The Best of 1934
by riverman211179 | created - 11 Dec 2010 | updated - 1 month ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. L'Atalante (1934)
Not Rated | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Newly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.
Director: Jean Vigo | Stars: Dita Parlo, Jean Dasté, Gilles Margaritis, Louis Lefebvre
Votes: 17,476
2. It Happened One Night (1934)
Passed | 105 min | Comedy, Romance
A rogue reporter trailing a runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops along the way.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns
Votes: 112,298 | Gross: $4.36M
3. The Thin Man (1934)
TV-PG | 91 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Former detective Nick Charles and his wealthy wife Nora investigate a murder case, mostly for the fun of it.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton
Votes: 32,551
4. Death Takes a Holiday (1934)
Passed | 79 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
The Grim Reaper takes the form of a Prince in an attempt to relate to humans and, along the way, also learns what it is to love.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Fredric March, Evelyn Venable, Guy Standing, Katharine Alexander
Votes: 2,413
5. A Story of Floating Weeds (1934)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama
A kabuki actor's mistress hatches a jealous plot to bring down her lover's son.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Takeshi Sakamoto, Chôko Iida, Kôji Mitsui, Emiko Yagumo
Votes: 3,464
6. Imitation of Life (1934)
Approved | 111 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A struggling widow and her daughter take in a Black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter; the two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way.
Director: John M. Stahl | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Rochelle Hudson, Ned Sparks
Votes: 5,650
7. Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
Passed | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman.
Directors: W.S. Van Dyke, Jack Conway, George Cukor | Stars: Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Leo Carrillo
Votes: 4,807
8. The Gay Divorcee (1934)
Approved | 107 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A woman thinks a flirting man is the co-respondent her lawyer has hired to expedite her divorce.
Director: Mark Sandrich | Stars: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Alice Brady, Edward Everett Horton
Votes: 8,639
9. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Approved | 75 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
An ordinary British couple vacationing in Switzerland suddenly find themselves embroiled in a case of international intrigue when their daughter is kidnapped by spies plotting a political assassination.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Lorre, Frank Vosper
Votes: 21,165
10. The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)
Passed | 109 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Elizabeth Barrett's tyrannical father has forbidden any of his family to marry. Nevertheless, Elizabeth falls in love with the poet Robert Browning.
Director: Sidney Franklin | Stars: Norma Shearer, Fredric March, Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Sullivan
Votes: 2,128
11. Shen nu (1934)
TV-PG | 85 min | Drama
Street walker by night, devoted mother by day, a woman fights to get her young son an education amid criminal and social injustice in China.
Director: Yonggang Wu | Stars: Lingyu Ruan, Tian Jian, Zhizhi Zhang, Keng Li
Votes: 2,475
12. Of Human Bondage (1934)
Passed | 83 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A young man finds himself attracted to a cold, unfeeling waitress who might ultimately destroy them both.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Bette Davis, Leslie Howard, Frances Dee, Kay Johnson
Votes: 8,389
13. The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)
Not Rated | 97 min | Adventure, Drama
A noblewoman discovers her husband is The Scarlet Pimpernel, a vigilante who rescues aristocrats from the blade of the guillotine.
Director: Harold Young | Stars: Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, Raymond Massey, Nigel Bruce
Votes: 4,770
14. Thirty Day Princess (1934)
Approved | 74 min | Comedy, Romance
A European princess arrives in New York City to secure a much-needed loan for her country. She contracts the mumps, and an actress who looks exactly like her is hired to impersonate her.
Director: Marion Gering | Stars: Sylvia Sidney, Cary Grant, Edward Arnold, Henry Stephenson
Votes: 1,129
15. Evelyn Prentice (1934)
Passed | 79 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
The neglected wife of a high profile attorney dallies with a unscrupulous womanizer and finds herself involved in blackmail and murder.
