Early Sound Movies Watchlist (20s/30s)
only sound movies, some earlier than 1930
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_early_sound_feature_films_(1926%E2%80%931929)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_early_sound_feature_films_(1926%E2%80%931929)
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- DirectorAlan CroslandStarsAl JolsonMay McAvoyWarner OlandThe son of a Jewish Cantor must defy the traditions of his religious father in order to pursue his dream of becoming a jazz singer.
- DirectorBryan FoyStarsHelene CostelloCullen LandisMary CarrA gangster frames two bootleggers for the shooting of a police officer in New York during the prohibition.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsAl JolsonBetty BronsonJosephine DunnA singing waiter and composer (Al Jolson) loves two women (Betty Bronson, Josephine Dunn), conquers Broadway and holds his dying son, singing "Sonny Boy."
- DirectorPál FejösStarsBarbara KentGlenn TryonFay HoldernessTwo lonely people in the big city meet and enjoy the thrills of an amusement park, only to lose each other in the crowd after spending a great day together. Will they ever see each other again?
- DirectorMichael CurtizDarryl F. ZanuckStarsDolores CostelloGeorge O'BrienNoah BeeryThe Biblical story of Noah and the Great Flood, with a parallel story of soldiers in the First World War.
- DirectorLothar MendesRoy PomeroyStarsEvelyn BrentClive BrookWilliam PowellParamount's 1st ALL TALKIE Reported killed in action, Philip Voaze(William Powell) lives under an assumed name in London. Deborah Kane(Evelyn Brent) a former love, discovers him and tries to blackmail his wife, Faith(Doris Kenyon), who has since remarried. Learning of this attempt and that he has a fatal heart disease, he kills Deborah and turns himself in to the police.
- DirectorCharles ReisnerStarsKarl DaneGeorge K. ArthurJean ArthurOscar, a tough guard at Newberry Prison, gets into an argument with Jerry, a smallish barber. He causes Jerry to be arrested as a fugitive, and gets him sent to Newberry. It's not long before both men fall in love with Mary, the daughter of the warden. Oscar gets Jerry put on the prison football team, where he is the smallest guy there, figuring that he will look like a fool in front of Mary and then she will pick Oscar. However, things don't turn out quite the way Oscar planned.
- DirectorIrving CummingsRaoul WalshStarsEdmund LoweWarner BaxterDorothy BurgessA charming, happy-go-lucky bandit in old Arizona plays cat-and-mouse with the sheriff trying to catch him while he romances a local beauty.
- DirectorHoward HigginStarsPhyllis HaverAlan HaleFred KohlerSailors find a baby in a rowboat and head to shore to find a woman who knows how to care for it.
- DirectorLynn ShoresStarsDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Marceline DayHenry B. WalthallWhen Steve Maxwell and flapper Sue Randall wreck her father's automobile during a drunken escapade, her father exploits the mishap and blackmails Steve's father into supporting an illegal contract in city affairs.
- DirectorHarry BeaumontStarsBessie LoveAnita PageCharles KingA pair of sisters from the vaudeville circuit try to make it big time on Broadway, but matters of the heart complicate the attempt.
- DirectorRowland V. LeeStarsGeorge BancroftOlga BaclanovaNancy CarrollA ruthless stockbroker sells short in the copper business and ruins the life of his friends by ruining their finances.
- DirectorHoward HigginStarsWilliam BoydAlan HaleRobert ArmstrongA film about male bonding. At the end of WW I, two Americans (William Boyd and Robert Armstrong) befriend a simple minded German (Alan Hale) and win him over into becoming an American. All three are still peacetime service members in the US Marines when an unscrupulous character steals Boyd's girl and his two buddies go off to rescue her. When they don't come back, Boyd goes after them to rescue all. This is all done in flashback from a court martial trial for desertion.
