The 1930s are often regarded as the beginning of the golden era of cinematography. The Motion Picture Production Code was already in full place; this was Hollywood’s self-censorship that guaranteed pictures adhered to a specific moral code.
Even though it was frequently criticized, it became an excellent method for ensuring that movies were family-friendly. The notion that most of the finest movies of all time were produced under the Code proves that moral systems are extremely beneficial to creating great movies.
Most of the best 1930s films are now available on many platforms thanks to the film and photo restoration companies that earnestly restored the archived films for their preservation to safeguard the history many considered disposable.
A cinematic age is only as excellent as its pinnacle accomplishments. As a result, the ideal approach to understanding a decade in movie history is to see its best films as Bel Ami.
Below are some of our best 1930s movies.
Gone With the Wind (1939)
Gone With the Wind won the Awards in what is usually regarded as Hollywood’s most remarkable artistically successful year. It remains the highest-grossing film ever when adjusted for inflation. The epic movie (with a duration of little under four hours) is based on Margaret Mitchell’s book and features Vivien Leigh portrayed as a steel-true Southern belle, with Clark Gable portrayed as a cynical, handsome womanizer who falls in love with her.
Bel Ami (1939)
The movie was filmed on the brink of World War II when Germany’s invasion of France had already been a possible outcome. Minister of Information Joseph Goebbels tightly regulated the movie industry in Nazi Germany. It stars George Duroy, who has recently returned from Morocco, and spends the evening with the artist Rachel, who is practicing the song, Bel Ami. Afterward, he informs Forestier, the publication’s editor, concerning Morocco during a party. Forestier grows envious, divorces, and marries Madeleine to expose Laroche’s activities in his publication. The relationship does not survive long, and Suzanne encourages Duroy to pursue politics.
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is one of Jimmy Stewart’s most well-known movies, with Rear Window, Great Life, and Vertigo. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, featuring Claude Rains and Jean Arthur, is about a young optimist who discovers fraud in the United States Senate. It is a movie about systemic fraud, but since it is a Frank Capra movie, it is amusing and encouraging rather than depressing. It has stayed relevant across political epochs. It is a classic patriotic Hollywood movie.
King Kong (1933)
King Kong is a famous American monster movie produced in 1933 and is remembered for Willis O’Brien’s groundbreaking exceptional graphics. It became the first prominent motion picture to incorporate an animated figure, and it propelled starlet Fay Wray to global stardom. The movie’s climax, in which Kong mounts the Empire State Tower while holding a scared Ann, is the most iconic in cinema history. Kong safely releases Ann and afterward fights machine-gun attacks from swarming jets, which gravely wounds him and causes him to fall to his demise.
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Alfred Hitchcock created a succession of British financial and critical blockbusters before making the significant move to Hollywood at the close of the decade under the direction of David O. Selznick, along with the 39 Steps as well as the first The Man Who Knew Too Much (which was later remade in Hollywood). Margaret Lockwood features as a teenage Englishwoman anxious to find her missing old companion (Dame May Whitty) on a European train excursion, with the help of a charming clarinetist (Michael Redgrave). The Lady Vanishes has become a masterwork of tone and a pitch-perfect blend of love, suspense, and comedy. It has been recreated multiple times, along with a loose version featuring Jodie Foster in Flightplan.
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
When the Hays rule was implemented, romantic comedies traded sexual suspense for screwball jokes, giving rise to screwball movies like Bringing Up Baby, featuring Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. When the film was produced, it was a financial flop, cementing Hepburn’s status as a box office plague, thanks largely to her affluent upbringing and accent, which were integrated into the film. Fans during the Great Recession were not pleased to see a lady from an upper-class family on their televisions. The film is a love comedy that focuses on surreal comedy, humor, and pranks to sustain the love between the two heroes. The general audience despised the film, but it quickly became a masterpiece over time.
Final Thoughts
The 1930s might be a relic of the past, but owing to a fascinating, good old concept called Cinema, they will never truly be forgotten. If you want to travel through time and enjoy the era’s glamours, you just have to watch one (or maybe more) of its films.