The Top 250 Movies of the 1940s

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The Top 250 Movies of the 1940s
Global
Ranking		 Movie Title Release
Year		 Director MPAA
Rating		 Your
Ranking
25 Casablanca 1942 Michael Curtiz PG -
33 Double Indemnity 1944 Billy Wilder NR -
41 The Third Man 1949 Carol Reed NR -
42 Citizen Kane 1941 Orson Welles NR -
61 The Red Shoes 1948 Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger NR -
70 Bicycle Thieves 1948 Vittorio De Sica NR -
78 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 John Huston NR -
85 Notorious 1946 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
105 The Philadelphia Story 1940 George Cukor NR -
112 A Matter of Life and Death 1946 Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger PG -
116 Shadow of a Doubt 1943 Alfred Hitchcock PG -
117 His Girl Friday 1940 Howard Hawks NR -
121 Out of the Past 1947 Jacques Tourneur NR -
123 The Maltese Falcon 1941 John Huston NR -
125 The Big Sleep 1946 Howard Hawks NR -
134 The Great Dictator 1940 Charles Chaplin G -
139 Rope 1948 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
150 It's a Wonderful Life 1946 Frank Capra NR -
151 Sullivan's Travels 1941 Preston Sturges NR -
162 Rebecca 1940 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
163 Brief Encounter 1945 David Lean NR -
164 Laura 1944 Otto Preminger NR -
171 The Best Years of Our Lives 1946 William Wyler NR -
175 To Be or Not to Be 1942 Ernst Lubitsch NR -
197 The Shop Around the Corner 1940 Ernst Lubitsch NR -
209 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 1943 Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger NR -
228 Black Narcissus 1947 Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger NR -
239 White Heat 1949 Raoul Walsh NR -
253 Late Spring 1949 Yasujirô Ozu NR -
260 Arsenic and Old Lace 1944 Frank Capra NR -
293 Children of Paradise 1945 Marcel Carné NR -
307 The Lady Eve 1941 Preston Sturges NR -
322 Key Largo 1948 John Huston NR -
326 Red River 1948 Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson NR -
340 The Grapes of Wrath 1940 John Ford NR -
364 Kind Hearts and Coronets 1949 Robert Hamer NR -
377 Gaslight 1944 George Cukor NR -
383 The Ox-Bow Incident 1943 William A. Wellman NR -
388 To Have and Have Not 1944 Howard Hawks NR -
396 The Lost Weekend 1945 Billy Wilder NR -
410 Stray Dog 1949 Akira Kurosawa NR -
417 Mildred Pierce 1945 Michael Curtiz NR -
433 The Magnificent Ambersons 1942 Orson Welles PG -
442 Rome, Open City 1945 Roberto Rossellini NR -
456 The Lady from Shanghai 1947 Orson Welles NR -
476 Beauty and the Beast 1946 Jean Cocteau NR -
514 Gilda 1946 Charles Vidor NR -
542 My Darling Clementine 1946 John Ford NR -
565 Ball of Fire 1941 Howard Hawks NR -
578 The Killers 1946 Robert Siodmak NR -
597 Lifeboat 1944 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
611 Spellbound 1945 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
612 Suspicion 1941 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
656 Foreign Correspondent 1940 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
687 Cat People 1942 Jacques Tourneur NR -
771 Meet Me in St. Louis 1944 Vincente Minnelli NR -
858 Murder, My Sweet 1944 Edward Dmytryk NR -
