1939
This is a list-in-progress of some favorite films from 1939. The numbers are not rankings; the list is alphabetical, although the displayed form of titles may not reflect this.
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29 titles
- DirectorWilli ForstStarsWilli ForstOlga TschechowaJohannes RiemannShortly after being demobilized, Georges Duroy becomes aware of his power over women in the arms of Rachel, a young singer. Thanks to his good looks and his charming manners and his unabashed cynicism he will rapidly rise to the top by courtesy of women women (Mme Walter, Clotilde, Madeleine), from journalist to member of Parliament to cabinet minister. But it is also the fair sex that will cause his fall in the end.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsPierre FresnayMarie BellMicheline FranceyA nun suffering from TB is desperately trying to save an alcoholic tramp and to bring him back to his wife and kids.He has a friend who died last year and became the coachman of the "Ghost Wagon" .
- DirectorJean BoyerStarsMichel SimonArlettyDorvilleA retired criminal-court judge on vacation finds himself stranded in a nest of thieves, who show him a friendlier side of crime.
- DirectorPierre ChenalStarsFernand GraveyMichel SimonMarcel ValléeFrank, a hobo, ends up in a garage-truck stop in the middle of nowhere. Nick Marino, its older, kind and naive owner, is married to Cora, a sexy and mercenary woman half his age. Frank, although not a fan of hard work, accepts Nick's offer to work for him. Of course, it is not for Nick's sake that the young man becomes his attendant, but for the love of Cora under whose spell he has fallen at once. It does not take long before Cora, who despises her husband, asks her lover to help her get rid of him. Frank is reluctant at first but.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsMarlene DietrichJames StewartMischa AuerDeputy sheriff Destry tames the town of Bottle Neck, including saloon singer Frenchy.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsClaudette ColbertHenry FondaEdna May OliverNewlyweds Gil and Lana Martin try to establish a farm in the Mohawk Valley but are menaced by Indians and Tories as the Revolutionary War begins.
- DirectorGustaf MolanderStarsIngrid BergmanEdvin AdolphsonAino TaubeFunfair worker Valdemar is unaware that he is the illegitimate son of rich landowner Colonel Von Brede. The colonel knows, and employs Valdemar as his stable master. The colonel has a young and beautiful ward, Eva, but will she and Valdemar fall in love with each other?
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsVictor FrancenMichel SimonLouis JouvetAged penniless actors are living in a old people's home. They always talk about their past glory or failures. One day Raphael Saint-Clair comes; he has been a famous actor and had a lot of love affairs. Passions come back, and jealousies.
- DirectorMaurice LehmannClaude Autant-LaraStarsFernandelMichel SimonArlettyMarcel works as assistant to a jeweller whose bossy daughter Renée keeps hitting on him. When he meets lovely Loulou and her lazy friend Jo, he is fascinated by the girl and somehow attracted by their world : Loulou and Jo are crooks. As Marcel naively tries to bring some morality in their lives, the pair turn him into an unwilling accomplice in the robbery of his boss's jewels.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsMargaret LockwoodRenee HoustonLilli PalmerA runaway schoolgirl falls amongst chorus girls planning to marry into nobility.
- DirectorSam WoodSidney FranklinStarsRobert DonatGreer GarsonTerry KilburnAn aged teacher and former headmaster of a boarding school recalls his career and his personal life over the decades.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsGracie AllenWarren WilliamEllen DrewThe zany plot follows nitwit Gracie Allen trying to help master sleuth Philo Vance solve a murder. Allen's uncle fixes her up with Bill at a company picnic. When the two go out to a nightclub that night, Gracie inadvertently links Bill to the murder of a thug after finding the dead body and Bill's cigarette case at the scene of the crime. While being questioned at the club, she meets Vance who's investigating the homicide. After Gracie's bungled attempts to solve the case, Vance decides it might be easier to have her working with him. Despite Gracie's "help," the two eventually find the real killer.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsCary GrantJoan FontaineVictor McLaglenIn 19th century India, three British soldiers and a native waterbearer must stop a secret mass revival of the murderous Thuggee cult before it can rampage across the land.
