Films of 1938
by christopherpip | created - 07 Jul 2013 | updated - 3 days ago | PublicThese are the films I have seen from the year 1938.
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
PG | 102 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
When 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.
Directors: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley | Stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains
Votes: 54,516 | Gross: $3.98M
2. Alexander Nevsky (1938)
Not Rated | 112 min | Action, Biography, Drama
The story of how a great Russian prince led a ragtag army to battle an invading force of Teutonic Knights.
Directors: Sergei Eisenstein, Dmitriy Vasilev | Stars: Nikolay Cherkasov, Nikolai Okhlopkov, Andrei Abrikosov, Dmitriy Orlov
Votes: 12,263
3. Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
Approved | 106 min | Drama, Music, Musical
This 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.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Ethel Merman
Votes: 2,322
4. Algiers (1938)
Passed | 96 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A wanted jewel thief ensconced in the Casbah meets a beautiful woman who makes him long for an escape.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Charles Boyer, Hedy Lamarr, Sigrid Gurie, Joseph Calleia
Votes: 3,248
5. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Passed | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A priest tries to stop a gangster from corrupting a group of street kids.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan
Votes: 23,212
6. Annabel Takes a Tour (1938)
Passed | 67 min | Adventure, Comedy, Romance
Movie star Annabel Allison has further comic adventures with her wacky publicity agent.
Director: Lew Landers | Stars: Jack Oakie, Lucille Ball, Ruth Donnelly, Bradley Page
Votes: 337
7. Bank Holiday (1938)
86 min | Comedy, Drama
A 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: John Lodge, Margaret Lockwood, Hugh Williams, Rene Ray
Votes: 548
8. La Bête Humaine (1938)
Not Rated | 100 min | Crime, Drama
In 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.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean Gabin, Julien Carette, Simone Simon, Fernand Ledoux
Votes: 8,425
9. The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938)
Passed | 91 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
The Bellows family causes comic confusion on an ocean liner, with time out for radio-style musical acts.
Directors: Mitchell Leisen, James P. Hogan | Stars: W.C. Fields, Martha Raye, Dorothy Lamour, Shirley Ross
Votes: 1,088
10. Block-Heads (1938)
Approved | 57 min | Comedy, Family, War
Stan, 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.
Director: John G. Blystone | Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Patricia Ellis, Minna Gombell
Votes: 4,515
11. Blondes at Work (1938)
Approved | 63 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Steve promises his captain not to favor Torchy with stories over other papers but becomes frustrated as to how she continues to scoop her rivals.
Director: Frank McDonald | Stars: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy, Rosella Towne
Votes: 505
12. Boys Town (1938)
Passed | 96 min | Biography, Drama, Family
When 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.
Director: Norman Taurog | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull, Leslie Fenton
Votes: 6,359
13. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Passed | 102 min | Comedy
While 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.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles, Walter Catlett
Votes: 66,116
14. Carefree (1938)
Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A psychiatrist falls in love with the woman he's supposed to be nudging into marriage with someone else.
Director: Mark Sandrich | Stars: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Ralph Bellamy, Luella Gear
Votes: 4,316
15. A Christmas Carol (1938)
Passed | 69 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy
An elderly miser learns the error of his ways on Christmas Eve.
Director: Edwin L. Marin | Stars: Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart, Terry Kilburn
Votes: 8,752
16. The Citadel (1938)
Passed | 110 min | Drama
An enthusiastic young doctor happily embarks on his career, but it isn't long before he finds out what being a doctor really entails.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Robert Donat, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Richardson, Rex Harrison
Votes: 2,375
17. College Swing (1938)
Passed | 86 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Gracie Alden tries to graduate college to get an inheritance.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: George Burns, Gracie Allen, Martha Raye, Bob Hope
Votes: 577
18. Dramatic School (1938)
Passed | 80 min | Drama, Romance
Aspiring 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Robert B. Sinclair | Stars: Luise Rainer, Paulette Goddard, Alan Marshal, Lana Turner
Votes: 476
19. Everybody Sing (1938)
Passed | 91 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Judy 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... See full summary »
Director: Edwin L. Marin | Stars: Allan Jones, Judy Garland, Fanny Brice, Reginald Owen
Votes: 661
20. Four Daughters (1938)
Approved | 90 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A musician is blessed with four musical prodigies, all girls, and cursed when a troubled young composer enters the lives of his Four Daughters.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Claude Rains, John Garfield, Jeffrey Lynn, Frank McHugh
Votes: 2,226
21. The Girl of the Golden West (1938)
Passed | 121 min | Musical, Romance, Western
A bandit disguises himself as an officer in an attempt to woo a saloon singer.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Walter Pidgeon, Leo Carrillo
Votes: 463
22. The Goldwyn Follies (1938)
Passed | 122 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Movie 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.
