The Depression
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- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaJane DarwellJohn CarradineAn Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsPaul MuniGlenda FarrellHelen VinsonWrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsSpencer TracyLoretta YoungMarjorie RambeauBill takes Trina into his depression camp cabin. Later, just as he finds showgirl LaRue who will support him, Trina becomes pregnant.
- DirectorJ. Walter RubenStarsJean HarlowSpencer TracyUna MerkelFisherman Dutch marries cannery worker Hattie and quits his poorly paid job to concentrate on getting better working conditions as union leader. Unfortunately, the union members disagree with Dutch's ideas and kick him out. Without a job or union card to get another, he leaves Hattie to look for work. Hattiee steals money to help him when she learns he is really down on his luck and she goes to jail. He gets a new job, foils a plot to dynamite the ship, and promises to wait for Hattie.
- DirectorGregory La CavaStarsWalter HustonKaren MorleyFranchot ToneA political hack becomes President during the height of the Depression and undergoes a metamorphosis into an incorruptible statesman after a near-fatal accident.
- DirectorPhil RosenStarsHenry WilcoxonBetty FurnessSidney BlackmerA millionaire with a crumbling personal life comes up with an idea on how he can disappear, start a new life without anyone knowing who he is and be able to take all his money with him.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsEdward ArnoldArthur ByronPaul KellyLike the anonymous novel (generally credited to Rex Stout) upon which it is based, the photoplay tells how a peace-loving President prevents his country from being stampeded into a European war.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsFrankie DarroRochelle HudsonEdwin PhillipsIn the depths of the Depression, two teenage boys strike out on their own in order to help their struggling parents and find life on the road tougher than expected.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsRichard BarthelmessBette DavisDorothy JordanA tenant farmer's son is caught in the middle of owner-tenant disputes when he falls for the plantation owner's seductive daughter.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsWarren WilliamLoretta YoungWallace FordA working girl is menaced by her tyrannical employer.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsCharles BickfordJudith AllenRichard CromwellHigh school students band together to dispense vigilante justice against a vicious gangland boss.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsLoretta YoungRichard BarthelmessAline MacMahonA veteran fights drug addiction to make his way in the business world.
- DirectorFrank CapraAllan DwanRoy William NeillStarsWalter HustonPat O'BrienKay JohnsonSocially-conscious banker Thomas Dickson faces a crisis when his protégé is wrongly accused for robbing the bank, gossip of the robbery starts a bank run, and evidence suggests Dickson's wife had an affair...all during the same day.
- DirectorFrank R. StrayerStarsMary BrianIrene RichJames HallThe lives of a number of the workers and executives in a Manhattan skyscraper are affected by the actions of a philandering and crooked company boss.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPaulette GoddardHenry BergmanThe Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.
- DirectorGregory La CavaStarsWilliam PowellCarole LombardAlice BradyA scatterbrained socialite hires a vagrant as a family butler - but there's more to Godfrey than meets the eye.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsAl JolsonMadge EvansFrank MorganA New York tramp (Jolson) falls in love with the mayor's amnesiac girlfriend after rescuing her from a suicide attempt
- DirectorKing VidorStarsKaren MorleyTom KeeneBarbara PepperA group of down-on-their-luck workers combine their abilities to make a Gallafentian-style commune... and bread!
- StarsCharles CollinsEric BurroughsLawrence ChenaultA tribute to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in their efforts to find jobs for African-Americans during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
- StarsJimmy DuranteMoe HowardFrank O'ConnorA three-minute short made in conjunction with the National Recovery Administration that urges employers to hire the unemployed.
- DirectorHugh HarmanRudolf IsingStarsRudolf IsingThe King's MenJohnny MurrayChristmas Eve. A poor orphan boy trudges through the snow, pathetically. He finally arrives at his miserable cabin. While he is crying, Santa arrives and, singing the title song, offers to take the boy to his workshop. They arrive, and the toys go wild (in the full version, they sing the title song, but this has been censored in some versions due to outdated stereotypes). He plays with a few toys. A candle falls off the tree and starts a fire. The toys try in vain to fight the fire; the boy hooks up a hose to a set of bagpipes and takes care of it.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsLionel BarrymoreLewis StoneBenita HumeIn this Depression-era story set in London, a department-store owner (Lewis Stone) faces bankruptcy while his family fritters away money. A long-standing employee (Lionel Barrymore) gets fired but finds new life in a home-based bakery. The owner's wife (Benita Hume) can't face life without money, so she runs off with another man, but the tables turn when a last-minute reprieve saves the store and a new relationship is forged between the men.
