Best 1930s Drama Movies

Looking for the best 1930s Drama movies? These are the 20 highest-rated 1930s Drama titles in our catalogue, led by On Borrowed Time, Matinee Idol and Three Comrades. The list is ranked by audience score; open any title for its cast, trailer and legal places to watch.

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. 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.
4. 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…
5. 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…
6. 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…
7. 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…
8. 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…
9. 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…
10. Dante's Inferno (1935)

★ 6.2/10

A carny builds a gambling empire at the expense of his family's wellbeing.
11. 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…
12. 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…
13. 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…
14. 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…
15. This Modern Age (1931)

★ 5.8/10

A Harvard football star disobeys his upper class parents and runs off with his true love.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. Elysia, Valley of the Nude (1933)

★ 5.5/10

James Mack, a reporter for the International News Bureau, is assigned by his editor to do a story on the phenomenon of nudist camps.
19. The Keyhole (1933)

★ 5.0/10

A private eye specializing in divorce cases falls for the woman he's been hired to frame.
20. Crimes Square (1931)

★ 0.0/10

When a crook decides to go straight, his jealous cast off moll exposes him to the police.