1936: Movies

While we're still hanging around 1936, I thought I would share a list of some of my favorite movies from that year, non-holiday-related!

Here are ten that I like a lot, not saying they're the best, in alphabetical order:

You can't beat a mid-1930s Warner Brothers gangster picture! Give me anything with Eddie G!

Fred and Ginger also had "Swing Time" in 1936, so a good year! I like this one a little more because it's a little different from their usual formula. Plus we get Harriet Hilliard and Randolph Scott are a nice secondary couple!

MGM could sure roll out the all-star casts!

This is a certified classic from Frank Capra. Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur also starred in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Plainsman" (as Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane) in 1936, showing their versatility.

I think Wheeler & Woolsey are totally underrated and this particular film is even underrated by their fans! (Similarly, "Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy" from 1955 is also underrated!)

A screwball classic. William Powell and Carole Lombard had been married but were divorced by the time this movie was made.

This was Sonja Henie's first feature. I think she's delightfully amateurish here, but she never got better. And I dig the Ritz Brothers!

Stan and Ollie are always great and this has them in dual roles!

I always enjoy college movies from the 1930s and this has a fun cast. Judy Garland makes her feature debut here on loan to Fox from MGM, so she seems a little different, as Fox was not grooming her for stardom.

 

This one's a lot of fun. The "I'm an Old Cowhand" number features not only Bing and Bob Burns, but also Martha Raye, Louis Prima and the Sons of the Pioneers (with Len Slye/Roy Rogers)!

Here's a clip:

Pretty fun!

I think William Powell had the best year of any movie star in 1936. He was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for "My Man Godfrey" and starred in the Best Picture winner "The Great Ziegfeld."

In addition at "Libeled Lady," he also starred in "After the Thin Man," the second of that popular series with Myrna Loy (also in "Libeled Lady" and "The Great Ziegfeld") at home studio MGM and the Thin Man-esqe "The Ex-Mrs. Bradford" with Jean Arthur over at RKO.

For the record, Ronald Colman had only one picture that year, but it was a good one:

And in the non-feature department, this serial is perhaps my favorite release of 1936:

Also of note (to me anyway!) is that the Three Mesquiteers series of B-Westerns from Republic Pictures got started in 1936:

A good time at the movies that year!