The Best of the Nighthawk Awards: The 1930's

The animated film that really started it all: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Before diving into the Best Pictures of 1939, I’ll cover the decade at a glance with my own awards.

1930 – 1939

Total Films I’ve Seen:  460

Films That Make the Top 5 in a Category:  35

Best Film Not to Make the Top 5 in Any Category:  Scarface

Film of the Decade:  The Wizard of Oz

Worst Film of the Decade:  Oliver Twist (1932)

Worst Best Picture Nominee of the Decade:  Cleopatra

Worst Film of the Decade made by a Top 100 Director:  Jamaica Inn

Best Animated Film:  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Only a handful of feature length animated films were made in the 1930′s and the only two I have seen is Snow White and the mediocre Gulliver’s Travels

Best Foreign Film:

1. The Grand Illusion
2. M
3. The Rules of the Game
4. Vampyr
5. A Nous La Liberte

Best Original Song:

1. “Over the Rainbow”  (The Wizard of Oz)
2. “Heigh Ho”  (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
3. “We’re Off to See the Wizard”  (The Wizard of Oz)
4. “Cheek to Cheek”  (Top Hat)
5. “If I Only Had a Brain”  (The Wizard of Oz)

the best makeup of the decade: The Wizard of Oz

Best Makeup:

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. The Bride of Frankenstein
3. Frankenstein
4. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
5. The Island of Lost Souls

Best Costume Design:

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Gone with the Wind
3. The Adventures of Robin Hood
4. The Scarlet Empress
5. Marie Antoinette

Best Sound Editing:

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. All Quiet on the Western Front
3. Captain Blood
4. The Bride of Frankenstein
5. King Kong

Best Visual Effects:

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. King Kong
3. The Invisible Man
4. San Francisco
5. Gone with the Wind

Best Art Direction:

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Gone with the Wind
3. Bride of Frankenstein
4. The Adventures of Robin Hood
5. Dracula

Best Sound:

1. All Quiet on the Western Front
2. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
3. The Wizard of Oz
4. Bride of Frankenstein
5. King Kong

Best Original Score:

1. The Wizard of Oz (Herbert Stothart)
2. Gone with the Wind (Max Steiner)
3. King Kong (Max Steiner)
4. The Adventures of Robin Hood (Erich Wolfgang Korngold)
5. City Lights (Charlie Chaplin)

Best Cinematography:

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. M
3. Gone with the Wind
4. Bride of Frankenstein
5. All Quiet on the Western Front

Best Editing:

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Modern Times
3. M
4. City Lights
5. The Grand Illusion

From this point on, I am going to do a Golden Globes version of the awards.  I will split all the major awards into Drama and Comedy, then will combine them into my true top 5.  But I want to give a chance to the comedic performances and films that often get lost in the struggle.  My definition of Comedy is pretty broad and includes Musicals, like the actual Golden Globes do.  Sometimes the performances aren’t particularly comedic, but I go with the film for categorization.

Best Supporting Actress  (Comedy):

1. Margaret Hamilton  (The Wizard of Oz)
2. Andrea Leeds  (Stage Door)
3. Billie Burke  (Merrily We Live)
4. Bonita Granville  (Merrily We Live)
5. Alice Brady  (My Man Godfrey)

Best Supporting Actress  (Drama):

1. Olivia de Havilland  (Gone with the Wind)
2. Aline MacMahon  (Five Star Final)
3. Gale Sondergaard  (Anthony Adverse)
4. Elsa Lanchester  (The Private Life of Henry VIII)
5. Hattie McDaniel  (Gone with the Wind)

The best female performances of the decade: Olivia de Havilland and Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind

Best Supporting Actress:

1. Olivia de Havilland  (Gone with the Wind)
2. Margaret Hamilton  (The Wizard of Oz)
3. Andrea Leeds  (Stage Door)
4. Aline MacMahon  (Five Star Final)
5. Gale Sondergaard  (Anthony Adverse)

