Best Picture 1934
by logandarko | created - 23 Mar 2011 | updated - 1 month ago | PublicFilms I've seen from best to worst
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Masquerade in Vienna (1934)
90 min | Comedy, Romance
Vienna 1905: A risque drawing is published and threatens to compromise the model, a doctor's wife. Artist Heideneck protects her and invents a name. But the name exists, and this respectable lady is drawn into the artist's shady affairs.
Director: Willi Forst | Stars: Paula Wessely, Anton Walbrook, Olga Tschechowa, Hans Moser
Votes: 394
2. L'Atalante (1934)
Not Rated | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Newly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.
Director: Jean Vigo | Stars: Dita Parlo, Jean Dasté, Gilles Margaritis, Louis Lefebvre
Votes: 17,481
3. The Scarlet Empress (1934)
Passed | 104 min | Drama, History, Romance
A German noblewoman enters into a loveless marriage with the dim-witted, unstable heir to the Russian throne, then plots to oust him from power.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, John Lodge, Sam Jaffe, Louise Dresser
Votes: 7,241
4. Sadie McKee (1934)
Approved | 93 min | Drama, Romance
A working girl's fortunes improve when she marries into money, but happiness is not so easily won.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Joan Crawford, Gene Raymond, Franchot Tone, Edward Arnold
Votes: 1,605
5. Boule de suif (1934)
70 min | Drama
A company of French bourgeois travel through the territories occupied by Germans in a stagecoach accompanied by a woman of the oldest profession.
Director: Mikhail Romm | Stars: Galina Sergeyeva, Andrey Fayt, Anatoliy Goryunov, Faina Ranevskaya
Votes: 298
6. It Happened One Night (1934)
Passed | 105 min | Comedy, Romance
A rogue reporter trailing a runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops along the way.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns
Votes: 112,346 | Gross: $4.36M
7. Shen nu (1934)
TV-PG | 85 min | Drama
Street walker by night, devoted mother by day, a woman fights to get her young son an education amid criminal and social injustice in China.
Director: Yonggang Wu | Stars: Lingyu Ruan, Tian Jian, Zhizhi Zhang, Keng Li
Votes: 2,476
8. Les Misérables (1934)
Not Rated | 281 min | Drama
The lives of numerous people over the course of 20 years in 19th century France, weaved together by the story of an ex-convict named Jean Valjean on the run from an obsessive police inspector, who pursues him for only a minor offense.
Director: Raymond Bernard | Stars: Harry Baur, Charles Vanel, Paul Azaïs, Max Dearly
Votes: 1,971
9. Of Human Bondage (1934)
Passed | 83 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A young man finds himself attracted to a cold, unfeeling waitress who might ultimately destroy them both.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Bette Davis, Leslie Howard, Frances Dee, Kay Johnson
Votes: 8,392
10. Death Takes a Holiday (1934)
Passed | 79 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
The Grim Reaper takes the form of a Prince in an attempt to relate to humans and, along the way, also learns what it is to love.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Fredric March, Evelyn Venable, Guy Standing, Katharine Alexander
Votes: 2,414
11. Murder at the Vanities (1934)
Passed | 89 min | Crime, Music, Musical
A homicide detective with an eye for the ladies, investigating a murder in Earl Carroll's Vanities, allows the music revue to continue during the investigation.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Carl Brisson, Victor McLaglen, Jack Oakie, Kitty Carlisle
Votes: 976
12. The Merry Widow (1934)
Passed | 99 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
When a small kingdom's main taxpayer leaves for Paris, its king dispatches a dashing count to win back her allegiance.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Edward Everett Horton, Marcel Vallée
Votes: 3,263
13. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Approved | 75 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
An ordinary British couple vacationing in Switzerland suddenly find themselves embroiled in a case of international intrigue when their daughter is kidnapped by spies plotting a political assassination.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Lorre, Frank Vosper
Votes: 21,181
14. Imitation of Life (1934)
Approved | 111 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A struggling widow and her daughter take in a Black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter; the two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way.
Director: John M. Stahl | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Rochelle Hudson, Ned Sparks
Votes: 5,651
15. The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)
Passed | 109 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Elizabeth Barrett's tyrannical father has forbidden any of his family to marry. Nevertheless, Elizabeth falls in love with the poet Robert Browning.
Director: Sidney Franklin | Stars: Norma Shearer, Fredric March, Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Sullivan
Votes: 2,129
16. Little Man, What Now? (1934)
Passed | 98 min | Drama, Romance
A young couple struggling against poverty must keep their marriage a secret in order for the husband to keep his job, as his boss doesn't like to hire married men.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Margaret Sullavan, Douglass Montgomery, Alan Hale, Catherine Doucet
Votes: 641
17. The Gay Divorcee (1934)
Approved | 107 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A woman thinks a flirting man is the co-respondent her lawyer has hired to expedite her divorce.
