Best Drama Movies of 1930

The Foreign Legion marches in to Mogador with booze and women in mind just as singer Amy Jolly arrives from Paris to work at Lo Tinto's cabaret. That night, insouciant legionnaire Tom Brown catches her inimitably seductive, tuxedo-clad act. Both bruised by their past lives, the two edge cautiously into a no-strings relationship while being pursued by others. But Tom must leave on a perilous mission: is it too late for them?

A waitress from Chicago falls in love with a man from rural Minnesota and marries him, with the intent of living a better life - but life on the farm has its own challenges.

When World War I breaks out, brothers Roy and Monte Rutledge, each attending Oxford university, enlist with the Royal Flying Corps.

Young scout Breck Coleman leads a wagon train along the dangerous trail to Oregon as he tries to get the affection of the beautiful pioneer Ruth Cameron and plans his revenge on the harsh scoundrels who murdered a friend of his in the past.

Convicted of manslaughter for a drunken driving accident, Kent Marlowe is sent to prison, where he meets vicious incarcerated figures who are planning an escape from the brutal conditions.

World War I ace Dick Courtney derides the leadership of his superior officer, but he soon is promoted to squadron commander and learns harsh lessons about sending subordinates to their deaths.

Min, the owner of a dockside hotel, is forced to make difficult decisions about the future of Nancy, the young woman she took in as an infant.

After young Robert Graham commits a murder while drunk and defending his girlfriend, he is prosecuted by ambitious Mark Brady and sentenced to 10 years. Six years later, Brady becomes the prison warden and offers the beleaguered Robert a job as his chauffeur. Robert cleans up his act, but, on the eve of his pardon, his cellmate drags him back into the world of violence, and he faces a difficult choice that could return him to prison.

When a woman discovers that her husband has been unfaithful to her, she decides to respond to his infidelities in kind.

Kay Arnold is a gold digger who wanders from party to party with the intention of catching a rich suitor. Jerry Strong is a young man from a wealthy family who strives to succeed as an artist. What begins as a relationship of mutual convenience soon turns into something else.

Two rival seamen fight for both a promotion to a captaincy in their shipping line and the attentions of a Havana saloon singer. Sparks fly as they both try to out do each other in obtaining what they know their opposite is after. In the end they will need to work together in order to save the day.

Old sailor Chris Christofferson eagerly awaits the arrival of his grown daughter Anna, whom he sent at five years old to live with relatives in Minnesota. He has not seen her since, but believes her to be a decent and respectably employed young woman. When Anna arrives, however, it is clear that she has lived a hard life in the dregs of society, and that much of spirit has been extinguished. She falls in love with a young sailor rescued at sea by her father, but dreads to reveal to him the truth of her past. Both father and young man are deluded about her background, yet Anna cannot quite bring herself to allow them to remain deluded.

Infamous burglar "The Bat" commits a daring jewelry theft despite heavy police presence. Soon after, a bank theft occurs, which may be the work of the criminal as well. Meanwhile, Cornelia Van Gorder has various people arrive at her old mansion, including her niece, Dale, a bank employee, and police detective Anderson. When guests start turning up dead, Cornelia begins to suspect that The Bat may be lurking around the estate.

A vicious crime lord decides that he has had enough and much to the shock of his colleagues decides to give the business to his second in command and retire to Florida after marrying his moll. Unfortunately, he has no idea that she and the man are lovers.

A trio of former sideshow performers double as the "Unholy Three" in a scam to nab some shiny rocks.

A chorus girl gets bad advice from her fellow chorines in handling a rich suitor who assumes she is a gold digger.

Daily life at men and women's prison units where baseball and the marching band are serious business. Two prisoners escape in order to help paroled Steve from being blackmailed by his girlfriend's ex-partner-in-crime.

A biopic dramatizing Abraham Lincoln's life through a series of vignettes depicting its defining chapters: his romance with Ann Rutledge; his early years as a country lawyer; his marriage to Mary Todd; his debates with Stephen A. Douglas; the election of 1860; his presidency during the Civil War; and his assassination in Ford’s Theater in 1865.

Snobbish attorney Charles 'Beauty' Steele loses his wife due to his drinking and his heirs at the same time that his brother-in-law absconds with funds belonging to one of Steele's clients. In search of the thief, Steele is attacked and left for dead. He is rescued by a kindly couple, but suffers from amnesia. He starts life afresh and is happy, until the return of his memory sends him back to resolve his old involvements.

In the Canadian Northwest, the Chippewa tribe struggles to find food before the onset of winter.

Tol'able David is a 1930 sound film directed by John G. Blystone and produced and released by Columbia Pictures. It is a remake of a famous 1921 silent film Tol'able David starring Richard Barthelmess and Ernest Torrence. Young David Kinemon is a good-natured, easy-going lad in a mountain village. Circumstances force him to take his brother's place as mailman for the community, and this brings him into deadly contact with the vicious Hatburn brothers.

The tale of a young songwriter, the actress who helps him find success, and the vamp who sets her sights on him.

Broadway actress leaves New York to become a star in Hollywood, and succeeds despite sleazy directors and her own ego.

A loud-mouthed lout alienates everyone except his patient wife.

