Rank This Chart
per page
The Top 250 Dramas of the 1940s
Global Ranking |
Movie Title |
Release Year |
Director |
MPAA Rating |
Your Ranking |
25 |
Casablanca |
1942 |
Michael Curtiz |
PG |
- |
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 |
- |
139 |
Rope |
1948 |
Alfred Hitchcock |
NR |
- |
150 |
It's a Wonderful Life |
1946 |
Frank Capra |
NR |
- |
163 |
Brief Encounter |
1945 |
David Lean |
NR |
- |
171 |
The Best Years of Our Lives |
1946 |
William Wyler |
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 |
- |
253 |
Late Spring |
1949 |
Yasujirô Ozu |
NR |
- |
293 |
Children of Paradise |
1945 |
Marcel Carné |
NR |
- |
340 |
The Grapes of Wrath |
1940 |
John Ford |
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 |
- |
514 |
Gilda |
1946 |
Charles Vidor |
NR |
- |
542 |
My Darling Clementine |
1946 |
John Ford |
NR |
- |
578 |
The Killers |
1946 |
Robert Siodmak |
NR |
- |
597 |
Lifeboat |
1944 |
Alfred Hitchcock |
NR |
- |
611 |
Spellbound |
1945 |
Alfred Hitchcock |
NR |
- |
771 |
Meet Me in St. Louis |
1944 |
Vincente Minnelli |
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 |
- |
901 |
Detour |
1945 |
Edgar G. Ulmer |
NR |
- |
921 |
The Stranger |
1946 |
Orson Welles |
NR |
- |
931 |
Letter From An Unknown Woman |
1948 |
Max Ophüls |
NR |
- |
974 |
Now, Voyager |
1942 |
Irving Rapper |
NR |
- |
1047 |
High Sierra |
1941 |
Raoul Walsh |
NR |
- |
1057 |
Nightmare Alley |
1947 |
Edmund Goulding |
NR |
- |
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 |
- |
1223 |
The Set-Up |
1949 |
Robert Wise |
NR |
- |
1254 |
The Naked City |
1948 |
Jules Dassin |
NR |
- |
1349 |
I Know Where I'm Going! |
1945 |
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger |
NR |
- |
1418 |
Sergeant York |
1941 |
Howard Hawks |
NR |
- |
1421 |
Odd Man Out |
1947 |
Carol Reed |
NR |
- |
1441 |
The Woman in the Window |
1944 |
Fritz Lang |
NR |
- |
1535 |
The Fallen Idol |
1948 |
Carol Reed |
NR |
- |
1549 |
Hamlet |
1948 |
Laurence Olivier |
NR |
- |
1618 |
Brute Force |
1947 |
Jules Dassin |
NR |
- |
1622 |
They Live by Night |
1948 |
Nicholas Ray |
NR |
- |
1725 |
Paisan |
1946 |
Roberto Rossellini |
NR |
- |
1749 |
All the King's Men |
1949 |
Robert Rossen |
NR |
- |
1785 |
The Uninvited |
1944 |
Lewis Allen |
NR |
- |
2033 |
The Letter |
1940 |
William Wyler |
NR |
- |
2070 |
A Letter to Three Wives |
1949 |
Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
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 |
- |
2211 |
The Talk of the Town |
1942 |
George Stevens |
NR |
- |
2230 |
Twelve O'Clock High |
1949 |
Henry King |
NR |
- |
2258 |
Gentleman's Agreement |
1947 |
Elia Kazan |
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 |
- |
2338 |
Kiss of Death |
1947 |
Henry Hathaway |
NR |
- |
2400 |
Henry V |
1944 |
Laurence Olivier |
NR |
- |
2417 |
Criss Cross |
1949 |
Robert Siodmak |
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 |
- |
2666 |
Thieves' Highway |
1949 |
Jules Dassin |
