The Criminal Code (1930)

The Criminal Code (1930)

[6] Walter Huston headlines this Howard Hawks prison drama about a district attorney who becomes warden of a facility where he's responsible for half the men's sentences. Co-starring is fresh-faced Phillips Holmes as a twenty-year old who accidentally kills a…
Murder! (1930)

Murder! (1930)

[5] Alfred Hitchcock's first sound film is emblematic of his usual content, if not his his trademark style and suspense. Murder! centers around an actress (Diana Baring) found in a fugue state next to a bloody fire poker and a…
Rain or Shine (1930)

Rain or Shine (1930)

[6] Frank Capra directs this tale of a struggling circus troupe trying to put on a show in Everytown, America, before the money dries up and the performers go their separate ways. Joe Cook plays the circus manager, a very…
Ladies of Leisure (1930)

Ladies of Leisure (1930)

[8] Behold the glory of Barbara Stanwyck. One of classic Hollywood's sassiest broads makes a big splash in this early talkie that's leagues ahead of other early 30s flicks in terms of story, craftsmanship, and performance. Babs plays a "party…
Bright Lights (1930)

Bright Lights (1930)

[3] Dorothy Mackaill headlines as a newly-engaged Broadway song and dance star who's confronted with a ghost from the past on the eve of her retirement. Noah Beery plays the bad guy -- a man who tried to rape Mackaill's…
The Divorcee (1930)

The Divorcee (1930)

[6] Norma Shearer, 'the First Lady of MGM,' won her Academy Award for The Divorcee. Shearer plays against Chester Morris, happily married until she discovers Morris had a fling with a floozy a few months in the past. While he's…
Animal Crackers (1930)

Animal Crackers (1930)

[4] Groucho, Chico, Zeppo, and Harpo are back for their second big-screen soire. This one hangs loosely on a stolen painting plot, with Groucho playing a returning safari hunter at a rich aristocrat woman's house where all the action takes…
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,…