Subgenre Sampler
Female-centric: 795 Films to Buy & Rent
Mildred Pierce (1945)
- Dir. Michael Curtiz
Feat. Joan Crawford
- Joan Crawford won an Oscar for her career–defining role as a stoical housewife–turned–waitress who finds success in business, but…
Outlaw, The (1943)
- Dir. Howard Hughes, Howard Hawks
Feat. Jack Buetel, Jane Russell, Thomas Mitchell…
- Off–beat retelling of the legend of Billy the Kid with Jane Russell's cleavage outraging the censors of the day. Now a tame curiosity.
Lydia (Illusions) (1941)
- Dir. Julien Duvivier
Feat. Merle Oberon, Joseph Cotton, Alan Marshall…
- Dreamy, melancholic melodrama follows the life and numerous loves of a society gal (Oberron) in New England over thirty odd years. Dir. Duvivier…
Destry Rides Again (1939)
- Dir. George Marshall
Feat. James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Una Merkel
- James Stewart is once again a mild–mannered law–man while Marlene Dietrich makes her most sensational Hollywood turn as exotic saloon…
Nancy Drew...Reporter (1939)
- Dir. William Clemens
Feat. Bonita Granville
- One of the very first screen adaptations of Edward Stratemeyer’s series of "Nancy Drew" mystery stories, Bonita Granville stars as the youthful…
Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, The (1939)
- Dir. Michael Curtiz
Feat. Bette Davis, Errol Flynn
- Bette Davis is perfectly cast as Queen Liz, opposite Errol Flynn. An enjoyable romp.
Women, The (1939)
- Dir. George Cukor
Feat. Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell…
- They gossip! They bitch! They cackle! What does one expect with a cast of 135 women. Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell head the…
Bete Humaine, La (1938)
- Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Jean Gabin, Simone Simon, Fernand Ledoux…
- Adaptation of Zola's romantic tragedy brims with tension and exults the presense of French icon Jean Gabin as a hot–headed train driver coaxed…
Jezebel (1938)
- Dir. William Wyler
Feat. Bette Davis, Henry Fonda
- A classic, Oscar–winning role for Bette Davis, as a southern belle who defies the arch conventions of 19th century New Orleans high society…
Sisters of the Gion (1936)
- Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Isuzu Yamada, Yoko Umemura
- An early feminist film from director Kenji Mizoguchi, focusing on two geisha sisters – one of whom enters into a codependent relationship with…