Best Movies of 1936
Here are the best movies of 1936.
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- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsWalter HustonRuth ChattertonPaul LukasA retired auto manufacturer and his wife take a long-planned European vacation only to find that they want very different things from life.
- DirectorGregory La CavaStarsWilliam PowellCarole LombardAlice BradyA scatterbrained socialite hires a vagrant as a family butler - but there's more to Godfrey than meets the eye.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsMarion DaviesClark GableAllen JenkinsA talented boxer and a gifted dancer hope to increase their waning popularity by inventing a fictitious love affair for the benefit of the tabloids.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsGary CooperJean ArthurGeorge BancroftA unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.
- DirectorJack ConwayRobert Z. LeonardStarsRonald ColmanElizabeth AllanEdna May OliverA pair of lookalikes, one a former French aristocrat and the other an alcoholic English lawyer, fall in love with the same woman amidst the turmoil of the French Revolution.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsSylvia SidneySpencer TracyWalter AbelWhen a wrongly-accused prisoner barely survives a lynch-mob attack and is presumed dead, he vindictively decides to fake his death and frame the mob for his supposed murder.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsJean HarlowWilliam PowellMyrna LoyWhen a socialite sues a big paper for libel, the editor responsible calls in the help of his ignored fiancée and a former employee to frame her and make the false story seem true.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersVictor MooreRoguish gambler/dancer "Lucky" Garnett is challenged by his fiance's father to come up with $25,000 to prove he's worthy of her hand. But after he falls in love with a dance instructor, Lucky'll do anything to keep from earning the bucks.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMiriam HopkinsMerle OberonJoel McCreaTwo schoolteachers and the man they both love face ruin when a malicious student cooks up a lie.
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeStarsWilliam PowellMyrna LoyJames StewartPrivate detective Nick Charles and his wealthy wife Nora are back home at last and hoping for a quiet New Year when there is a murder. The obvious suspect is his wife, Nora's cousin, Selma.
- DirectorWesley RugglesStarsGladys GeorgeArline JudgeJohn HowardGladys George, a superlative actress often wasted in secondary roles, carries her starring assignment in Valiant is the Word for Carrie with singular brilliance. George plays the town trollop, who for the love of two orphaned children sets up a successful dry-cleaning business. Her past comes back to haunt her, but she perseveres, giving up all thoughts of personal happiness to provide a decent upbringing for her adopted family.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsPaul MuniJosephine HutchinsonAnita LouiseThe biography of the pioneering French microbiologist who helped revolutionize agriculture and medicine.
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeStarsClark GableJeanette MacDonaldSpencer TracyA Barbary Coast saloonkeeper and a Nob Hill impresario are rivals for the affections of a beautiful singer, both personally and professionally, in 1906 San Francisco.
- DirectorRichard BoleslawskiStarsIrene DunneMelvyn DouglasThomas MitchellThe author of a controversially racy best-selling book tries to hide her celebrity status from her provincial small-town neighbors, who would be scandalized if they knew.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandPatric KnowlesA major countermands orders and attacks to avenge a previous massacre of men, women, and children.
- DirectorHoward HawksWilliam WylerRichard RossonStarsEdward ArnoldJoel McCreaFrances FarmerAn ambitious lumberjack abandons his saloon girl lover so that he can marry into wealth, but years later becomes infatuated with the woman's daughter.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsTyrone PowerMadeleine CarrollFreddie BartholomewAn honest broker saves the day.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsWilliam PowellMyrna LoyLuise RainerThe ups and downs of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., famed producer of extravagant stage revues, are portrayed.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsBinnie BarnesCharles WinningerAlice BradyThree sisters scheme to reunite their divorced parents before their wealthy father marries a conniving gold digger.
- DirectorGeorge B. SeitzStarsRandolph ScottBinnie BarnesHenry WilcoxonDuring the brutal French and Indian War, the legendary scout Hawkeye is prevailed upon to escort Major Duncan Heyward, and the two daughters of Fort William Henry commander Colonel Munro -- Alice and Cora -- to safety through.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsSylvia SidneyHenry FondaFred MacMurrayA railroad man from the city befriends a mountain girl in a Kentucky family feud.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsNorma ShearerLeslie HowardJohn BarrymoreYoung love is poisoned by a generations long feud between two noble families.
