Best Movies of the 1930s

These are the 48 best-rated movies released in the 1930s, led by On Borrowed Time, Matinee Idol and Pale-Face. Ranked by audience score, with cast, trailers and legal places to watch on every page.

1. On Borrowed Time (1939)

★ 7.5/10

Young Pud is orphaned and left in the care of his aged grandparents. The boy and his grandfather are inseparable. Gramps is concerned for Pud's future and wary of a scheming relative who seeks custody of the child. One…
2. Matinee Idol (1933)

★ 7.5/10

A well-known actor is murdered. Another performer becomes an amateur sleuth so she can prove her sister is innocent of the crime.
3. Pale-Face (1933)

★ 7.5/10

Flip's lunchtime picnic with his sweetheart (a human one) is interrupted by an Indian attack. The buffoonish "Injuns" drive them to a log cabin with their arrows, and there's a grand shootout. Eventually, though, they…
4. Thicker Than Water (1935)

★ 7.4/10

Oliver's in trouble with his wife after missing a payment on their furniture, having given the money to Stanley, who used it instead to pay Mrs. Hardy for his room and board. At Stan's suggestion Ollie then withdraws…
5. Going Bye-Bye! (1934)

★ 7.4/10

In a packed courtroom, Butch Long vows revenge on 'squealers' Laurel and Hardy whose evidence has helped to send him to prison. Frightened, the boys plan to leave town and advertise for someone to share expenses with…
6. Laughing Gravy (1931)

★ 7.3/10

Stan and Ollie try to hide their pet dog Laughing Gravy from their exasperated, mean tempered landlord, who has a "No Pets" policy.
7. Three Comrades (1938)

★ 7.2/10

A love story centered on the lives of three young German soldiers in the years following World War I. Their close friendship is strengthened by their shared love for the same woman who is dying of tuberculosis.
8. Spain 1936 (1937)

★ 7.2/10

A Spanish documentary from Jean-Paul Le Chanois & Luis Buñuel made during the Spanish Civil War.
9. The Live Ghost (1934)

★ 7.2/10

Fish market workers Stan and Ollie are persuaded by a sea captain to shanghai a crew for him at the local bar for a dollar a head. Successful at first, the boys end up getting themselves shanghaied, and the crew vow…
10. Sisters of the Gion (1936)

★ 7.1/10

Umekichi, a geisha in the Gion district of Kyoto, feels obliged to help her lover Furusawa when he asks to stay with her after becoming bankrupt and leaving his wife. However her younger sister Omocha tells her she is…
11. Oliver the Eighth (1934)

★ 7.1/10

Barbershop owners Stan and Ollie answer an ad in the newspaper from a wealthy widow looking for a husband. Ollie only mails in his response and is invited to the widow's mansion. Stan discovers his unmailed letter and…
12. Our Wife (1931)

★ 7.1/10

Oliver is making plans to marry his sweetheart Dulcy with Stan as his best man, but the plans are thwarted when Dulcy's father sees a picture of Ollie and forbids the marriage. The couple plan to elope, and run away to…
13. Bimbo's Initiation (1931)

★ 7.0/10

Bimbo finds himself surrounded by a mysterious group of robed figures who invite him to become a member of their secret organisation. When he refuses, they fling him through a nightmarish sequence of terror and torture…
14. Any Old Port! (1932)

★ 7.0/10

Stan and Ollie check into a seedy hotel and help a young girl escape the clutches of the landlord. They are forced to flee the hotel with no money and Ollie arranges for Stan to fight at a local boxing hall for $50…
15. Possessed (1931)

★ 7.0/10

Marion is a factory worker who hopes to trade the assembly line for a beautiful penthouse apartment. Mark Whitney, a wealthy and influential lawyer, can make her dreams come true, but, there is only one problem; he…
16. Letty Lynton (1932)

★ 7.0/10

Socialite Letty Lynton is returning to New York, abandoning one-time lover Emile Renaul in South America, when she strikes up a shipboard romance with Jerry Darrow. Renault is waiting for her in New York and will not…
17. Be Big! (1931)

★ 6.9/10

Stan and Ollie are on their way to Atlantic City with their wives, when Ollie gets a phone call from a lodge buddy telling him that a stag party is taking place that night in their honor. Ollie pretends to be sick and…
18. Beau Hunks (1931)

★ 6.9/10

Stan and Ollie join the French Foreign Legion after Ollie's sweetheart rejects him.
19. The Fixer Uppers (1935)

★ 6.9/10

Stan and Ollie are greeting card salesmen who agree to help a woman put a spark in her loveless marriage by making her husband jealous.
20. Dirty Work (1933)

★ 6.9/10

Stan and Ollie are chimney sweeps working at the home of mad scientist Professor Noodle.
21. The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case (1930)

★ 6.9/10

The boys think their days of fishing to feed themselves have come to an end, when Stan's rich uncle Ebenezer dies leaving a large estate. But they soon learn that Ebenezer was murdered and all the relatives, including…
22. The Cat Came Back (1936)

★ 6.7/10

Mama cat is teaching her kittens to catch mice. Meanwhile, across the basement, mama mouse is teaching her little ones how to avoid cats.
23. Jofroi (1934)