- DirectorWilliam NolanWalter LantzStarsTex AveryWalter LantzWhen the Great Depression hits, Oswald the Rabbit goes to the President himself for help.
- DirectorBurt GillettStarsPinto ColvigWalt DisneyMarcellite GarnerOn Christmas Eve, Mickey is forced to sell Pluto to a bratty rich kid in order to give some orphans presents.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsWarren WilliamJoan BlondellAline MacMahonA wealthy composer rescues unemployed Broadway performers with a new play, but insists on remaining anonymous.
- 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.
- DirectorBen SharpsteenStarsBilly BletcherPinto ColvigWalt DisneyMickey Mouse and Donald Duck, with the help of Goofy the iceman, try to move out before the sheriff can sell off their furniture.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLon Chaney Jr.Burgess MeredithBetty FieldA mentally disabled giant and his level headed guardian find work at a sadistic cowboy's ranch in depression era America.
- DirectorManny GouldBen HarrisonLike everyone else Krazy Kat has been reduced to selling apples on a street corner, but soon he's smiling again and leading the community in a chorus of "Happy Days Are Here Again."
- DirectorJ. Walter RubenStarsDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Genevieve TobinFrank MorganJoe comes from a rough neighborhood and when his brother Mike is gunned down in 1927, he decides to go into legitimate business. He wants to make a lot of money and fast so he is ambitious and rude. He wants what he cannot have and that includes Aggie who is the gal pal of Merritt, his boss. He works his way up the ladder and finds that all the money and all the crooked deals will not buy happiness.
- DirectorLewis SeilerStarsJohn GarfieldPriscilla LaneAlan HaleEmbittered after serving time for a burglary he did not commit, Joe Bell is soon back in jail, on a prison farm. His love for the foreman's daughter leads to a fight between them, resulting to the older man's death due to a weak heart. Joe and Mabel go on the run as he thinks no-one would believe a nobody like him.
- DirectorJohn BrahmStarsMaureen O'SullivanHenry FondaRalph BellamyTwo innocent men are wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The fiancée of one of them convinces a police detective of their innocence, and together they try to find the real killer before the men's execution date.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsSylvia SidneyGeorge RaftBarton MacLaneAn altruistic department-store owner hires ex-convicts in order to give them a second chance at life. Unfortunately, one of the convicts he hires recruits two of his fellow ex-convicts in a plan to rob the store.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsJames CagneyHumphrey BogartPriscilla LaneThree men attempt to make a living in Prohibitionist America after returning home from fighting together in World War I.
- DirectorDudley MurphyStarsSylvia SidneyLeif EricksonMyron McCormickA fire in a run-down tenement building injures young Joey Rogers. Wealthy passerby Peter Cortlant rushes the boy and his attractive older sister Mary to the hospital and pays the medical expenses for the poverty-stricken family. Only later does Peter learn that the firetrap tenement is one of his own vast real estate holdings. Faced with his own unwitting complicity in the deaths and injuries resultant from the fire and with his growing attachment to Mary, Peter decides to tear down his tenements and erect decent affordable housing. But his family is aghast at his plan and plots to wreck it.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsCharley GrapewinGene TierneyMarjorie RambeauHillbilly family farm life in 1941 rural Georgia.
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsSpencer TracyHedy LamarrJohn GarfieldDanny, a poor northern Californian Mexican-American, inherits two houses from his grandfather and is quickly taken advantage of by his vagabond friends.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsJoel McCreaVeronica LakeRobert WarwickHollywood director John L. Sullivan sets out to experience life as a homeless person in order to gain relevant life experience for his next movie.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsPaul MuniKaren MorleyWilliam GarganAn immigrant coal miner finds himself in the middle of a bitter labor dispute between the workers and the mine owners.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsLeslie HowardHumphrey BogartJoan BlondellA New York bank plans to sell a Hollywood studio at a big loss. But the head accountant is suspicious and goes to investigate. He finds chicanery, romance, and help to save the studio.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsJean ArthurRobert CummingsCharles CoburnA tycoon goes undercover to ferret out agitators at a department store, but gets involved in their lives instead.
