1930 193119321933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939

1932 Movies

Take a nostalgic look back at the top movies of 1932, celebrating the films, directors and actors that defined the year and left a lasting legacy in the world of entertainment.

1932 Academy Awards

Horse Feathers
Written by: S. J. Perelman, Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, Will B. Johnstone, Arthur Sheekman
Directed by: Norman Z. McLeod
Starring: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Thelma Todd, David Landau
Country: United States of America
Outline: Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new president of Huxley University, hires bumblers Baravelli and Pinky to help the school win a football game against rival Darwin University. Their antics lead to a series of comedic events that challenge the traditional educational system.
source: imdb.com
Grand Hotel
Written by: Vicki Baum, William A. Drake
Directed by: Edmund Goulding
Starring: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Joan Crawford, Lewis Stone
Country: United States of America
Outline: A diverse group of individuals staying at a luxurious Berlin hotel navigate their personal dramas, intertwining their lives over a 48-hour period.
source: imdb.com
The Sign of the Cross
Written by: Jesse L. Lasky Jr., Waldemar Young, Charles Brackett
Directed by: Cecil B. DeMille
Starring: Fredric March, Elissa Landi, Charles Laughton, Claudette Colbert, Edmund Gwenn, Ian Keith
Country: United States of America
Outline: Set in ancient Rome, the film portrays the persecution of early Christians under Emperor Nero, focusing on the love story between a Roman officer and a Christian woman.
source: imdb.com
Strange Interlude
Written by: Eugene O'Neill, Samson Raphaelson
Directed by: Robert Z. Leonard
Starring: Clara Bow, Richard Cromwell, Edward Arnold, Ralph Bellamy, Edmund Gwenn, Dorothy Peterson
Country: United States of America
Outline: A young woman, after the death of her fiancé in World War I, engages in a series of relationships, leading to complex emotional entanglements and the revelation of long-held secrets.
source: imdb.com
Vampyr
Written by: Carl Theodor Dreyer, Christen Jul
Directed by: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Starring: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz
Country: Germany
Outline: A young man, Allan Gray, becomes entangled in a series of supernatural events in a small village, leading him to confront a vampire and the dark forces at play.
source: en.wikipedia.org
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Written by: Robert E. Burns, Brown Holmes
Directed by: Mervyn LeRoy
Starring: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson
Country: United States of America
Outline: A man escapes a brutal chain gang, leading to a life on the run.
source: imdb.com
Freaks
Written by: Tod Robbins, Willis Goldbeck
Directed by: Tod Browning
Starring: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova
Country: United States of America
Outline: A trapeze artist joins a circus, leading to unexpected consequences.
source: imdb.com
Scarface
Written by: Ben Hecht
Directed by: Howard Hawks, Richard Rosson
Starring: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Osgood Perkins, Karen Morley, George Raft, Boris Karloff
Country: United States of America
Outline: In 1920s Chicago, an ambitious gangster rises to power, only to face his downfall due to his own weaknesses.
source: imdb.com
Love Me Tonight
Written by: Ernst Lubitsch, Samson Raphaelson
Directed by: Rouben Mamoulian
Starring: Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Charles Ruggles, Charles Butterworth, Myrna Loy
Country: United States of America
Outline: A Parisian tailor and a princess fall in love amidst a series of comedic misunderstandings.
source: imdb.com
Blondie of the Follies
Written by: Edmund Goulding, Anita Loos
Directed by: Edmund Goulding
Starring: Marion Davies, Billie Dove, Robert Armstrong
Country: United States of America
Outline: Two women vie for the same man in the world of Broadway theater.
source: imdb.com
What Price Hollywood?
Written by: Adela Rogers St. Johns, Louis Stevens
Directed by: George Cukor
Starring: Constance Bennett, Lowell Sherman, Neil Hamilton, Gregory Ratoff, Brooks Benedict, Louise Beavers, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson
Country: United States of America
Outline: A waitress's career takes off when she meets a drunken Hollywood director.
source: imdb.com
Island of Lost Souls
Written by: Philip Wylie, Waldemar Young
Directed by: Erle C. Kenton
Starring: Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen, Leila Hyams, Bela Lugosi, Kathleen Burke
Country: United States of America
Outline: A shipwrecked sailor is rescued by a mad scientist conducting cruel experiments on a remote island.
source: imdb.com
Boudu Saved from Drowning
Written by: René Fauchois
Directed by: Jean Renoir
Starring: Michel Simon, Charles Granval, Marcelle Hainia, Sévérine Lerczinska
Country: France
Outline: A bookseller saves a tramp from drowning and shelters him, but the tramp's odd behavior starts to wear everyone down.
source: imdb.com
Mystery Ranch
Written by: Robert N. Lee, W. C. Tuttle
Directed by: David Howard
Starring: Tom Mix, Dorothy Dwan, William B. Davidson, William H. O'Brien
Country: United States of America
Outline: A cowboy returns to his ranch to find it under threat from a land-grabber.
source: imdb.com
Red Dust
Written by: John Lee Mahin, W. Somerset Maugham
Directed by: Victor Fleming
Starring: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Mary Astor, Gene Raymond
Country: United States of America
Outline: A rough-and-tumble mining engineer is torn between a married woman and a prostitute in Indochina.
source: imdb.com
Three on a Match
Written by: Lucien Hubbard, Kubec Glasmon, John Bright
Directed by: Mervyn LeRoy
Starring: Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis, Warren William, Humphrey Bogart
Country: United States of America
Outline: The film follows three schoolmates—Mary, Vivien, and Ruth—whose lives diverge as they reunite in adulthood, leading to a tale of love, betrayal, and tragedy. Vivien's descent into a life of debauchery and drugs becomes the focal point of the narrative.
source: imdb.com
The Old Dark House
Written by: J.B. Priestley, Benn W. Levy, R.C. Sherriff
Directed by: James Whale
Starring: Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Gloria Stuart, Ernest Thesiger
Country: United States of America
Outline: Five travelers seek shelter from a storm in a remote Welsh mansion, only to encounter the eccentric and dangerous Femm family. As the night unfolds, they face bizarre and terrifying events that threaten their lives.
source: imdb.com