1936: Year's Best Movies
by doxxman5 | created - 27 Aug 2019 | updated - 2 months ago | Publicbest of
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1. Modern Times (1936)
G | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Tiny Sandford
Votes: 259,561 | Gross: $0.16M
2. Swing Time (1936)
Passed | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Roguish gambler/dancer "Lucky" Garnett is challenged by his fiance's father to come up with $25,000 to prove he's worthy of her hand. But after he falls in love with a dance instructor, Lucky'll do anything to keep from earning the bucks.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, Helen Broderick
Votes: 14,588
3. Fury (1936)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
When a wrongly-accused prisoner barely survives a lynch-mob attack and is presumed dead, he vindictively decides to fake his death and frame the mob for his supposed murder.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Sylvia Sidney, Spencer Tracy, Walter Abel, Bruce Cabot
Votes: 13,729
4. My Man Godfrey (1936)
Approved | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A scatterbrained socialite hires a vagrant as a family butler - but there's more to Godfrey than meets the eye.
Director: Gregory La Cava | Stars: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick
Votes: 26,458
5. Dodsworth (1936)
Passed | 101 min | Drama, Romance
A retired auto manufacturer and his wife take a long-planned European vacation only to find that they want very different things from life.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, Mary Astor
Votes: 10,205
6. Things to Come (1936)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, War
The story of a century: a decades-long second World War leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and attempts space travel.
Director: William Cameron Menzies | Stars: Raymond Massey, Edward Chapman, Ralph Richardson, Margaretta Scott
Votes: 9,071
7. Sabotage (1936)
Not Rated | 76 min | Crime, Thriller
A Scotland Yard undercover detective is on the trail of a saboteur who is part of a plot to set off a bomb in London. But when the detective's cover is blown, the plot begins to unravel.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Sylvia Sidney, Oscar Homolka, Desmond Tester, John Loder
Votes: 18,746
8. Anne-Marie (1936)
109 min | Drama
Raymond Bernard's film of a script by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (The Little Prince) about a young woman who aspires to become a pilot
Director: Raymond Bernard | Stars: Annabella, Pierre Richard-Willm, Paul Azaïs, Pierre Labry
Votes: 77
9. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Not Rated | 115 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft, Lionel Stander
Votes: 23,225
10. Satan Met a Lady (1936)
Passed | 74 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
A double-crossing woman, the two-timing P.I. she hired, the corpulent "empress of crime", and a gentleman thief are all after a legendary priceless eighth-century ram's horn.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Bette Davis, Warren William, Alison Skipworth, Arthur Treacher
Votes: 2,452
11. The Milky Way (1936)
Passed | 89 min | Comedy, Family, Sport
Timid milkman, Burleigh Sullivan (Lloyd), somehow knocks out a boxing champ in a brawl. The fighter's manager decides to build up the milkman's reputation in a series of fixed fights and ... See full summary »
Directors: Leo McCarey, Ray McCarey, Norman Z. McLeod | Stars: Harold Lloyd, Adolphe Menjou, Verree Teasdale, Helen Mack
Votes: 1,843 | Gross: $1.17M
12. Show Boat (1936)
Approved | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Despite her mother's objections, the naive young daughter of a show boat captain is thrust into the limelight as the company's new leading lady.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson
Votes: 3,695
13. Sisters of the Gion (1936)
95 min | Drama
Two geisha sisters lead a hard life in the Gion district of Kyoto. After one of them feels obliged to support a bankrupt businessman, the other sister sets up various schemes to get rid of him.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Isuzu Yamada, Yôko Umemura, Benkei Shiganoya, Namiko Kawashima
Votes: 3,014
still need to see this and the films below
14. Camille (1936)
Passed | 109 min | Drama, Romance
A Parisian courtesan must choose between the young man who loves her and the callous baron who wants her, even as her own health begins to fail.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan
Votes: 8,748 | Gross: $1.15M
15. The Only Son (1936)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama
A widow sends her only son away to receive a better education. Years later, she visits him, finding him a poor school teacher with a wife and son.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chôko Iida, Shin'ichi Himori, Masao Hayama, Yoshiko Tsubouchi
Votes: 4,042
16. San Francisco (1936)
Passed | 115 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A Barbary Coast saloonkeeper and a Nob Hill impresario are rivals for the affections of a beautiful singer, both personally and professionally, in 1906 San Francisco.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy, Jack Holt
Votes: 6,105
17. The Bohemian Girl (1936)
Approved | 71 min | Comedy, Musical
A band of Gypsies is camped outside the walls of Count Arnheim's palace. Oliver's wife kidnaps the Count's daughter Arline, then leaves the child and runs off with her lover, Devilshoof. ... See full summary »
Directors: James W. Horne, Charley Rogers, Hal Roach | Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Thelma Todd, Antonio Moreno
Votes: 2,240
18. Rembrandt (1936)
Not Rated | 85 min | Biography, Drama
The respected painter takes to drink and faces down scandal after his wife dies.
