The ultimate list of classic films unavailable on DVD
by timbrndt | created - 24 Aug 2012 | updated - 21 Jan 2017 | Public- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. The Velvet Touch (1948)
Approved | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A Broadway star unintentionally kills her impresario but keeps mum about it after the police investigator targets a rival actress.
Director: Jack Gage | Stars: Rosalind Russell, Leo Genn, Claire Trevor, Sydney Greenstreet
Votes: 1,285
2. Housewife (1934)
Passed | 69 min | Drama, Romance
Nan Reynolds encourages her copywriter husband Bill to open his own agency. Nearly out of business, he finally gets a client. Former girlfriend Patricia Berkeley writes a very successful ... See full summary »
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: George Brent, Bette Davis, Ann Dvorak, John Halliday
Votes: 1,138
3. June Bride (1948)
Approved | 96 min | Comedy
A magazine's staff, including bickering ex-lovers Linda and Carey, cover an Indiana wedding, which goes slightly wrong...
Director: Bretaigne Windust | Stars: Bette Davis, Robert Montgomery, Fay Bainter, Betty Lynn
Votes: 2,090
4. The Working Man (1933)
Passed | 78 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The vacationing head of a successful shoe company is placed as his rival's trustee, unbeknownst to them.
Director: John G. Adolfi | Stars: George Arliss, Bette Davis, Theodore Newton, Hardie Albright
Votes: 1,282
5. Me, Natalie (1969)
M/PG | 111 min | Comedy, Drama
A young woman struggles for independence.
Director: Fred Coe | Stars: Patty Duke, James Farentino, Martin Balsam, Elsa Lanchester
Votes: 1,162 | Gross: $1.07M
6. The Casino Murder Case (1935)
Passed | 82 min | Crime, Mystery, Romance
After socialite Lynn Llewellyn receives an anonymous threat, he is poisoned at his uncle's casino, and although he recovers, his wife is murdered by the same killer.
Director: Edwin L. Marin | Stars: Paul Lukas, Alison Skipworth, Donald Cook, Rosalind Russell
Votes: 796
7. The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939)
Approved | 78 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
The zany plot follows nitwit Gracie Allen trying to help master sleuth Philo Vance solve a murder. Allen's uncle fixes her up with Bill at a company picnic. When the two go out to a ... See full summary »
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: Gracie Allen, Warren William, Ellen Drew, Kent Taylor
Votes: 257
8. Oh Kay! (1928)
Passed | 60 min | Comedy
A silent film version of the famed Gershwin musical.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Colleen Moore, Lawrence Gray, Alan Hale, Ford Sterling
Votes: 36
9. It's a Date (1940)
Approved | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
An aspiring actress is offered the lead in a major new play, but discovers that her mother, a more seasoned performer, expects the same part. The situation is further complicated when they both become involved with the same man.
Director: William A. Seiter | Stars: Deanna Durbin, Kay Francis, Walter Pidgeon, Eugene Pallette
Votes: 669
10. Sis Hopkins (1941)
Not Rated | 99 min | Comedy, Romance
A young girl from the "sticks" comes to the city to live with her wealthy relatives. At first she is the objection of derision and made fun of because of her unsophisticated nature, but it ... See full summary »
Director: Joseph Santley | Stars: Judy Canova, Bob Crosby, Charles Butterworth, Jerry Colonna
Votes: 159
11. Back Street (1932)
Passed | 93 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A woman's love for and devotion to a married man results in her being relegated to the "back streets" of his life.
Director: John M. Stahl | Stars: Irene Dunne, John Boles, George Meeker, Zasu Pitts
Votes: 1,071 | Gross: $1.96M
12. At Long Last Love (1975)
G | 118 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Four socialite old friends unexpectedly clash, and switch partners during a party and attempt to make each other jealous.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepherd, Madeline Kahn, Duilio Del Prete
Votes: 1,400 | Gross: $3.27M
13. No Time for Comedy (1940)
Approved | 93 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Playwright Gaylord Esterbrook scores a hit with his first Broadway play, both with the critics and with leading lady Linda Paige. He and Linda are happily married until a patroness of the ... See full summary »
Director: William Keighley | Stars: Rosalind Russell, James Stewart, Genevieve Tobin, Charles Ruggles
Votes: 1,189
14. The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1929)
Passed | 94 min | Comedy, Drama
At an elegant gathering of English nobility, young widow Fay Cheyney wins with her beauty, musicality and clever repartee. Cheyney, however, is not who she claims to be.
