1939

Zenobia (also known as Elephants Never Forget (UK) and It's Spring Again) is a 1939 comedy film starring Oliver Hardy, Harry Langdon, Billie Burke, Alice Brady, James Ellison, Jean Parker, June Lang, Stepin Fetchit, and Hattie McDaniel. It is one of the few films after the teaming of Laurel and Hardy that features Hardy without Stan Laurel, the result of a contract dispute between Laurel and producer Hal Roach, who maintained separate contracts for each performer, rather than a team contract, which would have offered them more control over their careers. Zenobia was Roach's attempt to create a new comedic pair without Laurel, and a series of films with Hardy and Langdon was planned. The dispute was short-lived, however, and Laurel and Hardy were reunited shortly thereafter.

Young Mr. Lincoln is a 1939 partly fictionalized biopic about the early life of President Abraham Lincoln, directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda. Ford and producer Darryl F. Zanuck fought for control of the film, to the point where Ford destroyed unwanted takes for fear the studio would use them in the movie. Screenwriter Lamar Trotti was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing/Original Story.

Young Man's Fancy is a 1939 British comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Anna Lee and Griffith Jones and Seymour Hicks. An aristocratic Englishman is unhappily engaged to a brewery heiress but meets an Irish human cannonball during a visit to a music hall and falls in love with her. Together they are trapped in Paris during the Siege of Paris It was written by Roland Pertwee and Stevenson, with additional dialogue by Rodney Ackland and E.V.H. Emmett.

You Can't Cheat an Honest Man is a 1939 American comedy film starring W. C. Fields. Fields also wrote the story on which the film is based under the name Charles Bogle.

Wyoming Outlaw is a 1939 American "Three Mesquiteers" Western film starring John Wayne, Ray Corrigan, and Raymond Hatton. Wayne played the lead in eight of the fifty-one films in the series. The director was George Sherman.

Wuthering Heights is a 1939 American black-and-white film directed by William Wyler and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. It is based on the novel, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. The film depicts only sixteen of the novel's thirty-four chapters, eliminating the second generation of characters. The novel was adapted for the screen by Charles MacArthur, Ben Hecht and John Huston. The film won the 1939 New York Film Critics Award for Best Film. It earned nominations for eight Academy Awards, including for Best Picture and Best Actor in what many consider Hollywood's greatest single year. The 1940 Academy Award for Best Cinematography, black-and-white category, was awarded to Gregg Toland for his work. Nominated for original score (but losing to The Wizard of Oz) was the prolific film composer, Alfred Newman, whose poignant "Cathy's Theme" does so much "to maintain its life as a masterpiece of romantic filmmaking."

The Women is a 1939 American comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor. The film is based on Clare Boothe Luce's play of the same name, and was adapted for the screen by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin, who had to make the film acceptable for the Production Code in order for it to be released.

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical comedy-drama fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and the most well-known and commercially successful adaptation based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The film stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale. The film co-stars Terry the dog, billed as Toto; Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Frank Morgan, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, with Charley Grapewin and Clara Blandick, and the Singer Midgets as the Munchkins.

Wilton's Zoo or Boefje is a 1939 Dutch crime film directed by Douglas Sirk.

Way Down South (1939) is an American musical film directed by Leslie Goodwins and Bernard Vorhaus, and produced by Sol Lesser. It was written by Clarence Muse, who also acted in the film, and Langston Hughes. Victor Young was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring.

The Vyborg Side (Russian: Выборгская сторона) is a 1939 Soviet film directed by Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg, the final part of trilogy about the life of a young factory worker, Maxim. The film was also released in the United States under the title New Horizons.

Vasilisa the Beautiful (Russian: Василиса Прекрасная) is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki.

Union Pacific is a 1939 American dramatic western film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea. Based on the novel Trouble Shooter by Western fiction author Ernest Haycox, the film is about the building of the railroad across the American West.

The Journey to Tilsit (German:Die Reise nach Tilsit) is a 1939 German drama film directed by Veit Harlan and starring Kristina Söderbaum, Philip Dorn and Anna Dammann.

Tower of London is a 1939 black-and-white historical film and quasi-horror film released by Universal Pictures and directed by Rowland V. Lee. It stars Basil Rathbone as the future Richard III of England, and Boris Karloff as his fictitious club-footed executioner Mord. Vincent Price, in only his third film, appears as George, Duke of Clarence. Actor John Rodion, who appears in a small role, is actually Rodion Rathbone, Basil's son.

Three Texas Steers (UK title Danger Rides the Range) is a 1939 American "Three Mesquiteers" Western B-movie starring John Wayne and Carole Landis. Wayne played the lead in eight of the fifty-one films in the series. The director was George Sherman.

