1939 in movies...the greatest year?

[profblues]

tribute to the 75th anniversary of Wizard of Oz tonight at the Oscars... lots of films celebrating their 75th anniversary from Hollywood's jubilee year

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
At the Circus, starring the Marx Brothers
Babes in Arms, directed by Busby Berkeley, starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland
Beau Geste, directed by William Wellman, starring Gary Cooper and Ray Milland
The Cat and the Canary, starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard
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
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

Each Dawn I Die, starring James Cagney and George Raft
The Four Feathers, starring John Clements and Ralph Richardson – (GB)
Frontier Marshal, starring Randolph Scott, John Carradine, Lon Chaney, Jr.
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)
Gunga Din, directed by George Stevens, starring Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Sam Jaffe
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

Intermezzo, starring Ingrid Bergman and Leslie Howard
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
King of the Underworld, starring Humphrey Bogart and Kay Francis
The Little Princess, starring Shirley Temple and Richard Greene
Love Affair, starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer (Academy Award nominee)
The Man in the Iron Mask, starring Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, Warren William
Million Dollar Legs, starring Betty Grable
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains

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.
The Oklahoma Kid, starring James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Donald Crisp
Only Angels Have Wings, starring Cary Grant and Jean Arthur
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, starring Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland
The Rains Came, starring Tyrone Power and Myrna Loy
The Roaring Twenties, starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart

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 Vernon and Irene Castle, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Susannah of the Mounties, starring Shirley Temple and Randolph Scott
Tarzan Finds a Son!, starring Johnny Weissmuller
They Made Me a Criminal, starring John Garfield
Tower of London, starring Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price
Union Pacific, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea
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
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, starring W. C. Fields
Young Mr. Lincoln, directed by John Ford, starring Henry Fonda and Alice Brady

[robertaxel]

This is quite an impressive list and one can't quarrel with it.. It will always be one of the best...However, 1962 also had an impressive list, and is sadly overlooked when golden years are discussed:

Advise and Consent, directed by Otto Preminger, starring Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Walter Pidgeon, Don Murray, Peter Lawford
All Fall Down, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Eva Marie Saint and Warren Beatty
Billy Budd, directed by and starring Peter Ustinov, with Robert Ryan and Terence Stamp - (U.K.)
Birdman of Alcatraz, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Telly Savalas
Boccaccio '70, directed by Federico Fellini, Mario Monicelli, Vittorio De Sica and Luchino Visconti, starring Anita Ekberg and Sophia Loren - (Italy)
Cape Fear, directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, Telly Savalas
Carnival of Souls, directed by Herk Harvey
David and Lisa, starring Keir Dullea and Janet Margolin
Dr. No, first James Bond film, directed by Terence Young, starring Sean Connery, Joseph Wiseman, Jack Lord, Ursula Andress - (U.K.)
Lawrence of Arabia, directed by David Lean, starring Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, Alec Guinness, José Ferrer - (U.K./U.S.A.)
Lolita, directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring James Mason, Shelley Winters, Peter Sellers, Sue Lyon
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, directed by Tony Richardson, starring Tom Courtenay - (U.K.)
Lonely are the Brave, starring Kirk Douglas, Walter Matthau, Gena Rowlands, George Kennedy, Carroll O'Connor
Long Day's Journey into Night, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Katharine Hepburn
The Longest Day, starring John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Richard Burton, Sean Connery, Robert Mitchum, Rod Steiger and more
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne, James Stewart, Lee Marvin, Vera Miles, Edmond O'Brien, Woody Strode
The Manchurian Candidate, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Leslie Parrish, Angela Lansbury
The Miracle Worker, directed by Arthur Penn, starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke
Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard
Requiem for a Heavyweight, starring Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney, Julie Harris
Ride the High Country (a.k.a. Guns in the Afternoon), directed by Sam Peckinpah, starring Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott
Sweet Bird of Youth, starring Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight, Ed Begley, Rip Torn
To Kill a Mockingbird, directed by Robert Mulligan, starring Gregory Peck

[erik]

I don't think one can dispute that both 1939 and 1962 saw a whole slew of great movies that people remember decades after the fact. The cream always rises to the top, so to speak, in any given year--more so in some years than in others, but it does rise (IMHO).

[Andrew]

I'd call them important years. As for "greatest" that's a word that means very little to me. "Greatest Generation" exemplifies why the word has no meaning for me.

[jhar26]

I've heard from my mid-teens onwards that 1939 was the best year in movies. Looking at that list I find no reason to doubt it.