Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh starred in Gone With the Wind

The classic year also provided Wuthering Heights, the John Wayne Western Stagecoach and Of Mice and Men.

In second place was 1974, the year of mob drama The Godfather Part II and The Great Gatsby.

No single year in the past 29 made it in to the top five list, compiled from votes of 2,000 film-goers.

The year of 1939 was plumped for by almost 44% of those polled, with the sheer number of classics marking it out as a truly golden year for Hollywood.

Gone With the Wind picked up eight Oscars, including best actress for Vivien Leigh and best director for Victor Fleming.

Hollywood's greatest years 1. 1939 2. 1974 3. 1946 4. 1941 5. 1957 and 1971 (joint) Source: YouGov

Fleming's The Wizard of Oz, which he co-directed, was also nominated for a number of Academy Awards in the same year.

Other classic titles of 1939 included Frank Capra's Mr Smith Goes to Washington, starring James Stewart, and Goodbye Mr Chips, which won leading man Robert Donat an Oscar.

Other winning years were 1941, which saw the release of Citizen Kane and The Maltese Falcon, and 1946, which provided The Big Sleep, festive favourite It's a Wonderful Life and The Postman Always Rings Twice.

In joint fifth place for favourite years was 1957, the year of the swashbuckling Zorro and the war drama Bridge On the River Kwai, and 1971 which saw cult classic A Clockwork Orange lose out on the best picture Oscar to The French Connection.