1940s Best Picture
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- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsBette DavisCharles BoyerJeffrey LynnA duchess' irrational behavior toward her children's governess triggers tragic events that will change her family's lives forever.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneThomas MitchellIan HunterA merchant ship's crew tries to survive the loneliness of the sea and the coming of war.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsWilliam HoldenMartha ScottFay BainterChange comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsCary GrantKatharine HepburnJames StewartWhen a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.
- 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.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsGreer GarsonWalter PidgeonFelix BressartAfter losing her young son, Edna Gladney opposes the unfair laws discriminating against children whose parents are unknown, and opens an orphanage for those children.
- 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.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsCharles BoyerOlivia de HavillandPaulette GoddardStopped in Mexico by U.S. Immigration, Georges Iscovescu hopes to get into the country by marrying a citizen.
- 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.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsFredric MarchMartha ScottBeulah BondiEpisodic look at the life of a minister and his family as they move from one parish to another.
- 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.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsGreer GarsonWalter PidgeonTeresa WrightA British family struggles to survive the first months of World War II.
- 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.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsAnn SheridanRobert CummingsRonald ReaganThe dark side and hypocrisy of provincial American life is seen through the eyes of five children as they grow to adulthood at the turn of the century.
- DirectorIrving PichelStarsMonty WoolleyRoddy McDowallAnne BaxterWhile traveling in France during the Nazi invasion of 1940, an Englishman is entrusted with the care of a group of refugee children.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsGary CooperTeresa WrightBabe RuthThe story of the life and career of famed baseball player Lou Gehrig.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsRonald ColmanGreer GarsonPhilip DornAn amnesiac World War I veteran falls in love with a music hall star, only to suffer an accident which restores his original memories but erases his post-war life.
- 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.
- DirectorJohn FarrowStarsBrian DonlevyRobert PrestonMacdonald CareyDecember, 1941. With no hope of relief or re-supply, a small band of United States Marines tries to keep the Japanese Navy from capturing their island base.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJames CagneyJoan LeslieWalter HustonThe life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer, and singer George M. Cohan.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsGary CooperIngrid BergmanAkim TamiroffDuring the Spanish Civil War, an American allied with the Republicans finds romance during a desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge.
- 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.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyAlbert LewinStarsGreer GarsonWalter PidgeonHenry TraversDespite himself, accomplished physicist and avowed bachelor Pierre Curie falls for brilliant student Marie, and together they embark on the discovery of radium.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorHerman ShumlinHal MohrStarsBette DavisPaul LukasGeraldine FitzgeraldA German-born engineer, his American wife and their children travel from Mexico to the United States to visit her family, but a Romanian count complicates their plans.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsAlexander KnoxCharles CoburnGeraldine FitzgeraldA chronicle of the political career of US President Woodrow Wilson.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsRay MillandJane WymanPhillip TerryThe desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout.
- DirectorGeorge SidneyJoseph BarberaWilliam HannaStarsFrank SinatraKathryn GraysonGene KellyA pair of sailors on leave try to help a movie extra become a singing star.
- 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.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJoan CrawfordJack CarsonZachary ScottA hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.
- DirectorLaurence OlivierStarsLaurence OlivierRobert NewtonLeslie BanksIn the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France in 1415.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsTyrone PowerGene TierneyJohn PayneAn adventuresome young man goes off to find himself and loses his socialite fiancée in the process. But when he returns 10 years later, she will stop at nothing to get him back, even though she is already married.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsGregory PeckJane WymanClaude Jarman Jr.A boy persuades his parents to allow him to adopt a young deer, but what will happen if the deer misbehaves?
- DirectorLaurence OlivierStarsLaurence OlivierJean SimmonsJohn LauriePrince Hamlet struggles over whether or not he should kill his uncle, whom he suspects has murdered his father, the former king.
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsJane WymanLew AyresCharles BickfordA kind doctor volunteers to tutor a deaf-mute woman, but scandal starts to swirl when his pupil is raped and falls pregnant.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsOlivia de HavillandMark StevensLeo GennA detailed chronicle of a woman during her stay in a mental institution.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartWalter HustonTim HoltTwo down-on-their-luck Americans searching for work in 1920s Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsJeanne CrainLinda DarnellAnn SothernA letter is addressed to three wives from their "best friend" Addie Ross, announcing that she is running away with one of their husbands - but she does not say which one.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsGregory PeckHugh MarloweGary MerrillA tough-as-nails general (Gregory Peck as General Savage) takes over a B-17 bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape.