The Best of 1934
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- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsTakeshi SakamotoChôko IidaKôji MitsuiA kabuki actor's mistress hatches a jealous plot to bring down her lover's son.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorMark SandrichStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersAlice BradyA woman thinks a flirting man is the co-respondent her lawyer has hired to expedite her divorce.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsLeslie BanksEdna BestPeter LorreAn ordinary British couple vacationing in Switzerland suddenly find themselves embroiled in a case of international intrigue when their daughter is kidnapped by spies plotting a political assassination.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsBette DavisLeslie HowardFrances DeeA young man finds himself attracted to a cold, unfeeling waitress who might ultimately destroy them both.
- DirectorHarold YoungStarsLeslie HowardMerle OberonRaymond MasseyA noblewoman discovers her husband is The Scarlet Pimpernel, a vigilante who rescues aristocrats from the blade of the guillotine.
- DirectorMarion GeringStarsSylvia SidneyCary GrantEdward ArnoldA European princess arrives in New York City to secure a much-needed loan for her country. She contracts the mumps, and an actress who looks exactly like her is hired to impersonate her.
- DirectorWilliam K. HowardStarsWilliam PowellMyrna LoyUna MerkelThe neglected wife of a high profile attorney dallies with a unscrupulous womanizer and finds herself involved in blackmail and murder.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsSpencer TracyJack OakieConstance CummingsJoe and Casey trouble-shoot for the phone company. They try to prove that Joes's girl Ethel's boss Dan is a crook but are trapped by criminals and left in a burning building.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsIsuzu YamadaDaijirô NatsukawaMitsusaburô RamonIn Tokyo, Osen is the servant girl of an unscrupulous antiques dealer, Kumazawa, who takes in the penniless Sokichi Hata. Kumazawa mistreats Sokichi and Osen, while swindling some Buddhist monks out of their temple treasures. When Kumazawa is arrested, Osen agrees to help Sokichi finance his dream of going to medical school. They live in a humble room, and eventually the only way Osen can find enough money for them is to prostitute herself during the day, without Sokichi knowing.
- DirectorLee GarmesBen HechtCharles MacArthurStarsClaude RainsMargoWhitney BourneProminent lawyer shoots unfaithful girlfriend during quarrel, has to establish alibi.
- 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.
- DirectorLambert HillyerStarsJack HoltJean ArthurNat PendletonThe assistant (Arthur) of a sleazy lawyer (Holt) is determined to end his cheating ways.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsWarren WilliamMary AstorGinger RogersA rich man (Warren William) starts an affair with a showgirl (Ginger Rogers), and when the girl's manager (J. Carrol Naish), finds out, he decides to blackmail him.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsVictor McLaglenBoris KarloffWallace FordA dozen British soldiers, lost in a Mesopotamian desert during World War I, are menaced by unseen Arab enemies.
- DirectorDziga VertovStarsDolores IbárruriNadezhda KrupskayaVladimir LeninThree anonymous songs about Lenin provide the basis for this documentary that celebrates the achievements of the Soviet Union and Lenin's role in creating them.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsBarbara StanwyckWarren WilliamGlenda FarrellBefore Ruth Vincent, daughter of a state governor, and state attorney general Robert Sheldon can announce their marriage, the governor is accused of bribe-taking. To avoid the appearance of conflict of interest, they decide to keep their marriage secret. The political intrigue becomes more involved, and no one is quite what they seem. Soon Sheldon and Ruth must decide between saving the governor's career and an innocent person's life.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsDick PowellRuby KeelerPat O'BrienMusical-romance with Powell as private in Hawaii involved with general's daughter Keeler. Break up to avoid scandal but reunite years later when he produces play at West Point starring her.
- 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.
- DirectorRay EnrightStarsJames CagneyPatricia EllisAllen JenkinsTrucker Eddie Kennedy gets involved with the law when he has an car accident with Ann Reid and knocks the owner of a dairy out. He evades a penalty when he claims, that he had done it as an act of solidarism with the farmers. The farmers start an boycott action against this dairy, so the owner has to bring milk from elsewhere to his dairy, but the farmers closed the road, and Kennedy is arrested once more. He leaves jail at night to meet Ann, but meanwhile the owner has asked some mobsters to deliver the milk. One of the farmers is murdered, Ann Reid is missing and Eddie Kennedy is accused of murder.
