Set in the 1930s
by t-xy | created - 17 Apr 2017 | updated - 04 Feb 2020 | PublicPeriod films that are set in the 1930s.
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1. Dancing at Lughnasa (1998)
PG | 95 min | Drama, Romance
Five unmarried sisters make the most of their simple existence in rural Ireland in the 1930s.
Director: Pat O'Connor | Stars: Meryl Streep, Michael Gambon, Gerard McSorley, Catherine McCormack
Votes: 4,029 | Gross: $2.29M
2. Jimmy's Hall (2014)
PG-13 | 109 min | Biography, Drama, History
During the Depression, Jimmy Gralton returns home to Ireland after ten years of exile in America. Seeing the levels of poverty and oppression, the activist in him reawakens and he looks to re-open the dance hall that led to his deportation.
Director: Ken Loach | Stars: Barry Ward, Francis Magee, Aileen Henry, Simone Kirby
Votes: 6,945 | Gross: $0.56M
3. Land and Freedom (1995)
Not Rated | 109 min | Drama, War
David is an unemployed communist that comes to Spain in 1937 during the civil war to enroll the republicans and defend the democracy against the fascists. He makes friends between the soldiers.
Director: Ken Loach | Stars: Ian Hart, Rosana Pastor, Icíar Bollaín, Tom Gilroy
Votes: 12,087 | Gross: $0.23M
4. Bright Young Things (2003)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, War
An adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel "Vile Bodies", is a look into the lives of a young novelist, his would-be lover, and a host of young people who beautified London in the 1930s.
Director: Stephen Fry | Stars: Stephen Campbell Moore, Emily Mortimer, Dan Aykroyd, Simon McBurney
Votes: 6,307 | Gross: $0.93M
5. Paper Moon (1973)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Ryan O'Neal, Tatum O'Neal, Madeline Kahn, John Hillerman
Votes: 52,372 | Gross: $30.93M
6. The Rocketeer (1991)
PG | 108 min | Action, Adventure, Family
A young pilot stumbles onto a prototype jetpack that allows him to become a high-flying masked hero.
Director: Joe Johnston | Stars: Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, Timothy Dalton
Votes: 61,710 | Gross: $46.70M
7. Hyde Park on Hudson (2012)
R | 94 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
The story of the love affair between FDR and his distant cousin Margaret "Daisy" Suckley, centered around the weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen of the United Kingdom visited upstate New York.
Director: Roger Michell | Stars: Bill Murray, Laura Linney, Olivia Williams, Samuel West
Votes: 12,359 | Gross: $6.37M
8. Another Country (1984)
PG | 90 min | Biography, Drama, History
Based on the life of the young Guy Burgess, who would become better known as one of the Cambridge Spies.
Director: Marek Kanievska | Stars: Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Michael Jenn, Robert Addie
Votes: 6,947
9. The King's Speech (2010)
R | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of King George VI, his unexpected ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer.
Director: Tom Hooper | Stars: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi
Votes: 707,464 | Gross: $138.80M
10. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
PG | 82 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
In 1935 New Jersey, a movie character walks off the screen and into the real world.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, Irving Metzman
Votes: 55,195 | Gross: $10.63M
11. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
PG-13 | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
Director: Roberto Benigni | Stars: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano
Votes: 742,215 | Gross: $57.60M
12. Cinderella Man (2005)
PG-13 | 144 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The true story of James J. Braddock, a supposedly washed-up boxer, who returned to the spotlight to win the heavyweight championship of the world.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger, Craig Bierko, Paul Giamatti
Votes: 198,153 | Gross: $61.65M
13. Gosford Park (2001)
R | 137 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
Set in the 1930s, a group of pretentious rich and famous get together for a weekend of relaxation at a hunting resort. But when a murder occurs, each one of these interesting characters becomes a suspect.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Maggie Smith, Ryan Phillippe, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas
Votes: 93,934 | Gross: $41.31M
14. A Month by the Lake (1995)
PG | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
At a Lake Como resort, Miss Bentley, an attractive older guest, meets a handsome, well-to-do bachelor. But when he's more interested in a beautiful young flirt, the mischievous Miss Bentley goes to outrageous lengths to reel in her catch.