Best Supporting Actor  (Comedy):

1. Ray Bolger  (The Wizard of Oz)
2. Allan Mowbray  (Merrily We Live)
3. Mischa Auer  (My Man Godfrey)
4. Frank Morgan  (The Wizard of Oz)
5. Edward Everett Horton  (Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife)

Best Supporting Actor  (Drama):

1. Claude Rains  (Mr. Smith Goes To Washington)
2. Charles Laughton  (Les Miserables)
3. Erich von Stroheim  (The Grand Illusion)
4. Humphrey Bogart  (The Petrified Forest)
5. Thomas Mitchell  (Mr. Smith Goes To Washington)

Best Supporting Actor:

1. Claude Rains  (Mr. Smith Goes To Washington)
2. Charles Laughton  (Les Miserables)
3. Erich von Stroheim  (The Grand Illusion)
4. Humphrey Bogart  (The Petrified Forest)
5. Ray Bolger  (The Wizard of Oz)

Best Actress  (Comedy):

1. Wendy Hiller  (Pygmalion)
2. Judy Garland  (The Wizard of Oz)
3. Myrna Loy  (The Thin Man)
4. Katharine Hepburn  (Bringing Up Baby)
5. Claudette Colbert  (It Happened One Night)

Best Actress  (Drama):

1. Vivien Leigh  (Gone with the Wind)
2. Bette Davis  (The Petrified Forest)
3. Janet Gaynor  (A Star is Born)
4. Bette Davis  (Of Human Bondage)
5. Bette Davis  (Jezebel)
6. Jean Arthur  (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington)
7. Orane Demazis  (Fanny)

There are seven performances listed because of the three by Bette Davis.

Best Actress:

1. Vivien Leigh  (Gone with the Wind)
2. Wendy Hiller  (Pygmalion)
3. Bette Davis  (The Petrified Forest)
4. Janet Gaynor  (A Star is Born)
5. Bette Davis  (Of Human Bondage)
6. Judy Garland  (The Wizard of Oz)

There are six performances listed because of the two by Bette Davis.

Best Actor  (Comedy):

1. Charlie Chaplin  (Modern Times)
2. Leslie Howard  (Pygmalion)
3. William Powell  (The Thin Man)
4. Charlie Chaplin  (City Lights)
5. Clark Gable  (It Happened One Night)
6. William Powell  (My Man Godfrey)
7. Cary Grant  (Bringing Up Baby)

There are seven performances listed because of the two each by Charlie Chaplin and William Powell.

The best male performances of the decade: Claude Rains and Jimmy Stewart in Mr Smith Goes to Washington

Best Actor  (Drama):

1. Jimmy Stewart  (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington)
2. Peter Lorre  (M)
3. Clark Gable  (Gone with the Wind)
4. Frederic March  (A Star is Born)
5. Charles Laughton  (Mutiny on the Bounty)

Best Actor:

1. Jimmy Stewart  (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington)
2. Charlie Chaplin  (Modern Times)
3. Peter Lorre  (M)
4. Clark Gable  (Gone with the Wind)
5. Frederic March  (A Star is Born)

Best Original Screenplay  (Comedy):

1. Modern Times
2. City Lights
3. Rules of the Game
4. Duck Soup
5. Bringing Up Baby

Best Original Screenplay  (Drama):

1. The Grand Illusion
2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
3. M
4. A Star is Born
5. You Only Live Once

Best Original Screenplay:

1. The Grand Illusion
2. Modern Times
3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
4. M
5. City Lights

Best Adapted Screenplay  (Comedy):

1. The Wizard of Oz (from the novel)
2. The Thin Man (from the novel)
3. Pygmalion (from the play)
4. It Happened One Night (from the story “Night Bus”)
5. The Awful Truth (from the play)

Best Adapted Screenplay  (Drama):

