The History of the Academy Awards: Best Picture – 1939

It's just a hunch, but I'm gonna go ahead and guess that he doesn't give a damn.

The 12th Academy Awards, for the film year 1939.  The nominees were announced on February 11, 1940 and the awards were held on February 29, 1940.

Best Picture:  Gone with the Wind

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

Most Surprising Omission:  Young Mr. Lincoln

Best Eligible Film Not Nominated:  The Lady Vanishes

Rank (out of 82) Among Best Picture Years:  #47

 

The Best of the Nighthawk Awards: The 1930′s

The animated film that really started it all: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Before diving into the Best Pictures of 1939, I’ll cover the decade at a glance with my own awards.

1930 – 1939

Total Films I’ve Seen:  460

Films That Make the Top 5 in a Category:  35

Best Film Not to Make the Top 5 in Any Category:  Scarface

Film of the Decade:  The Wizard of Oz

Worst Film of the Decade:  Oliver Twist (1932)

Worst Best Picture Nominee of the Decade:  Cleopatra

Worst Film of the Decade made by a Top 100 Director:  Jamaica Inn

 

The Year in Film: 1939

My Top 10:

The best film of the decade and maybe the century: The Wizard of Oz

1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
3. Wuthering Heights
4. Stagecoach
5. The Lady Vanishes
6. Alexander Nevsky
7. Gone with the Wind
8. Of Mice and Men
9. Gunga Din
10. Port of Shadows

 

The Myth of 1939

Kirk Douglas in Kubrick's Paths of Glory, one of the best films from 1957

A little note before my article: I have a new article appearing on CinCity2000.com on Tuesday. It’s a response to a New York Times article about the lack of decent women’s roles in summer movies.

The Myth of 1939

We are so fond of anniversaries. Just look at everything we celebrated last year. The 80th anniversary of the Academy Awards. The 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love and Sgt Pepper’s. The 30th anniversary of Star Wars and the Summer of Sam. But did we forget the best anniversary from last year? Isn’t the big number supposed to be 50 (“not to fifty” Christopher Guest shouts as that classic turned 20)? Shouldn’t we have been looking back to 1957? For movies, after all, it might have been the peak of artistic creation, both on the national and international front.