Tag Archives: Watching 1939

Watching 1939: Smashing the Money Ring (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

smashing21939 film:
Smashing the Money Ring (1939)

Release date:
Oct. 21, 1939

Cast:
Ronald Reagan, Margot Stevenson, Eddie Foy, Joe Downing, Charles D. Brown, Joe King, William B. Davidson, John Ridgely (uncredited)

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Terry O. Morse

Plot:
A mob printing counterfeit money are connected to a gambling ship. When the leader, Dice Matthews (Downing), lands in jail, a Secret Service agent, Lt. Brass Bancroft (Reagan), goes undercover as an inmate. While in jail, Bancroft investigates how and where the counterfeit money is printed and distributed.

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Watching 1939: Angels Wash Their Faces (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

angels41939 film:
Angels Wash Their Faces (1939)

Release date:
Aug. 26, 1939

Cast:
Ann Sheridan, Frankie Thomas, Bonita Granville, Ronald Reagan, Henry O’Neill, Eduardo Ciannelli, Berton Churchill, Bernard Nedell, Dick Rich, Margaret Hamilton, Marjorie Main, Minor Watson, Cy Kendall, Grady Sutton, Aldrich Bowker, Cy Kendall, William Hopper (uncredited)
The Dead End Kids: Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Punsly, Gabriel Jordan, Bobby Jordan

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Ray Enright

Plot:
Teenager Gabe Ryan (Thomas) is released from reform school on good behavior, and he returns home to live with his older sister, Joy (Sheridan). However, life isn’t easy when Gabe returns home. After a local mobster’s (Ciannelli) romantic advances are turned down by Joy, a mob starts framing Gabe as an arsonist, accusing him of setting fires. Because of his reform school background, locals and school teachers corroborate the story. A group of neighborhood kids (Granville, The Dead End Kids) help to clear Gabe’s name after the mob burns down an apartment home and frames Gabe.

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Watching 1939: Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

three smart girls51939 film:
Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939)

Release date:
March 24, 1939

Cast:
Deanna Durbin, Charles Winninger, Nan Grey, Helen Parrish, Nella Walker, Robert Cummings, William Lundigan, Ernest Cossart, Felix Bressart, Grady Sutton (uncredited),

Studio:
Universal Pictures

Director:
Henry Koster

Plot:
With their parents (Walker, Winninger) back together, the Craig sisters (Durbin, Grey, Parrish) are all together as a family with their parents. Everything is happy when Joan Craig (Grey) gets engaged to Richard Watkins (Lundigan). However, the good news brings heartache to Kay Craig (Parrish), who also was in love with Richard. Seeing her sister unhappy, youngest sister Penny (Durbin) sets out to find Kay a boyfriend, which brings about family misunderstandings.

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Watching 1939: Susannah of the Mounties (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

susannah21939 film:
Susannah of the Mounties (1939)

Release date:
June 23, 1939

Cast:
Shirley Temple, Randolph Scott, Margaret Lockwood, Martin Good Rider, J. Farrell MacDonald, Maurice Moscovitch, Moroni Olsen, Victor Jory, Lester Matthews, Leyland Hodgson, Herbert Evans, John Sutton, Jack Luden, Eddie Big Beaver, Chief John Big Tree, Charles Iron Breast, Chief Victor Coward, Chief Thunderbird, Tom Spotted Eagle

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
William A. Seiter

Plot:
Set in the 1880s, the Canadian Pacific Railway was being built, which upset the Native Americans as the railroad threatened their land. The Northwest Mounted Police had to keep the peace between the Native Americans and the railroad. After an attack on a wagon train, Susannah (Temple) is the only survivor. She is rescued by the Mounties and cared for by Inspector Angus Montague (Scott). While staying with the Mounted Police, Susannah befriends Blackfeet Native American, Little Chief (Rider).

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Watching 1939: The Lady and the Mob (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

lady and the mob21939 film:
Lady and the Mob (1939)

Release date:
April 3, 1939

Cast:
Fay Bainter, Ida Lupino, Lee Bowman, Henry Armetta, Warren Hymer, Harold Huber, Forbes Murray, Joe Sawyer, Tom Dugan, Joe Caits, Jim Toney, Tommy Mack, Brandon Tynan, George Meeker

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Benjamin Stoloff

Plot:
Lila Thorne (Lupion) and Fred Leonard (Bowman) are engaged to be married. While Fred finishes business in town, Lila travels to meet Fred’s mother, Hattie Leonard (Bainter). Hattie is eccentric and particular. When Hattie realizes her laundry bill has raised a few dollars, she finds that her laundryman Zambrogio (Armetta) is paying the mob for protection. Hattie takes matters into her own hands to break up the gang by creating her own mob.