1. The Petrified Forest (from the play)
2. All Quiet on the Western Front (from the novel)
3. The Informer (from the novel)
4. Les Miserables (from the novel)
5. Mutiny on the Bounty (from the novel)

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. The Petrified Forest
3. All Quiet on the Western Front
4. The Thin Man
5. Pygmalion

Best Director  (Comedy):

1. Victor Fleming  (The Wizard of Oz)
2. Charlie Chaplin (Modern Times)
3. Charlie Chaplin  (City Lights)
4. W.S. Van Dyke  (The Thin Man)
5. Michael Curtiz (The Adventures of Robin Hood)
6. Frank Capra (It Happened One Night)

There are six directors listed because of the two spots on the list taken up by Charlie Chaplin.

Best Director  (Drama):

1. Lewis Milestone  (All Quiet on the Western Front)
2. Fritz Lang (M)
3. Jean Renoir (The Grand Illusion)
4. Frank Capra  (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington)
5. Howard Hawks (Scarface)

Best Director:

1. Victor Fleming  (The Wizard of Oz)
2. Lewis Milestone  (All Quiet on the Western Front)
3. Fritz Lang  (M)
4. Charlie Chaplin  (Modern Times)
5. Jean Renoir  (The Grand Illusion)

Best Picture  (Comedy):

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Modern Times
3. City Lights
4. The Adventures of Robin Hood
5. The Rules of the Game

Best Picture  (Drama)

1. The Grand Illusion
2. All Quiet on the Western Front
3. M
4. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
5. Scarface

The Wizard of Oz gets better every time I watch it.

Best Picture:

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. The Grand Illusion
3. All Quiet on the Western Front
4. Modern Times
5. M

Films That Earn Best of Decade Nominations (winners in bold):

• The Wizard of Oz
  • Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actress, Supporting Actor, Editing, Cinematography, Score, Sound, Art Direction, Visual Effects, Sound Editing, Costume Design, Makeup, Song, Song, Song
• The Grand Illusion
  • Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor, Editing, Foreign Film
• All Quiet on the Western Front
  • Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Sound, Sound Editing
• Modern Times
  • Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Actor, Editing
• M
  • Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Actor, Editing, Cinematography, Foreign Film
• The Petrified Forest
  • Adapted Screenplay, Actress, Supporting Actor
• Pygmalion
  • Adapted Screenplay, Actress
• The Thin Man
  • Adapted Screenplay
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
  • Original Screenplay, Actor, Supporting Actor
• City Lights
  • Original Screenplay, Editing, Score
• Gone with the Wind
  • Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress, Cinematography, Score, Art Direction, Visual Effects, Costume Design
• A Star is Born
  • Actor, Actress
• Of Human Bondage
  • Actress
• Les Miserables
  • Supporting Actor
• Stage Door
  • Supporting Actress
• Five Star Final
  • Supporting Actress
• Anthony Adverse
  • Supporting Actress
• Bride of Frankenstein
  • Cinematography, Sound, Art Direction, Sound Editing, Makeup
• King Kong
  • Score, Sound, Visual Effects, Sound Editing
• The Adventures of Robin Hood
  • Score, Art Direction, Costume Design
• The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
  • Sound
• Dracula
  • Art Direction
• The Invisible Man
  • Visual Effects
• San Francisco
  • Visual Effects
• Captain Blood
  • Sound Editing
• The Scarlet Empress
  • Costume Design
• Marie Antoinette
  • Costume Design
• Frankenstein
  • Makeup
• The Island of Lost Souls
  • Makeup
• The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
  • Makeup
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
  • Song, Animated Film
• Top Hat
  • Song
• Vampyr
  • Foreign Film
• Rules of the Game
  • Foreign Film
• A Nous La Liberte
  • Foreign Film

Composer of the Decade:

Max Steiner

Steiner ruled over the Oscars for the first several years, earning a nomination every year after the Best Score category was introduced until 1950.  This stretch here included his Oscar (and Nighthawk) winning Best Score for The Informer, not to mention his amazing score from King Kong (the year before the category began) and his iconic score from Gone with the Wind.

