List of avant-garde films of the 1930s

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A list of avant-garde and experimental films made in the 1930s. Unless where noted, all films had sound and were in black and white.

1930 • 1931 • 1932 • 1933 • 1934 • 1935 • 1936 • 1937 • 1938 • 1939

Title	Director	Cast	Country	Subgenre/Notes
1930
Bezucelná procházka (Aimless Walk)	Alexandr Hackenschmied			City film [1]
Takový je zivot (Such is Life)	Karl Junghans	Vera Baranovskaya, Theodor Pistek		Slovak avant-garde social realist feature; silent [2][3]
L'Âge d'Or	Luis Buñuel	Gaston Modot, Lya Lys, Max Ernst		Surrealist feature, produced by Charles De Noailles [4]
Autour de la fin du monde	Eugène Deslaw	Abel Gance		Extraordinary, semi-experimental "making of" documentary shot on set of Abel Gance's "La fin du monde;" silent [5]
Romance Sentimentale	Grigory Alexandrov, Sergei Eisenstein	Mara Griy		"Étude cinematographique" [6]
Mennschen am Sonntag (People on Sunday)	Curt Siodmak, Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Fred Zinnemann, Rochus Gliese	Erwin Splettstößer, Brigitte Borchert		City film, partly written by Billy Wilder; silent[7]
Wochenende (Weekend)	Walter Ruttmann			Audio-only film collage; no image [8]
Studie(s) Nr. 2-4	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animations, Nr. 4 Lost [9]
R.5, Ein Spiel in Linien (Studie Nr. 5)	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animation [9]
Studie Nr. 6	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animation [9]
Borderline (1930 film)	Kenneth MacPherson	Paul Robeson, Hilda Doolittle		Pool film; silent [10]
Light Rhythms	Francis Brugière, Oswell Blakeston			Light-oriented, non-animated abstract film[11]
Apteka (Pharmacy)	Stefan Themerson, Franciszka Themerson			Rayographic animation, lost [12]
It's a Bird	Harold Mueller	Charles Bowers, Lowell Thomas		Semi-animated short where an egg transforms into an automobile [13]
Crying for the Carolines	Leon Schlesinger, Neil McGuire	Milton Charles		A "Spooney Melodie;" Semi-abstract music short [14][15]
Tomatoes Another Day	James Sibley Watson, Jr.			Absurdist comedy written by Alec Wilder[16]
Mechanical Principles	Ralph Steiner			Abstract film based on machinery; sometimes dated to 1933 [17]
The Story of a Nobody	Jo Gerson, Louis Hershman			Experiment in subjective camerawork, Lost film [18]
A City Symphony	Herman G. Weinberg			City film, never shown, disassembled and partly used in Autumn Fire [19]
The Trap	M.G. MacPherson, Jean Michelson			Artkino production, Lost film [19]
The Power of Suggestion	M.G. MacPherson, Jean Michelson			Artkino production, Lost film [19]
Yamekraw	Murray Roth	Hugo Marianni & His Mediterraneans		Vitaphone "opera film" visualization of tone poem by James Price Johnson, heavily indebted to German expressionism. [20] [21] [22]
1931
Limite	Mário Peixoto	Olga Breno, Raul Schnoor		Advertised as 'pure cinema;' first Brazilian avant-garde film [23]
Na Prazském hrade (The Prague Castle)	Alexandr Hackenschmied			Semi-documentary [24]
Svetlo proniká tmou (Light Penetrates the Darkness)	Otakar Vávra, Frantisek Pilát			Photographic abstract film [25]
Studie(s) Nr. 7-9	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animation [9]
Autumn Fire	Herman G. Weinberg	Erna Bergman, Willy Hildebrand		Cinematic poem; mixed nature and city film [19]
A Bronx Morning	Jay Leyda			City film; silent [26]
City of Contrasts	Irving Browning			City film [27][19]
