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.
Title Director Cast Nation Notes 1930L'Âge d'OrLuis BuñuelGaston Modot, Lya Lys, Max ErnstFranceSurrealist feature, produced by Charles de NoaillesAutour de la fin du mondeEugène DeslawAbel GanceFranceExtraordinary, semi-experimental "making of" documentary shot on set of Abel Gance's "La fin du monde;" silentApteka (Pharmacy)Stefan Themerson, Franciszka Themerson PolandRayographic animation, lostAimless WalkAlexandr Hackenschmied (Alexander Hammid) CzechoslovakiaCity filmBorderlineKenneth MacphersonPaul Robeson, H.D.United KingdomPool film; silentA City SymphonyHerman G. Weinberg United StatesCity film, never shown, disassembled and partly used in Autumn FireJan Christopher Horak, ed. Lovers of Cinema: The First American Avant-Garde, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison WI 1995Crying for the CarolinesLeon Schlesinger, Neil McGuire Milton CharlesUnited StatesA "Spooney Melodie;" Semi-abstract music shortEarthOleksandr DovzhenkoSoviet UnionSilent feature; part of the director's Ukraine Trilogy.It's a BirdHarold MuellerCharles Bowers, Lowell ThomasUnited StatesSemi-animated short where an egg transforms into an automobileEin Lichtspiel: Schwarz/Weiss/GrauLászló Moholy-NagyLight RhythmsFrancis Brugière, Oswell Blakeston United KingdomLight-oriented, non-animated abstract filmUnseen Cinema ProgramMechanical PrinciplesRalph Steiner United StatesAbstract film based on machinery; sometimes dated to 1933Mennschen am Sonntag (People on Sunday)Curt Siodmak, Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Fred Zinnemann, Rochus GlieseErwin Splettstößer, Brigitte BorchertWeimar RepublicCity film, partly written by Billy Wilder; silentThe Power of SuggestionM.G. MacPherson (director), Jean D. Michelson (editor) United StatesArtkino production; Lost filmJan-Christoper Horak, ed., Lovers of Cinema: the first American film avant-garde, 1919–1945. University of Wisconsin Press, 1998. À propos de NiceJean VigoFranceCity filmRomance SentimentaleGrigory Alexandrov, Sergei EisensteinMara GriyFrance"Étude cinematographique"The Story of a NobodyJo Gerson, Louis Hirshman United StatesExperiment in subjective camerawork, Lost filmBruce Posner, ed. Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film, Black Thistle Press/Anthology Film Archives, NYC 2001Studie(s) Nr. 2-4Oskar Fischinger Weimar RepublicAbstract animations; Nr. 4 Lost[Moritz, William. Optical Poetry, filmography]R.5, Ein Spiel in Linien (Studie Nr. 5)Oskar Fischinger Weimar RepublicAbstract animationStudie Nr. 6Oskar Fischinger Weimar RepublicAbstract animationSuch Is LifeVera Baranovskaya, Theodor PištěkCzechoslovakiaCzech avant-garde