Films of 1930
These are the films I have seen from the year 1930.
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- DirectorBoris KaufmanJean VigoWhat starts off as a conventional travelogue turns into a satirical portrait of the town of Nice on the French Cote d'Azur, especially its wealthy inhabitants.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsWalter HustonUna MerkelWilliam L. ThorneAn episodic biography of the 16th President of the United States.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsGaston ModotLya LysCaridad de LaberdesqueA surrealist tale of a man and a woman who are passionately in love with each other, but their attempts to consummate that passion are constantly thwarted by their families, the Church, and bourgeois society.
- DirectorGeorge ArchainbaudStarsBebe DanielsBen LyonRobert Emmett O'ConnorA crook (Daniels) becomes a maid to steal jewelry.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLew AyresLouis WolheimJohn WrayA German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
- DirectorVictor HeermanStarsGroucho MarxHarpo MarxChico MarxMayhem and zaniness ensue when a valuable painting goes missing during a party in honor of famed African explorer Captain Spaulding.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsGreta GarboCharles BickfordGeorge F. MarionA young woman reunites with her estranged father and falls in love with a sailor, but struggles to tell them about her dark past.
- DirectorJacques FeyderStarsGreta GarboTheo ShallHans JunkermannA young woman reunites with her estranged father and falls in love with a sailor, but struggles to tell them about her dark past.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsDita ParloGinette MaddieAndrée BrabantDenise, an orphaned girl, moves to Paris where she hopes to find work at her uncle's store. But the glamorous department store 'Aux Bonheur des Dames' across the street crunches all the little businesses around. She finds a position there.
- DirectorThornton FreelandStarsFanny BriceRobert ArmstrongHarry GreenEthnic comedy of a nightclub entertainer trying to train a boxer.
- DirectorFrank TuttleStarsWilliam PowellWilliam 'Stage' BoydEugene PalletteA ruthless, crooked stockbroker is murdered at his luxurious country estate, and detective Philo Vance just happens to be there. He decides to find out who killed him.
- DirectorAlan CroslandStarsAl JolsonClaudia DellLouise Closser HaleGus, the trusty family retainer, has hopes of riding his boss' horse, Big Boy, to victory at the Kentucky Derby.
- DirectorGeorge W. HillWard WingStarsChester MorrisWallace BeeryLewis StoneA convict falls in love with his new cellmate's sister, only to become embroiled in a planned break-out which is certain to have lethal consequences.
- DirectorHobart HenleyStarsMaurice ChevalierClaudette ColbertFrank LyonA tour guide in Venice romances a visiting American tourist whose father owns a chewing-gum factory back in the U.S. She sets out to convince her skeptical father to bring the tour guide to America and give him a job in the plant.
- DirectorRaoul WalshLouis R. LoefflerStarsJohn WayneMarguerite ChurchillEl BrendelBreck Coleman leads hundreds of settlers in covered wagons from the Mississippi River to their destiny out West.
- DirectorDavid BurtonNick GrindeStarsBasil RathboneLeila HyamsRoland YoungWhen the body of a man nicknamed "Cock Robin" is found with an arrow in the heart on an archery range along with a chess bishop as a clue, Philo Vance investigates.
- DirectorJean CocteauStarsEnrique RiveroElizabeth Lee MillerPauline CartonTold in four episodes - an unnamed artist is transported through a mirror into another dimension, where he travels through various bizarre scenarios.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsEmil JanningsMarlene DietrichKurt GerronAn elderly professor's ordered life spins dangerously out of control when he falls for a nightclub singer.
- DirectorKenneth MacPhersonStarsPaul RobesonEslanda RobesonHilda DoolittleA negro woman having an adulterous affair with a white man causes his wife to go mad and re-enforces the towns-folk's prejudice against Negroes.
- DirectorCharles ReisnerStarsBessie LoveCharles KingJack BennyThe road-show troupe of a top Broadway show go cross-country while taking the audience along on the on-stage scenes as well as what happens and is happening back stage of the production. The spectacular dancing ensembles and colorful costumes and pulchritude on-stage offers a contrasting background to the drabness of the backstage, where joy, sorrow, tragedies, deception, and romance are intertwined.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsCharles FarrellMary DuncanDavid TorrenceA Chicago waitress falls in love with a Minnesota farmer, and decides to face a life in the country.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsNorma ShearerRobert MontgomeryChester MorrisWhen a woman discovers that her husband has been unfaithful to her, she decides to respond to his infidelities in kind.
