Criteria: These Greatest Movies of the 1930s are ranked according to their initial and lasting acclaim, influence as well as initial and lasting popularity.
Edited By: Tim, pauldrach, ManPerson, Bruno, Luuk
- The Wizard of Oz - Victor Fleming (1939)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - David Hand et al. (1937)
- Gone with the Wind - Victor Fleming (1939)
- City Lights - Charles Chaplin (1931)
- M - Fritz Lang (1931)
- Modern Times - Charles Chaplin (1936)
- Stagecoach - John Ford (1939)
- The Rules of the Game - Jean Renoir (1939)
- King Kong - Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack (1933)
- It Happened One Night - Frank Capra (1934)
- Frankenstein - James Whale (1931)
- The Grand Illusion - Jean Renoir (1937)
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - Frank Capra (1939)
- Duck Soup - Leo McCarey (1933)
- All Quiet on the Western Front - Lewis Milestone (1930)
- Bride of Frankenstein - James Whale (1935)
- Bringing Up Baby - Howard Hawks (1938)
- The Adventures of Robin Hood - Michael Curtiz & William Keighley (1938)
- Dracula - Tod Browning (1931)
- Scarface - Howard Hawks (1932)
- The Public Enemy - William A. Wellman (1931)
- Freaks - Tod Browning (1932)
- The Thin Man - W. S. Van Dyke (1934)
- Make Way for Tomorrow - Leo McCarey (1937)
- Top Hat - Mark Sandrich (1935)
- The Blue Angel - Josef von Sternberg (1930)
- The Invisible Man - James Whale (1933)
- L'Atalante - Jean Vigo (1934)
- Trouble in Paradise - Ernst Lubitsch (1932)
- L'âge d'or - Luis Buñuel (1930)
- Ninotchka - Ernst Lubitsch (1939)
- I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang - Mervyn LeRoy (1932)
- Love Me Tonight - Rouben Mamoulian (1932)
- 42nd Street - Lloyd Bacon (1933)
- The 39 Steps - Alfred Hitchcock (1935)
- A Night at the Opera - Sam Wood (1935)
- My Man Godfrey - Gregory La Cava (1936)
- Mutiny on the Bounty - Frank Lloyd (1935)
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Rouben Mamoulian (1931)
- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town - Frank Capra (1936)
- The Awful Truth - Leo McCarey (1937)
- Little Caesar - Mervyn LeRoy (1931)
- Alexander Nevsky - Sergei M. Eisenstein & Dmitri Vasilyev (1938)
- Triumph of the Will - Leni Riefenstahl (1935)
- The Lady Vanishes - Alfred Hitchcock (1938)
- Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations - Leni Riefenstahl (1938)
- Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty - Leni Riefenstahl (1938)
- Angels with Dirty Faces - Michael Curtiz (1938)
- The Testament of Dr. Mabuse - Fritz Lang (1933)
- Vampyr - Carl Theodor Dreyer (1932)
- Port of Shadows - Marcel Carné (1938)
- Captain Blood - Michael Curtiz (1935)
- Pépé le Moko - Julien Duvivier (1937)
- Only Angels Have Wings - Howard Hawks (1939)
- You Can't Take It with You - Frank Capra (1938)
- Dodsworth - William Wyler (1936)
- Fury - Fritz Lang (1936)
- Zero for Conduct - Jean Vigo (1933)
- Gold Diggers of 1933 - Mervyn LeRoy (1933)
- Swing Time - George Stevens (1936)
- Shanghai Express - Josef von Sternberg (1932)
- The Black Cat - Edgar G. Ulmer (1934)
- The Scarlet Empress - Josef von Sternberg (1934)
- Le jour se lève - Marcel Carné (1939)
- Morocco - Josef von Sternberg (1930)
- Earth - Alexander Dovzhenko (1930)
- I Was Born, but... - Yasujirō Ozu (1932)
- Hell's Angels - Howard Hughes (1930)
- The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums - Kenji Mizoguchi (1939)
- Holiday - George Cukor (1938)
- La bête humaine - Jean Renoir (1938)
- Tabu - F. W. Murnau (1931)
- Man of Aran - Robert J. Flaherty (1934)
- Sons of the Desert - William A. Seiter (1933)
- À nous la liberté - René Clair (1931)
- The Women - George Cukor (1939)
