Patrick Stoner welcomes your questions about movies and the people who make them. Send your questions to pstoner@whyy.org. Here's the current question and answer:
Q: What was the best year in films and what were they?A: 1939.
No, I wasn't alive then EITHER. So, drop that response. You don't have to be physically around during the year of a film's release to be familiar with it. If you haven't seen all of the films listed below, then you have a treat ahead of you at any good video rental store with a decent stock of classics.
First, the reason why: Talkies had been around long enough to have created the first leapfrogging of technology and craftsmanship in the making of movies; the Great Depression had created a huge, built-in audience (the largest percentage of filmgoers in the population that there has EVER been), and that had created both demand and the capital to make lots of different kinds of movies; and, there was so much talent around Hollywood -- as there still is, believe it or not -- that enough projects got good people working on them that some of them turned out to be good pictures.
Here are the best of a very good year -- 1939's best:
! The Best of the Best
- ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS
- ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
- AMAZING DR. CLITTERHOUSE
- BEAU GESTE
- CAT AND THE CANARY
- DARK VICTORY
- ANOTHER THIN MAN
- DESTRY RIDES AGAIN
- DODGE CITY
- THE FOUR FEATHERS
- GONE WITH THE WIND !
- GOODBYE MR. CHIPS !
- GUNGA DIN !
- HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
- INTERMEZZO
- LOVE AFFAIR
- IT'S A WONDERFUL WORLD
- MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON !
- MY LITTLE CHICKADEE
- NINOTCHKA !
- ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS
- RAFFLES
- THE ROARING TWENTIES
- STAGECOACH !
- THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS !
- THE THREE MUSKETEERS
- TOWER OF LONDON
- WHAT ABOUT BOB?
- THE WIZARD OF OZ !
- THE WOMEN !
- WUTHERING HEIGHTS !
- YOUNG MR. LINCOLN !
So, rent and enjoy, but remember two things: you're not really a film lover until you appreciate the different but equally effective black and white films as compared to their full color compatriots, and you must take into account the gradual change in acting styles -- toward a more nuanced, internal method -- over the years.
Past questions and answers.
