 | Trouble in Paradise - Criterion Collection
Buy new: $32.49 / Used from: $21.92 1932 (Ernst Lubitsch) W/ Herbert Marshall, Kay Francis & Miriam Hopkins. A wonderful & sophisticated pre-production code romantic comedy.
Also check out another Lubitsch pre-code romantic comedy "Design for Living" (1933) W/ Gary Cooper, Fredric March, & Miriam Hopkins.
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 | Gold Diggers of 1933
Buy used from: $38.90 1933 (Mervyn LeRoy) W/ Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers, etc
Romantic musical comedy set during the depression choreographed by Busby Berkeley.
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 | It Happened One Night
Buy new: $21.49 / Used from: $7.94 1934 (Frank Capra) W/ Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert
This movie is said to have created the Screwball Comedy. A genre of comedy that would run supreme until the US went to war.
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 | The Thin Man (Keepcase)
Buy new: $17.49 / Used from: $3.09 1934 (W.S. Van Dyke) W/ William Powell & Myrna Loy
Also check out the possibly even better sequel "After the Thin Man" (1936) again with William Powell & Myrna Loy + an early appearance by James Stewart. These movies are the perfect mixture of style, mystery and humor.
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 | Twentieth Century
Buy new: $13.49 / Used from: $5.44 1934 (Howard Hawks) W/ John Barrymore & Carole Lombard
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 | The Gay Divorcee
Buy new: $5.79 / Used from: $7.63 1934 (Mark Sandrich) W/Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers
Also check out Top Hat (1935) another great Fred & Ginger film. After all you can't go wrong with the combination of musical and screwball.
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 | My Man Godfrey - Criterion Collection
Buy new: $35.99 / Used from: $19.00 1936 (Gregory La Cava) W/ William Powell & Carole Lombard
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 | The Awful Truth
Buy new: $16.49 / Used from: $10.99 1937 (Leo McCarey) W/ Cary Grant & Irene Dunne, a supreme example of the "comedy of remarriage".
Also check out "My Favorite Wife" (1940) with Cary Grant & Irene Dunne. Although "Awful Truth" is the superior Grant & Dunne comedy, "My Favorite Wife" still shows what a fantastic team these two were.
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 | Nothing Sacred
Buy new: $7.98 / Used from: $2.07 1937 (William A. Wellman) W/ Carole Lombard & Fredric March
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 | Bringing Up Baby (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Buy new: $11.99 / Used from: $20.76 1938 (Howard Hawks) W/ Cary Grant & Katharine Hepburn one of the funniest films ever.
Also check out "Holiday" (1938) with Cary Grant & Katharine Hepburn directed by George Cuckor. Not as hilarious as "Bringing up Baby" but it makes up for that in sweetness.
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 | Ninotchka
Buy new: $17.99 / Used from: $6.79 1939 (Ernst Lubitsch) W/ Greta Garbo & Melvyn Douglas
An early parody of Communist Russia with romance sprinkled in. Another great movie from the classic year of 1939.
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 | His Girl Friday (Enhanced) 1940
Buy new: $19.95 1940 (Howard Hawks) W/ Cary Grant & Rosalind Russell
A very funny and fast paced "battle of the sexes" film with some great dialog (in fact it is the first film to use overlapping dialog)
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 | The Philadelphia Story (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Buy used from: $2.96 1940 (George Cuckor) W/ Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant & James Stewart
Watch this movie for the witty & snappy dialog and one of the absolute best casts ever.
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 | The Shop Around the Corner
Buy new: $16.49 / Used from: $9.99 1940 (Ernst Lubitsch) W/ James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, & Frank Morgan
This movie was later remade as "In the Good Old Summertime" (1949) and "You Got Mail" (1998). Of course the original is the best.
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 | Arsenic and Old Lace
Buy new: $9.99 / Used from: $7.95 1941: Released to audiences in 1944 (Frank Capra) W/ Cary Grant & Peter Lorre
Okay this is more of a horror spoof than a romantic comedy (although there is a romantic subplot) but it is wickedly funny so I had to include it.
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 | Ball of Fire
Buy new: $13.49 / Used from: $6.49 1941 (Howard Hawks) W/ Barbara Stanwyck & Gary Cooper
Snow White, 8 Professors (taking the place of the dwarves) & the Mob
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 | The Lady Eve - Criterion Collection
Buy new: $30.49 / Used from: $22.64 1941 (Preston Sturges) W/ Barbara Stanwyck & Henry Fonda
Preston Sturges created what is arguably the last great screwball comedies.
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 | The Palm Beach Story
Buy new: $12.49 / Used from: $3.67 1942 (Preston Sturges) W/ Claudette Colbert & Joel McCrea
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