Director: Sidney Franklin | Stars: Norma Shearer, Basil Rathbone, George Barraud, Herbert Bunston
Votes: 579
15. The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937)
Passed | 98 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two English aristocrats pursue a rich American widow who may not be quite the person she claims to be.
Directors: Richard Boleslawski, Dorothy Arzner, George Fitzmaurice | Stars: Robert Montgomery, Joan Crawford, William Powell, Frank Morgan
Votes: 1,642
16. Fast and Loose (1939)
Passed | 80 min | Comedy, Mystery, Crime
Rare booksellers Joel and Garda Sloane are engaged to find who is stealing rare books from a private library.
Director: Edwin L. Marin | Stars: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Reginald Owen, Ralph Morgan
Votes: 700
17. The Story of Esther Costello (1957)
103 min | Drama
Eighteen-year-old Esther has been deaf and blind since the accident which killed her mother. Wealthy Margaret Landi, a native of Esther's village in Ireland, is talked into helping to ... See full summary »
Director: David Miller | Stars: Joan Crawford, Heather Sears, Rossano Brazzi, Lee Patterson
Votes: 933
18. Harriet Craig (1950)
Approved | 94 min | Drama
Harriet Craig enjoys married life but constantly tries to control those around her. She does not even trust her husband Walter and always checks up on him.
Director: Vincent Sherman | Stars: Joan Crawford, Wendell Corey, Lucile Watson, Allyn Joslyn
Votes: 2,423
19. I Live My Life (1935)
Approved | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Kay, a bored society girl from New York, takes a trip to Greece, where she meets Terry, an archaeologist. She flirts with him and he falls for her. She heads back to New York and he follows... See full summary »
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Joan Crawford, Brian Aherne, Frank Morgan, Aline MacMahon
Votes: 769
20. Good News (I) (1930)
Passed | 78 min | Comedy, Musical
Tom Marlowe is the star of his college football team and has a promising romance with a female college student, Connie Lane. However, he does not excel in his college studies. A series of ... See full summary »
Director: Nick Grinde | Stars: Mary Lawlor, Stanley Smith, Bessie Love, Cliff Edwards
Votes: 369
21. So Long Letty (1929)
64 min | Comedy, Musical
Uncle Claude comes to the Ardmore Beach Hotel to see Tommy and his wife. At the hotel, with his two granddaughters Ruth and Sally, Uncle Claude meets a wise talking employee named Letty ... See full summary »
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Charlotte Greenwood, Claude Gillingwater, Grant Withers, Patsy Ruth Miller
Votes: 190
22. Having Wonderful Crime (1945)
Passed | 70 min | Mystery
A lawyer and two newlyweds get mixed up in mock mystery at a resort.
Director: A. Edward Sutherland | Stars: Pat O'Brien, George Murphy, Carole Landis, Lenore Aubert
Votes: 599
23. So Big! (1932)
Unrated | 81 min | Drama, Romance
After Selina's father dies, she's offered a job as a teacher in a small town and a new chapter of her life begins.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Dickie Moore, Bette Davis
Votes: 1,825
24. The Citadel (1938)
Passed | 110 min | Drama
An enthusiastic young doctor happily embarks on his career, but it isn't long before he finds out what being a doctor really entails.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Robert Donat, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Richardson, Rex Harrison
Votes: 2,376
25. Night Must Fall (1937)
Passed | 116 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
When a rich but cantankerous dowager on an isolated estate hires an engaging handyman, her niece/companion becomes suspicious of his motives.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, May Whitty, Alan Marshal
Votes: 2,959
26. Craig's Wife (1936)
Passed | 73 min | Drama
A domineering woman marries a wealthy man for his money, and then uses her position to further her own ambitions for money and power.
Director: Dorothy Arzner | Stars: Rosalind Russell, John Boles, Billie Burke, Jane Darwell
Votes: 1,013
27. Holiday (1930)
91 min | Comedy, Drama
Holiday is a 1930 American Pre-Code romantic comedy film which tells the story of a young man who is torn between his free-thinking lifestyle and the tradition of his wealthy fiancée's family.
Director: Edward H. Griffith | Stars: Ann Harding, Mary Astor, Robert Ames, Hallam Cooley
Votes: 681
28. Turnabout (1940)
Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Bickering husband and wife Tim and Sally Willows mutter a few angry words to a statue of Buddha and wind up living each other's life.