- DirectorMalcolm St. ClairFrank TuttleStarsWilliam PowellJean ArthurJames HallA beautiful showgirl, nicknamed 'the Canary', is a scheming nightclub singer. Blackmailing is her game and soon ends up dead. But who killed 'the Canary'. All the suspects who knew her had been used by her. The only witness to the crime was also killed. Only one man, debonair detective, Philo Vance, might be able to figure out who silenced 'the Canary'.
- DirectorRobert MiltonLouis J. GasnierStarsRuth ChattertonFredric MarchJohn CromwellThe Dummy is a 1929 American comedy film directed by Robert Milton and written by Harriet Ford, Harvey J. O'Higgins, Herman J. Mankiewicz and Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The film stars Fredric March, John Cromwell, Fred Kohler, Mickey Bennett, Vondell Darr, Jack Oakie and ZaSu Pitts. The film was released on March 9, 1929, by Paramount Pictures.
- DirectorPaul SloaneStarsStepin FetchitClarence MuseEugene JacksonNappus, an elderly farmer, resents the fact that his daughter Chloe is married to a lazy layabout named Gummy, who allows Chloe to do all the house and farm work he himself should be doing. Chloe has to care for her two children, Trailia and Chiquapin, while managing all of Gummy's duties as well, and she is worn down by her labors. When Chloe and the child Trailia become dangerously ill, Gummy obtains the services of a voodoo doctor instead of a real medical doctor, with tragic results. Nappus decides he will somehow raise the money to send his grandson Chiquapin to medical school.
- DirectorBert GlennonStarsFred Waring and His PennsylvaniansMorton DowneyBarbara BennettThis is RKO's first sound musical. It centers on a pair of vaudevillians who are quite close on and off the stage until a dashing millionaire comes around and begins wooing the female partner.
- DirectorLewis SeilerStarsSue CarolNick StuartWilliam RussellIn his last film, silent star William Russell plays the motorcycle policeman father of one of the restless and reckless new generation of late 1920s youth.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsWallace BeeryFlorence VidorWarner OlandSociety woman Joan Fry falls in love with Chuck Riley, the white leader of a powerful gang in Chinatown, and he quickly drags her down into the depths with him. But seeing her so much in love with him causes him to realize that he is in love with her, and he determines to lift her up again. "Boston" Charley, the rival gang-leader, has other plans.
- DirectorDorothy ArznerStarsClara BowFredric MarchMarceline DayWild girls at a college pay more attention to parties than their classes. But when one party girl, Stella Ames, goes too far at a local bar and lands in trouble, her professor must rescue her. Gossip linking the two escalates until Stella proves that she is decent by shielding an innocent girl and winning the professor's respect.
- DirectorSam TaylorStarsMary PickfordJohnny Mack BrownMatt MooreA flirtatious Southern belle is compromised with one of her suitors.
- DirectorWillard MackStarsRobert AmesWillard MackSylvia FieldAn escaped convict and the detective tasked with hunting him down end up working in parallel to clear the convict's name and nab the gangsters that framed him.
- DirectorVictor SchertzingerStarsRichard DixHelen KaneLouis John BartelsA young man bets $10,000 that he can tell for 24 hour nothing but the truth.
- DirectorRoland WestStarsChester MorrisHarry StubbsMae BuschChick Williams, a prohibition gangster, rejoins his mob soon after being released from prison. When a policeman is murdered during a robbery, he falls under suspicion. The gangster took Joan, a policeman's daughter, to the theater, sneaked out during the intermission to commit the crime, then used her to support his alibi. The detective squad employs its most sophisticated and barbaric techniques, including planting an undercover agent in the gang, to bring him to justice.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsClaudette ColbertDavid NewellNellie SavageMrs. Ramsey sent Jean Oliver to prison on a false charge. To get even, Jean (disguised as Madame Mystera) plans to kidnap her daughter and turn her into a thief. Love entanglements with a gangster known as "The Fox" and newspaperman Grant complicate her plans.