Three Smart Girls Grow Up is a 1939 American musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Deanna Durbin, Nan Grey, and Helen Parrish. Written by Felix Jackson and Bruce Manning, the film is about three sisters who believe life is going to be easy now that their parents are back together, until one sister falls in love with another's fiance, and the youngest sister plays matchmaker. Durbin and Grey reprise their roles from Three Smart Girls, and Parrish replaces Barbara Read in the role of the middle sister. Durbin would reprise her role once more in Hers to Hold.

The Three Musketeers is a 1939 musical comedy film adaptation of Alexandre Dumas, père's novel of the same name. Don Ameche stars as D'Artagnan, with the Ritz Brothers as his cowardly helpers.

They Shall Have Music is a 1939 musical film starring famed violinist Jascha Heifetz (as himself), Joel McCrea, Andrea Leeds, and Gene Reynolds. A young runaway finds his purpose in life after hearing Heifetz play, and the kindly master of a music school in financial difficulty takes him in.

They Made Me a Criminal is a 1939 American Warner Bros. drama crime film directed by Busby Berkeley and starring John Garfield, Claude Rains, and The Dead End Kids. It is a remake of the 1933 film The Life of Jimmy Dolan. The film was later featured in an episode of Cinema Insomnia. Portions of the film were shot in the Coachella Valley, California.

These Glamour Girls is a 1939 comedy-drama film directed by S. Sylvan Simon. It stars Lew Ayres and Lana Turner, with Tom Brown, Jane Bryan, Richard Carlson, Anita Louise and Ann Rutherford in featured roles.

Tarzan Finds a Son! is a 1939 Tarzan film based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It was the fourth in the MGM Tarzan series to feature Johnny Weissmuller as the "King of the Apes".

Susannah of the Mounties is a novel written by Muriel Denison in 1936. In the book Susannah is sent to Regina, Saskatchewan to spend the summer with her uncle who is a Mountie. There were several sequels to the book, including Susannah at Boarding School, Susannah of the Yukon and Susannah Rides Again.

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle is an American biographical musical comedy, released in 1939 and directed by H.C. Potter. The film stars Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edna May Oliver, and Walter Brennan. The movie is based on the stories My Husband and My Memories of Vernon Castle, by Irene Castle. The movie was adapted by Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Yost and Richard Sherman.

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (残菊物語, Zangiku monogatari?), also translated as The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums, is a 1939 Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.

Stanley and Livingstone (1939) is a movie based loosely upon the true story of reporter Sir Henry M. Stanley's quest to find Dr. David Livingstone, a missionary presumed lost in Africa. Spencer Tracy plays Stanley, while Cedric Hardwicke portrays Livingstone. Other cast members include Nancy Kelly, Richard Greene, Walter Brennan, Charles Coburn and Henry Hull.

Stagecoach is a 1939 American Western film directed by John Ford, starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne in his breakthrough role. The screenplay, written by Dudley Nichols, is an adaptation of "The Stage to Lordsburg", a 1937 short story by Ernest Haycox. The film follows a group of strangers riding on a stagecoach through dangerous Apache territory.

The Spy in Black is a 1939 British film, and the first collaboration between the British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. They were brought together by Alexander Korda to make the World War I spy thriller by Joseph Storer Clouston into a film. Powell and Pressburger went on to make over 20 more films together.

De Spooktrein is a 1939 Dutch film directed by Carl Lamac.

Son of Frankenstein (1939) is a horror monster film and is the third film in Universal Studios' Frankenstein series and the last to feature Boris Karloff as the Monster as well as the first to feature Bela Lugosi as Ygor. The picture is a sequel to James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi.

Seven Little Australians (1894) is a classic Australian children's novel by Ethel Turner. Set mainly in Sydney in the 1880s, it relates the adventures of the seven mischievous Woolcot children, their stern army father Captain Woolcot, and flighty stepmother Esther.

The Saint Strikes Back, is a 1939 American crime film, directed by John Farrow. It marks the second cinematic incarnation of the antihero crimefighting character Simon Templar, alias "The Saint". George Sanders replaced Louis Hayward, who had played the Saint in The Saint in New York. The movie was produced by RKO and also featured Wendy Barrie as female gang leader Val Travers. Barrie would appear in two more Saint films, playing different roles each time, though not in the next film in the series, The Saint in London. This was the second of eight films in RKO's film series about The Saint.

The Saint in London (1939) is a British crime film, the third of eight films in RKO's film series featuring the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint".

The Rules of the Game (original French title: La Règle du jeu) is a 1939 French film directed by Jean Renoir and starring Nora Gregor, Paulette Dubost, Mila Parély, Marcel Dalio, Julien Carette, Roland Toutain, Gaston Modot, Pierre Magnier and Renoir. The film is a comedy of manners that depicts members of upper-class French society and their servants just before the beginning of World War II, showing their moral callousness on the eve of impending destruction.

