The Best Films Ever Made - 1939
by dziwnytenswiat | created - 19 Nov 2017 | updated - 14 Aug 2020 | PublicThe rules: My rating x 3, 6 male/female rating ( 18, 30, 45), 1000 voters rating, US- and Non-US voters rating. Only films with a better rating than 7,00
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1. Gone with the Wind (1939)
Passed | 238 min | Drama, Romance, War
A sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.
Directors: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood | Stars: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil
Votes: 334,134 | Gross: $198.68M
8,70
2. 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: 22,884 | Gross: $1.19M
8,49
3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Passed | 129 min | Comedy, Drama
A naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption at home and subterfuge from his hero in Washington, but he tries to forge ahead despite attacks on his character.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold
Votes: 121,352 | Gross: $9.60M
8,43
4. 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: 428,440 | Gross: $2.08M
8,39
5. 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
8,02
6. 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: 15,655
7,98
7. Dark Victory (1939)
Approved | 104 min | Drama, Romance
A young socialite is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, and must decide whether or not she'll meet her final days with dignity.
Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald
Votes: 12,395
7,97
8. 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: 12,540 | Gross: $0.35M
7,83
9. 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: 12,274 | Gross: $3.27M
7,83
10. 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: 31,309
7,82
11. Beau Geste (1939)
Passed | 112 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Three adopted English brothers join the French Foreign Legion in North Africa after one of them steals their adoptive family's famous heirloom sapphire.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy
Votes: 6,517
7,81
12. Each Dawn I Die (1939)
Approved | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A corrupt D.A. (Thurston Hall) with political ambitions is angered by news stories implicating him in criminal activity and decides to frame the reporter (James Cagney) for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Director: William Keighley | Stars: James Cagney, George Raft, Jane Bryan, George Bancroft
Votes: 3,731
7,78
13. On Borrowed Time (1939)
Passed | 99 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy
A cantankerous old man takes in his beloved, orphaned grandson, whom he must protect at all costs with the help of an agent of Death and a magical apple tree.
Director: Harold S. Bucquet | Stars: Lionel Barrymore, Cedric Hardwicke, Beulah Bondi, Una Merkel
Votes: 2,251
7,78
14. La fin du jour (1939)
99 min | Drama
Aged 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.
Director: Julien Duvivier | Stars: Victor Francen, Michel Simon, Louis Jouvet, Madeleine Ozeray
Votes: 1,029
7,77
15. The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Passed | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Three men attempt to make a living in Prohibitionist America after returning home from fighting together in World War I.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Priscilla Lane, Gladys George
Votes: 15,505
7,73
16. 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: 6,848
7,68
17. The Women (1939)
Not Rated | 133 min | Comedy, Drama
A study of the lives and romantic entanglements of various interconnected women.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Mary Boland
Votes: 14,897 | Gross: $2.27M
7,65
18. There's No Tomorrow (1939)
82 min | Drama
After an unhappy marriage, a woman of the world is forced to become a dancer in a cabaret in order to raise her young son.
Director: Max Ophüls | Stars: Edwige Feuillère, Jorge Rigaud, Daniel Lecourtois, Mady Berry
Votes: 473
7,57
19. We Are Not Alone (1939)
Approved | 112 min | Crime, Drama, History
A husband hires a lonely pretty young woman to work as a nanny for his son. His wife becomes instantly jealous and things take turn for the worst. In the background, World War II is in the air, and anti-German sentiment is on the rise.
Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Paul Muni, Una O'Connor, Jane Bryan, Flora Robson
Votes: 385
7,53
20. Wuthering Heights (1939)
Passed | 104 min | Drama, Romance
A servant in the house of Wuthering Heights tells a traveler the unfortunate tale of lovers Cathy and Heathcliff.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Flora Robson
Votes: 19,759 | Gross: $0.76M
7,53
21. 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: 53,724
7,52
22. The Old Maid (1939)
Approved | 95 min | Drama
The arrival of an ex-lover on a young woman's wedding day sets in motion a chain of events which will alter her and her cousin's lives forever.
Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, George Brent, Donald Crisp
Votes: 4,058
7,49
23. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
Passed | 80 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Sherlock 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.
Director: Sidney Lanfield | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Richard Greene, Wendy Barrie
Votes: 11,679
7,48
24. Golden Boy (1939)
Approved | 99 min | Drama, Romance, Sport
A poor young Italian man who is a virtuoso on the violin wishes to become a champion boxer to make a fortune for his family. But what is the road to success and happiness, and what is the price?
Director: Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, William Holden, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 2,180
7,46
25. The Four Feathers (1939)
Passed | 129 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A timid 1880s British Army officer resigns, burning his last-day summons to war in Egypt. Accusing him of cowardice, his girlfriend and three friends give him white feathers. To gain redemption, he shadows his friends to save their lives.
