{"id":6781,"date":"2025-04-22T20:33:32","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T14:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/?p=6781"},"modified":"2025-05-20T21:03:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T15:03:39","slug":"my-1939-films-watch-list-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/?p=6781","title":{"rendered":"MY 1939 FILMS WATCH LIST – PART TWO"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Scott<\/a>\u00a0 Earlier this month I published a blahg about my goal of watching as many films from 1939 that I possibly can.\u00a0 1939 has always been touted as a banner year for films with great films like “The Wizard Of Oz,” “Gone With The Wind,” “Stagecoach,” “Ninotchka,” and “Goodbye Mr. Chips” being some of the classics released.\u00a0 In my blahg MY 1939 FILMS WATCH LIST – PART ONE<\/a>, I gave a write up of sorts on the first 30 films I’ve watched from my list.\u00a0 So far, I’ve managed to watch 75 films and it’s time for Part Two and a review of the next 30.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Let’s start off by recapping the list of 75 films I’ve watched so far:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A Child Is Born<\/li>\n
  2. Disputed Passage<\/li>\n
  3. We Are Not Alone<\/li>\n
  4. Dust Be My Destiny<\/li>\n
  5. The Girl From Mexico<\/li>\n
  6. Frontier Marshall<\/li>\n
  7. Good Girls Go To Paris<\/li>\n
  8. Honolulu<\/li>\n
  9. The Three Musketeers<\/li>\n
  10. Cheer Boys Cheer<\/li>\n
  11. The Amazing Mr. Williams<\/li>\n
  12. Off The Record<\/li>\n
  13. The Frozen Limits (fell asleep)<\/li>\n
  14. Where’s That Fire<\/li>\n
  15. The Kid from Kokomo<\/li>\n
  16. The Ice Follies of 1939<\/li>\n
  17. All Women Have Secrets (1939)<\/li>\n
  18. A Girl Must Live (1939)<\/li>\n
  19. $1000 a Touchdown (1939)<\/li>\n
  20. …One Third of a Nation… (1939)<\/li>\n
  21. Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever (1939)<\/li>\n
  22. Arizona Legion (1939)<\/li>\n
  23. Persons in Hiding<\/li>\n
  24. Allegheny Uprising<\/li>\n
  25. Ask A Policeman (Will Hayes)<\/li>\n
  26. Gone With The Wind<\/li>\n
  27. Society Lawyer<\/li>\n
  28. Code of the Secret Service (1939)<\/li>\n
  29. Secret Service of the Air (1939)<\/li>\n
  30. Young Abe Lincoln<\/li>\n
  31. The Little Princess<\/li>\n
  32. East Side of Heaven<\/li>\n
  33. Destry Rides Again<\/li>\n
  34. Dodge City<\/li>\n
  35. Smashing The Money Ring<\/li>\n
  36. The Wizard Of Oz<\/li>\n
  37. Midnight<\/li>\n
  38. Stagecoach<\/li>\n
  39. Made For Each Other<\/li>\n
  40. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)<\/li>\n
  41. 20,000 Men a Year (1939)<\/li>\n
  42. Flying Deuces<\/li>\n
  43. Only Angels Have Wings<\/li>\n
  44. Judge Hardy and Son<\/li>\n
  45. Charlie McCarthy Detective<\/li>\n
  46. Discoveries<\/li>\n
  47. Across the Plains<\/li>\n
  48. Back Door to Heaven<\/li>\n
  49. Hitler – Beast of Berlin<\/li>\n
  50. Barricade<\/li>\n
  51. In Name Only<\/li>\n
  52. King of the Underworld<\/li>\n
  53. At The Circus<\/li>\n
  54. The Real Glory<\/li>\n
  55. Women On The Wind<\/li>\n
  56. Gunga Din<\/li>\n
  57. Rulers of the Sea<\/li>\n
  58. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes<\/li>\n
  59. The Hound Of The Baskervilles<\/li>\n
  60. Beau Geste<\/li>\n
  61. After The Thin Man<\/li>\n
  62. The Mysterious Miss X<\/li>\n
  63. The Hardys Riding High<\/li>\n
  64. Three Smart Girls Grow Up<\/li>\n
  65. First Love<\/li>\n
  66. Ambushed<\/li>\n
  67. Bad Boy<\/li>\n
  68. Bad Lands<\/li>\n
  69. Bad Little Angel<\/li>\n
  70. I Met A Murderer<\/li>\n
  71. Boy Friend<\/li>\n
  72. Coast Guard<\/li>\n
  73. Boy Trouble<\/li>\n
  74. Disbarred<\/li>\n
