Paper Moon (1973), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Footlight Parade (1933), The Petrified Forest (1936), Bright Eyes (1934), Dancing Lady (1933), Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935), Small Town Girl (1936) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Great Depression Era movies.
Storyline: Set in the midwest of the depression-era, Paper Moon follows Moses Pray and Addie Loggins - one a con artist, the other, the young girl who's the daughter of a woman who's just passed away. The pair meet when 'Mose' stops by the sparsely-attended funeral in Kansas of a woman he once knew (we never see her). In attendance, is the woman's young daughter, Addie, whom Moses agrees to transport to St Joseph, Mo -- for money, of course. Mose - an inveterate hustler, has been working ostensibly as a representative of the Kansas Bible Company - who picks his marks from the obits, and tries to sell - at exorbitant prices - the decedents' spouse the custom bible they'd previously ordered. Wise beyond her years, Addie picks up on Moses' grift, and very quickly, she and Mose become a team. Traveling from town to town, making money in every dishonest way imaginable, and looking for the ultimate score. The colorful characters they meet along the way make the film all the more interesting. One in ...
Plot Keywords: comedy, drama, road movie, american film, black and white, retro, great depression era ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Cecilia is a waitress in New Jersey during the Depression and is searching for an escape from her dreary life. Tom Baxter is a dashing young archaeologist in the film "The Purple Rose of Cairo." After losing her job Cecilia goes to see the film in hopes of raising her spirits. Much to her surprise Tom Baxter walks off the screen and into her life. There's only one problem..Tom isn't real. Meanwhile Hollywood is up in arms when they dicover that other Tom Baxters are trying to leave the screen in other theatres. Will Tom ever return and finish the film or will he decide to stay in the real world?
Plot Keywords: fantasy, romance, comedy, drama, nostalgia, escapism, romantic comedy ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Chester Kent produces musical comedies on the stage. With the beginning of the talkies era he changes to producing short musical prologues for movies. This is stressful to him, because he always needs new units and his rival is stealing his ideas. He can get an contract with a producer if he is able to stage in three days three new prologues. In spite of great problems, he does it.—Stephan Eichenberg <eichenbe@fak-cbg.tu-muenchen.de>
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, romance, great depression era, broadway, musical theater, warner bros ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Gabby lives and works at her dads small diner out in the desert. She can't stand it and wants to go and live with her mother in France. Along comes Alan, a broke man with no will to live, who is traveling to see the pacific, and maybe to drown in it. Meanwhile Duke Mantee a notorious killer and his gang is heading towards the diner where Mantee plan on meeting up with his girl.
Plot Keywords: film noir, crime, drama, thriller, hostage, fugitive, gangster ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: When a maid is accidentally hit by a car and killed, her young orphaned daughter is forced to live with the snooty couple she used to work for. A custody battle soon ensues between an aviator who adores the little girl and the couple's crotchety Uncle Ned.—Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com>
Plot Keywords: children's film, musical, family film, comedy, drama, classic film, black and white film ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Janie lives to dance and will dance anywhere, even stripping in a burlesque house. Tod Newton, the rich playboy, discovers her there and helps her get a job in a real Broadway musical being directed by Patch. Tod thinks he can get what he wants from Janie, Patch thinks Janie is using her charms rather than talent to get to the top, and Janie thinks Patch is the greatest. Steve, the stage manager, has the Three Stooges helping him manage all the show girls. Fred Astaire and Nelson Eddy make appearances as famous Broadway personalities.—Lisa Grable <grable@unity.ncsu.edu>
Plot Keywords: musical, romance, comedy, broadway, dance, golden age hollywood, joan crawford ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Bob Gordon is staging a new Broadway Show, but he is short of money. He gets an offer of money by the young widow Lillian, if she can dance in his new show. Bert Keeler, a newspaper man, gets this information and is writing about this in his column in an slightly unfriendly way. Gordon's old class mate Irene Forster, a tap dancer from Albany also tries to get the leading role in this show, but Lillian insists in getting this part herself. So Irene Forster, Bert Keeler and Gordon's secretary Kitty start a little game to get Irene the leading role.—Stephan Eichenberg <eichenbe@fak-cbg.tu-muenchen.de>