The Roaring Twenties is a 1939 crime thriller starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, and Gladys George. The epic movie, spanning the periods between 1919 and 1933, was directed by Raoul Walsh and written by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay and Robert Rossen based on "The World Moves On," a short story by Mark Hellinger, a columnist who had been hired by Jack L. Warner to write screenplays. The movie is hailed as a classic in the gangster movie genre, and considered an homage to the classic gangster movie of the early 1930s.

The Return of Doctor X (also billed as The Return of Dr. X) is a 1939 American science fiction-horror film directed by Vincent Sherman and starring Wayne Morris, Rosemary Lane, and Humphrey Bogart as the title character. It was based on the short story "The Doctor's Secret" by William J. Makin. Despite supposedly being a sequel to Doctor X (1933), also produced by Warner Bros., the films are unrelated.

Remember? is an American romantic comedy released on December 19, 1939, directed by Norman Z. McLeod, with stars Robert Taylor, Greer Garson and Lew Ayres. It was rushed into production by MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer to capitalize on the attention and publicity generated by Greer Garson in her first film appearance, Goodbye Mr. Chips, released seven months earlier.

Range War is a 1939 American Western film directed by Lesley Selander and written by Sam Robins and Walter C. Roberts. The film stars William Boyd, Russell Hayden, Britt Wood, Pedro de Cordoba, Willard Robertson, Matt Moore and Betty Moran. The film was released on September 8, 1939, by Paramount Pictures.

The Rains Came is a 1939 20th Century Fox film based on an American novel by Louis Bromfield (published in June 1937 by Harper & Brothers).

Q Planes (also Foreign Sabotage and Clouds Over Europe") is a 1939 British comedy spy film starring Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier and Valerie Hobson. Olivier and Richardson were a decade into their 50-year friendship and theatrical collaboration and had just completed Othello with Richardson in the title role and Olivier as Iago, when this film was made. The film was produced by Irving Asher an American, with British film impresario Alexander Korda as executive producer. The name Q Planes may have been derived from the British "Q-ships", armed ships disguised as merchantmen, used in the First World War as decoys to lure German U-boats. The film was directed by American director Tim Whelan (Sidewalks of London and later in 1940, co-director of The Thief of Bagdad), who had been in Britain since 1932, working for Korda at Denham Studios. The film was also released in the US in 1939 by Columbia Pictures as Clouds Over Europe.

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex is a 1939 American historical romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, and Olivia de Havilland. Based on the play Elizabeth the Queen by Maxwell Anderson—which had a successful run on Broadway with Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt in the lead roles—the film fictionalises the historical relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. The screenplay was written by Norman Reilly Raine and Aeneas MacKenzie.

Prisioneros de la tierra is a 1939 Argentine drama film directed by Mario Soffici. The film premiered in Buenos Aires. The film is often cited as one of the greatest in the history of Argentine cinema, and established Soffici as a "social" filmmaker. It was awarded by the Municipality of Buenos Aires as the best film of the year.

Only Angels Have Wings is a 1939 American drama film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Cary Grant and Jean Arthur, based on a story written by Hawks. The film also marked the first major screen appearance of Rita Hayworth. It is generally regarded as being among Hawks' finest films, particularly in its portrayal of the professionalism of the pilots, its atmosphere, and the flying sequences.

On Your Toes (1936) is a musical with a book by Richard Rodgers, George Abbott, and Lorenz Hart, music by Rodgers, and lyrics by Hart. It was adapted into a film in 1939.

On the Night of the Fire, released in the United States as The Fugitive, is a 1939 British thriller, directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Ralph Richardson and Diana Wynyard. The film is based on the novel of the same name by F. L. Green. It was shot on location in Newcastle upon Tyne and was released shortly after the outbreak of World War II. It is regarded as an early example of British film noir, with the kind of subject matter and filming style which fell completely out of favour during the war years – when British studios felt that cinemagoers would want either light entertainment and escapism or topical patriotic propaganda pieces – and would not be taken up again until the later 1940s.

The 'Dead End' Kids "On Dress Parade" is a 1939 Warner Bros. film that marked the first time The Dead End Kids headlined a film without any other well-known actors.

On Borrowed Time is a 1939 film about the role death plays in life, and how humanity cannot live without it. It is adapted from Paul Osborn's 1938 Broadway hit play. The play, based on a novel by Lawrence Edward Watkin, has been revived twice on Broadway since its original run. Academy Award winner Harold S. Bucquet (for his 1937 Torture Money) directed.

The Old Maid is a 1939 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1935 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same title by Zoë Akins, which was adapted from the 1924 Edith Wharton novella The Old Maid: the fifties (taken from the collection of novellas Old New York).

The Oklahoma Kid is a 1939 western film starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. The movie was directed for Warner Bros. by Lloyd Bacon. Cagney plays an adventurous gunslinger in a broad-brimmed cowboy hat while Bogart portrays his black-clad and viciously villainous nemesis. The film is often remembered for Cagney's character rubbing the thumb and forefinger of his hand together and exulting, "Feel that air!"

Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise is the 42nd short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.

