Category Archives: 1939

The Rains Came

Posted on December 8, 2014 by John Grant

Returning to the great movie year of 1939, I sat down and watched “The Rains Came,” the Twentieth Century Fox film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Myrna Loy, Tyrone Power and George Brent. It’s a melodramatic disaster film with … Continue reading →

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MIdnight

Posted on July 10, 2014 by John Grant

As romantic comedies go, they don’t get much classier or funnier that “Midnight,” a 1939 film written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, and directed by Mitchell Leisen. The movie stars Claudette Colbert, John Barrymore, Don Ameche and Mary Astor, … Continue reading →

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Love Affair

Posted on March 1, 2014 by John Grant

The 1939 movie, “Love Affair,” starring Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne can be called a classic because of the supposed chemistry between Boyer and Dunne, but I think it’s remembered mostly because of a gimmicky plot. Boyer plays a French … Continue reading →

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Jesse James

Posted on September 19, 2013 by John Grant

When Darryl F. Zanuck decided to cast Tyrone Power as Jesse James in the 1939 Technicolor movie of the same name, he reportedly wanted screenwriter Nunnally Johnson and Director Henry King to produce a happy ending.  History records that Bob … Continue reading →

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The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum

Posted on September 7, 2013 by John Grant

A troubled actor attempts to redeem himself for his famous father in “The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum,” directed by Kenji Mizoguchi and released in 1939.  Mizoguchi, a prolific silent film director who presided over more than 90 films, is … Continue reading →

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Rose of Washington Square

Posted on May 22, 2013 by John Grant

With a cast of Alice Faye, Tyrone Power and Al Jolson, I expected “Rose of Washington Square,” released in 1939, to offer superior entertainment.  Although it succeeds on various levels, including its numerous musical numbers, it fails to elevate itself … Continue reading →

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Little Princesses

Posted on April 19, 2013 by John Grant

In 1995, Warner Brothers produced a remake of the 1939 film “The Little Princess” and renamed it “A Little Princess.”  The remake stars Liesel Matthews as Sara Crewe, a young British girl with a close relationship with her father, an … Continue reading →

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Bachelor Mother

Posted on April 13, 2013 by John Grant

A very interesting and funny RKO picture, “Bachelor Mother,” came out in 1939 and stars Ginger Rogers as single woman who finds a baby on the doorstep of an orphanage.  She picks it up, rings the doorbell and her life … Continue reading →

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The Old Maid

Posted on April 4, 2013 by John Grant

The 1939 movie, “The Old Maid,” from Warner Brothers, stars Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins as two cousins in love with the same man.  As the film begins, everyone in the Lovell household make preparations for Delia Lovell’s wedding to … Continue reading →

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Oz the Great and Powerful

Posted on March 26, 2013 by John Grant

I’ll start this review by mentioning that the “Wizard of Oz” is my favorite movie of all time.  I first watched it as a child on an old black and white TV set, so I didn’t even know it contained … Continue reading →

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