Was 1939 the greatest year for new movie releases in film history?

The most interesting thing about that year is GWTW makes a great movie like Stagecoach look like it was filmed 10 years earlier.

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You have Gunga Din really low on that list

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That list is not my ranking .... it's just basically the order I remembered them in, which is no particular order.

I agree, Gunga Din is one of my favorites. I'll edit and clarify that it is in no particular order

Certainly one of em

Good year. The Rules of the Game is one of those foreign language classics that I still haven't seen, routinely mentioned up their with Citizen Kane, Vertigo, The Godfather etc.

1974 was a good one:

The Godfather II
Chinatown
The Conversation
A Woman Under the Influence
Young Frankenstein
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Blazing Saddles
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Murder on the Orient Express
Death Wish
The Sugarland Express
Dark Star
The Phantom of Liberty
The Parallax View
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Big year for Francis Ford Coppola and Mel Brooks. Carpenter, Scorsese, Cassavetes, Bunuel, Peckinpah, Carpenter, Spielberg, Lumet and De Palma came out with good ones that year too.

Found a couple of articles with 1939 and 1974 both included in their top years. 82 and 99 also mentioned in both.

The Greatest Years in Movie History
What was the Best Year in Movie History

That first one talks about 1982 having the best summer ever:
Blade Runner - The Thing - E. T. - The Road Warrior (American release) - Poltergeist - Conan the Barbarian - Fast Times at Ridgemont High - Tron - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - The Secret of NIMH.

Gone With The Wind
Beau Geste
The Wizard of Oz
Dark Victory
The Rules of the Game
Gulliver's Travels
The Man in the Iron Mask
Charlie Chan (Xs 3)
Rin Tin Tin
Stanley & Livingstone
Only Angels Have Wings
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Goodbye, Mr Chips
Intermezzo
Moon Over Harlem
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
The Four Feathers
Five Came Back
Love Affair
Destry Rides Again
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Gunga Din
Let Us Live
Man About Town
The Oklahoma Kid
Of Mice and Men
Mister Smith Goes To Washington
Stagecoach
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Hound of Baskervilles
Wuthering Heights
Young Mr Lincoln
Midnight
The Stars Look Down

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1974 was a good one:

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Sure was and I thought about '74.

Excellent article you linked there, thanks!

Yes. By far.

Tastes change, what is in vogue now might not have been back then and vice versa. That having been said 1939 is loaded to an astounding degree. There have been some years that match it but '39, before Hollywood went into the war business, was a majestic year.

You could spend a comfortable week watching the best of 1939.

You left off Tarzan Finds a Son you toad.

2001 was excellent.

Fellowship of the Ring
Harry Potter
Shrek
Monsters Inc
Donnie Darko
Oceans 11
Memento
A Knights Tale
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Snatch
Training Day
Moulin Rouge
Hannibal
Zoolander
Serendipity
Vanilla Sky
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