Director: Mark Sandrich | Stars: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Alice Brady, Edward Everett Horton
Votes: 8,643
18. Heat Lightning (1934)
Passed | 63 min | Crime, Drama
A lady gas station attendant gets mixed up with escaped murderers.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Aline MacMahon, Ann Dvorak, Preston Foster, Lyle Talbot
Votes: 1,032
19. Twentieth Century (1934)
91 min | Comedy, Romance
A flamboyant Broadway impresario who has fallen on hard times tries to get his former lover, now a Hollywood diva, to return and resurrect his failing career.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: John Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns
Votes: 7,253
20. The Black Cat (1934)
Not Rated | 65 min | Crime, Horror, Romance
American honeymooners in Hungary become trapped in the home of a Satan-worshipping priest when the bride is taken there for medical help following a road accident.
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer | Stars: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Julie Bishop
Votes: 13,007 | Gross: $0.51M
21. Thirty Day Princess (1934)
Approved | 74 min | Comedy, Romance
A European princess arrives in New York City to secure a much-needed loan for her country. She contracts the mumps, and an actress who looks exactly like her is hired to impersonate her.
Director: Marion Gering | Stars: Sylvia Sidney, Cary Grant, Edward Arnold, Henry Stephenson
Votes: 1,129
22. Born to Be Bad (1934)
Approved | 62 min | Drama, Romance
An immoral mother blackmails a wealthy businessman after he accidentally hits her delinquent son with his truck.
Directors: Lowell Sherman, Jack Conway | Stars: Loretta Young, Cary Grant, Jackie Kelk, Marion Burns
Votes: 1,260
23. The Kidnapping (1934)
83 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Hans has killed the dog of Firmin, a shepherd. Wild with rage, Firmin kidnaps Elsi, Hans' fiancée and locks her up at his home. Hans, a peddler, vows to find the missing girl. This is what ... See full summary »
Director: Dimitri Kirsanoff | Stars: Dita Parlo, Geymond Vital, Jeanne Marie-Laurent, Auguste Bovério
Votes: 278
24. Evelyn Prentice (1934)
Passed | 79 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
The neglected wife of a high profile attorney dallies with a unscrupulous womanizer and finds herself involved in blackmail and murder.
Director: William K. Howard | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Una Merkel, Rosalind Russell
Votes: 1,867
25. Stingaree (1934)
Passed | 77 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young woman is seduced by a charismatic highwayman who offers her promises of fame as a singer in exchange for romance.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Irene Dunne, Richard Dix, Mary Boland, Conway Tearle
Votes: 520
26. The Thin Man (1934)
TV-PG | 91 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Former detective Nick Charles and his wealthy wife Nora investigate a murder case, mostly for the fun of it.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton
Votes: 32,562
27. The 9th Guest (1934)
Passed | 65 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Eight people are invited to dinner in a fashionable penthouse apartment. After they are wined and dined, a voice on the radio informs them that they will be murdered unless they manage to outwit the ninth guest: Death.
Director: Roy William Neill | Stars: Donald Cook, Genevieve Tobin, Hardie Albright, Edward Ellis
Votes: 673
28. The Cat's-Paw (1934)
Not Rated | 102 min | Comedy
A naive missionary brought up in China returns to America to seek a wife. Corrupt politicians enlist him to run for mayor as a dummy candidate with no chance of winning.
Directors: Sam Taylor, Harold Lloyd | Stars: Harold Lloyd, Una Merkel, George Barbier, Nat Pendleton
Votes: 1,376 | Gross: $0.69M
29. Dames (1934)
Passed | 91 min | Comedy, Music, Musical
A multimillionaire decides to boycott "filthy" forms of entertainment such as Broadway shows.
Directors: Ray Enright, Busby Berkeley | Stars: Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Zasu Pitts
Votes: 2,430
30. Viva Villa! (1934)
Passed | 115 min | Biography, Western
After enacting revenge on the overseer who murdered his father, Pancho Villa becomes a bandit, earning the respect of the poor by brutally attacking the wealthy.
Directors: Jack Conway, Howard Hawks, William A. Wellman | Stars: Wallace Beery, Fay Wray, Leo Carrillo, Donald Cook
Votes: 1,571 | Gross: $1.11M
31. Finishing School (1934)
Passed | 73 min | Drama
The trials and tribulations in a private, snobbish girls school.
Directors: George Nicholls Jr., Wanda Tuchock | Stars: Frances Dee, Billie Burke, Ginger Rogers, Bruce Cabot
Votes: 600
32. Gambling Lady (1934)
Passed | 66 min | Drama, Mystery
Lady Lee, gambler's daughter, plies her trade while pondering the proposal of a social-register suitor.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Pat O'Brien, Claire Dodd
Votes: 1,158
33. The House of Rothschild (1934)
Passed | 88 min | Biography, Drama, History
The wealthy Rothschild family undergoes prejudice from the anti-Semitic society they live within.
