Best of 1938
List activity
58 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
50 titles
- DirectorWilliam CottrellDavid HandWilfred JacksonStarsAdriana CaselottiHarry StockwellLucille La VerneExiled into the dangerous forest by her wicked stepmother, a princess is rescued by seven dwarf miners who make her part of their household.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeJulien DuvivierStarsNorma ShearerTyrone PowerJohn BarrymoreThe tragic life of Marie Antoinette, who became queen of France in her late teens.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsTyrone PowerAlice FayeDon AmecheThe O'Leary brothers--honest Jack and roguish Dion--become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsDorothy LamourJon HallMary AstorA Polynesian sailor unjustly imprisoned after defending himself against a colonial bully is relentlessly persecuted by his island's martinet French governor.
- 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.
- 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 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.
- DirectorFrank LloydStarsRonald ColmanBasil RathboneFrances DeeVagabond poet François Villon rises to high office in 1463 Paris.
- DirectorFrank LloydStarsJoel McCreaBob BurnsFrances DeeThe life and career of a Wells Fargo official frames this fictionalized account of the express company's formation.
- 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.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsCharles BoyerHedy LamarrSigrid GurieA wanted jewel thief ensconced in the Casbah meets a beautiful woman who makes him long for an escape.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsDeanna DurbinHerbert MarshallGail PatrickA young woman at a girl's school in Switzerland makes up stories about, and writes herself letters, from an imaginary explorer-adventurer father, and is eventually put in a position where she has to produce him. Interesting things happen after she talks a visiting Englishman into helping her out.
- DirectorAllan DwanStarsTyrone PowerLoretta YoungAnnabellaFerdinand de Lesseps, disappointed in love, is sent as a junior diplomat to the Isthmus of Suez, and realizes it's just the place for a canal.
- 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.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsFredric MarchFranciska GaalAkim TamiroffSemi-fictional account of pirate Jean Lafitte's involvement in the War of 1812.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsClaudette ColbertCharles BoyerBasil RathboneAfter the Russian revolution, a married Russian couple of nobility must take up jobs in Paris in order to survive.
- 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.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsErrol FlynnBette DavisAnita LouiseThree daughters of a small town pharmacist undergo trials and tribulations in their problematic marriages between 1904 and 1908.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsCarole LombardFredric MarchCharles WinningerAn eccentric woman learns she is not dying of radium poisoning as earlier assumed, but when she meets a reporter looking for a story, she feigns sickness again for her own profit.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsJeanette MacDonaldAllan JonesWarren WilliamNina Maria Azara is the beautiful, alluring singing spy for Spain during the Napoleonic Wars. Her mission is to seduce French Officers so they will reveal Napolean's intentions toward Spain. She is sent to Bayonne, France to gather military secrets. Prior to this, she meets Don Diego while performing at a club. Unknown to her, Don Diego is actually Captain Andre, who is sent to Spain to spy on her. While in France, Nina discovers Diego's true identity--after she has fallen in love with him. Nina outwits her potential captors and returns to Spain, and goes into hiding. Napoleon's troops invade Spain, resulting in Nina's capture. In a strange twist of fate, Nina and Captain Andre are reunited, but the two nations are now at war.
- DirectorEdward LudwigStarsDeanna DurbinMelvyn DouglasJackie CooperA teenage girl clashes with her newspaper publisher father's star reporter while he stays in their country guest house, but soon finds herself falling in love with him.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsFred MacMurrayRay MillandLouise CampbellPlot #1 is the love triangle between two guys and one girl as they grow into adults and affiliate themselves in the new aircraft industry. Plot #2 is aircraft evolution from the days of Wilbur and Orville Wright to just prior to WWII.
- DirectorWilliam KeighleyStarsPriscilla LaneWayne MorrisJohnnie DavisStory of three buddies at the Virginia Military Institute. Cadet Bing Edwards is secretly married and soon to be a father.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsMadeleine CarrollHenry FondaLeo CarrilloA simple peasant is forced to take up arms to defend his farm during the Spanish Civil War. Along the way he falls in love with Russian whose father is involved in espionage.