- DirectorF. Richard JonesStarsRonald ColmanClaud AllisterLawrence GrantA bored WWI veteran helps out a young woman whose uncle is being held hostage by embezzlers.
- DirectorMillard WebbStarsWalter HustonKay FrancisCharles RugglesA driven newspaperman misses out on the joys and sorrows of ordinary life.
- DirectorBradley BarkerStarsMorton DowneyBeryl MercerJohn T. DoyleYoung Irish lad Tommy O'Day, who lives in a poor section of New York's Lower East Side, is blessed with a beautiful singing voice. After an argument with his father, who accuses him of stealing the family's life savings, Tommy leaves home and gets a job singing in a cabaret. He is successful and soon lands the lead in a Broadway revue. On opening night, just as he is about to go on stage, he receives word that his mother, who he has not seen since he left home, is dying and wants to see him.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsVictor McLaglenMyrna LoyDavid TorrenceCaptain Donald King of the British Army goes to India just as World War I breaks out, convincing his comrades that he is a coward. In reality, he is on a secret mission to rescue British soldiers held prisoner there.
- DirectorAlexander KordaStarsAlice JoyceRichard TuckerMyrna LoyThe activities of Nubi (Myrna Loy), a minx-like, Hungarian gypsy girl who, while on the run from her abusive husband, takes shelter in a farmhouse, where she seduces and holds in thrall all the male members of the family.
- DirectorRowland V. LeeStarsOlga BaclanovaClive BrookNeil HamiltonThe commissioner of a remote outpost in Africa has a mistress who is so sexy and seductive that she has made several of the local white men kill themselves. She learns that the commissioner's brother is coming to the outpost to be his assistant, and she comes up with a plan to set her sights on him.
- DirectorWilliam K. HowardStarsPaul MuniMarguerite ChurchillJohnny Mack BrownAfter killing an unknown man for an unknown reason, a mysterious drifter turns himself to the law under a false name, intending to protect his own family's honor. But when the news of his conviction breaks, the drifter's sister considers the possibility that the man is her long-lost brother.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsArmidaDon TerryMarjorie KaneIn a cantina across the border, Bob Hamlin shoots a man that threatens his friend. He and his pals escape but return that night for the dance as Bob is attracted to Conchita. Running once more from the Rurales, Bob takes Conchita. They escape again only to find themselves pinned down when Buck and his gang of horse thieves attack.
- DirectorPál FejösStarsGlenn TryonEvelyn BrentMerna KennedyA naive young dancer in a Broadway show innocently gets involved in backstage bootlegging and murder.
- DirectorFrank TuttleStarsNeil HamiltonDoris HillWarner OlandPhilandering actor Richard Hardell is murdered at a movie studio. His jealous wife Blanche, his director Rupert Borka, and a girl he mistreated, Helen MacDonald, all have substantial reasons for having wanted him dead.
- DirectorJohn Francis DillonStarsBillie DoveAntonio MorenoThelma ToddIn French Indochina, a magistrate is assigned to investigate the murder of his boss. Unknown to him, the boss had a policy of requiring the wives of his subordinates to sleep with him if they wanted their husbands to get promoted. What he also didn't know was that his wife was in the boss' office when he was killed. Complications ensue.
- DirectorBayard VeillerStarsNorma ShearerLewis StoneH.B. WarnerBroadway showgirl Mary Dugan is charged with murder in the knifing death of her wealthy lover and goes on trial for her life. When her defense counsel appears to bungle his job, Mary's brother Jimmy, a newly-licensed attorney, jumps into the case to defend his sister. Jimmy's courtroom style is unconventional, but he seems to be holding his own against the prosecuting attorney--until a surprise testimony changes the course of the trial.
- DirectorWilliam C. de MilleStarsConrad NagelBessie LoveLeila HyamsMillionaire William van Luyn falls in love with his secretary Joan Thayer and marries her. Her family, part of "the great middle class" (as blowhard nephew Henry keeps reminding us), is happy for Joan, but reluctant to take charity from Will. He moves in with them, and they keep resisting, until one day he takes drastic action.