Director: Zoltan Korda | Stars: John Clements, Ralph Richardson, C. Aubrey Smith, June Duprez
Votes: 6,585
7,39
26. Dust Be My Destiny (1939)
Passed | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Embittered after serving time for a burglary he did not commit, Joe Bell is soon back in jail, on a prison farm. His love for the foreman's daughter leads to a fight between them, resulting... See full summary »
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: John Garfield, Priscilla Lane, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh
Votes: 960
7,38
27. Midnight (1939)
Passed | 94 min | Comedy, Romance
A 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.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore, Francis Lederer
Votes: 5,602
7,38
28. It's a Wonderful World (1939)
Not Rated | 86 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
When a tycoon (Ernest Truex) is accused of murder, the private eye (James Stewart) tracking him finds himself roped in as an accessory and attempts to evade police, kidnapping a poetess (Claudette Colbert) along the way.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Claudette Colbert, James Stewart, Guy Kibbee, Nat Pendleton
Votes: 3,416
7,31
29. They Made Me a Criminal (1939)
Approved | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A champion boxer on the lamb, believed to have committed murder while drunk, takes refuge and finds redemption at a farm for delinquent youths.
Director: Busby Berkeley | Stars: John Garfield, Claude Rains, The Dead End Kids, Ann Sheridan
Votes: 2,591
7,28
30. Love Affair (1939)
Approved | 88 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A French playboy and an American former nightclub singer fall in love aboard a ship.
Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer, Maria Ouspenskaya, Lee Bowman
Votes: 6,417
7,27
31. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
Approved | 85 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
The master sleuth hunts his archenemy, Professor Moriarty, who is planning the crime of the century.
Director: Alfred L. Werker | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Ida Lupino, Alan Marshal
Votes: 7,464
7,22
32. 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: 11,584
7,21
33. The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)
Approved | 98 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of how Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.
Director: Irving Cummings | Stars: Don Ameche, Loretta Young, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn
Votes: 1,195
7,18
34. Juarez (1939)
Approved | 125 min | Biography, Drama, History
Louis Napoleon III (Claude Rains) takes advantage of the American Civil War to circumvent the Monroe Doctrine and expand his power by helping Emperor Maximilian von Habsburg (Brian Aherne) to add Mexico to his empire.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Paul Muni, Bette Davis, Brian Aherne, Claude Rains
Votes: 2,554
7,16
35. In Name Only (1939)
Approved | 94 min | Drama, Romance
After a wealthy man finds out his wife is a gold digger, he meets and falls for a widowed mother, and complications ensue.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Cary Grant, Carole Lombard, Kay Francis, Charles Coburn
Votes: 3,546
7,14
36. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
Approved | 106 min | Biography, Drama, History
A depiction of the love/hate relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Donald Crisp
Votes: 6,160
7,13
37. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
Passed | 100 min | Biography, Drama, History
A fictionalized account of the early life of the American president as a young lawyer facing his greatest court case.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver, Arleen Whelan
Votes: 9,175
7,11
38. Another Thin Man (1939)
Passed | 103 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
An explosives manufacturer suspects a young man is out to kill him. He calls in new parents Nick and Nora to sort things out.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Virginia Grey, Otto Kruger
Votes: 8,158 | Gross: $3.32M
7,10
39. Intermezzo (1939)
Approved | 70 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A violinist's piano accompanist retires. He hears his daughter's piano teacher (Ingrid Bergman) play, asks her to play on his next international tour, and they fall in love.
Director: Gregory Ratoff | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Leslie Howard, Edna Best, Ann E. Todd
Votes: 2,900
7,08
40. Stanley and Livingstone (1939)
Approved | 101 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Tasked by his editor, American reporter Henry M. Stanley travels to a dangerous and uncharted region of East Africa to find the missing Scottish pioneer missionary Dr. David Livingstone.
Directors: Henry King, Otto Brower | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Nancy Kelly, Richard Greene, Walter Brennan
Votes: 1,544
7,06
41. 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: 12,796
7,05
42. Five Came Back (1939)
Passed | 75 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A plane has engine trouble while flying over a jungle inhabited by cannibals.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: Chester Morris, Lucille Ball, Wendy Barrie, John Carradine
Votes: 2,358
7,02
43. The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)
Passed | 113 min | Adventure, History, Romance
Despotic King Louis XIV discovers he has a twin brother who has grown up under the tutelage of his foster father, the patriotic musketeer D'Artagnan.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, Warren William, Joseph Schildkraut
Votes: 1,903
7,02
44. The Rains Came (1939)
Approved | 103 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In India, a married British aristocrat is reunited with an old flame, but she truly has her sights set on a handsome surgeon.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Myrna Loy, Tyrone Power, George Brent, Brenda Joyce
Votes: 2,293
7,02
45. The Cat and the Canary (1939)
Approved | 72 min | Comedy, Horror, Mystery
When an eccentric family meets in their uncle's remote, decaying mansion on the tenth anniversary of his death for the reading of his will, murder and madness follow.
Director: Elliott Nugent | Stars: Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard, John Beal, Douglass Montgomery
Votes: 3,768
7,00
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