Favorite Comedy Performance of the 1930s by a Star Actress
by drednm | created - 06 Jul 2019 | updated - 13 Jul 2019 | PublicMany star actresses of the 1930s easily moved between drama and comedy in their films. Which of these comedy performances is your favorite?
After voting, please discuss here.
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1. Cain and Mabel (1936)
90 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A talented boxer and a gifted dancer hope to increase their waning popularity by inventing a fictitious love affair for the benefit of the tabloids.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Marion Davies, Clark Gable, Allen Jenkins, Roscoe Karns
Votes: 1,722
MARION DAVIES as Mabel O'Dare
2. You Can't Take It with You (1938)
PG | 126 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A man from a family of rich snobs becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, Edward Arnold
Votes: 22,595 | Gross: $4.66M
JEAN ARTHUR as Alice Sycamore
3. Girls About Town (1931)
PG | 80 min | Comedy
Two gold diggers prey on old rich men, but one of them falls in love with a young, rich man.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Kay Francis, Joel McCrea, Lilyan Tashman, Eugene Pallette
Votes: 541
KAY FRANCIS as Wanda Howard
4. She Loves Me Not (1934)
85 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
A cabaret dancer witnesses a murder and is forced to hide from gangsters by disguising herself as a male Princeton student.
Director: Elliott Nugent | Stars: Bing Crosby, Miriam Hopkins, Kitty Carlisle, Edward J. Nugent
Votes: 127
MIRIAM HOPKINS as Curly Flagg
5. The Thin Man (1934)
PG | 91 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Former detective Nick Charles and his wealthy wife Nora investigate a murder case, mostly for the fun of it.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton
Votes: 25,583
MYRNA LOY as Nora Charles
6. The Mad Miss Manton (1938)
80 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
When 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: 1,963
BARBARA STANWYCK as Melsa Manton
7. The Awful Truth (1937)
90 min | Comedy, Romance
Unfounded suspicions lead a married couple to begin divorce proceedings, whereupon they start undermining each other's attempts to find new romance.
Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy, Alexander D'Arcy
Votes: 17,056
IRENE DUNNE as Lucy Warriner
8. It's Love I'm After (1937)
90 min | Comedy
An actor of the stage finds himself pursued by a lovestruck fan while trying to patch up a tempestuous relationship with his actress lover.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Patric Knowles
Votes: 2,020
BETTE DAVIS as Joyce Arden
9. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Family, Romance
While trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard, Baby.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles, Walter Catlett
Votes: 53,549
KATHARINE HEPBURN as Susan Vance
10. It Happened One Night (1934)
PG | 105 min | Comedy, Romance
A spoiled heiress running away from her family is helped by a man who is actually a reporter in need of a story.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns
Votes: 90,607 | Gross: $4.36M
CLAUDETTE COLBERT as Ellie Andrews
11. Ninotchka (1939)
110 min | Comedy, Romance
A stern Russian woman sent to Paris on official business finds herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire, Bela Lugosi
Votes: 18,334 | Gross: $1.19M
GRETA GARBO as Ninotchka
12. My Man Godfrey (1936)
94 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A scatterbrained socialite hires a vagrant as a family butler - but there's more to Godfrey than meets the eye.
Director: Gregory La Cava | Stars: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick
Votes: 20,291
CAROLE LOMBARD as Irene Bullock
13. Dinner at Eight (1933)
G | 111 min | Comedy, Drama
Affluent Millicent and Oliver Jordan throw a dinner for a handful of wealthy and/or well-born acquaintances, each of whom has much to reveal.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow
Votes: 7,344
MARIE DRESSLER as Carlotta Vance
14. The Divorce of Lady X (1938)
92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Divorce lawyer Everard Logan thinks the woman who spent the night in his hotel room is the erring wife of his new client.
Director: Tim Whelan | Stars: Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, Binnie Barnes, Ralph Richardson
Votes: 1,180
MERLE OBERON as Leslie Steele
15. Bombshell (1933)
96 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Sexpot film star Lola Burns seeks a new image and tries marrying a marquis and adopting a baby - all sorts of schemes which go awry.
Director: Victor Fleming | Stars: Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Frank Morgan, Franchot Tone
Votes: 2,224
JEAN HARLOW as Lola Burns
16. Vivacious Lady (1938)
90 min | Comedy, Romance
A professor marries a nightclub singer, much to the consternation of his family and friends back home.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Ginger Rogers, James Stewart, James Ellison, Beulah Bondi
Votes: 3,073
GINGER ROGERS as Francey Morgan
17. The Women (1939)
PG | 133 min | Comedy, Drama
A study of the lives and romantic entanglements of various interconnected women.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Mary Boland
Votes: 12,220 | Gross: $2.27M
JOAN CRAWFORD as Crystal Allen
18. The Women (1939)
PG | 133 min | Comedy, Drama
A study of the lives and romantic entanglements of various interconnected women.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Mary Boland
Votes: 12,220 | Gross: $2.27M
ROSALIND RUSSELL as Sylvia Fowler
19. Idiot's Delight (1939)
107 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
A group of disparate travelers are caught and thrown together in a posh Alpine hotel when the borders are closed at the beginning of World War II.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Norma Shearer, Clark Gable, Edward Arnold, Charles Coburn
Votes: 1,263
NORMA SHEARER as Irene
20. Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
97 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
A wealthy composer rescues unemployed Broadway performers with a new play.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler
Votes: 7,064 | Gross: $4.80M
JOAN BLONDELL as Carol King
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