Films of 1931
These are the films I have seen from the year 1931.
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- DirectorRené ClairStarsRaymond CordyHenri MarchandRolla FranceSeeking better life, two convicts escape from prison.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsRonald ColmanHelen HayesRichard BennettA medical researcher is sent to a plague outbreak, where he has to decide priorities for the use of a vaccine.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsMarion DaviesRalph ForbesC. Aubrey SmithOld man invites three of his illegitimate children to live with him.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsJames DunnSally EilersMinna GombellA man and woman, skeptical about romance, nonetheless fall in love and are wed, but their lack of confidence in the opposite sex haunts their marriage.
- DirectorPhil JutziStarsHeinrich GeorgeMaria BardMargarete SchlegelFranz Biberkopf has served four years in prison. His return to normal life is not successful.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsJames CagneyJoan BlondellLouis CalhernThe adventures of an egoistic con man and his glamorous accomplice.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsWallace BeeryJackie CooperIrene RichAn alcoholic ex-boxer struggles to provide a good living for his son.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsMichel SimonJanie MarèseGeorges FlamantMaurice Legrand, a meek cashier married to a nagging wife, has a secret passion: he's a Sunday painter. He falls in love with Lulu, a young woman dominated by Dédé, the pimp who she works for. Dédé pushes Lulu into a relationship with him.
- DirectorWesley RugglesStarsRichard DixIrene DunneEstelle TaylorA newspaper editor settles in an Oklahoma boom town with his reluctant wife at the end of the nineteenth century.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinVirginia CherrillFlorence LeeWith the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsGary CooperSylvia SidneyPaul LukasMan joins a gang to free his girlfriend from prison.
- DirectorErik CharellStarsLilian HarveyWilly FritschOtto WallburgVienna glove-sales-lady Christl falls in love to Czar Alexander. Metternich tries to use this to keep him out of the conferences of the Vienna Congress from 1815.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineStarsBert WheelerRobert WoolseyDorothy LeeTo impress his fiancee's aunt, a young man tries to become king in a small kingdom, but the people there have already crowned one, who has won this honor by gambling. So he plans a coup d'etat. He tries to achieve this with a bomb, but then something goes wrong.
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeStarsLawrence TibbettLupe VelezErnest TorrenceA guilt-ridden U.S. Marine returns to Cuba to try to find his illegitimate child.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsHarry BaurPaule AndralJackie MonnierDavid is a poor but ambitious Polish Jew who reinvents himself as a powerful New York business magnate. After gaining wealth, he relocates to Paris, only to have his selfish and demanding wife squander his fortune.
- DirectorJacques FeyderStarsRamon NovarroHelen ChandlerJean HersholtWilli, a brash young lieutenant in the Austrian Imperial Guard, bent on an evening of pleasure, visits a gambling parlor and house of ill-repute. He meets Laura, a sweet innocent girl and spends the night with her, leaving her money in the morning. Devastated to realize that he found her a mere convenience, she becomes the mistress of Herr Schnabel, an unpleasant but wealthy gentleman. Never quite getting over Laura, Willi is goaded by her into gambling with Schnabel and losing more money to him than he can possibly repay. Laura is unaware that Willi must either pay his debt by the next day or take the only other honorable way out: committing suicide.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsJanet GaynorCharles FarrellEl BrendelA comic group of Europeans coming to the USA have romantic and immigration troubles.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJack HoltFay WrayRalph GravesJack Bradon is tasked to reach the South Pole with a dirigible.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsMarlene DietrichVictor McLaglenGustav von SeyffertitzThe Austrian Secret Service sends its most seductive agent to spy on the Russians.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsFredric MarchMiriam HopkinsRose HobartDr. Jekyll faces horrible consequences when he lets his dark side run wild with a potion that transforms him into the animalistic Mr. Hyde.
- DirectorTod BrowningKarl FreundStarsBela LugosiHelen ChandlerDavid MannersTransylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.
- DirectorGeorge MelfordStarsCarlos VillaríasLupita TovarBarry NortonCenturies-old vampire Dracula preys upon the innocent Eva and her friends.
