The 30's & Great Depression (1929-1939)
Films & series set during the worldwide economic depression era.
Events worth mentioning that happened during this time period in:
Americas
Dust Bowl: period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the U.S. and Canadian prairies during the 1930's. This catastrophe intensified the economic impact of the Great Depression in the region.
Europe
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939): Germany and Italy back anti-communist Falange forces of Francisco Franco. The Soviet Union and international communist parties back the left-wing republican faction in the war.
Asia
Civil disobedience movement (1930-1934): Nonviolent resistance marked by rejecting British imposed taxes, boycotting British manufactured products and mass strikes, led by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.
Chinese Soviet Republic(1931-1937): small enclave state led by the Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong.
Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945): military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan and would eventually merge into World War II. The infamous Nanking massacre is remembered to this day.
***wikipedia
Events worth mentioning that happened during this time period in:
Americas
Dust Bowl: period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the U.S. and Canadian prairies during the 1930's. This catastrophe intensified the economic impact of the Great Depression in the region.
Europe
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939): Germany and Italy back anti-communist Falange forces of Francisco Franco. The Soviet Union and international communist parties back the left-wing republican faction in the war.
Asia
Civil disobedience movement (1930-1934): Nonviolent resistance marked by rejecting British imposed taxes, boycotting British manufactured products and mass strikes, led by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.
Chinese Soviet Republic(1931-1937): small enclave state led by the Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong.
Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945): military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan and would eventually merge into World War II. The infamous Nanking massacre is remembered to this day.
***wikipedia
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- DirectorMike BarkerStarsHelen HuntScarlett JohanssonTom WilkinsonA 1930s American socialite creates a scandal in the expatriate high society of the Amalfi Coast of Italy when she forms a secretive relationship with a wealthy American unbeknownst to his young wife.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsClark GableClaudette ColbertWalter ConnollyA 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.
- CreatorHeidi ThomasStarsKeeley HawesEd StoppardAdrian ScarboroughA new family and their servants live at the London townhouse at 165 Eaton Place in 1936.
- DirectorPaul L. SteinStarsConstance BennettKenneth MacKennaBasil RathboneA plain secretary works for a womanizing divorce lawyer who only dates married women. To avoid having to deal with the matrimonial pursuits of any of his potential romances, he offers her financial support if she marries him in name only.
- StarsStephen FryHugh LaurieRichard DixonBertram Wooster, a well-intentioned, wealthy layabout, has a habit of getting himself into trouble and it's up to his brilliant valet, Jeeves, to get him out.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsMaggie SmithRyan PhillippeMichael GambonSet in the 1930s, a group of pretentious rich and famous get together for a weekend of relaxation at a hunting resort. But when a murder occurs, each one of these interesting characters becomes a suspect.
- DirectorJohn DuiganStarsCharlize TheronStuart TownsendPenélope CruzFrom the roaring 1920s to the ruinous Spanish Civil War and Adolf Hitler's rise into power, the lives of an Irish schoolteacher, a provocative heiress and her Spanish muse are intricately interlaced, sharing the same destiny and passion.
- DirectorTom HooperStarsColin FirthGeoffrey RushHelena Bonham CarterThe story of King George VI, his unexpected ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsJean HarlowChester MorrisLewis StoneLillian (Jean Harlow) relentlessly attempts to seduce a married man (Chester Morris).
- StarsAnna Maxwell MartinDavid MorrisseyPenelope WiltonIn 1930s Yorkshire, a spirited new headmistress brings inspiration and modern ideas to an all girls' school and shakes up the more conservative-minded residents of South Riding.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsEileen AtkinsKate BeckinsaleSheila BurrellA recently orphaned young woman goes to live with eccentric relatives in Sussex, where she sets about improving their gloomy lives.
- DirectorRichard AttenboroughStarsPierce BrosnanStewart BickVlasta VranaThe story of the life and work of the Canadian fur trapper-turned-conservationist who claimed to be an aboriginal North American.
- DirectorRichard LoncraineStarsAlbert FinneyVanessa RedgraveJim BroadbentWinston Churchill's wilderness years prior to World War II, when only he could see the threat that Adolf Hitler and a rearmed Germany posed to Europe.