Director: Hal Roach | Stars: Adolphe Menjou, Carole Landis, John Hubbard, William Gargan
Votes: 760
29. Doctors & Nurses (1981)
89 min | Family, Comedy
A bunch of kids play the game of Doctors and Nurses - of the inoffensive dress-up kind - tending a bunch of adults suffering from a variety of ailments.
Director: Maurice Murphy | Stars: Pamela Stephenson, Bert Newton, Richard Meikle, Drew Forsythe
Votes: 24
30. Five and Ten (1931)
Passed | 89 min | Drama, Romance
After her businessman father moves her family from Kansas City to New York, a woman falls in love with an engaged man.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Marion Davies, Leslie Howard, Richard Bennett, Irene Rich
Votes: 1,443
31. Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round (1934)
Passed | 91 min | Comedy, Musical, Mystery
Underworld king Lee Lother has been killed aboard a ocean liner, several people could have been the murderer. There is his mistress Anya Roysen, a married woman, who was jealous of his ... See full summary »
Director: Benjamin Stoloff | Stars: Jack Benny, Gene Raymond, Nancy Carroll, Sydney Howard
Votes: 212
32. They Got Me Covered (1943)
Approved | 95 min | Comedy
Fired by his editor for incompetence, idiotic reporter Robert Kittredge sees a chance at redeeming himself when he accidentally uncovers a network of German spies in Washington, D.C.
Director: David Butler | Stars: Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Lenore Aubert, Otto Preminger
Votes: 773
33. Desire (1936)
Approved | 95 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
An automotive engineer bound for a holiday in Spain meets a sultry jewel thief.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, John Halliday, William Frawley
Votes: 2,843
34. No Highway in the Sky (1951)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Thriller
An aeronautical engineer predicts that a new model of plane will fail catastrophically and in a novel manner after a specific number flying hours.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins
Votes: 4,464
35. Christopher Bean (1933)
75 min | Comedy
When the painter Christopher Bean dies, some unscrupulous art dealers try to get several of his paintings cheaply from a family who have no idea of their value.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Marie Dressler, Lionel Barrymore, Helen Mack, Beulah Bondi
Votes: 42
36. Love Is a Headache (1938)
Passed | 73 min | Comedy, Romance
A press agent for a Broadway actress whose career is going downhill, attempts to get her some publicity by having her adopt two orphans.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Gladys George, Franchot Tone, Ted Healy, Mickey Rooney
Votes: 268
37. The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929)
86 min | Drama
A rope bridge over a gorge in the Peruvian Andes snaps, sending five people plunging to their deaths. A priest sets out to find out more about the life of each of the victims.
Director: Charles Brabin | Stars: Lili Damita, Ernest Torrence, Raquel Torres, Don Alvarado
Votes: 102
38. Back Street (1941)
Approved | 89 min | Drama, Romance
Five years after meeting and falling in love with a banker, a willful shop girl decides to become his mistress upon learning he has since gotten married and had a son.
Director: Robert Stevenson | Stars: Charles Boyer, Margaret Sullavan, Richard Carlson, Frank McHugh
Votes: 699
39. The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932)
Approved | 88 min | Drama, Romance, War
A Chinese warlord and an engaged Christian missionary fall in love.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther, Toshia Mori, Walter Connolly
Votes: 4,304
40. Just a Gigolo (1978)
R | 147 min | Drama
After World War I, a war hero returns to Berlin to find that there's no place for him--he has no skills other than what he learned in the army, and can only find menial, low-paying jobs. He decides to become a gigolo to lonely rich women.
Director: David Hemmings | Stars: David Bowie, Sydne Rome, Kim Novak, David Hemmings
Votes: 1,151
41. Cavalcade (1933)
Passed | 112 min | Drama, Romance, War
A portrayal of the triumphs and tragedies of two English families, the upper-crust Marryots and the working-class Bridgeses, from 1899 to 1933.
Director: Frank Lloyd | Stars: Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor, Herbert Mundin
Votes: 5,992 | Gross: $7.63M
42. Hitler's Children (1943)
Passed | 82 min | Drama, Romance, War
This lurid exposé of the Hitler Youth follows the woes of an American girl declared legally German by the Nazi government.
