1939 was the Year of Great Movies. In fact, motion picture historians and fans often call 1939 “the greatest year in the history of Hollywood.”

August: The Wizard of Oz premiers at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California. The movie, based on L. Frank Baum’s book, stars Judy Garland as Dorothy. The film studio MGM almost deleted Ms. Garland’s famous song, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from the movie because they thought it was too long and that it was degrading for her to be singing in a barnyard. The song went on to win many awards, including an Academy Award for Best Song in 1939.

October: Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, starring my favorite actor, Jimmy Stewart, premiers in Washington, D.C. The movie tells the story of a young man from the midwest who accidentally gets appointed to the U.S. Senate. There he comes into conflict with a bunch of cynical and crooked politicians, and he heroically sustains a filibuster (back when a filibuster was real) in the Senate to fight for the cause of honesty and the rule of law.

December: Gone with the Wind premiers in Atlanta, Georgia, of course. What a movie! If you’ve never watched Gone With the Wind, you’ve missed about the best movie Hollywood ever made. Gone With the Wind won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The music in this video of clips from the movie is called Tara’s Theme.

Other films of 1939: Ninotchka with Greta Garbo, Dark Victory starring Bette Davis, Stagecoach, directed by Jon Ford and starring John Wayne, Wuthering Heights with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon.