There are folks out there who consider 1939 the best year ever for movies. I never really made a study of this but it's at least a contender.
That was year Jean Renoir made The Rules of the Game. It was the year John Ford directed Young Mr. Lincoln. It was the year George Cukor gave us The Women. It was the year of Gunga Din, Destry Rides Again, The Four Feathers, Drums Along the Mohawk, Babes in Arms, The Man in the Iron Mask, Beau Geste, Union Pacific, Son of Frankenstein and Only Angels Have Wings, as well as other memorable flicks. And I'm stealing a trick from William Goldman when I ask you to guess which one of these classics won the Oscar that year for Best Picture and then I tell you…
Answer: None of them. None of these were even nominated.
Then as now, they nominated ten pictures in that category and the ten that were nominated are on Turner Classic Movies this Saturday, one right after the other, stretching on into the wee small hours of Sunday morn. Here's the lineup, all times Eastern…
- 8:15 AM — Dark Victory
- 10:00 AM — Of Mice and Men
- NOON — Ninotchka
- 2:00 PM — Wuthering Heights
- 4:00 PM — Stagecoach
- 5:45 PM — Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
- 8:00 PM — The Wizard of Oz
- 10:00 PM — Gone With the Wind
- 2:00 AM — Goodbye, Mr. Chips
- 4:00 AM — Love Affair
Ten great movies in a row. I'm not sure which one I would have voted for…maybe Of Mice and Men, maybe Mr. Smith. The Academy went for Gone With the Wind and who can fault them on that call? You can see or TiVo 'em all on TCM starting early Saturday morn.