Director: William K. Howard | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Una Merkel, Rosalind Russell
Votes: 1,867
16. Looking for Trouble (1934)
Passed | 80 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Joe and Casey trouble-shoot for the phone company. They try to prove that Joes's girl Ethel's boss Dan is a crook but are trapped by criminals and left in a burning building.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Jack Oakie, Constance Cummings, Arline Judge
Votes: 203
17. The Downfall of Osen (1935)
87 min | Drama
In Tokyo, Osen is the servant girl of an unscrupulous antiques dealer, Kumazawa, who takes in the penniless Sokichi Hata. Kumazawa mistreats Sokichi and Osen, while swindling some Buddhist ... See full summary »
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Isuzu Yamada, Daijirô Natsukawa, Mitsusaburô Ramon, Genichi Fuji
Votes: 344
18. Crime Without Passion (1934)
Approved | 70 min | Crime, Drama
Prominent lawyer shoots unfaithful girlfriend during quarrel, has to establish alibi.
Directors: Lee Garmes, Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur | Stars: Claude Rains, Margo, Whitney Bourne, Stanley Ridges
Votes: 598
19. It's a Gift (1934)
Passed | 68 min | Comedy
A henpecked New Jersey grocer makes plans to move to California to grow oranges, despite the resistance of his overbearing wife.
Director: Norman Z. McLeod | Stars: W.C. Fields, Kathleen Howard, Jean Rouverol, Julian Madison
Votes: 5,761
20. The Defense Rests (1934)
Passed | 70 min | Drama
The assistant (Arthur) of a sleazy lawyer (Holt) is determined to end his cheating ways.
Director: Lambert Hillyer | Stars: Jack Holt, Jean Arthur, Nat Pendleton, Arthur Hohl
Votes: 197
21. Upperworld (1934)
Passed | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Music
A rich man (Warren William) starts an affair with a showgirl (Ginger Rogers), and when the girl's manager (J. Carrol Naish), finds out, he decides to blackmail him.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Warren William, Mary Astor, Ginger Rogers, Andy Devine
Votes: 662
22. The Lost Patrol (1934)
Passed | 73 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A dozen British soldiers, lost in a Mesopotamian desert during World War I, are menaced by unseen Arab enemies.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Victor McLaglen, Boris Karloff, Wallace Ford, Reginald Denny
Votes: 3,604
23. Three Songs About Lenin (1934)
Not Rated | 61 min | Documentary
Three anonymous songs about Lenin provide the basis for this documentary that celebrates the achievements of the Soviet Union and Lenin's role in creating them.
Director: Dziga Vertov | Stars: Dolores Ibárruri, Nadezhda Krupskaya, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin
Votes: 883
24. The Secret Bride (1934)
Approved | 64 min | Drama
Before Ruth Vincent, daughter of a state governor, and state attorney general Robert Sheldon can announce their marriage, the governor is accused of bribe-taking. To avoid the appearance of... See full summary »
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Warren William, Glenda Farrell, Grant Mitchell
Votes: 634
25. Flirtation Walk (1934)
Passed | 97 min | Musical
Musical-romance with Powell as private in Hawaii involved with general's daughter Keeler. Break up to avoid scandal but reunite years later when he produces play at West Point starring her.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Pat O'Brien, Ross Alexander
Votes: 871
26. The Black Cat (1934)
Not Rated | 65 min | Crime, Horror, Romance
American honeymooners in Hungary become trapped in the home of a Satan-worshipping priest when the bride is taken there for medical help following a road accident.
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer | Stars: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Julie Bishop
Votes: 13,002 | Gross: $0.51M
27. The St. Louis Kid (1934)
Approved | 67 min | Drama, Romance
Trucker Eddie Kennedy gets involved with the law when he has an car accident with Ann Reid and knocks the owner of a dairy out. He evades a penalty when he claims, that he had done it as an... See full summary »
Director: Ray Enright | Stars: James Cagney, Patricia Ellis, Allen Jenkins, Robert Barrat
Votes: 503
28. You're Telling Me! (1934)
Passed | 66 min | Comedy
A hard-drinking, socially-awkward inventor wrecks his daughter's chances of marriage into a rich family and bungles his own chances of success by selling one of his more practical inventions.
Director: Erle C. Kenton | Stars: W.C. Fields, Joan Marsh, Buster Crabbe, Adrienne Ames
Votes: 1,184
29. Randy Rides Alone (1934)
Approved | 52 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
Jailed for murders he didn't commit, Randy escapes only to stumble into the den of the real murderers.
