My Top 20 by Year - 1939
Under construction and always in progress.
The Best films from this year (according to IMDb) I've seen (so far).
Out of (only) 64 films 'seen' (ie rated at IMDb).
(Jan 2023)
Notes:
Cinema = cinema (big screen) viewing
TV = TV viewing
PC = download
OL = online viewing
VHS = VHS viewing
Yet to see (among many):
The Four Feathers (Korda, 1939)
The Light That Failed (Wellman, 1939)
La fin du jour (The End of the Day, Duvivier, 1939)
Five Came Back (Farrow, 1939)
Bachelor Mother (Kanin, 1939)
The Women (Cukor, 1939)
Kodomo no shiki (Four Seasons of Children, Shimizu, 1939)
La charrette fantôme (The Phantom Wagon, Duvivier, 1939)
Crisis (H. Kline/H. Burger/Hammid, 1939, doc)
Fric-Frac (Lehmann, 1939)
The Man in the Iron Mask (Whale, 1939)
Pièges (Personal Column, Siodmak, 1939)
Die Reise nach Tilsit (The Trip to Tilsit, Harlan, 1939)
I grandi magazzini (Department Store, Camerini, 1939)
We Are Not Alone (Goulding, 1939)
Babes in Arms (Berkeley, 1939)
Juarez (Dieterle, 1939)
The Old Maid (Goulding, 1939)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Werker, 1939)
Stanley and Livingstone (H. King, 1939)
Another Thin Man (Van Dyke, 1939)
Son of Frankenstein (R. V. Lee, 1939)
On Borrowed Time (Bucquet, 1939)
In Name Only (Cromwell, 1939)
It's a Wonderful World (Van Dyke, 1939)
Jesse James (H. King, 1939)
Shchors (Shors, Dovzhenko/Solntseva, 1939)
Each Dawn I Die (Keighley, 1939)
The Best films from this year (according to IMDb) I've seen (so far).
Out of (only) 64 films 'seen' (ie rated at IMDb).
(Jan 2023)
Notes:
- Features, shorts, docs and TV movies eligible ("A film is a film is a film.").
- TV mini-series are NOT (unless stated otherwise).
- My humble rates added (for films with the same rate just once or twice though).
- Films with the same rate are ordered arbitrarily. Feel free to re-order them at your will.
- When I saw more than 20 excellent films (9/10 or above in my book) from a certain year I'll try and list them ALL. That would make some lists much longer but all the excellentia deserves to be mentioned.
Cinema = cinema (big screen) viewing
TV = TV viewing
PC = download
OL = online viewing
VHS = VHS viewing
Yet to see (among many):
The Four Feathers (Korda, 1939)
The Light That Failed (Wellman, 1939)
La fin du jour (The End of the Day, Duvivier, 1939)
Five Came Back (Farrow, 1939)
Bachelor Mother (Kanin, 1939)
The Women (Cukor, 1939)
Kodomo no shiki (Four Seasons of Children, Shimizu, 1939)
La charrette fantôme (The Phantom Wagon, Duvivier, 1939)
Crisis (H. Kline/H. Burger/Hammid, 1939, doc)
Fric-Frac (Lehmann, 1939)
The Man in the Iron Mask (Whale, 1939)
Pièges (Personal Column, Siodmak, 1939)
Die Reise nach Tilsit (The Trip to Tilsit, Harlan, 1939)
I grandi magazzini (Department Store, Camerini, 1939)
We Are Not Alone (Goulding, 1939)
Babes in Arms (Berkeley, 1939)
Juarez (Dieterle, 1939)
The Old Maid (Goulding, 1939)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Werker, 1939)
Stanley and Livingstone (H. King, 1939)
Another Thin Man (Van Dyke, 1939)
Son of Frankenstein (R. V. Lee, 1939)
On Borrowed Time (Bucquet, 1939)
In Name Only (Cromwell, 1939)
It's a Wonderful World (Van Dyke, 1939)
Jesse James (H. King, 1939)
Shchors (Shors, Dovzhenko/Solntseva, 1939)
Each Dawn I Die (Keighley, 1939)
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- 22 titles
- DirectorsJack CuttingClyde GeronimiHamilton LuskeStarsClarence NashAmanda CewelTom CotryA baby duckling is shunned by his family because he is different. He is also rejected by all of the other birds and animals. Finally a mother swan adopts him as one of her brood.OL. 10/10.
