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


Frankenstein
1931 · 1h 10m · US
Obsessed scientist Dr. Henry Frankenstein attempts to create life by assembling a creature from deceased body parts. Aided by his loyal misshapen assistant, Fritz, Frankenstein succeeds in animating his monster, but it flees into the countryside and begins to wreak havoc.


The Invisible Man
1933 · 1h 11m · US
After experimenting on himself and becoming invisible, scientist Jack Griffin, now aggressive due to the drug's effects, seeks a way to reverse the experiment at any cost.


Bride of Frankenstein
1935 · 1h 15m · US
After recovering from injuries sustained in the mob attack upon himself and his creation, Dr. Henry Frankenstein falls under control of his former mentor, Dr. Pretorius, who insists the now-chastened doctor resume his experiments in creating new life. Meanwhile, the Monster remains on the run from those who wish to destroy him.


Sharad of Atlantis
1936 · 3h 46m · US
Crash Corrigan, a recent graduate of Annapolis, and Diana, a go-getting reporter, join Professor Norton for a search for the source of a string of earthquakes, Atlantis. They ride Prof. Norton's rocket submarine searching the sea and little Billy Norton, the professor's son stows away, of course. When they find Atlantis they are caught in a war between peaceful Atlanteans, note their white capes, and war-monging Atlanteans, note their black capes. After many harrowing moments for Crash, Diana, Prof. Norton and Billy, they barely get away with their lives when they escape a tower of Atlantis raised to the surface for the sole purpose of dominating or destroying the Earth (Which one depends on the compliance of the upper world dwellers.)


Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1931 · 1h 36m · US
Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men: one that is good and one that is evil. He believes that by separating the two, man can become liberated. He succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes. When he discontinues use of the drug, it is already too late.


The New Moscow
1938 · 1h 40m · SU
A comedy about a naive young architect and his wild designs for a “New Moscow.” The Soviet censors weren't at all amused and shelved it.


Island of Lost Souls
1932 · 1h 11m · US
An obsessed scientist conducts profane experiments in evolution, eventually establishing himself as the self-styled demigod to a race of mutated, half-human abominations.


Ghost Patrol
1936 · 1h · US
A Professor has an invention that will bring down planes causing them to crash and Dawson is forcing him to use it on those carrying money. When Tim arrives to investigate he is mistaken for a noted outlaw. So he assumes that identity to force Dawson to make him a partner. But just as a plane bringing Tim help is arriving, his true identity is revealed and while he is a prisoner, Dawson forces the Professor to start his machine.


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


The World Will Shake
1939 · 1h 48m · FR
In this sci-fi film, a scientist invents a prescient machine that can tell people when they will die. Oddly enough, the people do not want to know and therefore begin to riot…


Son of Frankenstein
1939 · 1h 39m · US
One of the sons of late Dr. Henry Frankenstein finds his father's ghoulish creation in a coma and revives him, only to find out the monster is controlled by Ygor who is bent on revenge.


The Phantom Empire
1935 · 4h 5m · US
When the ancient continent of Mu sank beneath the ocean, some of its inhabitant survived in caverns beneath the sea. Cowboy singer Gene Autry stumbles upon the civilization, now buried beneath his own Radio Ranch. The Muranians have developed technology and weaponry such as television and ray guns. Their rich supply of radium draws unscrupulous speculators from the surface. The peaceful civilization of the Muranians is corrupted by the greed from above, and it becomes Autry's task to prevent all-out war, ideally without disrupting his regular radio show.


Just Imagine
1930 · 1h 53m · US
New York, 1980: airplanes have replaced cars, numbers have replaced names, pills have replaced food, government-arranged marriages have replaced love, and test tube babies have replaced ... well, you get the idea. Scientists revive a man struck by lightning in 1930; he is rechristened "Single O". He is befriended by J-21, who can't marry the girl of his dreams because he isn't "distinguished" enough -- until he is chosen for a 4-month expedition to Mars by a renegade scientist. The Mars J-21, his friend, and stowaway Single O visit is full of scantily clad women doing Busby Berkeley-style dance numbers and worshiping a fat middle-aged man.


The Mask of Fu Manchu
1932 · 1h 8m · US
The villainous Dr. Fu Manchu races against a team of Englishmen to find the tomb of Ghengis Khan, because he wants to use the relics to cause an uprising in the East to wipe out the white race.


