1930s

  • Aleksander Ford & Jerzy Zarzycki – Ludzie Wisly AKA The People of the Vistula (1938)

    Drama1931-1940Aleksander FordClassicsJerzy ZarzyckiPoland

    The history of watermen living on barges and floating on the Vistula. Anna has a deep affection petty thief who steals from her father in order to buy her Berlinka. Matyjaska a poor woman who has a damaged boat – it must get money from her former husband, and therefore resorts to blackmail. Soon fate will combine these two women.Read More »

  • Anders Henrikson – Annonsera! AKA It Pays to Advertise! (1936)

    1931-1940Anders HenriksonComedySweden

    IMDB Summary: A comedy about the power of advertising Henry Miller is a young man who doesn’t have any goals for life. He lives on his father’s money and spends them on girls, fancy dinners and parties. One day when he goes to his father’s office, he meets a secretary, Mary and falls in love with her. She doesn’t want anything to do with him, as she wants a man who is ambitious and working for his living. Henry’s father, soap director Miller, overhears their conversation and makes a deal with Mary. If she can make Henry work, then director Miller will give her 10 000 SEK. Read More »

  • Georg Wilhelm Pabst – Kameradschaft AKA Comradeship (1931)

    1931-1940ClassicsDramaGeorg Wilhelm PabstGermanyWeimar Republic cinema

    Synopsis:
    An old German mine was split in two after the end of WWI because of where the new border was located. In the French part a fire breaks out; the German miners send a rescue group in, helping their French comrades. Three old German miners, who were not treated friendly at a French inn the night before, start their own private rescue through an old tunnel that separated the two mines. Will the official rescue party realize there are others left behind in time to save them?Read More »

  • Roy Del Ruth & Willy Pogany – Kid Millions (1934)

    1931-1940ComedyMusicalRoy Del RuthUSAWilly Pogany

    Synopsis:
    Who’s that dodging his murderous mama, an equally murderous sheik, and the temptations of a harem full of beauties? It’s Brooklyn’s own Eddie Wilson, who comes to Egypt to claim an inheritance and finds that lots of other folks want a slice of his $77,000,000 pie. In one of his famed Samuel Goldwyn movie extravaganzas, Eddie Cantor sings, clowns and wows ‘em as Eddie.Read More »

  • Various – Lian hua jiao xiang qu AKA Symphony of Lianhua (1937)

    1931-1940AsianChinaVarious

    “The Lianhua Film Company became the leading progressive studio of the 1930s. Symphony of Lianhua 1937 is a rarely seen showcase of short films by eight directors, many of whom later worked in Hong Kong. Cai Chusheng’s Five Little Brothers is an early cinematic exploration of children’s lives and Zhu Shilin’s contribution is one of the first Chinese horror films. Other films range from comedy to social realism.Read More »

  • Adrian Brunel, Alfred Hitchcock – Elstree Calling (1930)

    Comedy1921-1930Adrian BrunelAlfred HitchcockMusicalUnited Kingdom

    Quote:
    A series of 19 musical and comedy “vaudeville” sketches presented in the form of a live broadcast hosted by Tommy Handley (as himself). There are two “running gags” which connect the sketches. In one, an actor wants to perform Shakespeare, but he is continually denied air-time. The other gag has an inventor trying to view the broadcast on television. Four of the sketches are in color (in shades of yellow and brown only).Read More »

  • Mario Soldati & Carlo Borghesio – Due milioni per un sorriso (1939)

    1931-1940Carlo BorghesioComedyItalian Cinema under FascismItalyMario Soldati

    PLOT:
    Giacomo Perotti, who made his fortune in America, returns to Italy rich and wealthy. He wants, above all else, to find the woman who in his youth one day smiled at him, making him fall in love.
    This nostalgic and utopian dream is the chance for a shady entrepreneur to persuade him to finance a film in memory of the episode of his distant youth.
    Perotti accidentally meets a young professor who strangely resembles a lot to him when he was young and puts him in charge of the artistic direction of the film. During the casting for the leading actress, the young professor meets a typist, falls in love with her, and would like to make her the star of the film.
    But the shady producer has in mind another actress…Read More »

  • John Ford – Four Men and a Prayer (1938)

    1931-1940AdventureJohn FordMysteryUSA

    Synopsis:
    Colonel Loring Leigh, British Indian Army, appears to have issued an order that cost 90 lives. Cashiered, he returns home, tells his sons of a conspiracy by an arms syndicate to supply the rebels…then is found dead, an apparent suicide. To clear their father, the four sons must globetrot in a hazardous search for evidence, closely followed by Geoffrey’s sweetheart Lynn Cherrington.Read More »

  • Archie Mayo – Under 18 AKA Under Eighteen (1931)

    1931-1940Archie MayoDramaRomanceUSA

    Quote:
    One of several Pre-Code dramas helmed by Warner Bros. contract director Archie Mayo in 1932, Under Eighteen is a cautionary tale for the working girl that was lost in the shuffle of too many similar programmers released that same year. Seen today, it provides a unique window into the past when studios like Warner Bros. catered to blue collar audiences, particularly women, with movie plots that mirrored situations and circumstances in the lives of their audience.Read More »

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