Btexxamar
I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.
Gutsycurene
Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
MartinHafer
This documentary focuses on the great films from 1939--a year that is considered by many to represent the pinnacle of American film making. The production is narrated by Kenneth Branagh and is filled with interviews and tons of film clips. As for the clips, since most of the great films of this year were from MGM, Turner Entertainment (who made the documentary) had easy access to the footage. Among the great films discussed were: "Ninotchka", "Goodbye Mr. Chips", "Gone With the Wind", "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", "The Wizard of Oz", "The Women", "The Roaring Twenties", "Dodge City", "Old Maid", "Dark Victory", "Confessions of a Nazi Spy", "Beau Geste", "Midnight", "Union Pacific", "Gunga Din", "Stagecoach", "Only Angels Have Wings", "Of Mice and Men". Is the film any good? Yup--with exactly the quality and entertainment we've come to expect from Turner.
MissSimonetta
If you're a seasoned classic film fan or film history buff, then this documentary of Hollywood in 1939 will offer no new insights or information.I was surprised at how many films were glossed over or only briefly examined: Wuthering Heights, Intermezzo: A Love Story, Son of Frankenstein, and The Rains Came are all worthy of attention, yet all are barely given a paragraph. It's sad. As important as The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind are, can't other films from that year get some love for once? There's nothing overtly awful or revisionist about this documentary, but it's nothing special. Only newcomers to classic film will find anything of interest here.
mountainkath
I was expecting so much more from this profile of Hollywood's greatest year. I was very disappointed that this look at 1939 was so thin and so poorly done.I expected a lot of time to be spent on The Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind. I didn't expect this time to be at the expense of other '39 movies. This documentary of 1939 barely glossed over Idiot's Delight (Clark Gable's only appearance singing and dancing) and totally ignored The Little Princess, Bachelor Mother, Stanley and Livingstone, and Intermezzo: A Love Story (just to name a few).I was particularly disappointed that they left out Intermezzo because this would have provided a perfect time to contrast Leslie Howard with his role in Gone With The Wind (he was much too old to play Ashley Wilkes and I feel that showed in his performance, but he was wonderful in Intermezzo). The exclusion of Intermezzo is all the more puzzling because it was the first American film appearance of Ingrid Bergman. How can the debut of such a star be overlooked?Even the attention given to Gone With The Wind is weak. No mention is made of Hattie McDaniel's historic Oscar win (except for a one second moment of footage at the awards). The core audience for this film would have to be newcomers to classic movies. Any fan of classic movies will not learn anything new and will be horribly distracted by all of the omissions.The 70th anniversary of Hollywood's greatest year deserves better.
Michael_Elliott
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year (2009) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Extremely entertaining documentary from Warner takes a look at 1939, which many film buffs and historians consider the greatest year for movies. The documentary has Kenneth Branagh doing the narration and features interviews with Leonard Maltin, Rudy Behlmer and many others as they look over the countless great films released that year. They break the movies down by studios and is pretty level in regards to all of them with the exception of Universal and Paramount. No clips from either of those studios are shown and the movies themselves get very little mention, although Maltin does mention SON OF FRANKENSTEIN. The spotlight is certainly on MGM as they released the two monsters in GONE WITH THE WIND as well as THE WIZARD OF OZ. We also take a look at the work done by John Ford with YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK and STAGECOACH. Capra and MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON is also a favorite here as are discussion of NINOTCHKA, OF MICE AND MEN, GUNGA DIN, DODGE CITY, THE ROARING TWENTIES and countless other gems. The documentary does a great job at introducing these films to those who might not be familiar with them or the legend of 1939 but I think the one weak spot is that there's never really any talk of why the studios were pumping out so many great movies in this one year. There's a brief mention of coming out of the Depression and going for it all but more discussion here would have been a plus. Coming in at just under 70-minutes, the documentary is a good introduction to these films.
