Films of 1938
These are the films I have seen from the year 1938.
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- DirectorMichael CurtizWilliam KeighleyStarsErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandBasil RathboneWhen Prince John and the Norman Lords begin oppressing the Saxon masses in King Richard's absence in 1190s England, a Saxon lord fights back as the outlaw leader of a resistance movement.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinDmitriy VasilevStarsNikolay CherkasovNikolai OkhlopkovAndrei AbrikosovThe story of how a great Russian prince led a ragtag army to battle an invading force of Teutonic Knights.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsTyrone PowerAlice FayeDon AmecheThis send-up of ragtime song and dance begins in 1915 San Francisco when society boy Roger Grant decides to pursue popular rather than serious music.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsCharles BoyerHedy LamarrSigrid GurieA wanted jewel thief ensconced in the Casbah meets a beautiful woman who makes him long for an escape.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJames CagneyPat O'BrienHumphrey BogartA priest tries to stop a gangster from corrupting a group of street kids.
- DirectorLew LandersStarsJack OakieLucille BallRuth DonnellyMovie star Annabel Allison has further comic adventures with her wacky publicity agent.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsJohn LodgeMargaret LockwoodHugh WilliamsA 1930s British summer Bank Holiday starts at midday on Saturday with a rush for the trains to the sea-side. Doreen Richards under the name Miss Fulham is off with friend Milly to a beauty contest. Geoffrey and nurse Catherine Lawrence have decided to spend an illicit week-end in the Grand Hotel, although Catherine's mind keeps turning back to the hospital case she was working on. Arthur, May and the children are set on a more straight-forward excursion of sea, sand, and pub. Meanwhile, the manager and performers of the "Follies" on the pier pray for rain.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJean GabinJulien CaretteSimone SimonIn this classic adaptation of Emile Zola's novel, a tortured train engineer falls in love with a troubled married woman who has helped her husband commit a murder.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenJames P. HoganStarsW.C. FieldsMartha RayeDorothy LamourThe Bellows family causes comic confusion on an ocean liner, with time out for radio-style musical acts.
- DirectorJohn G. BlystoneStarsStan LaurelOliver HardyPatricia EllisStan, who has remained faithfully at his World War I post for twenty years, finally comes home where his best friend, Ollie, takes him in, thus allowing him to discover the many conveniences of the modern world.
- DirectorFrank McDonaldStarsGlenda FarrellBarton MacLaneTom KennedySteve promises his captain not to favor Torchy with stories over other papers but becomes frustrated as to how she continues to scoop her rivals.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsSpencer TracyMickey RooneyHenry HullWhen a death row prisoner tells him he wouldn't have led a life of crime if only he had had one friend as a child, Father Edward Flanagan decides to start a home for young boys.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsKatharine HepburnCary GrantCharles RugglesWhile trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard, Baby.
- DirectorMark SandrichStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersRalph BellamyA psychiatrist falls in love with the woman he's supposed to be nudging into marriage with someone else.
- DirectorEdwin L. MarinStarsReginald OwenGene LockhartKathleen LockhartAn elderly miser learns the error of his ways on Christmas Eve.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsRobert DonatRosalind RussellRalph RichardsonAn enthusiastic young doctor happily embarks on his career, but it isn't long before he finds out what being a doctor really entails.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsGeorge BurnsGracie AllenMartha RayeGracie Alden tries to graduate college to get an inheritance.
- DirectorTim WhelanStarsMerle OberonLaurence OlivierBinnie BarnesDivorce lawyer Everard Logan thinks the woman who spent the night in his hotel room is the erring wife of his new client.
- DirectorRobert B. SinclairStarsLuise RainerPaulette GoddardAlan MarshalAspiring actress Louise Mauban attends the prestigious Paris School of Drama during the day and works at a dreary factory assembling gas meters at night. She daydreams and "acts" her way through life, and her fellow students at school begin to suspect her stories are just that - fabrications. After Louise begins to weave an actual meeting with a debonair playboy into a fantasy of club dates and romance, her co-student Nana discovers the lie when she too meets the playboy. Nana sets a trap for Louise, and the result is an end to one fantasy and the realization of another.