- DirectorErle C. KentonStarsW.C. FieldsJoan MarshBuster CrabbeA hard-drinking, socially-awkward inventor wrecks his daughter's chances of marriage into a rich family and bungles his own chances of success by selling one of his more practical inventions.
- DirectorHarry L. FraserStarsJohn WayneAlberta VaughnGeorge 'Gabby' HayesJailed for murders he didn't commit, Randy escapes only to stumble into the den of the real murderers.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsKay FrancisRicardo CortezWarner OlandAbandoned by her lover, a woman becomes the main "hostess" in a decadent nightclub, but tries to put her past behind her on a steamer to Mandalay.
- 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.
- DirectorAlan CroslandStarsWarren WilliamMary AstorAllen JenkinsAn agitated and desperate man spares no expense in insisting that Mason represent him against a neighbor's howling dog and act as executor of his will.
- DirectorH. Bruce HumberstoneStarsWarren WilliamMargaret LindsayLyle TalbotThe Stamm family gives a small party prior to daughter Bernice's marriage to socialite Monty, but all of the guests seem to be against the match.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsJoan BlondellWarren WilliamEdward Everett HortonVicki Wallace (Joan Blondell) takes great pleasure in teasing her husband,Tony Wallace (Warren William), who takes no pleasure at all in being teased and it isn't long before he ups and clips her on the chin. Vicki's friend and attorney, Vernon Thorpe (Edward Everett Horton), secures a divorce for her, and Vicki and Vernon are soon married. Vicki's yen for wearing revealing clothes and a penchant for inviting ex-husband Tony to dinner soon provokes the easily-provoked Vernon into belting one on her himself. She goes to Tony's apartment, where Tony is entertaining Bonnie (Joan Wheeler), who is not all that entertained by the presence of Vicki, especially after Vicki shows every intent of moving in and staying. Vernon shows up with George (Frank McHugh) and Anita (Claire Dood), evidently along so F. Hugh Herbert's lines can be spread among five players instead of three, and Vicki more or less tells Vernon that as long as she is going to be slugged by a husband, she will just go back to Tony because he is a better slugger...or something. A pre-production code film and one of the reasons for the creation of same.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsWarren WilliamJean MuirAllen JenkinsBob Brown uses his bedside manner to charm his patients while his partner makes the actual diagnoses.
- DirectorRaymond BernardStarsHarry BaurCharles VanelPaul AzaïsThe lives of numerous people over the course of 20 years in 19th century France, weaved together by the story of an ex-convict named Jean Valjean on the run from an obsessive police inspector, who pursues him for only a minor offense.
- DirectorBéla GaálStarsZita PerczelElla GombaszögiKlári TolnayA light hearted comedy, from the thirties. One of the most successful ones in Hungary. The ever enchanting story of a beautiful girl falling in love with a rich man.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsCharles RugglesMary BolandW.C. FieldsWhen a respectable middle-class couple take a cross-country trip by auto, they share expenses with a decidedly oddball couple, none of whom know the car carries embezzled funds.
- DirectorWilfred JacksonStarsKenny BakerJessica DragonetteTudor WilliamsThe lovely goddess of spring, Persephone, is kidnapped by Hades, thus bringing about the winter season.
- DirectorGus MeinsStarsThelma ToddPatsy KellyJack BartyThelma and Patsy get jobs demonstrating washing machines in a department store window. However, on their first day on the job, they accidentally get locked in the store overnight.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsAline MacMahonAnn DvorakPreston FosterA lady gas station attendant gets mixed up with escaped murderers.
- 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.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsGary CooperCarole LombardShirley TempleA swindler and his girlfriend take in his young daughter, who has been living with the family of his deceased wife.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsWilliam PowellBette DavisFrank McHughWhen the Manhattan investment firm of Sherwood Nash goes broke, he joins forces with his partner Snap and fashion designer Lynn Mason to provide discount shops with cheap copies of Paris couture dresses.