  75. She Married a Cop<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The majority of films on this list have not had DVD releases so I’ve been downloading copies of the more obscure films with the result that some of the versions I have found have ranged from excellent all the way down to just fair.\u00a0 In my last blahg I noted about the film $1000 a Touchdown <\/em>that the “<\/span>only print I could find of this movie was on YouTube and the video quality was good but the audio wasn’t.\u00a0 I had to watch it with generated subtitles and the subtitles didn’t always seem to match what was being said.”\u00a0 This time around, I culled through my DVD collection and pulled a number of the 1939 films that had been released on DVD.\u00a0 Still, there’s some rarer films being reviewed this time but I think you’ll recognize the more famous ones.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>31.)\u00a0 The Little Princess.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>There are some great Shirley Temple films but this is by far, one of my favourites.\u00a0 The Father of Shirley’s character, Sara, is called up to fight in the second Boer War.\u00a0 She’s sent to board at Miss Minchin’s school for girls.\u00a0 Her Father goes missing, his money to keep her dries up, and Sara is relegated to poorer and more dismal lodgings.\u00a0 Do things get better?\u00a0 Does her Father come home?\u00a0 You’ll just have to watch this film.\u00a0 Cesar Romero and Arthur Treacher have great supporting roles and the ending with Queen Victoria and Sara will have you in tears.\u00a0 Great film!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>32.)\u00a0 East Side Of Heaven.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>This is one of two films with Bing Crosby released in 1939.\u00a0 The other is “The Star Maker.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>This time Bing’s costarring with Joan Blondell, one of my favourites.\u00a0 Last time, there were four Joan Blondell films reviewed in my part one blahg.\u00a0 Mischa Auer’s also along for the ride.\u00a0 IMDB’s desription:\u00a0 A man finds himself the father, by proxy, of a ten-month-old baby and becomes involved in the turbulent lives of the child’s family. \u00a0<\/span><\/em>Fun stuff with some nice singing by Bing and comedy antics by Blondell and Auer.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>33.)\u00a0 Destry Rides Again.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>In Part One, I reviewed James Stewart’s role in “The Ice Follies of 1939<\/em>.”\u00a0 At least this film was a much better starring role for Stewart.\u00a0 He’s\u00a0 brought in to help clean up a corrupt town.\u00a0 The local Sheriff doesn’t think much of him but Stewart proves himself against bad guy Brian Donlevy.\u00a0 Marlene Dietrich sings the songs and Mischa Auer’s back again in this one for comic relief.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>34.)\u00a0 Dodge City. \u00a0<\/em> Another western and another corrupt town to be set right.\u00a0 This time the law is Errol Flynn with his sidekicks Alan Hale and Guinn Williams.\u00a0 Bruce Cabot is the bad guy and Olivia de Havilland\u00a0 is Flynn’s love interest.\u00a0 No singing in this one and not much comic relief but there’s lots of gun play in Dodge City.\u00a0 Errol Flynn is good but what’s Dodge City without James Arness as Matt Dillon?\u00a0 That’s a Gunsmoke reference and the only one I’m going to make.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>35.)\u00a0 Smashing The Money Ring.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Last time, I reviewed the first two films in the Brass Bancroft series of films with Ronald Reagan and Eddie Foy Jr.\u00a0 Those were “Code Of The Secret Service” and “Secret Service of The Air.”\u00a0 This time, Brass goes undercover as a convict to infiltrate a counterfeit ring.\u00a0 Always fun.\u00a0 I’m not sure who’s the better comedian in these films, Reagan or Eddie Foy Jr.\u00a0 The Brass Bancroft films are lighthearted fare but enjoyable.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>36.)\u00a0 The Wizard of Oz.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!\u00a0 Except there are no Tigers and Bears.\u00a0 What you get, however, is a talented cast including Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, and the Munchkins!\u00a0 You also get a great story with incredible songs.\u00a0 I can’t watch this film without singing along.\u00a0 A few years ago my daughter Abbie and I got to see the film on the big screen in our local theatre.\u00a0 If you ever get a chance to see it in a theatre, you have to go!\u00a0 Still one of my favourite films of all time.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>37.)\u00a0 Midnight<\/em>.\u00a0 A screwball comedy with Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, and John Barrymore.