The year 1939 in motion pictures is widely considered the most outstanding one 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 United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom at that time).
Motion picture and film historians often rate 1939 as "the greatest year in the history of Hollywood." Hollywood movies produced in Southern California are at the height of their Golden Age (in spite of many cheaply made or indistinguished films also being produced, something to be expected with any year in commercial cinema), and during 1939 there are the premieres of an outstandingly large number of exceptional motion pictures, many of which become honored as all-time classic films.
August 15 – The Wizard of Oz premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theater 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.
March 31 – Release of the 20th Century Fox film version of The Hound of the Baskervilles, first of a Sherlock Holmes film series starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson.
Canada establishes a National Film Commission, predecessor of the National Film Board of Canada, with John Grierson as first Commissioner.
The year 1939 was one in which the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated ten films for Best Picture:
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 a wide variety of 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).
Each of the five nominees for Best Director of 1939 went on to become legendary film directors with multiple acclaimed films to their credit: Frank Capra, Victor Fleming, John Ford, Sam Wood, and William Wyler.
These figures, as reported in the Box Office Digest of March 1940, are not necessarily the sums that were taken in during 1939 – and in particular for films that made their premieres in October, November, and December. Note that the number one film in this list premiered in mid-December, and it certainly did not take in $200,000,000 in December 1939. At the time, box office numbers were reported as a percentage of business for each theater in comparison to "normal" business. For example, Jesse James performed at 182% and The Wizard of Oz at 156%. This puts the astounding 388% that Gone with the Wind performed at in perspective for the time. This type of reporting is one reason that exact dollar grosses for films of this period are unreliable at best.
Best Picture: Gone with the Wind – David O. Selznick; Selznick International, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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
U.S.A. unless stated
AB
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, starring Mickey Rooney and Rex Ingram
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
Allegheny Uprising, starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne
Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
The Angels Wash Their Faces, starring Ann Sheridan and the Dead End Kids
Another Thin Man, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy
The Arizona Kid, starring Roy Rogers
The Arsenal Stadium Mystery – (GB)
Ask a Policeman, starring Will Hay, Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott – (GB)
At the Circus, starring the Marx Brothers
Babes in Arms, directed by Busby Berkeley, starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland
Bachelor Mother, starring Ginger Rogers and David Niven
Bad Lands, starring Robert Barrat and Robert Coote
Barricade, starring Alice Faye and Warner Baxter
Beau Geste, directed by William Wellman, starring Gary Cooper and Ray Milland
Bel Ami – (Germany)
Blackmail, starring Edward G. Robinson
Blue Montana Skies, starring Gene Autry
Boy Slaves
Boys' Reformatory, starring Frankie Darro and
Blue Montana Skies
The Bronze Buckaroo, starring Herb Jeffries
CD
The Cat and the Canary, starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard
Cesta do hlubin študákovy duše - (Czechoslovakia)
Charlie Chan at Treasure Island, starring Sidney Toler
Charlie Chan in Reno, starring Sidney Toler and Ricardo Cortez
Cheer Boys Cheer, starring Nova Pilbeam (GB)
Confessions of a Nazi Spy, starring Edward G. Robinson, Francis Lederer, George Sanders, Paul Lukas
Dark Victory, starring Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ronald Reagan
Daughter of the Tong, starring Evelyn Brent and Grant Withers
Days of Jesse James, directed by Joseph Kane, starring Roy Rogers
Destry Rides Again, directed by George Marshall, starring Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart
Dodge City, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland
Drums Along the Mohawk, directed by John Ford, starring Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert
EF
Each Dawn I Die, starring James Cagney and George Raft
The Empress Wu Tse-tien – (China)
Eva tropí hlouposti (Eva Fools Around) - (Czechoslovakia)
Everything Happens at Night, starring Sonja Henie and Ray Milland
Fifth Ave Girl, starring Ginger Rogers and Walter Connolly
First Love, starring Deanna Durbin and Robert Stack
Five Came Back, directed by John Farrow, starring Lucille Ball and Chester Morris
The Four Feathers, starring John Clements and Ralph Richardson – (GB)
The Four Just Men, directed by Walter Forde (GB)
Frontier Marshal, starring Randolph Scott, John Carradine, Lon Chaney, Jr.