- DirectorSandra GoldbacherStarsEmma WatsonYasmin PaigeLucy BoyntonIn 1930s London, three orphan girls are adopted by their great uncle, who is an eccentric paleontologist, and his niece.
- StarsAlan BatesAnna PopplewellJemima RooperIn 1930s Britain, three young aristocratic women find love as the world around them slowly descends into war.
- CreatorCaleb RansonStarsIain De CaesteckerAmy MansonBen Lloyd-HughesThe university days of the vet, James Herriot, set in 1933 Glasgow, Scotland.
- DirectorBharat NalluriStarsFrances McDormandAmy AdamsCiarán HindsGuinevere Pettigrew, a middle-aged London governess, finds herself unfairly dismissed from her job. An attempt to gain new employment catapults her into the glamorous world and dizzying social whirl of an American actress and singer, Delysia Lafosse.
- StarsKate WinsletGuy PearceEvan Rachel WoodDivorced single mom Mildred Pierce decides to open a restaurant business, which tears at the already-strained relationship with her ambitious elder daughter, Veda.
- StarsLee InglebyLiz WhiteAnne ReidA drama series about the family who founded Chester Zoo in the 1930s.
- DirectorWes AndersonStarsRalph FiennesF. Murray AbrahamMathieu AmalricA writer encounters the owner of an aging high-class hotel, who tells him of his early years serving as a lobby boy in the hotel's glorious years under an exceptional concierge.
- CreatorJohn HawkesworthStarsPeter DavisonBrian GloverAndrew BurtIn 1930s England, a man from an aristocratic family takes up the pseudonym Albert Campion and, with the help of his ex-burglar manservant, solves mysteries.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsFred MacMurrayBarbara StanwyckEdward G. RobinsonA Los Angeles insurance representative lets an alluring housewife seduce him into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, an insurance investigator.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinVirginia CherrillFlorence LeeWith the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJean ArthurJames StewartLionel BarrymoreThe son of a snobbish Wall Street banker becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their home for a real estate development.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsGary CooperJean ArthurGeorge BancroftA unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsRonald ColmanJane WyattEdward Everett HortonWhen a revered diplomat's plane is diverted and crashes in the peaks of Tibet, he and the other survivors are guided to an isolated monastery at Shangri-La, where they wrestle with the invitation to stay.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsWarren WilliamMay RobsonGuy KibbeeA gangster tries to make Apple Annie, the Times Square apple seller, a lady for a day.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsMaurice ChevalierJeanette MacDonaldCharles RugglesA Parisian tailor finds himself posing as a baron in order to collect a sizeable bill from an aristocrat, only to fall in love with an aloof young princess.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsMaurice ChevalierJeanette MacDonaldEdward Everett HortonWhen a small kingdom's main taxpayer leaves for Paris, its king dispatches a dashing count to win back her allegiance.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsMarlene DietrichHerbert MarshallMelvyn DouglasA woman and her husband take separate vacations, and she falls in love with another man.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsMarlene DietrichClive BrookAnna May WongA notorious woman rides a train through a dangerous situation with a British captain she loved.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsMarlene DietrichBrian AherneLionel AtwillLily falls in love with the sculptor who leaves her out of fear of commitment.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsMarlene DietrichGary CooperJohn HallidayAn automotive engineer bound for a holiday in Spain meets a sultry jewel thief.
- DirectorH.C. PotterStuart HeislerWilliam WylerStarsGary CooperMerle OberonPatsy KellyA lonely socialite masquerades as a maid and meets an unpretentious, plain-spoken cowboy who is unaware of her true identity.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsGary CooperCarole LombardShirley TempleA swindler and his girlfriend take in his young daughter, who has been living with the family of his deceased wife.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsGreta GarboJohn BarrymoreJoan CrawfordA group of very different individuals staying at a luxurious hotel in Berlin deal with each of their respective dramas.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsGreta GarboMelvyn DouglasIna ClaireA stern Soviet woman sent to Paris to supervise the sale of jewels seized from Russian nobles finds herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJames StewartJean ArthurClaude RainsA naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption at home and subterfuge from his hero in Washington, but he tries to forge ahead despite attacks on his character.
- DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsPaul NewmanRobert RedfordRobert ShawTwo grifters team up to pull off the ultimate con.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsCarole LombardJames StewartCharles CoburnWhile on a business trip, an ambitious young lawyer meets and immediately falls in love with a stranger. They wed the following day, and tragedy soon strikes.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsKatharine HepburnCary GrantCharles RugglesWhile trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard, Baby.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsAudrey HepburnPeter FinchEdith EvansAfter leaving a wealthy Belgian family to become a nun, Sister Luke struggles with her devotion to her vows during crisis, disappointment, and World War II.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsKatharine HepburnCary GrantDoris NolanA young man in love with a girl from a rich family finds his unorthodox plan to go on holiday for the early years of his life met with skepticism by everyone except for his fiancée's eccentric sister and long-suffering brother.
- DirectorJoseph AnthonyStarsBurt LancasterKatharine HepburnWendell CoreyDuring the Depression, a con-man promises rain to a desperate drought-ridden Kansas town and marriage to a local desperate spinster.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsKatharine HepburnFred MacMurrayFred StoneA working-class girl is thwarted and embarrassed in her attempts to move up socially by her gauche family and unstable father.
- DirectorGregory RatoffStarsIngrid BergmanWarner BaxterSusan HaywardA governess becomes the center of a wealthy family after her employer's wife dies.
- DirectorGeorge W. HillStarsLee TracyBenita HumeUna MerkelBuckley is an unethical reporter who manipulates the news for his own benefit as much as he reports it. When he is in Paris to get a medal for being rescued from his alleged kidnappers, he finds that his boss, Stevens, at the Chicago Globe is going with his old gal Dolly. When Stevens learns that Dolly is staying with Buckley in Moscow, he fires Buckley. To get his job back, Buckley and Lefty stage a great news story about the shooting of the last Romanoff, but the plan backfires and they are now in line to be shot by the Commissar.
- DirectorRonald NeameStarsMaggie SmithGordon JacksonRobert StephensAn eccentric Scottish schoolteacher's extravagantly romantic ideas about life--and love--overly impress her young pupils and bring her into conflict with her school's conservative headmistress.
- DirectorFrank LloydStarsDiana WynyardClive BrookUna O'ConnorA portrayal of the triumphs and tragedies of two English families, the upper-crust Marryots and the working-class Bridgeses, from 1899 to 1933.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsBing CrosbyFrances FarmerBob BurnsCowboy Jeff Larabee returns from the east and meets Doris Halloway, a young girl, that he regards as a vagabond, till he learns that she's the owner of the ranch where he works. He tries to win her heart, but without success, until she is endangered by gangsters.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsJames CagneyPat O'BrienJune TravisWar veteran pilots Dizzy Davis, Texas Clark and Jake Lee are working in an airline in Newark. Dizzy is flirting with the girlfriend of a younger pilot and, due to this, he feigns illness to get Texas to take his flight assignment to Cleveland. Returning from Cleveland to Newark, Texas' plane crashes attempting to land on the airfield under extremely bad weather circumstances and he dies from this accident. Dizzy feels guilty for his friend's death and takes the next flight to Cleveland under even worse circumstances, testing a new anti-ice device on the plane.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsJohn BarrymoreCarole LombardWalter ConnollyA 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.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsCary GrantJean ArthurRita HayworthAt a remote South American trading port, the manager of an air-freight company is forced to risk his pilots' lives in order to win an important contract as a traveling American showgirl stops in town.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsJames DunnSally EilersMinna GombellA man and woman, skeptical about romance, nonetheless fall in love and are wed, but their lack of confidence in the opposite sex haunts their marriage.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsBarbara StanwyckNils AstherToshia MoriA Chinese warlord and an engaged Christian missionary fall in love.
- DirectorDavid BurtonStarsCarole LombardMay RobsonRoger PryorAn elderly, brash drunk is hired to help improve the image of a controversial dancer, and the two women form an unlikely friendship.
