Movie Auditor › Rankings › 1930s
Best Movies of the 1930s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
800 films from the 1930s are in our catalog; the 100 best are ranked below. Top of the list is Modern Times ('1936), at 8.5 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 7.8. Biggest split between audiences and critics: Pépé le Moko, 7.6 on IMDb against 98 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Modern Times '1936 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 8.5 | 98% | 96 | 8.3 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 2 | City Lights '1931 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 8.5 | 95% | 99 | 8.2 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 3 | M '1931 | Drama / Thriller / Crime | 8.3 | 100% | - | 8.1 | Fritz Lang |
| 4 | Gone with the Wind '1939 | Drama / War / Romance | 8.2 | 90% | 97 | 7.9 | Victor Fleming |
| 5 | The Wizard of Oz '1939 | Fantasy | 8.1 | 98% | 92 | 7.6 | Victor Fleming |
| 6 | It Happened One Night '1934 | Comedy / Romance | 8.1 | 98% | 87 | 7.8 | Frank Capra |
| 7 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington '1939 | Comedy / Drama | 8.1 | 85% | 73 | 7.8 | Frank Capra |
| 8 | All Quiet on the Western Front '1930 | Drama / War | 8.1 | 98% | 91 | 7.8 | Lewis Milestone |
| 9 | I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang '1932 | Drama | 8.2 | 96% | 87 | 7.8 | Mervyn LeRoy |
| 10 | Make Way for Tomorrow '1937 | Drama / Romance | 8.2 | 100% | - | 7.5 | Leo McCarey |
| 11 | Grand Illusion '1937 | Drama / War | 8.0 | 97% | - | 7.9 | Jean Renoir |
| 12 | King Kong '1933 | Fantasy / Horror | 7.9 | 97% | 92 | 7.6 | Merian C. Cooper |
| 13 | The Adventures of Robin Hood '1938 | Romance / Action | 7.9 | 100% | 97 | 7.5 | Michael Curtiz |
| 14 | The Thin Man '1934 | Comedy / Mystery / Crime | 7.9 | 98% | 86 | 7.5 | W.S. Van Dyke |
| 15 | My Man Godfrey '1936 | Comedy | 7.9 | 97% | 82 | 7.6 | Gregory La Cava |
| 16 | The Rules of the Game '1939 | Drama / Comedy / Romance | 7.9 | 97% | 99 | 7.5 | Jean Renoir |
| 17 | The Testament of Dr. Mabuse '1933 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.9 | 86% | - | 7.6 | Fritz Lang |
| 18 | Trouble in Paradise '1932 | Comedy / Crime / Romance | 7.9 | 90% | - | 7.4 | Ernst Lubitsch |
| 19 | Bringing Up Baby '1938 | Comedy / Romance | 7.8 | 97% | 91 | 7.5 | Howard Hawks |
| 20 | Captains Courageous '1937 | Drama | 7.9 | 94% | 81 | 7.4 | Victor Fleming |
| 21 | Bride of Frankenstein '1935 | Horror / Sci-Fi | 7.8 | 98% | 95 | 7.5 | James Whale |
| 22 | Freaks '1932 | Drama / Horror | 7.8 | 95% | 80 | 7.8 | Tod Browning |
| 23 | The Roaring Twenties '1939 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.9 | 100% | 80 | 7.5 | Raoul Walsh |
| 24 | Stagecoach '1939 | Western | 7.8 | 100% | 93 | 7.6 | John Ford |
| 25 | A Night at the Opera '1935 | Comedy / Musical | 7.8 | 97% | - | 7.4 | Sam Wood |
| 26 | You Can't Take It with You '1938 | Comedy / Romance | 7.8 | 94% | - | 7.5 | Frank Capra |
| 27 | Angels with Dirty Faces '1938 | Crime / Drama | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.5 | Michael Curtiz |
| 28 | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town '1936 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 7.8 | 90% | - | 7.5 | Frank Capra |
| 29 | Ninotchka '1939 | Comedy / Romance | 7.8 | 95% | - | 7.5 | Ernst Lubitsch |
