373 Films & TV Shows Set In North America During The 1930s
-
The Glass Menagerie
Missouri The 1930sAmanda Wingfield dominates her children with her faded gentility and exaggerated tales of her Southern belle past. Her son plans escape; her daughter withdraws into a dream world. When a "gentleman caller" appears, things move to crisis point.
-
The Family That Dwelt Apart
New Jersey The 1930sA family of seven lives on a New England island with nobody else. One winter, they got stranded because the bay froze over. This didn't much matter to them, but someone on the mainland remembered them and launched an aerial rescue mission; an unfounded story that one boy had appendicitis results in a larger rescue mission, with the situation rapidly escalating into a major catastrophe all because of the rescue mission.
-
Boxcar Bertha
Arkansas The 1930sLife made her an outcast. Love made her an outlaw. — 'Boxcar' Bertha Thompson, a transient woman in Arkansas during the violence-filled Depression of the early '30s, meets up with rabble-rousing union man 'Big' Bill Shelly and the two team up to fight the corrupt railroad establishment. Based on “Sister of the Road,” the 1937 pseudo-autobiography of fictional character Bertha Thompson, written by anarchist physician Dr. Ben L. Reitman.
-
Lady Sings the Blues
New York The 1930s The 1920sDiana Ross sings Billie Holiday and a superstar is born — Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday. Her late childhood, stint as a prostitute, early tours, marriages and drug addiction are featured.
-
The Valachi Papers
New York The 1960s The 1950s The 1940s The 1930sWhen Joe Valachi has a price put on his head by Don Vito Genovese, he must take desperate steps to protect himself while in prison. An unsuccessful attempt to slit his throat puts him over the edge to break the sacred code of silence.
-
The Other
Connecticut The 1930sNiles and Holland are as close as twin brothers can be. Appearances can be deceiving... and deadly. — Chilling and eerie, this supernatural tale of good versus evil coils around twin brothers living with their grandmother in a sleepy rural area during the summer of 1935. After his grandmother encourages Niles to develop what seem to be psychic gifts, Niles starts to suspect that his twin may be involved in recent fatal accidents.
-
Sounder
Louisiana The 1930sThe Morgans, a loving and strong family of Black sharecroppers in Louisiana in 1933, face a serious family crisis when the husband and father, Nathan Lee Morgan, is convicted of a petty crime and sent to a prison camp. After some weeks or months, the wife and mother, Rebecca Morgan, sends the oldest son, who is about 11 years old, to visit his father at the camp. The trip becomes something of an odyssey for the boy. During the journey he stays a little while with a dedicated Black schoolteacher.
-
What's the Matter with Helen?
Iowa California The 1930sSo you met someone and now you know how it feels. Goody, Goody. — Two middle-aged women move to Hollywood, California after their sons are convicted of a notorious murder and open a dance school for children eager to tap their way to stardom.
-
The Homecoming: A Christmas Story
Virginia The 1930sThe Walton family is preparing for Christmas in the early 1930s. It's Christmas Eve, and they are waiting for Daddy Walton to come home from his job in the city some 50 miles away. Since he is late, everyone is worried and over the radio the mother and grandparents hear about an overturned bus and hurt travelers but keep this news from the rest of the family. The story is really a coming of age story about the oldest son John-Boy who must cut down the tree with his grandfather since his father isn't home and is eventually told about his missing father and sets out to find him. An all round heartwarming story, especially if you are a fan of The Waltons. A simple story about a simple family in simple times. Great family entertainment!
-
Fools' Parade
West Virginia The 1930sGlory, W.Va., 1935. It wasn't exactly a parade. It wasn't a time for celebration. It was a time to run for your life. — When a trio of ex-convicts led by Mattie Appleyard is released from prison, they hope to open a general store using money Mattie has saved during his 40-year sentence. This attempt is met with great resistance from a corrupt prison official and the banker who issued Mattie the check.
-
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Hawaii District of Columbia Tokyo Prefecture The 1930s The 1940sThe incredible attack on Pearl Harbor. — In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words use by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.
-
The Moonshine War
Kentucky The 1930sThe 18th amendment prohibited drinking. It didn't say a word about killing, double-crossing or blowing things up. — A federal agent attempts to make some real money before the alcohol ban is lifted so he sets his sights on the whiskey cache of an old army buddy.
-
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
California The 1930sPeople are the ultimate spectacle. — In the midst of the Great Depression, manipulative emcee Rocky enlists contestants for a dance marathon offering a $1,500 cash prize. Among them are a failed actress, a middle-aged sailor, a delusional blonde and a pregnant girl.
-
The Learning Tree
Kansas The 1930s The 1920sThe story, set in Kansas during the 1920's, covers less than a year in the life of a black teenager, and documents the veritable deluge of events which force him into sudden manhood. The family relationships and enmities, the fears, frustrations and ambitions of the black teenager in small-town America are explored with a strong statement about human values.