- DirectorSidney LanfieldStarsBarbara StanwyckHerbert MarshallIan HunterA woman must decide between two men: one she loves, the other she admires and respects.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJean HarlowLoretta YoungRobert WilliamsA young woman from a very rich family impulsively marries a reporter, but each assumes the other is the one whose lifestyle must change.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsClark GableJean HarlowLionel BarrymoreAfter winning a stud farm in lieu of gambling debts, bookie Duke Bradley turns an eye to the daughter of the now deceased gambler and her millionaire fiancée.
- DirectorWilliam BeaudineStarsJean HarlowMae ClarkeWalter ByronCassie moves to New York and jumps from one job to another until she lands a modeling gig.
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsJean HarlowLee TracyFrank MorganA glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on.
- DirectorFrank CapraAllan DwanRoy William NeillStarsWalter HustonPat O'BrienKay JohnsonSocially-conscious banker Thomas Dickson faces a crisis when his protégé is wrongly accused for robbing the bank, gossip of the robbery starts a bank run, and evidence suggests Dickson's wife had an affair...all during the same day.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsWarner BaxterMyrna LoyWalter ConnollyA runaway heiress and her sister's husband join forces to race the latter's fast horse, Broadway Bill.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsIrene DunneCary GrantRalph BellamyA married couple file an amicable divorce, but find it harder to let go of each other than they initially thought.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsWarren WilliamJoan BlondellAline MacMahonA wealthy composer rescues unemployed Broadway performers with a new play, but insists on remaining anonymous.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsGary CooperSylvia SidneyPaul LukasMan joins a gang to free his girlfriend from prison.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsFredric MarchGary CooperMiriam HopkinsA woman cannot decide between two men who love her, and the trio agree to try living together in a platonic friendly relationship.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsCharles FarrellMary DuncanDavid TorrenceA Chicago waitress falls in love with a Minnesota farmer, and decides to face a life in the country.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsClaudette ColbertDon AmecheJohn BarrymoreA chorus girl stranded in Paris is set up by a millionaire to break up his wife's affair with another man, while being romantically pursued by a cab driver.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsJean ArthurEdward ArnoldRay MillandWhen a wealthy banker throws his wife's expensive fur coat off a roof and it lands on the head of a stenographer, everyone assumes she is his mistress and has access to his millions.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsHerbert MarshallJean ArthurLeo CarrilloAn executive lets an attractive cook talk him into taking a job as butler.
- DirectorRichard BoleslawskiStarsIrene DunneMelvyn DouglasThomas MitchellThe author of a controversially racy best-selling book tries to hide her celebrity status from her provincial small-town neighbors, who would be scandalized if they knew.
- DirectorEdward LudwigStarsJean ArthurJoel McCreaReginald OwenA reporter meets an actress whose producer is a presumed-dead thief, and stakes his reputation on predicting the next crime.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMargaret SullavanHerbert MarshallFrank MorganA naive girl just out of a cloistered orphanage finds that being a 'good fairy' to strangers makes life awfully complicated.
- DirectorRay EnrightStarsDick PowellOlivia de HavillandCharles WinningerWhen spoiled young heiress Maggie Richards (Olivia de Havilland) tries to charge some gasoline at an auto camp run by Bill Davis (Dick Powell), he makes her work out her bill by making beds. Resolving to get even, she pretends to have forgiven him, and sends him to her father (Charles Winninger) to get financing for a plan Bill has. What happens next was not part of her original revenge plan.
- DirectorIrving CummingsStarsDon AmecheBetty GrableCarmen MirandaAn American girl on vacation in Argentina falls for a wealthy racehorse owner.
- DirectorSidney LanfieldStarsSonja HenieTyrone PowerRudy ValleeA studio publicist discovers a Minnesota skating teacher and takes her to Hollywood. She goes back to Minnesota but he follows her.