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Watching 1939: Good Girls Go to Paris (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

1939 film:
Good Girls Go to Paris (1939)

good girls

Release date:
June 30, 1939

Cast:
Joan Blondell, Melvyn Douglas, Walter Connolly, Alan Curtis, Joan Perry, Isabel Jean, Stanley Brown, Alexander D’Arcy, Henry Hunter, Clarence Kolb, Howard Hickman, James Craig (uncredited), Ann Doran (uncredited), Mary Field (uncredited), Robert Sterling (uncredited)

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
Alexander Hall

Plot:
Jenny Swanson (Blondell) is a waitress at a diner on a college campus, but dreams of traveling to Paris. One way Jenny thinks she can do this is through blackmail a college boy and get paid off. When this plan fails, she turns to Ronald Brooke (Douglas), a professor she has befriended, who advises she goes home. Instead of heading to Minnesota, Jenny goes to New York City and gets mixed up with the Brand family, who Ronald will marry into soon.

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Watching 1939: Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

nd hidden staircase1939 film:
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (1939)

Release date:
Sept. 9, 1939

Cast:
Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas, John Litel, Frank Orth, Renie Riano, Vera Lewis, Louise Carter, William Gould, George Guhl, John Ridgley, William Hopper, Dick Elliott, Don Rowan

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
William Clemens

Plot:
After their father dies, the Turnbell sisters (Lewis, Carter) are set to inherit their family home. However, the stipulation is that the ladies must stay in the house every night for 20 years or they lose the home. Over the years, the women have affidavits from witnesses to prove they have been in the home every night, which lawyer Carson Drew (Litel) is handling. On the eve of their inheritance, someone tries to steal the affidavits and disprove the women, and their one witness is murdered. Teen sleuth Nancy Drew (Granville) and her pal Ted (Thomas) try to figure out who is trying to take a home away from the women.

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Watching 1939: Hotel for Women (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

1939 film:
Hotel for Women (1939)

hotel for women

Release date:
Aug. 14, 1939

Cast:
Ann Sothern, Linda Darnell, Lynn Bari, James Ellison, Jean Rogers, June Gale, Joyce Compton, John Halliday, Kay Aldridge, Alan Dinehart, Sidney Blackmer, Ruth Terry, Amanda Duff, Gregory Gaye (uncredited), Mary Healy (uncredited), Kay Linaker (uncredited)
Themselves: Elsa Maxwell

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Gregory Ratoff

Plot:
Marcia Bromley (Darnell) travels from Syracuse, N.Y. to New York City to follow her boyfriend Jeff (Ellison), who has been working as an architect for a year. While Marcia has been carrying the torch for Jeff, he has moved on. Ready to head back home, the girls at the women’s hotel she’s staying at help Marcia get on her feet and into a career of modeling.

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Watching 1939: Let Us Live (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

1939 film:
Let Us Live (1939)

Release date:
March 29, 1939

Cast:
Henry Fonda, Maureen O’Sullivan, Ralph Bellamy, Alan Baxter, George Lynn, Martin Spellman, Stanley Ridges, Henry Kolker, William V. Mong (uncredited), Dick Elliot (uncredited), Milton Kibbee (uncredited), Charles Lane (uncredited), Ann Doran (uncredited)

Studio:
Columbia Pictures

Director:
John Brahm

Plot:
Sweethearts Brick Tennant (Fonda) and Mary Roberts (O’Sullivan) are about to be married. Brick has just purchased his own taxi to start in business on his own and life looks promising. That is until Brick and his pal Joe Linden (Baxter) are accused of holding up a movie theater and killing someone in the process, the two find that even if you didn’t commit the crime, public opinion can still be stacked against you.

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Watching 1939: Chicken Wagon Family (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

chicken wagon21939 film:
Chicken Wagon Family (1939)

Release date:
Aug. 11, 1939

Cast:
Jane Withers, Leo Carrillo, Spring Byington, Marjorie Weaver, Kane Richmond, Hobart Cavanaugh, Inez Palange

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Herbert L. Leeds

Plot:
The Fippany family travels to towns, swapping goods for chickens. After living on the road, Mrs. Fippany (Byington) and their grown daughter Cecile (Weaver) have grown weary of life on the road, which Mr. Fippany (Carrillo) and their daughter Addie (Withers) thrive on. However, the family makes the decision to settle down and take their mule-driven wagon to New York City where they find a very different life and Mrs. Fippany’s old flame (Cavanaugh).

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