- DirectorArchie MayoJohn CromwellStarsGary CooperSigrid GurieBasil RathboneAdventurer Marco Polo travels to China, where he finds the Emperor Kublai Khan, court intrigue, danger, and unexpected love.
- DirectorHerbert WilcoxStarsAnna NeagleAnton WalbrookWalter RillaThe story of an 18-year-old princess who becomes Queen of England. It chronicles six decades of her reign during a period of immense change and her marriage to a prince who would become her treasured source of stability and affection.
- 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.
- DirectorWesley RugglesStarsBing CrosbyFred MacMurrayDonald O'ConnorOf the singing Beebe brothers, young Mike just wants to be a kid; responsible Dave wants to work in his garage and marry Martha; but reckless Joe thinks his only road to success is through swapping and gambling. It seems the only thing all three can join in is their singing act, which Mike and Dave hate. Finally, all Joe's hopes are pinned on a race horse he's acquired, but it's a bigger gamble than his family knows. Hilarious sequence involving a lecturer on seals.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsTommy KellyJackie MoranAnn GillisTom Sawyer and his pal Huckleberry Finn have great adventures on the Mississippi River, pretending to be pirates, attending their own funeral and witnessing a murder.
- DirectorRichard WallaceLewis MilestoneGilbert PrattStarsJanet GaynorDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Roland YoungThrown out of the Riviera, a family of grifters meets a lonely, vulnerable rich old woman and insinuate themselves into her life while they sponge off her.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsEdward G. RobinsonJane BryanAllen JenkinsFormer bootlegger Remy Marco has a slight problem with forclosing bankers, a prospective son-in-law, and four hard-to-explain corpses.
- DirectorZoltan KordaStarsSabuRaymond MasseyRoger LiveseyDuring the British Raj, Captain Carruthers works under cover to track smuggled shipments of arms on the restless Northwest Frontier of India. He fears a full-scale rebellion is brewing. To forestall this, the British governor signs a treaty with the friendly, peace-loving ruler of Tokot, a key kingdom in the region, which is described as four days' march northward from Peshawar. Meanwhile, the king's son, Prince Azim, befriends Carruthers and a British drummer boy, Bill Holder, who teaches him how to play the instrument.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsClark GableMyrna LoyWalter PidgeonTwo rival newsreel photographers join forces to find an aviatrix's missing brother, who has disappeared in the Amazon rainforest.
- DirectorJohn M. StahlStarsAdolphe MenjouAndrea LeedsGeorge MurphyFrom a "letter of introduction" aging actor John learns that he has a grown daughter, aspiring actress Katherine. They keep their secret, but he agrees to star with her in a play to further her career on Broadway.
- DirectorH.C. PotterStarsMargaret SullavanJames StewartWalter PidgeonShortly after the United States enters World War I in 1917, a Broadway actress agrees to let a naive soldier court her in order to impress his friends, but a real romance soon begins.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsWallace BeeryMickey RooneyArthur HohlA washed up, alcoholic Vet and a dreamer stable boy help nurse a sick race horse back to health.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsGeorge RaftHenry FondaDorothy LamourFriends since childhood, two men are on opposite sides in a salmon fishing conflict.
- DirectorGeorge B. SeitzStarsMickey RooneyLewis StoneFay HoldenJudge Hardy takes a business trip to Washington, DC, where Andy promptly falls for the French ambassador's daughter.
- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsWill FyffeJohn LoderMargaret LockwoodA story about Cumbrian shepherds and their skilled sheepdogs. Grumpy old McAdam with aggressive Black Wull and civilized David Moore with educated Owd Bob compete to win the sheepdogs's cup. David also tries to win McAdam's daughter's heart.
- 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.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsEdward G. RobinsonHumphrey BogartClaire TrevorA brilliant Park Avenue doctor becomes a criminal in order to do research into the criminal mind.
- 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.