- 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.
- DirectorStephen RobertsStarsFrancis LedererGinger RogersArthur HohlRejected as an immigrant because he doesn't have the required $200, a Czech immigrant jumps ship and is befriended by a chorus girl and becomes a taxi driver.
- DirectorWilli ForstStarsPaula WesselyAnton WalbrookOlga TschechowaVienna 1905: A risque drawing is published and threatens to compromise the model, a doctor's wife. Artist Heideneck protects her and invents a name. But the name exists, and this respectable lady is drawn into the artist's shady affairs.
- DirectorRoy William NeillStarsDonald CookGenevieve TobinHardie AlbrightEight people are invited to dinner in a fashionable penthouse apartment. After they are wined and dined, a voice on the radio informs them that they will be murdered unless they manage to outwit the ninth guest: Death.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsBarbara StanwyckJoel McCreaPat O'BrienLady Lee, gambler's daughter, plies her trade while pondering the proposal of a social-register suitor.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJames CagneyBette DavisAllen JenkinsAn unpolished racketeer, whose racket is finding heirs for unclaimed fortunes, affects ethics and tea-drinking manners to win back the sweetheart who now works for his seemingly upright competitor.
- DirectorFrank TuttleStarsCary GrantFrances DrakeEdward Everett HortonThe switchboard operator in an apartment building falls in love with a businessman who lives in the building, whom she has gotten to know only over the phone. When she discovers that the man's current girlfriend is actually part of a scheme to swindle him out of some mineral rights he owns, she devises a plot to save him and expose the con artists.
- 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.
- DirectorRowland V. LeeStarsRobert DonatElissa LandiLouis CalhernAfter greedy men have Edmond Dantes unjustly imprisoned for 20 years for innocently delivering a letter entrusted to him, he escapes to get his revenge on them.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsMargaret SullavanDouglass MontgomeryAlan HaleA young couple struggling against poverty must keep their marriage a secret in order for the husband to keep his job, as his boss doesn't like to hire married men.
- 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.
- DirectorJuan Bustillo OroFernando de FuentesStarsAlfredo del DiestroCarmen GuerreroAntonio R. FraustoDuring Mexican Revolution, Rosalio Mendoza (Del Diestro) survives by making and winning favors from both factions, the governmental forces and Zapata's Army. His hacienda welcomes everybody, and Mendoza is considered a good friend of his guests. Eventually, the situation becomes unsustainable and he has to take sides. Betrayal and deception overcome and Mendoza's dark side surfaces.
- DirectorWalter LangStarsWalter ConnollyRobert YoungDoris KenyonBroadway's most successful producer, John Forrester, is deeply in love with his wife Margaret and dreams of the future when his son Jack will step into his shoes. He sails to England to produce a show but the ship strikes a derelict wreckage and is sinking rapidly. In the ensuing wild panic, Forrester saves many lives, until finally, panic stricken by sudden fear, he dons a woman's clothes and is among the rescued. On the coast of Newfoundland, the villagers, not aware of his true identity, curse him but he is befriended by Alec who helps him conceal his identity. With a planned story of his survival, he returns to New York but cannot face his family or friends after he sees the plaque to his heroism on his New York theatre. Deciding to remain thought of as dead, he becomes a derelict himself, surviving on odd jobs as he watches from afar his now-grown son begin his career as a producer. The son meets with failure and Forrester, claiming to be an old friend of his father, goes to him and renders assistance as Jack works on a new play. It is a success and Jack brings his mother to meet his mentor. She recognizes him as her husband and, after Jack has left the room, the two of them decide they still have happiness ahead of them, without Jack having to know the truth.
- DirectorFred WallerStarsCab CallowaySidney EastonFredi WashingtonThis jazz musical short has a comedy plot about marital infidelity.
- DirectorRay EnrightBusby BerkeleyStarsJoan BlondellDick PowellRuby KeelerA multimillionaire decides to boycott "filthy" forms of entertainment such as Broadway shows.
- DirectorAlexander EswayBilly WilderStarsDanielle DarrieuxPierre MingandRaymond GalleAfter his father sells his car, Henri "borrows" a stranger's car in order to make a date with a young woman. This act sees him fall foul of a gang of car thieves but after some discussion he joins their gang.