- DirectorBusby BerkeleyStarsDick PowellRosemary LaneLola LaneRonny Bowers, a saxophonist in Benny Goodman's band, has won a talent contest and a ten week contract with a film studio. On his first evening he is supposed to go with the studio's star Mona Marshall to a movie premiere. But she doesn't want to go, so the bosses decide to use a double for her: Virginia. When Mona finds out next morning that happened, she insisted to fire her double and Ronny. Ronny finds work as a singing waiter in a drive-in, and is spotted by a director of the same studio, who wants him to lend his voice for a leading actor in a musical. After the first screening Louella Parsons invites him to sing on her program, "Hollywood Hotel". He accepts, not knowing that Ronny Bowers does not want to lend him his voice again. So everybody starts to play his little game to solve his own problems.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsRock HudsonRobert StackDorothy MaloneStory of the fraught friendship between an eccentric journalist and a team of daredevil flying acrobats.
- DirectorMark SandrichStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersRandolph ScottA Navy sailor tries to rekindle a romance with the woman he loves while on liberty in San Francisco.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsWilliam PowellKay FrancisFrank McHughA terminally ill woman and a debonair murderer facing execution meet and fall in love on a trans-Pacific crossing, each without knowing the other's secret.
- DirectorElliott NugentStarsMartha RayeBob HopeAndy DevineA wealthy hypochondriac and an heiress are both experiencing romantic complications, prompting them to marry each other.
- DirectorGregory La CavaStarsWilliam PowellCarole LombardAlice BradyA scatterbrained socialite hires a vagrant as a family butler - but there's more to Godfrey than meets the eye.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsMiriam HopkinsKay FrancisHerbert MarshallA gentleman thief and a lady pickpocket join forces to con a beautiful perfume company owner. Romantic entanglements and jealousies confuse the scheme.
- DirectorWalter LangStarsCarole LombardWalter ConnollyLouise Closser HaleAn heiress forced to marry into royalty in order to save her banker father falls in love with another man while on a cruise.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsMarlene DietrichCary GrantHerbert MarshallA cabaret singer takes up with a millionaire to pay for her gravely-ill husband's operation.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsJean HarlowWilliam PowellMyrna LoyWhen a socialite sues a big paper for libel, the editor responsible calls in the help of his ignored fiancée and a former employee to frame her and make the false story seem true.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsGinger RogersJames StewartJames EllisonA professor marries a nightclub singer, much to the consternation of his family and friends back home.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsMarion DaviesClark GableAllen JenkinsA talented boxer and a gifted dancer hope to increase their waning popularity by inventing a fictitious love affair for the benefit of the tabloids.
- DirectorMark SandrichStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersAlice BradyA woman thinks a flirting man is the co-respondent her lawyer has hired to expedite her divorce.
- DirectorThornton FreelandStarsDolores Del RíoGene RaymondRaul RoulienA bandleader woos a Latin flame who is already engaged to his employer.
- DirectorMark SandrichStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersRalph BellamyA psychiatrist falls in love with the woman he's supposed to be nudging into marriage with someone else.
- DirectorGarson KaninStarsGinger RogersDavid NivenCharles CoburnAn unemployed woman discovers an abandoned baby on the steps of an orphanage, and accepts an offer to take responsibility for the child in return for a job.
- DirectorGregory La CavaStarsKatharine HepburnGinger RogersAdolphe MenjouA chronicle of the ambitions, dreams, and disappointments of aspiring actresses who all live in the same boarding house.
- DirectorSam WoodEdmund GouldingStarsGroucho MarxChico MarxHarpo MarxA sly business manager and the wacky friends of two opera singers in Italy help them achieve success in America while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersVictor MooreRoguish gambler/dancer "Lucky" Garnett is challenged by his fiance's father to come up with $25,000 to prove he's worthy of her hand. But after he falls in love with a dance instructor, Lucky'll do anything to keep from earning the bucks.
- DirectorMichael CurtizWilliam DieterleWilliam A. WellmanStarsRuth ChattertonGeorge BrentLois WilsonAlison Drake, the tough-minded executive of an automobile factory, succeeds in the man's world of business until she meets an independent design engineer.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsRuth ChattertonGeorge BrentBette DavisA socialite gets a divorce but can't keep out of her ex-husband's life.
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsConstance BennettBrian AherneAlan MowbrayDizzy 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 chauffeur's uniform. He also catches the eye of her pretty Geraldine.
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsCary GrantConstance BennettRoland YoungA fun-loving couple, finding that they died and are now ghosts, decide to shake up the stuffy lifestyle of a friend of theirs.