861 The Postman Always Rings Twice 1946 Tay Garnett NR -
883 The Heiress 1949 William Wyler NR -
890 Scarlet Street 1945 Fritz Lang NR -
893 Fantasia 1940 James Algar G -
901 Detour 1945 Edgar G. Ulmer NR -
921 The Stranger 1946 Orson Welles NR -
931 Letter From An Unknown Woman 1948 Max Ophüls NR -
946 The Wolf Man 1941 George Waggner NR -
970 The Palm Beach Story 1942 Preston Sturges NR -
974 Now, Voyager 1942 Irving Rapper NR -
977 Adam's Rib 1949 George Cukor NR -
986 Monsieur Verdoux 1947 Charles Chaplin NR -
1047 High Sierra 1941 Raoul Walsh NR -
1050 Dark Passage 1947 Delmer Daves NR -
1057 Nightmare Alley 1947 Edmund Goulding NR -
1073 Saboteur 1942 Alfred Hitchcock PG -
1075 Leave Her to Heaven 1945 John M. Stahl NR -
1098 Great Expectations 1946 David Lean NR -
1111 Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942 Michael Curtiz NR -
1119 Mrs. Miniver 1942 William Wyler NR -
1122 Meet John Doe 1941 Frank Capra NR -
1129 The Pride of the Yankees 1942 Sam Wood NR -
1141 Day of Wrath 1943 Carl Theodor Dreyer NR -
1161 The Ghost and Mrs. Muir 1947 Joseph L. Mankiewicz NR -
1164 Drunken Angel 1948 Akira Kurosawa PG13 -
1188 How Green Was My Valley 1941 John Ford NR -
1210 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1949 John Ford NR -
1223 The Set-Up 1949 Robert Wise NR -
1254 The Naked City 1948 Jules Dassin NR -
1271 I Walked with a Zombie 1943 Jacques Tourneur NR -
1308 And Then There Were None 1945 René Clair NR -
1349 I Know Where I'm Going! 1945 Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger NR -
1372 Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein 1948 Charles Barton NR -
1408 Dead of Night 1945 Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer NR -
1418 Sergeant York 1941 Howard Hawks NR -
1419 Miracle on 34th Street 1947 George Seaton G -
1421 Odd Man Out 1947 Carol Reed NR -
1430 Fort Apache 1948 John Ford NR -
1441 The Woman in the Window 1944 Fritz Lang NR -
1446 On the Town 1949 Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly NR -
1458 Pinocchio 1940 Hamilton Luske G -
1462 Unfaithfully Yours 1948 Preston Sturges NR -
1512 Heaven Can Wait 1943 Ernst Lubitsch NR -
1535 The Fallen Idol 1948 Carol Reed NR -
1549 Hamlet 1948 Laurence Olivier NR -
1560 Meshes of the Afternoon 1943 Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid NR -
1618 Brute Force 1947 Jules Dassin NR -
1622 They Live by Night 1948 Nicholas Ray NR -
1651 The Bishop's Wife 1947 Henry Koster NR -
1696 The Miracle of Morgan's Creek 1944 Preston Sturges NR -
1725 Paisan 1946 Roberto Rossellini NR -
1749 All the King's Men 1949 Robert Rossen NR -
1785 The Uninvited 1944 Lewis Allen NR -
1840 The Thief of Bagdad 1940 Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan NR -
1852 Bambi 1942 David Hand G -
1914 The Man Who Came to Dinner 1942 William Keighley NR -
1930 Easter Parade 1948 Charles Walters NR -
1986 Woman of the Year 1942 George Stevens NR -
2002 The Body Snatcher 1945 Robert Wise NR -
2033 The Letter 1940 William Wyler NR -
2055 The Sea Hawk 1940 Michael Curtiz NR -
2070 A Letter to Three Wives 1949 Joseph L. Mankiewicz NR -
2083 Hail the Conquering Hero 1944 Preston Sturges NR -
2102 Sahara 1943 Zoltan Korda NR -