Director: Harry L. Fraser | Stars: John Wayne, Alberta Vaughn, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Yakima Canutt
Votes: 1,179
30. Mandalay (1934)
Passed | 65 min | Drama
Abandoned by her lover, a woman becomes the main "hostess" in a decadent nightclub, but tries to put her past behind her on a steamer to Mandalay.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Kay Francis, Ricardo Cortez, Warner Oland, Lyle Talbot
Votes: 1,125
31. Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
Passed | 104 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
The idyllic life of Tarzan and Jane is challenged by men on safari who come seeking ivory, and come seeking Jane as well.
Directors: Cedric Gibbons, James C. McKay, Jack Conway | Stars: Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O'Sullivan, Neil Hamilton, Paul Cavanagh
Votes: 5,572
32. The Case of the Howling Dog (1934)
Passed | 74 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
An agitated and desperate man spares no expense in insisting that Mason represent him against a neighbor's howling dog and act as executor of his will.
Director: Alan Crosland | Stars: Warren William, Mary Astor, Allen Jenkins, Grant Mitchell
Votes: 1,023
33. The Dragon Murder Case (1934)
Passed | 67 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
The Stamm family gives a small party prior to daughter Bernice's marriage to socialite Monty, but all of the guests seem to be against the match.
Director: H. Bruce Humberstone | Stars: Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot, Eugene Pallette
Votes: 755
34. Smarty (1934)
Passed | 65 min | Comedy, Romance
Vicki Wallace (Joan Blondell) takes great pleasure in teasing her husband,Tony Wallace (Warren William), who takes no pleasure at all in being teased and it isn't long before he ups and ... See full summary »
Director: Robert Florey | Stars: Joan Blondell, Warren William, Edward Everett Horton, Frank McHugh
Votes: 565
35. Bedside (1934)
Passed | 66 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Bob Brown uses his bedside manner to charm his patients while his partner makes the actual diagnoses.
Director: Robert Florey | Stars: Warren William, Jean Muir, Allen Jenkins, David Landau
Votes: 261
36. Les Misérables (1934)
Not Rated | 281 min | Drama
The lives of numerous people over the course of 20 years in 19th century France, weaved together by the story of an ex-convict named Jean Valjean on the run from an obsessive police inspector, who pursues him for only a minor offense.
Director: Raymond Bernard | Stars: Harry Baur, Charles Vanel, Paul Azaïs, Max Dearly
Votes: 1,970
37. Meseautó (1934)
99 min | Comedy, Romance
A light hearted comedy, from the thirties. One of the most successful ones in Hungary. The ever enchanting story of a beautiful girl falling in love with a rich man.
Director: Béla Gaál | Stars: Zita Perczel, Ella Gombaszögi, Klári Tolnay, Jenö Törzs
Votes: 724
38. Six of a Kind (1934)
Passed | 62 min | Comedy
When a respectable middle-class couple take a cross-country trip by auto, they share expenses with a decidedly oddball couple, none of whom know the car carries embezzled funds.
Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Charles Ruggles, Mary Boland, W.C. Fields, George Burns
Votes: 732
39. The Goddess of Spring (1934)
Approved | 10 min | Animation, Short, Family
The lovely goddess of spring, Persephone, is kidnapped by Hades, thus bringing about the winter season.
Director: Wilfred Jackson | Stars: Kenny Baker, Jessica Dragonette, Tudor Williams
Votes: 1,344
40. Babes in the Goods (1934)
19 min | Comedy, Short
Thelma and Patsy get jobs demonstrating washing machines in a department store window. However, on their first day on the job, they accidentally get locked in the store overnight.
Director: Gus Meins | Stars: Thelma Todd, Patsy Kelly, Jack Barty, Arthur Housman
Votes: 137
41. Heat Lightning (1934)
Passed | 63 min | Crime, Drama
A lady gas station attendant gets mixed up with escaped murderers.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Aline MacMahon, Ann Dvorak, Preston Foster, Lyle Talbot
Votes: 1,030
42. Twentieth Century (1934)
91 min | Comedy, Romance
A flamboyant Broadway impresario who has fallen on hard times tries to get his former lover, now a Hollywood diva, to return and resurrect his failing career.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns
Votes: 7,252
43. Now and Forever (1934)
Passed | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A swindler and his girlfriend take in his young daughter, who has been living with the family of his deceased wife.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Gary Cooper, Carole Lombard, Shirley Temple, Guy Standing
Votes: 1,158
44. Fashions of 1934 (1934)
Approved | 78 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
When the Manhattan investment firm of Sherwood Nash goes broke, he joins forces with his partner Snap and fashion designer Lynn Mason to provide discount shops with cheap copies of Paris couture dresses.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: William Powell, Bette Davis, Frank McHugh, Hugh Herbert
Votes: 2,016 | Gross: $0.86M
45. The Merry Widow (1934)
Passed | 99 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
When a small kingdom's main taxpayer leaves for Paris, its king dispatches a dashing count to win back her allegiance.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Edward Everett Horton, Marcel Vallée
Votes: 3,260
46. Romance in Manhattan (1934)
Passed | 77 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Rejected as an immigrant because he doesn't have the required $200, a Czech immigrant jumps ship and is befriended by a chorus girl and becomes a taxi driver.
