1939 in film

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Events

• Film historians often rate 1939 as "the greatest year in the history of Hollywood". Hollywood films produced in Southern California were at the height of their Golden Age, 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.
• * June 10 – MGM's first successful animated character, Barney Bear, made his 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.
• * 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 established a National Film Commission, predecessor of the National Film Board of Canada, with John Grierson as first Commissioner.

  Nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Director

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

Academy Awards

• 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

  1939 film releases

January–March

• January 1939
• *13 January
• **Son of Frankenstein
• *27 January
• **Idiot's Delight
• **Jesse James
• *28 January
• **They Made Me a Criminal
• February 1939
• *3 February
• **Honolulu
• *10 February
• **The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• **Made for Each Other
• *17 February
• **Gunga Din
• **The Three Musketeers
• March 1939
• *3 March
• **Stagecoach
• *10 March
• **The Ice Follies of 1939
• *13 March
• **Rough Riders' Round-up
• *17 March
• **The Little Princess
• *24 March
• **Midnight
• *29 March
• **The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
• *31 March
• **The Hound of the Baskervilles

  April–June

• April 1939
• *7 April
• **Love Affair
• **The Flying Irishman
• **Wuthering Heights
• *8 April
• **Dodge City
• *11 April
• **Buck Rogers
• *14 April
• **The Story of Alexander Graham Bell
• *22 April
• **Dark Victory
• May 1939
• *5 May
• **Rose of Washington Square
• **Sorority House
• *6 May
• **Confessions of a Nazi Spy
• *19 May
• **It's a Wonderful World
• *20 May
• **You Can't Get Away With Murder
• *25 May
• **Only Angels Have Wings
• *26 May
• **The Gorilla
• June 1939
• *2 June
• **The Girl From Mexico
• *9 June
• **Young Mr. Lincoln
• *10 June
• **Juarez
• *16 June
• **Tarzan Finds a Son!
• *20 June
• **Good Girls Go to Paris
• *23 June
• **Five Came Back

  July–September

• July 1939
• *4 July
• **Beau Geste
• *7 July
• **On Borrowed Time
• *13 July
• **The Man in the Iron Mask
• *28 July
• **Goodbye, Mr. Chips
• August 1939
• *4 August
• **The Four Feathers
• *11 August
• **Lady of the Tropics
• *18 August
• **In Name Only
• *19 August
• **Each Dawn I Die
• *25 August
• **The Wizard of Oz
• September 1939
• *1 September
• **The Women
• **The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
• *2 September
• **The Old Maid
• *5 September
• **Golden Boy
• *8 September
• **Full Confession
• *15 September
• **The Rains Came
• *29 September
• **Dancin' Co-Ed
• **Honeymoon in Bali

  October–December

• October 1939
• *6 October
• **
• *13 October
• **Babes in Arms
• **Jamaica Inn
• *19 October
• **Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
• *20 October
• **At the Circus
• *23 October
• **The Roaring Twenties
• November 1939
• *10 November
• **The Cat and the Canary
• **Drums Along the Mohawk
• *11 November
• **The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
• *17 November
• **Another Thin Man
• **Tower of London
• *22 November
• **The Amazing Mr. Williams
• *23 November
• **Ninotchka
• December 1939
• *2 December
• **The Return of Doctor X
• *15 December
• **Gone With the Wind
• *16 December
• **Zorro's Fighting Legion
• *22 December
• **Gulliver's Travels
• *29 December
• **Destry Rides Again
• **The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• **Swanee River

  Notable films released in 1939

A-B

• 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
• The Amazing Mr. Williams, starring Melvyn Douglas and Joan Blondell
• Another Thin Man, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy
• The Arizona Kid, starring Roy Rogers
• The Arsenal Stadium Mystery –
• Ask a Policeman, starring Will Hay, Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott –
• 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 –
• 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

  C-D

• The Cat and the Canary, starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard
• Cesta do hlubin študákovy duše –
• Charlie Chan at Treasure Island, starring Sidney Toler
• Charlie Chan in Reno, starring Sidney Toler and Ricardo Cortez
• Cheer Boys Cheer, starring Nova Pilbeam
• 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

  E-F

• Each Dawn I Die, starring James Cagney and George Raft
• The Empress Wu Tse-tien –
• Eva tropí hlouposti –
• 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 Flying Deuces, directed by A. Edward Sutherland, starring Laurel and Hardy
• The Flying Irishman, starring Douglas Corrigan
• The Four Feathers, starring John Clements and Ralph Richardson –
• The Four Just Men, directed by Walter Forde
• Frontier Marshal, starring Randolph Scott, Caesar Romero, John Carradine
• Full Confession, starring Victor McLaglen

  G-H

• The Girl from Mexico, starring Lupe Vélez
• A Girl Must Live, directed by Carol Reed, starring Margaret Lockwood –
• 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 –
• 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 –
• 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 –
• 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 –
• 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 –
• 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, directed by Marcel Carné, starring Jean Gabin and Arletty –
• Judge Hardy and Son, starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
• King of the Underworld, starring Humphrey Bogart and Kay Francis

  L-M

• The Lambeth Walk, directed by Albert de Courville, starring Lupino Lane and Sally Gray –
• The Last Turning, starring Michel Simon –
• Lenin in 1918 –
• 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
• 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 –
• 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, starring Ralph Richardson –
• 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 –
• The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, starring Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland

  QRS

• Q Planes, starring Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier –
• 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, directed by Jean Renoir –
• The Saint in London, starring George Sanders
• The Saint Strikes Back, starring George Sanders
• Seven Little Australians, directed by Arthur Greville Collins –
• Son of Frankenstein, starring Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi
• De Spooktrein –
• The Spy in Black, directed by Michael Powell, starring Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson –
• 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, directed by Kenji Mizoguchi –
• The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
• Susannah of the Mounties, starring Shirley Temple and Randolph Scott
• Swanee River, starring Don Ameche