Three department store girls--Connie, Franky, and Gerry--share an apartment on West 91st Street in New York City. Each earns little more than 20 dollars per week. Gerry is the sensible one, but the others throw themselves at amoral rich men in an attempt to hook one and better themselves. They end up being hurt and disappointed despite Gerry's attempts to warn them.

Mary Turner gets a three years prison sentence for a crime she didn't commit. Once released, she plots to get back at the man responsible for her conviction.

In France, 1917, an alcoholic captain is afraid that his new replacement, his sweetheart's brother, will betray his downfall.

'Natural' Davis (William Powell) is a respected gambler who follows a ruthless code of honor with those who cheat against him. His wife, Alma (Kay Francis), wants to divorce him because of his addiction and lifestyle, but they agree on a reconciliation and second honeymoon together and 'Natural' promises to give up gambling. However, his plans change when his brother, 'Babe' (Regis Toomey), arrives in town looking to score big, and 'Natural' has to devise a plan quickly to put him off gambling forever.

A carousel barker falls in love with a young woman. Both are fired from their jobs, and when the young woman becomes pregnant, the carousel barker tries to help pull off a robbery, which goes wrong. Because of the robbery, he dies, and after spending time in hell, is sent back to earth for one day to try to make amends.

A policeman doubles as a gunman to get in with the mob.

A young man attempts to overcome the memory of his father, who was sent to jail for committing a murder.

The popular Caucasian-looking son (Richard Barthelmess) of a wealthy Chinese businessman lives away from his widowed father and passes as white, but experiences prejudice, rejection, insult, and heartache when the socialite (Constance Bennett) he loves learns of his heritage.

John Nelson, a well-to-do businessman, is escorting a woman he knows as Ethel Barry to the door of her apartment suite when a man steps out of the shadows and angrily demands to know where she has been. The embarrassed Nelson excuses himself and goes to his rooms in the same hotel. The woman rushes into his apartment followed by the man who met her in the hall. The man threatens her with violence and Nelson comes to her defense. In the ensuing fight, the man is knocked out of the window and falls to his death to the pavement many stories down. He is charged with the killing and his only witness that can prove self-defense for him has disappeared, and can not be found.

Made during the early days of sound cinema, this tense submarine adventure is an intriguing example of a hybrid silent-talkie. A disgraced English sub commander changes his name to Burke and joins the American Navy. When the U.S. submarine on which he is serving as a torpedo launcher begins to sink, Burke must make the ultimate sacrifice to save as many crew men as possible..

A spoof of the early talkies and their supposedly wooden line readings.

A group of strangers find themselves aboard an unmanned ship, surrounded by fog and uncertain of their destination. As they attempt to make sense of their situation, the group of passengers discover that all they have in common is that each is dead and en route to their final judgment.

A bored society woman invites scandal and heartache when she falls in love with her low-born chauffeur.

Sgt. Conniston and his alcoholic guide O'Toole are on the trail of an escaped murderer named Keith. When they catch up with him in the farthest reaches of Northern Canada, Keith turns out to be a dead ringer for Conniston. On the way back, the sled overturns, Keith grabs the gun and leaves them to die in the snow. After second thoughts he comes back and brings them to safety at an RCMP emergency cabin. Conniston dies of a frozen lung.

Beautiful manicurist Hallie Hobart sets her sights on handsome David Stone, the son of wealthy wheat farmer Ezra Stone. Professing to hate men, Hallie is only interested in luring David in for a lucrative business deal. David easily falls in love, but older brother Mark brands Hallie a gold-digger. To get even with the straight-laced Stone family, Hallie accepts David's marriage proposal.

The classic Mark Twain tale of a young boy and his friends on the Mississippi River. Tom and his pals Huckleberry Finn and Joe Harper have numerous adventures, including running away to be pirates and, being believed drowned, attending their own funeral. The boys also witness a murder and Tom and his friend Becky Thatcher are pursued by the vengeful murderer.

A talented songwriter gets his inspiration for songs from others and not from within himself. He is oblivious that he may harm other people when he uses their stories or their love for himself.

Loretta Young plays dual roles in this 1930 crime drama about a young thief planning to steal jewels from a wealthy socialite.

A lawyer, left by his wife gets drunk and marries a chorus girl, or so he learns the morning after.

In Russia, a Chinese dancer gives herself to a duke to save her brother's life.

Gardoni, a down-on-his-luck vaudeville performer, is taken in by a fellow performer, a clown who has a bicycle riding act. Gardoni shows his appreciation by stealing the clown's act and his girlfriend, whom he marries.

Guy and Ellen are desperate to find a way to get food and medicine for their sick child. Job are very hard to come by during the Great Depression and many are driven to desperate measures.

Larry, a publisher, wants Kate to write a book about the 'Office Wife'. An executive stenographer's duties creates a relationship approaching that of his wife. Little does Larry know that sometimes literature mirrors life.

When Matt Denant (Gerald de Maurier) finds himself wrongly imprisoned for manslaughter, he takes an opportunity to escape from jail during a foggy day and is forced to rely on the goodwill of local people to remain a fugitive of the law.

A sex worker yearns to leave the grimy underground community she was born into, and sees her way out through a sympathetic sailor.