NR |
- |
2699 |
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers |
1946 |
Lewis Milestone |
NR |
- |
2709 |
Five Graves to Cairo |
1943 |
Billy Wilder |
NR |
- |
2782 |
Sands of Iwo Jima |
1949 |
Allan Dwan |
NR |
- |
2808 |
They Were Expendable |
1945 |
John Ford |
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 |
- |
2896 |
Born to Kill |
1947 |
Robert Wise |
NR |
- |
2898 |
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn |
1945 |
Elia Kazan |
NR |
- |
2941 |
Going My Way |
1944 |
Leo McCarey |
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 |
- |
3107 |
Ossessione |
1943 |
Luchino Visconti |
NR |
- |
3209 |
Brighton Rock |
1947 |
John Boulting |
NR |
- |
3244 |
Dead Reckoning |
1947 |
John Cromwell |
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 |
- |
3603 |
49th Parallel |
1941 |
Michael Powell |
NR |
- |
3858 |
For Whom the Bell Tolls |
1943 |
Sam Wood |
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 |
- |
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 |
- |
4209 |
Phantom of the Opera |
1943 |
Arthur Lubin |
NR |
- |
4313 |
Mighty Joe Young |
1949 |
Ernest B. Schoedsack |
NR |
- |
4314 |
Act of Violence |
1948 |
Fred Zinnemann |
NR |
- |
4355 |
Song of the South |
1946 |
Harve Foster |
NR |
- |
4437 |
National Velvet |
1944 |
Clarence Brown |
G |
- |
4499 |
Duel in the Sun |
1946 |
King Vidor |
NR |
- |
4518 |
Little Women |
1949 |
Mervyn LeRoy |
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 |
- |
4792 |
The Sea Wolf |
1941 |
Michael Curtiz |
PG |
- |
4827 |
Too Late for Tears |
1949 |
Byron Haskin |
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 |
- |
4943 |
The Invisible Man Returns |
1940 |
Joe May |
NR |
- |
4962 |
Waterloo Bridge |
1940 |
Mervyn LeRoy |
NR |
- |
5064 |
The Yearling |
1946 |
Clarence Brown |
G |
- |
5131 |
Pitfall |
1948 |
André De Toth |
NR |
- |
5273 |
The Reckless Moment |
1949 |
Max Ophüls |
NR |
- |
5318 |
Mr. Skeffington |
1944 |
Vincent Sherman |
NR |
- |
5395 |
Fallen Angel |
1945 |
Otto Preminger |
G |
- |
5403 |
The Fountainhead |
1949 |
King Vidor |
NR |
- |
5423 |
The Small Back Room |
1949 |
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger |
NR |
- |
5481 |
The Stratton Story |
1949 |
Sam Wood |
NR |
- |
5491 |
Life with Father |
1947 |
Michael Curtiz |
NR |
- |
5532 |
Across the Pacific |
1942 |
John Huston |
NR |
- |
5535 |
Possessed |
1947 |
Curtis Bernhardt |
NR |
- |
5584 |
Caught |
1949 |
Max Ophüls |
NR |
- |
5608 |
The Paradine Case |
1947 |
Alfred Hitchcock |
NR |
- |
5652 |
The Quiet Duel |
1949 |
Akira Kurosawa |
NR |
- |
5660 |
All This, and Heaven Too |
1940 |
Anatole Litvak |
NR |
- |
5687 |
I Remember Mama |
1948 |
George Stevens |
NR |
- |
5712 |
Objective, Burma! |
1945 |
Raoul Walsh |
NR |
- |
5749 |
Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne |
1945 |
Robert Bresson |
NR |
- |
5761 |
The Silence of the Sea |
1949 |
Jean-Pierre Melville |
NR |
- |
5763 |
Passage to Marseille |
