The 40 most popular 1930s family movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
1937 · 1h 23m
country: United States
A beautiful girl, Snow White, takes refuge in the forest in the house of seven dwarfs to hide from her stepmother, the wicked Queen. The Queen is jealous because she wants to be known as "the fairest in the land," and Snow White's beauty surpasses her own.


The Wizard of Oz
1939 · 1h 42m
country: United States
Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss most in their lives. The Wicked Witch of the West is the only thing that could stop them.


Three Little Pigs
1933 · 8m
country: United States
The two pigs building houses of hay and sticks scoff at their brother, building the brick house. But when the wolf comes around and blows their houses down (after trickery like dressing as a foundling sheep fails), they run to their brother's house. And throughout, they sing the classic song, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?".


Foreigner
1937 · 24m
country: Unknown
A small river separates Soviet lands from the territory of one of the capitalist powers. On the other side, the girl Pebble lives with her peasant father. One morning, after running after a cow across a river, the girl crossed to the Soviet side. She only spends one day in the kindergarten of the border post, but this day remains in her memory for the rest of her life. Seeing the bright, spacious rooms, the beautiful clothes of the children, delicious plentiful food, and many toys, the girl remembers with bitterness her dilapidated hut, where there is not always bread for dinner. Caressed by the Soviet people, in a new dress, with a bunch of donated toys, Pebble goes back home. A rude shout from a gendarme officer brings the girl back to bitter reality.


The Son of Kong
1933 · 1h 10m
country: United States
Beleaguered adventurer Carl Denham returns to the island where he found King Kong.


The Wise Little Hen
1934 · 8m
country: United States
Join Donald Duck in his debut in the classic animated short The Wise Little Hen. The Little Hen is planting corn and would like to have help from Peter Pig and Donald Duck, but they refuse stating they each have a "tummy ache." When it comes time to harvest the corn, Peter Pig and Donald still refuse to help the Hen, so she and her chicks do the harvest by themselves. Finally, the hen cooks the corn and offers some to Donald and Peter Pig, but when they look more carefully they discover a surprise.


Ferdinand the Bull
1938 · 8m
country: United States
This Oscar-winning short tells of a bull who preferred to sit under trees and smell flowers to clashing horns with his fellow animals. As luck would have it, an untimely bee reveals Ferdinand's ferocious side via pained howls and wild stomping. This lands him in the bull-fighting arena amidst characters based on Walt's animators with a matador reportedly modeled after Walt himself.


Gulliver's Travels
1939 · 1h 16m
country: United States
Gulliver washes ashore on Lilliput and attempts to prevent war between that tiny kingdom and its equally-miniscule rival, Blefiscu, as well as smooth the way for the romance between the Princess and Prince of the opposing lands. In this he is alternately aided and hampered by the Lilliputian town crier and general fussbudget, Gabby. A life-threatening situation develops when the bumbling trio of Blefiscu spies, Sneak, Snoop, and Snitch, manage to steal Gulliver's pistol.


The Old Mill
1937 · 9m
country: United States
Night in an old mill is dramatically depicted in this Oscar-winning short in which the frightened occupants, including birds, timid mice, owls, and other creatures try to stay safe and dry as a storm approaches. As the thunderstorm worsens, the mill wheel begins to turn and the whole mill threatens to blow apart until at last the storm subsides.


Little Women
1933 · 1h 55m
country: United States
Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.


Treasure Island
1934 · 1h 43m
country: United States
In this early film adaptation of the classic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, young Jim Hawkins is caught up with the pirate Long John Silver in search of buccaneer Captain Flint's buried treasure.


Captains Courageous
1937 · 1h 55m
country: United States
Harvey, the arrogant and spoiled son of an indulgent absentee-father, falls overboard from a transatlantic steamship and is rescued by a fishing vessel on the Grand Banks. Harvey fails to persuade them to take him ashore, nor convince the crew of his wealth. The captain offers him a low-paid job, until they return to port, as part of the crew that turns him into a mature, considerate young man.