Directors: Edward Dmytryk, Irving Reis | Stars: Tim Holt, Bonita Granville, Kent Smith, Otto Kruger
Votes: 1,002 | Gross: $3.36M
43. Play Girl (1941)
Passed | 75 min | Comedy, Romance
The fascinating Grace Herbert has many years' experience as a professional gold-digger. Her finances at a low ebb, she finds her mature beauty less effective than of yore, and takes on ... See full summary »
Director: Frank Woodruff | Stars: Kay Francis, James Ellison, Mildred Coles, Nigel Bruce
Votes: 390
A charming, little-seen Kay Francis film.
44. Going Hollywood (1933)
Passed | 78 min | Musical, Romance
A love-struck teacher pursues a radio singer to Hollywood.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Marion Davies, Bing Crosby, Fifi D'Orsay, Stuart Erwin
Votes: 1,912 | Gross: $0.96M
45. The Bachelor Father (1931)
Approved | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Old man invites three of his illegitimate children to live with him.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Marion Davies, Ralph Forbes, C. Aubrey Smith, Ray Milland
Votes: 1,235
46. Page Miss Glory (1935)
Passed | 93 min | Comedy, Romance
A chambermaid impersonates the fictional subject of a composite photo that won a beauty contest, with whom a famed aviator falls in love.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Marion Davies, Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell, Mary Astor
Votes: 1,420
This is the wrong graphic. The film stars Marion Davies and is a Hollywood spoof.
47. Love on Toast (1937)
Approved | 65 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
A female press agent must select a "Mr. Manhattan" and "Miss Brooklyn" for an ad campaign mounted by a struggling soup company. The Mr. Manhattan chosen is a singing soda jerk who doesn't want to play along.
Director: Ewald André Dupont | Stars: Stella Adler, John Payne, Grant Richards, Kathryn Kane
Votes: 61
48. Listen to Me (1989)
PG-13 | 107 min | Drama, Romance
A group of college debaters learn about the world, friendships, love, dreams and family in this warm, endearing drama.
Director: Douglas Day Stewart | Stars: Kirk Cameron, Jami Gertz, Roy Scheider, Amanda Peterson
Votes: 1,345 | Gross: $4.30M
49. Reunion in Vienna (1933)
98 min | Drama, Romance
An archduke who had been banished from Austria returns to Vienna for a reunion of his old fellow aristocrats and meets up with the former love of his life, who is now married to a psychoanalyst.
Director: Sidney Franklin | Stars: John Barrymore, Diana Wynyard, Frank Morgan, Henry Travers
Votes: 359
50. Letty Lynton (1932)
Approved | 84 min | Drama
A socialite begins a shipboard romance with a wealthy man, but is blackmailed by a former lover.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Nils Asther, Lewis Stone
Votes: 603
51. Four Jills in a Jeep (1944)
Passed | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Reenactments of actual USO experiences of its female stars entertaining troops overseas.
Director: William A. Seiter | Stars: Kay Francis, Carole Landis, Martha Raye, Mitzi Mayfair
Votes: 553
52. Supernatural (1933)
Passed | 65 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A serial black widow murderess returns to life in the body of a young woman to exact revenge on a former lover, a phony spiritualist who betrayed her.
Director: Victor Halperin | Stars: Carole Lombard, Randolph Scott, Alan Dinehart, Vivienne Osborne
Votes: 934
Very rare film, hard to find. Metapysyical thriller with Lombard possesed by the ghost of a murderous woman.
53. Staircase (1969)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Charles Dyer (Sir Rex Harrison) and Harry Leeds (Richard Burton) are a couple that have been living together for nearly twenty years. Both earn a living as hairdressers in the West End of ... See full summary »
Director: Stanley Donen | Stars: Rex Harrison, Richard Burton, Cathleen Nesbitt, Beatrix Lehmann
Votes: 962
54. The Driver's Seat (1974)
R | 102 min | Drama, Mystery
A mentally-disturbed spinster experiences a series of bizarre encounters in Rome as she searches for someone she feels she'll know--when she finds him.
Director: Giuseppe Patroni Griffi | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Ian Bannen, Guido Mannari, Mona Washbourne
Votes: 1,014
55. Ash Wednesday (1973)
R | 99 min | Drama, Mystery
After getting plastic surgery in Switzerland to help rejuvenate her shaky marriage, Barbara Sawyer has an affair with a younger man while waiting for her husband's arrival from the U.S.
