The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

[10] John Ford directs John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of a destitute Oklahoma family who pile everything they own into a jalopy and head for California in hope of finding work and a new home. The Grapes of Wrath puts…
Rebecca (1940)

Rebecca (1940)

[10] Alfred Hitchcock's first American film and only one to win a Best Picture Oscar is Rebecca, starring Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, and Judith Anderson. Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, the film follows a nervous woman (Fontaine)…
Boys Town (1938)

Boys Town (1938)

[8] Spencer Tracy won his second (consecutive) Academy Award for his portrayal of Father Flanagan, a man who firmly believed "there are no bad boys." In the movie and in real life, Flanagan built an educational refuge for homeless and…
It Happened One Night (1934)

It Happened One Night (1934)

[9] Somewhere along the way, Hollywood forgot how to make good romantic comedies. Because there are plenty of them to be found in the '30s and '40s, with Frank Capra's It Happened One Night being chief among them. Claudette Colbert…
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

[9] The grand-daddy of 'anti-war' war movies is Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front, the first non-musical 'talkie' to win the best picture Academy Award. The film is stylistically way ahead of its time, with sweeping camera movement,…