1930s Movies: What Did People Watch?

Movies started off a little slowly in the 1930s. John Barrymore was dominating headlines with Moby Dick in 1930.

People loved their musicals and Fred Estaire made a few bucks from it. Bing Crosby was in his fair share of films as well.

The late 1930s were unbelievable in both quality AND quantity.

The 1930s saw the release of two of the most important and amazing films of all-time: The Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind.

And Bette Davis’s eyes were staring right through you the whole time.

Top 10 Movies in the 1930s

What were the most popular movies in the 1930s?

• Tom Sawyer (1930)
• Frankenstein (1931)
• Shanghai Express (1932)
• Queen Christina (1933)
• Viva Villa! (1934)
• Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
• San Francisco (1936)
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938)
• Gone With The Wind (1939)

*Popularity determined by gross box office sales

Top 10 Movies in 1930

What were the most popular movies in 1930?

1. Tom Sawyer
2. Hell’s Angels
3. Ingagi
4. All Quiet on the Western Front
5. Whoopee!
6. Feet First
7. Anna Christie
8. Romance
9. The Indians Are Coming
10. Raffles

Who won the 1930 Academy Awards?

Best Picture: All Quiet on the Western Front
Best Actress: Norma Shearer – The Divorcee
Best Actor: George Arliss – Disraeli
Best Director: Lewis Milestone – All Quiet on the Western Front

Top 10 Movies in 1931

What were the most popular movies in 1931?

1. Frankenstein
2. City Lights
3. Mata Hari
4. Susan Lenox
5. A Free Soul
6. Cimarron
7. Dracula
8. Private Lives
9. No Limit
10. The Public Enemy

Who won the 1931 Academy Awards?

Best Picture: Cimarron
Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore – A Free Soul
Best Actor: Wallace Beery – The Champ
Best Actor: Fredric March – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Best Actress: Marie Dressler – Min and Bill
Best Actress: Helen Hayes – The Sin of Madelon Claudet

Top 10 Movies in 1932

What were the most popular movies in 1932?

1. Shanghai Express
2. Grand Hotel
3. Emma
4. Movie Crazy
5. As You Desire Me
6. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
7. Strange Interlude
8. Red Dust
9. Arsène Lupin
10. Scarface

Who won the 1932 Academy Awards?

Best Picture: Grand Hotel

Top 10 Movies in 1933

What were the most popular movies in 1933?

1. Queen Christina
2. I’m No Angel
3. King Kong
4. 42nd Street
5. She Done Him Wrong
6. State Fair
7. Dinner at Eight
8. Hold Your Man
9. Little Women
10. Design for Living

Who won the 1933 Academy Awards?

Best Picture: Cavalcade
Best Actor: Charles Laughton – The Private Life of Henry VIII
Best Actress: Katharine Hepburn – Morning Glory

Top 10 Movies in 1934

What were the most popular movies in 1934?

1. Viva Villa!
2. Cleopatra
3. The Barretts of Wimpole Street
4. It Happened One Night
5. The Thin Man
6. The Richest Girl in the World
7. The Gay Divorcee
8. Imitation of Life
9. The Girl from Missouri
10. The House of Rothschild

Who won the 1934 Academy Awards?

Best Picture: It Happened One Night
Best Actor: Clark Gable – It Happened One Night
Best Actress: Claudette Colbert – It Happened One Night
Academy Award for Best Director: Frank Capra – It Happened One Night

Top 10 Movies in 1935

What were the most popular movies in 1935?

1. Mutiny on the Bounty
2. Becky Sharp
3. Bride of Frankenstein
4. Top Hat
5. The Littlest Rebel
6. The Informer
7. China Seas
8. Barbary Coast
9. Captain Blood
10. Anna Karenina

Who won the 1935 Academy Awards?

Best Picture: Mutiny on the Bounty
Best Actor: Victor McLaglen – The Informer
Best Actress: Bette Davis – Dangerous

Top 10 Movies in 1936

What were the most popular movies in 1936?

1. San Francisco
2. The Great Ziegfeld
3. Modern Times
4. These Three
5. Camille
6. Three Smart Girls
7. Poor Little Rich Girl
8. Libeled Lady
9. The Charge of the Light Brigade
10. Wife vs. Secretary

Who won the 1936 Academy Awards?

Best Picture: The Great Ziegfeld
Best Actor: Paul Muni – The Story of Louis Pasteur
Best Actress: Luise Rainer – The Great Ziegfeld
Best Supporting Actor: Walter Brennan – Come and Get It
Best Supporting Actress: Gale Sondergaard – Anthony Adverse

Top 10 Movies in 1937

What were the most popular movies in 1937?

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
2. The Good Earth
3. One Hundred Men and a Girl
4. Topper
5. Wee Willie Winkie
6. Stella Dallas
7. In Old Chicago
8. The Prince and the Pauper
9. Saratoga
10. The Life of Emile Zola

Who won the 1937 Academy Awards?

Best Picture: The Life of Emile Zola
Best Director: Leo McCarey – The Awful Truth
Best Actor: Spencer Tracy – Captains Courageous
Best Actress: Luise Rainer – The Good Earth

Top 10 Movies in 1938

What were the most popular movies in 1938?

1. Alexander’s Ragtime Band
2. Test Pilot
3. Boys Town
4. The Adventures of Robin Hood
5. You Can’t Take It with You
6. Sweethearts
7. Marie Antoinette
8. Happy Landing
9. Angels with Dirty Faces
10. Out West with the Hardys

Who won the 1938 Academy Awards?

Best Picture: You Can’t Take It With You
Best Director: Frank Capra – You Can’t Take it With You
Best Actor: Spencer Tracy – Boys Town
Best Actress: Bette Davis – Jezebel

Top 10 Movies in 1939

What were the most popular movies in 1939?

1. Gone with the Wind
2. Jesse James
3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
4. The Rains Came
5. Babes in Arms
6. Dodge City
7. Goodbye, Mr. Chips
8. The Wizard of Oz
9. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
10. Gunga Din

Who won the 1939 Academy Awards?

Best Picture: Gone with the Wind
Best Director: Victor Fleming – Gone with the Wind
Best Actor: Robert Donat – Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Best Actress: Vivien Leigh – Gone with the Wind
Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Mitchell – Stagecoach
Best Supporting Actress: Hattie McDaniel – Gone with the Wind

1930s Movie Posters