My Top 20 by Year - 1939
by miran_kor | created - 18 Nov 2015 | updated - 18 Jan 2023 | PublicUnder 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:
- 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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1. Ugly Duckling (1939)
Approved | 9 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
A 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.
Directors: Jack Cutting, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske | Stars: Clarence Nash, Amanda Cewel, Tom Cotry
Votes: 3,622
OL. 10/10.
2. The Rules of the Game (1939)
Not Rated | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
A bourgeois life in France at the onset of World War II, as the rich and their poor servants meet up at a French chateau.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, Paulette Dubost, Mila Parély
Votes: 31,320
PC. 9/10.
3. Ninotchka (1939)
Not Rated | 110 min | Comedy, Romance
A 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.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire, Bela Lugosi
Votes: 22,890 | Gross: $1.19M
Cinema.
4. Number 1 (1939)
3 min | Short, Animation
An experimental film from artist Harry Smith and part of his Number series of various animated scenes.
Director: Harry Smith
Votes: 192
OL.
5. Beach Picnic (1939)
Approved | 8 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Donald 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 ... See full summary »
Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Burt Gillett | Stars: Lee Millar, Clarence Nash
Votes: 1,297
OL.
6. Society Dog Show (1939)
Approved | 8 min | Animation, Short, Adventure
Rather 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.
Director: Bill Roberts | Stars: Billy Bletcher, John McLeish, Walt Disney, Lee Millar
Votes: 1,161
OL. 9/10.
7. Le Jour Se Leve (1939)
Not Rated | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
After committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events that led him to the killing.
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Jean Gabin, Jacqueline Laurent, Arletty, Jules Berry
Votes: 8,271 | Gross: $0.03M
TV. 8/10.
8. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
Passed | 116 min | Drama, Romance
In 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.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara, Cedric Hardwicke, Thomas Mitchell
Votes: 12,280 | Gross: $3.27M
OL.
9. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Young 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.
Directors: Victor Fleming, King Vidor | Stars: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr
Votes: 428,647 | Gross: $2.08M
TV.
10. Colour Flight (1939)
4 min | Animation, Short
Using the Gasparcolor film system, abstract shapes and patterns are painted directly on the film strip itself to create an animation set to upbeat music.
Director: Len Lye
Votes: 160
PC.
11. The City (I) (1939)
43 min | Documentary, Short
A 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.
Directors: Ralph Steiner, Willard Van Dyke | Star: Morris Carnovsky
Votes: 369
OL.
12. Gunga Din (1939)
Approved | 117 min | Adventure, Comedy, War
In 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.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Votes: 12,797
TV.
13. Stars and Stripes (1939)
Not Rated | 3 min | Short, Animation
A 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Norman McLaren
Votes: 175
OL.
14. Stagecoach (1939)
Passed | 96 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A 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.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Andy Devine, John Carradine
Votes: 53,767
Cinema.
15. Destry Rides Again (1939)
Approved | 95 min | Comedy, Western
Deputy sheriff Destry tames the town of Bottle Neck, including saloon singer Frenchy.
Director: George Marshall | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart, Mischa Auer, Charles Winninger
Votes: 12,551 | Gross: $0.35M
TV.
16. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
Unrated | 114 min | Drama, Romance
An aged teacher and former headmaster of a boarding school recalls his career and his personal life over the decades.
Directors: Sam Wood, Sidney Franklin | Stars: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn, John Mills
Votes: 11,591
OL.
17. The Pointer (1939)
Approved | 9 min | Animation, Comedy, Family
Mickey and Pluto's hunt for quail turns into a disaster when Mickey wakes up a bear.
Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Burt Gillett | Stars: Pinto Colvig, Walt Disney, James MacDonald, Lee Millar
Votes: 691
OL.
18. Of Mice and Men (1939)
Passed | 106 min | Adventure, Drama
A mentally disabled giant and his level headed guardian find work at a sadistic cowboy's ranch in depression era America.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, Charles Bickford
Votes: 6,853
OL.
19. Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
Passed | 121 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
At a remote South American trading port, the manager of an air-freight company is forced to risk his pilots' lives in order to win an important contract as a traveling American showgirl stops in town.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth, Richard Barthelmess
Votes: 15,657
TV.
20. Peace on Earth (1939)
Passed | 9 min | Animation, Short, Drama
Two 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.
Director: Hugh Harman | Stars: Mel Blanc, Jeanne Dunne, The Hollywood Choir Boys, Shirley Reed
Votes: 1,750
OL.
21. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939)
Not Rated | 148 min | Drama, Romance
The 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.
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Shôtarô Hanayagi, Kôkichi Takada, Ryôtarô Kawanami, Kinnosuke Takamatsu
Votes: 4,396
OL.
22. The Blue Danube (1939)
Approved | 7 min | Animation, Short, Family
A 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... See full summary »
Director: Hugh Harman | Stars: Marion Darlington, Jeanne Dunne
Votes: 218
OL. 8/10.
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