GH
The Girl from Mexico, starring Lupe Velez
A Girl Must Live, directed by Carol Reed, starring Margaret Lockwood – (GB)
Golden Boy, starring Barbara Stanwyck, William Holden, Adolphe Menjou
Gone with the Wind, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard, Hattie McDaniel – Academy Awards for best picture, director, actress and supporting actress
Goodbye, Mr. Chips, directed by Sam Wood, starring Robert Donat and Greer Garson – (GB)
Gulliver's Travels, starring Jessica Dragonette and Lanny Ross
Gunga Din, directed by George Stevens, starring Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Sam Jaffe
The Hardys Ride High, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence, starring Glenn Ford
Hello Janine!, starring Marika Rökk - (Germany)
Hollywood Cavalcade, starring Alice Faye, Don Ameche, J. Edward Bromberg, Alan Curtis
Honolulu, starring Eleanor Powell, Burns and Allen
The Hound of the Baskervilles, first in Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, directed by William Dieterle, starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara
IJK
I Met a Murderer, starring James Mason – (GB)
Idiot's Delight, starring Clark Gable and Norma Shearer
In Name Only, starring Cary Grant, Carole Lombard, Kay Francis
Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday, starring Gordon Harker and Alastair Sim – (GB)
Intermezzo, starring Ingrid Bergman and Leslie Howard
It's a Wonderful World, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, starring James Stewart and Claudette Colbert
Jamaica Inn, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara – (GB)
Jesse James, starring Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Nancy Kelly, Randolph Scott
Juarez, starring Paul Muni, Bette Davis, Claude Rains, John Garfield, Brian Aherne
Le Jour se lève (Daybreak), directed by Marcel Carné, starring Jean Gabin and Arletty – (France)
Judge Hardy and Son, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
King of the Underworld, starring Humphrey Bogart and Kay Francis
LM
The Lambeth Walk, directed by Albert de Courville, starring Lupino Lane and Sally Gray – (GB)
The Last Turning (Le Dernier Tournant), starring Michel Simon – (France)
Lenin in 1918 (Lenin v 1918 godu) - (USSR)
Let Us Live, starring Maureen O'Sullivan and Henry Fonda
The Little Princess, starring Shirley Temple and Richard Greene
Love Affair, starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer (Academy Award nominee)
Lucky Night, starring Myrna Loy and Robert Taylor
Made For Each Other, starring Carole Lombard, James Stewart, and Charles Coburn
Maisie, starring Robert Young and Ann Sothern
The Man in the Iron Mask, starring Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, Warren William
Man of Conquest, starring Richard Dix, Gail Patrick, Joan Fontaine
Mexicali Rose, starring Gene Autry
Midnight, starring Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche
The Mikado, a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, first British film shot in Technicolor – (GB)
Million Dollar Legs, starring Betty Grable
Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation, starring Peter Lorre
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains
Mr. Wong in Chinatown, starring Boris Karloff
The Mystery of Mr. Wong, starring Boris Karloff
NOP
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase, starring Bonita Granville
Never Say Die, starring Martha Raye and Bob Hope
Ninotchka, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire, Bela Lugosi
Of Mice and Men, directed by Lewis Milestone, starring Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, Lon Chaney Jr.
Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise, a comedy short starring The Three Stooges
The Oklahoma Kid, starring James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Donald Crisp
The Old Maid, starring Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins
On Borrowed Time, starring Lionel Barrymore and Cedric Hardwicke
On Dress Parade, starring The Dead End Kids
On the Night of the Fire (aka The Fugitive), starring Ralph Richardson – (GB)
On Your Toes, screenplay by Lawrence Riley, starring Vera Zorina and Eddie Albert
Only Angels Have Wings, starring Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth and Jean Arthur
Prisioneros de la tierra (Prisoners of the Land) - (Argentina)
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, starring Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland
QRS
Q Planes, starring Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier – (GB)
The Rains Came, starring Tyrone Power and Myrna Loy
Range War, a Hopalong Cassidy western starring William Boyd
Remember?, starring Greer Garson, Robert Taylor, Lew Ayres
The Return of Doctor X, a horror film starring Humphrey Bogart
The Roaring Twenties, starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart
The Rules of the Game (La règle du jeu), directed by Jean Renoir – (France)
The Saint in London, starring George Sanders
The Saint Strikes Back, starring George Sanders
Seven Little Australians, directed by Arthur Greville Collins – (Australia)
Son of Frankenstein, starring Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi
De Spooktrein (The Ghost Train) - (Netherlands)
The Spy in Black, directed by Michael Powell, starring Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson – (GB)
Stagecoach, directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Berton Churchill, John Carradine
Stanley and Livingstone, starring Spencer Tracy and Cedric Hardwicke
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (Zangiku monogatari), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi – (Japan)
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Susannah of the Mounties, starring Shirley Temple and Randolph Scott
TUV
Tarzan Finds a Son!, starring Johnny Weissmuller
These Glamour Girls, starring Lew Ayres, Lana Turner, Tom Brown
They Made Me a Criminal, starring John Garfield
They Shall Have Music, starring Jascha Heifetz, Joel McCrea, Andrea Leeds, Walter Brennan
The Three Musketeers, starring Don Ameche and The Ritz Brothers
Three Smart Girls Grow Up, starring Deanna Durbin and Robert Cummings
Three Texas Steers, directed by George Sherman, starring John Wayne
Tower of London, starring Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price
The Trip to Tilsit (Die Reise nach Tilsit) – (Germany)
Union Pacific, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea
Vasilisa the Beautiful (Vasilisa prekrasnaya) – (U.S.S.R.)
The Vyborg Side (Vyborgskaya storona) – (U.S.S.R.)