- DirectorFrank LloydStarsAnn HardingClive BrookConrad NagelThe refined Lady Isabel Carlisle, after leaving her family and enduring nearly a decade of hardships, learns that her son has fallen ill. Despite being nearly blinded as the result of an explosion, she returns home to see her son again.
- DirectorGerhard LamprechtStarsRolf WenkhausKäthe HaackFritz RaspEmil goes to Berlin to see his grandmother with a large amount of money and is offered sweets by a strange man that make him sleep. He wakes up at his stop with no money. It is up to him and a group of children to save the day.
- DirectorMarie-Louise IribeStarsJoë HammanOtto GebührMary CostesA man races to save his son's life, but death - incarnated in the child's imagination as the titular Elf King - calls unceasingly.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsOle OlsenChic JohnsonWilliam GaxtonIndependently-wealthy American Jack Forbes has just arrived in Paris. Because of his wealth he can have any woman on his arm. Currently that role is filled by Marcelle Dubrey, but he ditches her when he spots the woman of his dreams. When Jack tells his equally-wealthy friend Michael Cummins that he will marry that mystery woman, Upon learning that that woman is Lu Lu Carroll, whom he has also been trying to court, Michael bets Jack $50,000 that he can't give up all his money and get engaged to her within two weeks. Jack accepts the bet as Mike strips him of his money. Jack must try to meet and woo her without doing anything with her that requires money, while trying to hide the fact that he has no money as he tries to earn some using his limited job skills. Meanwhile, Michael hires American detectives Simon Johanssen and Peter Swanson to tail Jack to ensure that he keeps to the rules of the bet, but also to thwart Jack's every attempt with Lu Lu. Michael is unaware that these two are poor schmucks who are rather inept at being detectives. The combination of all their issues gets the collective into one misadventure after another as the fortnight wears on.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsEdward G. RobinsonMarian MarshH.B. WarnerThe City Editor of a sleazy tabloid goes against his own journalistic ethics to resurrect a twenty year old murder case... with tragic results.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsShizue AkiyamaSeiichi KatôTomoko NaniwaThe story of a poor insurance salesman who struggles to provide for his wife and family.
- DirectorCharles ReisnerStarsBert LahrCharlotte GreenwoodPat O'BrienAn eccentric inventor and his new flying machine are the focus of this musical comedy.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsColin CliveMae ClarkeBoris KarloffDr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsNorma ShearerLeslie HowardLionel BarrymoreAn alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with him.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsAdolphe MenjouPat O'BrienMary BrianA crusading newspaper editor tricks his retiring star reporter into covering one last case.
- DirectorRichard BoleslawskiStarsGenevieve TobinBetty CompsonIvan LebedeffCaptain Orloff is sent to Bucharest to capture a Mata Hari type of spy, but many different women fit the bill and are attractive enough to make one question one's allegiance.
- DirectorSidney FranklinStarsAlfred LuntLynn FontanneRoland YoungA jealous stage actor disguises himself as a Russian guardsman in order to test his actress wife's loyalty.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsMarilyn MillerBen LyonW.C. FieldsWealthy man falls in love with a poor girl and proposes to her, going against the wishes of his family.
- DirectorEugen SchüfftanStarsToni van EyckCarl BalhausAribert MogA recent discovery, master cinematographer Schüfftan's only film as a director is a free-spirited, fast-paced ode to being young, free, and hopeful.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsWilliam HainesIrene PurcellC. Aubrey SmithHaines plays the role of a festive British nobleman whose relatives have arranged a marriage for him. He goes to a European summer resort and poses as a gigolo to meet the girl they have chosen, learn what she is like, and apply the "acid test."
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsAlexander GranachFritz KampersErnst BuschPlea against war and for friendship between peoples, through the story of French miners rescued by German colleagues after a firedamp explosion.a/k/a 'Kameradschaft'
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsTokihiko OkadaHiroko KawasakiChôko IidaA bearded kendo champion has difficulties in life because of his conservative ways and his unusual beard.
