Top Movies of 1940s


The top movies of 1940s list is calculated by community movie ratings and members' "Top Movies List". Lists are updated daily.

31. Beauty and the Beast ( belle et la bête, La - 1946 )

Year of Release: 1946
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: French
Genre: Drama/Fantasy
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Jean Cocteau
Actors: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Mila Parély, Nane Germon, Michel Auclair, Raoul Marco
Plot: The classic tale of an ugly man and a beautiful woman - but which is the
beauty and which is the beast.

32. The Shop Around the Corner

Year of Release: 1940
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Romance
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Actors: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut, Sara Haden, Felix Bressart
Plot: Before there was a "you've Got Mail", there was this movie, which has the two protagonist corresponding via regular mail.

33. White Heat

Year of Release: 1949
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Crime/Drama
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Raoul Walsh
Actors: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly, Steve Cochran, John Archer
Plot: A criminal, who escapes from prison, leads a gang to commit another robbery. But, his new friend is actually an undercover cop.

34. To Be or Not to Be

Year of Release: 1942
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/War
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Actors: Robert Stack, Jack Benny, Carole Lombard, Sig Ruman, Halliwell Hobbes, Henry Victor
Plot: In WWII occupied Poland, comedy stage actors use thier skills to
imperonate Nazi generals to gain information to rid themselves from teh
Nazis.

35. How Green Was My Valley

Year of Release: 1941
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: John Ford
Actors: Roddy McDowall , Maureen O'Hara, Walter Pidgeon, Donald Crisp, Sara Allgood, Patric Knowles
Plot: A coal mining town in a welsh community experiences the turn of the century and the implications of a different type of working age, along with death, disease, and disaster.

36. Meet Me in St. Louis

Year of Release: 1944
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Musical/Family
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Actors: Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Leon Ames, Tom Drake
Plot: A year in the life of a well-to-do St. Louis family and their four daughters is recounted, leading up to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

37. Key Largo

Year of Release: 1948
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Crime/Drama
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: John Huston
Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Edward G. Robinson, Lionel Barrymore, Claire Trevor, Harry Lewis
Plot: A hurricane is coming into the Florida Keys. Which is where a former soldier is looking for his dead friend's family.

38. To Have and Have Not

Year of Release: 1945
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Thriller/Romance
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Howard Hawks
Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan, Hoagy Carmichael, Walter Szurovy, Dolores Moran
Plot: A man, a boat, and an island - all ready for hire. Romance.

39. Brief Encounter

Year of Release: 1946
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Romance/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: David Lean
Actors: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond, Marjorie Mars, Everley Gregg
Plot: A woman meets an interesting man at a train station, which tempts her to cheat on her husband.

40. The Magnificent Ambersons

Year of Release: 1942
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Orson Welles
Actors: Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins
Plot: The story of a rich family in the early twentieth century unfolds over many decades. As a young man, Eugene wishes to marry Isabel, but is too wild. Years later, having achieved success in business, he returns and seeks to marry the widowed Isabel, but not all of Isabel's family is happy with this development.

Are you sure you want to delete this comment?