My Favorite Films of the 1940s
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- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsHumphrey BogartIngrid BergmanPaul HenreidA cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsJames StewartDonna ReedLionel BarrymoreAn angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsDorothy McGuireJoan BlondellJames DunnEncouraged by her idealistic if luckless father, a bright and imaginative young woman comes of age in a Brooklyn tenement during the early 1900s.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsMyrna LoyDana AndrewsFredric MarchThree World War II veterans, two of them traumatized or disabled, return home to the American midwest to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsAnna MagnaniAldo FabriziMarcello PaglieroDuring the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1944, the Resistance leader, Giorgio Manfredi, is chased by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a way to escape.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDorothy ComingoreFollowing the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsCary GrantRosalind RussellRalph BellamyA newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsIrene DunneBarbara Bel GeddesOscar HomolkaA young writer recalls her ups and downs of growing up as one of four children to Norwegian immigrant parents in 1910s San Francisco.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsRoger LiveseyDeborah KerrAnton WalbrookFrom the Boer War through World War II, a soldier rises through the ranks in the British military.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsOlivia de HavillandMontgomery CliftRalph RichardsonA naive young woman falls for a handsome young man her emotionally abusive father suspects is only a fortune hunter.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPaulette GoddardJack OakieDictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.
- DirectorHoward HawksArthur RossonStarsJohn WayneMontgomery CliftJoanne DruDunson leads a cattle drive, the culmination of over 14 years of work, to its destination in Missouri. But his tyrannical behavior along the way causes a mutiny, led by his adopted son.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaJane DarwellJohn CarradineAn Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsGary CooperWalter BrennanJoan LeslieA Tennessee farmer and marksman is drafted in World War I, and struggles with his pacifist inclinations before becoming one of the most celebrated war heroes.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsBing CrosbyIngrid BergmanHenry TraversAt a big city Catholic school, Father O'Malley and Sister Benedict indulge in friendly rivalry, and succeed in extending the school through the gift of a building.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsLamberto MaggioraniEnzo StaiolaLianella CarellIn post-war Italy, a working-class man's bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find work. He and his son set out to find it.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsMickey RooneyFrank MorganJames CraigTeenager Homer Macauley stays at home in small-town Ithaca to support his family while his older brother Marcus prepares to go to war.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsWalter PidgeonMaureen O'HaraAnna LeeAt the turn of the century in a Welsh mining village, the Morgans, he stern, she gentle, raise coal-mining sons and hope their youngest will find a better life.
- DirectorOrson WellesFred FleckRobert WiseStarsTim HoltJoseph CottenDolores CostelloThe spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsJennifer JonesCharles BickfordWilliam Eythe14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, living in a small town in the south of 1850s France, claims to have seen a divine vision, prompting extreme skepticism, concern from her family, and religious and political turmoil.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsBing CrosbyBarry FitzgeraldFrank McHughWhen young Father O'Malley arrives at St. Dominic's, old Father Fitzgibbon doesn't think much of the church's newest member.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsRay MillandJane WymanPhillip TerryThe desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsFred MacMurrayBarbara StanwyckEdward G. RobinsonA Los Angeles insurance representative lets an alluring housewife seduce him into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, an insurance investigator.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsCarmela SazioGar MooreWilliam TubbsAmerican military personnel interact warily with a variety of Italian locals over a year and a half in the push north during the Italian Campaign of WWII as German forces make their retreat.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneJoanne DruJohn AgarCaptain Nathan Brittles, on the eve of retirement, takes out a last patrol to stop an impending massive Indian attack. Encumbered by women who must be evacuated, Brittles finds his mission imperiled.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsCharles BoyerIngrid BergmanJoseph CottenTen years after her aunt was murdered in their London home, a woman returns from Italy in the 1880s to resume residence with her new husband. His obsessive interest in the home rises from a secret that may require driving his wife insane.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenAlida ValliPulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsBrian DonlevyMuriel AngelusAkim TamiroffDan McGinty has great success in his chosen field of crooked politics, but he endangers it all in one crazy moment of honesty.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsGary CooperWalter BrennanDoris DavenportJudge Roy Bean, a self-appointed hanging judge in Vinegarroon, Texas, befriends saddle tramp Cole Harden, who opposes Bean's policy against homesteaders.
- DirectorAlexander HallStarsRobert MontgomeryClaude RainsEvelyn KeyesBoxer Joe Pendleton dies 50 years too soon due to a heavenly mistake, and is given a new life as a millionaire playboy.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsHenry FondaDana AndrewsMary Beth HughesWhen a posse captures three men suspected of killing a local farmer, they become strongly divided over whether or not to lynch the men.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsDeborah KerrDavid FarrarFlora RobsonA group of nuns struggle to establish a convent in the Himalayas, while isolation, extreme weather, altitude, and culture clashes all conspire to drive the well-intentioned missionaries mad.
- DirectorRobert RossenStarsBroderick CrawfordJohn IrelandJoanne DruThe rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsJennifer JonesJoseph CottenEthel BarrymoreIn Depression-era New York, an impoverished painter has a chance encounter with an enigmatic, old-fashioned little girl in Central Park who inspires him and changes his destiny.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsVictor MatureBrian DonlevyColeen GrayA crook arrested for a jewelry heist initially refuses to give up his accomplices, but he changes his mind once his wife dies under worrying circumstances.
- DirectorJules DassinStarsBarry FitzgeraldHoward DuffDorothy HartA step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartEdward G. RobinsonLauren BacallA man visits his war buddy's family hotel and finds a gangster running things. As a hurricane approaches, the two end up confronting each other.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliFred ZinnemannStarsJudy GarlandRobert WalkerJames GleasonIn 1945, during a 48-hour leave, a soldier accidentally meets a girl at Pennsylvania Station and spends his leave with her, eventually falling in love with the lovely New Yorker.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsGary CooperBarbara StanwyckOscar HomolkaA group of professors working on a new encyclopedia while living in a Manhattan mansion take in a mouthy nightclub singer who is wanted by the police to help bring down her mob boss lover.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartMary AstorGladys GeorgeSan Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsTeresa WrightJoseph CottenMacdonald CareyA teenage girl, overjoyed when her favorite uncle comes to visit the family in their quiet California town, slowly begins to suspect that he is in fact the "Merry Widow" killer sought by the authorities.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsEdward G. RobinsonJoan BennettDan DuryeaA man in mid-life crisis befriends a young woman, though her fiancé persuades her to con him out of the fortune they mistakenly assume he possesses.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsSpencer TracyVan JohnsonRobert WalkerIn the wake of Pearl Harbor, a young lieutenant leaves his expectant wife to volunteer for a secret bombing mission which will take the war to the Japanese homeland.
- DirectorJohn CromwellEdward F. ClineTay GarnettStarsClaudette ColbertJennifer JonesJoseph CottenWith her husband away to fight in World War II, a housewife must care for their two daughters alone.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsVan HeflinRobert RyanJanet LeighAn embittered, vengeful POW stalks his former commanding officer who betrayed his men's planned escape attempt from a Nazi prison camp.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsRobert RyanAudrey TotterGeorge TobiasExpecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJames CagneyJoan LeslieWalter HustonThe life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer, and singer George M. Cohan.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsHumphrey BogartLauren BacallWalter BrennanDuring World War II, American expatriate Harry Morgan helps transport a French Resistance leader and his beautiful wife to Martinique while romancing a sensuous lounge singer.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsLana TurnerJohn GarfieldCecil KellawayA married woman and a drifter fall in love and then plot to murder her husband.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsRita HayworthOrson WellesEverett SloaneFascinated by gorgeous Mrs. Bannister, seaman Michael O'Hara joins a bizarre yachting cruise, and ends up mired in a complex murder plot.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsVan JohnsonJohn HodiakRicardo MontalbanTrue tale about a squad of the 101st Airborne Division coping with being trapped by the Germans in the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsGary CooperTeresa WrightBabe RuthThe story of the life and career of famed baseball player Lou Gehrig.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsBurt LancasterAva GardnerEdmond O'BrienHit men kill an unresisting victim, and investigator Reardon uncovers his past involvement with beautiful, deadly Kitty Collins.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsCary GrantLoretta YoungDavid NivenA debonair angel comes to Earth to help an Episcopalian bishop and his wife in their quest to raise money for the new church.