Of Mice and Men is a 1939 drama film based on the 1937 play based on the novel of the same title by American author John Steinbeck. It stars Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, Lon Chaney, Jr., Charles Bickford, Roman Bohnen, Bob Steele and Noah Beery, Jr. It was remade in 1992.

Ninotchka is a 1939 American film made for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by producer and director Ernst Lubitsch which stars Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas. It was written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, and Walter Reisch, based on a screen story by Melchior Lengyel. Ninotchka is Greta Garbo's first full comedy, and her penultimate film. It is one of the first American movies which, under the cover of a satirical, light romance, depicted the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin as being rigid and gray, in this instance comparing it with the free and sunny Parisian society of prewar years.

Never Say Die is a 1939 romantic comedy film starring Martha Raye and Bob Hope. Based on a play of the same title by William H. Post and William Collier, Sr., which ran on Broadway for 151 performances in 1912, the film was directed by Elliot Nugent and written for the screen by Dan Hartman, Frank Butler and Preston Sturges. The supporting cast features Andy Devine, Alan Mowbray, Gale Sondergaard, Sig Ruman and Monty Woolley.

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase is a 1939 mystery film directed by William Clemens and written by Kenneth Garnet. It is fourth and last in a series of films starring Bonita Granville as teenage amateur detective Nancy Drew, Frankie Thomas as her boyfriend, and John Litel as her father. It was loosely based on the novel of the same name by Mildred Wirt Benson. The film was released by Warner Bros. on September 9, 1939.

The Mystery of Mr. Wong is a 1939 American mystery film directed by William Nigh and starring Boris Karloff.

Mr. Wong in Chinatown is a 1939 American mystery film directed by William Nigh and starring Boris Karloff as Mr. Wong.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 American political comedy-drama film, starring James Stewart and Jean Arthur, about one man's effect on American politics. It was directed by Frank Capra and written by Sidney Buchman, based on Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was controversial when it was released, but also successful at the box office, and made Stewart a major movie star. The film features a bevy of well-known supporting actors and actresses, among them Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell and Beulah Bondi.

Mr Moto Takes A Vacation (1939) is a Norman Foster-directed entry in the Mr. Moto film series, with Lionel Atwill and Joseph Schildkraut and George Huntley, as Archie Featherstone, in supporting roles. This was the last Mr. Moto film that Peter Lorre did.

Million Dollar Legs is a 1939 American comedy film starring Betty Grable, Jackie Coogan. John Hartley and Donald O'Connor.

The Mikado is a 1939 British musical comedy film based on Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera of the same name. Shot in Technicolor, the film stars Martyn Green as Ko-Ko, Sydney Granville as Pooh-Bah, the American singer Kenny Baker as Nanki-Poo, and Jean Colin as Yum-Yum. Many of the other leads and choristers were or had been members of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

Midnight is a 1939 American screwball comedy film directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore, Francis Lederer, Mary Astor, and Elaine Barrie. Written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder based on a story by Edwin Justus Mayer and Franz Schulz, the film is about an unemployed showgirl stranded in Paris who is set up by a millionaire to break up his wife's affair with another man. In 2013 the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Mexicali Rose is a 1939 American Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Noah Beery. Based on a story by Luci Ward and Connie Lee, the film is about a singing cowboy who fights corrupt oil men selling worthless stock from a non-existent well located on land belonging to a poor Mexican orphanage.

Man of Conquest is a 1939 American Western film directed by George Nicholls, Jr. and starring Richard Dix, Gail Patrick and Joan Fontaine. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Score, Best Sound (Charles L. Lootens) and Best Art Direction (John Victor Mackay).

The Man in the Iron Mask is a 1939 American film very loosely adapted from the last section of the novel The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père, which is itself based on the French legend of the Man in the Iron Mask.

Maisie is a comedy film property MGM originally purchased for Jean Harlow, but before a shooting script could be completed, Harlow died in 1937. It was put on hold until 1939, when Ann Sothern was hired to star in the project with Robert Young as leading man. It is based on the novel Dark Dame by Wilson Collison. It was the first of 10 films starring Sothern as Maisie Ravier. In Mary C. McCall, Jr.'s screenplay, Maisie is stranded penniless in a small Wyoming town, takes a job at a ranch, and gets caught in a web of romantic entanglements.

Lucky Night (1939) is a comedy movie from MGM starring Robert Taylor and Myrna Loy, directed by Norman Taurog.

Love Affair is a 1939 American romantic film starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer and featuring Maria Ouspenskaya. It was directed by Leo McCarey and written by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart, based on a story by McCarey and Mildred Cram.

The Little Princess is a 1939 American drama film directed by Walter Lang. The screenplay by Ethel Hill and Walter Ferris is loosely based on the novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The film was the first Shirley Temple movie to be filmed completely in Technicolor. It was also her last major success as a child star.

Let Us Live is a 1939 crime thriller film directed by John Brahm starring Maureen O'Sullivan, Henry Fonda and Ralph Bellamy.

Lenin in 1918 (Russian: Ленин в 1918 году) is a 130-minute long Soviet propaganda film released in 1939. It gives the background of the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution.

Le Dernier tournant (aka The Last Turning) is a 1939 French drama film directed by Pierre Chenal, written by Charles Spaak and Henri Torrès, based on novel The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain.

The Lambeth Walk is a 1939 British musical comedy film directed by Albert de Courville and starring Lupino Lane, Sally Gray and Seymour Hicks. It was an adaptation of the 1937 musical Me and My Girl. The film takes its title from the play's best known song The Lambeth Walk. The star of the musical, Lupino Lane, reprised his lead role in the film.

King of the Underworld is a 1939 crime drama film starring Humphrey Bogart as a gangster and Kay Francis as a doctor forced to treat him. It is a remake of the 1935 film Dr. Socrates, which was based on a short story by W. R. Burnett.

Judge Hardy and Son is the 8th film in the Andy Hardy series.

Le jour se lève (or Daybreak) is a 1939 French film directed by Marcel Carné and written by Jacques Prévert, based on a story by Jacques Viot. It is considered one of the principal examples of the French film movement known as poetic realism.

Juarez is a 1939 American historical drama film directed by William Dieterle. The screenplay by Aeneas MacKenzie, John Huston, and Wolfgang Reinhardt is based on the novel The Phantom Crown by Bertita Harding and the play Juarez and Maximilian by Franz Werfel.

Jesse James (1939) is a western film directed by Henry King and starring Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Nancy Kelly and Randolph Scott. Written by Nunnally Johnson, the film is loosely based on the life of Jesse James, the notorious outlaw from whom the film derives its name. It is "notorious for its historical inaccuracy." The supporting cast features Henry Hull, John Carradine, Brian Donlevy, Jane Darwell and Lon Chaney, Jr..

Jamaica Inn is a 1939 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock adapted from Daphne du Maurier's 1936 novel of the same name, the first of three of du Maurier's works that Hitchcock adapted (the others were her novel Rebecca and short story "The Birds"). It stars Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara. It is the last film Hitchcock made in the United Kingdom before he moved to the United States.

It's a Wonderful World (1939) is a romantic screwball comedy-mystery, starring Claudette Colbert and James Stewart and directed by W. S. Van Dyke.

Intermezzo (also called Intermezzo: A Love Story) (1939) is a romantic film made in the USA by Selznick International Pictures and nominated for two Academy Awards. It was directed by Gregory Ratoff and produced by David O. Selznick. It is a remake of the Swedish film Intermezzo (1936) and features multiple orchestrations of the Heinz Provost's piece of the same name, which won a contest associated with the original film's production. The screenplay by George O'Neil was based on the screenplay of the original film by Gösta Stevens and Gustaf Molander. The scoring by Lou Forbes was nominated for an Academy Award, and music credit was given to Robert Russell Bennett, Max Steiner, Heinz Provost, and Christian Sinding. The cinematography by Gregg Toland who replaced Harry Stradling was also nominated for an Academy Award.

Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday is a 1939 British detective film directed by Walter Forde and starring Gordon Harker, Alastair Sim and Linden Travers. It is the sequel to the 1938 film Inspector Hornleigh, and both films are based on the novels by Leo Grex. A third and final film, Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It, followed in 1941.

In Name Only is a 1939 romantic film starring Cary Grant, Carole Lombard and Kay Francis, directed by John Cromwell. It was based on the 1935 novel Memory of Love by Bessie Breuer. The fictional town it is based in, Bridgefield, Connecticut, is based on the town of Ridgefield, Connecticut.

Idiot's Delight is a 1939 MGM comedy-drama with a screenplay adapted by Robert E. Sherwood from his 1936 Pulitzer-Prize-winning play of the same name. The movie showcases Clark Gable, in the same year that he played Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind, and Norma Shearer in the declining phase of her career. Although not a musical, it is notable as the only film where Gable sings and dances, performing "Puttin' on the Ritz" by Irving Berlin.

I Met a Murderer is a 1939 British thriller film directed by Roy Kellino and starring James Mason, Pamela Mason, Sylvia Coleridge and William Devlin. A man murders his oppressive wife and flees from the police. He meets a young woman who suspects his identity as the murderer, but conceals this because she wants to use the story for a book.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1939 Australian/Canadian/American film starring Charles Laughton as Quasimodo and Maureen O'Hara as Esmeralda. Directed by William Dieterle and produced by Pandro S. Berman, the film was based on Victor Hugo's 1831 novel and was a remake of the more famous 1923 silent film version starring Lon Chaney.

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1939 mystery film based on the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was directed by Sidney Lanfield and produced by 20th Century Fox.

Hollywood Cavalcade is a 1939 American film featuring Alice Faye as a young performer making her way in the early days of Hollywood, from slapstick silent pictures through the transition from silent to sound.

