The 70th Anniversary of Hollywood's Greatest Movie Year Ever: 1939

The further removed Hollywood becomes from their truly golden year in the history of their existence, the more telling it is in being reminded that it'll never be surpassed. In the bigger picture, seventy years might not seem all that long when ten years seems to go by in a puff of smoke for most of us lately. Within the realms of movies, though, seventy years is almost ¾ of the timeline of Hollywood's actual history. When nothing has improved in-between that interval of years in the sense of sheer quality and quantity of excellent films that stand the test of time, you can safely make bets that no year in the immediate future will compare.

I'm talking about the year 1939 when Hollywood experienced not only its most magical year, but also its last hurrah before WWII ultimately paved the path to a change in culture that eventually trickled down (or up) to the changes in the studio system. But before we get all starry-eyed about every aspect of filmmaking in 1939, let's go back there and realize that some of the movies considered evergreen now from '39 weren't necessarily huge hits then.

It's almost hard to believe that "The Wizard of Oz" only did modest business in 1939 despite being second in highest grossing films that year next to "Gone with the Wind." Today we look at it as being such a classic that we envision kids and their parents standing in lines around the block in every city to get in and see it. Judy Garland, though, was still a growing star at the time and probably looked more relatable that year in one of her best musicals working with her frequent co-star Mickey Rooney: "Babes in Arms." That musical arguably gives the best representation of how Hollywood felt and operated in 1939 outside of so many other familiar movie titles.

As with many of the Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney musicals of that era, "Babes in Arms" had a particular optimism in its plot that was permeating most of the American populace during the beginning of 1939. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had managed to take us out of the Great Depression, and the start of '39 was shaking off another recession period in 1938 that temporarily stalled FDR's New Deal. Call 1939 the last of the innocence to Hollywood. But more than that, Hollywood had a fine working machine that had finally reached perfection with nothing there to distract it from producing top quality productions at jaw-dropping rates of speed.

The best of these, as we know, came from MGM where Louis B. Mayer had taken the reigns from the late and more intellectual Irving Thalberg. Mayer, in the two years since Thalberg's death, had turned MGM into populist entertainment central from heaven. When you recount most of the best movies of 1939, more than half come from MGM, even though you can count numerous classics from Warner Brothers, 20^th Century Fox and RKO. While more modest, some dramatic titles we strongly associate with the best of 1939 were also produced through the independent United Artists.

Yes, just as we're faced with today, dramas were just as popular as the light, airy, musical entertainment that many generations today assume permeated every movie theatre in 1939.

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When you see the list of the highest grossing films of 1939, you'll notice that almost all of them are dramas, with "The Wizard of Oz" the only musical of the group outside of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' second-to-last movie musical "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle." You could probably guess that "Gone with the Wind" was the highest grossest film of that year and one of the greatest dramas ever put on celluloid. But let's never forget about the dramatic intensity of the Charles Laughton version of "Hunchback of Notre Dame" or the sweeping finale of "The Rains Came" or Jimmy Stewart's impassioned speech in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

All those and even more dramas dominated at the box office in 1939. Strangely enough, the above three films aren't always equated with the golden year of '39 as much as "Gone with the Wind" and "Wizard of Oz" are. It seems that when people are told to name at least four films from 1939, the other two mentioned outside of "Wind" and "Oz" would be above-mentioned United Artists-produced "Wuthering Heights" and MGM's "Goodbye Mr. Chips." And sometimes people will throw in the movie where Garbo laughed for the first time on film: "Ninotchka." Also, throw in the movie where Bette Davis didn't laugh, but had her first fade-to-black death scene on film: "Dark Victory" from Warner Brothers.

With all that above heavy drama, it contradicts the happy-go-lucky attitudes of 1939 before the reality of WWII set in. Dramas were always in the Top Five every year since the beginning of the film era, though, and the magic of 1939 was more to do in how effectively they were made in such a short space of time. Never before has there been a year (other than, arguably, 1980, which my friend Timothy Sexton is a proponent of and written about) where so many timeless dramas were skillfully written, produced and directed. While movie slates nowadays are insanely crowded around Oscar season (with only a few within dozens being worth seeing), imagine attending all the movies during the latter half of 1939 and trying to find the time to see one winner after another.

Of course, the premiere of "Gone with the Wind" was overwhelming enough and will be the reigning movie to represent 1939 for most people for time immemorial. Though you can't say it won't happen, it's likely no film ever again will represent a year so strongly with all its hopes and dreams if not symbolism for what would happen to the studio system after a major war.

That's why Amazon.com is (at the time of this writing) listing 70^th anniversary box sets of both "Gone with the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz" for release on both standard DVD and Blu-Ray at some unknown date in 2009. It's too bad the earlier-mentioned "Babes in Arms" or even the light and frothy "Another Thin Man" from 1939 won't get the same treatment to represent the lighter side of 1939. Nevertheless, "Oz" and "Wind" are such polar opposites that they represent well and may ultimately be the only ones casual classic movie buffs remember from 1939 off the top of their heads now.

Seeing them on Blu-Ray, where they'll look like brand new, will bring back 1939 to vivid life when the studios weren't afraid of wearing their hearts on their sleeves and possessing endless money to put all the best production values into play. Undoubtedly Turner Classic Movies will show all the movies made that year (they have rights to just about every one now) at some point in 2009 to remind everybody of why that year will forever stand alone in the annals of moviemaking.

But we'll also be reminded that Hollywood just isn't equipped today to get back to having a new 1939...outside of having superior tools to get there if a new creative drive develops. The perfection of craft will apparently be stuck in time, just like the expansion of painting, music and writing had their peaks in other eras and still awaiting someone to take them forward to places they should have been decades ago...

Source:

http://www.filmsite.org/1939.html

www.amazon.com/Wind-Anniversary-Ultimate-Collectors-Blu-ray/dp/B0013N7FZ6/ref=sr_1_1

www.amazon.com/Wizard-Anniversary-Ultimate-Collectors-Blu-ray/dp/B000Q66J1W/ref=sr_1_1