Director: John Irvin | Stars: Vanessa Redgrave, Edward Fox, Uma Thurman, Alida Valli
Votes: 2,618 | Gross: $2.20M
15. A Good Woman (2004)
PG | 93 min | Drama, Comedy, Romance
A 1930s American socialite creates a scandal in the expatriate high society of the Amalfi Coast of Italy when she forms a secretive relationship with a wealthy American unbeknownst to his young wife.
Director: Mike Barker | Stars: Helen Hunt, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Wilkinson, Milena Vukotic
Votes: 14,093 | Gross: $0.22M
16. Being Julia (2004)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Set in 1930s London, this movie involves stage actors and actresses and their experiences with love and revenge.
Director: István Szabó | Stars: Annette Bening, Michael Gambon, Maury Chaykin, Jeremy Irons
Votes: 12,925 | Gross: $7.74M
17. Tea with Mussolini (1999)
PG | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, War
An orphaned Italian boy is raised amongst a circle of British and American women living in Mussolini's Italy before and during World War II.
Director: Franco Zeffirelli | Stars: Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, Cher
Votes: 14,176 | Gross: $14.35M
18. Ladies in Lavender (2004)
PG-13 | 104 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Two sisters befriend a mysterious foreigner who washes up on the beach of their 1930s Cornish seaside village.
Director: Charles Dance | Stars: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Daniel Brühl, Freddie Jones
Votes: 12,661 | Gross: $6.76M
19. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
PG-13 | 92 min | Comedy, Romance
Guinevere Pettigrew, a middle-aged London governess, finds herself unfairly dismissed from her job. An attempt to gain new employment catapults her into the glamorous world and dizzying social whirl of an American actress and singer, Delysia Lafosse.
Director: Bharat Nalluri | Stars: Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Ciarán Hinds, David Alexander
Votes: 29,718 | Gross: $12.29M
20. The Danish Girl (2015)
R | 119 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A fictitious love story loosely inspired by the lives of Danish artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda's marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili's groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.
Director: Tom Hooper | Stars: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Amber Heard, Ben Whishaw
Votes: 199,089 | Gross: $11.11M
21. Bitter Harvest (2017)
R | 103 min | Drama, History, Romance
Set in 1930s Ukraine, as Stalin advances the ambitions of communists in the Kremlin, young artist Yuri battles to save his lover Natalka from the Holodomor, the death-by-starvation program that ultimately killed millions of Ukrainians.
Director: George Mendeluk | Stars: Max Irons, Samantha Barks, Terence Stamp, Barry Pepper
Votes: 4,159 | Gross: $5.66M
22. Water for Elephants (2011)
PG-13 | 120 min | Drama, Romance
Jacob takes a job as an animal caretaker in a traveling circus. There he meets Marlena, a beautiful circus performer. Their shared compassion for a special elephant Rosie leads to love, but Marlena's cruel husband stands in their way.
Director: Francis Lawrence | Stars: Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz, Paul Schneider
Votes: 120,362 | Gross: $58.71M
23. The Aviator (2004)
PG-13 | 170 min | Biography, Drama
A biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly
Votes: 383,751 | Gross: $102.61M
24. The White Countess (2005)
PG-13 | 135 min | Drama, History, Romance
In 1930s Shanghai, a blind American diplomat develops a curious relationship with a young Russian refugee who works odd--and sometimes illicit--jobs to support members of her dead husband's aristocratic family.
Director: James Ivory | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Lynn Redgrave
Votes: 6,968 | Gross: $1.67M
25. Cheerful Weather for the Wedding (2012)
PG | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young woman frets upstairs in her family's country manor on her wedding day, fearful she's about to marry the wrong man. Downstairs, her fiancé and her former lover grow increasingly anxious.
Director: Donald Rice | Stars: Felicity Jones, Luke Treadaway, Elizabeth McGovern, James Norton
Votes: 2,450 | Gross: $0.00M
26. Mrs Lowry & Son (2019)
Not Rated | 91 min | Biography, Drama, History
A portrait of the artist L.S. Lowry and the relationship with his mother, who tries to dissuade him from pursuing his passion.
Director: Adrian Noble | Stars: Vanessa Redgrave, Timothy Spall, Wendy Morgan, Stephen Lord
Votes: 2,255
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