Hello Janine! (German:Hallo Janine!) is a 1939 German musical film directed by Carl Boese and starring Marika Rökk, Johannes Heesters and Rudi Godden. Along with Der Bettelstudent (1936) and Gasparone (1937) it helped establish Rökk as a major star, an effective replacement for La Jana.

Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence is a 1939 drama film starring Glenn Ford and directed by Ricardo Cortez

The Hardys Ride High is the fifth film of MGM's Andy Hardy series.

Gunga Din is a 1939 RKO adventure film directed by George Stevens and starring Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., loosely based on the poem of the same name by Rudyard Kipling combined with elements of his short story collection Soldiers Three. The film is about three British sergeants and Gunga Din, their native bhisti (water bearer), who fight the Thuggee, a cult of murderous Indians in colonial British India.

Gulliver's Travels is a 1939 American cel-animated Technicolor feature film, directed by Dave Fleischer and produced by Max Fleischer for Fleischer Studios about an explorer who helps a small kingdom who declared war after an argument over a wedding song. The film was released on December 22, 1939 by Paramount Pictures, who had the feature produced as an answer to the success of Walt Disney's box-office hit Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The sequences for the film were directed by Seymour Kneitel, Willard Bowsky, Tom Palmer, Grim Natwick, William Henning, Roland Crandall, Thomas Johnson, Robert Leffingwell, Frank Kelling, Winfield Hoskins, and Orestes Calpini. This is Paramount's first feature-length animated film.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a 1939 British romantic drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring Robert Donat and Greer Garson. Based on the 1934 novel Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton, the film is about an aged school teacher and former headmaster of a boarding school who recalls his career and his personal life over the decades. Produced for the British division of MGM at Denham Studios, Goodbye, Mr. Chips was voted the 72nd greatest British film ever in the BFI Top 100 British films poll.

Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American epic-historical-romance film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel. It was produced by David O. Selznick of Selznick International Pictures and directed by Victor Fleming. Set in the 19th-century American South, the film tells the story of Scarlett O'Hara, the strong-willed daughter of a Georgia plantation owner, from her romantic pursuit of Ashley Wilkes, who is married to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton, to her marriage to Rhett Butler. Set against the backdrop of the American Civil War and Reconstruction era, the story is told from the perspective of rich white Southerners. The leading roles are portrayed by Vivien Leigh (Scarlett), Clark Gable (Rhett), Leslie Howard (Ashley), and Olivia de Havilland (Melanie).

Golden Boy is a 1939 black-and-white Columbia Pictures drama film based on the Clifford Odets play of the same name. It features William Holden in his film debut, the role that made him a star: a promising violinist who wants to be a boxer. Barbara Stanwyck plays his love interest. The supporting cast included Lee J. Cobb (in an unusual role as the bewhiskered Italian immigrant father of Holden's character) and Adolphe Menjou.

A Girl Must Live is a 1939 British romantic comedy film directed by Carol Reed and starring Margaret Lockwood, with supporting cast Renee Houston, Lilli Palmer, and Hugh Sinclair. Based on the 1936 novel by Emery Bonett with the same title, the plot features a group of chorus line girls who compete for the affection of a distinguished bachelor.

The Girl from Mexico is a 1939 American comedy film directed by Leslie Goodwins and written by Lionel Houser and Joseph Fields. The film stars Lupe Vélez, who plays a hot-headed, fast-talking Mexican singer taken to New York for a radio gig, who decides she wants the ad agency man for herself.

Frontier Marshal is a 1939 western film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Randolph Scott as Wyatt Earp. The movie is the second film produced by Sol M. Wurtzel based on Stuart N. Lake's biography of Earp, Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal (later found to be largely fictionalized). An earlier version was Wurtzel's Frontier Marshal, filmed in 1934. A later version of the story was filmed by John Ford in 1946, My Darling Clementine, which included whole scenes reshot from the 1939 film.

The Four Just Men is a 1939 British thriller film directed by Walter Forde and starring Hugh Sinclair, Griffith Jones, Edward Chapman and Frank Lawton. It is based on the novel The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace. There was a previous silent film version in 1921. The film was made at Ealing Studios, with sets designed by Wilfred Shingleton.

The Four Feathers is a 1939 Technicolor adventure film directed by Zoltan Korda, starring John Clements, Ralph Richardson, June Duprez, and C. Aubrey Smith. Set during the reign of Queen Victoria, it tells the story of a man accused of cowardice. The fourth film adaptation of the 1902 novel of the same name by A.E.W. Mason, it was the first one with full sound (the Paramount Pictures version of the 1929 film had a soundtrack with music and sound effects only).

