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


Gone with the Wind
1939 · 3h 58m
country: United States
The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.


Modern Times
1936 · 1h 27m
country: United States
A bumbling tramp desires to build a home with a young woman, yet is thwarted time and time again by his lack of experience and habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time...


It Happened One Night
1934 · 1h 45m
country: United States
A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.


Wuthering Heights
1939 · 1h 44m
country: United States
Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.


The Adventures of Robin Hood
1938 · 1h 42m
country: United States
Robin Hood fights nobly for justice against the evil Sir Guy of Gisbourne while striving to win the hand of the beautiful Maid Marian.


Bringing Up Baby
1938 · 1h 42m
country: United States
David Huxley is waiting to get a bone he needs for his museum collection. Through a series of strange circumstances, he meets Susan Vance, and the duo have a series of misadventures which include a leopard called Baby.


City Lights
1931 · 1h 27m
country: United States
A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor.


The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1939 · 1h 57m
country: United States
Paris, France, 1482. Frollo, Chief Justice of benevolent King Louis XI, gets infatuated by the beauty of Esmeralda, a young Romani girl. The hunchback Quasimodo, Frollo's protege and bell-ringer of Notre Dame, lives in peace among the bells in the heights of the immense cathedral until he is involved by the twisted magistrate in his malicious plans to free himself from Esmeralda's alleged spell, which he believes to be the devil's work.


Ninotchka
1939 · 1h 50m
country: United States
A stern Russian woman sent to Paris on official business finds herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest.


Susan Lenox
1931 · 1h 16m
country: United States
A young woman runs away from an abusive home and pre-arranged marriage only to be frustrated in her attempts to find happiness with a handsome engineer.
Dreams of Love
Dreams of Love
1935 · 1h 32m
country: Hungary
The timeless compositions of Franz Liszt are heard throughout the Hungarian historical romance Szerelmi Almok (Love Dreams). Though Liszt himself is a major character, the heroine of the piece is Hungarian countess Maria Duday (Maria Salyok). Leaving her fiancé at the altar, Maria insists upon becoming Liszt's pupil. In addition to her passion for her teacher, Maria also becomes involved with a young orchestra conductor, who ends up being wounded in a duel with her ex-fiancé. In the end, however, Maria and the musician are reunited as she plays a Liszt concerto under his direction. A German-language version of Szerelmi Almok was filmed simultaneously with a different cast.


Sisters Under the Skin
1934 · 1h 5m
country: United States
Wealthy, aging millionaire John Hunter Yates (Frank Morgan) seeks to recapture his youth by pursuing a young actress, Blossom Bailey (Elissa Landi), leading him from America to Europe, where he finances her and a musician lover, only to realize his mistakes and return to his neglected wife, Elinor, understanding their true connection.


You Can't Take It with You
1938 · 2h 6m
country: United States
Alice, the only relatively normal member of the eccentric Sycamore family, falls in love with Tony Kirby, but his wealthy banker father and snobbish mother strongly disapprove of the match. When the Kirbys are invited to dinner to become better acquainted with their future in-laws, things don't turn out the way Alice had hoped.


Profesor Wilczur
1938 · 1h 28m
country: Poland
Profesor Wilczur is a 1938 Polish romantic drama film directed by Michał Waszyński. It is based on the novel by Tadeusz Dolega-Mostowicz.


The Rules of the Game
1939 · 1h 50m
country: France
The Marquis de la Chesnaye and his wife host a weekend gala where a variety of complicated romantic and social entanglements between guests and servants lead to tragedy, all against the backdrop of a looming war.


Dark Victory
1939 · 1h 44m
country: United States
Socialite Judith Traherne lives a lavish but emotionally empty life. Riding horses is one of her few joys, and her stable master is secretly in love with her. Told she has a brain tumor by her doctor, Frederick Steele, Judith becomes distraught. After she decides to have surgery to remove the tumor, Judith realizes she is in love with Dr. Steele, but more troubling medical news may sabotage her new relationship, and her second chance at life.


Queen Christina
1934 · 1h 39m
country: United States
Popular monarch Queen Christina of Sweden must choose between love and loyalty to her nation when she unexpectedly falls for a Spanish envoy.


Only Angels Have Wings
1939 · 2h 1m
country: United States
A traveling performer arrives at a remote South American port town where the head of an air freight service must risk his pilots' lives to earn a major contract.


Jezebel
1938 · 1h 43m
country: United States
In 1850s Louisiana, the willfulness of a tempestuous Southern belle threatens to destroy all who care for her.


Poor girl
1930 · 1h 22m
country: Czechoslovakia
The illegitimate child, Marie Růžová, grows up in the family of the Bořický miller. Childhood and youth spend with the son of Bořice, Klement. Klement asserts the rights, becomes a lawyer, and marries Jirina. In order not to cause further contradictions, Mary will go to Prague secretly at night. There he is living heavily as a waitress. He resists the insults of architect Jansky until he ultimately decides to commit suicide in despair.


Lucrezia Borgia
1935 · 1h 33m
country: France
French silent film pioneer Abel Gance directs this 1935 classic about Lucrezia Borgia, her brother, Cesare. and her father, Pope Alexander VI -- one of history's most ruthless and ambitious crime families.


