The Best Films of the 1930s Decade
The greatest films of the 1930s, from France’s poetic realism to the rise of Technicolor and talkies.
Alexander Nevsky (1938)
Alexander Nevsky may not possess the formal innovation of Sergei Eisenstein’s avant-garde silent films, yet this venture into sound cinema unfolds a historic clash of medieval armies with incredible finesse, celebrating a Russian folk hero whose tale resonates across eras and cultures.
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Earth (1930)
The symbiosis between man, machine, and nature is a delicate dance in Earth, choreographed with seamless synchronicity through Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s lyrical montage editing, and celebrating the collectivist return of farming land back to the workers in the Soviet Union’s early days.
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La Chienne (1931)
So tragically naïve is aspiring painter Maurice in La Chienne that Jean Renoir does not even let his demeaning fall from grace speak for itself, but rather frames this pitiful antihero as a mere puppet on life’s stage of poetic irony, weaving lyrical musings on romance and despair through his fated love triangle.
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Vampyr (1932)
Whether Carl Theodor Dreyer’s horror film is to be interpreted as a political allegory, a spiritual fable, or a cryptic, expressionistic nightmare, Vampyr’s supernatural conspiracy is designed to lull us into the same impressionable state as its hypnotised victims, calling upon our subconscious desire to submit to the psychological darkness.
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The Rules of the Game (1939)
The self-centred bourgeoisie of The Rules of the Game are content living with a constant mistrust of their own peers if it means preserving their status and wealth, becoming the targets of Jean Renoir’s biting social satire as he comically undercuts the egos entangling themselves in an intricate web of affairs over one weekend at a country estate.
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The 39 Steps (1935)
Despite its thrilling espionage plot and enormous stakes, The 39 Steps is far more fascinated in the sweet allure of danger that sends one man through Scottish moors, monuments, and to the heart of a deadly conspiracy, paralleling Alfred Hitchcock’s own growing psychological obsessions with corruption and pleasure throughout the 1930s.
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