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Best Drama Movies of the 1930s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
318 drama 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 7.8. 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 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington '1939 | Comedy / Drama | 8.1 | 85% | 73 | 7.8 | Frank Capra |
| 6 | All Quiet on the Western Front '1930 | Drama / War | 8.1 | 98% | 91 | 7.8 | Lewis Milestone |
| 7 | I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang '1932 | Drama | 8.2 | 96% | 87 | 7.8 | Mervyn LeRoy |
| 8 | Make Way for Tomorrow '1937 | Drama / Romance | 8.2 | 100% | - | 7.5 | Leo McCarey |
| 9 | Grand Illusion '1937 | Drama / War | 8.0 | 97% | - | 7.9 | Jean Renoir |
| 10 | The Rules of the Game '1939 | Drama / Comedy / Romance | 7.9 | 97% | 99 | 7.5 | Jean Renoir |
| 11 | Captains Courageous '1937 | Drama | 7.9 | 94% | 81 | 7.4 | Victor Fleming |
| 12 | The Roaring Twenties '1939 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.9 | 100% | 80 | 7.5 | Raoul Walsh |
| 13 | Freaks '1932 | Drama / Horror | 7.8 | 95% | 80 | 7.8 | Tod Browning |
| 14 | Angels with Dirty Faces '1938 | Crime / Drama | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.5 | Michael Curtiz |
| 15 | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town '1936 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 7.8 | 90% | - | 7.5 | Frank Capra |
| 16 | Goodbye, Mr. Chips '1939 | Drama / Romance | 7.9 | 81% | - | 7.4 | Sam Wood |
| 17 | Frankenstein '1931 | Drama / Horror / Sci-Fi | 7.7 | 94% | 91 | 7.5 | James Whale |
| 18 | Fury '1936 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.8 | 95% | - | 7.5 | Fritz Lang |
| 19 | The Hunchback of Notre Dame '1939 | Drama / Romance / Horror | 7.8 | 93% | - | 7.3 | William Dieterle |
| 20 | Scarface '1932 | Crime / Action / Drama / Thriller | 7.7 | 98% | 90 | 7.4 | Howard Hawks |
| 21 | Holiday '1938 | Comedy / Romance / Drama | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.3 | George Cukor |
| 22 | L'Atalante '1934 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.5 | Jean Vigo |
| 23 | Les Misérables '1934 | Drama | 8.3 | - | - | 7.9 | Raymond Bernard |
| 24 | The Women '1939 | Comedy / Drama | 7.7 | 94% | - | 7.2 | George Cukor |
| 25 | A Tale of Two Cities '1935 | Drama / Romance | 7.8 | 93% | 87 | 6.9 | Jack Conway |
| 26 | Stage Door '1937 | Comedy / Drama | 7.7 | 96% | - | 7.1 | Gregory La Cava |
| 27 | Gold Diggers of 1933 '1933 | Comedy / Drama | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.2 | Mervyn LeRoy |
| 28 | I Was Born, But... '1932 | Comedy / Drama | 7.8 | 100% | 91 | 7.5 | Yasujirō Ozu |
| 29 | Of Mice and Men '1939 | Drama | 7.8 | 100% | 89 | 7.3 | Lewis Milestone |
| 30 | Dodsworth '1936 | Drama / Romance | 7.7 | 91% | - | 7.1 | William Wyler |
| 31 | Port of Shadows '1938 | Romance / Drama / Crime | 7.7 | 97% | - | 7.4 | Marcel Carné |
| 32 | Pygmalion '1938 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.0 | Leslie Howard |
| 33 | Mutiny on the Bounty '1935 | Drama | 7.6 | 96% | 87 | 7.4 | Frank Lloyd |
| 34 | The Public Enemy '1931 | Crime / Drama | 7.6 | 100% | 80 | 7.3 | William A. Wellman |
| 35 | Lost Horizon '1937 | Fantasy / Drama / Romance | 7.6 | 92% | - | 6.9 | Frank Capra |
| 36 | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde '1931 | Horror / Sci-Fi / Drama | 7.6 | 91% | 88 | 7.2 | Rouben Mamoulian |
| 37 | The Blue Angel '1930 | Drama | 7.6 | 96% | 90 | 7.3 | Josef von Sternberg |
| 38 | Only Angels Have Wings '1939 | Romance / Drama | 7.6 | 100% | 86 | 7.3 | Howard Hawks |
| 39 | Pépé le Moko '1937 | Drama / Crime / Romance | 7.6 | 100% | 98 | 7.2 | Julien Duvivier |
| 40 | The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum '1939 | Romance / Drama | 7.8 | 94% | - | 7.8 | Kenji Mizoguchi |
| 41 | Daybreak '1939 | Crime / Drama | 7.6 | 92% | - | 7.6 | Marcel Carné |
| 42 | Wuthering Heights '1939 | Drama / Romance | 7.5 | 92% | 83 | 7.2 | William Wyler |
| 43 | The Petrified Forest '1936 | Crime / Drama / Romance / Thriller | 7.5 | 94% | - | 7.1 | Archie Mayo |
| 44 | The Only Son '1936 | Drama | 7.7 | - | - | 7.4 | Yasujirō Ozu |
| 45 | Alexander Nevsky '1938 | Drama / War | 7.5 | 91% | - | 7.1 | Sergei Eisenstein |
| 46 | Baby Face '1933 | Drama | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.3 | Alfred E. Green |
| 47 | Dinner at Eight '1933 | Comedy / Drama | 7.5 | 91% | - | 6.8 | George Cukor |
| 48 | The Good Earth '1937 | Drama / Romance | 7.5 | 95% | - | 6.3 | Sidney Franklin |
| 49 | Young Mr. Lincoln '1939 | Drama | 7.5 | 100% | 91 | 7.2 | John Ford |
| 50 | La Bête Humaine '1938 | Drama / Romance / Thriller | 7.5 | 94% | - | 7.1 | Jean Renoir |
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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Other genres in the 1930s
Action of the 1930s Animation of the 1930s Comedy of the 1930s Crime 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 Fritz Lang Victor Fleming Frank Capra Lewis Milestone Mervyn LeRoy Leo McCarey Jean Renoir Raoul Walsh Tod Browning Michael Curtiz Sam Wood
Actors on this list
Charlie Chaplin Paulette Goddard Peter Lorre Vivien Leigh Clark Gable James Stewart Jean Arthur Glenda Farrell Beulah Bondi Jean Gabin Spencer Tracy James Cagney