- The Roaring Twenties - Raoul Walsh (1939)
- The Gay Divorcee - Mark Sandrich (1934)
- The Mummy - Karl Freund (1932)
- People on Sunday - Robert Siodmak & Edgar G. Ulmer (1930)
- The Big Trail - Raoul Walsh (1930)
- La chienne - Jean Renoir (1931)
- Young Mr. Lincoln - John Ford (1939)
- Wuthering Heights - William Wyler (1939)
- Gunga Din - George Stevens (1939)
- Captains Courageous - Victor Fleming (1937)
- Humanity and Paper Balloons - Sadao Yamanaka (1937)
- Jezebel - William Wyler (1938)
- Pygmalion - Anthony Asquith & Leslie Howard (1938)
- Porky in Wackyland - Bob Clampett (1938)
- Le million - René Clair (1931)
- Animal Crackers - Victor Heerman (1930)
- Boudu Saved from Drowning - Jean Renoir (1932)
- Grand Hotel - Edmund Goulding (1932)
- Island of Lost Souls - Erle C. Kenton (1932)
- The Petrified Forest - Archie Mayo (1936)
- A Star Is Born - William A. Wellman (1937)
- Lost Horizon - Frank Capra (1937)
- A Day at the Races - Sam Wood (1937)
- Queen Christina - Rouben Mamoulian (1933)
- Stage Door - Gregory La Cava (1937)
- Twentieth Century - Howard Hawks (1934)
- She Done Him Wrong - Lowell Sherman (1933)
- Dinner at Eight - George Cukor (1933)
- Footlight Parade - Lloyd Bacon (1933)
- Imitation of Life - John M. Stahl (1934)
- Design for Living - Ernst Lubitsch (1933)
- Three Little Pigs - Burt Gillett (1933)
- Destry Rides Again - George Marshall (1939)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame - William Dieterle (1939)
- Love Affair - Leo McCarey (1939)
- Horse Feathers - Norman Z. McLeod (1932)
- Monkey Business - Norman Z. McLeod (1931)
- Mädchen in Uniform - Leontine Sagan (1931)
- Tarzan the Ape Man - W. S. Van Dyke (1932)
- Under the Roofs of Paris - René Clair (1930)
- Baby Face - Alfred E. Green (1933)
- The Informer - John Ford (1935)
- Camille - George Cukor (1936)
- You Only Live Once - Fritz Lang (1937)
- Ruggles of Red Gap - Leo McCarey (1935)
- San Francisco - W. S. Van Dyke (1936)
- Libeled Lady - Jack Conway (1936)
- Stella Dallas - King Vidor (1937)
- Things to Come - William Cameron Menzies (1936)
- Sabotage - Alfred Hitchcock (1936)
- Tarzan and His Mate - Cedric Gibbons (1934)
- It's a Gift - Norman Z. McLeod (1934)
- Cleopatra - Cecil B. DeMille (1934)
- I'm No Angel - Wesley Ruggles (1933)
- The Goddess - Wu Yonggang (1934)
- The Crime of Monsieur Lange - Jean Renoir (1936)
- The Baker's Wife - Marcel Pagnol (1938)
- Goodbye, Mr. Chips - Sam Wood (1939)
- The Life of Emile Zola - William Dieterle (1937)
- David Copperfield - George Cukor (1935)
- Way Out West - James W. Horne (1937)
- Show Boat - James Whale (1936)
- Midnight - Mitchell Leisen (1939)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sidney Lanfield (1939)
- The Four Feathers - Zoltan Korda (1939)
- Dark Victory - Edmund Goulding (1939)
- Toni - Jean Renoir (1935)
- Dead End - William Wyler (1937)
- The Great Ziegfeld - Robert Z. Leonard (1936)
- Topper - Norman Z. McLeod (1937)
- The Old Mill - Wilfred Jackson (1937)
- The Music Box - James Parrott (1932)
- Dishonored - Josef von Sternberg (1931)
- The Old Dark House - James Whale (1932)
- White Zombie - Victor Halperin (1932)
- Limite - Mário Peixoto (1931)
- The Private Life of Henry VIII - Alexander Korda (1933)
- Little Women - George Cukor (1933)
- The Blood of a Poet - Jean Cocteau (1932)
- The Lives of a Bengal Lancer - Henry Hathaway (1935)
- Boys Town - Norman Taurog (1938)
- The 3 Penny Opera - G. W. Pabst (1931)
- The Most Dangerous Game - Ernest B. Schoedsack & Irving Pichel (1932)
- Red Dust - Victor Fleming (1932)
- The Merry Widow - Ernst Lubitsch (1934)
- Les misérables - Richard Boleslawski (1935)
- The Tale of the Fox - Irene & Ladislas Starevich (1937)