★ 6.7/10

Jofroi sells his orchard to Alphonse. Alphonse wants to use the land for crops, so he starts to cut down the trees. Jofroi is furious: how can someone cut down those trees? He threatens to commit suicide so that the…
24. The Lady and the Mob (1939)

★ 6.5/10

Hattie Leonard sets out to break a criminal gang controlling the dry cleaning business.
25. Mayerling (1936)

★ 6.5/10

Rudolf, the only heir to Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary, is trapped in a loveless marriage to a Belgian princess. As he seeks to flee his stifling environment, he meets the beautiful Maria, and the two enter…
26. Alpine Climbers (1936)

★ 6.5/10

Donald, Mickey, and Pluto climb the Alps. While up top, Donald has a run-in with a mountain goat over some edelweiss, Mickey has a row with an eagle over its eggs; one of them hatches, and gives Pluto some trouble (as…
27. More Than a Secretary (1936)

★ 6.5/10

When the co-owner of a secretarial school visits a magazine editor to find out why he runs through secretaries, she's mistaken for an applicant. Drawn to him, she accepts the position.
28. Three Smart Girls (1936)

★ 6.5/10

The three Craig sisters – Penny, Kay, and Joan – go to New York to stop their divorced father from marrying gold digger Donna Lyons and reunite him with their mother.
29. Donald's Cousin Gus (1939)

★ 6.5/10

Donald Duck's gluttonous cousin, Gus Goose, comes for a visit and practically eats him out of house and home. When the direct approach to getting rid of his voracious houseguest fails, Donald resorts to desperate…
30. Erotikon (1930)

★ 6.3/10

Andrea, the beautiful daughter of a railway gateman, is seduced by a rich passenger, who missed his train. Left pregnant, Andrea marries another man and moves to Prague, only to encounter her former lover and recover…
31. Poor Cinderella (1934)

★ 6.3/10

In the only Betty Boop color cartoon, Cinderella (Betty) goes to the ball thanks to her fairy godmother. Later, only her foot fits the glass slipper.
32. Playing the Ponies (1937)

★ 6.3/10

The stooges are gypped into trading their restaurant for "Thunderbolt", a washed up race horse. When Curly feeds Thunderbolt some chili pepperinos, he runs like crazy towards the nearest water. The boys enter…
33. Dante's Inferno (1935)

★ 6.2/10

A carny builds a gambling empire at the expense of his family's wellbeing.
34. Betty Boop's Big Boss (1933)

★ 6.2/10

Betty takes a secretarial job where the boss sexually harasses her… but not without some encouragement from Betty.
35. Danger Lights (1931)

★ 6.1/10

Head railroad man Dan is as ugly as he is honorable. When he spots a drifter who'd hopped a freight held up by a landslide, Dan offers the man a job; then he finds the man was a railroader, too, and takes him under his…
36. The Rains Came (1939)

★ 6.1/10

Indian aristocrat Rama Safti returns from medical training in the U.S. to give his life to the poor folk of Ranchipur. Lady Edwina and her drunken artist ex-lover Tom Ransome get in the way, but everyone shapes up when…
37. The Girl From The Marsh Croft (1934)

★ 6.1/10

Aysel, while working for the strong Satilmiszade family, is seduced by her boss and becomes pregnant. Giving birth to the child, she applies to the court for alimony, but the father rejects the child. Ali, from another…
38. Be Human (1936)

★ 6.0/10

Betty Boop is incensed at her farmer neighbor's cruelty to his animals. Grampy knows how to teach him a lesson.
39. Kelly the Second (1936)

★ 6.0/10

A feisty Irish woman turns a truck driver into a championship boxer.
40. The Woman in Red (1935)

★ 6.0/10

A professional equestrian marries a polo player from a once-wealthy family, only to face the scorn of his snobbish relatives. When she becomes entangled in a murder trial, she must choose between protecting her…
41. Youth of the World (1936)

★ 5.9/10

This Nazi propaganda film covers the 1936 Winter Olympics that were held in Germany.
42. The Texan (1930)

★ 5.8/10

Outlaw Llano Kid poses as a rich Mexican widow's son and falls in love with a cousin.
43. This Modern Age (1931)

★ 5.8/10

A Harvard football star disobeys his upper class parents and runs off with his true love.
44. Betty Boop's Prize Show (1934)

★ 5.7/10

In a melodrama at the Slumbertown Theatre, Freddie is the sheriff and Betty is a school-marm desired by outlaw "Phillip the Fiend."
45. Be Up to Date (1938)

★ 5.7/10

Betty Boop's Traveling Department Store comes to Hillbillyville; the mountain folks find old uses for the new gadgets.
46. The Last Billionaire (1934)

★ 5.7/10

The Last Billionaire is a 1934 French comedy film directed by René Clair and starring Max Dearly, Marthe Mellot and Renée Saint-Cyr. The film is based on a fictional small European kingdom which is on the verge of…
47. Betty Boop's Little Pal (1934)

★ 5.5/10

Pudgy the Pup makes a mess of Betty Boop's picnic, is sent home, and runs afoul of the dog catcher.
48. Lilly Turner (1933)

★ 5.5/10

One woman faces many trials on the road to romance after unwittingly marrying a bigamist, then a carnival barker, and then falling for a young engineer.