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsFred MacMurrayMary MartinRobert PrestonVictor Ballard is a poor but happy-go-lucky New York sidewalk photographer who shares a studio apartment with a painter from Poland, Stefan Janowski. After Victor shoots a photo of Alexandra Curtis, he realizes she is desperate and in need of a friend who can guide her through the ways and means of surviving in Manhattan with no money.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsHerbert MarshallJean ArthurLeo CarrilloAn executive lets an attractive cook talk him into taking a job as butler.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsJean ArthurEdward ArnoldRay MillandWhen a wealthy banker throws his wife's expensive fur coat off a roof and it lands on the head of a stenographer, everyone assumes she is his mistress and has access to his millions.
- DirectorCharles E. RobertsStarsEvalyn KnappPreston FosterCharles DelaneyA young lawyer is elected mayor of the city and promises to rid it of the corruption it's famous for. The problem is that most of the corruption he's vowed to eliminate is caused by the crooked political machine that helped elect him.
- DirectorLewis D. CollinsStarsCharles StarrettPauline BrooksGeorge E. StoneA college economics professor's "radical" ideas about capitalism get him fired. When he decides to put those ideas into practice, he finds that they actually do generate him huge amounts of money. Soon a local banker and others who scoffed at his ideas see the amount of money he's making and try to cheat him out of his system.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsDeanna DurbinAdolphe MenjouAlice BradyThe daughter of a struggling musician forms a symphony orchestra made up of his unemployed friends and through persistence, charm and a few misunderstandings, is able to get Leopold Stokowski to lead them in a concert that leads to a radio contract.
- DirectorJames ParrottStarsCharley ChaseVirginia WhitingChester A. BachmanCharley's in love with the daughter of a financier who wants her to insist that Chas have a pile of cash before she marries him. But the Depression is everywhere: Charley's behind on his rent and nearly everyone he meets is down on their luck. After reading a "how to" book on the power of a forceful will, Charley applies the lessons with mixed results, but he does land a job that includes delivering a shake-down letter to his girlfriend's father. Will the naïve Charley end up in jail?
- DirectorNick GrindeStarsAnn DvorakHelen MackLola LaneA story of the great-depression era about women hobos, tramps, job-seekers, fugitives and runaways running from or toward something as they hitch-hiked their way across the United States, dodging the police, do-gooders, lustful men and pursuing-husbands in a bad mood. One of them is a killer, another is a girl hitch-hiking to her wedding in order to afford a wedding gown, and there is also the Governor's daughter who crusades on their behalf, while hitch-hiking along with them.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsJames CagneyMary BrianAllen JenkinsSmall time con artist Lefty Merrill has co-organized a crooked dance marathon and set up his girlfriend to win the prize money. When his partner disappears with money before the contest is over, he's forced to come up with a series of cons to help pay it back.
- DirectorRay EnrightLucien HubbardStarsJoan BlondellChester MorrisAllen JenkinsThe story of a Depression-downtrodden waif who uses her brains instead of her body to rise from tyro con artist to crime boss.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsMarian MarshAnita PageRegis ToomeyA poor seamstress girl sours on her engagement to a grocery deliveryman after seeing her sister's abusive marriage. Trying to help her sister pay for a divorce lawyer, she turns to a rich playboy she met at work.
- DirectorJohn G. AdolfiStarsJoan BlondellWallace FordGuy KibbeeGangsters posing as police officers offer a woman a chance to make money if she helps them out.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Joan BlondellGuy KibbeeTravelers of different and varied backgrounds meet and interact on one night in a metropolitan train station and its environs.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsLoretta YoungFranchot ToneRicardo CortezAn abused orphan sinks into a life of crime.
- DirectorRoy William NeillStarsAnn SothernNeil HamiltonPaul KellyA young woman is torn between a wealthy suitor who wants her body and the honest young man who wants what's best for her.
