), and the first Disney movie.  Another important note of movies from this era, many are around 90 minutes or even less, meaning tight storytelling with nothing wasted.  I like it.

Before my list (remember this is “best,” not necessarily “favorite”), a few notable movies not mentioned, because I have not seen them: Gone with the Wind, It Happened One Night, James Cagney gangster movies, Cimarron, Grand Hotel, Cavalcade, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Great Ziegfeld, The Life of Emile Zola, You Can’t Take It with You

 

Honorable Mentions: All Quiet on the Western Front, Gunga Din, Captain Blood, Dracula (and all Universal monster movies), Holiday, Dodge City

 

Top 10:

10. Alexander Nevsky (1938)

            I haven’t seen this in a long time, but what I remember it was great and more influential than people know.  It’s a Russian movie depicting the Russians defeating the barbarous Germans (sound significant?).  Why it’s important: heavily influenced Star Wars (the main villain is in all black armor…) and a number of other movies (I don’t know if it’s directly copying, but King Arthur’s ice battle scene is basically the same as this movie).  Also, Sergei Prokofiev’s score is phenomenal.

 

9. Stagecoach (1939)

            The movie that made John Wayne a major star.  It remains one of the best, most important Westerns ever made.  If nothing else, the stunt of jumping down the horses on the runaway stagecoach is still amazing to watch.

 

8. A Day at the Races (1937)

            This stands in for all the Marx Brothers movies.  It’s my pick for best because there aren’t a bunch of random musical numbers as some of the earlier ones.  Also, two scenes in particular are some of the funniest ever filmed: Chico and Groucho with the betting guides and the finale with the examination which is genius in its absurdity ending with the horse walking through the flooding doctor’s office.

 

7. The Thin Man (1934)

            The Thin Man movies are fantastic.  William Powell and Myrna Loy are perfect together.  A great combination of detective mystery and comedy.  All of them are worth a watch, but the first is still the best.

 

6. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

            Undoubtedly a classic, with some effects that still astound.  The songs are memorable.  The biggest reason it’s this far down is Judy Garland as well as the strength of the movies above it.

 

5. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

            It pains me to have it this low, but again, it’s a solid decade of movies.  I’ve probably watched this more than any other movie from the decade (maybe close to Wizard of Oz).  You can laugh at the costumes now, but it’s action-packed, a great story, and still one of the greatest movie scores of all time.

 

4. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

            It doesn’t get much more iconic than this.  The art still stands out, especially in 4k.  You can tell it was made with love.  The dwarfs are classic, the songs are great, there’s not much not to like.

 

3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

            Is it a little communist?  Maybe.  It’s still an important message about corruption and how some naïve idealism can still make a difference.  At least, that’s what we hope.

 

2. Bringing Up Baby (1938)

            Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, a loose leopard, and dinosaur bones.  What’s not to love?  The perfect example of the screwball comedy, which sadly has gone extinct.  Revel in the absurdity and two of the greatest stars of all time.

 

1. King Kong (1933)

            Sometimes we can overstate the importance of pieces of culture.  With this movie, you can’t.  I would argue it is the most influential movie of all time.  It’s effects, which are still great, influenced some of the greatest movie makers of the next 50+ years. 

 

Extra fun: the best movie scores of the decade

 

The Adventures of Robin Hood (Erich Wolfgang Korngold)

Alexander Nevsky (Sergei Prokofiev)

Captain Blood (Korngold)

King Kong (Max Steiner)

The Bride of Frankenstein (Franz Waxman)

 

Other music from the decade: swing/big band (Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman…) which only gets better in the 40s