- DirectorVictor SchertzingerStarsRichard DixEsther RalstonO.P. HeggieCaptain Yeullat, a young British officer, prevents a young woman from drowning herself in the Thames, but she disappears before he learns her identity. Later in India, he meets her as the wife of Colonel Dangan, and they fall in love.
- DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsGeorge BancroftFay WrayRichard ArlenA criminal known as Thunderbolt is imprisoned and facing execution. Into the next cell is placed Bob Moran, an innocent man who has been framed and who is in love with Thunderbolt's girl. Thunderbolt hopes to stave off the execution long enough to kill young Moran for romancing his girl.
- DirectorCharles ReisnerChristy CabanneNorman HoustonStarsConrad NagelJack BennyJohn GilbertAn all-star revue featuring MGM contract players.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsWilliam BoydMarie PrevostTom O'BrienA man protective of his brother checks out the girl his brother is in love with, in order to see if she's the real thing or just trying to take advantage of him. Unfortunately, he winds up falling in love with her himself.
- DirectorFrank R. StrayerStarsPatsy Ruth MillerFord SterlingGertrude AstorTom Ford, Jr., keeps secret his romance with his father's secretary, Eve Grant. Ford, Sr., enlists Eve to entertain out-of-town buyer Mr. Mack. When Mack's wife insists on joining the nightclub party, Eve is introduced as Mrs. Ford. While listening to a radio broadcast from the nightclub, Mrs. Ford is alarmed by the announcement that a certain dance tune has been requested by "Mr. and Mrs. Tom Ford." Ford enlists his son to help extricate him from his difficulties with the boorish couple. Tom agrees to help if Ford, Sr., will consent to his marriage. After the party moves to the Ford home, the intoxicated Mr. Mack and his corpulent wife decide to stay the night. As they are about to retire, Mrs. Ford returns and calls the police, having seen an unfamiliar figure raiding her icebox. Tom explains the situation to everyone's satisfaction and introduces Eve as his bride.
- DirectorHoward HigginStarsWilliam BoydCarole LombardOwen MooreA busload of passengers gets stranded in a snowstorm and take refuge in an abandoned church, where they run into a mysterious man who may be on the run from the law.
- DirectorVictor SchertzingerStarsAdolphe MenjouFay ComptonMiriam SeegarA concert pianist, the romantic idol of many women, is seduced away from his wife. The seductress's husband takes in the pianist's wife, and all four pretend to be happy with the new arrangement.
- DirectorRichard WallaceStarsCharles 'Buddy' RogersMary BrianJune CollyerMississippi, 1830's. Tom Rumsford comes back to Magnolia Landing, his parents'estate. Having been brought up in the North by Quaker relatives, he just hates violence and accordingly refuses a duel. As this is the only way in the South to settle a dispute between gentlemen, Tom's father is so infuriated by his behavior that Tom has no other choice but leave. Away from Magnolia Landing, Tom learns bravery and returns seven years later as "the notorious Colonel Blake", the terror of the Lower Mississippi...
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsAlice WhiteMarion ByronSally EilersA Chorus girl who is in love with her stage manager is led to believe that he is in love with another young woman, so, she agrees to marry a bootlegger instead.
- DirectorIrving CummingsStarsWarner BaxterLois MoranGilbert EmeryEve Mannering realizes too late that her abusive husband is a philanderer and murderer and seeks protection with her true love, explorer John Beetham.
- DirectorNat RossStarsGeorge J. LewisEddie PhillipsDorothy GulliverA college football player protects his friend by pretending that it was he, not the friend, who drank himself unconscious the night before the big game.
- DirectorLothar MendesStarsClara BowRichard ArlenKay FrancisA young bareback rider in a circus is in love with a trapeze artist, but he has two problems: he drinks too much and he's fallen under the spell of a "vamp" who's nothing but trouble for him.