If you ever find yourself in a bar-room argument about the greatest year in movie history, just say "1939" and walk away. You’ve won. It’s basically the mic-drop of cinema trivia. That single year was so packed with talent that it felt like Hollywood was showing off, or maybe just panicked that the world was about to end. And, well, with World War II kicking off in Europe that September, maybe they were onto something.
The 1939 academy awards best picture nominees represent a lineup that we will likely never see again. Ten films. Ten actual classics. In the modern era, the Academy sometimes struggles to find ten movies that people have even heard of, but in 1940 (when the '39 awards were handed out), the roster was a literal murderers' row of storytelling.
The Year Everything Went Right (And One Movie Went Huge)
Honestly, it’s kinda ridiculous when you look at the list. You have The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind in the same bracket. Imagine being a voter. How do you choose between the flying monkeys and the burning of Atlanta?
The technical term for the winner, Gone with the Wind, is "behemoth." It didn't just win; it consumed the ceremony. Producer David O. Selznick was basically a madman who obsessed over every frame, and it paid off with eight competitive Oscars. It was the first color film to take the top prize. People forget that. They also forget that it was nearly four hours long. In an age before TikTok destroyed our attention spans, people sat through that epic twice in one day.
But the competition wasn't just filler. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was there, giving us Jimmy Stewart’s best "earnest man vs. the system" performance. Then you had Stagecoach, the movie that basically invented the modern Western and made John Wayne a household name. If any of these came out today, they’d be the undisputed frontrunner for the year. In 1939, they were just another Tuesday at the box office.
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The Full List of the 1939 Nominees
To keep things straight, here’s the actual group that was up for Outstanding Production (the old-school name for Best Picture) at the 12th Academy Awards:
- Gone with the Wind (The Winner)
- The Wizard of Oz (The one everyone still watches)
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (The political powerhouse)
- Wuthering Heights (The moody romance)
- Stagecoach (The Western blueprint)
- Goodbye, Mr. Chips (The sentimental tear-jerker)
- Ninotchka (Where "Garbo Laughs!")
- Of Mice and Men (The heavy-hitting Steinbeck adaptation)
- Dark Victory (Bette Davis at her peak)
- Love Affair (The sophisticated romance)
What People Get Wrong About the 1939 Race
Most people assume Gone with the Wind was a total shoo-in. It wasn't that simple. While it eventually swept, the New York Film Critics actually gave their top award to Wuthering Heights after a massive deadlock. There was a real feeling that the "big" movie might be too big for its own good.
And then there's the Wizard of Oz situation. We think of it as this untouchable masterpiece today, but back then? It was sort of a box office disappointment initially. It only became the legend it is now through decades of television airings. At the actual ceremony, it only walked away with two competitive Oscars: Best Original Score and Best Song for "Over the Rainbow."
Think about that. "Over the Rainbow" almost didn't make the cut because MGM executives thought it slowed down the movie.
The Hattie McDaniel Milestone
You can't talk about the 1939 academy awards best picture nominees without talking about Hattie McDaniel. She won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind. This was huge. She was the first African American to ever win an Oscar.
However, the reality was bittersweet. The ceremony was held at the Ambassador Hotel’s Coconut Grove, which was a "no-Blacks" establishment. Selznick had to call in favors just to get her into the building, and even then, she was seated at a small table at the back, far away from her co-stars Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. It’s a stark reminder that while the films were "Golden Age," the society they were made in was still incredibly broken.
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Why 1939 Still Matters to You
So, why does any of this matter nearly 90 years later? Because these films established the "rules" of how we watch movies today.
Stagecoach taught us how to film an action sequence. The Wizard of Oz taught us how to use color to tell an emotional story. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington established the "underdog" trope that every sports and political movie has copied since.
If you want to understand why modern movies feel the way they do, you sort of have to go back to this specific year. It was the peak of the Studio System—a time when MGM, Warner Bros., and RKO had enough money and ego to throw everything at the screen.
Actionable Insights for Film Buffs
If you’re looking to catch up on this legendary year, don't just stick to the two big ones.
- Watch Stagecoach for the stunts. No CGI. Just guys jumping onto moving horses. It’s terrifying.
- Check out Ninotchka for the wit. It’s a comedy about Communism that’s actually funny. Billy Wilder co-wrote the script, and his cynical touch is all over it.
- Compare Of Mice and Men to the book. It’s one of the few times Hollywood didn't completely butcher a classic novel's ending.
- Look at the cinematography in Wuthering Heights. Gregg Toland shot this, and he went on to do Citizen Kane. You can see the beginnings of that "deep focus" style here.
The 12th Academy Awards weren't just a trophy presentation. They were a graduation ceremony for Hollywood. The industry proved it could handle complex drama, high-stakes politics, and ground-breaking technology all at once. Even with the world on the brink of a global war, these films offered a mix of escape and hard truths that still resonate.
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To really appreciate the 1939 academy awards best picture nominees, try watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Gone with the Wind back-to-back. One celebrates the gritty, flawed endurance of democracy; the other romanticizes a lost, problematic past through a lens of pure spectacle. It’s a fascinating look at the duality of the American identity, frozen in amber from a year where the cameras never stopped rolling.
Start your 1939 marathon with the lesser-known nominees like Dark Victory or Love Affair to see the incredible depth of talent that existed beyond the shadows of the "Big Two." You will quickly realize that 1939 wasn't just a good year for movies—it was the year the movies finally grew up.