Writer of the Decade:

Ben Hecht

Aside from writing the plays that The Front Page and Twentieth Century were based on and doing uncredited work on A Star is Born, Stagecoach and Angels with Dirty Faces, Hecht during the 1930′s wrote the following: Scarface, Design for Living, Nothing Sacred, Wuthering Heights and the story for Gunga Din.  He also won an Oscar (for The Scoundrel which I still have not been able to see) among three nominations.

Alice Brady in her Oscar nominated performance in My Man Godfrey

Supporting Actress of the Decade:

Alice Brady

She specialized in playing the ditsy aunt, best exemplified in The Gay Divorcee.  But she also won an Oscar for the long suffering mother in In Old Chicago and was nominated for My Man Godfrey.  Sadly her Oscar was stolen at the ceremony and she died just before the decade’s end at age 46 of cancer.

Supporting Actor of the Decade:

Claude Rains

He ended the decade with what, at the time, was the single greatest supporting performance in film history, as Senator Joe Paine.  His career had been headed that way with great supporting performances the year before in The Adventures of Robin Hood and Four Daughters.  Those performances had built upon his role as the villain in Anthony Adverse and his brilliant screen debut without being seen in The Invisible Man.  The truly amazing thing was that the thirties were just a warm-up for what would come the next decade.

the best performers of the decade: Bette Davis and Leslie Howard in The Petrified Forest (1936) with Humphrey Bogart

Actress of the Decade:

Bette Davis

It was close between Davis and Hepburn, but her three finishes in the top 5 for Best Actress (Drama) sealed the deal for her.  She deserved the Oscar for her Cockney girl in Of Human Bondage and actually won for both Dangerous and Jezebel.  And her best performance was her un-nominated turn in The Petrified Forest.  She then finished out the decade with her Oscar nomination in Dark Victory.  She could be slutty, romantic, appealing, appalling, dramatic and even comedic.  As an actress in the thirties, she pretty much could do no wrong.

Actor of the Decade:

Leslie Howard

Unlike the women he starred opposite, Bette Davis, Norma Shearer, Wendy Hiller and Vivien Leigh, Howard never won an Oscar.  He was nominated twice – for Berkeley Square and Pygmalion.  He deserved to win for Pygmalion and was phenomenal in The Petrified Forest.  He was also a solid (if too old) Romeo, a perfect Pimpernel, the poor Maugham hero in Of Human Bondage and deserving of an non-existent Supporting Actor Oscar for A Free Soul.

Director of the Decade:

Jean Renoir

In 1937 he made The Grand Illusion, one of the handful of films that stand at the very top of cinematic excellence.  He would follow that with La Bete Humaine and The Rules of the Game (which the Top 1000 actually has higher than Illusion – it currently sits at #3).  And unlike Capra or Hitchcock, he hadn’t started the decade with a bunch of weaker films.  His earlier films had included such treasures as Boudu Saved From Drowning, The Crime of Monsieur Lange and The Lower Depths.

Top 100 Films of the Decade:

1. The Wizard of Oz (1939, dir. Victor Fleming)
2. The Grand Illusion (1938, dir. Jean Renoir)
3. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930, dir. Lewis Milestone)
4. Modern Times (1936, dir. Charlie Chaplin)
5. M (1931, dir. Fritz Lang)
6. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939, dir. Frank Capra)
7. Scarface (1932, dir. Howard Hawks)
8. City Lights (1931, dir. Charlie Chaplin)
9. The Rules of the Game (1939, dir. Jean Renoir)
10. A Star is Born (1937, dir. William Wellman)
11. The Petrified Forest (1936, dir. Archie Mayo)
12. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938, dir. Michael Curtiz)
13. Vampyr (1932, dir. Carl Theodore Dreyer)
14. King Kong (1933, dir. Ernest Schoedsack)
    