Director: Alexander Korda | Stars: Charles Laughton, Gertrude Lawrence, Elsa Lanchester, Edward Chapman
Votes: 1,989
19. The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Passed | 176 min | Drama, Musical
The ups and downs of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., famed producer of extravagant stage revues, are portrayed.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer, Frank Morgan
Votes: 8,995
20. Our Relations (1936)
Approved | 71 min | Comedy, Family
Two pairs of long-lost twin brothers experience high jinks involving a valuable ring, cases of mistaken identity, and gangsters.
Director: Harry Lachman | Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Alan Hale, Sidney Toler
Votes: 3,455
21. They Were Five (1936)
100 min | Drama
Five unemployed penniless workers win 100,000 Francs with the national lottery. Instead of sharing the money, they buy a ruin and build an open-air cafe. But difficulties come to split their friendly group apart.
Director: Julien Duvivier | Stars: Jean Gabin, Charles Vanel, Raymond Aimos, Viviane Romance
Votes: 1,425
22. César (1936)
Not Rated | 168 min | Drama
Honoré Panisse is dying, cheerfully, with friends, wife, and son at his side. He confesses to the priest in front of his friends; he insists that the doctor be truthful. But, he cannot ... See full summary »
Director: Marcel Pagnol | Stars: Raimu, Pierre Fresnay, Orane Demazis, Fernand Charpin
Votes: 1,651
23. Anthony Adverse (1936)
Passed | 141 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In 18th-century Italy, an orphan's debt to the man who raised him threatens to separate him forever from the woman he loves.
Directors: Mervyn LeRoy, Michael Curtiz | Stars: Fredric March, Olivia de Havilland, Donald Woods, Anita Louise
Votes: 2,028
24. Follow the Fleet (1936)
Passed | 110 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A Navy sailor tries to rekindle a romance with the woman he loves while on liberty in San Francisco.
Director: Mark Sandrich | Stars: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Randolph Scott, Harriet Nelson
Votes: 4,720
25. The General Died at Dawn (1936)
Approved | 98 min | Action, Drama, War
Amid the anarchy of China, an American mercenary tangles with a ruthless warlord.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Gary Cooper, Madeleine Carroll, Akim Tamiroff, Dudley Digges
Votes: 1,349
26. Libeled Lady (1936)
Passed | 98 min | Comedy, Romance
When a socialite sues a big paper for libel, the editor responsible calls in the help of his ignored fiancée and a former employee to frame her and make the false story seem true.
Director: Jack Conway | Stars: Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy
Votes: 8,919
27. The Petrified Forest (1936)
Passed | 82 min | Drama, Thriller
A waitress, a hobo and a bank robber get mixed up at a lonely diner in the desert.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Leslie Howard, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Genevieve Tobin
Votes: 14,937
28. The Story of a Cheat (1936)
81 min | Comedy
A charming scoundrel reflects on his exploits, from childhood through to manhood.
Director: Sacha Guitry | Stars: Sacha Guitry, Adolphe Borchard, Marcel Lucien, Raymond Clunie
Votes: 2,537
29. Craig's Wife (1936)
Passed | 73 min | Drama
A domineering woman marries a wealthy man for his money, and then uses her position to further her own ambitions for money and power.
Director: Dorothy Arzner | Stars: Rosalind Russell, John Boles, Billie Burke, Jane Darwell
Votes: 1,013
30. The Lower Depths (1936)
Not Rated | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A charismatic thief makes friends with a bankrupt baron who comes to live in the thief's slum. Meanwhile the thief seeks the love of a young woman, who is held emotionally captive by her slumlord family.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean Gabin, Suzy Prim, Louis Jouvet, Jany Holt
Votes: 3,678
31. Three Smart Girls (1936)
Approved | 84 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Three sisters scheme to reunite their divorced parents before their wealthy father marries a conniving gold digger.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: Binnie Barnes, Charles Winninger, Alice Brady, Ray Milland
Votes: 1,528 | Gross: $3.00M
32. Men Are Not Gods (1936)
Not Rated | 82 min | Drama
Ann Williams (Miriam Hopkins), secretary to eccentric drama critic T.H. Skeates (A.E. Matthews), is persuaded to alter a ruinous review of Shakespearean actor Edmond Davey (Sebastian Shaw) ... See full summary »
Director: Walter Reisch | Stars: Miriam Hopkins, Gertrude Lawrence, Sebastian Shaw, Rex Harrison
Votes: 354
33. Forever Yours (1936)
73 min | Drama, Romance
A young British woman, tricked into believing she was used during a whirlwind romance, marries a gentle widowed Italian opera star, whose songs she and her first love shared.
