Ba-ba-ba Ba-Barbara Stanwyck!
by tseybert | created - 26 Oct 2015 | updated - 27 Feb 2022 | PublicBarbara Stanwyck is another one of my favorites! I know I'm supposed to pick Double Indemnity as her best (and it probably is) but my favorite is ... Night Nurse! However some of her early films (and some of her later ones, sad to say!) are kind of hard to tell apart when you haven't seen them for a while. So I made this list of all the Barbara Stanwyck movies I've seen to help me keep track.
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. The Locked Door (1929)
74 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
On her first anniversary Ann Reagan finds that her sister-in-law is involved with a shady character from her own past, and determines to intervene.
Director: George Fitzmaurice | Stars: Rod La Rocque, Barbara Stanwyck, William 'Stage' Boyd, Betty Bronson
Votes: 592
2. Night Nurse (1931)
Passed | 72 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A nurse enlists the help of a petty criminal to foil a sinister plot to murder two children.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Joan Blondell, Clark Gable
Votes: 4,492
This movie is almost too good for words. Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Blondell are adorable! And Clark Gable is really scary! I'm not going to describe it. You just have to see it for yourself.
3. Illicit (1931)
Unrated | 79 min | Drama, Romance
A young couple lives together out of wedlock, but they find that they're ahead of their time.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, James Rennie, Ricardo Cortez, Natalie Moorhead
Votes: 1,168
It's OK. You might think you're having trouble with your eyesight because Norma Shearer should be in this.
4. The Miracle Woman (1931)
Passed | 90 min | Drama, Romance
After an unappreciated minister dies, his daughter loses her faith in God, prompting her to open a phony temple with a con man. Can the love of a blind aviator restore her faith and happiness?
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, David Manners, Sam Hardy, Beryl Mercer
Votes: 2,264
Another one of Miss Stanwyck's amazing early films. She plays a faith healer loosely based on Aimee Semple McPherson! David Manners (Jonathan Harker in the 1931 Dracula) guest stars. According to Hollywood legend, there is no trick photography in the lion scene!
5. The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932)
Approved | 88 min | Drama, Romance, War
A Chinese warlord and an engaged Christian missionary fall in love.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther, Toshia Mori, Walter Connolly
Votes: 4,302
This is sooo good! Highly recommended for fans of Barbara Stanwyck, for fans of the best films of the early 1930s and, well, for cinema fans of any kind.
6. Shopworn (1932)
Passed | 72 min | Drama, Romance
A poor woman and a man from an upper-class family fall in love, but his mother will go to any lengths to stop their marriage.
Director: Nick Grinde | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Regis Toomey, Zasu Pitts, Lucien Littlefield
Votes: 879
7. So Big! (1932)
Unrated | 81 min | Drama, Romance
After Selina's father dies, she's offered a job as a teacher in a small town and a new chapter of her life begins.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Dickie Moore, Bette Davis
Votes: 1,824
8. Ladies They Talk About (1933)
Approved | 69 min | Drama
Attractive Nan, member of a bank-robbery gang, goes to prison thanks to evangelist Dave Slade...who loves her.
Directors: Howard Bretherton, William Keighley | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Foster, Lyle Talbot, Dorothy Burgess
Votes: 1,827
I love this movie so much I can hardly stand thinking about how much I love it! It's Barbara's "women in prison" movie! And one of her cellmates is Lillian Roth! I can't objectively comment on the quality of this movie because of how much I love the premise and the people in it. Maybe it's not that great. I can't tell.
9. Baby Face (1933)
Approved | 71 min | Drama, Romance
A young woman, sexually exploited all her life, decides to turn the tables and exploit the hapless men at a big city bank by gleefully seducing her way to the top.
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Donald Cook, Alphonse Ethier
Votes: 8,161
This is probably Miss Stanwyck's most highly acclaimed film of the pre-Code era. Baby Face is one of the movies that makes 1933 my favorite year for the movies! Don't blink or you'll miss John Wayne!
10. Gambling Lady (1934)
Passed | 66 min | Drama, Mystery
Lady Lee, gambler's daughter, plies her trade while pondering the proposal of a social-register suitor.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Pat O'Brien, Claire Dodd
Votes: 1,138
11. A Lost Lady (1934)
Passed | 61 min | Drama, Romance
Two days before Marian and Ned are to be married, he is killed by the husband of a woman he was seeing on the side. Marian becomes withdrawn and they send her to the Canadian Rockies for ... See full summary »
Directors: Alfred E. Green, Phil Rosen | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Frank Morgan, Ricardo Cortez, Lyle Talbot
Votes: 540
If you like short films from the early 1930s and don't mind if they're kind of pointless and silly, then you might get a kick out of A Lost Lady. It's not boring and it has some interesting scenes and a good cast. Otherwise, this is for Barbara completists only.
12. The Woman in Red (1935)
Approved | 68 min | Drama
A polo player's wife becomes the mystery woman in a Long Island horsy-set murder trial.