2114 This Gun for Hire 1942 Frank Tuttle NR -
2129 The Bank Dick 1940 Edward F. Cline NR -
2145 The Picture of Dorian Gray 1945 Albert Lewin NR -
2153 Oliver Twist 1948 David Lean NR -
2172 A Canterbury Tale 1944 Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger NR -
2195 The Spiral Staircase 1945 Robert Siodmak NR -
2201 The Mark of Zorro 1940 Rouben Mamoulian NR -
2211 The Talk of the Town 1942 George Stevens NR -
2230 Twelve O'Clock High 1949 Henry King NR -
2245 Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House 1948 H.C. Potter NR -
2254 Le Corbeau 1943 Henri-Georges Clouzot NR -
2256 Dumbo 1941 Ben Sharpsteen G -
2258 Gentleman's Agreement 1947 Elia Kazan NR -
2259 My Favorite Wife 1940 Garson Kanin NR -
2260 I Married a Witch 1942 René Clair NR -
2264 The Devil and Daniel Webster 1941 William Dieterle NR -
2265 Germany Year Zero 1948 Roberto Rossellini NR -
2309 Shoeshine 1946 Vittorio De Sica NR -
2334 Ivan the Terrible, Part One 1944 Sergei M. Eisenstein NR -
2338 Kiss of Death 1947 Henry Hathaway NR -
2345 Holiday Inn 1942 Mark Sandrich NR -
2400 Henry V 1944 Laurence Olivier NR -
2417 Criss Cross 1949 Robert Siodmak NR -
2422 Green for Danger 1946 Sidney Gilliat NR -
2474 Call Northside 777 1948 Henry Hathaway NR -
2504 Ministry of Fear 1944 Fritz Lang PG -
2526 Remember the Night 1940 Mitchell Leisen NR -
2570 The Big Clock 1948 John Farrow NR -
2579 Christmas in Connecticut 1945 Peter Godfrey NR -
2590 Force of Evil 1948 Abraham Polonsky PG -
2592 Anchors Aweigh 1945 George Sidney NR -
2639 Sorry, Wrong Number 1948 Anatole Litvak NR -
2666 Thieves' Highway 1949 Jules Dassin NR -
2687 The Seventh Victim 1943 Mark Robson NR -
2699 The Strange Love of Martha Ivers 1946 Lewis Milestone NR -
2709 Five Graves to Cairo 1943 Billy Wilder NR -
2779 The More the Merrier 1943 George Stevens NR -
2782 Sands of Iwo Jima 1949 Allan Dwan NR -
2797 The Glass Key 1942 Stuart Heisler NR -
2808 They Were Expendable 1945 John Ford NR -
2816 A Night in Casablanca 1946 Archie Mayo NR -
2839 They Drive By Night 1940 Raoul Walsh NR -
2848 The Bells of St. Mary's 1945 Leo McCarey NR -
2860 The Little Foxes 1941 William Wyler NR -
2875 The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad 1949 Jack Kinney, James Algar, Clyde Geronimi G -
2881 Here Comes Mr. Jordan 1941 Alexander Hall NR -
2890 Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man 1943 Roy William Neill NR -
2896 Born to Kill 1947 Robert Wise NR -
2898 A Tree Grows In Brooklyn 1945 Elia Kazan NR -
2910 Gaslight 1940 Thorold Dickinson NR -
2920 The Major and the Minor 1942 Billy Wilder NR -
2941 Going My Way 1944 Leo McCarey NR -
2948 Road to Morocco 1942 David Butler NR -
2950 The Snake Pit 1948 Anatole Litvak NR -
2976 Macbeth 1948 Orson Welles NR -
2981 3 Godfathers 1948 John Ford NR -
3005 Crossfire 1947 Edward Dmytryk NR -
3006 Jane Eyre 1943 Robert Stevenson NR -
3058 The Blue Dahlia 1946 George Marshall NR -
3059 Christmas in July 1940 Preston Sturges NR -
3080 They Died With Their Boots On 1941 Raoul Walsh NR -
3107 Ossessione 1943 Luchino Visconti NR -
3209 Brighton Rock 1947 John Boulting NR -
3244 Dead Reckoning 1947 John Cromwell NR -
3246 The Thin Man Goes Home 1945 Richard Thorpe NR -