| 30 | Goodbye, Mr. Chips '1939 | Drama / Romance | 7.9 | 81% | - | 7.4 | Sam Wood |
| 31 | Frankenstein '1931 | Drama / Horror / Sci-Fi | 7.7 | 94% | 91 | 7.5 | James Whale |
| 32 | Duck Soup '1933 | Comedy / War | 7.7 | 91% | 93 | 7.3 | Leo McCarey |
| 33 | Fury '1936 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.8 | 95% | - | 7.5 | Fritz Lang |
| 34 | The Lady Vanishes '1938 | Mystery / Thriller | 7.7 | 98% | 98 | 7.4 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 35 | The Music Box '1932 | Comedy | 7.9 | - | - | 7.5 | James Parrott |
| 36 | Scarface '1932 | Crime / Action / Drama / Thriller | 7.7 | 98% | 90 | 7.4 | Howard Hawks |
| 37 | The Hunchback of Notre Dame '1939 | Drama / Romance / Horror | 7.8 | 93% | - | 7.3 | William Dieterle |
| 38 | Top Hat '1935 | Musical / Comedy / Romance | 7.7 | 100% | 93 | 7.2 | Mark Sandrich |
| 39 | Libeled Lady '1936 | Comedy / Romance | 7.8 | 81% | - | 7.3 | Jack Conway |
| 40 | Holiday '1938 | Comedy / Romance / Drama | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.3 | George Cukor |
| 41 | L'Atalante '1934 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.5 | Jean Vigo |
| 42 | Captain Blood '1935 | - | 7.7 | 100% | 89 | 7.3 | Michael Curtiz |
| 43 | Les Misérables '1934 | Drama | 8.3 | - | - | 7.9 | Raymond Bernard |
| 44 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs '1938 | Fantasy / Animation | 7.6 | - | 96 | 7.1 | David Hand |
| 45 | A Tale of Two Cities '1935 | Drama / Romance | 7.8 | 93% | 87 | 6.9 | Jack Conway |
| 46 | The Women '1939 | Comedy / Drama | 7.7 | 94% | - | 7.2 | George Cukor |
| 47 | The 39 Steps '1935 | Mystery / Thriller | 7.6 | 96% | 93 | 7.3 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 48 | Stage Door '1937 | Comedy / Drama | 7.7 | 96% | - | 7.2 | Gregory La Cava |
| 49 | Gold Diggers of 1933 '1933 | Comedy / Drama | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.2 | Mervyn LeRoy |
| 50 | The Invisible Man '1933 | Horror / Sci-Fi | 7.6 | 95% | 87 | 7.5 | James Whale |
| 51 | I Was Born, But... '1932 | Comedy / Drama | 7.8 | 100% | 91 | 7.5 | Yasujirō Ozu |
| 52 | Port of Shadows '1938 | Romance / Drama / Crime | 7.7 | 97% | - | 7.4 | Marcel Carné |
| 53 | Dodsworth '1936 | Drama / Romance | 7.7 | 91% | - | 7.1 | William Wyler |
| 54 | Pygmalion '1938 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.0 | Anthony Asquith |
| 55 | The Awful Truth '1937 | Comedy / Romance | 7.6 | 94% | 87 | 7.2 | Leo McCarey |
| 56 | Mutiny on the Bounty '1935 | Drama | 7.6 | 96% | 87 | 7.4 | Frank Lloyd |
| 57 | Of Mice and Men '1939 | Drama | 7.8 | 100% | 89 | 7.3 | Lewis Milestone |
| 58 | The Public Enemy '1931 | Crime / Drama | 7.6 | 100% | 80 | 7.3 | William A. Wellman |
| 59 | Lost Horizon '1937 | Fantasy / Drama / Romance | 7.6 | 92% | - | 6.9 | Frank Capra |
| 60 | Midnight '1939 | Comedy / Romance | 7.8 | 94% | 79 | 7.4 | Mitchell Leisen |
| 61 | The Old Mill '1937 | Animation / Thriller / Musical / Horror | 7.7 | - | - | 7.3 | Wilfred Jackson |
| 62 | The Blue Angel '1930 | Drama | 7.6 | 96% | 90 | 7.3 | Josef von Sternberg |
| 63 | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde '1931 | Horror / Sci-Fi / Drama | 7.6 | 91% | 88 | 7.2 | Rouben Mamoulian |
| 64 | The Band Concert '1935 | Animation / Comedy / Musical | 7.8 | - | - | 7.2 | Wilfred Jackson |
| 65 | Mickey's Trailer '1938 | Animation / Comedy | 7.9 | - | - | 7.4 | Ben Sharpsteen |