1944 |
Michael Curtiz |
NR |
- |
5804 |
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail |
1945 |
Akira Kurosawa |
NR |
- |
5838 |
All Through The Night |
1942 |
Vincent Sherman |
NR |
- |
5843 |
Bedlam |
1946 |
Mark Robson |
NR |
- |
5881 |
Champion |
1949 |
Mark Robson |
NR |
- |
5919 |
Went the Day Well? |
1942 |
Alberto Cavalcanti |
NR |
- |
5927 |
Hangmen Also Die! |
1943 |
Fritz Lang |
NR |
- |
5990 |
Lured |
1947 |
Douglas Sirk |
NR |
- |
6006 |
The 47 Ronin |
1941 |
Kenji Mizoguchi |
NR |
- |
6017 |
For Me and My Gal |
1942 |
Busby Berkeley |
NR |
- |
6030 |
Destination Tokyo |
1943 |
Delmer Daves |
NR |
- |
6059 |
Penny Serenade |
1941 |
George Stevens |
NR |
- |
6066 |
Fireworks |
1947 |
Kenneth Anger |
NR |
- |
6078 |
Gentleman Jim |
1942 |
Raoul Walsh |
NR |
- |
6126 |
The Secret Garden |
1949 |
Fred M. Wilcox |
NR |
- |
6177 |
There Was a Father |
1942 |
Yasujirô Ozu |
NR |
- |
6262 |
Boomerang! |
1947 |
Elia Kazan |
NR |
- |
6325 |
Pursued |
1947 |
Raoul Walsh |
NR |
- |
6334 |
In Which We Serve |
1942 |
Noel Coward, David Lean |
NR |
- |
6336 |
The Children are Watching Us |
1944 |
Vittorio De Sica |
NR |
- |
6344 |
Humoresque |
1946 |
Jean Negulesco |
NR |
- |
6366 |
Dragonwyck |
1946 |
Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
G |
- |
6369 |
Bitter Rice |
1949 |
Giuseppe De Santis |
NR |
- |
6374 |
Lady on a Train |
1945 |
Charles David |
NR |
- |
6402 |
Sanshiro Sugata |
1943 |
Akira Kurosawa |
NR |
- |
6416 |
Spring in a Small Town |
1948 |
Mu Fei |
NR |
- |
6419 |
He Walked by Night |
1948 |
Alfred L. Werker |
NR |
- |
6469 |
Madame Curie |
1943 |
Mervyn LeRoy |
NR |
- |
6558 |
Terror by Night |
1946 |
Roy William Neill |
NR |
- |
6559 |
Anna and the King of Siam |
1946 |
John Cromwell |
NR |
- |
6579 |
A Guy Named Joe |
1943 |
Victor Fleming |
NR |
- |
6592 |
In This Our Life |
1942 |
John Huston |
NR |
- |
6639 |
The Southerner |
1945 |
Jean Renoir |
NR |
- |
6680 |
Stranger on the Third Floor |
1940 |
Boris Ingster |
NR |
- |
6711 |
A Woman's Face |
1941 |
George Cukor |
NR |
- |
6721 |
Watch on the Rhine |
1943 |
Herman Shumlin |
NR |
- |
6767 |
Kings Row |
1942 |
Sam Wood |
NR |
- |
6770 |
Under Capricorn |
1949 |
Alfred Hitchcock |
NR |
- |
6786 |
The Fighting Seabees |
1944 |
Edward Ludwig |
NR |
- |
6804 |
To Each His Own |
1946 |
Mitchell Leisen |
NR |
- |
6835 |
I Walk Alone |
1948 |
Byron Haskin |
NR |
- |
6841 |
Broadway Melody of 1940 |
1940 |
Norman Taurog |
NR |
- |
6844 |
That Hamilton Woman |
1941 |
Alexander Korda |
NR |
- |
6873 |
Kitty Foyle |
1940 |
Sam Wood |
NR |
- |
6983 |
The Two Mrs. Carrolls |
1947 |
Peter Godfrey |
NR |
- |
7029 |
Bataan |
1943 |
Tay Garnett |
NR |
- |
7049 |
House of Strangers |
1949 |
Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
NR |
- |
7057 |
Joan of Arc |
1948 |
Victor Fleming |
NR |
- |
7105 |
The Dark Corner |
1946 |
Henry Hathaway |
NR |
- |
7123 |
Lassie Come Home |
1943 |
Fred M. Wilcox |
NR |
- |
7124 |
The Earth Trembles |