- DirectorGeorge ArchainbaudStarsBetty CompsonJohn DarrowGilbert EmeryFather hires a woman to lure his son away from a gold digger.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsEdward G. RobinsonDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Glenda FarrellA small-time criminal moves to a big city to seek bigger fortune.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsPeter LorreEllen WidmannInge LandgutWhen the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
- DirectorLeontine SaganCarl FroelichStarsDorothea WieckHertha ThieleEmilia UndaAt an all-girls boarding school, Manuela falls in love with a teacher, to terrific consequences.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsBebe DanielsRicardo CortezDudley DiggesA lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon.
- DirectorAlexander KordaStarsRaimuPierre FresnayFernand CharpinMarius is faced with a choice whether to fulfill his passion by sailing the seas or stay and marry the woman he loves.
- DirectorGeorge FitzmauriceStarsGreta GarboRamon NovarroLionel BarrymoreA semi-fictionalized account of the life of Mata Hari, an exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsAnnabellaRené LefèvreJean-Louis AllibertAn impoverished painter and his rival engage in a race across Paris to recover a jacket concealing a winning lottery ticket.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsBarbara StanwyckDavid MannersSam HardyAfter an unappreciated minister dies, his daughter loses her faith in God, prompting her to open a phony temple with a con man. Can the love of a blind aviator restore her faith and happiness?
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsGroucho MarxHarpo MarxThe Marx BrothersOn a transatlantic crossing, The Marx Brothers get up to their usual antics and manage to annoy just about everyone on board the ship.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsMarguerite PierryJacques LouvignyMichel SimonA porcelain-maker invites a guest to sell him chamber pots, but family problems cause interruptions.a/k/a 'On purge bebe'
- DirectorGeorge FitzmauriceStarsJohn BolesEvelyn LayeLeon ErrolA poor but basically honest flower woman agrees to impersonate a wicked opera star.
- DirectorA. Edward SutherlandStarsEddie CantorCharlotte GreenwoodBarbara WeeksThe assistant of a phony psychic leaves the fraudulent business and becomes an efficiency expert.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsBert WheelerRobert WoolseyDorothy LeeAfter a quarrel at their 25th wedding anniversary, Joe and Aggie Bruno decide to divorce each other, and both leave for Reno. So do their daughters Prudence and Pansy, but they want to get their parents back together. Joe and Aggie, accidentally, are becoming clients at the same law firm, Wattles and Swift, which is the biggest and most successful in town. But being on the opposite sides in the same case is not the only problem for Wattles and Swift, the concurring law firm Jackson, Jackson, Jackson and Jackson, has started a price war and one of its member has just been appointed judge, furthermore, there's Ace Crosby, whose ex-wife got her divorce with the help of Wattles and Swift, who vowed to shoot Wattles for this. Wattles disguises as widow Hanover, Joe's co-respondent. Crosby, waiting at the office-turned-casino, wins too much at the poker table, so Wattles tries to lure him away, after he and Joe have been seen by Aggie. Aggie, who has met Judge Jackson, who told her that she and her husband are clients at the same law firm, switches to Jackson, Jackson, Jackson and Jackson, after Wattles disguise fails. So does Crosby's attempt to murder him. The Bruno daughters meanwhile have fallen in love with the lawyers, and now they are trying to prevent the divorce. In a crazy court session they try all their tricks.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJean HarlowLoretta YoungRobert WilliamsA young woman from a very rich family impulsively marries a reporter, but each assumes the other is the one whose lifestyle must change.
- DirectorCharles ReisnerStarsMarie DresslerPolly MoranRoscoe AtesMiddle-aged widow Hattie Burns becomes fed up when local small-town politicians ignore corruption and decides to run for mayor herself.
