373 Films & TV Shows Set In North America During The 1930s
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Mission to Moscow
District of Columbia England 🇩🇪 Germany 🇷🇺 Russia The 1930sOne American's Journey into the Truth — Ambassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to America as an advocate of Stalinism.
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Tornado
Illinois The 1930sA WIND FROM HELL!--blowing life...or DEATH! — The owner of an Illinois coal mine struggles to keep his business in operation, all the while unaware that among his employees is a saboteur planning destruction and chaos.
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Happy Land
Iowa The 1940s The 1930s The 1920s The 1910sAn Iowa drugstore owner becomes embittered when his son is killed in World War II. The druggist believes that the boy's life was cut short before he had an opportunity to truly appreciate his existence.
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Harlem
New York The 1930sThis propaganda film was partly inspired by the story of the first Italian heavyweight champion Primo Carnera who, after winning the title with Al Capone’s help in 1933, was beaten the following year by the Jewish Max Bear and then again by the ‘Brown Bomber’ Detroit Joe Lewis in June 1935, on the eve of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. This match provoked numerous racial skirmishes on the streets of Harlem between the Black community and pro-Fascist Italian-Americans. The film overturns historical facts and here, obviously, it is the white boxer who wins in order to demonstrate the superiority of the “Aryan Italians” over the “sinister Jewish entrepreneurs” and the “savage Afro-American fans in Yankee Stadium”. In the film, these were played by South African prisoners-of-war interred in a work camp, which the German and Italian propaganda ministries had set up near Cinecittà “for cinematic purposes”.
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The Pride of the Yankees
New York The 1930s The 1920sIntimate and thrilling drama of a hero of the headlines... the girl who had his love and shared his life, but dared not question his one secret! — The story of the life and career of the baseball hall of famer, Lou Gehrig.
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Tortilla Flat
California The 1930sTHEY'RE STRONG FOR WINE, WOMEN, AND SONG. — Danny, a poor northern Californian Mexican-American, inherits two houses from his grandfather and is quickly taken advantage of by his vagabond friends.
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Juke Girl
Florida The 1930sSure She's Easy To Meet .....but try and forget her! — During the depths of the Great Depression a hitch-hiker Steve Talbot and jukebox-joint hostess Lola Mears stumble into Cat-Tail Florida where farmers and pickers struggle under the buyer who rules by monopoly, dirty contracts and violence. Steve helps organize against the buyer, leading to further escalation ending in a lynch mob.
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Citizen Kane
New York Florida The 1940s The 1930s The 1920s The 1910s The 1900s The 1890s The 1870sIt's terrific! — Newspaper magnate, Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.
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Sullivan's Travels
Nevada California The 1930sA Happy-Go Lucky Hitch-Hiker on the Highway to happiness! He wanted to see the world . . . but wound up in Lover's Lane! — Successful movie director John L. Sullivan, convinced he won't be able to film his ambitious masterpiece until he has suffered, dons a hobo disguise and sets off on a journey, aiming to "know trouble" first-hand. When all he finds is a train ride back to Hollywood and a beautiful blonde companion, he redoubles his efforts, managing to land himself in more trouble than he bargained for when he loses his memory and ends up a prisoner on a chain gang.
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Tobacco Road
Georgia The 1930sON THE SCREEN AT LAST! The Picture you've waited eight years to see...Picturized by the men who gave you "GRAPES OF WRATH" — Shiftless Jeeter Lester and his family of sharecroppers live in rural Georgia where their ancestors were once wealthy planters. Their slapstick existence is threatened by a bank's plans to take over the land for more profitable farming.
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Remember the Day
Indiana The 1940s The 1930s The 1920s The 1910sElderly schoolteacher Nora Trinell, waiting to meet presidential nominee Dewey Roberts, recalls him as her student back in 1916 and his relation to Dan Hopkins, the man she married and lost.
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Million Dollar Baby
New York The 1930sBursting with gaiety! Bubbling with youth! Brimming with happiness! — A sudden windfall has unexpected consequences on a working class girl during the Great Depression.
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Back Street
New York Ohio The 1930s The 1920s The 1910s The 1900sPreviously filmed in 1932, and remade a third time in 1961, this second film version of Fannie Hurst's novel stars Margaret Sullavan as a fashion designer in love with a married banker (Charles Boyer). Directed by Robert Stevenson, the film also stars Richard Carlson, Tim Holt, Frank McHugh, Esther Dale and Cecil Cunningham.
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The Grapes of Wrath
Oklahoma The 1930s The 1920sThe Joads step right out of the pages of the novel that has shocked millions! — Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California and a new life... Hopefully.
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Kitty Foyle
Pennsylvania The 1930sThe natural history of a woman — Kitty Foyle, a hard-working white-collar girl from a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania low, middle-class family, meets and falls in love with young socialite Wyn Strafford but his family is against her.
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The Earl of Chicago
England Illinois The 1930sCan a Lord of England be a Czar of the underworld? — A behind the times Chicago bootlegger goes to England with his lawyer to claim his estate as the Earl of Gorley.
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Made for Each Other
New York The 1930sHeartbreak...! — A couple struggle to find happiness after a whirlwind courtship.
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Charlie Chan at Treasure Island
California The 1930sThe strange case of murder by magic! — Charlie's investigation of a phony psychic during the 1939 World Exposition on San Francisco's Treasure Island leads him to expose a suicide as murder.
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Of Mice and Men
California The 1930sShe was made for love... and tragedy. — An intellectually disabled giant and his level headed guardian find work at a sadistic cowboy's ranch in depression era America.
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Fast and Furious
New Jersey New York The 1930sCrime doesn't pay with these two super sleuths on the job! — Joel and Garda Sloan, a husband and wife detective team, who also sell rare books in New York, take a vacation to Seaside City. At Seaside, Joel's pal, Mike Stevens is managing and preparing for their beauty pageant. Joel is made one of the judges plus he has invested $5,000 in it, to Garda's dismay. Eric Bartell, promoter, arrives to dupe Stevens. When Ed Connors, New York racketeer arrives, Bartell is mysteriously murdered. Joel and Garda set out to investigate the murder.
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Blondie
Missouri The 1930sBlondie 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.
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Angels with Dirty Faces
New York The 1930s The 1920sThe saga of America’s dirty faced kids... and the breaks that life won’t give them! — In New York, the boys Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connelly are best friends and small time thieves. After a robbery, Rocky is arrested and sent to a reformatory school, where he begins his criminal career. Jerry escapes and later becomes a priest. After three years in prison, Rocky is released and demands the return of $100,000 deposited with his solicitor - prior to his jail term.
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Alexander's Ragtime Band
New York California England 🇫🇷 France The 1930s The 1920s The 1910sAn American Cavalcade! — Classical violinist, Roger Grant disappoints his family and teacher when he organizes a jazz band, but he and the band become successful. Roger falls in love with the band's singer, Stella, but his reluctance to lose her leads him to thwart her efforts to become a solo star. When the World War separates them in 1917, Stella marries Roger's best friend and, when Roger returns home after the war, an important concert at Carnegie Hall brings the corners of the romantic triangle together.
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Kentucky
Kentucky The 1930sYoung lovers Jack and Sally are from families that compete to send horses to the 1938 Kentucky Derby, but during the Civil War, her family sided with the South while his sided with the North--and her Uncle Peter will have nothing to do with Jack's family.
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Three Blind Mice
California Kansas The 1930sThree bright-eyed girls look for love . . . and a man with a million dollars ! — Three sisters take their small inheritance and move from Kansas to California in search of rich husbands. To start with Pamela poses as a socialite and Moira and Elizabeth pretend to be her staff.
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