The Top 250 Dramas of the 1940s

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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 -

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