1933

Academy winner Cavalcade poster

Cavalcade

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Should have won King Kong poster

King Kong

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The Academy's ballot

🏆Cavalcade#1958.86 🎬42nd Street#966.6 🎬Lady for a Day#1365.75 🎬Little Women#1565.11 🎬The Private Life of Henry VIII#1663.27 🎬State Fair#1761.66 🎬She Done Him Wrong#1860.96

Your #1 was King Kong (#1).

The full slate

King Kong (1933)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #1

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Dir. Merian C. Cooper · Robert Armstrong · Fay Wray · Bruce Cabot · Frank Reicher

IMDb 7.9 (96,073 votes) · TMDB 7.593

Adventurous filmmaker Carl Denham sets out to produce a motion picture unlike anything the world has seen before. Alongside his leading lady Ann Darrow and his first mate Jack Driscoll, they arrive on an island and discover a legendary creature said to be neither beast nor man. Denham captures the monster to be displayed on Broadway as King Kong, the eighth wonder of the world.

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Duck Soup (1933)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Leo McCarey · Groucho Marx · Harpo Marx · Chico Marx · Zeppo Marx

IMDb 7.7 (64,123 votes) · TMDB 7.3

Rufus T. Firefly is named president/dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of wealthy Mrs. Teasdale.

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The Invisible Man (1933)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. James Whale · Claude Rains · Gloria Stuart · William Harrigan · Henry Travers

IMDb 7.6 (44,261 votes) · TMDB 7.518

After experimenting on himself and becoming invisible, scientist Jack Griffin, now aggressive due to the drug's effects, seeks a way to reverse the experiment at any cost.

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The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Fritz Lang · Rudolf Klein-Rogge · Oscar Beregi Sr. · Camilla Spira · Otto Wernicke

IMDb 7.9 (14,619 votes) · TMDB 7.589

After a detective is assaulted by thugs and placed in an asylum run by Professor Baum, he observes the professor's preoccupation with another patient, the criminal genius Dr. Mabuse the hypnotist. When Mabuse's notes are found to be connected with a rash of recent crimes, Commissioner Lohmann must determine how Mabuse is communicating with the criminals, despite conflicting reports on the doctor's whereabouts, and capture him for good.

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Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #4

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Dir. Mervyn LeRoy · Warren William · Joan Blondell · Aline MacMahon · Ruby Keeler

IMDb 7.7 (10,095 votes) · TMDB 7.2

When all Broadway shows are shut down during the Depression, a trio of desperate showgirls scheme to bilk a repugnant high society man of his money to keep their show going.

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Baby Face (1933)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #10

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Dir. Alfred E. Green · Barbara Stanwyck · George Brent · Donald Cook · Alphonse Ethier

IMDb 7.5 (9,259 votes) · TMDB 7.2

A young woman uses her body and her sexuality to help her climb the social ladder, but soon begins to wonder if her new status will ever bring her happiness.

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Sons of the Desert (1933)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. William A. Seiter · Stan Laurel · Oliver Hardy · Mae Busch · Dorothy Christy

IMDb 7.5 (10,402 votes) · TMDB 7.1

Ollie and Stan deceive their wives into thinking they are taking a medically necessary cruise when they are really going to a lodge convention.

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Design for Living (1933)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Ernst Lubitsch · Fredric March · Miriam Hopkins · Gary Cooper · Edward Everett Horton

IMDb 7.4 (8,619 votes) · TMDB 7.136

Independent Gilda is resigned fo a life of married tedium when Tom and George, having gotten past their jealousy, come to America and whisk Gilda away to live an exciting polyamorous life in Paris.

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42nd Street (1933)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #6

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Dir. Lloyd Bacon · Warner Baxter · Bebe Daniels · George Brent · Ruby Keeler

IMDb 7.3 (13,889 votes) · TMDB 6.9

Broadway director Julian Marsh needs just one more hit show so he can retire and recover his health. It looks like he just may pull it off until temperamental star Dorthy Brock breaks her ankle on the eve of the show's premiere and has to be replaced by her understudy Peggy.

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#10

Queen Christina (1933)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Rouben Mamoulian · Greta Garbo · John Gilbert · Ian Keith · Lewis Stone

IMDb 7.5 (9,328 votes) · TMDB 6.9

Popular monarch Queen Christina of Sweden must choose between love and loyalty to her nation when she unexpectedly falls for a Spanish envoy.

