1939: Hollywood's Finest Hour

Here is a sampling of the classic films released in the US in 1939, the year that film historians consider Hollywood's best.
The names of the films' major stars are indicated inside parentheses, and the director is listed after the abbreviation "d."

Academy Award nominations are indicated in orange, and winners are in green.
For more information about each film (and the more important directors), click on its title (or his name).

• THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Ida Lupino)
• ANOTHER THIN MAN (William Powell, Myrna Loy)
• AT THE CIRCUS (the Marx Brothers)
• BABES IN ARMS (Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, d. Busby Berkeley)
• BEAU GESTE (Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Brian Donlevy, d. William Wellman)
• THE CAT AND THE CANARY (Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard)
• DARK VICTORY (Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Ronald Reagan)
• DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart)
• DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK (Claudette Colbert, Henry Fonda, d. John Ford)
• EACH DAWN I DIE (James Cagney, George Raft
• THE FLYING DEUCES (Laurel and Hardy)
• GONE WITH THE WIND (Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh, d. Victor Fleming)
• GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS (Robert Donat, Greer Garson, d. Sam Wood)
• GULLIVER'S TRAVELS (an animated feature, d. Dave Fleischer)
• GUNGA DIN (Cary Grant, Douglas Fairbanks, Sam Jaffe, d. George Stevens)
• THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce)
• THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara, d. William Dieterle)
• THE LITTLE PRINCESS (Shirley Temple)
• LOVE AFFAIR (Irene Dunn, Charles Boyer, d. Leo McCarey)
• MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (James Stewart, Jean Arthur, d. Frank Capra)
• NINOTCHKA (Greta Garbo, d. Ernest Lubitsch)
• OF MICE AND MEN (Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., d. Lewis Milestone)
• THE OKLAHOMA KID (James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart)
• THE ROARING TWENTIES (James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart)
• SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Basil Rathbone)
• STAGECOACH (John Wayne, Claire, Trevor, d. John Ford)
• THE STORY OF VERNON AND IRENE CASTLE (Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers)
• UNION PACIFIC (Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrae, d. Cecil B. DeMille)
• THE WIZARD OF OZ (Judy Garland, d. Victor Fleming)
• THE WOMEN (Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, d. George Cukor)
• WUTHERING HEIGHTS (Laurence Olivier, Merle Oberon, d. William Wyler)
• YOU CAN'T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN (W.C. Fields)

Additional 1939 Oscars

•  Best Supporting Actor: Thomas Mitchell (STAGECOACH)
•  Best Supporting Actress: Hattie McDaniel (GONE WITH THE WIND)
•  Best Original Story: Lewis R. Foster (MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON)
•  Best Screenplay: Sidney Howard (GONE WITH THE WIND)
•  Best Cinematography (b/w): Gregg Toland (WUTHERING HEIGHTS)
•  Best Cinematography (c): Ernest Haller and Ray Rennahan (GONE WITH THE WIND)
•  Best Editing: Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom (GONE WITH THE WIND)
•  Best Score: Richard Hageman, Frank Harling, John Leipold and Leo Shuken (STAGECOACH)
•  Best Original Score: Herbert Strothart (THE WIZARD OF OZ)
•  Best Original Song: "Over the Rainbow" (THE WIZARD OF OZ)
•  and a special Oscar to Judy Garland for Best Juvenile Performance

(Notes: Hattie McDaniel was not only the first African-American to win an Oscar for acting but the first to be nominated for an Oscar in any category — and also the first African-American to attend the awards ceremony as a guest. And credited GONE WITH THE WIND screenwriter Sidney Howard — there were a dozen other contributors, all uncredited, to the script — who was run over by a tractor on his Massachusetts farm shortly before the awards ceremony, became the first posthumous Oscar winner.)