- DirectorAleksandr DovzhenkoStarsStepan ShkuratSemyon SvashenkoYuliya SolntsevaIn the peaceful countryside, Vassily opposes the rich kulaks over the coming of collective farming.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsJoan BennettJoe E. BrownJames HallA college football player (Joe E. Brown) persuades a beautiful young woman (Joan Bennett) to individually flirt with an entire team of All-American football players, in order to entice them over to her college. But the players get angry and threaten to walk out when they find out that they have been fooled, and they get even madder when they discover that she has actually fallen in love with one of their own teammates (James Hall).a/k/a 'Eleven Men and a Girl'
- DirectorClyde BruckmanHarold LloydStarsHarold LloydBarbara KentRobert McWadeAn ambitious shoe salesman who unknowingly meets his boss's daughter and tells her he is a leather tycoon has to try to hide his true circumstances.
- DirectorEdward SedgwickStarsBuster KeatonAnita PageTrixie FriganzaA bumbling manager tries to get a small town beauty contest winner into the movies.
- DirectorRay EnrightStarsWalter Woolf KingVivienne SegalNoah Beery"Golden Dawn" is a musical operetta released by Warner Brothers, photographed entirely in Technicolor, and starring Walter Woolf King and Noah Beery. The film is based on the semi-hit stage musical of the same name by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsGeorge ArlissRalph ForbesH.B. WarnerAn airplane carrying three Brits--Major Crespin, his wife Lucille, and Dr. Trahern--crash lands in the kingdom of Rukh. The Rajah holds them prisoner because the British are about to execute his three half-brothers in neighboring India. His subjects believe that their Green Goddess has given them the lives of the three Brits as payment for the lives of the Rajah's brothers. They will execute them when the brothers are executed. Trahern and the Crespins must figure a way to use the Rajah's radio to call India for help.
- DirectorPaul SloaneStarsBert WheelerRobert WoolseyDorothy LeeThe stage stars Wheeler and Woolsey play two soldiers who go absent without leave in Paris, during World War I.
- DirectorThomas BentleyStarsPolly WardStuart HallTrilby ClarkA girl helps a composer win fame despite a flirtatious socialite.
- DirectorHoward HughesEdmund GouldingJames WhaleStarsBen LyonJames HallJean HarlowBrothers Monte and Ray leave Oxford to join the Royal Flying Corps. Ray loves Helen; Helen enjoys an affair with Monte; before they leave on their mission over Germany they find her in still another man's arms.
- DirectorEdward H. GriffithStarsAnn HardingMary AstorRobert AmesHoliday 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.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsTatsuo SaitôKaoru FutabaKinuyo TanakaA story of a college student (Tatsuo Saitô) and his schoolmates trying to pass the exams by cheating.
- DirectorRoy PomeroyStarsBetty CompsonRalph ForbesMontagu LoveDuring World War 1, German spies will stop at nothing to spy on the allied war plans stored at Gibraltar.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsSara AllgoodEdward ChapmanBarry FitzgeraldDuring the Irish Civil War in 1922, a family earns a big inheritance. They start leading a rich life, forgetting what the most important values are.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsEl BrendelMaureen O'SullivanJohn GarrickNew York, 1980: airplanes have replaced cars, numbers have replaced names, pills have replaced food, government-arranged marriages have replaced love, and test tube babies have replaced ... well, you get the idea. Scientists revive a man struck by lightning in 1930; he is rechristened "Single O". He is befriended by J-21, who can't marry the girl of his dreams because he isn't "distinguished" enough -- until he is chosen for a 4-month expedition to Mars by a renegade scientist. The Mars J-21, his friend, and stowaway Single O visit is full of scantily clad women doing Busby Berkeley-style dance numbers and worshiping a fat middle-aged man.
- DirectorJohn Murray AndersonWalter LantzStarsPaul WhitemanJohn BolesLaura La PlanteAmerican Pre-Code color film starring Paul Whiteman and his Jazz orchestra.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsBernice ClaireEdward Everett HortonWalter PidgeonA Legionnaire in love with an aspiring opera singer is expected to marry the general's daughter, who in turn is in love with another soldier.
- DirectorPaul L. SteinStarsJeanette MacDonaldJohn GarrickJoe E. BrownSundered lovers meet again amid tragic irony at a mining camp in northern Norway.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsKay JohnsonReginald DennyLillian RothAngela and Bob Brooks are an upper-class couple. Unfortunately, Bob is an unfaithful husband, but Angela has a plan to win back her husband's affections.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsAl JolsonLois MoranLowell ShermanA love triangle develops in a traveling minstrel troupe.
