Ten Favorite Films of the 1930s (019)

I realize you didn’t ask, but I figured I’d tell you. This should give you an idea of the films that have influenced me as a writer. The list factors in nostalgia. There might be films with superior creative merit left off the list, but these are some of the films that meant the most to me. I reserve the right to change my list at anytime. Eventually I will try to come up with a list for every decade and maybe even go back to the ‘20s.

In order to narrow down the list, I installed the rule that directors are only allowed to appear on the list once. Also, even though different people directed Marx Brothers films, I could only use one. By the way, Groucho and I share the same birthday (the day, not the year).


Here is the list in chronological order with the director included:

1. M (1931) - Fritz Lang
2. City Lights (1931) - Charlie Chaplin
3. The Thin Man (1934) - W.S. Van Dyke
4. A Night At The Opera (1935) – Sam Wood
5. The 39 Steps (1935) - Alfred Hitchcock
6. My Man Godfrey (1936) - Gregory La Clava
7. Bringing Up Baby (1938) - Howard Hawks
8. Holiday (1938) - George Cukor
9. Ninotchka (1939) - Ernst Lubitsch
10. The Rules of The Game (1939) - Jean Renoir

What am I forgetting?

It Happened One Night (1934) is a close runner up, but I could only choose one George Cukor film and it had to be Holiday.

I'm suddenly feeling compelled to condemn the frivolity of top ten lists. I will resist.