They Made Me a Criminal (1939)

A boxer flees believing he has comitted a murder while he was drunk.

Effective and quite unsentimental crime drama (and romance); an example for those kind of movies "they don't make anymore".

Halliwell*: "Competent remake of  The Life of Jimmy Dolan, a tribute to the American way."

Maltin**1/2: "Enjoyable, with Rains miscast as a Dick Tracy type."

A Star Is Born (1937)

A young woman comes to Hollywood with dreams of stardom, but achieves them only with the help of an alcoholic leading man whose best days are behind him.

Full circle melodrama about love and ambition within Hollywood; a classic Of Hollywood excellence in all departments including insight into its own mechanisms.

Halliwell***: "Abrasive romantic melodrama which is also the most accurate study of Hollywood  ever put on film."

Maltin***1/2: "Two remakes haven't dimmed the glow of this drama...March and Gaynor are at their best and 1930s flavor (captured in early Technicolor) is a plus."