D: Francis D Lyon. Bob Mathias, Ward Bond, Melba Mathias, Paul Bryar, Ann Doran. Agreeable biography of Olympic star athlete, his sports career, military duty, family life. Mathias turns in an engaging portrayal of himself.

D: Henry Koster. Bette Davis, Richard Todd, Joan Collins, Herbert Marshall, Jay Robinson, Dan O'Herlihy, Rod Taylor. Davis is in full authority in her second portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I, detailing her conflicts with Walter Raleigh. CinemaScope.

D: Alexander Korda. Charles Laughton, Binnie Barnes, Robert Donat, Elsa Lanchester, Merle Oberon, Miles Mander, Wendy Barrie, John Loder. Sweeping historical chronicle of 16th-century English monarch, magnificently captured by Oscar-winning Laughton in a multifaceted performance. Lanchester fine as Anne of Cleves, with top supporting cast.

D: Ray McCarey. Elsa Lanchester, Gordon Oliver, Lloyd Corrigan, Gavin Muir, Lenore Aubert, Fritz Feld. Tidy programmer with Elsa a patriotic scrubwoman determined to eliminate the Fuehrer. Re-titled: PASSPORT TO ADVENTURE.

D: Nunnally Johnson. Joanne Woodward, David Wayne, Lee J. Cobb, Nancy Kulp, Vince Edwards. Narrated by Alistair Cooke. Academy Award tour de force by Woodward as young woman with multiple personalities and three separate lives. Cobb is psychiatrist who tries to cure her. Johnson also produced and wrote the screenplay. CinemaScope.

D: John M. Stahl. Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price, Mary Philips, Ray Collins, Darryl Hickman, Gene Lockhart. Tierney's mother says, "There's nothing wrong with Ellen. It's just that she loves too much.'' In fact, she loves some people to death! Slick trash, expertly handled all around with Tierney breathtakingly photographed in Technicolor by Oscar winner Leon Shamroy. And how about those incredible homes in New Mexico and Maine! Remade for TV as TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE in 1988.

D: Edwin L. Marin. James Stewart, Wendy Barrie, Una Merkel, Ted Healy, Weldon Heyburn, Ralph Morgan, Patricia Wilder. Stewart enhances this star-building quickie (one of eight features he made in 1936) as a test-car driver who's developed a high-speed carburetor. Most of the racing action consists of blatant rear-projection and stock footage.

D: Frank Borzage. Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young, Frank Morgan, Robert Stack, Bonita Granville, Irene Rich, Maria Ouspenskaya, Gene Reynolds, Ward Bond. Nazi takeover in Germany splits family, ruins life of father, professor Morgan; Stewart tries to leave country with professor's daughter (Sullavan). Sincere filming of Phyllis Bottome's novel is beautifully acted, with one of Morgan's finest performances. Screenplay by Claudine West, Andersen Ellis, and George Froeschel. Film debut of Dan Dailey (billed as Dan Dailey, Jr.); look sharp in second classroom scene for Tom Drake.

D: Richard Thorpe. Robert Taylor, Kay Kendall, Robert Morley, George Cole, Alec Clunes, Duncan Lamont, Marius Goring. Taylor plays Sir Walter Scott's dashing Scots hero in this handsome but static costumer about Louis XI's reign in 15th- century France. CinemaScope.

D: Jack Conway. Constance Bennett, Adolphe Menjou, Robert Montgomery, Marjorie Rambeau, Anita Page, Clark Gable, Hedda Hopper. Bennett rises from dire poverty to a life of luxury after becoming the mistress of advertising mogul Menjou, but finds heartbreak when she falls for reporter Montgomery. Watered-down adaptation of notorious play about high-priced call girls starts out great, then turns into a standard romantic triangle melodrama to satisfy the Hays Office. Gable has a small, but strong role in his first film as an MGM contract player.

D: W. S. Van Dyke. Robert Montgomery, Maureen O'Sullivan, Edward Arnold, Elizabeth Patterson, Whitford Kane, Mickey Rooney, C. Henry Gordon, Edward Brophy. Big-city racketeer recovers from gunshot wound on idyllic farm where he falls in love (of course) with fetching O'Sullivan. Opens and closes great, with some humdrum stuffing in between; wonderful supporting cast (including Henry Armetta and Herman Bing as nightclub co-owners!). Remade in 1941 as I'LL WAIT FOR YOU.

D: Archie Mayo. Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Dick Foran, Humphrey Bogart, Genevieve Tobin, Charley Grapewin, Porter Hall. Solid adaptation of Robert Sherwood play, focusing on ironic survival of the physically fit in civilized world. Bogart is Duke Mantee, escaped gangster, who holds writer Howard, dreamer Davis, and others hostage at roadside restaurant in Arizona. Stagy, but extremely well acted and surprisingly fresh. Howard and Bogart recreate their Broadway roles. Scripted by Charles Kenyon and Delmer Daves. Remade as ESCAPE IN THE DESERT.

D: Mitchell Leisen. Anne Baxter, Steve Forrest, Simone Renant, Victor Francen. Bizarre yarn of chanteuse Baxter fleeing from murder scene, protected by Forrest, who's studying for priesthood; filmed in Paris. CinemaScope.

D: Sam Taylor. Mary Pickford, John Mack Brown, Matt Moore, John Sainpolis, William Janney, Henry Kolker, George Irving, Louise Beavers. Pickford's first talkie, for which she won an Oscar playing an ill-tempered flapper who becomes involved with a man who is beneath her station, resulting in tragedy. This stilted, artificial melodrama is a curio at best, notable as a showcase for Pickford's ''new,'' modern screen personality. Based on a play which was a famous vehicle for Helen Hayes.

D: Robert Z. Leonard. Norma Shearer, Chester Morris, Conrad Nagel, Robert Montgomery, Florence Eldridge. Stagy but interesting tale of young wife Shearer who puts up with husband Morris' flirtations until she decides to equal him. Shearer won an Oscar for this performance.

D: William A. Wellman. Ruth Chatterton, George Brent, Frank McHugh, Guy Kibbee, Robert Barrat, Ruth Donnelly, Marjorie Gateson. Wildly melodramatic tale following the sorrows of carnival performer Chatterton, who gets mixed up with one worthless man after another. Then she meets nice-guy Brent, but can their happiness last? Redeemed by the acting and Wellman's typically pungent touches.