- 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.PC. 9/10.
- 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.Cinema.
- DirectorHarry SmithAn experimental film from artist Harry Smith and part of his Number series of various animated scenes.OL.
- DirectorsClyde GeronimiBurt GillettStarsLee MillarClarence NashDonald Duck is at the beach and tries to ride a rubber horse. He notices Pluto sleeping at the shore and decides to have some fun with him by sending the rubber horse over to Pluto which completely mesmerizes him. Meanwhile, a tribe of ants abduct Donald's picnic lunch. Donald lays out fly paper to stop the ants. Pluto follows one of the ants and, of course, he and later Donald become enmeshed in the fly paper.OL.
- DirectorBill RobertsStarsBilly BletcherJohn McLeishWalt DisneyRather out of place at a swanky dog show, Pluto flirts with Fifi, a dainty Pekingese. The judge orders Mickey and Pluto to leave, but when a fire breaks out Pluto rescues Fifi and is proclaimed a hero.OL. 9/10.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsJean GabinJacqueline LaurentArlettyAfter committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events that led him to the killing.TV. 8/10.
- 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.OL.
- DirectorsVictor 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.TV.
- DirectorLen LyeUsing the Gasparcolor film system, abstract shapes and patterns are painted directly on the film strip itself to create an animation set to upbeat music.PC.
- DirectorsRalph SteinerWillard Van DykeStarMorris CarnovskyA prescient documentary about city planning, which presents idyllic suburbs and nuclear families as a solution to the chaos, poverty and social decay of industrialized inner cities.OL.
- 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.TV.
- DirectorNorman McLarenA John Phillip Sousa march plays as pen-and-ink images, drawn directly on film, appear. Against a blue background, white fireworks explode. Parts of a flag (red and white stripes and white stars on a blue background) move to the music's rhythm. The lines become hearts, circles, and stars: Cupid's arrows join the fun as do Stars of David and other rapidly moving lines. Sometimes the screen is dominated by patters of straight lines, then by squiggles and blobs. The movement of the shapes is rapid as they morph from one symbol to another. Red, white, and blue fireworks become comets, stars, and suns. A few reddish clouds appear at the finale.OL.
- 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.Cinema.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsMarlene DietrichJames StewartMischa AuerDeputy sheriff Destry tames the town of Bottle Neck, including saloon singer Frenchy.TV.
- DirectorsSam WoodSidney FranklinStarsRobert DonatGreer GarsonTerry KilburnAn aged teacher and former headmaster of a boarding school recalls his career and his personal life over the decades.OL.
- DirectorsClyde GeronimiBurt GillettStarsPinto ColvigWalt DisneyJames MacDonaldMickey and Pluto's hunt for quail turns into a disaster when Mickey wakes up a bear.OL.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLon Chaney Jr.Burgess MeredithBetty FieldA mentally disabled giant and his level headed guardian find work at a sadistic cowboy's ranch in depression era America.OL.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsCary GrantJean ArthurRita HayworthAt a remote South American trading port, the manager of an air-freight company is compelled to risk the lives of his pilots in order to win an important contract as a traveling American showgirl/harlot stops in town.TV.
- DirectorHugh HarmanStarsMel BlancJeanne DunneThe Hollywood Choir BoysTwo baby squirrels ask grandpa to explain what "men" are when they hear everyone singing of "peace on earth, goodwill to men". Grandpa tells the story of man's last war.OL.
- 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.OL.
- DirectorHugh HarmanStarsMarion DarlingtonJeanne DunneA conductor, in silhouette against sheet music, leads the title tune, which dissolves into a series of placid landscapes. As the music picks up, there is a water wheel, then a dancing fairy emerges from a whirlpool and begins singing, to the delight of small woodland creatures. The birds awaken sleeping cherubs, who begin their work of harvesting all things blue and adding them to the river. The birds even do their part, harvesting the color blue from the rainbow. Everyone tugs to open a floodgate and unleash the cerulean waters. A swan, festively decorated, leads a gondola of sorts lit by fireflies.OL. 8/10.