| 66 | Only Angels Have Wings '1939 | Romance / Drama | 7.6 | 100% | 86 | 7.3 | Howard Hawks |
| 67 | Way Out West '1937 | Comedy / Western | 7.6 | 100% | - | 7.1 | James W. Horne |
| 68 | Pépé le Moko '1937 | Drama / Crime / Romance | 7.6 | 100% | 98 | 7.2 | Julien Duvivier |
| 69 | After the Thin Man '1936 | Comedy / Mystery / Crime | 7.6 | 96% | 76 | 7.3 | W.S. Van Dyke |
| 70 | Destry Rides Again '1939 | Western / Comedy | 7.6 | 96% | 81 | 7.2 | George Marshall |
| 71 | The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum '1939 | Romance / Drama | 7.8 | 94% | - | 7.8 | Kenji Mizoguchi |
| 72 | Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations '1938 | Documentary | 7.7 | 89% | - | 6.9 | Leni Riefenstahl |
| 73 | The Prisoner of Zenda '1937 | Romance | 7.6 | 91% | - | 7.5 | John Cromwell |
| 74 | A Day at the Races '1937 | Comedy / Musical | 7.5 | 95% | - | 7.1 | Sam Wood |
| 75 | Disorder in the Court '1936 | Comedy | 8.0 | - | - | 6.7 | Jack White |
| 76 | Daybreak '1939 | Crime / Drama | 7.6 | 92% | - | 7.6 | Marcel Carné |
| 77 | Wuthering Heights '1939 | Drama / Romance | 7.5 | 92% | 83 | 7.2 | William Wyler |
| 78 | The Petrified Forest '1936 | Crime / Drama / Romance / Thriller | 7.5 | 94% | - | 7.1 | Archie Mayo |
| 79 | Horse Feathers '1932 | Comedy / Romance | 7.5 | 97% | 83 | 6.9 | Norman Z. McLeod |
| 80 | Alexander Nevsky '1938 | Drama / War | 7.5 | 91% | - | 7.1 | Sergei Eisenstein |
| 81 | Sons of the Desert '1933 | Comedy | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.1 | William A. Seiter |
| 82 | The Only Son '1936 | Drama | 7.7 | - | - | 7.4 | Yasujirō Ozu |
| 83 | Baby Face '1933 | Drama | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.3 | Alfred E. Green |
| 84 | Dinner at Eight '1933 | Comedy / Drama | 7.5 | 91% | - | 6.8 | George Cukor |
| 85 | The Good Earth '1937 | Drama / Romance | 7.5 | 95% | - | 6.3 | Sidney Franklin |
| 86 | Queen Christina '1934 | Romance / Drama | 7.5 | 81% | - | 6.9 | Rouben Mamoulian |
| 87 | Three Little Pigs '1933 | Musical / Animation / Comedy | 7.5 | - | - | 6.9 | Burt Gillett |
| 88 | La Bête Humaine '1938 | Drama / Romance / Thriller | 7.5 | 94% | - | 7.1 | Jean Renoir |
| 89 | City Girl '1930 | Drama / Romance | 7.7 | 63% | - | 7.5 | F. W. Murnau |
| 90 | A Christmas Carol '1938 | Drama / Fantasy | 7.5 | 100% | 72 | 7.0 | Edwin L. Marin |
| 91 | Young Mr. Lincoln '1939 | Drama | 7.5 | 100% | 91 | 7.2 | John Ford |
| 92 | Easy Living '1937 | Comedy / Romance | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.2 | Mitchell Leisen |
| 93 | The Scarlet Empress '1934 | Drama / Romance | 7.5 | 87% | - | 6.9 | Josef von Sternberg |
| 94 | Les Misérables '1935 | Drama / Romance | 7.6 | 85% | - | 7.1 | Richard Boleslawski |
| 95 | Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty '1938 | Documentary | 7.6 | - | - | 6.7 | Leni Riefenstahl |
| 96 | Marius '1931 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.4 | Alexander Korda |
| 97 | Footlight Parade '1933 | Comedy / Musical | 7.5 | 100% | 80 | 6.8 | Lloyd Bacon |
| 98 | Vampyr '1932 | Horror / Fantasy / Mystery | 7.4 | 98% | - | 7.2 | Carl Theodor Dreyer |
| 99 | Humanity and Paper Balloons '1937 | Drama | 7.6 | - | - | 7.8 | Sadao Yamanaka |
| 100 | Beau Geste '1939 | Drama / War | 7.5 | 92% | 69 | 7.0 | William A. Wellman |
Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.
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