The Grasshopper and the Ants
1934 · 8m
country: United States
As in the classic fable, the grasshopper plays his fiddle and lives for the moment, while the industrious ants squirrel away massive amounts of food for the winter. With his song, he's able to convince at least one small ant until the queen arrives and scares him back to work. The queen warns the grasshopper of the trouble he'll be in, come winter. Winter comes, and the grasshopper, near starvation, stumbles across the ants, who are having a full-on feast in their snug little tree. They take him in and warm him up. The queen tells him only those who work can eat so he must play for them. Written by Jon Reeves


The Little Princess
1939 · 1h 33m
country: United States
A little girl goes in search of her father who is reported missing by the military during the Second Boer War.


Three Little Wolves
1936 · 9m
country: United States
Two little pigs cry wolf on their brother and then an actual wolf comes.


Elmer Elephant
1936 · 8m
country: United States
Little Elmer Elephant has a crush on Tillie Tiger and his affection is reciprocated. Trouble is, the pint-sized pachyderm is beset by bullies who ridicule his trunk and make his life miserable. Then a conflagration breaks out at Tillie's tree house.


Babes in Toyland
1934 · 1h 18m
country: United States
Ollie Dee and Stannie Dum try to borrow money from their employer, the toymaker, to pay off the mortgage on Mother Peep's shoe and keep it and Little Bo Peep from the clutches of the evil Barnaby. When that fails, they trick Barnaby, enraging him.


Heidi
1937 · 1h 28m
country: United States
Heidi is orphaned and her uncaring maternal Aunt Dete takes her to the mountains to live with her reclusive, grumpy paternal grandfather, Adolph Kramer. Heidi brings her grandfather back into mountain society through her sweet ways and sheer love. When Dete later returns and steals Heidi away to become the companion of a rich man's wheelchair-bound daughter, the grandfather is heartsick to discover his little girl missing and immediately sets out to get her back.


The Tortoise and the Hare
1935 · 9m
country: United States
The Tortoise and the Hare is an animated short film released on January 5, 1935 by United Artists, produced by Walt Disney and directed by Wilfred Jackson. Based on an Aesop's fable of the same name, The Tortoise and the Hare won the 1934 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. This cartoon is also believed to be one of the influences for Bugs Bunny.


Latif
1930 · 49m
country: Soviet Union
Latif a seven year old boy living during the collectivization policy in USSR.


A Christmas Carol
1938 · 1h 9m
country: United States
Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.


Alice in Wonderland
1933 · 1h 16m
country: United States
In Victorian England, a bored young girl dreams that she has entered a fantasy world called Wonderland, populated by even more fantastic characters.


The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
1939 · 1h 31m
country: United States
Huckleberry Finn, a rambunctious boy adventurer chafing under the bonds of civilization, escapes his humdrum world and his selfish, plotting father by sailing a raft down the Mississippi River.


Gunsundari
1934 · 3h 5m
country: India
Gunsundari, the dutiful wife, acts as savior for her troubled joint family. Her father-in-law Shyamaldas battles alcoholism and accusations, while her husband Chandrakant falls prey to villains and a prostitute, losing his property. Gunsundari also aids her sister-in-law Sushila through marital woes, facing personal trouble due to a secret. Destitute, she eventually reunites with a similarly down-on-his-luck Chandrakant on the streets. A coincidence ultimately reveals Shyamaldas left his property to his estranged son, leading to a happy ending.


Curly Top
1935 · 1h 15m
country: United States
Wealthy Edward Morgan becomes charmed with a curly-haired orphan and her pretty older sister Mary and arranges to adopt both under the alias of "Mr. Jones". As he spends more time with them, he soon finds himself falling in love with Mary.


The Prince and the Pauper
1937 · 1h 58m
country: United States
Two boys – the prince Edward and the pauper Tom – are born on the same day. Years later, when young teenage Tom sneaks into the palace garden, he meets the prince. They change clothes with one another before the guards discover them and throw out the prince thinking he's the urchin. No one believes them when they try to tell the truth about which is which. Soon after, the old king dies and the prince will inherit the throne.


Blondie
1938 · 1h 10m
country: United States
Blondie and Dagwood are about to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary but this happy occasion is marred when the bumbling Dagwood gets himself involved in a scheme that is promising financial ruin for the Bumstead family.


Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor
1936 · 16m
country: United States
After wrecking Popeye's ship and stealing away Olive Oyl, hero of Arabic legend Sindbad decides to test him and his ever-resilient new rival's strength in order to prove their supremacy as the "most remarkable, extraordinary fella" of Sindbad's menagerie island.


Three Blind Mouseketeers
1936 · 9m
country: United States
As the title implies, the three blind mice are musketeers. The cat sets a number of traps for them, which they all evade (apparently without realizing it) while he sleeps. The cat eventually wakes up and begins chasing them unsuccessfully, thanks to their teamwork.


Captain January
1936 · 1h 17m
country: United States
A little girl named Star lives with a lighthouse keeper who rescued her when her parents drowned. A truant officer decides she should go to boarding school, but she's rescued by relatives.


The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
1938 · 1h 31m
country: United States
Tom Sawyer and his pal Huckleberry Finn have great adventures on the Mississippi River, pretending to be pirates, attending their own funeral and witnessing a murder.


Little Miss Marker
1934 · 1h 19m
country: United States
Big Steve Halloway, gambler and proprietor of New York's Horseshoe Cabaret, is in desperate need of money. He arranges for his fellow bookies, especially Sorrowful Jones, to each pay him $1,000 for his racehorse, Dream Prince, to lose. With all bets being placed at the window, Sorrowful encounters a gambler, having lost $500, wanting to place his bet but unable to come up with $20. Instead, he places his little girl, Marthy Jane, as security, or in bookie's terms a "marker". "Marky", as she comes to be known, winds up under the care of Sorrowful Jones and his lady friend, singer Bangles Carson.


Stand Up and Cheer!
1934 · 1h 9m
country: United States
President Franklin Roosevelt appoints a theatrical producer as the new Secretary of Amusement in order to cheer up an American public still suffering through the Depression. The new secretary soon runs afoul of political lobbyists out to destroy his department.


Little Lord Fauntleroy
1936 · 1h 42m
country: United States
An American boy turns out to be the heir of a wealthy British earl. He is sent to live with the irritable and unsentimental aristocrat, his grandfather.


Wee Willie Winkie
1937 · 1h 40m
country: United States
In 1897, little Priscilla Williams, along with her widowed mother, goes to live with her army colonel paternal grandfather on the British outpost he commands in northern India.


Gold Diggers of '49
1935 · 8m
country: United States
Porky and Beans are prospectors during the Gold Rush. When a villain steals Porky's bag of loot, Beans races to get it back so he can marry Porky's daughter Little Kitty.


Our Little Girl
1935 · 1h 5m
country: United States
Don Middleton is so caught up with his work he neglects his wife Elsa. Lonely Elsa begins to spend more time with Don's best friend and they become attracted to one another. Don and Elsa decide to get a divorce, unaware of the effect their problems are having on their daughter Molly. When Elsa announces plans to remarry, Molly runs away from home.


Dog Daze
1937 · 7m
country: United States
A series of gags at a dog show, including a stage revue. A dog gets into a trunk of roller skates and crashes through the stage show.


Young Hearts
1936 · 1h 8m
country: Netherlands
A group of students spends the holiday on the island of Texel. Sip feels attracted to young artist Hans, while Annie is in love with Peter. The arrival of Maja, who has run away from her husband's family with her young son, plays havoc with Peter's feelings.


The Little Colonel
1935 · 1h 20m
country: United States
After Southern belle Elizabeth Lloyd runs off to marry Yankee Jack Sherman, her father, a former Confederate colonel during the Civil War, vows to never speak to her again. Several years pass and Elizabeth returns to her home town with her husband and young daughter. The little girl charms her crusty grandfather and tries to patch things up between him and her mother.
The 1930s were the studio system at full power, with sound now fully integrated and the Production Code arriving mid-decade to sharply narrow what films could depict. It's the decade of the Universal monster cycle, screwball comedy, and the first Technicolor spectacles.
Family films are made to work for two audiences at once, which is a harder brief than it sounds. The enduring ones layer real emotional stakes under the accessibility.