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#11

Dinner at Eight (1933)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #8

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Dir. George Cukor · Marie Dressler · John Barrymore · Wallace Beery · Jean Harlow

IMDb 7.5 (9,739 votes) · TMDB 6.8

An ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver, contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard and his sultry spouse, Kitty, contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner.

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#12

Zero de Conduite (1933)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Jean Vigo · Jean Dasté · Robert le Flon · Du Verron · Delphin

IMDb 7.2 (10,065 votes) · TMDB 6.887

In a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the director on a celebration day.

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#13

Lady for a Day (1933)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Frank Capra · Warren William · May Robson · Guy Kibbee · Glenda Farrell

IMDb 7.4 (5,238 votes) · TMDB 7.074

Apple Annie is an aging New York City fruit seller whose daughter Louise has been raised in a Spanish convent since she was an infant. As she grows up, Louise is led to believe that her mother is a society matron called Mrs. E. Worthington Manville. Annie worries that her lie is in danger of being uncovered when she learns that Louise is sailing to New York with her new fiancé and his nobleman father.

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#14

Footlight Parade (1933)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #5

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Dir. Lloyd Bacon · James Cagney · Joan Blondell · Ruby Keeler · Dick Powell

IMDb 7.5 (6,665 votes) · TMDB 6.8

A fledgling producer finds himself at odds with his workers, financiers and his greedy ex-wife when he tries to produce live musicals for movie-going audiences.

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#15

Little Women (1933)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #3

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Dir. George Cukor · Katharine Hepburn · Joan Bennett · Paul Lukas · Edna May Oliver

IMDb 7.1 (8,545 votes) · TMDB 6.8

Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.

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#16

The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)

🎬 Nominee

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Dir. Alexander Korda · Charles Laughton · Robert Donat · Franklin Dyall · Miles Mander

IMDb 7.0 (5,423 votes) · TMDB 6.4

Renowned for his excess, King Henry VIII goes through a series of wives during his rule. With Anne Boleyn, his second betrothed, executed on charges of treason, Henry weds maid Jane Seymour, but that wedded bliss also ends in tragedy. Not one to be single for long, the tyrannical king chooses German-born Anne of Cleves, but their union lasts only months before an annulment is granted, and so Henry's reign of spousal terror continues.

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#17

State Fair (1933)

🎬 Nominee

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Dir. Henry King · Janet Gaynor · Will Rogers · Lew Ayres · Sally Eilers

IMDb 6.6 (1,324 votes) · TMDB 6.315

The children of Iowa farmers find love, with mixed results, at the state fair.

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#18

She Done Him Wrong (1933)

🎬 Nominee💰 Box office #7

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Dir. Lowell Sherman · Mae West · Cary Grant · Owen Moore · Gilbert Roland

IMDb 6.3 (7,642 votes) · TMDB 5.9

New York singer and nightclub owner Lady Lou has more male friends than can be imagined. One is a vicious escaped criminal on the way to see 'his' girl, unaware she hasn't exactly been faithful in his absence. Help is at hand in the form of young Captain Cummings, a local temperance league leader.

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#19

Cavalcade (1933)

🏆 Winner💰 Box office #2

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Dir. Frank Lloyd · Diana Wynyard · Clive Brook · Una O'Connor · Herbert Mundin

IMDb 5.7 (6,703 votes) · TMDB 5.504

A cavalcade of English life from New Year's Eve 1899 until 1933 is seen through the eyes of well-to-do Londoners Jane and Robert Marryot. Amongst events touching their family are the Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, the sinking of the Titanic, and the Great War.

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#20

The Son of Kong (1933)

💰 Box office #9

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Dir. Ernest B. Schoedsack · Robert Armstrong · Helen Mack · Frank Reicher · John Marston

IMDb 5.6 (5,812 votes) · TMDB 5.4

Beleaguered adventurer Carl Denham returns to the island where he found King Kong.

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How scoring works: films are ranked by a composite of a weighted (Bayesian) IMDb rating — the same method as the IMDb Top 250, so a high score from few voters can't outrank a strong score from many — blended with TMDB. Box office is a tiebreaker and a badge, never part of the score. Raw IMDb ratings and vote counts are shown on each card.