WXYZ
Way Down South, directed by Leslie Goodwins and Bernard Vorhaus
Wilton's Zoo (Boefje), directed by Douglas Sirk - (Netherlands)
The Wizard of Oz, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Margaret Hamilton
The Women, directed by George Cukor, starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell
Wuthering Heights, directed by William Wyler, starring Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Flora Robson
Wyoming Outlaw, starring John Wayne, directed by George Sherman
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, starring W. C. Fields
Young Man's Fancy, directed by Robert Stevenson, starring Anna Lee – (GB)
Young Mr. Lincoln, directed by John Ford, starring Henry Fonda and Alice Brady
Zenobia, directed by Gordon Douglas, starring Oliver Hardy
Buck Rogers, starrng Buster Crabbe
Dick Tracy's G-Men, starring Ralph Byrd
Daredevils of the Red Circle, starring Herman Brix and Charles B. Middleton
Flying G-Men
The Lone Ranger Rides Again
Mandrake the Magician, starring Warren Hull
The Oregon Trail
Overland with Kit Carson
The Phantom Creeps, starring Bela Lugosi
Scouts to the Rescue
Zorro's Fighting Legion, starring Reed Hadley
Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
Laurel and Hardy (1921–1945)
Our Gang (1922–1944)
The Marx Brothers (1929–1946)
The Three Stooges (1933–1962)
Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
Silly Symphonies (1929–1939)
The Practical Pig
The Ugly Duckling
Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
Terrytoons (1930–1964)
Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
Scrappy (1931–1941)
Betty Boop (1932–1939)
Popeye (1933–1957)
Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
Donald Duck (1937–1956)
Walter Lantz Cartunes (also known as New Universal Cartoons or Cartune Comedies) (1938–1942)
The Captain and the Kids (1938–1939)
Goofy (1939–1955)
Andy Panda (1939–1949)
Nertsery Rhyme Cartoons (1939 only)
Crackpot Cruise Cartoons (1939 only)
Lil' Eightball (1939 only)
Count Screwloose and J.R. (1939 only)
January 10 – Sal Mineo, actor (died 1976)
February 3 – Michael Cimino, director; producer; screenwriter (died 2016)
February 9 – Janet Suzman, South African actress and director
March 5 – Samantha Eggar, English actress
April 7 – Francis Ford Coppola, director; producer; screenwriter
April 13 – Paul Sorvino, actor
May 4 – Paul Gleason, actor (died 2006)
May 13 – Harvey Keitel, actor
May 19 – James Fox, English actor
May 22 – Paul Winfield, actor (died 2004)
May 25 – Ian McKellen, English actor
May 30 – Michael J. Pollard, actor
July 22 – Terence Stamp, English actor
July 30 – Peter Bogdanovich, director; producer; screenwriter
July 31 – France Nuyen, French actress
August 2 – Wes Craven, director; producer; screenwriter (died 2015)
August 12 – George Hamilton, actor
August 25 – John Badham, director
August 29 – Joel Schumacher, director; producer; screenwriter
August 30 – Elizabeth Ashley, actress
September 1 – Lily Tomlin, actress; comedian; producer
September 18 – Frankie Avalon, singer and actor
October 8 – Paul Hogan, Australian comedian and actor
October 22 – Tony Roberts, actor
October 24 – F. Murray Abraham, actor
October 25 – Nikos Nikolaidis, Greek film director (died 2007)
October 27 – John Cleese, English actor, comedian and producer
October 28 – Jane Alexander, actress
November 10 – Anton Gorchev, Bulgarian actor (died 2000)
November 15 - Yaphet Kotto, American actor
November 22 – Allen Garfield, actor
January 25 – Helen Ware, 61, American actress, Morning Glory, Abraham Lincoln
April 22 - Ann Murdock, 48, American actress, Outcast, Please Help Emily
May 5 - Clara Schønfeld, 82, Danish actress, Master of the House, Praesten i Vejlby
June 9 – Owen Moore, 54, Irish actor, A Star is Born, She Done Him Wrong, The Red Mill, Cinderella
August 23 – Sidney Howard, 48, American writer, Gone with the Wind, Dodsworth, Arrowsmith, A Lady to Love
September 24 – Carl Laemmle, 72, German producer, Frankenstein, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera
October 13 - Ford Sterling, 55, American actor, Tango Tangles, The Show Off, Between Showers
October 23 – Zane Grey, 67, American writer, Fighting Caravans, Riders of the Purple Sage, Western Union, Born to the West
October 28 – Alice Brady, 46, American actress, My Man Godfrey, Young Mr. Lincoln, The Gay Divorcee, In Old Chicago
December 12 – Douglas Fairbanks, 56, American actor, The Thief of Bagdad, The Black Pirate, Robin Hood, Mr. Robinson Crusoe
Dirk Bogarde - Come on George!
Richard Conte - Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence
Anne Gwynne - Unexpected Father
Veronica Lake - Sorority House
Marcello Mastroianni - Marionette
