1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year

Jul 2, 2009

1h 9m

★ 7.5

Overview

This documentary focuses on 1939, considered to be Hollywood's greatest year, with film clips and insight into what made the year so special.

Genres

Documentary

TV Movie

Production Companies

New Wave Entertainment

1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Narrator (voice)

Kenneth Branagh

Self (archive footage)

Clark Gable

Self (archive footage)

Vivien Leigh

Self (archive footage)

Olivia de Havilland

Self (archive footage)

Judy Garland

Self

Leonard Maltin

Self (archive footage)

Errol Flynn

Self (archive footage)

Bette Davis

Self

Thomas Schatz

Self

F. X. Feeney

Self

Scott Eyman

Self

Jeanine Basinger

In 1935, German scientists dug for bones; in 1943, they murdered to get them. How the German scientific community supported Nazism, distorted history to legitimize a hideous system and was an accomplice to its unspeakable crimes. The story of the Ahnenerbe, a sinister organization created to rewrite the obscure origins of a nation.

0.0

Livet är kort, konsten lång – filmen om Åke Göransson

Apr 14, 2023

No overview available.

7.1

Land Without Bread

Dec 1, 1933

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.

5.0

Dora Maar in Spite of Picasso

Nov 6, 2014

Dora Maar, a world-class photographer who began her artistic career in the French Surrealist scene of the 30s, lived in the shadow of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, her lover between 1935 and 1943, with whom she maintained a chaotic, even violent, relationship. Fortunately, she survived Picasso's abusive behavior and its sequels to find a new path, the best one, the one that is worth to be told, in spite of Picasso.

6.4

The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case

Feb 26, 1976

Fact-based story of the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr., son and namesake of the famed pilot, and ensuing trial of accused and convicted killer, Bruno Hauptmann.

5.2

La ruta de don Quijote

Jan 1, 1934

A poetic journey through the paths and places of old Castile that were traveled and visited by the melancholic knight Don Quixote of La Mancha and his judicious squire Sancho Panza, the immortal characters of Miguel de Cervantes, which offers a candid depiction of rural life in Spain in the early 1930s and illustrates the first sentence of the first article of the Spanish Constitution of 1931, which proclaims that Spain is a democratic republic of workers of all kind.

6.7

Bugatti: A Thirst for Speed

Mar 11, 2018

The story of the Bugattis of Milan and Molsheim, the eccentric family behind the brand: Carlo, the patriarch and furniture designer; Rembrandt, the troubled sculptor; Ettore, the gifted engineer; Jean, the unfortunate heir. Art and design. Beauty and luxury. The fastest cars. Races. The need for speed.

7.0

The New Deal: The Man Who Changed America

Aug 10, 2021

Elected in November 1932, as the economic crisis ravaged the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt immediately put all his campaign promises into action: it was time for the "New Deal". This bold plan, designed to turn around a nation on the brink of collapse, where unemployment was at an all-time high and the working poor were suffering from the precariousness of the job market, was intended to give hope to a country that had been battered before anything else. Once he came to power, the new president from the Democratic Party immediately passed some fifteen laws designed to revive the economy.

7.9

Blood Money: Inside the Nazi Economy

Feb 2, 2021

How did Nazi Germany, from limited natural resources, mass unemployment, little money and a damaged industry, manage to unfurl the cataclysm of World War Two and come to occupy a large part of the European continent? Based on recent historical works of and interviews with Adam Tooze, Richard Overy, Frank Bajohr and Marie-Bénédicte Vincent, and drawing on rare archival material.

7.1

Nanking

Feb 10, 2007

The story of the rape of Nanking, one of the most tragic events in history. In 1937, the invading Japanese army murdered over 200,000 and raped tens of thousands of Chinese. In the midst of this horror, a small group of Western expatriates banded together to save 250,000. Nanking shows the tremendous impact individuals can make on the course of history.

7.5

Mein Kampf

Apr 24, 1960

Using exclusively archival footage, Erwin Leiser traces the rise and collapse of the Third Reich, from Adolf Hitler’s early years to the devastation of Europe and his suicide in 1945. The film draws heavily on material produced and preserved by the Nazi propaganda apparatus to confront the mechanisms, imagery, and consequences of totalitarian power.

10.0

Golden September. The Chronicle of Galicia 1939-1941

Sep 23, 2010

The film tells the story of the events in Western Ukraine before the outbreak of World War II, the rise of Soviet rule, changes in borders, and the disappearance of entire states from the world map. The film is based on archival documents, materials and memoirs of witnesses, representatives of the Ukrainian, Polish and Jewish peoples of pre-war Galicia.

7.0

God Does Not Believe in Us Anymore

May 16, 1982

After his father is murdered by the Nazis in 1938, a young Viennese Jew named Ferry Tobler flees to Prague, where he joins forces with another expatriate and a sympathetic Czech relief worker. Together with other Jewish refugees, the three make their way to Paris, and, after spending time in a French prison camp, eventually escape to Marseille, from where they hope to sail to a safe port.

6.9

And the Oscar Goes To...

Feb 1, 2014

The story of the gold-plated statuette that became the film industry's most coveted prize, AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... traces the history of the Academy itself, which began in 1927 when Louis B. Mayer, then head of MGM, led other prominent members of the industry in forming this professional honorary organization. Two years later the Academy began bestowing awards, which were nicknamed "Oscar," and quickly came to represent the pinnacle of cinematic achievement.

6.6

Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical

Mar 1, 2006

From an ominous Lecturer, a small 1930s middle American community learns of the Harper Affair, in which young Jimmy Harper finds his life of promise turn into a life of debauchery and murder thanks to the new drug menace marijuana. Along the way, he receives help from his girlfriend Mary and Jesus Himself, but always finds himself in the arms of the Reefer Man and the rest of the denizens of the Reefer Den.

0.0

The Living

Jan 1, 2009

Tells the story of the tragic events in Ukraine in 1932-33, the genocidal Great Famine or the Holodomor, and one Welshman's attempts to tell the world what was happening.

7.9

Something the Lord Made

May 30, 2004

A dramatization of the relationship between heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.

6.9

Goodnight, Mister Tom

Oct 25, 1998

A shy and quiet World War II evacuee is housed by a disgruntled old man, and they soon develop a close bond.

0.0

Melbourne Today

Jan 1, 1931

The first documentary of Frank Thring’s Cities of the Empire series, this episode is about Melbourne in Victoria. It shows the city’s architectural highlights and public buildings along with its famous parks and gardens.

0.0

Drei gegen Hollywood

Feb 20, 1982

In the 1930s, three unsuccessful variety artists dream of making it big. When they hear about the rise of sound films in Hollywood, they see their chance: a language school for silent film stars will bring them fame and success. Full of hope, they travel to California, straight into the exciting world of the first sound film productions. But not everything goes as planned...