Cinema 1939: You Must Remember This…..Events, Trends, Movies, Stars

Cineliteracy: What You Need to Know about 1939 as a Movie Year

The year of 1939 in film is widely considered one of the most outstanding years ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year (considered as a percentage of the population in the U.S, Canada, and the U.K. at that time).

Though WWII had broken in Europe, the U.S. was still uninvolved directly—until Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

More importantly, movies were the country’s primary medium of entertainment. The technology for TV was available but not widespread and it would take at least another decade for the revolutionary medium to take hold.

If you want to know more about these issues, please read my book:

Top-Grossing Films

Rank Title Studio Box office gross rental

1. Gone with the Wind Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Selznick International $18,000,000

2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Columbia Pictures $3,500,000

3. Jesse James 20th Century Fox $2,335,000

4. Babes in Arms Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $2,311,000

5. The Wizard of Oz $2,048,000

6. Gunga Din RKO Radio Pictures $1,888,000

7. Goodbye, Mr. Chips Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $1,777,000

8. Dodge City Warner Bros. $1,668,000

9. The Rains Came 20th Century Fox $1,656,000

10. The Women, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $1,610,000

Events

Historians often rate 1939 as “the greatest year in the history of Hollywood,” Golden Age. Many of those pictures have become honored as all-time classic films.

March 31 –

Release of the 20th Century Fox The Hound of the Baskervilles, first of Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson.

June 10 –

MGM’s first successful animated character, Barney Bear, made debut in The Bear That Couldn’t Sleep

August 15 –

The Wizard of Oz premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.

October 17 –

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington premiered in Washington, D.C.

December 15 –

Gone with the Wind premiered in Atlanta, Georgia, with a three-day-long festival.

Canada established a National Film Commission, predecessor of the National Film Board of Canada, with John Grierson as first Commissioner.

Oscars 1939: Best Picture–10 Nominees

The year 1939 was one in which the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated ten films for Best Picture (from A to Z):

Dark Victory
Gone with the Wind (Best Picture winner)
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Love Affair
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Ninotchka
Of Mice and Men
Stagecoach
The Wizard of Oz
Wuthering Heights

These films came from various film genres and sources for their stories and settings, including: historical fiction (Gone with the Wind), contemporary affairs (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Of Mice and Men), love stories, classic novels (Wuthering Heights), fantasies/musicals, (The Wizard of Oz), tragic plays (Dark Victory), westerns (Stagecoach), and comedies (Ninotchka).

George Cukor, original director of GWTW, was fired after 2 weeks.

My Biography of George Cukor

Each of the five nominees for Best Director of 1939 went on to become a legendary film director with multiple acclaimed films to his credit: Frank Capra (previous winner of the award), Victor Fleming, John Ford (who won a record four Best Director awards), Sam Wood, and William Wyler (who leads all directors in nominations with 11 while having three wins).

Academy Awards (Oscars)

Best Picture: Gone with the Wind – David O. Selznick; Selznick International, MGM

Best Director: Victor Fleming – Gone with the Wind

Best Actor: Robert Donat – Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Best Actress: Vivien Leigh – Gone with the Wind

Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Mitchell – Stagecoach

Best Supporting Actress: Hattie McDaniel – Gone with the Wind (first African American to win an Academy Award)

Gone with the Wind receives in all ten Academy Awards (eight competitive, two honorary) from 13 nominations.