- A Tale of Two Cities - Jack Conway (1935)
- Anna Karenina - Clarence Brown (1935)
- The Little Colonel - David Butler (1935)
- The Band Concert - Wilfred Jackson (1935)
- Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor - Dave Fleischer (1936)
- Bimbo's Initiation - Dave Fleischer (1931)
- The Champ - King Vidor (1931)
- The Big House - George W. Hill (1930)
- Of Human Bondage - John Cromwell (1934)
- Land Without Bread - Luis Buñuel (1933)
- Ecstasy - Gustav Machatý (1933)
- Bright Eyes - David Butler (1934)
- Confessions of a Cheat - Sacha Guitry (1936)
- Street Angel - Yuan Muzhi (1937)
- City Girl - F. W. Murnau (1930)
- Anna Christie - Clarence Brown (1930)
- The Only Son - Yasujirō Ozu (1936)
- After the Thin Man - W. S. Van Dyke (1936)
- Chapayev - Georgi & Sergei Vasilyev (1934)
- À propos de Nice - Jean Vigo (1930)
- Marius - Alexander Korda (1931)
- Alexander's Ragtime Band - Henry King (1938)
- The Childhood of Maxim Gorky - Mark Donskoy (1938)
- Mad Love - Karl Freund (1935)
- Hôtel du Nord - Marcel Carné (1938)
- By the Bluest of Seas - Boris Barnet (1936)
- Kameradschaft - G. W. Pabst (1931)
- Sylvia Scarlett - George Cukor (1935)
- Werewolf of London - Stuart Walker (1935)
- Peter Ibbetson - Henry Hathaway (1935)
- Becky Sharp - Rouben Mamoulian (1935)
- Love Finds Andy Hardy - George B. Seitz (1938)
- Westfront 1918 - G. W. Pabst (1930)
- The Prisoner of Zenda - John Cromwell (1937)
- Of Mice and Men - Lewis Milestone (1939)
- Nothing Sacred - William A. Wellman (1937)
- The Good Earth - Sidney Franklin (1937)
- Beau Geste - William A. Wellman (1939)
- G Men - William Keighley (1935)
- The Charge of the Light Brigade - Michael Curtiz (1936)
- Sant Tukaram - Vishnupant Govind Damle & Sheikh Fattelal (1936)
- Snow-White - Dave Fleischer (1933)
- A Farewell to Arms - Frank Borzage (1932)
- The Smiling Lieutenant - Ernst Lubitsch (1931)
- One Hour with You - Ernst Lubitsch & George Cukor (1932)
- Cimarron - Wesley Ruggles (1931)
- Cavalcade - Frank Lloyd (1933)
- Alam Ara - Ardeshir Irani (1931)
- Blonde Venus - Josef von Sternberg (1932)
- The Bitter Tea of General Yen - Frank Capra (1932)
- Bluebeard's Eighth Wife - Ernst Lubitsch (1938)
- The Dawn Patrol - Edmund Goulding (1938)
- Union Pacific - Cecil B. DeMille (1939)
- Dodge City - Michael Curtiz (1939)
- Sisters of the Gion - Kenji Mizoguchi (1936)
- The Sign of the Cross - Cecil B. DeMille (1932)
- Queen Kelly - Erich von Stroheim (1932)
- Red-Headed Woman - Jack Conway (1932)
- Flowers and Trees - Burt Gillett (1932)
- The Man Who Knew Too Much - Alfred Hitchcock (1934)
- Min and Bill - George W. Hill (1930)
- The Dawn Patrol - Howard Hawks (1930)
- The Divorcee - Robert Z. Leonard (1930)
- Easy Living - Mitchell Leisen (1937)
- Liebelei - Max Ophüls (1933)
- Son of Frankenstein - Rowland V. Lee (1939)
- Marie Antoinette - W. S. Van Dyke (1938)
- In Old Chicago - Henry King (1938)
- Alice Adams - George Stevens (1935)
- A Midsummer Night's Dream - Max Reinhardt & William Dieterle (1935)
- Song at Midnight - Ma-Xu Weibang (1937)
- Shall We Dance - Mark Sandrich (1937)
- Dancing Lady - Robert Z. Leonard (1933)
- Lady for a Day - Frank Capra (1933)
- The Front Page - Lewis Milestone (1931)
- A Free Soul - Clarence Brown (1931)
- City Streets - Rouben Mamoulian (1931)
- Hoi Polloi - Del Lord (1935)
- Three Comrades - Frank Borzage (1938)
- Algiers - John Cromwell (1938)
- Test Pilot - Victor Fleming (1938)
- Four Daughters - Michael Curtiz (1938)
- Murder! - Alfred Hitchcock (1930)
- Brats - James Parrott (1930)
- King of Jazz - John Murray Anderson (1930)
- Hog Wild - James Parrott (1930)
- Whoopee! - Thornton Freeland (1930)