Grand Hotel
1932 · 1h 52m
country: United States
Guests at a posh Berlin hotel struggle through worry, scandal, and heartache.


Cleopatra
1934 · 1h 40m
country: United States
The queen of Egypt barges the Nile and flirts with Mark Antony and Julius Caesar.


Holiday
1938 · 1h 37m
country: United States
Johnny Case, a freethinking financier, has finally found the girl of his dreams — Julia Seton, the spoiled daughter of a socially prominent millionaire — and she's agreed to marry him. But when Johnny plans a holiday for the two to enjoy life while they are still young, his fiancée has other plans & that is for Johnny to work in her father's bank!


42nd Street
1933 · 1h 29m
country: United States
Broadway director Julian Marsh needs just one more hit show so he can retire and recover his health. It looks like he just may pull it off until temperamental star Dorthy Brock breaks her ankle on the eve of the show's premiere and has to be replaced by her understudy Peggy.


Camille
1936 · 1h 49m
country: United States
Life in 1847 Paris is as spirited as champagne and as unforgiving as the gray morning after. In gambling dens and lavish soirees, men of means exert their wills and women turned courtesans exult in pleasure. One such woman is Marguerite Gautier, who begins a sumptuous romance with Armand Duval.


Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1936 · 1h 55m
country: United States
Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.


You Only Live Once
1937 · 1h 26m
country: United States
Based partially on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, Eddie Taylor is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. When he is framed for murder, Taylor is forced to flee with his wife Joan Graham and baby. While escaping prison after being sentenced to death, Taylor becomes a real murderer, condemning himself and Joan to a life of crime and death on the road.


Morocco
1930 · 1h 32m
country: United States
Mogador, Morocco. Late 1920s. A complex romance develops between a womanizing Legionnaire and a disillusioned Parisian cabaret singer.


Shanghai Express
1932 · 1h 22m
country: United States
A beautiful temptress re-kindles an old romance while trying to escape her past during a tension-packed train journey.


A Star Is Born
1937 · 1h 51m
country: United States
Esther Blodgett is just another starry-eyed farm kid trying to break into the movies. Waitressing at a Hollywood party, she catches the eye of her idol Norman Maine, is sent for a screen test, and before long attains stardom as newly minted Vicki Lester. She and Norman marry, though his career soon dwindles to nothing due to his chronic alcoholism.


Libeled Lady
1936 · 1h 38m
country: United States
When a major newspaper accuses wealthy socialite Connie Allenbury of being a home-wrecker, and she files a multi-million-dollar libel lawsuit, the publication's frazzled head editor, Warren Haggerty, must find a way to turn the tables on her. Soon Haggerty's harried fiancée, Gladys Benton, and his dashing friend Bill Chandler are in on a scheme that aims to discredit Connie, with amusing and unexpected results.


Fanny Elssler
1937 · 1h 20m
country: Germany
Prince Klemens von Metternich orders Friedrich Gentz, one of his aides, to keep the Duke of Reichstadt---Napoleon Francois Joseph Charles---son of Napoleon and heir to the French throne, from thinking about French politics. Gentz enlists the help of ballerina Fanny Elsser, all the rage in several European capitals, to keep the Duke distracted.


The Awful Truth
1937 · 1h 31m
country: United States
Unfounded suspicions lead a married couple to begin divorce proceedings, whereupon they start undermining each other's attempts to find new romance.


The Bird Seller
1935 · 1h 16m
country: Germany
The film is an adaptation of the 1891 operetta Der Vogelhändler by composer Carl Zeller, with libretto by Moritz West and Ludwig Held, though it incorporates few of the original songs, using them mostly instrumentally or in the background. The plot follows Adam, a Tyrolean bird seller in 18th-century Rhineland, who hopes to marry his beloved Christl, a postmaster's daughter; to secure his future, she arranges for him to perform at court, but complications arise when she is mistakenly suspected of an affair with a philandering prince.


The Csardas Princess
1934 · 1h 35m
country: Germany
Sylva Varescu is an operetta singer performing Kálmán's Die Czardasfürstin through Europe with great success. Before going to Vienna she meets handsome Prinz Weylerstein and they fall in love. Offered a contract for America, she doubts until she finds out that he is already engaged to a countess.


Black Pearl
1934 · 1h 15m
country: Poland
Polish seaman returns home from Tahiti with a native lover and a fortune in sacred pearls, gets seduced by a married woman unaware she is part of a gang trying to get his riches.


Swing Time
1936 · 1h 43m
country: United States
Lucky is tricked into missing his own wedding to Margaret and has to make $25,000 so her father will allow him to marry her. He and business partner Pop go to New York where they run into dancing instructor Penny. She and Lucky form a successful dance partnership, but romance is blighted by his old attachment to Margaret and hers for Ricky.


Leper
1936 · 1h 30m
country: Poland
Stefcia Rudecka starts working as a governess in an aristocratic house. Waldemar, the young heir, falls in love with her but his well-off family is not eager to accept the woman he loves.


Port of Shadows
1938 · 1h 33m
country: France
Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean, an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, as acts of both revenge and kindness render him front-page news.
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.
Romance is the genre most shaped by its era's ideas about intimacy, which makes watching across decades a genuine education. It spans the screwball comedies, the sweeping melodramas, and the modern indie two-hander.