Ranking All The Movies Nominated At The 5th Academy Awards In 1932
“What are the best movies nominated for the 5th Academy Awards in 1932?” We looked at all 27 movies nominated for an Oscar in 1932 and ranked them again one another to answer that very question!
We took all 27 movies that were nominated for an Academy Award in 1932 and looked at their Rotten Tomato Critic, Rotten Tomato User, IMDB, and Letterboxd scores, ranking them against one another to see which movies came out on top. The movies are ranked on our list below, with the full chart of rankings included at the bottom of the page. We did not use Metacritic scores because of the lack of data for older movies on that site. Metacritic scores will be included when we do rankings for other years in the future.
If you want to see the rankings for additional years you can visit our Academy Award Rankings page.
Happy Viewing!
The Top 27 Academy Award Movie Rankings
26 (Tie) ) Scratch-As-Catch-Can
Nominated For:
- Best Short Subject, Comedy
Short known as Broadway Headliners: Scratch-As-Catch-Can
26 (Tie) ) Screen Souvenirs
Nominated For:
- Best Short Subject, Novelty
25 ) Wrestling Swordfish
Nominated For:
- Best Short Subject, Novelty (Win)
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, at its fifth annual awards ceremony in 1932, inaugurated awards for Short Subjects in three categories: Cartoon, Comedy and Novelty. When Mack Sennett found out that this film had lost the Novelty Oscar to MGM’s Swing High by only three votes, he protested, since under the Academy’s rules then in effect, a three-vote spread was considered a tie. The Academy Executive Secretary ordered a new vote by the entire membership, and Sennett’s film was declared the winner.
24 ) Lady and Gent
Nominated For:
- Best Writing, Original Story
Fresh young boxer Buzz Kinney is just out of college. He’s able to knock out Stag Bailey when the veteran becomes over confident. Later Buzz is a worn out wreck with a broken nose and cauliflower ear.
23 ) It’s Got Me Again!
Nominated For:
- Best Short Subject, Cartoons
Late at night, the mice come out and sing and play to the title tune, among others. That is, until the cat arrives, but he’s quickly sent packing.
22 ) Transatlantic
Nominated For:
- Best Art Direction (Win)
As a luxurious ocean liner makes its way across the Atlantic Ocean, the audience is made privy to the travails of several of its passengers. Edmund Lowe heads the cast as Monty Greer, a suave gambler who falls in love with Judy (Lois Moran), the daughter of immigrant lens grinder Rudolph Kramer (Jean Hersholt). In trying to recover some valuable securities stolen from banker Henry Graham (John Halliday), Greer finds himself in the middle of a fierce gun battle in the ship’s engine room. Meanwhile, Graham, who has been cheating on his wife Kay (Myrna Loy) with sexy dancer Sigrid Carline (Greta Nissen), is murdered by person or persons unknown. And that’s only three of the plot strands in this marvelously complex shipboard thriller.
21 ) The Loud Mouth
Nominated For:
- Best Short Subject, Comedy
Del Lord, famous director of the Three Stooges shorts, directed this story of one man in various comical vignettes playing the “loud mouth” – a guy who can’t keep a secret and is always getting himself in trouble with everyone he comes in contact with by shouting out his opinions and criticizing strangers to their face.
19 (Tie) ) Stout Hearts and Willing Hands
Nominated For:
- Best Short Subject, Comedy
Stout Hearts and Willing Hands is a 1931 short comedy film directed by Bryan Foy.
19 (Tie) ) Swing High
Nominated For:
- Best Short Subject, Novelty
The Flying Codonas, fourth generation of a family of trapeze artists, practice and perform amazing feats high in the air. Close-up and slow motion photography show how it’s done.
17 (Tie) ) Arrowsmith
Nominated For:
- Best Art Direction
- Best Cinematography
- Best Picture
- Best Writing, Adaptation
Based on Sinclair Lewis’s novel “Arrowsmith”. A medical researcher is sent to a plague outbreak, where he has to decide priorities for the use of a vaccine.
17 (Tie) ) The Star Witness
Nominated For:
- Best Writing, Original Story
A tough District Attorney (Walter Huston) goes after a murderous crime gang, only to find that his witnesses, an innocent family, have clammed up in fear of reprisals.
16 ) Mickey’s Orphans
Nominated For:
- Best Short Subject, Cartoons
At Christmas time, Mickey Mouse, Minnie and Pluto are beset by an enormous litter of bratty orphan cats.
15 ) The Sin of Madelon Claudet
Nominated For:
- Best Actress in a Leading Role (Win)
Out of jail for a crime she did not commit, Madelon turns to prostitution and thievery to send her illegitimate son to medical school.
14 ) The Guardsman
Nominated For:
- Best Actor in a Leading Role
- Best Actress in a Leading Role
An acclaimed actor and his equally acclaimed actress wife, who have been married for less than a year, are already showing signs of strain in their marriage. The actor believes his wife is capable of infidelity and sets out to prove this is so. Disguising himself as the kind of man he believes she fancies (a Russian military officer), the actor woos his wife while she believes him (her husband, that is) to be out of town. The actress shows every sign of succumbing to the “Russian’s” advances, yet the husband can never quite put the stamp of certainty on her behavior. The truth eventually reveals itself…or does it?
13 ) Bad Girl
Nominated For:
- Best Director (Win)
- Best Picture
- Best Writing, Adaptation (Win)
A man and woman, skeptical about romance, nonetheless fall in love and are wed, but their lack of confidence in the opposite sex haunts their marriage.
12 ) Emma
Nominated For:
- Best Actress in a Leading Role
When their mother dies in childbirth, Emma Thatcher who has been the nanny to his 3 children but now has an infant to care for. The children grow up and Frederick becomes rich and successful. He and Emma marry, as it turns out right before his death, and his will becomes a source of trouble between the children and Emma.
