Memorable movies of 1939
RANDOR GUY
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It was a golden year that saw several box-office hits.
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A period of bonanzas: Gone With the Wind,
(This is the first of a two-part article.)
Nineteen thirty-nine was the golden year of Hollywood as many box office hits and classics were made. Several of the films won Oscar nominations, many going on to win the statuette. To commemorate 70 years of that golden year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences has chosen 10 nuggets which are being screened, in Los Angeles, to begin with and there are plans to have these shown in various places in the U.S. and possibly on television too.
The nuggets
Dark Victory
GONE WITH THE WIND: Considered one of the greatest movies evermade, it has been described 70 years later as ‘still pure gold.’ Based on the best-selling novel about the South during the American Civil War by Georgia-based Margaret Mitchell, movie mogul David O. Selznick grabbed the book while it was still in the press. The epic tale is about Scarlett O’Hara, the headstrong Southern girl who survives the Civil War but finally loses the only man she ever wanted, Rhett Butler (played brilliantly by Clark Gable). The writer had told her friends that she created Rhett Butler with Gable in mind.
Selznick created history in choosing the heroine and tested almost everybody who was anybody in Hollywood and elsewhere. Many were called for the audition but not chosen. Not wishing to lose time, he began to shoot the movie. During the shooting of the battle sequences, his brother, an agent, brought an English star and introduced her as Scarlett. She was Vivien Leigh. Besides Gable and Leigh, the film had Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard, Thomas Mitchell, Jane Darwell, Ward Bond and Hattie McDaniel.
Hattie as the heroine’s coloured maid created Hollywood history by winning an Oscar for best supporting actress, the first African-American to do so. She did not attend the grand gala premiere in Atlanta because of the racist atmosphere. Her name was not even mentioned in the invitation which gave the star cast.
‘Gone With the Wind,’ won Oscars for best picture, director (Victor Fleming), cinematography, film editing, actress (Vivien Leigh) and supporting actress. A special Oscar was given to William Cameron Menzies for production design. It is a must on every Greatest Movies’ list.
The Wizard of Oz.
DARK VICTORY: An unsuccessful play turned into a celluloid classic. Directed by Edmund Goulding, it had Bette Davis in the lead.
A wealthy, socialite (Bette Davis) is dying from a brain tumour, but she does not know it. She undergoes treatment and marries the doctor (George Brent) who keeps the secret from her, yet she stumbles on it. Slowly she turns blind and in the famous last scene, she goes up the stairs to her bedroom after taking leave of her beloved dogs and the housemaid. Getting into bed she finds the world around her turning dark, and the screen slowly fades to black signifying her death. The film had Humphrey Bogart, Ronald Reagan and Geraldine Fitzgerald.
During the shooting, Bette Davis felt depressed and sickabout her role and wanted to opt out. But noted producer Hal Wallis told her, “Bette, stay sick, it will help the movie.” And it did. The film was nominated for the Best Picture, Actress (Davis) and Music (Max Steiner). But it was the year of GWTW, which swept the Oscars with Vivien Leigh getting what many thought was legitimately due to Bette Davis.
STAGECOACH: John Ford turned this Western into an art form. Various characters board a stagecoach that is in danger of being attacked by an Indian war party. It was a rehash, in a western milieu, of the famous French writer Guy de Mauppassant’s classic ‘Boule De Suif.’ Based on ‘Stage to Lordsburg’ by Ernest Haycox, the Ford touch made it a classic. He used the Monument Valley landscape with stunning impact and made it a huge tourist attraction. John Wayne became a star with this movie though he does not appear in it until nearly one-third is over. It also starred Claire Trevor, Thomas Mitchell, George Bancroft, John Carradine, Donald Meek, Tim Holt and Andy Devine. It received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Director, Art Direction, Editing but won for Music and supporting actor (Thomas Mitchell). ‘Stagecoach’ was a critical and box office success and is hailed as a cult western. THE WIZARD OF OZ: It was based on the novel of L. Frank Baum, about an unhappy teenager who runs away from home to have adventures in a fantasy land and after many memorable events she finally realises that happiness has been waiting for her all the time in her own backyard. This fascinating fairytale was first made as a silent movie in 1925 with Oliver Hardy (of Laurel-Hardy fame). The masterpiece version was directed by Victor Fleming and produced by Mervyn Le Roy for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Judy Garland was Dorothy. This became one of the best roles of her career for which she received a special Oscar. The song ‘Somewhere over the rainbow…” that she sings in the beginning, also won an Oscar for Best Song along Music Direction (Herbert Stothart).
The cast included Frank Morgan ( the wizard of Oz), Ray Bolger ( the scarecrow), Billie Burke (the good witch), Ben Lahr ( the cowardly lion) and Jack Haley (the tin man). At first Shirley Temple was considered for the role but as she proved unavailable, Judy Garland got it. But not before undergoing rigorous costume and makeup tests which were done by George Cukor.
An eternal classic with memorable songs it is an all time favourite around the world and a bestselling book ‘The making of the Wizard of Oz’ has been written.
LOVE AFFAIR: All about a trans-Atlantic pleasure voyage, where a European meets a New York girl and they fall in love. They enjoy their time together on board the ship although each is committed to another. They promise to meet again but destiny steps in, altering their lives. A typical Hollywood romance of the day, it had handsome Charles Boyer and pretty Irene Dunne in the lead supported by character actor Maria Ouspenskaya. Directed by Leo McCarey, it was a box-office hit and critically acclaimed too. It was nominated but did not win an Oscar.
McCarey also directed the remake with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr called ‘An Affair to Remember’ which was also a box office success. The 1994 version, which had the same name, with Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Katherine Hepburn and Pierce Brosnan did not do well and a critic described it as, “…an affair to forget!”
List of the classics
* ‘Gone With the Wind’
* ‘Dark Victory’
* ‘Stagecoach’
* ‘The Wizard of Oz’
* ‘Love Affair’
* ‘Of Mice and Men’
* ‘Ninotchka’
* ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’
* ‘Good Bye Mr. Chips’
* ‘Wuthering Heights’
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