- 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.
- DirectorNick GrindeStarsJean MuirWarren HullGordon OliverReporter Terry Brewer goes to the Los Angeles airport to say goodbye to his sweetheart, airline hostess Rita Moore. He notices G-Man Mike Phelan among the passengers and assuming Phelan is on the trail of a criminal, decides to go along to get a story. When the plane makes a stop in New Mexico, passenger Mrs. Tristo buys a hunting knife from an Indian. Late that night, a shadowy figure approaches the sleeping Ramon Duval and plunges a knife into his heart. Phelan assumes charge of the situation and begins to question the passengers. Wanda Terrell, who is wanted-fugitive Killer Madsen in drag disguise, holds up Phelan and announces he is now running the show. He orders pilot Bob White to head the plane to Evansville, Indiana, Masden's hometown. When Rita offers Masden a cup of coffee, which includes a powerful sleeping potion, the suspicious Masden exchanges cups with co-pilot Johnnie Martin who passes out. The annoyed Masden knocks out pilot White and Rita is forced to take over the controls. A heavy dust storm (thanks to Fred Jackman's visual effects) has clogged the plane's motors, but White comes to in time to bring the plane to a landing in the worst of the storm area. The passengers and crew all take refuge in a farm house, still held captive by Masden. The fugitive forces White and Terry to go with him to repair the plane, but Rita has gotten a shotgun from the farmer and follows them.
- DirectorP.J. WolfsonStarsAnne ShirleyRoger DanielJames McCallionA runaway follows the leader of a gang of boys, and they all wind up working in a turpentine camp.
- DirectorRalph MurphyStarsRichard ArlenChester MorrisGenevieve TobinEben Martin spends his lifetime accumulating wheat farms in hopes that his sons Chris and Walt will take over the family business and work the land. Chris is more interested in finance, however, and leaves the farm and his fiance Ellen. He moves to Chicago and uses his cunning and knowledge of wheat to make his fortune at the Board of Trade in the "wheat pit." Chris becomes highly influential with the help of wealthy Henry Flint, and courts Henry's society-bored daughter Cynthia. Back at the farm, Ellen and Walt marry, have children and struggle to maintain the farm and pay the family debts. Walt becomes active in unionizing farmers across the nation. Chris visits the farm with Cynthia to attend the wedding of the Martin's beloved hired hands, Loopey Lou and Lydia. Although Chris is embarrassed by his humble family, Cynthia is touched by their genuine warmth and later accepts his marriage proposal. With the arrival of winter, the poverty-stricken farmers suffer greatly, as banks foreclose on properties such as Loopey Lou's. Walt travels to Chicago, just missing Chris's wedding, but the brothers form an agreement to help each other, in which Walt will call the farmers to strike, and Chris will help raise the wheat prices. The strike is somewhat successful and Walt urges the farmers to remain steadfast. The planting season proves too tempting, though, and the farmers break the strike before getting a good price for the wheat. Despite intense pressure and the threat of losing everything, Chris buys up wheat, maintaining his position until he is insolvent. His spirits remain high with the help of his loving wife, whose father makes Chris a partner in his company. In Washington D.C., Walt influences the government to raise farm prices, and the Martin brothers are hailed as national heroes.
- DirectorArthur LubinStarsSidney BlackmerMartha SleeperRegis ToomeyGreed, ambition and hunger-for-power drive John Hart, a New-York-City stock-market broker, into crooked dealings and deception, but he doesn't realize that those he ruined will seek vengeance. He meets his match and downfall when his path crosses with a reporter, Phil Stuart; a girl, Marcia Harper, and a man-with-a-gun from a family he ruined.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsCarole LombardChester MorrisZasu PittsAfter the adversary of a bootlegger has him killed, he takes up with his widow, a gold-digging chorus girl, but a handsome bodyguard is also determined to win her over.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsRuth ChattertonGeorge BrentLois WilsonRich couple loses their fortune in stock market crash.