- DirectorSidney LanfieldStarsBasil RathboneNigel BruceRichard GreeneSherlock Holmes and Dr Watson investigate the legend of a supernatural hound, a beast that may be stalking a young heir on the fog-shrouded moorland that makes up his estate.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsCharles LaughtonMaureen O'HaraCedric HardwickeIn 15th-century France, a gypsy girl is framed for murder by the infatuated Chief Justice, and only the deformed bellringer of Notre Dame Cathedral can save her.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsJean GabinJacqueline LaurentArlettyAfter committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events that led him to the killing.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsIrene DunneCharles BoyerMaria OuspenskayaA French playboy and an American former nightclub singer fall in love aboard a ship.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsClaudette ColbertDon AmecheJohn BarrymoreA chorus girl stranded in Paris is set up by a millionaire to break up his wife's affair with another man, while being romantically pursued by a cab driver.
- DirectorVictor SchertzingerStarsKenny BakerJohn BarclayMartyn GreenThe son of the Mikado of Japan, a wandering minstrel, falls for a girl who is engaged to her guardian.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsPat O'BrienOlympe BradnaRoland YoungDan O'Farrell and Barry Keith-Trimble, two actors, prepare for the opening night of "Laughter", a new play written by Dan, by getting drunk at the Lambs Club. By the time they go on stage, they are still not sober, and end up brawling and falling in the orchestra pit. They continue drinking, returning to the club and laughing hysterically until they are suspended. Dan simultaneously learns that his wife, actress Alyce Martelle, is pregnant and that she has left him for ruining his play. Twenty years later, Dan is still sitting at a table in the club, his ambition deadened by the knowledge of his own failure. He is supported by Barry, who has married into wealth and retired. In the interval, a former Lambs Club waiter, Michael Fordkin, now known as J. Neville Prime, has become the leading Broadway producer, employing Sammy Kayn, Dan's former stagehand. Dan faints upon learning of the existence of his daughter Marie Alyce, who was given over to a French convent upon the death of her mother in childbirth. Dan nervously meets Marie at the train station, but is supported by Sammy, Neville and especially Barry, who rents a lavish room for her. Marie, who is the image of her mother, is soon asked by Dan to recite the lines Alyce was to have said in "Laughter". Believing he is an unworthy father, Dan urges Marie to take advantage of an opportunity to study art in Paris. Dan orders Barry to put Marie on the ship to France, but is surprised to find them waiting in his small apartment later that night. Marie tells Dan, who has wanted to die for fifteen years, that Alyce would have forgiven him. He suddenly decides to re-stage "Laughter" with the original cast, with Marie substituting for Alyce in the part of Toni. After long rehearsals, Dan becomes ill, but continues in his role of the clown. Marie convinces him to change the play to have a happy ending, with Toni reuniting with the clown, rather than have the clown commit suicide over her departure. The play is an enormous success by the conclusion of the second act. After Dan's final scene, he has a heart attack, believes he hears Alyce, and goes to his dressing room to be with her. As the play ends, Dan dies, but Alyce lives on in Marie as Dan's friends drink to the fulfillment of his hopes.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsGreta GarboMelvyn DouglasIna ClaireA stern Soviet woman sent to Paris to supervise the sale of jewels seized from Russian nobles finds herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsMaurice ChevalierPierre RenoirMarie DéaAfter one of her fellow taxi dancers is murdered by an unknown man who she met through a personal column advert, Adrienne Charpentier is recruited by the police to answer a series of similar adverts to try to track down the killer.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsMarcel DalioNora GregorPaulette DubostA bourgeois life in France at the onset of World War II, as the rich and their poor servants meet up at a French chateau.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneClaire TrevorAndy DevineA group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn something about each other in the process.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsShôtarô HanayagiKôkichi TakadaRyôtarô KawanamiThe adopted son of a legendary actor, and an aspiring star himself, turns to his infant brother's wet nurse for support and affection - only for her to give up everything for her beloved's glory.
- DirectorBusby BerkeleyStarsJohn GarfieldClaude RainsThe Dead End KidsA champion boxer on the lamb, believed to have committed murder while drunk, takes refuge and finds redemption at a farm for delinquent youths.
- DirectorVictor FlemingKing VidorStarsJudy GarlandFrank MorganRay BolgerYoung Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMerle OberonLaurence OlivierDavid NivenA servant in the house of Wuthering Heights tells a traveler the unfortunate tale of lovers Cathy and Heathcliff.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallEdward F. ClineStarsW.C. FieldsEdgar BergenCharlie McCarthyThe owner of a debt-ridden circus contends with pursuing bill collectors and sheriffs, and his beloved daughter's relationships with one of his performers and a stuffy but wealthy young man.