Director: Stephen Roberts | Stars: Francis Lederer, Ginger Rogers, Arthur Hohl, Jimmy Butler
Votes: 827
47. Masquerade in Vienna (1934)
90 min | Comedy, Romance
Vienna 1905: A risque drawing is published and threatens to compromise the model, a doctor's wife. Artist Heideneck protects her and invents a name. But the name exists, and this respectable lady is drawn into the artist's shady affairs.
Director: Willi Forst | Stars: Paula Wessely, Anton Walbrook, Olga Tschechowa, Hans Moser
Votes: 393
48. The 9th Guest (1934)
Passed | 65 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Eight people are invited to dinner in a fashionable penthouse apartment. After they are wined and dined, a voice on the radio informs them that they will be murdered unless they manage to outwit the ninth guest: Death.
Director: Roy William Neill | Stars: Donald Cook, Genevieve Tobin, Hardie Albright, Edward Ellis
Votes: 673
49. Gambling Lady (1934)
Passed | 66 min | Drama, Mystery
Lady Lee, gambler's daughter, plies her trade while pondering the proposal of a social-register suitor.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Pat O'Brien, Claire Dodd
Votes: 1,153
50. Jimmy the Gent (1934)
Passed | 67 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
An unpolished racketeer, whose racket is finding heirs for unclaimed fortunes, affects ethics and tea-drinking manners to win back the sweetheart who now works for his seemingly upright competitor.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: James Cagney, Bette Davis, Allen Jenkins, Alan Dinehart
Votes: 2,035
51. Ladies Should Listen (1934)
Passed | 62 min | Comedy, Romance
The switchboard operator in an apartment building falls in love with a businessman who lives in the building, whom she has gotten to know only over the phone. When she discovers that the ... See full summary »
Director: Frank Tuttle | Stars: Cary Grant, Frances Drake, Edward Everett Horton, Nydia Westman
Votes: 506
52. The Richest Girl in the World (1934)
Passed | 76 min | Comedy, Romance
An heiress switches places with her secretary in order to find a man who will love her for who she is and not for her money.
Director: William A. Seiter | Stars: Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Henry Stephenson
Votes: 1,019
53. The Count of Monte Cristo (1934)
Passed | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After greedy men have Edmond Dantes unjustly imprisoned for 20 years for innocently delivering a letter entrusted to him, he escapes to get his revenge on them.
Director: Rowland V. Lee | Stars: Robert Donat, Elissa Landi, Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 3,241
54. Little Man, What Now? (1934)
Passed | 98 min | Drama, Romance
A young couple struggling against poverty must keep their marriage a secret in order for the husband to keep his job, as his boss doesn't like to hire married men.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Margaret Sullavan, Douglass Montgomery, Alan Hale, Catherine Doucet
Votes: 639
55. Treasure Island (1934)
Passed | 110 min | Adventure, Family
Young Jim Hawkins is torn between his loyalty to his benefactors and his affection for lovable rogue Long John Silver in their struggle to recover a buried pirate treasure.
Director: Victor Fleming | Stars: Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Lionel Barrymore, Otto Kruger
Votes: 3,168 | Gross: $2.54M
56. Godfather Mendoza (1934)
85 min | Drama, War
During Mexican Revolution, Rosalio Mendoza (Del Diestro) survives by making and winning favors from both factions, the governmental forces and Zapata's Army. His hacienda welcomes everybody... See full summary »
Directors: Juan Bustillo Oro, Fernando de Fuentes | Stars: Alfredo del Diestro, Carmen Guerrero, Antonio R. Frausto, Luis G. Barreiro
Votes: 608
57. Whom the Gods Destroy (1934)
Approved | 75 min | Drama, Romance
Broadway's most successful producer, John Forrester, is deeply in love with his wife Margaret and dreams of the future when his son Jack will step into his shoes. He sails to England to ... See full summary »
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: Walter Connolly, Robert Young, Doris Kenyon, Macon Jones
Votes: 103
58. Cab Calloway's Hi-De-Ho (1934)
Not Rated | 10 min | Musical, Short
This jazz musical short has a comedy plot about marital infidelity.