Five Came Back is a 1939 American black-and-white melodrama from RKO Radio Pictures, produced by Robert Sisk, directed by John Farrow, and starring Chester Morris and Lucille Ball. The film was photographed by renowned film noir cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, and written by Jerry Cady, Dalton Trumbo, and Nathanael West. Although considered a B movie, the positive notices received by Lucille Ball helped launch her as an A-list actress. Five Came Back is considered a precursor of the disaster film genre."

First Love is a 1939 American musical film directed by Henry Koster and starring Deanna Durbin. Based on the fairy tale Cinderella, the film is about an orphan who is sent to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle after graduating from boarding school. Her life is made difficult by her snobby cousin who arranges that she stay home while the rest of the family attends a major social ball. With the help of her uncle, she makes it to the ball, where she meets and falls in love with her cousin's boyfriend. The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Music.

5th Ave Girl is a 1939 comedy film about a millionaire who feels neglected by his family, so he hires a young woman to stir things up. It stars Ginger Rogers and Walter Connolly.

Everything Happens at Night is a 1939 American film.

Eva tropí hlouposti (Eva Fools Around) is a Czech comedy film directed by Martin Frič. It was released in 1939.

The Empress Wu Tse-Tien (simplified Chinese: 武则天; traditional Chinese: 武則天; pinyin: Wǔ Zétiān) is a 1939 Chinese historical film based on the life of Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in Chinese history. Directed by Fang Peilin, the film starred Gu Lanjun as the titular character.

Each Dawn I Die is a 1939 gangster film featuring James Cagney and George Raft in their only movie together as leads, although Raft had made an unbilled appearance in a 1932 Cagney vehicle called Taxi! in which he won a dance contest against Cagney, after which he and Cagney brawl. Raft also very briefly "appeared" in Cagney's boxing drama Winner Take All (1932), in a flashback sequence culled from Raft's 1929 film debut Queen of the Night Clubs starring Texas Guinan. The plotline of Each Dawn I Die involves a crusading reporter (Cagney) who is unjustly thrown in jail and befriends a famous gangster (Raft). George Bancroft portrays the warden. The movie was a box-office smash and remains a favorite among aficionados of Warner Bros. gangster movies. The film was based on the novel of the same name by Jerome Odlum.

Drums Along the Mohawk is a 1939 historical Technicolor film based upon a 1936 novel of the same name by American author, Walter D. Edmonds. The film was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and directed by John Ford. Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert portray settlers on the New York frontier during the American Revolution. The couple suffer British, Tory, and Indian attacks on their farm before the Revolution ends and peace is restored. The film—Ford's first color feature—was well received, was nominated for two Academy Awards and became a major box office success, grossing over US$1 million in its first year.

Dodge City is a 1939 American Western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and Ann Sheridan. Based on a story by Robert Buckner, the film is about a Texas cattle agent who witnesses the brutal lawlessness of Dodge City, Kansas and takes the job of sheriff to clean the town up. Filmed in early Technicolor, Dodge City was one of the highest-grossing movies of the year.

Destry Rides Again is a 1939 western starring Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart, and directed by George Marshall. The supporting cast includes Mischa Auer, Charles Winninger, Brian Donlevy, Allen Jenkins, Irene Hervey, Billy Gilbert, Bill Cody, Jr., Lillian Yarbo, and Una Merkel. It bears no relation to Max Brand's popular novel; the characters and story are completely different and unrelated.

Daughter of the Tong is a 1939 crime film about a detective that goes against a female leader of an Oriental crime ring.

Dark Victory is a 1939 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding, starring Bette Davis and featuring George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ronald Reagan, Henry Travers and Cora Witherspoon. The screenplay by Casey Robinson was based on the 1934 play of the same title by George Brewer and Bertram Bloch, starring Tallulah Bankhead.

Confessions of a Nazi Spy is a 1939 American spy thriller film and the first blatantly anti-Nazi film produced by a major Hollywood studio prior to World War II. The film stars Edward G. Robinson, Francis Lederer, George Sanders, and a large cast of German actors, including some who had emigrated from their country after the rise of Adolf Hitler. Though the film can be seen as propaganda, it was based on the articles of former FBI agent Leon G. Turrou, who had been active in investigating Nazi spy rings in the United States prior to the war, and lost his position at the Bureau when he published the articles without permission.

Cheer Boys Cheer is a 1939 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Nova Pilbeam, Edmund Gwenn, Jimmy O'Dea, Graham Moffatt, Moore Marriott and Peter Coke

Charlie Chan in Reno is a 1939 American film directed by Norman Foster, starring Sidney Toler as the fictional Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan, based on an original story "Death Makes a Decree" by Philip Wylie.

Charlie Chan at Treasure Island is a 1939 American film directed by Norman Foster, starring Sidney Toler as the fictional Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan, that takes place on Treasure Island during San Francisco's Golden Gate International Exposition.

Cesta do hlubin študákovy duše is a Czech comedy film directed by Martin Frič. It was released in 1939.

The Cat and the Canary starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard is a 1939 comedy horror film remake of the 1927 film The Cat and the Canary, which was based on the 1922 play of the same name by John Willard. The film was directed by Elliott Nugent.