Director: Robert Florey | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Gene Raymond, Genevieve Tobin, John Eldredge
Votes: 836
The Woman in Red is a little better than A Lost Lady. I was mildly amused that Barbara's name in this movie is "Shelby Barrett," and "Shelby" sounds like one of those modern, trendy girls' names like "Morgan" or "Ashley" or "Meredith."
13. Annie Oakley (1935)
Passed | 90 min | Biography, Drama, Western
A romanticized biography of the famous sharpshooter.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Foster, Melvyn Douglas, Moroni Olsen
Votes: 1,895
Barbara Stanwyck as Annie Oakley! How awesome is that! It has to be super-awesome! I like it a lot, but it has a bit of a reputation of being a mediocre movie. Maybe I can't be objective. But then again, I don't know very many people who have seen it, so maybe its bad reputation is just based on people hearing that it's not good and passing it on.
14. Banjo on My Knee (1936)
Passed | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Believing he has killed a guest, a groom flees on his wedding night.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Walter Brennan, Buddy Ebsen
Votes: 674
15. Stella Dallas (1937)
Approved | 106 min | Drama, Romance
A working-class woman is willing to do whatever it takes to give her daughter a socially promising future.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, Anne Shirley, Barbara O'Neil
Votes: 6,276 | Gross: $2.00M
Stella Dallas is often cited as one of Miss Stanwyck's best movies. Yeah, it's often great, and she's really good in it. (She was nominated for Best Actress for the Oscars but she lost to Luise Rainer playing a Chinese woman.) And co-stars Alan Hale and Anne Shirley are great too! But the movie itself is kind of dumb when all is said and done. It's a great movie and everybody who's interested in the films of the 1930s should see it. But I'm just being honest when I say it's kind of dumb.
16. The Mad Miss Manton (1938)
Passed | 80 min | Comedy, Mystery
After the murdered body discovered by beautiful, vivacious socialite Melsa Manton disappears, police and press label her a prankster until she proves them wrong.
Director: Leigh Jason | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Sam Levene, Frances Mercer
Votes: 2,823
Highly recommended! Barbara is a high-spirited society girl who gets involved in a murder mystery but the cops don't believe her because the body has disappeared! Henry Fonda is a newspaperman who thinks she's a spoiled brat ... but he comes around! This movie is hilarious with more than a hint of real suspense and menace when its called for. Also in this movie: Hattie McDaniel, George Chandler, John Qualen and Grady Sutton. You can't go wrong!
17. Golden Boy (1939)
Approved | 99 min | Drama, Romance, Sport
A poor young Italian man who is a virtuoso on the violin wishes to become a champion boxer to make a fortune for his family. But what is the road to success and happiness, and what is the price?
Director: Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, William Holden, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 2,181
18. Remember the Night (1939)
Passed | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Love blooms between a sympathetic attorney and the comely shoplifter he has taken home for the Christmas holiday.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi, Elizabeth Patterson
Votes: 7,189 | Gross: $0.17M
Barbara Stanwyck's other Christmas movie! As much as I like Christmas in Connecticut, I think I prefer Remember the Night just a little. The trial scene at the end is not the dumbest trial scene you've ever seen in a movie. For example, it's not as bad as the trial at the end of Leave Her to Heaven. But it's still pretty dang dumb.
19. The Lady Eve (1941)
Passed | 94 min | Comedy, Romance
A trio of classy card sharks targets a socially awkward brewery heir, until one of them falls in love with him.
Director: Preston Sturges | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette
Votes: 23,374
20. Meet John Doe (1941)
Passed | 122 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A penniless drifter is recruited by an ambitious columnist to impersonate a non-existent person who said he'd be committing suicide as a protest, and a social movement begins.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan
Votes: 14,899
21. Ball of Fire (1941)
Approved | 111 min | Comedy, Romance
A group of professors working on a new encyclopedia while living in a Manhattan mansion take in a mouthy nightclub singer who is wanted by the police to help bring down her mob boss lover.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Homolka, Henry Travers
Votes: 14,051
22. Lady of Burlesque (1943)
Approved | 91 min | Comedy, Music, Mystery
After one member of their group is murdered, the performers at a burlesque house must work together to find out who the killer is before he strikes again.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Michael O'Shea, J. Edward Bromberg, Iris Adrian
Votes: 2,780
It's much better as a snapshot of backstage burlesque life than as a murder mystery. It's fun to watch though. And George Chandler has one of the best roles of his career!
23. Double Indemnity (1944)
Passed | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A Los Angeles insurance representative lets an alluring housewife seduce him into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, an insurance investigator.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Byron Barr
Votes: 167,404 | Gross: $5.72M
This is probably her best movie by any objective standard. I love it and I've seen it a few times. But my heart still belongs to Night Nurse! (If it's any consolation, my favorite Marilyn Monroe movie is Don't Bother to Knock.)
24. Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Approved | 101 min | Comedy, Romance
A food writer who has lied about being the perfect housewife must try to cover her deception when her boss and a returning war hero invite themselves to her home for a traditional family Christmas.