Director: Zoltan Korda | Stars: Beniamino Gigli, Joan Gardner, Ivan Brandt, Jeanne Stuart
Votes: 153
34. The Plough and the Stars (1936)
Approved | 72 min | Drama
A husband clashes with his wife over his membership to the Irish citizen army.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Foster, Barry Fitzgerald, Denis O'Dea
Votes: 650
35. The Only Son (1936)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama
A widow sends her only son away to receive a better education. Years later, she visits him, finding him a poor school teacher with a wife and son.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Chôko Iida, Shin'ichi Himori, Masao Hayama, Yoshiko Tsubouchi
Votes: 4,042
36. The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936)
Unrated | 82 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
An ordinary man suddenly finds that anything he says comes true. Or at least, almost anything.
Directors: Lothar Mendes, Alexander Korda | Stars: Roland Young, Ralph Richardson, Edward Chapman, Ernest Thesiger
Votes: 1,597
37. The Story of a Cheat (1936)
81 min | Comedy
A charming scoundrel reflects on his exploits, from childhood through to manhood.
Director: Sacha Guitry | Stars: Sacha Guitry, Adolphe Borchard, Marcel Lucien, Raymond Clunie
Votes: 2,537
38. Rembrandt (1936)
Not Rated | 85 min | Biography, Drama
The respected painter takes to drink and faces down scandal after his wife dies.
Director: Alexander Korda | Stars: Charles Laughton, Gertrude Lawrence, Elsa Lanchester, Edward Chapman
Votes: 1,989
39. Mr. Thank You (1936)
76 min | Comedy, Drama
A friendly bus driver and his passengers over the duration of one journey through the mountains to the nearest train station.
Director: Hiroshi Shimizu | Stars: Ken Uehara, Ryuji Ishiyama, Einosuke Naka, Michiko Kuwano
Votes: 1,274
40. Intermezzo (I) (1936)
Approved | 86 min | Drama, Music, Romance
An innocent young pianist falls into an affair with a married violinist.
Director: Gustaf Molander | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Gösta Ekman, Inga Tidblad, Erik 'Bullen' Berglund
Votes: 1,397
41. Watch Your Left (1936)
13 min | Short, Comedy, Sport
A boxer is out in the country with his entourage, training for his next fight. Meanwhile, on the farm nearby, Roger is neglecting his chores. As he watches the boxer and his sparring ... See full summary »
Director: René Clément | Stars: Jacques Tati, Max Martel, Louis Robur, Cliville
Votes: 1,440
42. After the Thin Man (1936)
Passed | 112 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Private detective Nick Charles and his wealthy wife Nora are back home at last and hoping for a quiet New Year when there is a murder. The obvious suspect is his wife, Nora's cousin, Selma.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, James Stewart, Elissa Landi
Votes: 12,125 | Gross: $4.34M
43. Poor Little Rich Girl (1936)
Approved | 79 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
The daughter of a wealthy businessman becomes lost in the city while traveling to a new school, and is taken in by a pair of down-on-their-luck performers.
Director: Irving Cummings | Stars: Shirley Temple, Alice Faye, Gloria Stuart, Jack Haley
Votes: 1,590
44. Rose-Marie (1936)
Passed | 113 min | Adventure, Drama, Musical
An incognito opera singer falls for a policeman who has been assigned to track down her fugitive brother.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Reginald Owen, Allan Jones
Votes: 1,401
45. The Last of the Mohicans (1936)
Passed | 91 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
During the brutal French and Indian War, the legendary scout Hawkeye is prevailed upon to escort Major Duncan Heyward, and the two daughters of Fort William Henry commander Colonel Munro -- Alice and Cora -- to safety through.
Director: George B. Seitz | Stars: Randolph Scott, Binnie Barnes, Henry Wilcoxon, Bruce Cabot
Votes: 1,626
46. The Devil Is a Sissy (1936)
Passed | 92 min | Comedy, Drama
A well-bred young English lad living in lower Manhattan tries to gain acceptance from his not-so-well-bred peers at school.
Directors: W.S. Van Dyke, Rowland Brown | Stars: Freddie Bartholomew, Jackie Cooper, Mickey Rooney, Ian Hunter
Votes: 592
47. Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936)
Passed | 68 min | Mystery
A dangerous amnesiac escapes from an asylum, hides in the opera house, and is suspected of getting revenge on those who tried to murder him 13 years ago.
Director: H. Bruce Humberstone | Stars: Warner Oland, Boris Karloff, Keye Luke, Charlotte Henry
Votes: 2,268
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