Director: Fred Waller | Stars: Cab Calloway, Sidney Easton, Fredi Washington, Floyd Marmon
Votes: 275
59. Dames (1934)
Passed | 91 min | Comedy, Music, Musical
A multimillionaire decides to boycott "filthy" forms of entertainment such as Broadway shows.
Directors: Ray Enright, Busby Berkeley | Stars: Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Zasu Pitts
Votes: 2,429
60. Bad Seed (1934)
77 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After his father sells his car, Henri "borrows" a stranger's car in order to make a date with a young woman. This act sees him fall foul of a gang of car thieves but after some discussion he joins their gang.
Directors: Alexander Esway, Billy Wilder | Stars: Danielle Darrieux, Pierre Mingand, Raymond Galle, Paul Escoffier
Votes: 988
61. The House of Rothschild (1934)
Passed | 88 min | Biography, Drama, History
The wealthy Rothschild family undergoes prejudice from the anti-Semitic society they live within.
Directors: Alfred L. Werker, Sidney Lanfield | Stars: George Arliss, Boris Karloff, Loretta Young, Robert Young
Votes: 1,325
62. Rough Necking (1934)
Approved | 20 min | Short, Comedy
A young girl's father disapproves of her boyfriend and forbids her from seeing him. Defying her dad, she sneaks him into the house disguised as one of her "girlfriends". Unfortunately, one ... See full summary »
Director: George Stevens | Stars: June Brewster, Carol Tevis, Grady Sutton, Spencer Charters
Votes: 20
63. Cleopatra (1934)
Passed | 100 min | Biography, Drama, History
The man-hungry Queen of Egypt leads Julius Caesar and Marc Antony astray, amid scenes of DeMillean splendor.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Henry Wilcoxon, Joseph Schildkraut
Votes: 4,614
64. Broadway Bill (1934)
Approved | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
A runaway heiress and her sister's husband join forces to race the latter's fast horse, Broadway Bill.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy, Walter Connolly, Helen Vinson
Votes: 1,160
65. Lady by Choice (1934)
Passed | 76 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An elderly, brash drunk is hired to help improve the image of a controversial dancer, and the two women form an unlikely friendship.
Director: David Burton | Stars: Carole Lombard, May Robson, Roger Pryor, Walter Connolly
Votes: 638
66. Double Door (1934)
75 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
In New York in 1910, wealthy spinster Victoria Van Brett controls with an iron hand both the family fortune and the lives of her younger sister Caroline and half brother Rip. When Rip ... See full summary »
Director: Charles Vidor | Stars: Evelyn Venable, Mary Morris, Anne Revere, Kent Taylor
Votes: 349
67. Operator 13 (1934)
Passed | 85 min | Drama, History, Musical
Union spy Gail Loveless impersonates a black maid in the early days of the Civil War, but complications arise when she falls in love with a Confederate officer.
Director: Richard Boleslawski | Stars: Marion Davies, Gary Cooper, Jean Parker, Katharine Alexander
Votes: 1,503
68. No Greater Glory (1934)
Approved | 74 min | Drama, War
Adapted from The Paul Street Boys, an autobiographical novel by Ferenc Molnar, GLORY is an unusually sensitive evocation of the pain of youth and the senselessness of war. Frail Nemecsek, a... See full summary »
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Frankie Darro, George P. Breakston, Jimmy Butler, Jackie Searl
Votes: 492
69. Bolero (1934)
Passed | 85 min | Drama, Music
Egotistical nightclub dance performer Raoul has the determination to succeed at all costs, and the only woman in his life who truly matters to him is a dancing partner named Helen.
Directors: Wesley Ruggles, Mitchell Leisen | Stars: George Raft, Carole Lombard, Sally Rand, Frances Drake
Votes: 383
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