3257 The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer 1947 Irving Reis NR -
3327 Portrait of Jennie 1948 William Dieterle NR -
3328 Random Harvest 1942 Mervyn LeRoy NR -
3359 The Mortal Storm 1940 Frank Borzage NR -
3372 Quai des Orfèvres 1947 Henri-Georges Clouzot NR -
3399 Blithe Spirit 1945 David Lean NR -
3453 Isle of the Dead 1945 Mark Robson NR -
3603 49th Parallel 1941 Michael Powell NR -
3634 Night Train to Munich 1940 Carol Reed NR -
3730 Battleground 1949 William A. Wellman NR -
3738 The Harvey Girls 1946 George Sidney NR -
3788 It Happened on Fifth Avenue 1947 Roy Del Ruth NR -
3858 For Whom the Bell Tolls 1943 Sam Wood NR -
3876 I Was a Male War Bride 1949 Howard Hawks NR -
3891 Shadow of the Thin Man 1941 W.S. Van Dyke NR -
3922 House of Dracula 1945 Erle C. Kenton NR -
3962 The Clock 1945 Vincente Minnelli NR -
4011 The Curse of the Cat People 1944 Gunther von Fritsch NR -
4066 Angel and the Badman 1947 James Edward Grant NR -
4087 Hold That Ghost 1941 Arthur Lubin NR -
4097 The Leopard Man 1943 Jacques Tourneur NR -
4103 Whisky Galore! 1949 Alexander Mackendrick NR -
4107 No Regrets for Our Youth 1946 Akira Kurosawa NR -
4120 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1941 Victor Fleming NR -
4138 The Search 1948 Fred Zinnemann NR -
4139 Pride and Prejudice 1940 Robert Z. Leonard NR -
4149 House of Frankenstein 1944 Erle C. Kenton NR -
4151 Fun and Fancy Free 1947 Jack Kinney G -
4184 Hair-Raising Hare 1946 Chuck Jones NR -
4207 Jour de fête 1949 Jacques Tati NR -
4209 Phantom of the Opera 1943 Arthur Lubin NR -
4212 The Westerner 1940 William Wyler NR -
4313 Mighty Joe Young 1949 Ernest B. Schoedsack NR -
4314 Act of Violence 1948 Fred Zinnemann NR -
4349 The Pirate 1948 Vincente Minnelli NR -
4355 Song of the South 1946 Harve Foster NR -
4358 A Foreign Affair 1948 Billy Wilder NR -
4437 National Velvet 1944 Clarence Brown G -
4489 Mr. & Mrs. Smith 1941 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
4493 Lady in the Lake 1947 Robert Montgomery NR -
4499 Duel in the Sun 1946 King Vidor NR -
4502 Go West 1940 Edward Buzzell NR -
4518 Little Women 1949 Mervyn LeRoy NR -
4533 The Paleface 1948 Norman Z. McLeod NR -
4541 One Wonderful Sunday 1947 Akira Kurosawa NR -
4563 State Fair 1945 Walter Lang NR -
4587 The Great McGinty 1940 Preston Sturges NR -
4601 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 1949 Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney NR -
4610 Raw Deal 1948 Anthony Mann NR -
4632 The Long Voyage Home 1940 John Ford NR -
4646 The Song of Bernadette 1943 Henry King NR -
4652 Man Hunt 1941 Fritz Lang NR -
4678 Body and Soul 1947 Robert Rossen NR -
4757 The Three Musketeers 1948 George Sidney NR -
4783 Phantom Lady 1944 Robert Siodmak NR -
4792 The Sea Wolf 1941 Michael Curtiz PG -
4827 Too Late for Tears 1949 Byron Haskin NR -
4852 I Love You Again 1940 W.S. Van Dyke NR -
4862 State of the Union 1948 Frank Capra NR -
4895 I Wake Up Screaming 1941 H. Bruce Humberstone NR -
4910 The Razor's Edge 1946 Edmund Goulding NR -
4932 Johnny Belinda 1948 Jean Negulesco NR -
4934 A Wild Hare 1940 Tex Avery NR -
4943 The Invisible Man Returns 1940 Joe May NR -

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