Dance Film	Ralph Steiner			Dance film [19]
A Day in Santa Fe	Lynn Riggs, James Hughes			City film[11][28]
Hearts of the West	Theodore Huff			Genre parody [19]
Imperial Valley	Seymour Stern			Experimental documentary, sometimes dated to 1932 or 1933; Stern taken off production which was finished by others, Lost film [29][30]
Panther Woman of the Needle Trades, or The Lovely Life of Little Lisa	Ralph Steiner	Elizabeth Hawes, Morris Carnovsky		Satire, print extant at MOMA [19]
Portrait of a Young Man in Three Movements	Henwar Rodakiewicz			Feature length experimental film, begun in 1925 [31][32]
Surf and Seaweed	Ralph Steiner			Photographic abstract film, sometimes dated to 1930.[33]
Enthusiasm	Dziga Vertov			Documentary film with montage of both visuals and sound
1932
Burleska	Jan Kucera			Experimental short [34]
Pred maturitou (Before Matriculation)	Sviatopluk Immermann, Vladislav Vancura	Jindrich Plachta, Frantisek Smolík		Semi-experimental feature film [34][35]
Blood of a Poet	Jean Cocteau	Lee Miller, Pauline Carton, Odette Talazacuez		Surrealist feature, produced by Charles de Noailles; often misdated to 1930-31[36]
Koloraturen (Coloratura)	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animation [9]
Ornament Sound Experiment, a.k.a. Experiments in Hand-Drawn Sound	Oskar Fischinger			Synthetic sound experiment [9]
Studie(s) Nr. 10-11	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animation [9]
Studie Nr. 12	Oskar Fischinger, Hans Fischinger			Abstract animation [9]
Qué vivá México!	Sergei Eisenstein, Grigori Alexandrov	Félix Balderas, Martín Hernández		Begun in 1931, never completed by Eisenstein; edited into numerous other films [37]
Europa	Stefan Themerson, Franciszka Themerson			Abstract animation, Lost [12]
La cartomancienne (The Fortune Teller)	Jerome Hill			Tinting and hand-coloring added in the 1960s [38][39]
Destiny	Josef Berne			Dated "ca. 1932"[19]
Granite, a.k.a. The Quarry	Ralph Steiner			[19]
Harbor Scenes	Ralph Steiner			[19]
Land of the Sun	Seymour Stern			Experimental documentary [40][29]
Little Geezer	Theodore Huff			Genre parody [19][41]
Poem 8	Emlen Etting	Mary Binney Montgomery, Caresse Crosby		Dance film, shot in 8mm, silent [42]
1933
Poslovi konzula Dorgena (Consul Dorgen's Business)	Oktavijan Miletić	Šime Marov, Ivan Alpi-Rauch		Experimental dramatic short; won a prize awarded by Louis Lumière [43][44]
Na slunecní strane (On the sunnyside)	Vladislav Vancura	Filip Balek-Brodský, Hana Beckova		Didactic feature film [34][45]
Zem spieva (The Earth Sings)	Karel Plicka, Alexandr Hackenschmied			Experimentally edited ethnographic semi-documentary, with music score [46]
In the Icy Wastes of Dialectical Materialism	Luis Buñuel, Charles de Noailles			Re-edited section of L'age d'or, rendered as comedy and shown in leftist theaters in Eastern Europe; lost. [47]
Une nuit sur le mont chauve	Alexandre Alexieff, Claire Parker			First pinscreen animation, also dated to 1934, 1931 [48]
Kreise (Circles)	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animation, exists in two versions, color [9]
Drobiazg Melodyjny (Moment Musical)	Stefan Themerson, Franciszka Themerson			Rayographic animation, Lost [12]
7 till 5	Norman McLaren			Amateur city film [49]
Dawn to Dawn	Josef Berne, Seymour Stern	Julie Haydon, Ole M. Ness, Frank Eklof		a.k.a. "Black Dawn," short, Naturalist melodrama[50][19][51]
Footnote to Fact	Lewis Jacobs			City film [52]