- DirectorGeorge W. HillStarsMarie DresslerWallace BeeryDorothy JordanMin, the owner of a dockside hotel, is forced to make difficult decisions about the future of Nancy, the young woman she took in as an infant.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsJeanette MacDonaldJack BuchananClaud AllisterA countess flees to Monte Carlo on the day of her wedding, where she is courted by a count posing as a hairdresser.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsGary CooperMarlene DietrichAdolphe MenjouA cabaret singer and a Legionnaire fall in love, but their relationship is complicated by the results of his womanizing and the appearance of a rich man who wants her for himself.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsHerbert MarshallNorah BaringPhyllis KonstamA juror in a murder trial, after voting to convict, has second thoughts and begins to investigate on his own before the execution.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsLawrence TibbettGrace MooreAdolphe MenjouNew Moon is the name of the ship crossing the Caspian Sea. A young Lt. Petroff meets the Princess Tanya and they have a ship board romance. Upon arriving at the port of Krasnov, Petroff learns that Tanya is engaged to the old Governor Brusiloff. Petroff, disillusioned, crashes the ball to talk with Tanya. Found by Brusiloff, they invent a story about her lost bracelet. To reward him, and remove him, Brusiloff sends Petroff to the remote, and deadly, Fort Darvaz. Soon, the big battle against overwhelming odds will begin.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsMarion DaviesElliott NugentRaymond HackettNot-so-smart chatterbox Dulcy Parker does and says all the wrong things, but they right themselves to prove she's not so dumb after all.
- DirectorPaul L. SteinStarsLillian GishRod La RocqueConrad NagelA scheming mother wishes to make a successful match between her daughter and a prince, yet another man, a commoner, may stand in the way.
- DirectorHarry BeaumontStarsJoan CrawfordRobert MontgomeryAnita PageThree department-store girls--Connie, Franky, and Jerry--share an apartment on West 91st Street in New York City. Each earns little more than $20 per week. Jerry is the sensible one, but the others throw themselves at amoral rich men in an attempt to hook one and better themselves. They end up being hurt and disappointed despite Jerry's attempts to warn them.
- DirectorRobert MiltonRay EnrightStarsLeslie HowardDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Beryl MercerLater remade as "Between Two Worlds."
- DirectorDorothy ArznerOtto BrowerEdmund GouldingStarsJean ArthurClara BowMaurice ChevalierA musical revue that basically has Paramount stars and contract-players doing things some had never done on screen, and wouldn't again; such as Ruth Chatteron , in a French-café setting singing "My Marine" (written by Richard A. Whiting and Raymond B. Eagan) to a group of U. S. Marines, including Stuart Eriwn, Stanley Smith and Frederic March; Buddy Rogers doing a song-duet with Lillian Roth called "Any Time's the Time to Fall in Love" (written by Elise Jans and Jack King), on a cuckoo-clock set; and Clara Bow singing and dancing in the "True To The Navy Now" number to a group of sailors.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakEdgar G. UlmerRochus GlieseStarsErwin SplettstößerBrigitte BorchertWolfgang von WaltershausenTwo men and two women enjoy a pleasant Sunday at the beach amid the unending toil of the working week.
- DirectorAugusto GeninaStarsLouise BrooksGeorges CharliaAugusto BandiniLucienne, typist and gorgeous bathing beauty, decides to enter the 'Miss Europe' pageant sponsored by the French newspaper she works for. She finds her jealous lover Andre violently disapproves of such events and tries to withdraw, but it's too late; she's even then being named Miss France. The night Andre planned to propose to her, she's being whisked off to the Miss Europe finals in Spain, where admirers swarm around her. Win or lose, what will the harvest be?a/k/a 'Prix de beaute'
- DirectorEdward SlomanStarsHarry RichmanJoan BennettJames GleasonA vaudeville and nightclub performer becomes successful and forgets who his friends really are.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsDouglas FairbanksBebe DanielsEdward Everett HortonWall Street wizard Larry Day, new to the ways of love, is coached by his valet. He follows Vivian Benton on an ocean liner, where cocktails laced with a "love potion," work their magic. He then loses his fortune in the market crash and feels that he has also lost his girl.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsGreta GarboLewis StoneGavin GordonYoung Harry is in love and wants to marry an actress, much to the displeasure of his family. Harry thinks that Bishop Armstrong knows nothing about love, so Armstrong tells him the story of Rita and himself. Rita was an opera star singing in New York, who was at a party given by Cornelius. Armstrong was a 28-year-old rector. He fell for Rita when he saw her and after six weeks he wanted to marry her. Naive as he was, he thought that all of Rita's "relationships" were in the distant past, but Rita lives for the moment and knows that she can never marry Armstrong.