-
Bonnie and Clyde
Iowa Missouri Oklahoma Texas Louisiana The 1930sThey’re young… they’re in love… and they kill people. — In the 1930s, bored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.
-
Enter Laughing
New York The 1930sThe picture that brings you the hilarious answer to WHY BOYS LEAVE HOME! — David Kolowitz, a nice young man living with his parents in New York City in 1938, works at a machine repair shop. His parents want David to study to become a pharmacist. But what he really wants is to be an actor like his idol, Ronald Colman. One day, at his friend Marvin's suggestion, David tries out for a part in a play, and gets it, despite his obvious lack of acting experience (not to mention ability). True, it's a rather small part in a low-rent production. Leading the troupe is a washed-up, alcoholic actor who hires David at the urging of his actress-daughter, who finds David "cute." To play his part, David must come up with his own costume - a tuxedo - and pay the house five dollars a week, ostensibly for tuition. But it is David's first acting job, one which calls for him to "enter laughing." And if it doesn't work out - well, there's always pharmacy school.
-
This Property Is Condemned
Mississippi The 1930sIt's all prime property! — A railroad official, Owen Legate comes to Dodson, Mississippi to shut down much of the town's railway (town's main income). Owen unexpectedly finds love with Dodson's flirt and main attraction, Alva Starr. Alva and Owen then try to escape Alva's mother's (Hazel) clutches and the town's revenge.
-
The Group
New York Massachusetts Ohio Arizona The 1940s The 1930sSidney Lumet's adaptation of the acclaimed Mary McCarthy novel. It's 1933, and eight young women are friends and members of the upper- class group at a private girl's school, about to graduate and start their own lives. The film documents the years between their graduation and the beginning of the World War in Europe, and shows, in a serialized style, their romances and marriages, their searches for careers or meaning in their lives, their highs and their lows.
-
The Glass Menagerie
Missouri The 1930sAn adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play about restless young warehouse worker and would-be poet, Tom Wingfield, his fragile, reclusive sister, Laura, and his colorful but overbearing mother, Amanda, all living together in a shabby apartment in St. Louis during the Depression and struggling to dilute the grim realities of daily living by way of memories, fantasies, and grandiose dreams about the future.
-
The Cincinnati Kid
Louisiana The 1930sHe'd take on anyone, at anything, anytime. — An up-and-coming poker player tries to prove himself in a high-stakes match against a long-time master of the game.
-
Harlow
California The 1930s The 1920sHarlow stood for only one thing - as no woman ever has - before or since! — Hollywood drama loosely based on the life of film actress Jean Harlow, with Carroll Baker in the title role. One of two feature film biographies, both released in 1965 and both with the same title, about the '30s platinum blonde movie star.
-
Those Calloways
Vermont The 1930sThey dared to dream the impossible! — Story of Cam Calloway and his family, who live in a densely wooded area in New England. Cam dreams of building a sanctuary for the geese that fly over the area each year, and he tries several schemes to buy a nearby lake for this santuary. He is thwarted at every attempt, it seems; he and his son try to get enough furs from their trapping venture to get the money, but the bottom falls out of the fur market. He uses the little money they get for a down payment on the lake, thereby losing their house when he can't make the mortgage payment. They move to the lake, where their friends help them build a cabin. A salesman stops in town, and tries to get the people to sell their land for a tourist venture; Cam is outraged at his tactics and takes desperate measures after he himself is tricked.
-
Inside Daisy Clover
California The 1930sthe story of what they did to a kid... — A girl on the road to stardom fights the dehumanizing effects of Hollywood life.
-
Harlow
California The 1930s The 1920sThe Picture The World Has Been Waiting To See! — Loosely based biography of 1930s star Jean Harlow as she begins her climb to stardom. One of two "Harlow" film biographies that appeared in 1965, this one stars Carol Lynley in the title role that begins as Jean Harlow, a bit player in Laurel and Hardy comedies, is invited to test for director Jonathan Martin for the lead in Howard Hughes's "Hell's Angels." She is an instantaneous sensation, and in a series of films devoted more to her body than her talent, she becomes Hollywood's "Platanum Blonde."
-
The Carpetbaggers
California The 1930s The 1920sIt is unlikely that you will experience in a lifetime all that you will see in... THE CARPETBAGGERS. — When playboy Jonas inherits his father's industrial empire, he expands it by acquiring an aircraft factory and movie studio. His rise to power is ruthless. He marries and then quickly abandons sweet, bubbly Monica, turns his young, attractive stepmother Rina into a self-destructive actress and manages to disappoint even his closest friend, cowboy movie star Nevada. Is Jonas beyond redemption?
- load more