Best of the 1930's

Best Picture



1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

2. M (1931)
3. Gone with the Wind (1939)
4. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
5. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
6. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
7. City Lights (1931)
8. It Happened One Night (1934)
9. King Kong (1933)
10. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
11. Dark Victory (1939)


Best Director


Frank Capra - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Frank Capra - It Happened One Night (1934)
George Cukor - The Women (1939)
Walt Disney - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Victor Fleming - Gone with the Wind (1939)
Victor Fleming - Wizard of Oz (1939)
Fritz Lang - M (1931)
Charles Chaplin - Modern Times (1936)
W.S. Van Dyke - The Thin Man (1934)
James Whale - Frankenstein (1931)
James Whale - The Invisible Man (1933)


Best Actor


Paul Muni - The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

Charles Boyer - Love Affair (1939)
Charles Chaplin - Modern Times (1936)
Robert Donat - Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
Melvyn Douglas - Ninotchka (1939)
Clark Gable - Gone With the Wind (1939)
Charles Laughton - Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
Fredric March - A Star is Born (1937)
William Powell - The Thin Man (1934)
James Stewart - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Spencer Tracy - Boys Town (1938)


Best Actress


Claudette Colbert - It Happened One Night (1934)

Mary Astor - Dodsworth (1936)
Bette Davis - Dark Victory (1939)
Irene Dunne - Love Affair (1939)
Greta Garbo - Ninotchka (1939)
Judy Garland - The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Greer Garson - Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
Helen Hayes - The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931)
Vivien Leigh - Gone With the Wind (1939)
Myrna Loy - The Thin Man (1934)
Norma Shearer - The Women (1939)


Best Supporting Actor


Peter Lorre - M (1931)

Lionel Barrymore - You Can't Take it With You (1938)
Ralph Bellamy - The Awful Truth (1937)
Ray Bolger - The Wizard of Oz (1939)
George Brent - Dark Victory (1939)
Jack Haley - The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Bert Lahr - The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Frank Morgan - The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Claude Rains - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Mickey Rooney - Boys Town (1938)
Joseph Schildkraut - The Life of Emile Zola (1937)


Best Supporting Actress


Hattie McDaniel - Gone With the Wind (1939)

Jean Arthur - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Louise Beavers - Imitation of Life (1934)
Spring Byington - You Can't Take it With You (1938)
Joan Crawford - The Women (1939)
Olivia de Havilland - Gone With the Wind (1939)
Margaret Hamilton - The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Andrea Leeds - Stage Door (1937)
Maria Ouspenskaya - Dodsworth (1937)
Maria Ouspenskaya - Love Affair (1939)
Rosalind Russell - The Women (1939)


Best Screenplay


Sidney Buchman - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

George Abbott - All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch & Billy Wilder - Ninotchka (1939)
Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich - The Thin Man (1936)
Sidney Howard - Gone With the Wind (1939)
Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson & Edgar Allan Wolf - The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Eric Maschwitz, R.C. Sherriff & Claudine West - Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
Norman Reilly Raine, Heinz Herald & Geza Herczeg - The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
Robert Riskin - It Happened One Night (1934)
Casey Robinson - Dark Victory (1939)
Thea von Harbou & Fritz Lang - M (1931)


Best Family Picture


Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Anne of Green Gables (1934)
Heidi (1937)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)


Funniest Film


The Thin Man (1934)

After the Thin Man (1936)
Another Thin Man (1939)
The Awful Truth (1937)
City Lights (1931)
Duck Soup (1933)
It Happened One Night (1934)
Modern Times (1936)
My Man Godfrey (1936)
Ninotchka (1939)
Topper (1937)


Best Sports Film


The Champ (1931)



For all the movies of the 1930's in consideration, click here