Screen Chronology: 1930 to 1935
Compiled by John Kenrick
- **** - Sensational
- *** - Good entertainment
- ** - Beats a finger in the eye
- * - You'd rather mow a lawn
- (NO stars) - Run for your life
Many of these films are hardly ever screened, and in some cases no complete prints survive. I include comments only on those I have seen.
1930
- Among the Millionaires
- Animal Crackers *** - Inspired insanity as the Marx Brothers attempt to thwart the theft of a painting. The songs (other than "Captain Spaulding") are superfluous, but this classic comedy provides preserves Groucho and company in one of their biggest Broadway hits.
- Are You There?
- Be Yourself! ** - Lousy story of a musical star romanced by a boxer is enlivened by Fanny Brice in the lead. Worth catching for Brice's renditions of several specialties.
- Big Boy ** - Jolson dons blackface in this clumsy screen adaptation of his stage hit about shenanigans at a racetrack.
- The Big Pond
- Big Party, The
- Bride of the Regiment
- Call of the Flesh
- Cameo Kirby
- Captain of the Guard
- Chasing Rainbows
- Cheer Up and Smile
- Children of Pleasure
- Cuckoos, The
- Dancing Sweeties
- Dangerous Nan McGrew
- Dixiana
- Follow the Leader
- Follow Thru
- Fox Movietone Follies of 1930
- Floradora Girl, The
- Free and Easy
- Golden Calf, The
- Golden Dawn (NO stars) - Legendary bomb about jungle natives rebelling against European rule during WW I. Moments of true camp.
- Good News
- Happy Days
- Heads Up
- High Society Blues
- Hit the Deck
- Hold Everything
- Honey
- In Gay Madrid
- It's a Great Life
- Just Imagine ** - A simpleton from the 1930s is medically revived in the 1980s and tries to play cupid for two 'modern' lovers. Silly, but this film's fanciful vision of a mechanized art deco future is occasionally interesting.
- King of Jazz, The ** - Massively overproduced spectacle, with Paul Whiteman's Band
- Kiss Me Again
- Lady's Morals, A
- Leathernecking
- Let's Go Native
- Let's Go Places
- Life of the Party, The
- Lottery Bride, The ** - A Canadian wins Jeanette MacDonald in a lottery. Lifeless score, and dull overall.
- Love in the Rough
- Madam Satan ** - Pitiful plot and songs, but the bizarre party aboard a Zeppelin has to be seen!
- Mammy ** - Jolson's musical numbers include "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy," and the minstrel show sequences are outstanding, but the plot is brain dead.
- Montana Moon
- Monte Carlo
- New Moon - Re-set in Czarist Russia, with Lawrence Tibbett and Grace Moore in the leads.
- No, No, Nanette
- Oh, For a Man
- Oh! Sailor Behave!
- One Mad Kiss
- Paramount on Parade * - Chevalier is among the few winners in this clunky all-star yawn-athon revue.
- Playboy of Paris
- Puttin' on the Ritz
- Queen High
- Roadhouse Nights
- Rogue Song, The
- Safety in Numbers
- She Couldn't Say No
- Showgirl in Hollywood
- So Long Letty
- Song O' My Heart
- Song of the Flame, The
- Song of the West
- Spring Is Here
- Sunny ** - Marilyn Miller appears in her stage hit about a British circus rider in love with an American millionaire. Not much except for Miller's sensational dancing.
- Sunny Skies
- Sweet Kitty Bellairs
- Sweethearts on Parade
- Swing High
- They Learned About Women
- Top Speed
- Vagabond King, The
- Viennese Nights
- Whoopee ** - Even the great Eddie Cantor cannot completely redeem this creaky version of the Broadway hit about a hypochondriac in the Wild West. Best moments: Cantor's renditions of the title song and "My Baby Just Cares for Me." The dance routines are Busby Berkeley's first screen efforts.
1931
After a glut of 79 mostly mediocre screen musicals in 1930, the public was turned off. 1931 saw no more than 11 Hollywood musicals go into release -- and just 10 the following year. How quickly the tide had turned!
