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Best Comedy Movies of the 1930s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
331 comedy films from the 1930s are in our catalog; the 50 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 7.7. Biggest split between audiences and critics: The Rules of the Game, 7.9 on IMDb against 99 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 | It Happened One Night '1934 | Comedy / Romance | 8.1 | 98% | 87 | 7.8 | Frank Capra |
| 4 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington '1939 | Comedy / Drama | 8.1 | 85% | 73 | 7.8 | Frank Capra |
| 5 | The Thin Man '1934 | Comedy / Mystery / Crime | 7.9 | 98% | 86 | 7.5 | W.S. Van Dyke |
| 6 | The Rules of the Game '1939 | Drama / Comedy / Romance | 7.9 | 97% | 99 | 7.5 | Jean Renoir |
| 7 | My Man Godfrey '1936 | Comedy | 7.9 | 97% | 82 | 7.6 | Gregory La Cava |
| 8 | Trouble in Paradise '1932 | Comedy / Crime / Romance | 7.9 | 90% | - | 7.4 | Ernst Lubitsch |
| 9 | Bringing Up Baby '1938 | Comedy / Romance | 7.8 | 97% | 91 | 7.5 | Howard Hawks |
| 10 | A Night at the Opera '1935 | Comedy / Musical | 7.8 | 97% | - | 7.4 | Sam Wood |
| 11 | You Can't Take It with You '1938 | Comedy / Romance | 7.8 | 94% | - | 7.5 | Frank Capra |
| 12 | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town '1936 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 7.8 | 90% | - | 7.5 | Frank Capra |
| 13 | Ninotchka '1939 | Comedy / Romance | 7.8 | 95% | - | 7.5 | Ernst Lubitsch |
| 14 | Duck Soup '1933 | Comedy / War | 7.7 | 91% | 93 | 7.3 | Leo McCarey |
| 15 | The Music Box '1932 | Comedy | 7.9 | - | - | 7.5 | James Parrott |
| 16 | Top Hat '1935 | Musical / Comedy / Romance | 7.7 | 100% | 93 | 7.2 | Mark Sandrich |
| 17 | Libeled Lady '1936 | Comedy / Romance | 7.8 | 81% | - | 7.3 | Jack Conway |
| 18 | Holiday '1938 | Comedy / Romance / Drama | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.3 | George Cukor |
| 19 | L'Atalante '1934 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.5 | Jean Vigo |
| 20 | The Women '1939 | Comedy / Drama | 7.7 | 94% | - | 7.2 | George Cukor |
| 21 | Stage Door '1937 | Comedy / Drama | 7.7 | 96% | - | 7.1 | Gregory La Cava |
| 22 | Gold Diggers of 1933 '1933 | Comedy / Drama | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.2 | Mervyn LeRoy |
| 23 | I Was Born, But... '1932 | Comedy / Drama | 7.8 | 100% | 91 | 7.5 | Yasujirō Ozu |
| 24 | Pygmalion '1938 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.0 | Leslie Howard |
| 25 | The Awful Truth '1937 | Comedy / Romance | 7.6 | 94% | 87 | 7.2 | Leo McCarey |
| 26 | Midnight '1939 | Comedy / Romance | 7.8 | 94% | 79 | 7.4 | Mitchell Leisen |
| 27 | The Band Concert '1935 | Animation / Comedy / Musical | 7.8 | - | - | 7.2 | Wilfred Jackson |
| 28 | Mickey's Trailer '1938 | Animation / Comedy | 7.9 | - | - | 7.4 | Ben Sharpsteen |
| 29 | Way Out West '1937 | Comedy / Western | 7.6 | 100% | - | 7.1 | James W. Horne |
| 30 | After the Thin Man '1936 | Comedy / Mystery / Crime | 7.6 | 96% | 76 | 7.4 | W.S. Van Dyke |
| 31 | Destry Rides Again '1939 | Western / Comedy | 7.6 | 96% | 81 | 7.2 | George Marshall |
| 32 | Disorder in the Court '1936 | Comedy | 8.0 | - | - | 6.7 | Jack White |
| 33 | A Day at the Races '1937 | Comedy / Musical | 7.5 | 95% | - | 7.1 | Sam Wood |
| 34 | Horse Feathers '1932 | Comedy / Romance | 7.5 | 97% | 83 | 6.9 | Norman Z. McLeod |
| 35 | Sons of the Desert '1933 | Comedy | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.1 | William A. Seiter |
| 36 | Dinner at Eight '1933 | Comedy / Drama | 7.5 | 91% | - | 6.8 | George Cukor |
| 37 | Three Little Pigs '1933 | Musical / Animation / Comedy | 7.5 | - | - | 6.9 | Burt Gillett |
| 38 | Easy Living '1937 | Comedy / Romance | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.2 | Mitchell Leisen |
| 39 | Marius '1931 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.4 | Alexander Korda |
| 40 | Footlight Parade '1933 | Comedy / Musical | 7.5 | 100% | 80 | 6.8 | Lloyd Bacon |
| 41 | The Ugly Duckling '1939 | Animation / Comedy | 7.6 | - | - | 7.0 | Hamilton Luske |
| 42 | Lonesome Ghosts '1937 | Animation / Comedy / Horror | 7.5 | - | - | 6.9 | Burt Gillett |
| 43 | Shall We Dance '1937 | Comedy / Romance | 7.4 | 89% | - | 7.3 | Mark Sandrich |
| 44 | Swing Time '1936 | Romance / Comedy | 7.4 | 96% | 91 | 6.8 | George Stevens |
| 45 | Busy Bodies '1933 | Comedy | 7.6 | - | - | 7.3 | Lloyd French |
| 46 | Animal Crackers '1930 | Comedy / Musical | 7.4 | 97% | 77 | 6.9 | Victor Heerman |
| 47 | Monkey Business '1931 | Comedy | 7.4 | 90% | 74 | 6.9 | Norman Z. McLeod |
| 48 | Ruggles of Red Gap '1935 | Comedy | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.1 | Leo McCarey |
| 49 | Bachelor Mother '1939 | Comedy / Romance | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.2 | Garson Kanin |
| 50 | Helpmates '1932 | Comedy | 7.7 | - | - | 7.3 | James Parrott |
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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All movies of the 1930s
Comedy in other decades
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Other genres in the 1930s
Action of the 1930s Animation of the 1930s Crime of the 1930s Drama of the 1930s Fantasy of the 1930s Horror of the 1930s Musical of the 1930s Mystery of the 1930s Romance of the 1930s Thriller of the 1930s War of the 1930s Western of the 1930s
Directors on this list
Charlie Chaplin Frank Capra W.S. Van Dyke Jean Renoir Ernst Lubitsch Howard Hawks Sam Wood Leo McCarey James Parrott Mark Sandrich Jack Conway George Cukor
Actors on this list
Charlie Chaplin Paulette Goddard Clark Gable Claudette Colbert James Stewart Jean Arthur William Powell Myrna Loy Carole Lombard Miriam Hopkins Katharine Hepburn Cary Grant