Gone with the Wind: 1939 Best Picture

In 1939, so many still great films were nominated for Oscars, that Jeopardy! once devoted a whole category to it: 1939 BEST PICTURE OSCAR NOMINEES

$400: Your winner? This period piece, which used a large wall left over from “King Kong” to help film the burning of Atlanta
$800: Dorothy knows this title role was written for W.C. Fields, who is said to have turned it down over money
$1200: A-yup! This actor rode to stardom on “Stagecoach” as the Ringo Kid
$1600: Her “Eyes” have been noted in song, but it was the brain of this actress that gave her big problems
$2000: Burgess Meredith was George & Lon Chaney Jr. was Lennie in this drama, produced by comedy legend Hal Roach

The Academy Awards ceremony was held in February of 1940, and an honorary Oscar was given posthumously to Douglas Fairbanks. His passing is noted in this clue:

HOLLYWOOD IN THE ’30s $400: Hollywood grieved when this great silent film swashbuckler died suddenly on December 12, 1939

And look at all these movie quote clues just from this one year (the first one was a Final Jeopardy! clue):

MOVIE CLASSICS: “I cannot live without my life, I cannot die without my soul”, are Olivier’s last lines in this 1939 film
NAME THE MOVIE $200: 1939: “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain”
NAME THE MOVIE $100: 1939: “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore”
CLASSIC MOVIE LINES $200: 1939: “As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again!”
NAME THE FILM $200: 1939: “I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore”
NAME THAT MOVIE $400: 1939: “Mr. Ashley be comin’ to Atlanta when he gets his leave”
NAME THAT MOVIE $2000: 1939: “My friends just call me Ringo– nickname I had as a kid”
QUOTABLE CINEMA $200: 1939: “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!”
CLASSIC CINEMA $200: 1939: “I don’t know nothin’ ’bout birthin’ babies!”
CLASSIC CINEMA $400: 1939: “The moors and I will never change. Don’t you, Cathy”
MOVIE QUOTES $500: 1939: “You all think I’m licked. Well, I’m not licked, & I’m going to stay right here & fight for this just cause”
SCRIPT TEASE $400: 1939: “You should be kissed — and often — and by someone who knows how”
BLACK & WHITE CLASSICS $1000: This 1939 film includes the line “What do they know of heaven and hell, Cathy, who know nothing of life?”
ONLY SMALL ACTORS $200: As the coroner in this 1939 film, Meinhardt Raabe said, “She’s not only merely dead, she’s really most sincerely dead”

The three most nominated films were “Gone with the Wind” (13), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (11); and Wuthering Heights (8). GWTW swept the awards, winning 10 awards. The only other multiple winners with 2 each were Stagecoach and the Wizard of Oz.

More interesting clues on 1939 films:
THE UGLY $600: A 1939 Disney version of this Hans Christian Andersen tale was the last “Silly Symphony”
POLITICAL CINEMA $1,000 (Daily Double): This 1939 Jimmy Stewart classic premiered here at Constitution Hall “It’s just the blood and bone and sinew of this democracy that some great men handed down to the human race, that’s all!”
FRANKENSTEIN $600: This name for Dr. Frankenstein’s assistant didn’t appear until the 1939 sequel “Son of Frankenstein”
BOXING MOVIES $1200: In this 1939 classic William Holden played a gifted violinist who took up boxing to further his musical career
MOVIE STUMPERS $1200: In response to criticism of her roles, this 1939 Oscar winner said, “I’d rather play a maid than be one”
NON-MEMORABLE MOVIE QUOTES $200: (1939) Ray Bolger: “Oh, no!”
1930s CINEMA $1,000 (Daily Double): Brian Aherne was doomed to play this emperor in the 1939 film “Juarez”
SHERLOCK HOLMES $200: He first played Sherlock Holmes on film in 1939
WHO STARRED IN IT? $1000: He was Heathcliff to Merle Oberon’s Cathy in 1939’s “Wuthering Heights”
RONALD REAGAN WAS AN ACTOR $2000: Reagan played Bette Davis’ boozing high society pal in this 1939 film about a socialite dying of a brain tumor
CLASSIC SCI-FI & HORROR FILMS $1600: More famous for his 14 films as Sherlock Holmes, he was the “Son of Frankenstein” in 1939
HISTORY FROM HOLLYWOOD $500: In 1939 Spencer Tracy searched for this African explorer, played by Cedric Hardwicke
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD $800: As an uncredited screenwriter, Fitzgerald contributed to this 1939 Civil War epic
“EAU” YEAH! $400: A gracious gesture, or a 1939 Gary Cooper film about 3 brothers serving in the Foreign Legion
MOVIE NOSTALGIA $500: Bela Lugosi portrayed a Soviet commissar in this 1939 comedy promoted with the slogan “Garbo Laughs!”
MOVIE CLASSICS $100: The Wicked Witch had a nitwit son, Bobo, in one of the scripts for this 1939 film; he was later written out
BOXING MOVIES $1000: Based on Clifford Odets’ play, this “colorful” 1939 film made William Holden a star
MOVIES BY THE NUMBERS $200: Don Ameche played a singing d’Artagnan in a 1939 movie musical inspired by this novel
OLD MOVIES $400: Charley Grapewin who played Grandpa Joad in “The Grapes of Wrath” played Uncle Henry in this 1939 classic
FILMS OF THE ’30s $500: The 2 1939 films directed by Victor Fleming
THE MOVIES $500: David O. Selznick was fined $5000 in 1939 for using this 4-letter word in a film