Juno and the Paycock (1930)

Juno and the Paycock (1930)

[5] Alfred Hitchcock adapts Sean O'Casey's popular stage play about a poor Irish family that inherits a small fortune but ends up losing so much more. Juno (Sara Allgood) is the matriarch, who's constantly cleaning up after her husband (Edward Chapman), 'The…
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 man during…
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 murdered acquaintance.…
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 Groucho Marx-esque…
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 girl" (we…
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 character several…
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 away on…
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 place. Like…
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, realistic (non-theatrical)…