G-3	Ralph Steiner			Also dated to 1932 [19][53]
Lot in Sodom	James Sibley Watson, Jr., Melville Webber	Friedrich Haak, Hildegarde Watson		Experimental short based on Biblical story [54]
Mr. Motorboat's Last Stand	John Flory, Theodore Huff	Leonard Stirrup		Satire [19][51]
Oil—A Symphony in Motion	M.G. MacPherson, Jean Michelson			Only extant Artkino production[19][39]
Oramunde	Emlen Etting	Caresse Crosby, Mary Binney Montgomery		Dance film [39][55]
Pueblo	Seymour Stern			Experimental documentary; never finished, Lost film [29]
Synchromy	Mary Ellen Bute, Lewis Jacobs, Joseph Schillinger			Abstract animation, never completed [56]
Tilly Losch in the Dance of Her Hands	Norman Bel Geddes	Tilly Losch		Dance film, dated 1930-33 [39]
Deserter	Vsevolod Pudovkin	Boris Livanov, Vasili Kovrigin		Asynchronous use of sound and image [57]
Prostoy sluchay (A Simple Case)	Vsevolod Pudovkin	Aleksandr Baturin, Mariya Belousova		Naturalist drama, begun in 1931; silent [58]
1934
Marijka nevernice (Faithless Maritza)	Vladislav Vancura	Hana Maria Pravda		Semi-experimental feature [34][59]
Žijeme v Praze (We Live in Prague)	Otakar Vávra			City film [60]
La Joie de vivre	Anthony Gross, Hector Hoppin			Stylized, surreal animated film [61]
Liebesspiel	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animation, first exhibited posthumously; silent [9]
Muratti Greift Ein (Muratti Gets in the Act)	Oskar Fischinger			Dancing cigarette animation, color [9]
Quadrate (Squares)	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animation, silent [9]
Rectangles	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animation, silent, unfinished [9]
Ein Spiel in Farben (A Play in Colors)	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animation, a.k.a. Studie No. 11a, color [9]
Studie Nr. 13 (Coriolan Fragment)	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animation, unfinished [9]
Camera Makes Whoopee	Norman McLaren			Amateur film; montage experiments [62]
Café Universal	Ralph Steiner			Satire featuring members of The Group Theatre [19]
The Furies	Slavko Vorkapich			Surreal special effects insert for feature, "Crime without Passion" [63]
Hands	Ralph Steiner, Willard Van Dyke			Sponsored by the Works Project Administration; also dated 1936-7 and edited into later films [64][18]
The Hearts of Age	William Vance, Orson Welles	Virginia Nicolson, Orson Welles		Amateur experimental film, made at the Todd School, Chicago [39]
Prisoner	Roman Freulich	George Sari, Jack Rockwell		Expressionistic short, made in Hollywood, lost film [19]
Rhythm in Light	Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth, Melville Webber			Abstract animation [65]
Sweet Land of Liberty	Leo Hurwitz			Satirical documentary; Lost film [66]
Happiness (1934 film)	Aleksandr Medvedkin	Petr Zinoviev, Elena Egorova		Soviet satire; stylized, silent [67]
1935
Listopad (November)	Otakar Vávra, Alexandr Hackenschmied			[68][34]
Poison	Man Ray	Man Ray, Meret Oppenheim		Double "portrait" film of Ray and Oppenheim [69]
Komposition in Blau (Composition in Blue)	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animation in Gasparcolour [9]
Muratti Privat	Oskar Fischinger			Dancing cigarette animation [9]
Pink Guards On Parade	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract advertisement, unfinished; completed in 2000 by William Moritz [9]
Zwarcie (Short Circuit)	Stefan Themerson, Franciszka Themerson			Abstract animation, music by Witold Lutoslawski, Lost [12]