- DirectorEdwin L. MarinStarsAllan JonesJudy GarlandFanny BriceJudy Bellaire (Judy Garland) is the center of trouble at her exclusive, very conservative private school. She is expelled when she starts singing in a jazzy style in her music class. Mayhem ensues as she returns home to her actress mother, playwright father and dysfunctional Russian maid (Fanny Brice) and tries out as a blackface singer in a musical.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsClaude RainsJohn GarfieldJeffrey LynnA musician is blessed with four musical prodigies, all girls, and cursed when a troubled young composer enters the lives of his Four Daughters.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsJeanette MacDonaldNelson EddyWalter PidgeonA bandit disguises himself as an officer in an attempt to woo a saloon singer.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallH.C. PotterStarsAdolphe MenjouAndrea LeedsThe Ritz BrothersMovie producer chooses a simple girl to be "Miss Humanity" and to critically evalute his movies from the point of view of the ordinary person. Hit song: "Love Walked In.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierVictor FlemingJosef von SternbergStarsLuise RainerFernand GraveyMiliza KorjusIn 1845 Vienna, Johann Strauss II (Fernand Gravey) - 'Jonahi' to his friends - would rather write and perform waltzes than anything else, this at a time when a waltz is not considered proper society music. After he is fired from his clerical bank job because of his preoccupation with composing, he decides to follow his passion and form an orchestra. After some famed opera singers, including Carla Donner (Miliza Korjus), hear his music, they expose Johani's music to the masses, to royalty and to music publisher Julius Hofbauer (Hugh Herbert). As such, Johani becomes the toast of Vienna. With his new found musical fame, Johani's life, which includes his work in the European Revolutions, changes. He becomes torn for his love for his loving and faithful wife Poldi Vogelhuber (Luise Rainer) and his more emotionally passionate but somewhat destructive love for Carla Donner, who herself is involved with Count Anton Hohenfried (Lionel Atwill).
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsSonja HenieDon AmecheJean HersholtBandleader (Romero) and manager (Ameche) discover skater (Henie) in Norway. They become rivals after she returns with them to America.
- DirectorRay EnrightStarsDick PowellOlivia de HavillandCharles WinningerWhen spoiled young heiress Maggie Richards (Olivia de Havilland) tries to charge some gasoline at an auto camp run by Bill Davis (Dick Powell), he makes her work out her bill by making beds. Resolving to get even, she pretends to have forgiven him, and sends him to her father (Charles Winninger) to get financing for a plan Bill has. What happens next was not part of her original revenge plan.
- DirectorAlfred SantellStarsGinger RogersDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Peggy ConklinBored New York office girl Teddy Shaw goes to a camp in the Catskill Mountains for rest and finds Chick Kirkland.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsJohn BarrymoreGeorge MurphyMarjorie WeaverWhile running for governor, a politician aids a needy college by plotting to assure victory for their football team. Thought to be a parody of Huey Long and his machine.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsKatharine HepburnCary GrantDoris NolanA young man in love with a girl from a rich family finds his unorthodox plan to go on holiday for the early years of his life met with skepticism by everyone except for his fiancée's eccentric sister and long-suffering brother.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsAnnabellaJean-Pierre AumontLouis JouvetOn the meandering Canal St. Martin, at the Parisian Hôtel du Nord, a nearly fatal gunshot separates a dejected young couple. But, amid a sad but beautiful panorama of lively characters, love has the final say. Can life be a fairy tale?
- DirectorFrank LloydStarsRonald ColmanBasil RathboneFrances DeeVagabond poet François Villon rises to high office in 1463 Paris.
- DirectorHerbert I. LeedsStarsGloria StuartMichael WhalenPaul KellyA secretary solves a murder for her boyfriend in the District Attorney's office.
- DirectorAbel GanceStarsVictor FrancenLine NoroSylvie GanceA traumatized World War I veteran builds a machine to prevent war. When the government subverts his machine and a second world war seems increasingly inevitable, in desperation the inventor summons the ghosts of the war dead to protest.a/k/a 'J'accuse'
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsBette DavisHenry FondaGeorge BrentIn 1850s Louisiana, a free-spirited Southern belle loses her fiancé due to her stubborn vanity and pride, and vows to win him back.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsIrene DunneDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Alice BradyBroadway star Margaret Garrett has spent her whole life working to support her sponging relatives. When she meets carefree Dan Webster, she learns how to have fun for the first time.