- DirectorMark SandrichStarsClaudette ColbertPaulette GoddardVeronica LakeA group of nurses returning from the war in the Philippines recall their experiences in combat and in love.
- DirectorNorman FosterStarsLoretta YoungWilliam HoldenRobert MitchumA widowed farmer takes an indentured servant as his new wife, but the arrival of his old friend threatens their burgeoning relationship.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsHumphrey BogartLauren BacallBruce BennettA man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try to prove his innocence.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesEdward G. RobinsonLoretta YoungAn investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBrian DonlevyWalter BrennanAnna LeeAfter the German administrator of Czechoslovakia is shot, his assassin tries to elude the Gestapo and struggles with his impulse to give himself up as hostages are executed.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsWalter PidgeonJoan BennettGeorge SandersBritish hunter Thorndike vacationing in Bavaria has Hitler in his gun sight. He is captured, beaten, left for dead, and escapes back to London where he is hounded by German agents and aided by a young woman.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsMargaret SullavanJames StewartRobert YoungThe Roth family leads a quiet life in a small village in the German Alps during the early 1930s. When the Nazis come to power, the family is divided and Martin Breitner, a family friend, is caught up in the turmoil.
- DirectorWilliam KeighleyStarsBette DavisAnn SheridanMonty WoolleyAn acerbic critic wreaks havoc when a hip injury forces him to move in with a Midwestern family.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsGreer GarsonWalter PidgeonTeresa WrightA British family struggles to survive the first months of World War II.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleGeorge CukorStarsGinger RogersJoseph CottenShirley TempleA soldier suffering from combat fatigue meets a young woman on Christmas furlough from prison and their mutual loneliness blossoms into romance.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsLoretta YoungCeleste HolmHugh MarloweTwo nuns arrive unannounced in the small New England town of Bethlehem, where they recruit various townspeople to help them build a children's hospital.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsEdward G. RobinsonJoan BennettRaymond MasseyWhen a conservative middle aged professor engages in a relationship with a femme fatale, he's plunged into a nightmarish world of blackmail and murder.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsJean ArthurJoel McCreaCharles CoburnDuring the World War II housing shortage in Washington, two men and a woman share a single apartment and the older man plays Cupid to the other two.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsCary GrantJean ArthurRonald ColmanAn escaped prisoner has to prove his innocence to a stuffy law professor with the help of a spirited school teacher.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsCarole LombardJack BennyRobert StackDuring the German occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsDorothy McGuireRobert MitchumGuy MadisonDrama about former WW2 Marines readjusting to civilian life and dealing with their mental and physical traumas.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsBurgess MeredithRobert MitchumFreddie SteeleAt the close of WWII, Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Ernie Pyle travels with the U.S. Army's Company C Division during their liberation of Italy.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsRobert TaylorGeorge MurphyLloyd NolanIn 1942, in the Bataan peninsula of the Philippines, a ragtag American unit commanded by Sergeant Bill Dane attempts to blow-up a bridge in order to slow the Japanese advance.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsWilliam EytheLloyd NolanSigne HassoBill Dietrich becomes a double agent for the F.B.I. in a German spy ring.
- DirectorJohn M. StahlStarsGregory PeckThomas MitchellVincent PriceA young priest is sent to China to establish a Catholic parish.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineStarsW.C. FieldsCora WitherspoonUna MerkelHenpecked Egbert Sousé has comic adventures as a substitute film director and unlikely bank guard.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsEdward G. RobinsonIda LupinoJohn GarfieldAfter being fished out of the sea by a sailer, three fugitives find themselves prisoners of the ship's brutal skipper who refuses to put them ashore and they hatch an escape plan during a crew mutiny.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsDana AndrewsRichard ConteGeorge TyneDuring WWII, a platoon of American soldiers trudge through the Italian countryside in search of a bridge they have been ordered to blow up, encountering danger and destruction along the way.
