Academy Award for Best Picture (1930s) facts for kids

The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards. Also called Oscars, the Academy Awards are given to people working in the movie industry by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

In the list below, the winner of the award for each year between 1930 and 1939 is shown first, followed by the other nominees. The name of the award becomes Best Picture in 1930.

• 1930/31 Cimarron – RKO Radio – William LeBaron
  • East Lynne – Fox – Winfield Sheehan, studio head
  • The Front Page – Caddo, United Artists – Howard Hughes
  • Skippy – Paramount – Adolph Zukor
  • Trader Horn – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Irving G. Thalberg

• 1931/32 Grand Hotel – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Irving Thalberg
  • Arrowsmith – Goldwyn, United Artists – Samuel Goldwyn
  • Bad Girl – Fox – Winfield Sheehan studio head
  • The Champ – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – King Vidor
  • Five Star Final – First National – Hal B. Wallis
  • One Hour with You – Paramount – Ernst Lubitsch
  • Shanghai Express – Paramount – Adolph Zukor
  • The Smiling Lieutenant – Paramount – Ernst Lubitsch

• 1932/33 Cavalcade – Fox – Winfield Sheehan studio head
  • 42nd Street – Warner Bros. – Darryl F. Zanuck
  • A Farewell to Arms – Paramount – Adolph Zukor
  • I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang – Warner Bros. – Hal B. Wallis
  • Lady for a Day – Columbia – Frank Capra
  • Little Women – RKO Radio – Merian C. Cooper with Kenneth MacGowan
  • The Private Life of Henry VIII – London Movies, United Artists (British) – Alexander Korda
  • She Done Him Wrong – Paramount – William LeBaron
  • Smilin' Through – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Irving Thalberg
  • State Fair – Fox – Winfield Sheehan studio head

• 1934 It Happened One Night – Columbia – Harry Cohn
  • The Barretts of Wimpole Street – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Irving Thalberg
  • Cleopatra – Paramount – Cecil B. DeMille
  • Flirtation Walk – First National – Jack L. Warner, Hal B. Wallis with Robert Lord
  • The Gay Divorcee – RKO Radio – Pendro S. Berman
  • Here Comes the Navy – Warner Bros. – Lou Edelman
  • The House of Rothschild – Twentieth Century Pictures, United Artists – Darryl F. Zanuck with William Goetz and Raymond Griffith
  • Imitation of Life – Universal – John M. Stahl
  • One Night of Love – Columbia – Harry Cohn with Everett Riskin
  • The Thin Man – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Hunt Stromberg
  • Viva Villa! – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – David O. Selznick
  • The White Parade – Fox – Jesse L. Lasky

• 1935 Mutiny on the Bounty – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Irving Thalberg with Albert Lewin
  • Alice Adams – RKO Radio – Pendro S. Berman
  • Broadway Melody of 1936 – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – John W. Considine Jr.
  • Captain Blood – Warner Bros.-Cosmopolitan – Hal B. Wallis with Harry Joe Brown and Gordon Hollingshead
  • David Copperfield – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – David O. Selznick
  • The Informer – RKO Radio – Cliff Reid
  • The Lives of a Bengal Lancer – Paramount – Louis D. Lighton
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream – Warner Bros. – Henry Blanke
  • Les Misérables – 20th Century, United Artists – Darryl F. Zanuck
  • Naughty Marietta – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Hunt Stromberg
  • Ruggles of Red Gap – Paramount – Arthur Hornblow, Jr.
  • Top Hat – RKO Radio – Pendro S. Berman

• 1936 The Great Ziegfeld – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Hunt Stromberg
  • Anthony Adverse – Warner Bros. – Henry Blanke
  • Dodsworth – Goldwyn, United Artists – Samuel Goldwyn with Merritt Hulbert
  • Libeled Lady – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Lawrence Weingarten
  • Mr. Deeds Goes to Town – Columbia – Frank Capra
  • Romeo and Juliet – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Irving Thalberg
  • San Francisco – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – John Emerson and Bernard H. Hyman
  • The Story of Louis Pasteur – Warner Bros. – Henry Blanke
  • A Tale of Two Cities – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – David O. Selznick
  • Three Smart Girls – Universal – Joe Pasternak with Charles R. Rogers

• 1937 The Life of Emile Zola – Warner Bros. – Henry Blanke
  • The Awful Truth – Columbia – Leo McCarey with Everett Riskin
  • Captains Courageous – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Louis Lighton
  • Dead End – Goldwyn, United Artists – Samuel Goldwyn with Merritt Hulbert
  • The Good Earth – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Irving Thalberg with Albert Lewin
  • In Old Chicago – 20th Century-Fox – Darryl F. Zanuck with Kenneth MacGowan
  • Lost Horizon – Columbia – Frank Capra
  • One Hundred Men and a Girl – Universal – Charles R. Rogers with Joe Pasternak
  • Stage Door – RKO Radio – Pendro S. Berman
  • A Star Is Born – Selznick International, United Artists – David O. Selznick

• 1938 You Can't Take it With You – Columbia – Frank Capra
  • The Adventures of Robin Hood – Warner Bros. – Hal B. Wallis with Henry Blanke
  • Alexander's Ragtime Band – 20th Century-Fox – Darryl F. Zanuck with Harry Joe Brown
  • Boys Town – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – John W. Considine, Jr.
  • The Citadel – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (British) – Victor Saville
  • Four Daughters – Warner Bros.-First National – Hal B. Wallis with Henry Blanke
  • La Grande illusion – R. A. O., World Pictures (French) – Frank Rollmer, and Albert Pinkovitch
  • Jezebel – Warner Bros. – Hal B. Wallis with Henry Blanke
  • Pygmalion – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (British) – Gabriel Pascal
  • Test Pilot – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Louis Lighton

• 1939 Gone with the Wind – Selznick, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – David O. Selznick
  • Dark Victory – Warner Bros. – David Lewis
  • Goodbye, Mr. Chips – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (British) – Victor Saville
  • Love Affair – RKO Radio – Leo McCarey
  • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – Columbia – Frank Capra
  • Ninotchka – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Sidney Franklin
  • Of Mice and Men – Roach, United Artists – Lewis Milestone
  • The Wizard of Oz – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer – Mervyn LeRoy
  • Wuthering Heights – Goldwyn, United Artists – Samuel Goldwyn