\u00a0 I’m going to rely on the IMDB synopsis again for this one:\u00a0 A chorus girl stranded in Paris is set up by a millionaire to break up his wife’s affair with another man, while being romantically pursued by a cab driver.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>You can guess who the chorus girl is but the millionaire is Barrymore and Don Ameche is the cab driver.\u00a0 It drags in the middle but it’s got a funny ending with Monty Woolley as a judge.\u00a0 I have always like Woolley and Claudette Colbert, for my money, is a highly underrated actress.\u00a0 Don Ameche chews up the scenes in his role and is another reason to see this movie.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a>38.)\u00a0 Stagecoach<\/em>.\u00a0 This was my second film to watch from 1939 with John Wayne.\u00a0 The first, reviewed in Part One, was Allegheny Uprising. \u00a0<\/em>This time John Wayne is The Ringo Kid who has broken out of prison to avenge the murder of his brother and father.\u00a0 The Ringo Kid joins the Stagecoach when his horse goes lames.\u00a0 Claire Trevor, Thomas Mitchell, and Andy Devine are along for the Stagecoach ride.\u00a0 Lots of drama and action and a good starring role for John Wayne.\u00a0 John Ford is the director on this one and he directed “Young Abe Lincoln” which I reviewed last time.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>39.)\u00a0 Made For Each Other.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>James Stewart is back again and this time his wife is played by Carol Lombard.\u00a0 He’s a young lawyer whose mother moves in with the happy couple and makes life difficult for the pair.\u00a0 Another favourite actor of mine, Charles Coburn, plays Stewart’s boss.\u00a0 This one is strictly melodrama but well acted by all and certainly worth watching.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>40.)\u00a0 Goodbye, Mr. Chips.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>The book was written by James Hilton and in the golden age of cinema, his films were made into great films.\u00a0 In Part One, I reviewed “We Are Not Alone.”\u00a0 “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” is an outstanding film with Robert Donat portraying Charles Edward Chipping a professor at Brookfield school for boys.\u00a0 The film is a flashback of his life as an educator and as a husband to beautiful Greer Garson.\u00a0 Garson and Donat are two of the finest British actors.\u00a0 This is a beautiful film with stellar acting.\u00a0 It should be seen at least once by everyone.\u00a0 There was a musical remake in 1969 with Peter O’Toole and Petulia Clark.\u00a0 I had avoided watching the remake but finally got around to watching it after rewatching the original.\u00a0 I enjoyed the 1969 film despite my hesitation but the 1939 film is by far the best.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>41.)\u00a0 20,000 Men a Year<\/em>.\u00a0 This is the second Randolph Scott film that I have viewed from my 1939 watch-list.\u00a0 The first, reviewed last time, was “Frontier Marshall.”\u00a0 It won’t be the last Randolph Scott film from 1939 I’ll review but that won’t be until Part Three.\u00a0 This is also the first film in this second blahg that I didn’t have on DVD.\u00a0 I don’t think there’s been a DVD release of this one.\u00a0 Randolph Scott is a pilot who disobeys orders and loses his job. He then starts a flying school sponsored by the government that will hopefully produce 20,000 pilots a year.\u00a0 The flying scenes and the ending are good but otherwise a dull film.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>42.)\u00a0 Flying Deuces.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Laurel and Hardy.\u00a0 Should I say more?\u00a0 I will.\u00a0 This film has been in public domain with poor prints existing for years.\u00a0 Finally VCI put out this restored Blu Ray (that’s the image to the right).\u00a0 Stan and Ollie join the French Foreign Legion so Ollie can forget the woman who wouldn’t marry him.\u00a0 Hilarity ensues.\u00a0 This is a bit of a remake of their short from 1931 called “Beau Hunks” where they first joined the Legion after Ollie is jilted.\u00a0 There’s a restored print of “Beau Hunks” available to be viewed on YouTube:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n