Color Cocktail	Norman McLaren			Abstract animation; lost film [70]
Polychrome Phantasy	Norman McLaren			Abstract animation, color [71]
Ghost Town: The Story of Fort Lee	Theodore Huff, Mark Borgatte			Semi-documentary [27]
Gypsy Night	Josef Berne, Harold Hecht			Musical short, set in a Gypsy camp, color [72]
Hollywood	Vic Kandel, Robert Del Duca			Satire, Lost film [66]
Kinetic Molpai	Ted Shawn	Ted Shawn and his Men Dancers		Modern dance film [73]
Pie in the Sky	Ralph Steiner, Elia Kazan, Molly Day Thatcher, Irving Lerner	Elia Kazan, Russell Collins		Satire [74]
Synchromy No. 2	Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth			Abstract animation [75]
1936
Cernobílá rapsodie (Black and White Rhapsody)	Martin Fric			City film [34]
Redes	Emilio Gómez Muriel, Fred Zinnemann	Silvio Hernández, Rafael Hinojosa		Cinematography by Paul Strand, music by Silvestre Revueltas; Eisenstein-influenced revolutionary film [76]
Hell Unlimited	Helen Biggar, Norman McLaren			Anti-war political short [77]
145 W 21	Rudy Burckhardt	Paul Bowles, Aaron Copland		[78]
Allegretto	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animation, black & white, 2 versions [9]
Dada	Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth			Abstract animation [79]
Rose Hobart	Joseph Cornell	Rose Hobart		Collage film [80]
1937
Silnice spívá (The Highway Sings)	Elmar Klos, Alexandr Hackenschmied			Experimental advertising film[81]
Przygoda Czlowieka Poczciwego (The Adventure of a Good Citizen)	Stefan Themerson, Franciszka Themerson			Satire [12]
Even—As You and I	LeRoy Robbins, Harry Hay	Hy Hirsh
Escape	Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth, Bill Nemeth			Abstract animation [82]
An Optical Poem	Oskar Fischinger			Abstract animation, distributed by MGM, color [9]
Parabola	Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth, Bill Nemeth, Rutherford Boyd			Abstract animation [83]
Seeing the World No. 1: A Trip to New York CIty	Rudy Burckhardt			City film[11]
1938
Bookstalls	Joseph Cornell			Collage film, title added posthumously; Silent [11][84]
Carousel: Animal Opera	Joseph Cornell			Collage film [11]
The Children's Jury	Joseph Cornell			Collage film, Silent [11]
The Children's Trilogy: Cotillion, The Midnight Party, The Children's Party	Joseph Cornell			Collage film, put into a final form by Larry Jordan ca. 1967-70, Silent [11]
Fragment from Caroland's Mansion	Frank Stauffacher			[85]
Jack's Dream	Joseph Cornell			Collage film, put into a final form by Larry Jordan ca. 1970 [11]
Thimble Theater	Joseph Cornell			Collage film, title added posthumously; Silent [11]
Tree Trunk to Head	Lewis Jacobs	Chaim Gross		Semi-documentary, silent [86]
1939
Love on the Wing	Norman McLaren			Abstract animation, color [87]
Scherzo	Norman McLaren			Abstract animation, color [88]
Stars and Stripes	Norman McLaren			Abstract animation, color [88]
The City (1939 film)	Ralph Steiner, Willard Van Dyke			City film for New York World's Fair, written by Pare Lorentz[89]
Dance of the Colors	Hans Fischinger			Abstract animation, color [9]
Haiti	Rudy Burckhardt			[90]
Spook Sport	Mary Ellen Bute, Ted Nemeth, Norman McLaren			Abstract animation, color [91]

References

• Jan Christopher Horak, ed. Lovers of Cinema: The First American Avant-Garde, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison WI 1995
• Paul Rotha and Roger Manvell, "Movie Parade: A Pictorial Survey of the Cinema" London: The Studio, 1936
