Best of 1933
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- DirectorFrank LloydStarsDiana WynyardClive BrookUna O'ConnorA portrayal of the triumphs and tragedies of two English families, the upper-crust Marryots and the working-class Bridgeses, from 1899 to 1933.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsWarner BaxterBebe DanielsGeorge BrentWhen the leading lady of a Broadway musical breaks her ankle, she is replaced by a young unknown actress, who becomes the star of the show.
- DirectorAlexander KordaStarsCharles LaughtonRobert DonatFranklin DyallKing Henry VIII marries five more times after his divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsWarren WilliamMay RobsonGuy KibbeeA gangster tries to make Apple Annie, the Times Square apple seller, a lady for a day.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsJanet GaynorWill RogersLew AyresAn Iowa family finds adventure, love, and heartbreak when they spend a week at the state fair.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsGary CooperHelen HayesAdolphe MenjouAn American ambulance driver and an English nurse fall in love in Italy during World War I.
- DirectorLowell ShermanStarsMae WestCary GrantOwen MooreIn the Gay Nineties, a seductive nightclub singer contends with several suitors, including a jealous escaped convict and a handsome temperance league member.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsPaul MuniGlenda FarrellHelen VinsonWrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.
- DirectorLeontine SaganCarl FroelichStarsDorothea WieckHertha ThieleEmilia UndaAt an all-girls boarding school, Manuela falls in love with a teacher, to terrific consequences.
- DirectorRichard BoleslawskiCharles BrabinStarsJohn BarrymoreEthel BarrymoreLionel BarrymoreA prince plots to kill the mad monk Rasputin for the good of the czar, the czarina and Russia.
- DirectorEdward H. GriffithGeorge CukorStarsAnn HardingLeslie HowardMyrna LoyBased on a play by Philip Barry, this sophisticated comedy is about a man trying to justify his love for both his wife and his mistress.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsMarie DresslerWallace BeeryRobert YoungAnnie the tugboat captain tries to help two young lovers come together.
- DirectorHarry BeaumontRobert Z. LeonardStarsAnn HardingRobert MontgomeryMyrna LoyMary, a writer working on a novel about a love triangle, is attracted to her publisher. Her suitor Jimmy is determined to break them up; he introduces Mary to the publisher's wife without telling Mary who she is.
- DirectorLowell ShermanStarsKatharine HepburnDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Adolphe MenjouWhen a naively innocent, aspiring actress arrives on the Broadway scene, she is taken under the wing of several theater veterans who mentor her to ultimate success.
- DirectorSidney FranklinStarsJohn BarrymoreDiana WynyardFrank MorganAn archduke who had been banished from Austria returns to Vienna for a reunion of his old fellow aristocrats and meets up with the former love of his life, who is now married to a psychoanalyst.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsFredric MarchClaudette ColbertElissa LandiA Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero.
- DirectorGregory La CavaStarsWalter HustonKaren MorleyFranchot ToneA political hack becomes President during the height of the Depression and undergoes a metamorphosis into an incorruptible statesman after a near-fatal accident.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsWallace BeeryGeorge RaftJackie CooperIn New York's Bowery during the Gay Nineties, a saloon owner and a rebel share a rivalry.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsNorma ShearerClark GableAlexander KirklandAfter Nina Leeds finds out that insanity runs in her husband's family, she has a love child with a handsome doctor and lets her husband believes the child is his.
- DirectorWilliam K. HowardStarsSpencer TracyColleen MooreRalph MorganThe tragic life story of a power-hungry industrialist is recounted in the aftermath of his death.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsJames CagneyJoan BlondellRuby KeelerChester Kent struggles against time, romance, and a rival's spy to produce spectacular live "prologues" for movie houses.
- DirectorEdward H. GriffithStarsLouise Closser HaleJohn BealHenry TraversStella and Victor meet in Europe, fall deeply in love, and marry soon thereafter. Then they sail back to the States to meet Victor's family, and the honeymoon is over: Victor's family, dominated by his manipulative mother, find Stella -- a free spirit -- pretentious and aloof. Their marriage starts to fall apart when Victor begins siding with his family instead of his wife.
- DirectorJohn G. AdolfiStarsGeorge ArlissDoris KenyonMargaret LindsayWriter and philosopher Voltaire, loyal to his king, Louis XV of France, nonetheless writes scathingly of the king's disdain for the rights and needs of his people. Louis admires Voltaire but is increasingly influenced against him by his minister, the Count de Sarnac. Louis's mistress, the courtesan Madame de Pompadour, is Voltaire's protector and advocate, but even she has difficulty preserving his welfare when Voltaire publicly excoriates the king for the wrongful execution of one of his subjects, Calas. Voltaire gives refuge to Calas's daughter and endeavors to show the king the error of his ways. But the Count de Sarnac, with an agenda of intrigue and disloyalty, determines to do away with the troublesome Voltaire.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsJan KiepuraSonnie HaleMagda SchneiderAn Italian operatic tenor is dominated by his female business manager.
- DirectorMerian C. CooperErnest B. SchoedsackStarsFay WrayRobert ArmstrongBruce CabotA film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.
- DirectorHarry d'Abbadie d'ArrastStarsJohn BarrymoreMyrna LoyReginald MasonAn honest and naive schoolteacher gets a lesson in how the world works outside the classroom, when a rich Baron and his mistress use the teacher's name and outstanding reputation in a crooked business scheme.