    Good advice to follow when dealing with King Kong

15. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932, dir. Mervyn LeRoy)
16. The Informer (1935, dir. John Ford)
17. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935, dir. Frank Lloyd)
18. Les Miserables (1935, dir. Richard Boleslawski)
19. The Thin Man (1934, dir. W.S. Van Dyke)
20. Wuthering Heights (1939, dir. William Wyler)
21. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935, dir. James Whale)
22. It Happened One Night (1934, dir. Frank Capra)
23. Duck Soup (1933, dir. Leo McCarey)
24. The 39 Steps (1935, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
25. Bringing Up Baby (1938, dir. Howard Hawks)
26. Captain Blood (1935, dir. Michael Curtiz)
27. You Only Live Once (1937, dir. Fritz Lang)
28. Frankenstein (1931, dir. James Whale)
29. Pygmalion (1938, dir. Anthony Asquith / Leslie Howard)
30. The Invisible Man (1933, dir. James Whale)
31. A Nous La Liberte (1931, dir. Rene Clair)
32. The Gay Divorcee (1934, dir. Mark Sandrich)
33. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936, dir. Frank Capra)
34. Dracula (1931, dir. Tod Browning)
35. Stagecoach (1939, dir. John Ford)
36. Horse Feathers (1932, dir. Norman Z. McLeod)
37. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
38. A Tale of Two Cities (1935, dir. Jack Conway)
39. My Man Godfrey (1936, dir. Gregory La Cava)
40. You Can’t Take It With You (1938, dir. Frank Capra)
41. The Awful Truth (1937, dir. Leo McCarey)
42. Gone with the Wind (1939, dir. Victor Fleming)
43. Merrily We Live (1938, dir. Norman Z. McLeod)
44. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937, animated)
45. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938, dir. Michael Curtiz)
46. Design for Living (1933, dir. Ernst Lubitsch)
47. Three Penny Opera (1931, dir. George Wilhelm Pabst)
48. The Lady Vanishes (1938, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
49. Alexander Nevsky (1938, dir. Sergei Eisenstein)
50. La Bete Humaine (1938, dir. Jean Renoir)
51. Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932, dir. Jean Renoir)
52. Freaks (1932, dir. Tod Browning)
53. L’Age d’Or (1930, dir. Luis Bunuel)
54. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932, dir. Rouben Mamoulian)
    

    Boris Karloff in The Mummy

55. L’Atalante (1934, dir. Jean Vigo)
56. The Blood of a Poet (1930, dir. Jean Cocteau)
57. The Mummy (1932, dir. Karl Freund)
58. Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (1938, dir. Ernst Lubitsch)
59. The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936, dir. Jean Renoir)
60. Top Hat (1935, dir. Mark Sandrich)
61. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933, dir. Fritz Lang)
62. The Secret Agent (1936, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
63. Pepe le Moko (1937, dir. Julien Duvivier)
64. Fanny (1932, dir. Marc Allegret)
65. Gunga Din (1939, dir. George Stevens)
66. Stage Door (1937, dir. Gregory La Cava)
67. Wooden Crosses (1932, dir. Raymond Bernard)
68. Dodsworth (1936, dir. William Wyler)
69. City Girl (1930, dir. F.W. Murnau)
70. Le Million (1931, dir. Rene Clair)
71. Death Takes a Holiday (1934, dir. Mitchell Leisen)
72. Shall We Dance (1937, dir. Mark Sandrich)
73. Earth (1930, Aleksandr Dovzhenko)
74. Five Star Final (1931, dir. Mervyn LeRoy)
75. Fury (1936, dir. Fritz Lang)
76. Port of Shadows (1938, dir. Marcel Carne)
77. Dead End (1938, dir. William Wyler)
78. A Night at the Opera (1935, dir. Sam Wood)
79. Cesar (1936, dir. Marcel Pagnol)
80. The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933, dir. Alexander Korda)
81. Zero for Conduct (1933, dir. Jean Vigo)
82. The Public Enemy (1931, dir. William Wellman)
83. What Price Hollywood (1932, dir. George Cukor)
84. The Story of Floating Weeds (1934, dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
    

