Why The 1930s were a Golden Era of Comedy Movies

Comedy is the most enjoyable genre in the world of entertainment. Whether it’s on the big screen or TV, comedy is meant to make the audience laugh by showing the most absurd scenarios and hilarious scenes. For many decades, comedy movies have been released, but one of the best eras of comedies is the 1930s. Most people would think that would be an odd decade for comedy cinema. After all, it was a decade when the United States was dealing with the Great Depression, Nazi Germany had come into power, and by 1939, World War II began. For many people around the world, there wasn’t a lot to laugh about. For them, jobs were lost, rights were taken away, or they dealt with war. Despite this, there remained one escape for many people, and it was movies.

The 1930s would be the first full decade of talkie movies. Sound quality in film was also improving. There were some early movies that were silent comedies, which managed to pull it off. City Lights, directed by Charlie Chaplin in 1931, was a silent movie that provided a lot of laughs with the antics of Chaplin’s character, The Tramp. Chaplin would later make Modern Times in 1936, which would be his first talkie film, despite the majority of the film being a silent movie, and it became a beloved comedy. Chaplin’s comedy had messages that promote compassion and kindness while criticizing industrialization. Today, comedy directors fail to combine comedy with social issues that people can get on board with, with some people saying the movies today fail to execute the message.

Chaplin wasn’t the only comedy director to combine social issues and comedy together. Before he directed It’s a Wonderful Life in the 1940s, Frank Capra was known for directing comedies that not only conveyed social messages but also seamlessly blended romance and drama. Some of Capra’s movies, such as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, fuses comedy and drama perfectly well, as well as touching upon issues of society and politics that still feel relevant for years beyond the 1930s. Capra also made romantic comedies like It Happened One Night and You Can’t Take it With You that showed romantic comedies have always been funny without the innuendos and other jokes deemed too much in some romantic comedies today.

The screwball comedy corner of cinema took off in this decade as well, giving never-ending laughs. The witty, fast-paced dialogue combined with satire, hilarious scenarios, and slapstick elements made these movies entertaining. These movies had familiar actors like Cary Grant, William Powell, Jean Arthur, John Barrymore, and others. Some of the best screwball comedies of this era include Libeled Lady, Bringing up Baby, and My Man Godfrey. Some of these movies had bizarre concepts along with the romance. For example, Bringing up Baby had a leopard in the mix.

William Powell, along with actress Myrna Loy, were also involved in a series of comedy movies that started in the 1930s called The Thin Man series, a comedy/mystery series based on the novel The Thin Man, directed by W.S. Van Dyke. Powell and Loy played Nick and Nora Charles, a married couple who solved mysteries with their dog Asta and were the original detective duo in love. These movies involved solving murders while offering witty banter and laughs, showing that it is possible to blend comedy with mystery. While The Thin Man series continued into the 1940s, the best movies in the series, The Thin Man, After the Thin Man, and Another Thin Man, came out in the 1930s.

Musical comedies took off in this decade, bringing laughs and musical performances for all to see. Many of these movies starred Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Some of their best movies together include Top Hat and Shall We Dance. The Marx Brothers Comedy Troupe would bring their talents and humor to the big screen in the 1930s, starting with the 1930 movie Animal Crackers. Other hilarious movies they made include A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races. These movies had the characters thrown into hilarious situations where they did the craziest things to solve them.

All these comedy movies proved that comedy didn’t need edgy jokes and adult humor to succeed and be funny. These movies were hilarious because of the talent in them, the chemistry between actors, the excellent directors behind these movies, the witty dialogue that the actors were given, and the plots that justified the hilarious situations. Most of these movies felt different and unique and offered something for everyone based on their tastes and preferences. These movies knew how to fuse and balance comedy with other genres. They came out at the perfect time and, for nearly ninety years and more, continue to make audiences laugh. Some of these comedies were banned in other countries like Nazi Germany, but it didn’t stop these actors and directors from making more.

What 1930s comedies do you find hilarious? What are some of your favorite comedy actors from the 1930s? Let us know in the comments below.