- DirectorRowland V. LeeStarsLoretta YoungGene RaymondO.P. HeggieAn orphan girl escapes her caregivers to be with a young man raised at the zoo whose only previous friends are the animals.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsWarren WilliamJoan BlondellAline MacMahonA wealthy composer rescues unemployed Broadway performers with a new play, but insists on remaining anonymous.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsEdward G. RobinsonBebe DanielsAline MacMahonYates and Sarah Martin are barely getting by in a Colorado boom town grocery store. Sudden wealth leads to greater prosperity and political power. In Denver Yates buys a mansion and builds an opera house. He leaves Sarah for glamorous Lily and, when he makes it to Washington as Senator, marries her. When the gold standard is introduced, he's ruined.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsLionel BarrymoreMiriam HopkinsFranchot ToneA divorcée leaves New York to visit her grandfather's farm and recover in the Midwest, where she unexpectedly falls in love with a married farmer.
- DirectorDudley MurphyWilliam C. de MilleStarsPaul RobesonDudley DiggesFrank H. WilsonUnscrupulously ambitious Brutus Jones escapes from jail after killing a guard and through bluff and bravado finds himself the emperor of a Caribbean island.
- DirectorJames CruzeH. Bruce HumberstoneErnst LubitschStarsGary CooperCharles LaughtonW.C. FieldsA dying tycoon gives million-dollar windfalls to eight people picked from the city directory.
- DirectorWesley RugglesStarsMae WestCary GrantGregory RatoffCircus performer Tira seeks a better life pursuing the company of wealthy New York men with improbable comic complications along the way.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsJohn BarrymoreHelen HayesClark GablePolio breaks out in Rio de Janeiro, the serum is in Santiago and there's only one way to get the medicine where it's desperately needed: flown in by daring pilots who risk the treacherous weather and forbidding peaks of the Andes.
- DirectorWalter LangStarsElissa LandiDavid MannersErnest TruexIn Pontus, the land of the Amazons, gender roles and natures are completely reversed: men stay at home and take care of the children and women are the strong sex, thanks to the sacred girdle of the Roman goddess Diana. It is in the care of Queen Hippolyta and her sister Antiope, the commander of the female armed forces. Only Sapiens, Queen Hippolyta's new husband, advocates women's rights.
- DirectorRichard WallaceStarsRonald ColmanElissa LandiJuliette ComptonRonald Colman plays an MP addicted to drugs, and a double recruited to cover for him.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsWill RogersMarian NixonVera AllenDoc Bull, a no-nonsense country doctor who has served his community for decades, fights small-town prejudice and provincialism in several crises.
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsHelen HayesClark GableLewis StoneA young woman falls in love with a dashing officer, but becomes a nun when she believes him to be killed in battle.
- DirectorJohn S. RobertsonStarsLionel BarrymoreMay RobsonDorothy JordanDr. Eli Watt, a widower, comes to a small town, considering himself a failure in his attempt to have a meaningful career in New York. He raises his son Jimmy as well as Letty, a baby whose mother has died in childbirth and whose father blames Watt and abandons the child. Watt dreams of returning to do research studies, but something always gets in the way: an epidemic, his children's needs, or the needs of his generally ungrateful patients. Only with the passing years does he come to find that his future isn't over and his past isn't quite the failure he believed.
- DirectorElliott NugentStarsClaudette ColbertRichard ArlenMary BolandNellie Rimplegar has to tell her grown children that due to her bungled handling of their finances, the family has been wiped out by the Stock Market crash. Friend and family doctor, Alan Stevens, tells them they'll all need to eliminate their extravagant ways and get jobs. Stevens also rents a room in their house more as a way to be near pretty Elizabeth Rimplegar, than to help their finances. Stevens faces competition from Elizabeth's beau, Ronald, a free-loading writer who remains oblivious to her money woes.
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsJean HarlowLee TracyFrank MorganA glamorous film star rebels against the studio, her pushy press agent and a family of hangers-on.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsRobert MontgomeryWalter HustonMadge EvansIn 1918, U.S. Navy Lt. Tommy Knowlton participates in dangerous submarine missions, disobeys orders, gets court-martialed and romances a married woman who happens to be his C.O.'s daughter.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsHarry BaurRobert LynenLouis GauthierA red-haired boy is his mother's punching bag ; only his father's presence is a great comfort to him,but this weak man is under the shrew's thumb. His pain is so great he feels suicidal.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsMarlene DietrichBrian AherneLionel AtwillLily falls in love with the sculptor who leaves her out of fear of commitment.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenrietta CrosmanHeather AngelNorman FosterA possessive mother pushes her son into World War I service rather than see him get married.
- DirectorStephen RobertsStarsGary CooperFay WrayFrances FullerMiddle-aged dentist Biff Grimes reminisces about his unrequited love for beautiful Virginia Brush and her husband Hugo, his ex-friend, who betrayed him.
- DirectorJames CruzeStarsBen LyonClaudette ColbertErnest TorrenceAn investigative reporter romances a suspected smuggler's daughter.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsBarbara StanwyckNils AstherToshia MoriA Chinese warlord and an engaged Christian missionary fall in love.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsIrene DunneWalter HustonConrad NagelA prison reformer and a controversial judge fall in love and have a child out of wedlock.
- DirectorMarion GeringStarsSylvia SidneyDonald CookMary AstorJennie Gerhardt is a destitute young woman. While working in a hotel in Columbus, Ohio, Jennie meets George Brander, a United State Senator, who becomes infatuated with her. He helps her family and declares his wish to marry her.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsRaymond CordyHenri MarchandRolla FranceSeeking better life, two convicts escape from prison.