What is special about films from 1930's....

Try The Bitter Tea of General Yen.

People may be referring to the Pre-Code films from 1929 to 1934 which were full of "sexual innuendo, romantic and sexual relationships between white and black people, mild profanity, illegal drug use, promiscuity, prostitution, infidelity, abortion, intense violence, and homosexuality." (to quote Wikipedia)

For everyone's viewing pleasure, here are 50 films I love from throughout the 1930s in chronological order. So many great ones. Impossible to rank or limit the number of choices. I consider the expanded decade from 1935 to 1949 to be the period that produced the largest number of great films. Even more important, the highest number of good, entertaining films.

People in that time frame (my parents) used to say, “I’m going to the movies.” Not, “I’m going to see this or that movie.” They would just go see what was playing and have a very good chance of being entertained. That hasn’t been true for at least 60 years now, probably longer.

All Quiet On The Western Front / Lewis Milestone (1930)
Morocco / Josef von Sternberg (1930)
Zemlya (Earth) / Aleksandr Dovzhenko (1930)
Animal Crackers / Victor Heerman (1930)
The Public Enemy / William A. Wellman (1931)
M / Fritz Lang (1931)
City Lights / Charles Chaplin (1931)
Horse Feathers / Norman Z. McLeod (1932)
The Old Dark House / James Whale (1932)
Shanghai Express / Josef Von Sternberg (1932)
Rain / Lewis Milestone (1932)
King Kong / Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack (1933)
Duck Soup / Leo McCarey (1933)
Das Testament Des Dr. Mabuse (The Testament of Dr. Mabuse) / Fritz Lang (1933)
The Thin Man / W.S. Van Dyke (1934)
Ukigusa Monogatari (A Story Of Floating Weeds) / Yasojiro Ozu (1934)
The Bride Of Frankenstein / James Whale (1935)
A Tale Of Two Cities / Jack Conway and Robert Z. Leonard (1935)
A Night At The Opera / Sam Wood (1935)
Top Hat / Mark Sandrich (1935)
Mutiny On The Bounty / Frank Lloyd (1935)
The 39 Steps / Alfred Hitchcock (1935)
Dracula’s Daughter / Lambert Hillyer (1936)
Swing Time / George Stevens (1936)
The Adventures of Robin Hood / Michael Curtiz and William Keighley (1938)
Jezebel / William Wyler (1938)
The Lady Vanishes / Alfred Hitchcock (1938)
Dark Victory / Edmund Goulding (1939)
Five Came Back / John Farrow (1939)
Only Angels Have Wings / Howard Hawks (1939)
Young Mr. Lincoln / John Ford (1939)
Gunga Din / George Stevens (1939)
La Règle Du Ju (The Rules Of The Game) / Jean Renoir (1939)
The Hound Of The Baskervilles / Sidney Lanfield (1939)
The Hunchback Of Notre Dame / William Dieterle (1939)
Son Of Frankenstein / Rowland V. Lee (1939)
Red Dust / Victor Fleming (1932)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream / Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle (1935)
The Story Of Louis Pasteur / William Dieterle (1936)
Captains Courageous / Victor Fleming (1937)
A Day At The Races / Sam Wood (1937)
Dead End / William Wyler (1937)
Shall We Dance / Mark Sandrich (1937)
The Most Dangerous Game / Irving Pichel & Ernest B. Schoedsack (1932)
Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs / David Hand (1937)
The Dawn Patrol / Edmund Goulding (1938)
Detstvo Gorkogo (The Childhood Of Maxim Gorky) / Mark Donskoy (1938)
The Edge Of The World / Michael Powell (1937)
The Lady Vanishes / Alfred Hitchcock (1938)
Dracula’s Daughter / Lambert Hillyer (1936)

Good for you.

A lot of my favourite films are 30s ones, I tend to prefer comedies, and there are so many good 9nes from the 30s. More attractive stars, particularly the women, there were so many witty intelligent sophisticated female stars in those days compared to nowadays. More charming sophisticated men, Wittier scripts, funnier plots, more glamorous settings etc. If I was limited to only watching films from one decade, I would certainly choose the 30s. Some of my favourite 30s films are:
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Ladies of the Jury (1932)
Goodbye Again (1933)
Forsaking All Others (1934)
the Gay Divorce (1934)
La Kermesse Heroique (1935)
The Goose and the Gander (1935)
A Night at the Opera (1935)
The Ex Mrs Bradford (1936)
Love on the Run (1936)
the Princess Comes Across (1936)
Easy Living (1937)
Ever Since Eve (1937)
Stand-In (1937)
Tovarich (1937)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Midnight (1939)
Ask A Policeman (1939)
Q Planes (1939)

There just is nothing like them nowadays.

So anyone who likes something you don’t is a pretentious asshole?  Interesting.

Some of the first mainstream blockbusters...

All Quiet on the Western Front
Hell's Angels
City Lights
Cleopatra
Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Gone with the Wind
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
The Wizard of Oz
Stagecoach

Nothing. Just a bunch a of dull, dated, pretentious garbage.

At least they are not arrogant like you.


Also dated is a non argument, its a pointless argument as it has nothing to do with the quality.

I've seen some films from the 30s, but sometimes there is a creakiness that is offputting. And the films (at least the ones made in US) are often stagy. I will watch almost anything with Bette Davis or Joan Crawford and that's about it. Even Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" and "The Lady Vanishes" I can't get into. (I do love "Rebecca")

Well, I do have to say that there were some very funny ladies doing screwball comedies in the 30s. Claudette Colbert, Myrna Loy, Iris Adrian...

I don't really start to love movies until post WW2.

Edit. I do enjoy the Universal monster movies from the early 30s, "The Bride of Frankenstein" being my favorite.

Jeez, I seem to be making exceptions all over the place! I guess I don't mind the 30s that much after all! And, in my mind, the 30s did give us the all time classic, loved on a universal level.

Don't care much for GWTW.

I think for US movies, the 30s way surpass the 50s movies, which were often overproduced and bland. European films from the 50s, on the other hand, were usually EXCELLENT. At least the ones that I've been able to see.