- DirectorGeorge CukorCyril GardnerStarsIna ClaireFredric MarchMary BrianJulie 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 daughter Gwen must decide between going on stage, or settling down in a conventional marriage. Julie is just thinking that it would be nice to retire and get married, when who should turn up but her old beau, Gilmore Marshal, the platinum magnate from South America.
- DirectorMikhail KalatozovStory of distant mountainous region in Georgia that depicts folklore, lifestyle and daily routines of Svani people, focuses on the scarcity of salt in Svaneti region. Rich with documentary value, the movie also served for Soviet propaganda.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsAlice WhiteJack MulhallBlanche Sweet'Rainbow Girls' has just opened and closed on Broadway when Dixie, a actress in it, runs into smooth-talking Hollywood Director Frank Buelow. He tells her she would be a natural and promises her a movie contract, so she goes to Hollywood, but there is no contract for her. She meets washed-up actress Donny (Blanche Sweet) on the lot and they become friends. Frank is fired from his studio and the new director finds that Frank's storyline is actually a copy of 'Rainbow Girls,' the Broadway stage play. They call Jimmy, the author and Dixie's boyfriend, for the rights and he goes to Hollywood to produce it as a movie. Dixie gets the lead, but things start going wrong when dizzy Dixie, spurred on by the fired Director Buelow, thinks that she is better than the picture or the studio and starts to make demands. Interesting note: Good look at early Hollywood, with cameos by Loretta Young, Walter Pigeon, Noah Beery and a young Noah Beery, Jr. make the film fun to watch.
- DirectorJohn Francis DillonStarsLawrence GrayAlexander GrayBernice ClaireBetty a young woman is going steady with Terry but falls for an exciting new comer to town Steve. Betty's father wants her to marry Terry but she doesn't see that she actually is in love with him. With the help of Betty's mother Emily and her sister Mary Jane Terry is able to show Betty that they are meant for each other.
- DirectorArnold FanckStarsLeni RiefenstahlSepp RistErnst UdetIn the Mont Blanc Observatory works Hannes. The only contact to the outside world is a pilot and Hella over the morse-code-radio. As Hella climbs the mountain with her father, the father dies. Also Hannes gets endangered as his fingers freeze. But Hella gets help.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsMarilyn MillerLawrence GrayJoe DonahueTo be near the fella she loves, an English bareback rider dons dungarees and cap to pass as a boy, stows away to America, gets caught, marries someone else...and finally ends up in the warm embrace of her beloved. Such fluffy foolishness is the plot of "Sunny," the Broadway smash brought to screen life by the irresistible Marilyn Miller, recreating her stage success in the title role. The sparkling Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein lotto hardback score includes "Who?" and the title tune. And the lovely Miller socks'em over with her winning voice, exhilarating dancing skills, and infectious good cheer. If this is your first encounter with Marilyn Miller, prepare to be a fan.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsMitsuko IchimuraTokihiko OkadaChishû RyûA desperate man with a sick daughter decides to commit a robbery in order to help her. He begins to feel remorse though, which makes him question his decision.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsYôko UmemuraKaichi YamamotoKôji Shima
- DirectorRené ClairStarsAlbert PréjeanPola IlléryEdmond T. GrévilleAlbert is smitten for Pola but ends up wrongly committed in jail, in the meantime her affections are sought after by his friend, and on his release both love and friendship must be tested.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsLon ChaneyLila LeeElliott NugentProfessor Echo, a ventriloquist, forms a burglary ring. He disguises himself as an elderly pet store owner selling talking birds to the wealthy, using his skills to make the birds seem to talk while casing the homes for robberies.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsMinoru TakadaHiroko KawasakiSatoko DateA small-time hood wants to go straight for a good girl but finds that starting over isn't as simple as it sounds.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsFritz KampersGustav DiesslHans-Joachim MöbisA group of German solders fight on the front line in France at the end of World War I.
- DirectorThornton FreelandStarsEddie CantorEthel ShuttaPaul GregoryWestern sheriff Bob Wells is preparing to marry Sally Morgan; she loves part-Indian Wanenis, whose race is an obstacle. Sally flees the wedding with hypochondriac Henry Williams, who thinks he's just giving her a ride; but she left a note saying they've eloped! Chasing them are jilted Bob, Henry's nurse Mary (who's been trying to seduce him) and others.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsEdward Everett HortonPatsy Ruth MillerLouise FazendaA nervous, woman-shy office clerk, already troubled by an amorous female co-worker, must suddenly deal with a very forward and attractive young woman who has sneaked into his apartment and doesn't want to leave.