11 ) Flowers and Trees
Nominated For:
- Best Short Subject, Cartoons (Win)
Flowers and trees dance to the music in this Silly Symphony.
10 ) What Price Hollywood?
Nominated For:
- Best Writing, Original Story
9 ) The Champ
Nominated For:
- Best Actor in a Leading Role (Win)
- Best Director
- Best Picture
- Best Writing, Original Story (Win)
Dink Purcell loves his alcoholic father, ex-heavyweight champion Andy “Champ” Purcell, despite his frequent binges, his frequent gambling and their squalid living conditions. And there’s nothing Andy wouldn’t do for Dink. When Andy wins a race horse gambling, he gives it to Dink and they race it at a Tijuana track. There, Dink meets Linda Carleton, a race horse owner herself, and they have an immediate rapport. But Linda’s rich husband sees Andy and realizes Dink is Linda’s son, who she gave up when she and Andy divorced. Andy is bribed $200 to allow Dink to visit with Linda, but refuses to allow Dink to spend six months with the Carletons. When Andy loses the horse gambling and winds up in jail after a drunken tirade, he realizes Dink’s place is with his mother. Dink tearfully goes but sneaks out and returns at his first opportunity, filling a depressed Andy with a desire to make good. So Andy goes into training after his managers arrange a boxing match with the Mexican champion.
8 ) Five Star Final
Nominated For:
- Best Picture
An unscrupulous newspaper editor searches for headlines at any cost.
6 (Tie) ) Grand Hotel
Nominated For:
- Best Picture (Win)
Guests at a posh Berlin hotel struggle through worry, scandal, and heartache.
6 (Tie) ) One Hour with You
Nominated For:
- Best Picture
Andre and Colette Bertier are happily married. When Colette introduces her husband to her flirtatious best friend, Mitzi, he does his best to resist her advances. But she is persistent, and very cute, and he succumbs. Mitzi’s husband wants to divorce her, and has been having her tailed. Andre gets caught, and must confess to his wife. But Colette has had problems resisting the attentions of another man herself, and they forgive each other.
5 ) The Smiling Lieutenant
Nominated For:
- Best Picture
A misfired flirtation lands a young lieutenant married to a princess instead of the one he loves.
4 ) Shanghai Express
Nominated For:
- Best Cinematography (Win)
- Best Director
- Best Picture
Shanghai Express is an American love story and adventure film by Josef von Sternberg from 1932 starring Marlene Dietrich. The film takes place in a train during the Chinese civil war.
2 (Tie) ) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Nominated For:
- Best Actor in a Leading Role (Win)
- Best Cinematography
- Best Writing, Adaptation
Based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Henry Jekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men – a good and an evil side. He believes that by separating the two man can become liberated. He succeeds in his experiments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes. When he discontinues use of the drug it is already too late…
2 (Tie) ) The Music Box
Nominated For:
- Best Short Subject, Comedy (Win)
The Laurel & Hardy Moving Co. have a challenging job on their hands (and backs): hauling a player piano up a monumental flight of stairs to Prof. von Schwarzenhoffen’s house. Their task is complicated by a sassy nursemaid and, unbeknownst to them, the impatient Prof. von Schwarzenhoffen himself. But the biggest problem is the force of gravity, which repeatedly pulls the piano back down to the bottom of the stairs. Finally, the irate Professor explodes in fury to discover the “mechanical blunderbuss” in his home, not knowing it was a surprise birthday present from his wife.
1 ) À nous la liberté
Nominated For:
- Best Art Direction
In this classic French satire, Louis, a convict, escapes from prison and takes on legitimate work, making his way up in the business world. Eventually becoming the head of a successful factory, Louis opts to modernize his company with mechanical innovations. But when his friend Émile finally leaves jail years later and reunites with Louis, the past catches up with them. The two, worried about being apprehended by police, long to flee the confines of industry.
The Best 1932 Academy Award Rankings
1932 Academy Award Rankings
| Film | RT Critic | RT User | IMDB | Letterboxd | Overal Rank |
| À nous la liberté | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| The Music Box | 10 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Shanghai Express | 1 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| The Smiling Lieutenant | 6 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Grand Hotel | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
| One Hour with You | 1 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| Five Star Final | 5 | 6 | 10 | 9 | 8 |
| The Champ | 9 | 4 | 10 | 9 | 9 |
| What Price Hollywood? | 10 | 12 | 5 | 11 | 10 |
| Flowers and Trees | 10 | 17 | 7 | 7 | 11 |
| Emma | 10 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 12 |
| Bad Girl | 10 | 16 | 15 | 11 | 13 |
| The Guardsman | 10 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 14 |
| The Sin of Madelon Claudet | 10 | 11 | 15 | 18 | 15 |
| Mickey’s Orphans | 10 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 16 |
| Arrowsmith | 7 | 15 | 22 | 14 | 17 |
| The Star Witness | 10 | 13 | 21 | 14 | 17 |
| Stout Hearts and Willing Hands | 10 | 17 | 13 | 20 | 19 |
| Swing High | 10 | 17 | 13 | 20 | 19 |
| The Loud Mouth | 10 | 17 | 15 | 20 | 21 |
| Transatlantic | 10 | 17 | 20 | 20 | 22 |
| It’s Got Me Again! | 10 | 17 | 23 | 18 | 23 |
| Lady and Gent | 10 | 17 | 24 | 20 | 24 |
| Wrestling Swordfish | 10 | 17 | 25 | 20 | 25 |
| Scratch-As-Catch-Can | 10 | 17 | 26 | 20 | 26 |
| Screen Souvenirs | 10 | 17 | 26 | 20 | 26 |