• Parker Tyler, "Underground Film: A Critical History" New York: Da Capo Press, 1995 (originally published in 1969)
• David Curtis, "Experimental Cinema" New York: Universe Books, 1970
• Bruce Posner, ed. Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film, Black Thistle Press/Anthology Film Archives, NYC 2001

1. Monoskop Hackenschmied bio
2. BAM/PFA Film Program
3. imdb entry
4. imdb entry
5. DVD Savant review of "Le fin du monde"
6. imdb entry
7. imdb entry
8. Jesse Shapins, "Walter Ruttmann's Weekend"
9. CVM Fichinger filmography
10. imdb entry
11. Unseen Cinema Program
12. Themerson Archive Filmography
13. imdb entry
14. imdb entry
15. Crying for the Carolines (1930)
16. imdb entry
17. imdb entry
18. Bruce Posner, ed. Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film, Black Thistle Press/Anthology Film Archives, NYC 2001
19. Jan Christopher Horak, ed. Lovers of Cinema: The First American Avant-Garde, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison WI 1995
20. Hans Koert -- "Yamekraw: Rhapsody in Black and White
21. Jennifer Fleeger -- Sounding American: Hollywood, Opera and Jazz. Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York, 2014 ppg. 44-51
22. Richard Koszarski -- Hollywood on the Hudson: Film and Television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff. Rutgers University Press, Piscataway, NJ 2008, ppg. 155-159
23. William Drew, "Mário Peixoto"
24. Monoskop Hackenschmied bio
25. imdb entry The Light Penetrates the Dark (1931)
26. imdb entry
27. Unseen Cinema program
28. imdb entry
29. Ira H. Gallen, Seymour Stern: American Film Critic, Guardian and Prophet SEYMOUR STERN: AMERICAN FILM CRITIC, GUARDIAN and PROPHET by D.W. GRIFFITH - DIRECTOR on Myspace
30. imdb entry
31. imdb entry
32. The Art of Memory
33. imdb entry
34. Peter Hames: Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition, Edinburgh University Press, 2009
35. imdb entry
36. imdb entry
37. Herman G. Weinberg, Unanswered Question: Eisenstein's Qué vivá México! in Bruce Posner, ed. Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film, Black Thistle Press/Anthology Film Archives, NYC 2001
38. imdb entry
39. Unseen Cinema program
40. Lewis Jacobs, Experimental Cinema in America Part One: 1921-1941, Hollywood Quarterly Vol.3 No. 2, Winter 1947-48
41. imdb entry
42. imdb entry
43. Europa film treasures
44. imdb entry
45. imdb entry
46. Monoskop Hackenschmied bio
47. Allmovie review of "L'Age d'or"
48. imdb entry
49. 7 Till 5 (1933)
50. imdb entry
51. imdb entry
52. imdb entry
53. First Light: Steiner
54. imdb entry
55. imdb entry
56. imdb entry
57. Soviet Films blog
58. Soviet Films blog
59. imdb entry
60. Monoskop Vávra bio
61. La Joie de Vivre - 1934 - Europa Film Treasures
62. imdb entry
63. Unseen Cinema on DVD
64. NARA entry
65. imdb entry
66. Film and Photo League Filmography
67. Russian Film Symposium essay
68. Vávra Monoskop Bio
69. Ikono: "Man Ray Three Short Films and a documentary
70. imdb entry
71. imdb entry
72. imdb entry
73. 100 Dance Treasures: Ted Shawn
74. imdb entry
75. imdb entry
76. Criterion Collection, "Redes"
77. imdb entry
78. Rudy Burckhardt Films DVD
79. imdb entry
80. Senses of Cinema essay
81. Monoskop Hackenschmied bio
82. imdb entry
83. imdb entry
84. John C. Film Notes Blog
85. Unseen Cinema program #11
86. imdb entry
87. imdb entry
88. imdb entry
89. imdb entry
90. Richard Bartone, "Notes on Four Films by Rudolph Burckhardt"
91. imdb entry