1939 was a very bad year for humanity but a great year for Hollywood movies.
Some of the most beloved films ever made were released in 1939, including Gone With the Wind, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz and Wuthering Heights. In France, both Marcel Carné’s Daybreak (aka Le Jour Se Lève) and Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game were released. Other major classic films in 1939 included Beau Geste, Dark Victory, Destry Rides Again, Love Affair, Only Angels Have Wings, Gunga Din, Midnight, Of Mice and Men, The Women, Young Mr. Lincoln, and many more.
In other entertainment news, television was formally introduced at the New York World’s Fair in Queens where The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) unveiled a display of its first TV sets for sale to the American public and CBS began broadcasting. After his momentous radio adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds on Halloween night 1938, Orson signed an unprecedented contract with RKO Pictures in 1939. It was a two-year, two-picture contract as producer-director-writer-actor, in which Welles reserved complete control over all aspects of two productions of his own choosing, including “final cut,” as long as he remained within the studio-approved schedule and budget.
In U.S. news, African-American singer Marian Anderson performed before 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after having been denied the use both of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and of a public high school by the federally controlled District of Columbia. On September 5, President Roosevelt declared U.S. neutrality in World War II. Albert Einstein wrote to the President about developing the atomic bomb using uranium. This leads to the creation of the Manhattan Project.
Lou Gehrig gave his last public speech, following a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In it, he says, “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” This would be memorably re-enacted in The Pride of the Yankees (1942). Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time anywhere in Wilmington, Delaware.
The Spanish Civil War ended when Francisco Franco assumed power in March. On August 23, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed between Germany and the Soviet Union, a neutrality treaty that also agreed to division of spheres of influence (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, eastern Poland and Bessarabia (today Moldova), north-east province of Romania to the Soviet Union; Lithuania and western Poland to Germany).
World War II began when Germany and the Soviet Union attacked Poland and Britain, France, India, Australia and new Zealand declared war on Germany on September 3rd. On November 30, Soviet forces attacked Finland and reached the Mannerheim Line, starting the Winter War.
Montage of stills from Oscar-Winning films of 1939
Montage of stills from all 1939 films nominated for Oscars
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