- DirectorGeorge B. SeitzStarsMickey RooneyLewis StoneFay HoldenJudge Hardy takes a business trip to Washington, DC, where Andy promptly falls for the French ambassador's daughter.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsLoretta YoungRichard GreeneWalter BrennanRomeo and Juliet story set amidst horse racing in Kentucky. The family feud of lovers Jack and Sally goes back to the Civil War and is kept alive by her Uncle Peter.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsMargaret LockwoodMichael RedgravePaul LukasWhile travelling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.
- DirectorGeorge B. SeitzStarsMickey RooneyJudy GarlandLewis StoneAndy has problems raising the last payment for a used car and juggling three pretty girls with an upcoming country club dance scheduled.
- DirectorLeigh JasonStarsBarbara StanwyckHenry FondaSam LeveneAfter the murdered body discovered by beautiful, vivacious socialite Melsa Manton disappears, police and press label her a prankster until she proves them wrong.
- DirectorGarson KaninStarsAnne ShirleyEdward EllisLee BowmanDoctor John Abbott is a single parent who settles in the town of Westport with his son Dick, trying to eke out a living for them. He also inherits, by way of his doorstep, an unwanted baby girl, Jean Johnson, whom he adopts into his family, rears and loves as his own. Practicing his profession for pigs, I.O.U.s and a lot of empty promises as payment, he is barely able to provide for his family, yet is successful ultimately. Dr. Abbott is dedicated to the welfare of his community and well-being of his patients (mostly lower-class working folks of the rural town), but must battle a group of miserly businessmen at every twist and turn. He encounters resistance by the local bureaucracy for every progressive idea or beneficial proposal made for the betterment of the community, yet his altruistic optimism is not hampered by the penny-pinching bureaucrats interested more in lining their own pockets, rather than helping the town and its struggling population.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsMyrna LoyFranchot ToneRosalind RussellMimi has tried everything to become the bride to Alan, but he chooses Elizabeth instead. The ironic part is that Mimi's mother writes romance novels and neither one has had any luck with men. So Mimi decides to get a job as an illustrator at the New York Chronicle where her friend Jimmy works. When Alan and Liz return from their honeymoon, Alan wants to keep Mimi at his side, and Mimi has no objections - in the beginning.
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeJulien DuvivierStarsNorma ShearerTyrone PowerJohn BarrymoreThe tragic life of Marie Antoinette, who became queen of France in her late teens.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsPierre RenoirLise DelamareLouis JouvetA news-reel like movie about early part of the French Revolution, shown from the eyes of individual people, citizens of Marseille, counts in German exile and, of course the king Louis XVI, showing their own small problems.
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsConstance BennettBrian AherneAlan MowbrayDizzy society matron Emily Kilbourne has a habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants. Her latest find is a handsome "tramp" who shows up at her doorstep and soon ends up in a chauffeur's uniform. He also catches the eye of her pretty Geraldine.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsSonja HenieRichard GreeneJoan DavisThe son (Romero) of a department store owner enrolls the store's sports clerk (Henie) at a university to use her as an advertisement for their fashion department. She falls for a teacher (Greene) and gets expelled.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsWalter HustonJames StewartGene ReynoldsEthan Wilkins is a poor and honest man who ministers to the human soul, while his son Jason yearns to be a doctor, helping people in the earthly realm.
- DirectorOswald MitchellStarsArthur LucanKitty McShaneJerry VernoMrs. Riley and her daughter Kitty go to Paris, and get involved with spies.
- DirectorLeni RiefenstahlStarsDavid AlbrittonArvo AskolaJack BeresfordThe document of the 1936 Olympics at Berlin.
- DirectorGeorge B. SeitzStarsMickey RooneyLewis StoneFay HoldenJudge Hardy goes to his friend's Arizona ranch to help her in a legal dispute, and he takes his family with him.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithLeslie HowardStarsLeslie HowardWendy HillerWilfrid LawsonA phonetics and diction expert makes a bet that he can teach a cockney flower girl to speak proper English and pass as a lady in high society.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsDanielle DarrieuxDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Mischa AuerNicole has no job and is several weeks behind with her rent. Her solution is to try to snare a rich husband, and she enlists the help of her friend Gloria and the maitre d' to catch the eye of Bill Duncan.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsAlice FayeTony MartinFred AllenManicurists Sally, Irene, and Mary hope to be Broadway entertainers. After Mary inherits an old ferry boat, they turn it into a successful supper club.