  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
• Tsuchi
• The Trip to Tilsit –
• Union Pacific, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea
• Vasilisa the Beautiful –
• The Vyborg Side –

  WXYZ

• Way Down South, directed by Leslie Goodwins and Bernard Vorhaus
• Wilton's Zoo, directed by Douglas Sirk –
• 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 –
• Young Mr. Lincoln, directed by John Ford, starring Henry Fonda and Alice Brady
• Zenobia, directed by Gordon Douglas, starring Oliver Hardy
• Zorro's Fighting Legion, starring Reed Hadley

  Serials

• Buck Rogers, starring 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

  Comedy film series

• Charlie Chaplin
• Lupino Lane
• Buster Keaton
• Laurel and Hardy
• Our Gang
• The Marx Brothers
• The Three Stooges

  Animated short film series

• Krazy Kat
• Mickey Mouse
• Silly Symphonies
• * The Practical Pig
• * The Ugly Duckling
• Looney Tunes
• Terrytoons
• Merrie Melodies
• Scrappy
• Betty Boop
• Popeye
• Color Rhapsodies
• Donald Duck
• Barney Bear
• Walter Lantz Cartunes
• The Captain and the Kids
• Goofy
• Andy Panda
• Nertsery Rhyme Cartoons
• Crackpot Cruise Cartoons
• Lil' Eightball
• Count Screwloose and J.R.

  Births

• January 10 – Sal Mineo, American actor
• January 26 – Scott Glenn, American actor
• January 30 – János Zsombolyai, Hungarian cinematographer, film director and screenwriter
• February 3 – Michael Cimino, director; producer; screenwriter
• February 9 – Janet Suzman, South African actress and director
• February 24 – Marisa Mell, Austrian actress
• February 28 – Tommy Tune, American dancer, choreographer and actor
• March 4 – Robert Shaye, American actor and producer
• March 5
• *Samantha Eggar, English actress
• *Benyamin Sueb, Indonesian actor, comedian and singer
• March 14 - Héctor Bonilla, Mexican actor
• March 28 – Vic Vargas, Filipino actor
• April 1 – Ali MacGraw, American actress
• April 7 – Francis Ford Coppola, director; producer; screenwriter
• April 9 – Romeo Vasquez, Filipino actor
• April 13 – Paul Sorvino, American actor
• May 4 – Paul Gleason, American actor
• May 13 – Harvey Keitel, American actor
• May 15 – Barbara Hammer, American filmmaker
• May 19 – James Fox, English actor
• May 22 – Paul Winfield, American actor
• May 23 – Reinhard Hauff, German film director
• May 25 – Ian McKellen, English actor
• May 30 – Michael J. Pollard, American actor
• June 4 – Henri Pachard, American film director
• June 25 – Barbara Montgomery, American actress and director
• July 1 – Ines Aru, Estonian actress
• July 15 – Abdulhussain Abdulredha, Kuwaiti actor
• July 16 – Corin Redgrave, British actor, political activist
• July 22 – Terence Stamp, English actor
• July 30 – Peter Bogdanovich, American director; producer; screenwriter
• July 31 – France Nuyen, French actress
• August 2 – Wes Craven, American director; producer; screenwriter
• August 4 – Mapita Cortés, Mexican actress
• August 9 – Bulle Ogier, French actress
• August 12 – George Hamilton, American actor
• August 20 – Fernando Poe Jr., Filipino actor
• August 23 – Fernando Luján, Mexican actor
• August 25 – John Badham, English-American director
• August 29 – Joel Schumacher, American film director, producer and screenwriter
• August 30 – Elizabeth Ashley, American actress
• September 1 – Lily Tomlin, American actress; comedian; producer
• September 5 – George Lazenby, Australian actor
• September 18 - Frankie Avalon, American singer and actor
• September 23 – Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
• September 27 – Garrick Hagon, Canadian film, stage, television and radio actor
• October 8 – Paul Hogan, Australian comedian and actor
• October 18 – Salme Poopuu, Estonian actress and filmmaker
• October 22 – Tony Roberts, American actor
• October 24 – F. Murray Abraham, American actor
• October 25 – Nikos Nikolaidis, Greek film director
• October 27 – John Cleese, English actor, comedian and producer
• October 28 – Jane Alexander, American actress
• November 10 – Anton Gorchev, Bulgarian actor
• November 15 – Yaphet Kotto, American actor
• November 22 – Allen Garfield, American actor

  Deaths

• January 25 – Helen Ware, 61, American actress, Morning Glory, Abraham Lincoln
• February 22 – Joe Brandt, 56, American film producer and co-founder of C.B.C. which became Columbia Pictures
• 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
• November 7 – Kirsti Suonio, 67, Finnish stage and film actress, Substitute Wife
• November 13 – George Nicholls, Jr., 42, American director, Anne of Green Gables, Man of Conquest
• December 12 – Douglas Fairbanks, 56, American actor, The Thief of Bagdad, The Black Pirate, Robin Hood, Mr. Robinson Crusoe, and the father of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

  Debuts

• Dirk Bogarde – Come on George!
• Richard Conte – Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence
• Peter Cushing – The Man in the Iron Mask
• Linda Darnell – Hotel for Women
• Peggy Ann Garner – In Name Only
• Greer Garson – Goodbye, Mr. Chips
• Anne Gwynne – Unexpected Father
• Jennifer Jones – New Frontier
• Veronica Lake – Sorority House
• Marcello Mastroianni – Marionette
• Victor Mature – The Housekeeper's Daughter
• Gene Nelson – Second Fiddle
• Edmond O'Brien – The Hunchback of Notre Dame