- DirectorRay McCareyStarsGeorge MontgomeryOsa MassenJ. Carrol NaishWealthy young man takes a job as a WPA ditch digger and falls for an immigrant girl and divorces his wife and tries to help the poor.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsJanet GaynorWarner BaxterWalter Woolf KingOne More Spring is a 1935 film about three people (Janet Gaynor, Warner Baxter, and Walter Woolf King) living together in the maintenance shed at Central Park as an alternative to living on the streets. The film was written by Edwin J. Burke from the Robert Nathan novel and directed.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsFranchot ToneJean MuirMargaret LindsayFour friends are certain to conquer the world upon their graduation from college, but they face disappointment when jobs are scant due to the Depression. Their lives unfold with the pursuance of happiness despite some tragic adversities.
- DirectorFrank TuttleStarsWilliam PowellWilliam 'Stage' BoydEugene PalletteA ruthless, crooked stockbroker is murdered at his luxurious country estate, and detective Philo Vance just happens to be there. He decides to find out who killed him.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsRichard DixAnn HardingEdna May OliverA newlywed couple journeys west to make their fortune, and begins a banking empire.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsGeorge M. CohanClaudette ColbertJimmy DuranteA presidential candidate is deemed to have a dull personality, thus a charismatic look-alike is hired as a front.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsPaul MuniMary AstorAline MacMahonAn ambitious farmer becomes a pioneer in the meat-packing business, finding financial success but private disappointment over the course of many decades.
- StarsCharles 'Buddy' RogersCora Sue CollinsMarjorie MainPlotless musical revue celebrating President Franklin D. Roosevelt's National Recovery Administration.
- DirectorEdward SedgwickStarsBuster KeatonJimmy DuranteRoscoe AtesTwo men decide to cash in on the end of Prohibition by selling watered down beer.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsMarie DresslerPolly MoranAnita PageIn 1925, John becomes President of the prosperous Warren Bank when Maggie retires. Six years later, John, Helen and the two children are happy in their home, but the two mother-in-laws are still bickering. When Lizzy inadvertently starts a run on the bank, it closes when Maggie learns that John has done what she had told him never to do - used the bank bonds for a get rich quick scheme. To gain some money for the depositors, Maggie and John sell everything that they have and move in with Lizzy, who hounds them every day. Their only hope for a normal life is to get the bonds back from the crooks that have them.
- DirectorPhil RosenStarsLionel AtwillBetty FurnessHenry B. WalthallJohn Dawson loses control of his factory when he is crippled in an accident caused by a rival. Destitute, he travels the country organizing the homeless to help him regain control of his steel mill.
- DirectorRoy MackStarsEdgar BergenCharlie McCarthyChristina GraverCharlie McCarthy and the Professor are among a group of hobos sitting around a campfire in a railroad yard. They dream of visiting a gypsy fortune teller to find the location of money buried in an abandoned house.
- DirectorHerbert J. BibermanStarsLloyd NolanPeggy ConklinWalter ConnollyJerry, the son of a bank depositor who was cheated out of his savings, is sent to prison after he robs the bank of the exact sum his father lost. Captain Bill Bourne lives on the grounds of the prison along with his wife, their daughter Bonnie and an adopted daughter, Ellen. When the Bourne's gardener is paroled, Bonnie arranges for Jerry to take over the work. Bonnie then asks Jerry to sing at an upcoming dance. During the dance, some of the inmates escape, and all die in the ensuing shootout. Desperate to leave home, Bonnie persuades Bill to allow her to attend college. On the day she leaves, Jerry escapes in the trunk of her car. Bonnie discovers him, but does not turn him in. Jerry is hired by the university as a gardener and he and Bonnie fall in love. When Bill visits Bonnie, hoping to learn why his letters have been returned unopened, Bonnie's roommate informs him that the couple has married. After hiding out in the mountains, Bonnie and Jerry move to the city, where she works as a waitress, saving her earnings so they may flee to the South Seas. One day, Jerry risks his life in an experimental parachute jump, in order to earn the high pay. Afterward, as Jerry nears his home with Bonnie at his side, he sees policemen approaching their apartment. Jerry pulls a gun, but Bonnie manages to take it from him and wounds him in the shoulder in order to prevent a gunfight. Bill arrests Jerry, and although both he and Bonnie will serve time, each promises to wait for the other.