Year by year: 1934
My 30 favorite films of 1934
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30 titles
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsClark GableClaudette ColbertWalter ConnollyA 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.
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeStarsWilliam PowellMyrna LoyMaureen O'SullivanFormer detective Nick Charles and his wealthy wife Nora investigate a murder case, mostly for the fun of it.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsMarlene DietrichJohn LodgeSam JaffeA German noblewoman enters into a loveless marriage with the dim-witted, unstable heir to the Russian throne, then plots to oust him from power.
- DirectorJean VigoStarsDita ParloJean DastéGilles MargaritisNewly 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.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsTakeshi SakamotoChôko IidaKôji MitsuiA kabuki actor's mistress hatches a jealous plot to bring down her lover's son.
- DirectorMark SandrichStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersAlice BradyA woman thinks a flirting man is the co-respondent her lawyer has hired to expedite her divorce.
- DirectorSidney FranklinStarsNorma ShearerFredric MarchCharles LaughtonElizabeth Barrett's tyrannical father has forbidden any of his family to marry. Nevertheless, Elizabeth falls in love with the poet Robert Browning.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsBette DavisLeslie HowardFrances DeeA young man finds himself attracted to a cold, unfeeling waitress who might ultimately destroy them both.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsMaurice ChevalierJeanette MacDonaldEdward Everett HortonWhen a small kingdom's main taxpayer leaves for Paris, its king dispatches a dashing count to win back her allegiance.
- DirectorEdgar G. UlmerStarsBoris KarloffBela LugosiDavid MannersAmerican 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.
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsColman 'Tiger' KingMaggie DirraneMichael DirraneIn this blend of documentary and fictional narrative from pioneering filmmaker Robert Flaherty, the everyday trials of life on Ireland's unforgiving Aran Islands are captured with attention to naturalistic beauty and historical detail.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsJohn BarrymoreCarole LombardWalter ConnollyA 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.
- DirectorYonggang WuStarsLingyu RuanTian JianZhizhi ZhangStreet walker by night, devoted mother by day, a woman fights to get her young son an education amid criminal and social injustice in China.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsFredric MarchEvelyn VenableGuy StandingThe 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.
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsOrane DemazisFernandelHenri PouponA young and naive peasant girl in Provence, who has been seduced and abandoned, moves to Marseilles and becomes a street-walker after having her baby.
- DirectorGustav MachatýStarsHedy LamarrZvonimir RogozAribert MogEva has just got married to an older gentleman. She leaves him, and one day, she meets a young man, and they fall in love. Fate brings the husband together with the young lover that has taken Eva from him.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsKaren MorleyTom KeeneBarbara PepperA group of down-on-their-luck workers combine their abilities to make a Gallafentian-style commune... and bread!
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsMax DearlyValentine TessierPierre RenoirSoon after the death of his first wife (whose dowry was inadequate), Charles Bovary, a country doctor in Normandy, marries Emma Rouault, who is well-endowed in every sense. In her new home, Emma finds conflict with her mother-in-law, a husband uninterested in the social whirl, and general discontentment; thereby proving an easy conquest for philanderer Rodolphe. Other lovers follow. Does tragedy await?
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsWallace BeeryJackie CooperLionel BarrymoreYoung Jim Hawkins is torn between his loyalty to his benefactors and his affection for lovable rogue Long John Silver in their struggle to recover a buried pirate treasure.
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeJack ConwayGeorge CukorStarsClark GableWilliam PowellMyrna LoyThe friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman.
- DirectorJohn M. StahlStarsClaudette ColbertWarren WilliamRochelle HudsonA 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.
- DirectorRichard BoleslawskiStarsMarion DaviesGary CooperJean ParkerUnion spy Gail Loveless impersonates a black maid in the early days of the Civil War, but complications arise when she falls in love with a Confederate officer.
- DirectorGerard RuttenStarsJan MuschTheo de MaalBetsy Ranucci-BeckmanAfter building a dam, closing off the Zuiderzee from the sea, it effectively turns the former sea into a lake and the fishermen call it "dead water". They desperately attack the dam with spades and even explosives, culminating in tragedy.
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsW.C. FieldsKathleen HowardJean RouverolA henpecked New Jersey grocer makes plans to move to California to grow oranges, despite the resistance of his overbearing wife.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsCharles BoyerMadeleine OzerayRobert ArnouxTwo women love the same man in a world of few prospects. In Budapest, Liliom is a "public figure," a rascal who's a carousel barker, loved by the experienced merry-go-round owner and by a young, innocent maid. The maid, Julie, loses her job after going out with Liliom; he's fired by his jealous employer for going out with Julie. The two lovers move in with Julie's aunt; unemployment emasculates him and a local weasel tempts him with crime. Julie, now wan, is true to Liliom even in his bad temper. Meanwhile, a stolid widower, a carpenter, wants to marry Julie. Is there any future on this earth for Julie and Liliom, whose love is passionate rather than ideal?
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeStarsRobert MontgomeryMaureen O'SullivanEdward ArnoldFarmers take in an injured racketeer and try to reform him.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsMiriam HopkinsJoel McCreaFay WrayAn heiress switches places with her secretary in order to find a man who will love her for who she is and not for her money.
- DirectorGregory La CavaStarsHelen HayesBrian AherneMadge EvansThe story takes place in Scotland, where plain Maggie Wylie's family, fearing she may become a spinster, finances young John Shand's studies in return for his agreement to marry her in five years. Recognizing his ambitions, Maggie helps to guide his career without his realizing it. He honors his commitment, even though he does not feel real love for her as she does for him. Will he succumb to the wiles of young aristocratic beauty Sybil, or learn to appreciate Maggie's true worth?
- DirectorAlfred L. WerkerSidney LanfieldStarsGeorge ArlissBoris KarloffLoretta YoungThe wealthy Rothschild family undergoes prejudice from the anti-Semitic society they live within.
- DirectorCedric GibbonsJames C. McKayJack ConwayStarsJohnny WeissmullerMaureen O'SullivanNeil HamiltonThe idyllic life of Tarzan and Jane is challenged by men on safari who come seeking ivory, and come seeking Jane as well.