Director: Larry Peerce | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Henry Fonda, Helmut Berger, Keith Baxter
Votes: 781 | Gross: $1.03M
56. Topper Takes a Trip (1938)
Approved | 80 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
To gain entry to Heaven, a ghost attempts to reunite a divorcing couple as a good deed.
Director: Norman Z. McLeod | Stars: Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbray
Votes: 1,472
57. Two-Faced Woman (1941)
Passed | 90 min | Comedy, Mystery, Romance
After a ski instructor catches her husband flirting with an old flame, she decides to pose as her (fictitious) twin sister in an attempt to keep him faithful.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett, Roland Young
Votes: 1,978 | Gross: $0.88M
58. Merrily We Live (1938)
Passed | 95 min | Comedy, Romance
Dizzy society matron Emily Kilbourne has a habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants. Her latest find is a handsome "tramp" who shows up at her doorstep and soon ends up in a ... See full summary »
Director: Norman Z. McLeod | Stars: Constance Bennett, Brian Aherne, Alan Mowbray, Billie Burke
Votes: 2,270
59. The Guardsman (1931)
Passed | 82 min | Comedy, Drama
A jealous stage actor disguises himself as a Russian guardsman in order to test his actress wife's loyalty.
Director: Sidney Franklin | Stars: Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Roland Young, Zasu Pitts
Votes: 602
60. Bottoms Up (1934)
Passed | 85 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Promoter Smoothie King helps a pair of phonies con their way into a movie company. As Wanda heads toward stardom, she turns more and more from King toward the matinée idol. King must decide between his plans and her happiness.
Director: David Butler | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Pat Paterson, John Boles, Sid Silvers
Votes: 172
61. As You Desire Me (1932)
Approved | 70 min | Drama, Romance
An officer tries to convince an amnesiac bar entertainer that she is his long-lost lover.
Director: George Fitzmaurice | Stars: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Erich von Stroheim, Owen Moore
Votes: 764 | Gross: $0.71M
62. Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931)
Approved | 76 min | Drama, Romance
Fleeing her cruel uncle and an arranged marriage Susan Lenox falls in love with a kind stranger but circumstances force her to become a woman of easy virtue.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Jean Hersholt, John Miljan
Votes: 1,361 | Gross: $0.81M
63. The Age of Innocence (1934)
Approved | 81 min | Drama, Romance
An engaged attorney and a divorcee fall for each other in 1870s Manhattan.
Director: Philip Moeller | Stars: Irene Dunne, John Boles, Lionel Atwill, Helen Westley
Votes: 525
64. The Scoundrel (1935)
Passed | 76 min | Drama, Fantasy
A ruthless, cynical, hated publisher is killed in a plane crash, doomed to be a "restless" spirit for being unloved. A heavenly power gives him a month on Earth to find one person to shed a tear for him before his fate is sealed.
Directors: Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur | Stars: Noël Coward, Julie Haydon, Stanley Ridges, Martha Sleeper
Votes: 446
the wrong graphic... this film stars Noel Coward.
65. Father Takes a Wife (1941)
Approved | 79 min | Comedy, Romance
Frederick Osborne Junior is slightly agitated because his father, Senior, is acting more like a college student than the president of a huge mercantile fleet. Senior reveals that he is ... See full summary »
Director: Jack Hively | Stars: Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Swanson, John Howard, Desi Arnaz
Votes: 618
66. The Royal Family of Broadway (1930)
82 min | Comedy, Mystery, Romance
Julie Cavendish comes from a family of great Broadway actors. Her mother Fanny staunchly continues acting. Her boisterous brother Tony is fleeing a breach of promise suit in Hollywood. Her ... See full summary »
Directors: George Cukor, Cyril Gardner | Stars: Ina Claire, Fredric March, Mary Brian, Henrietta Crosman
Votes: 441
67. Outward Bound (1930)
Unrated | 83 min | Drama, Fantasy
Later remade as "Between Two Worlds."
Directors: Robert Milton, Ray Enright | Stars: Leslie Howard, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Beryl Mercer, Dudley Digges
Votes: 621
68. Berkeley Square (1933)
Passed | 88 min | Fantasy, Romance
A young American man comes to believe that he can will himself back to London in the time of the American Revolution and meet his ancestors, who lived in the house he has just inherited.
Director: Frank Lloyd | Stars: Leslie Howard, Heather Angel, Valerie Taylor, Irene Browne
Votes: 983
Tell Your Friends