Bette Davis and Geraldine Fitzgerald in Dark Victory (top); Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon in Wuthering Heights (bottom)
Academy revisits ‘Hollywood’s Greatest Year’: 10 Best Picture nominees to be screened in Beverly Hills
The Civil War epic blockbuster Gone with the Wind, the 1939 Best Picture winner, will kick off the New York presentation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ latest screening series, “Hollywood’s Greatest Year: The Best Picture Nominees of 1939,” on Saturday, June 20, at 12:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Theater in New York City. Turner Classic Movies host and film historian Robert Osborne will host the event.
“Hollywood’s Greatest Year” will continue through mid-October, showcasing all 10 Best Picture nominees from 1939. Screenings will take place on Monday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 12:30 p.m., or Saturday at 3:30 p.m., with Osborne as host.
The complete schedule for “Hollywood’s Greatest Year” is as follows:
Saturday, June 20
Victor Fleming’s Gone with the Wind, starring Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, and Hattie McDaniel.Saturday, June 27
Edmund Goulding’s Dark Victory, starring Bette Davis, George Brent, and Geraldine Fitzgerald; and William Wyler’s Wuthering Heights, starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier.Monday, July 20
Ernst Lubitsch’s Ninotchka, starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas.Saturday, July 25
Leo McCarey’s Love Affair, starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer; and Sam Wood’s Goodbye Mr. Chips, starring Robert Donat and Greer Garson.Monday, Aug. 10
Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, starring Jean Arthur, James Stewart, and Claude Rains.Saturday, Aug. 15
John Ford’s Stagecoach, starring Claire Trevor, John Wayne, and Thomas Mitchell; and Lewis Milestone’s Of Mice and Men, starring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney Jr., Charles Bickford, and Betty Field.Monday, Oct. 12
Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland and Frank Morgan.
Each screening includes a preshow consisting of one of the year’s animated shorts and a chapter of the 1939 serial, Buck Rogers, starring Buster Crabbe and Constance Moore. The preshow will start a half-hour before the feature.
Tickets for each screening are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID. Tickets may be purchased online at www.oscars.org or by mail (a printable order form is available in the Events & Exhibitions section of the Web site). Tickets may also be purchased at the box office prior to the event (subject to availability). All seating is unreserved.
Images of Bette Davis and Geraldine Fitzgerald in Dark Victory, and Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon in Wuthering Heights: Courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library.