The Best Movies of 1931
by MichaelWipf | created - 12 Dec 2022 | updated - 15 Dec 2022 | Public.
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1. City Lights (1931)
G | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
With the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers
Votes: 196,046 | Gross: $0.02M
2. M (1931)
Passed | 99 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke
Votes: 168,449 | Gross: $0.03M
3. Frankenstein (1931)
Passed | 70 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Dr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, Boris Karloff, John Boles
Votes: 79,704
4. Dracula (1931)
Passed | 75 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Transylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.
Directors: Tod Browning, Karl Freund | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Dwight Frye
Votes: 58,629
5. The Public Enemy (1931)
Passed | 83 min | Crime, Drama
An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell
Votes: 23,015 | Gross: $1.01M
6. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Passed | 98 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Dr. Jekyll faces horrible consequences when he lets his dark side run wild with a potion that transforms him into the animalistic Mr. Hyde.
Director: Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart, Holmes Herbert
Votes: 15,809 | Gross: $2.79M
7. Monkey Business (1931)
Not Rated | 77 min | Comedy, Family, Musical
On a transatlantic crossing, The Marx Brothers get up to their usual antics and manage to annoy just about everyone on board the ship.
Director: Norman Z. McLeod | Stars: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, The Marx Brothers, Chico Marx
Votes: 14,278
8. Little Caesar (1931)
Not Rated | 79 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A small-time criminal moves to a big city to seek bigger fortune.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, William Collier Jr.
Votes: 14,525
9. Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931)
TV-PG | 86 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
On the South Pacific island of Bora Bora, a young couple's love is threatened when the tribal chief declares the girl a sacred virgin.
Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Anne Chevalier, Matahi, Hitu, Bill Bambridge
Votes: 6,382
10. Drácula (1931)
Unrated | 104 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Centuries-old vampire Dracula preys upon the innocent Eva and her friends.
Director: George Melford | Stars: Carlos Villarías, Lupita Tovar, Barry Norton, Pablo Álvarez Rubio
Votes: 5,100
11. À Nous la Liberté (1931)
Not Rated | 83 min | Comedy, Musical
Seeking better life, two convicts escape from prison.
Director: René Clair | Stars: Raymond Cordy, Henri Marchand, Rolla France, Paul Ollivier
Votes: 4,967
12. La Chienne (1931)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama
Maurice Legrand, a meek cashier married to a nagging wife, has a secret passion: he's a Sunday painter. He falls in love with Lulu, a young woman dominated by Dédé, the pimp who she works for. Dédé pushes Lulu into a relationship with him.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Michel Simon, Janie Marèse, Georges Flamant, Roger Gaillard
Votes: 4,835
13. 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: 4,490
14. The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)
Passed | 93 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
An amorous lieutenant is forced to marry a socially awkward princess, though he tries to keep his violin-playing girlfriend on the side.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins, Charles Ruggles
Votes: 4,115
15. Le Million (1931)
Not Rated | 91 min | Comedy, Musical
An impoverished painter and his rival engage in a race across Paris to recover a jacket concealing a winning lottery ticket.
Director: René Clair | Stars: Annabella, René Lefèvre, Jean-Louis Allibert, Paul Ollivier
Votes: 3,840
16. The Champ (I) (1931)
Passed | 86 min | Drama, Family, Sport
An alcoholic ex-boxer struggles to provide a good living for his son.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper, Irene Rich, Roscoe Ates
Votes: 3,620
17. Mädchen in Uniform (1931)
Passed | 87 min | Drama, Romance
At an all-girls boarding school, Manuela falls in love with a teacher, to terrific consequences.
Directors: Leontine Sagan, Carl Froelich | Stars: Dorothea Wieck, Hertha Thiele, Emilia Unda, Hedy Krilla
Votes: 3,738
18. Mata Hari (1931)
Passed | 89 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A semi-fictionalized account of the life of Mata Hari, an exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I.
Director: George Fitzmaurice | Stars: Greta Garbo, Ramon Novarro, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone
Votes: 3,954 | Gross: $0.93M
19. Platinum Blonde (1931)
Passed | 89 min | Comedy, Romance
A young woman from a very rich family impulsively marries a reporter, but each assumes the other is the one whose lifestyle must change.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Jean Harlow, Loretta Young, Robert Williams, Halliwell Hobbes
Votes: 3,455
20. The Maltese Falcon (1931)
Passed | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Bebe Daniels, Ricardo Cortez, Dudley Digges, Una Merkel
Votes: 3,346
21. Waterloo Bridge (1931)
81 min | Drama, Romance
A prostitute's self-loathing makes her reluctant to marry an idealistic soldier during World War I.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Mae Clarke, Douglass Montgomery, Doris Lloyd, Frederick Kerr
Votes: 3,167
22. Dishonored (1931)
Approved | 91 min | Drama, Romance, War
The Austrian Secret Service sends its most seductive agent to spy on the Russians.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, Victor McLaglen, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Warner Oland
Votes: 3,195
23. A Free Soul (1931)
Passed | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with him.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore, Clark Gable
Votes: 2,934
24. Pardon Us (1931)
Approved | 56 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Two guys end up in prison after attempting to sell beer to a policeman during Prohibition.
Director: James Parrott | Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, June Marlowe, Wilfred Lucas
Votes: 2,817
25. Limit (1931)
Not Rated | 114 min | Drama, Romance
Three people (Raul Schnoor, Olga Breno and Tatiana Rey) sail aimlessly while remembering their past.