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsBing CrosbyMadge EvansEdith FellowsLarry Poole, in prison on a false charge, promise an inmate that when he gets out he will look up and help out a family. The family turns out to be a young girl, Patsy Smith, and her elderly grandfather who need lots of help.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsEleanor PowellJames StewartVirginia BruceOn leave, a sailor falls in love with a young lady aspiring to become a Broadway dancer, but their relationship is jeopardized by an established Broadway star, who is also enamored by him.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsGary CooperMadeleine CarrollAkim TamiroffAmid the anarchy of China, an American mercenary tangles with a ruthless warlord.
- DirectorJohn G. BlystoneStarsVictor McLaglenBinnie BarnesJean DixonThe foreman of a blast furnace gets involved in a romantic triangle and stolen money.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsFred MacMurrayJack OakieJean ParkerTwo down-on-their-luck former outlaws volunteer to be Texas Rangers and find themselves assigned to bring in an old friend, now a notorious outlaw.
- DirectorSidney LanfieldStarsAlice FayeAdolphe MenjouGregory RatoffNightclub singer Joan Warren's agent Nicky puts her into situations designed to advance her career.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyMichael CurtizStarsFredric MarchOlivia de HavillandDonald WoodsIn 18th-century Italy, an orphan's debt to the man who raised him threatens to separate him forever from the woman he loves.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsDick PowellJoan BlondellGlenda FarrellWhen two investors inform an opportunistic dancer that they can't fund an elderly stage producer's production, she suggests they get an insurance policy on the producer's life.
- DirectorSidney LanfieldStarsSonja HenieAdolphe MenjouDon AmecheAmerican theatrical manager (Menjou) discovers Henie preparing for the Olympics in Switzerland and brings her to Madison Square Garden.
- DirectorAlfred SantellStarsBurgess MeredithMargoEduardo CiannelliImmigrant radical Bartolomeo Romagna is falsely condemned and executed for a payroll robbery. Years later, his son Mio sets out to find the truth of the crime and to bring to account the gangster Trock Estrella.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsBarbara StanwyckJoel McCreaWalter BrennanBelieving he has killed a guest, a groom flees on his wedding night.
- DirectorGeorge FitzmauriceStarsJean HarlowFranchot ToneCary GrantBelieving that a German spy has killed her new husband (Franchot Tone), a struggling chorus girl (Jean Harlow) flees to Paris where she meets and marries a World War I pilot (Cary Grant), whose carefree ways bring unexpected results.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsStuart ErwinPatsy KellyJack HaleyMarried coaches Slug and Bessie find hillbilly football tosser Amos and the team gets invited to the Yale Bowl.
- DirectorLeigh JasonStarsLily PonsJack OakieGene RaymondNikki Martin (Lily Pons), a Parisian opera star, takes off in search of adventure and true-love, leaving her arranged husband to be at the altar. While hitchhiking, Nikki meets handsome American musician, Windy McLean (Gene Raymond) and his band, the 'McLean Wildcats.' Windy immediately spites her, but Nikki falls in love with him and follows him to New York by stowing away on the ship his on. The ship's purser (Edgar Dearing) finds her hiding in Windy and the Wildcats room. She is locked up by authorities, and Windy and the band are fired. When the ship reaches New York, Nikki escapes off the ship and finds out the Wildcats apartment. They demand her to leave, fearing being implicated but she refuses. Claire (Lucille Ball), Windy's girlfriend shows up with Hammacher (Herman Bing), and offers the band a low-paying job at a roadhouse in another city. Anxious to depart, they accept. Nikki becomes the band's singer. Claire becomes jealous and reports her to the authorities, causing the band to flee again.
- DirectorRichard BoleslawskiStarsMarlene DietrichCharles BoyerTilly LoschThe star-crossed desert romance of a cloistered woman and a renegade monk.
- DirectorGordon DouglasFred C. NewmeyerStarsGeorge 'Spanky' McFarlandPhillips HolmesRalph MorganA small boy is instrumental in a famous Civil War victory.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsJoan CrawfordRobert TaylorLionel BarrymorePresident Andrew Jackson's friendship with an innkeeper's daughter spells trouble for them both.
- DirectorLloyd CorriganStarsCharles CollinsFrank MorganSteffi DunaThe story of a Boston dance teacher who gets shanghaied by buccaneers who might make his next steps be off the plank!