Things to Come
1936 · 1h 40m · UK
The story of a century: a decades-long second World War leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and attempts space travel.


The Return of Doctor X
1939 · 1h 2m · US
When news reporter Walter Garrett arrives at the hotel room of bombshell actress Angela Merrova to conduct an interview, he finds her dead from multiple stab wounds. He returns with the police to find the hotel empty and the body vanished. Garrett writes about the incident but is fired when Merrova, alive and well, goes to the paper to complain. Now his only chance to get his job back is to find the truth, which involves the grisly scheme of a madman.


Mystery of the Ghastly Face
1935 · 1h 28m · MX
Dr. Forti carries out strange experiments, assisted by his son Pablo. They embark on an expedition to the jungle. Eight years later Forti returns without his son but strange things start to happen in the old house where they live.


Flash Gordon
1936 · 4h 5m · US
Disaster seems imminent when scientists discover that the planet Mongo is about to crash into Earth. Luckily, heroic young Flash Gordon is on hand to lead an investigative mission into outer space and onto the speedily approaching planet. There, he and his best girl, Dale, who is along for the ride, learn that Ming, the devious ruler of Mongo, has purposely put the planet on a collision course with Earth, and only Flash can stop him.


The Walking Dead
1936 · 1h 6m · US
Down-on-his-luck John Ellman is framed for a judge's murder. After he's convicted and sentenced to death, witnesses come forth and prove his innocence. But it was too late for a stay to be granted and Ellman is executed. A doctor uses an experimental procedure to restore him to life, though the full outcome is other than expected.


The Man Who Changed His Mind
1936 · 1h 6m · UK
Dr. Laurence, a once-respectable scientist, begins to research the origin of the mind and the soul. The science community rejects him, and he risks losing everything for which he has worked. He begins to use his discoveries to save his research and further his own causes, thereby becoming ... a mad scientist, almost unstoppable.


The Man They Could Not Hang
1939 · 1h 4m · US
Dr. Henryk Savaard is a scientist working on experiments to restore life to the dead. When he is unjustly hanged for murder, he is brought back to life by his trusted assistant. Re-animated he turns decidedly nasty and sets about murdering the jury that convicted him.


The Phantom Creeps
1939 · 4h 25m · US
A mad scientist attempts to rule the world by creating various elaborate inventions.


Modern Inventions
1937 · 9m · US
Donald Duck goes to a museum of modern inventions. After getting in without paying, he meets a robot butler who takes Donald's hat every time he sees him. Donald is very annoyed by this and magically fixes himself a new hat every time this happens and strolls on. Ignoring the sign not to touch it, Donald starts playing with a wrapping machine and ends up being wrapped himself. He also encounters and tries out a robot nursemaid and a fully automatic barber chair. They both don't do him much good.


Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars
1938 · 3h 49m · US
When a deadly Nitron ray strikes Earth, Flash Gordon and his friends travel to Mars to battle Ming the Merciless and his new ally Queen Azura.


Cosmic Journey
1936 · 1h 10m · SU
Scientist Pavel Sedykh grows impatient with the restrictions of the conservative Soviet space institute in Moscow. Sedikh builds his own spacecraft, and accompanied by a female astronaut and a boy, he embarks on a the first human trip to the moon.


Up to Mars
1930 · 6m · US
In this one, Bimbo is playing fireworks in an abandoned yard except for a mouse (who suspiciously looks like Mickey in one close-up scene) who laughs derisively at him.


The Devil-Doll
1936 · 1h 18m · US
Respected Parisian banker Paul Lavond is framed for robbery and murder by crooked associates and sent to prison. Years later, he escapes with a friend, a scientist who was working on a method to reduce humans to a height of mere inches (all for the good of humanity, of course). Lavond, however, is consumed with hatred for those who betrayed him, and takes the scientist's methods back to Paris to exact painful revenge.


1000 km per minute!
1939
Guido Renzi and his lawyer friend chase a beautiful girl to return a purse that he lost and after a long drive in the car reach the laboratory of an improvised astrophysicist - the girl's father - who, together with another scientist, is about to take off in the direction of Mars aboard a missile.