- DirectorAlfred L. WerkerSidney LanfieldStarsGeorge ArlissBoris KarloffLoretta YoungThe wealthy Rothschild family undergoes prejudice from the anti-Semitic society they live within.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsJune BrewsterCarol TevisGrady SuttonA young girl's father disapproves of her boyfriend and forbids her from seeing him. Defying her dad, she sneaks him into the house disguised as one of her "girlfriends". Unfortunately, one of her father's friends sees "her" and immediately falls in love.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsClaudette ColbertWarren WilliamHenry WilcoxonThe man-hungry Queen of Egypt leads Julius Caesar and Marc Antony astray, amid scenes of DeMillean splendor.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsWarner BaxterMyrna LoyWalter ConnollyA runaway heiress and her sister's husband join forces to race the latter's fast horse, Broadway Bill.
- DirectorDavid BurtonStarsCarole LombardMay RobsonRoger PryorAn elderly, brash drunk is hired to help improve the image of a controversial dancer, and the two women form an unlikely friendship.
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsEvelyn VenableMary MorrisAnne RevereIn New York in 1910, wealthy spinster Victoria Van Brett controls with an iron hand both the family fortune and the lives of her younger sister Caroline and half brother Rip. When Rip marries Anne Darrow, a nurse who saved his life, Victoria does everything in her power to ruin the marriage, asserting that Anne only loves Rip for his money. First, Victoria steals Rip's wedding present to Anne, his mother's pearls, which Victoria claims are not his to give. Next, she secretly writes Rip out of the family will, then calls him home early from his honeymoon to make him executor of the family millions, which leaves him little time for his bride. Victoria then restricts Anne's use of the family's Fifth Avenue mansion and only addresses her indirectly as "that woman." Meanwhile, Victoria tells Caroline that unless she cooperates with her treatment of Anne, she will lock her in the secret soundproof vault where their father died. Caroline's own romantic happiness was spoiled by Victoria years earlier, and she lives in daily terror of her sister's malicious manipulations. After many months of constant battering and humiliation, Anne goes to her friend, Dr. John Lucas, whom she was going to marry before she met Rip, for help. John suggests that Anne fight Victoria's tyranny and start inviting her own friends to the Van Brett home. That night, Anne invites John to dinner, and in the presence of family lawyer Mortimer Neff, Victoria accuses Anne of having an affair with him. Earlier in the day, Anne was forced to lie to Rip about visiting John unchaperoned. Under the weight of Victoria's present accusations, however, she admits her lie, swearing that John has not betrayed Rip's friendship. Finally overcoming Victoria's lifelong tyranny, Rip promises to take Anne from the house that night, forfeiting what he believes is his inheritance. When Anne comes downstairs with her suitcase, however, Victoria lures her into the vault by promising to give her the pearls and shuts the door. Caroline wakes at Anne's cry, but Victoria tells her it was only a dream and threatens to consign her to a mental institution. Victoria then tells Rip that Anne has eloped with John and dismisses the servants, planning to close up the house for a year. When John appears the next morning without any word from Anne, Rip becomes suspicious. The dog then barks at the wall that conceals the vault, and Caroline confesses that she heard a scream the night before and reveals the vault. Rip bends Victoria's arm to make her open the safe and discovers Anne, who has fainted. Although Victoria tries one last time to lure Caroline into the safe, Mortimer stops her, threatening to put her in prison unless she writes Rip back into the will. Caroline leaves the house with Anne and Rip, and after Mortimer leaves, Victoria goes into the safe to get the pearls, and the door locks behind her.
- 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.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsFrankie DarroGeorge P. BreakstonJimmy ButlerFrail Nemecsek, a lonely boy craving belonging, idolizes charismatic Boka, leader of a gang, in an evocative depiction of youth's pain and war's senselessness.
- DirectorWesley RugglesMitchell LeisenStarsGeorge RaftCarole LombardSally RandEgotistical nightclub dance performer Raoul has the determination to succeed at all costs, and the only woman in his life who truly matters to him is a dancing partner named Helen.