1940s Movies : My Favourites
Movies to which I gave a score of 7/10 or more.
Listed chronologically, alphabetical within each year.
Listed chronologically, alphabetical within each year.
List activity
1.9K views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
113 titles
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsBette DavisCharles BoyerJeffrey LynnA duchess' irrational behavior toward her children's governess triggers tragic events that will change her family's lives forever.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsDick PowellEllen DrewRaymond WalburnAfter the co-workers of an ambitious clerk trick him into thinking he has won $25,000 in a slogan contest, he begins to use the money to fulfill his dreams. What will happen when the ruse is discovered?
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJoel McCreaLaraine DayHerbert MarshallOn the eve of World War II, a young American reporter tries to expose enemy agents in London.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeStarsWilliam PowellMyrna LoyFrank McHughBoring businessman Larry Wilson recovers from amnesia and discovers he's really a con man...and loves his soon-to-be-ex wife.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsBette DavisHerbert MarshallJames StephensonThe wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter written in her own hand may prove her undoing.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsTyrone PowerLinda DarnellBasil RathboneA young Spanish aristocrat must masquerade as a fop in order to maintain his secret identity of Zorro as he restores justice to early California.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsGreer GarsonLaurence OlivierMary BolandThe arrival of wealthy bachelors in town causes an uproar when families with single daughters aggressively seek engagements, including the Bennet family, with five eligible daughters.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsLaurence OlivierJoan FontaineGeorge SandersA self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsErrol FlynnBrenda MarshallClaude RainsGeoffrey Thorpe, a buccaneer, is hired by Queen Elizabeth I to nag the Spanish Armada. The Armada is waiting for an attack on England and Thorpe surprises them with attacks on their galleons where he shows his skills with the sword.
- 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.
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsHumphrey BogartConrad VeidtKaren VerneRunyonesque Broadway gamblers turn patriotic when they stumble onto a cell of Nazi saboteurs.
- 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.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsTyrone PowerLinda DarnellRita HayworthIlliterate peasant Juan Gallardo rises meteorically to fame and fortune in the bullfight arena only to sow the seeds of his own fall.
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsSpencer TracyIngrid BergmanLana TurnerDr. Jekyll allows his dark side to run wild when he drinks a potion that turns him into the evil Mr. Hyde.
- DirectorMichael PowellStarsLeslie HowardLaurence OlivierRichard GeorgeA World War II U-boat crew are stranded in northern Canada. To avoid internment, they must make their way to the border and get into the still-neutral U.S.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsIda LupinoHumphrey BogartAlan CurtisAfter being released from prison, notorious thief Roy Earle is hired by his old boss to help a group of inexperienced criminals plan and carry out the robbery of a California resort.
- DirectorH. Bruce HumberstoneStarsBetty GrableVictor MatureCarole LandisWhy is Inspector Ed Cornell trying to railroad Frankie Christopher for the murder of model Vicky Lynn?
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsBette DavisHerbert MarshallTeresa WrightThe ruthless, moneyed Hubbard clan lives in, and poisons, their part of the Deep South at the turn of the twentieth century.
- 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.
- DirectorWalter LangStarsDon AmecheBetty GrableRobert CummingsSisters Kay and Barbara arrive in Miami from Texas looking for rich husbands.
- DirectorAlexander KordaStarsVivien LeighLaurence OlivierAlan MowbrayThe story of courtesan and dance-hall girl Emma Hamilton, including her relationships with Sir William Hamilton and Admiral Horatio Nelson and her rise and fall, set during the Napoleonic Wars.
- 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.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsJoel McCreaVeronica LakeRobert WarwickHollywood director John L. Sullivan sets out to experience life as a homeless person in order to gain relevant life experience for his next movie.