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Top Films by Year (1940-1944)

**--Won Academy Award for Best Picture.
*--Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

1940

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 His Girl Friday Howard Hawks 78
2 The Grapes of Wrath* John Ford 80
3 The Philadelphia Story* George Cukor 93
4 Fantasia James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe, Norman Ferguson, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, and Paul Satterfield 180
5 Pinocchio Hamilton Luske and Ben Sharpsteen 212
6 Rebecca** Alfred Hitchcock 218
7 The Great Dictator* Charles Chaplin 387
8 The Bank Dick Edward F. Cline 418
9 The Shop around the Corner Ernst Lubitsch 490
10 The Thief of Bagdad Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, and Tim Whelan 649
11 Foreign Correspondent* Alfred Hitchcock 1051
12 Pride and Prejudice Robert Z. Leonard 1231
13 The Sea Hawk Michael Curtiz 1623
14 Dance, Girl, Dance Dorothy Arzner 1671
15 The Mark of Zorro Rouben Mamoulian 1738
16 The Great McGinty Preston Sturges 1779
17 My Little Chickadee Edward F. Cline 2059
18 The Letter* William Wyler 2132
19 Knute Rockne, All American Lloyd Bacon 2252

1941

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Citizen Kane* Orson Welles 2
2 The Maltese Falcon* John Huston 39
3 Sullivan's Travels Preston Sturges 130
4 The Lady Eve Preston Sturges 140
5 How Green Was My Valley** John Ford 353
6 Dumbo Ben Sharpsteen 520
7 Sergeant York* Howard Hawks 910
8 The Wolf Man George Waggner 1012
9 Ball of Fire Howard Hawks 1072
10 Meet John Doe Frank Capra 1175
11 Here Comes Mr. Jordan* Alexander Hall 1235
12 The Little Foxes* William Wyler 1429
13 High Sierra Raoul Walsh 1432
14 Hellzapoppin' H.C. Potter 1736
15 Suspicion* Alfred Hitchcock 1755
16 49th Parallel* Michael Powell 2152
17 The Devil and Daniel Webster William Dieterle 2198

1942

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Casablanca** Michael Curtiz 3
2 The Magnificent Ambersons* Orson Welles 167
3 To Be or Not to Be Ernst Lubitsch 225
4 Bambi David Hand 284
5 Yankee Doodle Dandy* Michael Curtiz 317
6 Now, Voyager Irving Rapper 361
7 Cat People Jacques Tourneur 369
8 The Palm Beach Story Preston Sturges 416
9 The Pride of the Yankees* Sam Wood 663
10 Woman of the Year George Stevens 770
11 Mrs. Miniver** William Wyler 820
12 In Which We Serve* Noel Coward and David Lean 955
13 Road to Morocco David Butler 1203
14 Went the Day Well? Alberto Cavalcanti 1390
15 Listen to Britain Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister 1497
16 Saboteur Alfred Hitchcock 1525
17 Holiday Inn Mark Sandrich 1610
18 The Talk of the Town* George Stevens 1958
19 Random Harvest* Mervyn LeRoy 2028
20 Kings Row* Sam Wood 2085
21 Gentleman Jim Raoul Walsh 2101

1943

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Shadow of a Doubt Alfred Hitchcock 365
2 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 390
3 The Ox-Bow Incident* William A. Wellman 442
4 Day of Wrath Carl Theodor Dreyer 613
5 I Walked with a Zombie Jacques Tourneur 949
6 Meshes of the Afternoon Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid 972
7 Ossessione Luchino Visconti 1133
8 Fires Were Started Humphrey Jennings 1325
9 Le Corbeau Henri-Georges Clouzot 1438
10 Heaven Can Wait* Ernst Lubitsch 1616
11 Lassie Come Home Fred M. Wilcox 1706
12 For Whom the Bell Tolls* Sam Wood 1871
13 Cabin in the Sky Vincente Minnelli 2045
14 The More the Merrier* George Stevens 2166
15 The Gang's All Here Busby Berkeley 2215
16 Why We Fight 1: Prelude to War Frank Capra and Anatole Litvak 2217

1944

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Double Indemnity* Billy Wilder 40
2 Meet Me in St. Louis Vincente Minnelli 211
3 Laura Otto Preminger 230
4 To Have and Have Not Howard Hawks 342
5 Henry V* Laurence Olivier 364
6 Ivan the Terrible Sergei M. Eisenstein 409
7 The Miracle of Morgan's Creek Preston Sturges 437
8 National Velvet Clarence Brown 698
9 Arsenic and Old Lace Frank Capra 738
10 Gaslight* George Cukor 852
11 Hail the Conquering Hero Preston Sturges 991
12 Murder, My Sweet Edward Dmytryk 1199
13 Going My Way** Leo McCarey 1249
14 A Canterbury Tale Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 1559
15 The Woman in the Window Fritz Lang 1926
16 Thirty Seconds over Tokyo Mervyn LeRoy 2018
17 The Curse of the Cat People Robert Wise and Gunther von Fritsch 2195

**--Won Academy Award for Best Picture.
*--Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

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This page was last modified on July 14, 2010