Plot Keywords: musical, romance, comedy, broadway, 1930s, hollywood, musical theater ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Kay is a girl living in a small rural town whose life is just too dull and repetitious to bear. One night, she meets young, handsome, and rich Bob Dakin, who asks her for directions while drunk and then proceeds to take her out on a night on the town. Kay likes the stranger, and when the drunken Bob decides that they should get married, Kay hesitates little before consenting. The morning after the affair, Bob, once sober, regrets his mistake. His strict and upright parents, however, insist that the young couple pretend marriage for 6 months before divorcing, in order to avoid bad publicity. Bob resents Kay for standing in the way of him and his fiancée, Priscilla, but Kay still hopes that he'd have a change of heart.—Anonymous
Plot Keywords: romance, musical, comedy, drama, small town life, class divide, marriage ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: John Truscott goes to Borneo to work with the Iban. He reports to Henry Bullard, who gives him a "sleeping dictionary"--one of the locals who teaches him the local language and culture. And who he gives John is Selima. And while teaching him, John finds himself attracted to her. And we says it's not allowed, both the locals and Bullard forbid him to be in a relationship with Selima. But he defies them which has dire consequences.—rcs0411@yahoo.com
Plot Keywords: musical, black comedy, surrealism, canadian film, drama, comedy, absurdist ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Entertainers enter a political rally to get out of the rain and become part of the show. One of them (Powell) gives a speech in place of the besotted candidate (Walburn) and is chosen to be the candidate by backers he later exposes as crooks.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, romance, broadway, song and dance, great depression era, golden age of hollywood ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: When the co-owner of a secretarial school visits a magazine editor to find out why he runs through secretaries, she's mistaken for an applicant. Drawn to him, she accepts the position.
Plot Keywords: romance, comedy, workplace, 1930s, american film, classic, light comedy ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: After helping a numbskull graduate college, a nebbish blunders into a job running an amusement park. There he wards off a variety of con artists and other miscreants while he pursues a nightclub singer.—Andrei Blok
Plot Keywords: comedy, musical, musical film, black and white, classic film, american film, 1930s ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Eddie and his Mexican friend Ricardo are expelled from college after Ricardo put Eddie in the girl's dormitory when he was drunk. Per chance Eddie gets mixed up in a bank robbery and is forced to drive the robbers to safety. To get rid of him they force him to leave the USA for Mexico, but a cop is following him. Eddie meets Ricardo there, Ricardo helps him avoid being arrested by the cop when he introduces Eddie as the great Spanish bullfighter Don Sebastian II. The problem is, the cop is still curious and has tickets for the bullfight. Eddie's situation becomes more critical, when he tries to help Ricardo to win the girl he loves, but she's engaged to a "real" Mexican, who is, unknown to her father, involved in illegal business. While trying to avoid all this trouble, Eddie himself falls in love with his friend's girl friend's sister Rosalie, who also want to see the great Don Sebastian II to kill the bull in the arena.—Stephan Eichenberg <eichenbe@fak-cbg.tu-muenchen.de>
Plot Keywords: comedy, musical, musical film, american film, 1930s, golden age, college life ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: It's a hot summer day in 1933 in South Philly, where 12-year old Gennaro lives with his widowed mom and his ailing grandpa, who sits outside holding tight to his last quarter, which he's promised to Gennaro and which Gennaro would like to have to buy a ticket to the plush new movie theater. But grandpa's not ready to pass on the quarter or pass on to his final reward: he has some unfinished business with a woman from his past, and he enlists Gennaro to act as his emissary.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>
Plot Keywords: drama, family, coming of age, american, 1990s, childhood, philadelphia ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A vacationing Broadway producer, George White, stops off in a small Georgia town to send a telegram. He sees his name in lights on a local theater and is scandalized over the unauthorized use. He goes to the theater to object and, while there, discovers some unusual and great song-and-dance talent buried in a tank-town. He takes them to New York City, puts them in a new version of his Scandals and they are big hits. Their sudden fame causes a pair of lovers to forget their vows made in less-palmy days.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, vintage, broadway, song and dance, 1930s, nostalgia ...
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