1948 |
Luchino Visconti |
NR |
- |
7203 |
Flying Tigers |
1942 |
David Miller |
NR |
- |
7238 |
Abe Lincoln in Illinois |
1940 |
John Cromwell |
NR |
- |
7260 |
My Name is Julia Ross |
1945 |
Joseph H. Lewis |
NR |
- |
7307 |
Road House |
1948 |
Jean Negulesco |
NR |
- |
7354 |
Undercurrent |
1946 |
Vincente Minnelli |
NR |
- |
7478 |
Since You Went Away |
1944 |
John Cromwell |
G |
- |
7580 |
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo |
1944 |
Mervyn LeRoy |
NR |
- |
7600 |
The Verdict |
1946 |
Don Siegel |
NR |
- |
7690 |
Back to Bataan |
1945 |
Edward Dmytryk |
NR |
- |
7701 |
Knute Rockne All American |
1940 |
Lloyd Bacon |
NR |
- |
7735 |
Dressed to Kill |
1946 |
Roy William Neill |
NR |
- |
7769 |
The Keys of the Kingdom |
1944 |
John M. Stahl |
NR |
- |
7796 |
A Double Life |
1947 |
George Cukor |
NR |
- |
8102 |
The Passionate Friends |
1949 |
David Lean |
NR |
- |
8133 |
The Red House |
1947 |
Delmer Daves |
NR |
- |
8170 |
Black Angel |
1946 |
Roy William Neill |
NR |
- |
8235 |
Boom Town |
1940 |
Jack Conway |
NR |
- |
8243 |
The Enchanted Cottage |
1945 |
John Cromwell |
NR |
- |
8327 |
Border Incident |
1949 |
Anthony Mann |
NR |
- |
8345 |
Tomorrow Is Forever |
1946 |
Irving Pichel |
NR |
- |
8356 |
Johnny Eager |
1941 |
Mervyn LeRoy |
NR |
- |
8428 |
The Record of a Tenement Gentleman |
1947 |
Yasujirô Ozu |
NR |
- |
8448 |
They Made Me a Fugitive |
1947 |
Alberto Cavalcanti |
NR |
- |
8493 |
Moonrise |
1948 |
Frank Borzage |
NR |
- |
8500 |
Berlin Express |
1948 |
Jacques Tourneur |
NR |
- |
8577 |
Samson and Delilah |
1949 |
Cecil B. DeMille |
NR |
- |
8631 |
Hold Back the Dawn |
1941 |
Mitchell Leisen |
NR |
- |
8637 |
Dance, Girl, Dance |
1940 |
Dorothy Arzner |
NR |
- |
8680 |
The Human Comedy |
1943 |
Clarence Brown |
NR |
- |
8734 |
They Won't Believe Me |
1947 |
Irving Pichel |
NR |
- |
8775 |
Secret Beyond the Door |
1947 |
Fritz Lang |
NR |
- |
8817 |
Action in the North Atlantic |
1943 |
Lloyd Bacon |
NR |
- |
8928 |
The Woman on the Beach |
1947 |
Jean Renoir |
NR |
- |
9009 |
Reap the Wild Wind |
1942 |
Cecil B. DeMille |
NR |
- |
9072 |
Whirlpool |
1949 |
Otto Preminger |
NR |
- |
9075 |
Madame Bovary |
1949 |
Vincente Minnelli |
NR |
- |
9084 |
Torment |
1944 |
Alf Sjöberg |
NR |
- |
9162 |
A Hen in the Wind |
1948 |
Yasujirô Ozu |
NR |
- |
9164 |
Blossoms in the Dust |
1941 |
Mervyn LeRoy |
NR |
- |
9265 |
Panique |
1946 |
Julien Duvivier |
NR |
- |
9275 |
Brother Orchid |
1940 |
Lloyd Bacon |
NR |
- |
9331 |
Desperate Journey |
1942 |
Raoul Walsh |
NR |
- |
9334 |
This Land Is Mine |
1943 |
Jean Renoir |
NR |
- |
9348 |
Knock on Any Door |
1949 |
Nicholas Ray |
NR |
- |
9372 |
The Devil's Envoys |
1942 |
Marcel Carné |
NR |
- |
9470 |
The Great Lie |
1941 |
Edmund Goulding |
NR |
- |
9490 |
So Dear To My Heart |
1948 |
Harold D. Schuster, Hamilton Luske |
G |
- |
9531 |
Santa Fe Trail |
1940 |
Michael Curtiz |
NR |
- |
9544 |
Women of the Night |
1948 |
Kenji Mizoguchi |
NR |
- |