If people don't mind revisiting the My Favorite Year
idea, let me make my case for ... 1932.

Not only does 1932 produce the peak of Lubitsch in
Trouble In Paradise, the apogee of the musical in
Love Me Tonight, the shining masterwork of Borzage
in A Farewell to Arms, but also the stunning originality
of Sternberg in both Shanghai Express and Blonde Venus.
And that was just Paramount!

Also working at the absolute top of their game were Walsh
(Me and My Gal is sublime), Ford {Air Mail is terrific),
and Capra (Forbidden is tremendously fresh and close to
his best film). Then, there's Scarface, One Way Passage,
Jewel Robbery, and Tiger Shark.

Even titles that might be more arguable are still uncommonly
interesting: Blood Money, Hell's Highway, What Price Hollywood?,
The Half-Naked Truth, A Bill of Divorcement, I Am a Fugitive
From a Chain Gang, Blessed Event, While Paris Sleeps, Cynara.

The big crowd pleasers like Sign of the Cross, Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde, Tarzan the Ape Man, The Mummy, Grand Hotel,
Back Street, The Old Dark House, The Kid From Spain, and
Red Dust are all classics of their sort (and even Smilin'
Through is pretty good).

Heck, 1932 was just about the last time that MGM allowed
peculiarities like Freaks and Flesh.

And overseas? Boudu sauvé des eaux, A Nous la Liberté,
Der Rebell,and Kameradschaft (1931 in Germany, but 1932
everywhere else) are all-time great originals, as is
Duvivier's beautiful but almost forgotten Poil de Carotte.

(However, 1933 was almost as great, but that's another story).

--Bob Keser