Director: Mario Peixoto | Stars: Olga Breno, Tatiana Rey, Raul Schnoor, Brutus Pedreira
Votes: 2,876
26. Marius (1931)
Not Rated | 130 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Marius is faced with a choice whether to fulfill his passion by sailing the seas or stay and marry the woman he loves.
Director: Alexander Korda | Stars: Raimu, Pierre Fresnay, Fernand Charpin, Alida Rouffe
Votes: 2,567
27. The Threepenny Opera (1931)
Not Rated | 104 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
The Gangster Macheath secretly marries the daughter of beggar king Peachum. When Peachum finds out, he instructs the police chief Brown to arrest and hang Macheath. If not, all the beggars of Soho will disturb the upcoming coronation.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Rudolf Forster, Lotte Lenya, Carola Neher, Reinhold Schünzel
Votes: 2,541
28. Five Star Final (1931)
Not Rated | 89 min | Crime, Drama
The City Editor of a sleazy tabloid goes against his own journalistic ethics to resurrect a twenty year old murder case... with tragic results.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Marian Marsh, H.B. Warner, Anthony Bushell
Votes: 2,532
29. Possessed (1931)
Passed | 76 min | Drama, Romance
An ambitious factory girl meets a handsome, wealthy lawyer, but he's interested in her as a mistress, not a wife.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Wallace Ford, Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher
Votes: 2,306
30. Svengali (1931)
Approved | 81 min | Drama, Horror, Romance
Through hypnotism and telepathic mind control, a sinister music maestro controls the singing voice, but not the heart, of the woman he loves.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: John Barrymore, Marian Marsh, Donald Crisp, Bramwell Fletcher
Votes: 2,502
31. 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
32. Blonde Crazy (1931)
TV-G | 79 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
The adventures of an egoistic con man and his glamorous accomplice.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Louis Calhern, Noel Francis
Votes: 2,324
33. Smart Money (1931)
Passed | 81 min | Crime, Drama
A Greek barber has uncommon skills in playing poker and soon rises in the seedy world of illegal gambling, but pretty blondes remain his Achilles' heel.
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Evalyn Knapp, Ralf Harolde
Votes: 2,236
34. Street Scene (1931)
Passed | 80 min | Drama, Romance
Twenty-four hours elapse on the stoop of a Hell's Kitchen tenement as a microcosm of the American melting pot interconnects during a summer heatwave.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Sylvia Sidney, William Collier Jr., Estelle Taylor, Beulah Bondi
Votes: 2,052
35. City Streets (1931)
Passed | 83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Man joins a gang to free his girlfriend from prison.
Director: Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Gary Cooper, Sylvia Sidney, Paul Lukas, William 'Stage' Boyd
Votes: 1,873
36. Hyppolit a lakáj (1931)
72 min | Comedy
A butler changes the life of a nouveau-riche entrepreneur's life, while his daughter falls in love with the company's manager instead of a suitor chosen for her.
Director: Steve Sekely | Stars: Gyula Csortos, Gyula Kabos, Mici Haraszti, Éva Fenyvessy
Votes: 1,753
37. Comradeship (1931)
Not Rated | 93 min | Drama
Plea against war and for friendship between peoples, through the story of French miners rescued by German colleagues after a firedamp explosion.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst | Stars: Alexander Granach, Fritz Kampers, Ernst Busch, Elisabeth Wendt
Votes: 1,745
38. Safe in Hell (1931)
Passed | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
After accidentally killing the man who raped her and forced her into prostitution, a New Orleans woman flees to a Caribbean island. While she awaits her fiancé, the vicious local police chief sets his sights on her.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Dorothy Mackaill, Donald Cook, Ralf Harolde, John Wray
Votes: 2,040
39. Tokyo Chorus (1931)
90 min | Comedy, Drama
A married Tokyo man faces unemployment after standing up for an older colleague.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Tokihiko Okada, Emiko Yagumo, Hideo Sugawara, Hideko Takamine
Votes: 1,575
40. The Last Flight (1931)
Passed | 76 min | Drama
World War I veterans roam Paris, drinking and admiring a woman they recently met.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Richard Barthelmess, David Manners, Johnny Mack Brown, Helen Chandler
Votes: 1,392
41. Private Lives (1931)
Passed | 84 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Divorced couple unexpectedly meet each other during their honeymoon and rekindle their love.
Director: Sidney Franklin | Stars: Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery, Reginald Denny, Una Merkel
Votes: 1,356
42. Tonight or Never (1931)
80 min | Comedy, Romance
A young opera singer finds her career stalled because of her cold and passionless performances, until she finds romance with a handsome admirer.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Gloria Swanson, Melvyn Douglas, Alison Skipworth, Ferdinand Gottschalk
Votes: 1,612
43. The Black Camel (1931)
Passed | 71 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
The unsolved murder of a Hollywood actor several years earlier and an enigmatic psychic are the keys to help Charlie solve the Honolulu stabbing death of a beautiful actress.
Director: Hamilton MacFadden | Stars: Warner Oland, Sally Eilers, Bela Lugosi, Dorothy Revier
Votes: 1,655
44. Taxi (1931)
Passed | 69 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Independent cabbie Matt Nolan is primed to let his fists and handgun deliver payback after a big taxi firm uses intimidation and violence to squeeze out small-timers.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: James Cagney, Loretta Young, George E. Stone, Guy Kibbee
Votes: 1,554
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