Buck Rogers
1939 · 3h 57m · US
Buck Rogers and Buddy Wade are in the middle of a trans-polar dirigible flight when they are caught in a blizzard and crash. Buddy then releases a special gas to keep them in suspended animation until a rescue party can arrive. However, an avalanche covers the craft and the two are in suspended animation for 500 years. When they are found, they awake to find out that the world has been taken over by the outlaw army of Killer Kane. Along with Lieutenant Wilma Deering, Buck and Buddy join in the fight to overthrow Kane and with the help of Prince Tallen of Saturn and his forces, they eventually do and Earth is free of Kane's grip.


The Invisible Ray
1936 · 1h 19m · US
Dr. Janos Rukh discovers a certain type of radium that has almost magical healing properties. But the element has a dangerous side, too, and it has already started affecting Rukh. Consumed by paranoia, he begins to suspect that his wife is having an affair. Wild for revenge, Rukh hatches a deadly plot...using his own poisoned body as a weapon to kill.


Deluge
1933 · 1h 10m · US
A massive earthquake strikes the United States, which destroys the West Coast and unleashes a massive flood that threatens to destroy the East Coast as well.


6 Hours to Live
1932 · 1h 12m · US
The victim of a political assassination is resurrected by a scientific experiment. However, the effects only last for six hours, and he must find his killer in that time.


Once in a New Moon
1935 · 1h 3m · UK
When a small English town is dragged out into space by the force of a 'dead star' passing Earth, the populace try to organise a local government based on equal rights for all, but conflicts arise between the local aristocracy and the villagers.


F.P.1 Doesn't Answer
1932 · 1h 54m · DE
F.P.1 is a huge airplane landing dock in the Atlantic where pilots making the transatlantic flight can stop. Yet a saboteur tries to sink the technical wonder in this classic German science fiction film from 1932. The film was also created with English and French speaking actors at the same time.


J'Accuse
1938 · 1h 59m · FR
After serving in the trenches of the Great War, Jean Diaz recoils with such horror that he renounces love and personal pleasure to immerse himself in scientific research, seeking a machine to prevent war. He thinks he's succeeded, but the government subverts his discovery, and Europe slides with seeming inevitability toward World War II. In desperation, Diaz summons the ghosts of the war dead from the graves and fields of France to give silent, accusing protest.


Mars Attacks the World
1938 · 1h 15m · US
Feature version of the 1938 film serial FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS. Flash Gordon fights Ming the Merciless once again to ensure the survival of the Earth.


The End of the World
1931 · 1h 45m · FR
The Novalic brothers, Jean and Martial, are both in love with Genevieve. Jean, an impoverished actor and an idealistic dreamer, does not want Genevieve to share in his suffering. Martial, an internationally-respected astronomer, discovers the return of Lexell's Comet, on a collision course for Earth.


The Secret of Treasure Island
1938 · 5h · US
A variety of people are searching for a long-hidden treasure somewhere on an island. Chapters: 1. The Isle of Fear, 2. The Ghost Talks, 3. The Phantom Duel, 4. Buried Alive, 5. The Girl Who Vanished, 6. Trapped by the Flood, 7. The Cannon Roars, 8. The Circle of Death, 9. The Pirate's Revenge, 10. The Crash, 11. Dynamite, 12. The Bridge of Doom, 13. The Mad Flight, 14. The Jaws of Destruction, 15. Justice


The Fighting Devil Dogs
1938 · 3h 24m · US
Two marine lieutenants battle a masked would-be world conqueror who uses electricity as a weapon.


SOS Coast Guard
1937 · 3h 44m · US
An internationally-notorious criminal scientist returns to the US to sell his latest invention, a disintegrating gas, to a foreign power. When he arrives, however, he is spotted by a young Coast Guard man, whom he kills - and thus earns the enmity of the entire US Coast Guard, but especially the murdered Guardsman's older brother who, together with his reporter-girlfriend and her comical photographer, vigorously sets to tracking him down and interfering with his plans to develop the city-melting gas in quantity. A Republic Serial in 12 Chapters.
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.
Science fiction uses the future — or a plausible alternative present — to think through the current moment. It's produced some of cinema's most influential images, and the genre's biggest leaps have usually followed leaps in effects technology.