- DirectorRoy RowlandStarsEdward G. RobinsonMargaret O'BrienJames CraigA Norwegian farmer lovingly raises his daughter in rural World War II-era Benson Junction, Wisconsin.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaLinda DarnellVictor MatureAfter their cattle are stolen and their brother murdered, the Earp brothers have a score to settle with the Clanton family.
- DirectorJohn HustonRaoul WalshStarsBette DavisOlivia de HavillandGeorge BrentThe day before her wedding, a pampered young woman absconds with her sister's husband. Her sister begins seeing the woman's former fiancé.
- DirectorCharles WaltersStarsJune AllysonPeter LawfordPatricia MarshallGolden Globe winner June Allyson and Peter Lawford star in this enjoyable musical about a football hero who falls in love with his French tutor.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsDorothy McGuireRobert YoungHerbert MarshallA plain maid and a wounded war veteran are transformed by their love for each other while residing in an enchanted honeymoon cottage.
- DirectorKing VidorOtto BrowerWilliam DieterleStarsJennifer JonesJoseph CottenGregory PeckBeautiful, biracial Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between two brothers, one good and the other bad.
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsRita HayworthGene KellyLee BowmanRusty Parker wins a contest and becomes a celebrated cover girl; this endangers her romance with dancing mentor Danny.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsTallulah BankheadJohn HodiakWalter SlezakSeveral survivors of a torpedoed merchant ship in World War II find themselves in the same lifeboat with one of the crew members of the U-boat that sank their ship.
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsSpencer TracyIrene DunneVan JohnsonA dead World War II bomber pilot, Pete Sandidge becomes the guardian angel of another pilot, Ted Randall. He guides Ted through battle and helping him to romance his old girlfriend, despite her excessive devotion to Sandidge's memory.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsFred AstaireRita HayworthAdolphe MenjouIn Buenos Aires, a man who has decreed that his daughters must marry in order of age allows an American dancer to perform at his club under the condition that he play suitor to his second-oldest daughter.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsAnne BaxterThomas MitchellSelena RoyleThe lives of a close-knit group of brothers growing up in Iowa during the days of the Great Depression.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsWilliam PowellIrene DunneElizabeth TaylorA straitlaced turn-of-the-century father presides over a family of boys and the mother who really rules the roost.
- DirectorCharles BartonStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloMarjorie ReynoldsA psychiatrist stays in a mansion haunted by prankish ghosts from the Revolutionary War.
- DirectorNorman FergusonT. HeeWilfred JacksonStarsDickie JonesChristian RubMel BlancA living puppet, with the help of a cricket as his conscience, must prove himself worthy to become a real boy.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsCary GrantIrene DunneBeulah BondiA couple's big dreams give way to a life full of unexpected sadness and unexpected joy.
- DirectorJames AlgarSamuel ArmstrongDavid HandStarsHardie AlbrightStan AlexanderBobette AudreyThe story of a young deer growing up in the forest.
- DirectorCurtis BernhardtStarsBette DavisGlenn FordDane ClarkWhen a woman's twin sister is drowned, she assumes her identity in order to be close to the man she feels her sister took from her years before.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsHedy LamarrVictor MatureGeorge SandersWhen strongman Samson rejects the love of the beautiful Philistine woman Delilah, she seeks vengeance that brings horrible consequences they both regret.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsBurt LancasterYvonne De CarloDan DuryeaAn armored truck driver and his ex-wife conspire with a gang to have his own truck robbed on the route.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsCathy O'DonnellFarley GrangerHoward Da SilvaAn escaped convict injured during a robbery falls in love with the woman who nurses him back to health, but their relationship seems doomed from the beginning.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsJames CagneyVirginia MayoEdmond O'BrienA psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsDavid BrianClaude Jarman Jr.Juano HernandezIn 1940s Mississippi, two teenage boys and an elderly woman combine forces to prevent a miscarriage of justice and clear a black man of a murder charge.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsRicardo MontalbanGeorge MurphyHoward Da SilvaMexican and American federal agents tackle a vicious gang exploiting illegal farm workers in southern California.