Directors: George Marshall, H.C. Potter | Stars: Adolphe Menjou, Andrea Leeds, The Ritz Brothers, Vera Zorina
Votes: 523
23. The Great Waltz (1938)
Passed | 104 min | Biography, Drama, Music
In 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 ... See full summary »
Directors: Julien Duvivier, Victor Fleming, Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Luise Rainer, Fernand Gravey, Miliza Korjus, Hugh Herbert
Votes: 1,306
24. Happy Landing (1938)
Approved | 102 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
Bandleader (Romero) and manager (Ameche) discover skater (Henie) in Norway. They become rivals after she returns with them to America.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Sonja Henie, Don Ameche, Jean Hersholt, Ethel Merman
Votes: 198
25. Hard to Get (1938)
Approved | 82 min | Comedy, Romance
When 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... See full summary »
Director: Ray Enright | Stars: Dick Powell, Olivia de Havilland, Charles Winninger, Allen Jenkins
Votes: 710
26. Having Wonderful Time (1938)
Approved | 70 min | Comedy, Romance
Bored New York office girl Teddy Shaw goes to a camp in the Catskill Mountains for rest and finds Chick Kirkland.
Director: Alfred Santell | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Peggy Conklin, Lucille Ball
Votes: 999
27. Hold That Co-ed (1938)
Passed | 80 min | Comedy, Sport
While 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.
Director: George Marshall | Stars: John Barrymore, George Murphy, Marjorie Weaver, Joan Davis
Votes: 207
28. Holiday (1938)
Passed | 95 min | Comedy, Romance
A 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.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Doris Nolan, Lew Ayres
Votes: 18,254
29. If I Were King (1938)
Passed | 101 min | Adventure, History
Vagabond poet François Villon rises to high office in 1463 Paris.
Director: Frank Lloyd | Stars: Ronald Colman, Basil Rathbone, Frances Dee, Ellen Drew
Votes: 1,020
30. Island in the Sky (1938)
Approved | 68 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A secretary solves a murder for her boyfriend in the District Attorney's office. Black and White.
Director: Herbert I. Leeds | Stars: Gloria Stuart, Michael Whalen, Paul Kelly, Robert Kellard
Votes: 193
31. I Accuse (1938)
95 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A 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.
Director: Abel Gance | Stars: Victor Francen, Line Noro, Sylvie Gance, Marcel Delaître
Votes: 660
a/k/a 'J'accuse'
32. Jezebel (1938)
Approved | 104 min | Drama, Romance
In 1850s Louisiana, a free-spirited Southern belle loses her fiancé due to her stubborn vanity and pride, and vows to win him back.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent, Margaret Lindsay
Votes: 15,057
33. Joy of Living (1938)
Passed | 91 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Broadway 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.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Irene Dunne, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Alice Brady, Guy Kibbee
Votes: 919
34. Judge Hardy's Children (1938)
Passed | 78 min | Comedy, Family, Romance
Judge Hardy takes a business trip to Washington, DC, where Andy promptly falls for the French ambassador's daughter.
Director: George B. Seitz | Stars: Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Fay Holden, Cecilia Parker
Votes: 480
35. Kentucky (1938)
Passed | 96 min | Drama, Romance, Sport
Romeo 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.
Director: David Butler | Stars: Loretta Young, Richard Greene, Walter Brennan, Douglass Dumbrille
Votes: 681
36. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Not Rated | 96 min | Mystery, Thriller
While travelling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, May Whitty
Votes: 57,184
37. Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)
Passed | 91 min | Comedy, Romance
Andy has problems raising the last payment for a used car and juggling three pretty girls with an upcoming country club dance scheduled.
Director: George B. Seitz | Stars: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Lewis Stone, Cecilia Parker
Votes: 2,056
38. The Mad Miss Manton (1938)
Passed | 80 min | Comedy, Mystery
After the murdered body discovered by beautiful, vivacious socialite Melsa Manton disappears, police and press label her a prankster until she proves them wrong.
Director: Leigh Jason | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Sam Levene, Frances Mercer
Votes: 2,828
39. A Man to Remember (1938)
Approved | 79 min | Drama, Romance
Doctor 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Garson Kanin | Stars: Anne Shirley, Edward Ellis, Lee Bowman, William Henry
Votes: 472
40. Man-Proof (1938)
Passed | 75 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Mimi 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Myrna Loy, Franchot Tone, Rosalind Russell, Walter Pidgeon
Votes: 679
41. Marie Antoinette (1938)
Passed | 149 min | Biography, Drama, History
The tragic life of Marie Antoinette, who became queen of France in her late teens.
Directors: W.S. Van Dyke, Julien Duvivier | Stars: Norma Shearer, Tyrone Power, John Barrymore, Robert Morley
Votes: 3,286
42. La Marseillaise (1938)
Not Rated | 130 min | Drama, History, Music
A 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, ... See full summary »
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Pierre Renoir, Lise Delamare, Louis Jouvet, Léon Larive
Votes: 1,393
43. Merrily We Live (1938)
Passed | 95 min | Comedy, Romance
Dizzy 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Norman Z. McLeod | Stars: Constance Bennett, Brian Aherne, Alan Mowbray, Billie Burke
Votes: 2,269
44. My Lucky Star (1938)
Approved | 83 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
The 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.
Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Sonja Henie, Richard Greene, Joan Davis, Cesar Romero
Votes: 212
45. Of Human Hearts (1938)
Passed | 103 min | Drama, Western
Ethan 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.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Walter Huston, James Stewart, Gene Reynolds, Beulah Bondi
Votes: 1,358
46. Old Mother Riley in Paris (1938)
76 min | Comedy
Mrs. Riley and her daughter Kitty go to Paris, and get involved with spies.
Director: Oswald Mitchell | Stars: Arthur Lucan, Kitty McShane, Jerry Verno, Magda Kun
Votes: 74
47. Out West with the Hardys (1938)
Approved | 84 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
Judge Hardy goes to his friend's Arizona ranch to help her in a legal dispute, and he takes his family with him.
Director: George B. Seitz | Stars: Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Fay Holden, Cecilia Parker
Votes: 432
48. Pygmalion (1938)
89 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A 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.
Directors: Anthony Asquith, Leslie Howard | Stars: Leslie Howard, Wendy Hiller, Wilfrid Lawson, Marie Lohr
Votes: 9,667 | Gross: $3.05M
49. The Rage of Paris (1938)
Passed | 78 min | Comedy
Nicole 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.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: Danielle Darrieux, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Mischa Auer, Louis Hayward
Votes: 977
50. Sally, Irene and Mary (1938)
Approved | 86 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
Manicurists Sally, Irene, and Mary hope to be Broadway entertainers. After Mary inherits an old ferry boat, they turn it into a successful supper club.
Director: William A. Seiter | Stars: Alice Faye, Tony Martin, Fred Allen, Jimmy Durante
Votes: 133
51. Le schpountz (1938)
Passed | 160 min | Comedy
Meeting 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Marcel Pagnol | Stars: Fernandel, Orane Demazis, Fernand Charpin, Léon Belières
Votes: 786
a/k/a 'Le schpountz'
52. The Shining Hour (1938)
Passed | 76 min | Drama, Romance
A nightclub dancer marries into high society and has to contend with her jealous sister-in-law.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Joan Crawford, Margaret Sullavan, Robert Young, Melvyn Douglas
Votes: 1,295 | Gross: $0.94M
53. Sweethearts (1938)
Passed | 114 min | Comedy, Musical, Mystery
The team behind a successful Broadway production tries to stop the married stars from transitioning to Hollywood.
Directors: W.S. Van Dyke, Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger
Votes: 705
54. Test Pilot (1938)
Passed | 119 min | Drama, Romance
Jim 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.
Director: Victor Fleming | Stars: Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore
Votes: 2,745
55. Three Blind Mice (1938)
Approved | 75 min | Comedy
Three 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.
Director: William A. Seiter | Stars: Loretta Young, Joel McCrea, David Niven, Stuart Erwin
Votes: 412
56. Three Comrades (1938)
Passed | 98 min | Drama, Romance
The close friendship of three German soldiers is strengthened by their shared love for the same woman, who is dying of tuberculosis.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Robert Taylor, Margaret Sullavan, Franchot Tone, Robert Young
Votes: 2,078
57. Torchy Blane in Panama (1938)
Approved | 59 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Torchy, 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.
Director: William Clemens | Stars: Lola Lane, Paul Kelly, Tom Kennedy, Anthony Averill
Votes: 448
58. Torchy Gets Her Man (1938)
Approved | 63 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
A 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.
Director: William Beaudine | Stars: Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, Tom Kennedy, Willard Robertson
Votes: 413
59. Vivacious Lady (1938)
Approved | 90 min | Comedy, Romance
A professor marries a nightclub singer, much to the consternation of his family and friends back home.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Ginger Rogers, James Stewart, James Ellison, Beulah Bondi
Votes: 4,186
60. White Banners (1938)
Approved | 92 min | Drama
A 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Claude Rains, Fay Bainter, Jackie Cooper, Bonita Granville
Votes: 470
61. Woman Against Woman (1938)
Passed | 61 min | Drama, Romance
Cynthia 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Robert B. Sinclair | Stars: Herbert Marshall, Virginia Bruce, Mary Astor, Janet Beecher
Votes: 265
62. A Yank at Oxford (1938)
Passed | 102 min | Drama, Romance, Sport
A brash young American aristocrat attending Oxford University gets a chance to prove himself and win the heart of his antagonist's sister.
Director: Jack Conway | Stars: Robert Taylor, Vivien Leigh, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan
Votes: 1,366
63. Yellow Jack (1938)
Passed | 83 min | Drama, History, Mystery
In 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.
Director: George B. Seitz | Stars: Robert Montgomery, Virginia Bruce, Lewis Stone, Andy Devine
Votes: 292
64. You Can't Take It with You (1938)
Passed | 126 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The 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.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, Edward Arnold
Votes: 27,915 | Gross: $4.66M
65. Young Dr. Kildare (1938)
Approved | 82 min | Drama, Mystery
Dr. 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.
Director: Harold S. Bucquet | Stars: Lionel Barrymore, Lew Ayres, Lynne Carver, Nat Pendleton
Votes: 709
Tell Your Friends