- DirectorHenwar RodakiewiczWithout sound, in three movements. Title cards declare that what a person likes and his manner of liking them reveals character. There are long looks at forms and rhythms. The film begins and ends with the sea: the tide coming in, small breakers running up on a beach. In the first movement, rocks appear, light and dark play on water. From time to time, machines turn. The light makes dappled patterns. In the second movement, a leafy tree branch gives way to water then shots of the sky and clouds. The third movement returns to the shore, with long takes looking out far, past the beach to outcroppings under the horizon. Small breakers interrupt the patterns of light on water.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsJames CagneyJean HarlowEdward WoodsAn Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
- DirectorCharles ReisnerStarsMarie DresslerPolly MoranAnita PageA beauty parlor manager has her sister help her with interesting results.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsHenry KendallJoan BarryPercy MarmontBelieving that an unexpected inheritance will bring them happiness, a married couple instead finds their relationship strained to the breaking point.a/k/a 'Rich and Strange'
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsDorothy MackaillDonald CookRalf HaroldeAfter accidentally killing the man who raped her and forced her into prostitution, a New Orleans woman flees to a Caribbean island. While she awaits her fiancé, the vicious local police chief sets his sights on her.
- DirectorEdgar SelwynStarsHelen HayesLewis StoneNeil HamiltonOut of jail for a crime she did not commit, Madelon turns to prostitution and thievery to send her illegitimate son to medical school.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsEdmund GwennJill EsmondC.V. FranceAn old traditional family and a modern family battle over land in a small English village and almost destroy each other.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsJackie CooperRobert CooganMitzi GreenSkippy, the mischievous son of a wealthy doctor, meets Sooky in poverty-ridden Shantytown, and together they try to save Sooky's pet from a cruel dogcatcher.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsMaurice ChevalierClaudette ColbertMiriam HopkinsAn amorous lieutenant is forced to marry a socially awkward princess, though he tries to keep his violin-playing girlfriend on the side.
- DirectorJacques FeyderStarsRamon NovarroConrad NagelMarjorie RambeauA wealthy Indian jewel merchant and an American woman fall in love, only for her family to stand in their way of getting married.
- DirectorCharles ReisnerStarsCharlotte GreenwoodReginald DennyLeila HyamsWhen Sally (Charlotte Greenwood) and Eve (Leila Hyams) take a vacation together to make their rich husbands miss them, the boys (Reginald Denny and Harry Stubbs) promptly invite over two gold digging actresses (Lilian Bonds and Merna Kennedy) for an after hours "audition." But when the girls return expectedly and catch the lads in the act, they clean out their bank accounts, pick up two lugs (Cliff Edwards and Kane Richmond) and proceed to teach their spouses a lesson. Based on a play by Elmer Harris (Johnny Belinda) and co-adapted by the author himself, Stepping Out stars zany second banana Charlotte Greenwood in a rare, top-billed performance. Renowned for her legendary high-kick, Greenwood performs the long-legged shtick that made her famous as well as a charming duet with fellow vaudevillian Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards, who later gained screen immortality as the voice of Jiminy Cricket.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsSylvia SidneyWilliam Collier Jr.Estelle TaylorTwenty-four hours elapse on the stoop of a Hell's Kitchen tenement as a microcosm of the American melting pot interconnects during a summer heatwave.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsJohn BarrymoreMarian MarshDonald CrispThrough hypnotism and telepathic mind control, a sinister music maestro controls the singing voice, but not the heart, of the woman he loves.
- DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsAnne ChevalierMatahiHituOn the South Pacific island of Bora Bora, a young couple's love is threatened when the tribal chief declares the girl a sacred virgin.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsRudolf ForsterLotte LenyaCarola NeherThe Gangster Macheath secretly marries the daughter of beggar king Peachum. When Peachum finds out, he instructs the police chief Brown to arrest and hang Macheath. If not, all the beggars of Soho will disturb the upcoming coronation.a/k/a 'The 3 Penny Opera'
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsTokihiko OkadaEmiko YagumoHideo SugawaraA married Tokyo man faces unemployment after standing up for an older colleague.
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeStarsHarry CareyEdwina BoothDuncan RenaldoTwo white traders in the darkest Africa of the 1870s find a missionary's daughter, who was captured as a child by a savage tribe and now worshiped as a goddess.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsMae ClarkeDouglass MontgomeryDoris LloydA prostitute's self-loathing makes her reluctant to marry an idealistic soldier during World War I.