The Bronze Buckaroo is a 1939 American film directed by Richard C. Kahn. It is one of a number of race films, made by African-American directors and performers for African-American audiences. The Bronze Buckaroo stars black cowboy singer Herb Jeffries, here billed as Herbert Jeffrey.

Boys' Reformatory is a 1939 American crime film directed by Howard Bretherton and produced by Lindsley Parsons for Monogram Pictures. The screenplay was written by Wellyn Totman and Ray Trampe after a story by Ray Trampe and Norman S. Hall.

Blue Montana Skies is a 1939 American Western film directed by B. Reeves Eason and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and June Storey. Based on a story by Norman S. Hall and Paul Franklin, the film is about a singing cowboy who goes up against a gang of fur smugglers operating near the Canadian border.

Blackmail is a 1939 crime drama film starring Edward G. Robinson and was directed by H.C. Potter.

Bel Ami is a 1939 German film directed by Willi Forst. It is loosely based on Guy de Maupassant's novel Bel Ami, with considerable changes to the original plot.

Beau Geste is a 1939 Paramount Pictures action/adventure motion picture starring Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, and Susan Hayward.

Barricade is a 1939 adventure film directed by Gregory Ratoff and starring Alice Faye, Warner Baxter, Charles Winninger, Arthur Treacher, and Keye Luke.

Bad Lands is a 1939 Western film. Bad Lands is a remake of John Ford's The Lost Patrol, with the locale changed from the Mesopotamian to the Arizona desert starring Victor McLaglen.

Bachelor Mother (1939) is an American comedy film directed by Garson Kanin, and starring Ginger Rogers (in a mostly non-dancing and non-singing role), David Niven, and Charles Coburn. The screenplay was written by Norman Krasna based on an Academy Award nominated story by Felix Jackson (aka Felix Joachimson) written for the 1935 Austrian-Hungarian film Little Mother. With a plot full of mistaken identities, Bachelor Mother is a light-hearted treatment of the otherwise serious issues of child abandonment.

Babes in Arms is the 1939 American film version of the 1937 Broadway musical of the same name. The film version stars Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Charles Winninger, Guy Kibbee, June Preisser, Grace Hayes and Betty Jaynes.

At the Circus (also called The Marx Brothers at the Circus) is a 1939 Marx Brothers comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in which they save a circus from bankruptcy. The movie is notable for Groucho Marx's classic rendition of "Lydia the Tattooed Lady". The supporting cast includes Margaret Dumont, Eve Arden, Florence Rice and Kenny Baker.

Ask a Policeman is a 1939 British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel which stars Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. The title comes from the popular music hall song Ask a Policeman. The Turnbotham Round police force are threatened with dismissal by their Chief Constable and decide to manufacture some smugglers to keep their jobs. When they encounter real smugglers, their plans begins to fall apart.

The Arsenal Stadium Mystery is a 1939 British mystery film, and is one of the first feature films where football is a central element in the plot.

The Arizona Kid is a 1939 American western film directed by Joseph Kane under the Republic Pictures banner. The film stars Roy Rogers as a Confederate officer in Missouri during the American Civil War.

Another Thin Man is a 1939 American film that is the third film in the six-volume series, The Thin Man. It again stars William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, and is based on the writings of Dashiell Hammett. Their son, Nicky Jr., is also introduced in the film. The cast includes their terrier Asta, Virginia Grey, Otto Kruger, C. Aubrey Smith, Ruth Hussey, Nat Pendleton, Patric Knowles, Sheldon Leonard, Tom Neal, Phyllis Gordon and Marjorie Main. Shemp Howard appears in an uncredited role as "Wacky".

The Angels Wash Their Faces is a 1939 Warner Bros. film starring Ronald Reagan and The Dead End Kids.

Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever is a 1939 romantic comedy about Andy Hardy having a crush on his high school drama teacher, Miss Rose Meredith. This is the seventh of sixteen Andy Hardy films starring Mickey Rooney.

Allegheny Uprising (released in the UK as The First Rebel) is an American 1939 film produced by RKO Pictures, and starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne. Based on the 1937 novel The First Rebel by Neil H. Swanson, with a screenplay by the film's producer, P. J. Wolfson, and directed by William A. Seiter, the film is loosely based on the historical event known as the Black Boys Rebellion of 1765, after the conclusion of the French and Indian War.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (released theatrically as Sherlock Holmes in the United Kingdom) is a 1939 mystery-adventure film. It is a pastiche featuring the characters of the Sherlock Holmes series of books written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The film is an adaptation of the 1899 play Sherlock Holmes by William Gillette, though there is almost no resemblance in the plots.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a 1939 film adaptation of Mark Twain's classic novel of the same name, starring Mickey Rooney in the title role. The supporting cast features Walter Connolly, William Frawley and Rex Ingram. It was remade in 1974 as a musical.