Directors: Alfred L. Werker, Sidney Lanfield | Stars: George Arliss, Boris Karloff, Loretta Young, Robert Young
Votes: 1,325
34. Murder on the Blackboard (1934)
Passed | 71 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
A pretty young music teacher is bludgeoned to death in Hildegarde's school, where she's reunited with Oscar, but the autopsy report says she was dying from poison too.
Director: George Archainbaud | Stars: Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Bruce Cabot, Gertrude Michael
Votes: 791
35. Woman in the Dark (1934)
Passed | 68 min | Crime, Drama
A paroled prisoner hits a man who's attacking a woman, then runs away, scared that he killed the man (he did not). From the book "Woman in the Dark" by Dashiell Hammett.
Director: Phil Rosen | Stars: Fay Wray, Ralph Bellamy, Melvyn Douglas, Roscoe Ates
Votes: 609
36. El fantasma del convento (1934)
85 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror
Alfonso (Del Campo), Eduardo (Villatoro) and Eduardo's wife Cristina (Ruel) get lost when visiting a forest. A strange monk finds them and takes them to an ancient convent. There, the three... See full summary »
Director: Fernando de Fuentes | Stars: Marta Roel, Enrique del Campo, Carlos Villatoro, Paco Martínez
Votes: 444
37. Cleopatra (1934)
Passed | 100 min | Biography, Drama, History
The man-hungry Queen of Egypt leads Julius Caesar and Marc Antony astray, amid scenes of DeMillean splendor.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Henry Wilcoxon, Joseph Schildkraut
Votes: 4,618
38. The Painted Veil (1934)
Passed | 85 min | Drama, Romance
A wife neglected by her husband, a medical researcher in China, falls in love with a dashing diplomatic attaché.
Director: Richard Boleslawski | Stars: Greta Garbo, Herbert Marshall, George Brent, Warner Oland
Votes: 1,722 | Gross: $1.17M
39. The Girl from Missouri (1934)
Approved | 75 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Chorus girl Eadie is determined to marry a millionaire without sacrificing her virtue.
Directors: Jack Conway, Sam Wood | Stars: Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone
Votes: 1,367
40. Flirtation Walk (1934)
Passed | 97 min | Musical
Musical-romance with Powell as private in Hawaii involved with general's daughter Keeler. Break up to avoid scandal but reunite years later when he produces play at West Point starring her.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Pat O'Brien, Ross Alexander
Votes: 872
41. Fog Over Frisco (1934)
Approved | 68 min | Crime, Mystery, Romance
The lifestyles of Arlene and Valkyr Bradford, half-sisters from a respected San Francisco family, diverge markedly as Arlene takes up with criminals.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Bette Davis, Donald Woods, Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot
Votes: 1,750
42. One Night of Love (1934)
Passed | 84 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
Mary Barrett is an aspiring Opera singer who is taken under the wings of a famous operatic maestro, Guilio Monterverdi. After spending endless working hours together and arguing, their ... See full summary »
Director: Victor Schertzinger | Stars: Grace Moore, Tullio Carminati, Lyle Talbot, Mona Barrie
Votes: 748
43. Two Monks (1934)
Not Rated | 79 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
When the Monk Javier acts violently in a gothic monastery, the Prior asks the Monk Juan to calm him down since he believes that Javier is possessed by demons. When Juan comes to Javier's ... See full summary »
Director: Juan Bustillo Oro | Stars: Víctor Urruchúa, Carlos Villatoro, Magda Haller, Beltrán de Heredia
Votes: 716
44. Jolly Little Elves (1934)
Passed | 9 min | Animation, Musical, Short
A poor shoemaker and his wife have only a stale donut and a cup of coffee left to share. An elf drops by, and they offer to share with him. He teaches them (in song) to dunk the donut in ... See full summary »
Directors: Walter Lantz, Manuel Moreno | Stars: Dorothy Compton, Beatrice Hagen, Bernice Hansen, Mary Moder
Votes: 251
45. The Hearts of Age (1934)
8 min | Short
A colonial scene in the U.S. An old lady sits astride a bell while a man in blackface, wig, and livery pulls the bell rope. From an upper door emerges an old man, dressed as a dandy, who ... See full summary »
Directors: William Vance, Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Virginia Nicolson, William Vance, Edgerton Paul
Votes: 1,270
46. Holiday Land (1934)
Passed | 8 min | Animation, Short, Family
Scrappy does not want to get up and go to school. As the days peel off his calendar, the dates representing holidays come to life. Father time, in particular, takes Scrappy on a tour of the... See full summary »
Director: Sid Marcus | Stars: Connee Boswell, Dorothy Compton, Beatrice Hagen, Mary Moder
Votes: 232
47. Public Affairs (1934)
25 min | Short, Comedy
Bresson's first film is, totally uncharacteristically, a slapstick comedy, centred around two neighbouring republics, Crogandia and Miremia, and the various disasters that befall the ... See full summary »
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Beby, Andrée Servilanges, Marcel Dalio, Gilles Margaritis
Votes: 349
Tell Your Friends