best film:  The Rules of the Game is Renoir’s lyrical masterpiece. His camera glides in and out of the lives of an enchanting ensemble giving us the best film of the entire decade. 1939 may

best film:  Bringing Up Baby from Howard Hawks. Hepburn, Grant and Hawks all had a strong resume leading up to this film in the 1930’s but it wasn’t until Bringing Up Baby that they solidified

best film:  Le Grande Illusion from Renoir It is an intelligent prison film and drama—the most common words used by critics heaping praise on it are “humanist”, ”anti-war” and “graceful”. Graceful is the only one

best film:  Modern Times from Chaplin. Modern Times is easily the best film of 1936. It’s a testament to Chaplin that this film, not even his best, hovers so far above the other best films of

best film:  The Bride of Frankenstein by Whale The sequel (four years after the original apparently because Whale would only agree to do it if he had complete artistic control) lacks some of the narrative

best film:  The Scarlet Empress from von Sternberg. Along with The Blue Angel and Morocco- this gives von Sternberg three masterpieces in five years. von Sternberg is not only a central figure when it

best film:  King Kong. It is a weaker year at the top- I’ll get to it in the overrated section but there is no masterpiece in 1933. Still, King Kong is not a film to

best film:  Love Me Tonight by Mamoulian.  It’s a storytelling innovator for sure (introducing singing in the middle of a scene—not just “performance” musical like The Jazz Singer) and first musical masterpiece. But, it’s no

best film:  City Lights from Chaplin. M from Lang is a fine choice as well—both would be the single best film in virtually any year in the 1930’s (outside of perhaps 1939 with Renoir’s The

best film:  The Blue Angel from von Sternberg. Von Sternberg is as married to mise-en-scene as Renoir or Ophuls is to camera movement or Eisenstein is to montage and editing. The Blue Angel has a simple (yet

best film:  Pandora’s Box from G.W. Pabst Pabst’s film features an enthralling narrative and rich characterizations Louise Brooks and her tragic character, Lulu, are/were so influential to the time and to cinema lore (see films

best film:  The Passion of Joan of Arc from Dreyer It’s formally flawless and stylistically audacious at the same time. It’s one of the 20-25 (or so) I think you could legitimately call the greatest