    Leslie Howard as The Scarlet Pimpernel

85. The Lower Depths (1936, dir. Jean Renoir)
86. Mauvaise Graine (1934, dir. Billy Wilder)
87. The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934, dir. Harold Young)
88. Liliom (1934, dir. Fritz Lang)
89. Grand Hotel (1932, dir. Edmund Goulding)
90. Doorway to Hell (1930, dir. Archie Mayo)
91. Harvest (1937, dir. Marcel Pagnol)
92. Dinner at Eight (1932, dir. George Cukor)
93. Marius (1931, dir. Alexander Korda)
94. Lady for a Day (1933, dir. Frank Capra)
95. Of Human Bondage (1934, dir. John Cromwell)
96. Little Women (1933, dir. George Cukor)
97. Trouble in Paradise (1932, dir. Ernst Lubitsch)
98. After the Thin Man (1936, dir. W.S. Van Dyke)
99. The Baker’s Wife (1938, dir. Marcel Pagnol)
100. The Scarlet Empress (1934, dir. Josef von Sternberg)

In theory, each year should have ten films and two from the top 20, but here’s how they actually work out  (top 20 in parenthesis):

• 1930  -  6  (1)
• 1931  -  12  (3)
• 1932  -  12  (2)
• 1933  -  9  (1)
• 1934  -  12  (1)
• 1935  -  9  (3)
• 1936  -  11  (2)
• 1937  -  10  (2)
• 1938  -  12  (1)
• 1939  -  7  (4)

So much for the greatness of 1939.  But if we were to break them down by Oscar eligibility, it gets very weird, because of all the Foreign films, but it works like this:

• 1929-30  -  2
• 1930-31  -  7
• 1931-32  -  11
• 1932-33  -  14
• 1934  -  8
• 1935  -  11
• 1936  -  9
• 1937  -  8
• 1938  -  8
• 1939  -  10
• post-1939  -  14

In terms of genre, 8 of the top 100 and 5 of the top 40 are Horror films, something I am certain won’t be true in any other decade.  There are also 9 Screwball Comedies on the list, all of them in the top 60.  And for the record, 29 of the films are Foreign Films.

Overall, the best year for Best Picture Nominees is 1939, which ranks 47th overall and the worst year is 1930-31 which ranks 81st overall (the only one worse is 1928-29).  Here’s how many actual Oscar nominees for Best Picture from each Academy year made my top 100 for the decade:

• 1929-30  -  1
• 1930-31  -  0
• 1931-32  -  2
• 1932-33  -  4
• 1934  -  3
• 1935  -  5
• 1936  -  3
• 1937  -  4
• 1938  -  4
• 1939  -  5

Fritz Lang filming Metropolis, one of his 7 films that made the top 100 in the 20's - he is the only director to have more than 3 on the list in the 20's and 30's

Directors with 3 or more in the Top 100:

• 6:
  • Jean Renoir  (2, 9, 50, 51, 59, 85)
• 5:
  • Fritz Lang  (5, 27, 61, 75, 88)
  • Frank Capra  (6, 22, 33, 40, 94)
• 4:
  • Alfred Hitchcock  (24, 37, 48, 62)
• 3:
  • Michael Curtiz  (12, 26, 45)
  • William Wyler  (20, 68, 77)
  • James Whale  (21, 28, 30)
  • Mark Sandrich  (32, 60, 72)
  • Ernst Lubitsch  (46, 58, 97)
  • Marcel Pagnol  (79, 91, 99)
  • George Cukor  (83, 92, 96)

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