Director: Peter Godfrey | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet, Reginald Gardiner
Votes: 12,017
25. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
Unrated | 116 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A man is reunited with his childhood friend and her husband who believes he knows the truth about the death of her rich aunt years earlier.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas
Votes: 11,085
This is the first Barbara Stanwyck movie I ever saw and I try to watch it every so often. It always holds up! She's so mean!
26. The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An artist forms an attachment with a woman on holiday in the country. As the relationship develops, his behavior and information about his past cause her increasing concern.
Director: Peter Godfrey | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Alexis Smith, Nigel Bruce
Votes: 4,899
I don't often hear people talk bout this as an eternal Hollywood classic, but I found it entertaining and suspenseful. Bogart is especially good. No spoilers!
27. Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
Approved | 89 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
While on the telephone, an invalid woman overhears what she thinks is a murder plot and attempts to prevent it.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards, Wendell Corey
Votes: 12,550
Another one of her best movies. I saw it fairly recently and I was shocked by the ending in a way that doesn't happen to me very often with old movies.
28. The Lady Gambles (1949)
Approved | 99 min | Drama, Film-Noir
A desperate husband tries to find help for his wife suffering from addictive gambling.
Director: Michael Gordon | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Preston, Stephen McNally, Edith Barrett
Votes: 1,055
Don't go out of your way for this one. I was looking at the IMDB listing to see what the comments were like because I was thinking of watching it. And I discovered I had left a comment only six months previously! I had completely forgotten I had seen it! Not bad, really, just very very average.
29. The File on Thelma Jordon (1949)
Passed | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Assistant district attorney Cleve Marshall falls for the mysterious Thelma Jordon when she seeks help solving robberies of her aunt's estate.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Paul Kelly, Joan Tetzel
Votes: 3,176
30. To Please a Lady (1950)
Passed | 91 min | Action, Romance, Sport
A former war hero and midget car racer meets his match in a feisty reporter who blames his reckless tactics for an accidental racing death.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, Will Geer
Votes: 1,137
31. Clash by Night (1952)
Approved | 105 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
Mae Doyle comes back to her hometown a cynical woman. Her brother Joe fears that his love, fish cannery worker Peggy, may wind up like Mae. Mae marries Jerry and has a baby; she is happy but restless, drawn to Jerry's friend Earl.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Paul Douglas, Marilyn Monroe
Votes: 7,354
Barbara Stanwyck, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan. J. Carrol Naish. Everybody is so good in this! And the first 80% of the movie is really good! And then ... it fizzles. I have mixed feelings about it. Highly recommended for the fanatic Marilyn Monroe fans. She really sizzles in Clash by Night.
32. Jeopardy (1953)
Passed | 69 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A family vacationing on the coast of Mexico have to cope with multiple threats to their safety.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Ralph Meeker, Lee Aaker
Votes: 2,394
33. Titanic (1953)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, History, Romance
An unhappily married couple struggle to deal with their problems while on board the luxurious, ill-fated RMS Titanic.
Director: Jean Negulesco | Stars: Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Wagner, Audrey Dalton
Votes: 7,660 | Gross: $4.91M
I like every Titanic movie I've ever seen. My favorite is A Night to Remember (1958) with Kenneth More. But this one is good too. Very soapy.
34. Witness to Murder (1954)
Approved | 83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A woman's sanity comes into question, after she claims to have witnessed a murder from her apartment window.
Director: Roy Rowland | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, George Sanders, Gary Merrill, Jesse White
Votes: 3,434
This is so good! George Sanders matches wits with Barbara Stanwyck after she witnesses a murder. But he's a dirty cheater because she didn't see the killer clearly and doesn't know she's in a game of cat-and-mouse! They're both really good.
35. Executive Suite (1954)
Passed | 104 min | Drama, Romance
When the head of a large manufacturing firm dies suddenly from a stroke, his vice presidents vie to see who will replace him.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, June Allyson, Fredric March
Votes: 4,585
36. Escape to Burma (1955)
TV-PG | 87 min | Adventure
A fugitive in British Burma hides on a teak plantation, thanks to a mutual attraction with owner Gwen Moore.
Director: Allan Dwan | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, David Farrar, Murvyn Vye
Votes: 696
37. Forty Guns (1957)
Not Rated | 80 min | Western
Showdown in Arizona between the Bonnell brothers, U.S.Marshals, and Jessica Drummond, the iron-fist rancher who controls the territory.
Director: Samuel Fuller | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Dean Jagger, John Ericson
Votes: 6,216
38. Roustabout (1964)
PG | 101 min | Drama, Music, Musical
After a singer loses his job at a coffee shop, he finds employment at a struggling carnival, but his attempted romance with a teenager leads to friction with her father.
Director: John Rich | Stars: Elvis Presley, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Freeman, Leif Erickson
Votes: 3,313 | Gross: $7.19M
Barbara Stanwyck's Elvis movie!
39. The Night Walker (1964)
Passed | 86 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A woman is haunted by recurring nightmares, which seem to be instigated by her late husband who supposedly was killed in a fire.
Director: William Castle | Stars: Robert Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, Judi Meredith, Hayden Rorke
Votes: 2,472
Miss Stanwyck's last theatrical film was directed by William Castle! It has its moments.
Tell Your Friends