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsFernandelOrane DemazisFernand CharpinMeeting a movie team on location near his house, a young man gets a lot of encouragement for his dreaming career as a movie star in what was only sarcasm from the members of the team. This is the characteristic of a schpountz: someone who sees himself as a born movie comedian and is blind on the critics to his dream. After he has signed a fake contract which he blindly takes as genuine even if it is ridiculous, he goes to Paris without money to make his career.a/k/a 'Le schpountz'
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsJoan CrawfordMargaret SullavanRobert YoungA nightclub dancer marries into high society and has to contend with her jealous sister-in-law.
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeRobert Z. LeonardStarsJeanette MacDonaldNelson EddyFrank MorganThe team behind a successful Broadway production tries to stop the married stars from transitioning to Hollywood.
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsClark GableMyrna LoySpencer TracyJim is a test pilot. His wife Ann and best friend Gunner try their best to keep him sober. But the life of a test pilot is anything but safe.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsLoretta YoungJoel McCreaDavid NivenThree sisters take their small inheritance and move from Kansas to California in search of rich husbands. To start with, Pamela poses as a socialite and Moira and Elizabeth pretend to be her staff.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsRobert TaylorMargaret SullavanFranchot ToneThe close friendship of three German soldiers is strengthened by their shared love for the same woman, who is dying of tuberculosis.
- DirectorWilliam ClemensStarsLola LanePaul KellyTom KennedyTorchy, Steve, and Gahagan are on the trail of a bank robber aboard an ocean liner traveling from New York to L.A. via the Panama Canal.
- DirectorWilliam BeaudineStarsGlenda FarrellBarton MacLaneTom KennedyA notorious counterfeiter passes himself off as a Secret Service agent to Steve and gets him to unwittingly help him bilk the racetrack out of tens of thousands.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsGinger RogersJames StewartJames EllisonA professor marries a nightclub singer, much to the consternation of his family and friends back home.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsClaude RainsFay BainterJackie CooperA homeless woman named Hannah drifts into the lives of the kindly Ward family, in a small Indiana town in 1919. Hannah makes herself useful as a cook and housekeeper and stays with the Wards... but her real interest is in meeting their neighbor, teenager Peter Trimble. It turns out that Peter is the son she bore out of wedlock and gave up for adoption, and now Hannah has returned to town to see what sort of young man her son has become.
- DirectorRobert B. SinclairStarsHerbert MarshallVirginia BruceMary AstorCynthia is married to Steve and is a selfish hard woman. She decides where they will live, who they will see and even gets rid of Dora, the nanny who raised Steve and is now raising their daughter Ellen. When Steve divorce's Cynthia, even his mother is on Cynthia's side. While pleading a case in Washington, Steve meets a woman named Maris and falls for her. Maris does not know if she is going to the altar or the chopping block, but they marry and come back to his hometown. Unfortunately, Maris is the outsider, and being a small town where Cynthia and Steve grew up, everyone is Cynthia's friend and not Maris. Cynthia will use every occasion, every trick, including Ellen, to try to ruin the life that Steve has with Maris.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsRobert TaylorVivien LeighLionel BarrymoreA brash young American aristocrat attending Oxford University gets a chance to prove himself and win the heart of his antagonist's sister.
- DirectorGeorge B. SeitzStarsRobert MontgomeryVirginia BruceLewis StoneIn the fever-stricken areas of Cuba, a brave band of scientists, doctors, and U.S. Marines fight a losing battle against the deadly plague of 'Yellow Jack' until the great heroic risk taken by an Irish sergeant brings victory.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJean ArthurJames StewartLionel BarrymoreThe son of a snobbish Wall Street banker becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their home for a real estate development.
- DirectorHarold S. BucquetStarsLionel BarrymoreLew AyresLynne CarverDr. James Kildare decides to take a position at a large New York hospital instead of joining his father's country practice but he finds himself in serious trouble when he saves a suicidal woman.