- Bright Lights
- Children of Dreams
- Cuban Love Song, The
- Delicious ** - A Gershwin score is the main event in this tale of Scottish girl Janet Gaynor falling for Russian conductor Charles Farrell.
- Flying High ** - Bert Lahr yucks it up as an aviator, with Charlotte Greenwood and numbers staged by Busby Berkeley.
- Her Majesty, Love * - Marilyn Miller is a barmaid in old Berlin -- only pleasure comes from W.C. Fields as her father.
- Hot Heiress, The - Rodgers & Hart musical about romance between a construction worker and a high society dame.
- One Heavenly Night ** - British stage star Evelyn Laye is a Budapest flower girl romanced by nobleman John Boles. Predictable.
- Palmy Days
- Prodigal, The
- Smiling Lieutenant, The *** - Director Ernst Lubitsch brings sexy sparkle to this loose adaptation of the Oscar Straus stage hit A Waltz Dream. Lieutenant Maurice Chevalier loves violinist Claudette Colbert but is forced to marry princess Miriam Hopkins -- neither lady can sing, but this is a witty charmer, often reminiscent of 1929's wonderful Love Parade.
1932
- Big Broadcast, The
- Blondie of the Follies
- Crooner
- Girl Crazy
- Kid From Spain, The
- Love Me Tonight *** - Princess Jeanette MacDonald is wooed by tailor Maurice Chevalier. Great Rodgers & Hart score and innovative direction by Rouben Mamoulian.
- Manhattan Parade
- One Hour With You
- Phantom President, The ** - George M. Cohan in his only screen musical, a clunky tale of a dull presidential candidate and his charismatic look-alike. Forgettable Rodgers & Hart score. Even sidekick Jimmy Durante has trouble winning laughs in this one.
- This Is the Night
1933
Musicals came back with a bang in 1933, with Hollywood releasing dozens.
- Adorable
- Bedtime Story, A ** - Playboy Maurice Chevalier plays papa to an abandoned baby.
- Bitter Sweet - Anna Neagle stars in this British adaptation of Noel Coward's stage operetta.
- Broadway Bad
- Broadway Through a Keyhole - This blatant (and dull) rip-off of the real life romance of Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler inspired Jolson to wallop author Walter Winchell in the kisser.
- Broadway to Hollywood
- College Coach
- Duck Soup **** - The Marx Brothers at their zany best in a merciless mock-operetta spoof of diplomacy and war.
- Dancing Lady ** - Joan Crawford is ill at ease in this overblown vehicle. Fred Astaire makes his screen debut in one number, making Crawford's dancing look all the clunkier.
- Footlight Parade **** - Jimmy Cagney presents dancer Ruby Keeler in a lavish stage revue, with enough great songs and massive dance routines to make this one of Busby Berkeley's triumphs.
- 42nd Street **** - Busby Berkeley redefined musical film with the numbers in this backstage look at a Broadway-bound stage musical. Grand score, massive ensemble numbers, and delicious performances by Ruby Keller, Warner Baxter, Ginger Rogers and company.
- Flying Down to Rio ** - Dolores Del Rio must choose a boyfriend. The public chose supporting players Astaire & Rogers, who share their first screen dance duet, "The Carioca."The other high point: a sky full of biplanes with dancers on the wings.
- Girl Without a Room
- Going Hollywood ** - Schoolteacher Marion Davies follows crooner Bing Crosby to Hollywood, competing for his affections with movie star Fifi D'Orsay. OK songs help weak story. Bing introduces "Temptation."
- Gold Diggers of 1933 **** - Busby Berkeley's dance routines are the whole show, including "Shadow Waltz," "We're In the Money" and other classics.
- Hallelujah I'm a Bum ** - Al Jolson is a bum who tries to reform so he can marry the heiress he loves. Rodgers & Hart score and rhyming dialogue provide some interesting moments, but overall effect is pretentious.
- I Like It That Way
- I'm No Angel *** - Mae West as a circus sideshow hussy. Loads of fun and a rare chance to see what the 1930s considered racy.
- International House
- It's Great to Be Alive
- Melody Cruise
- Moonlight and Pretzels
- My Lips Betray
- My Weakness
- Roman Scandals *** - Slave Eddie Cantor capers merrily about ancient Rome.
- She Done Him Wrong **** - Mae West in fun adaptation of her stage hit Diamond Lil, leading Salvation Army recruit Cary Grant astray. Flaunting the Production Code with style, this is arguably West's best film.
- Sitting Pretty ** - Easygoing fun with Jack Haley and Jack Oakie as NY songwriters who come to Hollywood finding success & romance. Ginger Rogers sings "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?"
- Sweetheart of Sigma Chi
- Take A Chance * - Fine Broadway score cannot redeem this lousy tale of carnival hucksters on the make.
- Too Much Harmony
- Torch Singer, The ** - Claudette Colbert is a cabaret diva, but her effective performance can't redeem such flat material.
- Viktor und Viktoria (Germany)
- Way to Love, The ** - Chevalier as a Parisian tourist guide -- a weak entry.
1934
- Babes in Toyland *** - Laurel & Hardy fill this low budget operetta with laughs. Victor Herbert's score and the Wooden Soldiers make this an annual holiday favorite on TV.
- Belle of the Nineties
- Bolero
- Bottoms Up
- Caravan * - Charles Boyer and Loretta Young in an operetta? Chorus does the singing, you'll do the snoozing.
- Cat and the Fiddle, The
- Chu Chin Chow
- Cockeyed Cavaliers * - Two kleptomaniacs are mistaken as royal physicians in pre-revolutionary France. The vaudeville team of Wheeler & Woolsey do nothing to redeem this lavish, witless clunker.
- Dames **** - Great songs and some stunning Busby Berkeley dance routines make this silly backstage tale thoroughly enjoyable.
- Down to Their Last Yacht * - Former millionaires lease out their yacht to make ends meet. Beyond dumb.
- Flirtation Walk ** - West Point cadet Dick Powell romances officer's daughter Ruby Keeler -- stars are charming, but this blatant attempt to rip-off Busby Berkeley suffers from his absence.
- Gay Divorcee, The **** - Astaire and Rogers dazzle in the first of their mistaken identity musicals. Highlight: "Night and Day," the only remnant of Cole Porter's stage score.
- George White's Scandals
- Gift of Gab
- Evergreen - British screen version of Rodgers & Hart's London hit
- Happiness Ahead
- Harold Teen
- Here Is My Heart
- Hips, Hips, Hooray *** - Vaudeville vets Bert Wheeler & Robert Woolsey are lipstick salesmen out to help Thelma Todd save her cosmetics business. Ruth Etting, a fun score, a cross country race and a cyclone help make this amusing.
- Hollywood Party
- I Am Suzanne
- I Like It That Way
- Kid Millions
- Let's Fall in Love
- Little Miss Marker
- Many Happy Returns
- Melody in Spring
- Merry Widow, The **** - Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier reunite in MGM's lavish version of Lehar's romantic operetta. Little resemblance to the original, but delicious anyway. Lorenz Hart's lyrics are superb.
- Mister Cinders - British screen version of long running London stage musical
- Moulin Rouge ** - Constance Bennett poses as her own sister to seduce husband Franchot Tone.
- Murder at the Vanities *** - Backstage murder plagues a Broadway opening. Enjoyable film based on Earl Carroll's stage success.
- Music in the Air *** - Small town teacher brings his musical to the big, bad Vienna. Great Kern-Hammerstein score, and silent screen legend Gloria Swanson sing well and is hilarious as an egotistical stage star.
- Myrt and Marge
- One Night of Love *** - Grace Moore rises to opera stardom in Italy. Helped by hit title tune.
- Palooka
- She Loves Me Not
- Shoot the Works
- Stand Up and Cheer
- Strictly Dynamite
- Student Tour
- Transatlantic Merry Go Round
- Twenty Million Sweethearts
- Wake Up and Dream
- We're Not Dressing
- Wonder Bar *** - Al Jolson owns a popular cabaret, where many little dramas unfold. Okay film based on a so-so Broadway show.