Go to the home page Go to the master list sorted by rank Go to the master list sorted alphabetically Go to the top films as determined by each taste Go to the master list sorted by director Go to the master list sorted by actor Go to the master list sorted by year of release Go to the master list sorted by genre Go to the master list sorted by nation of origin Go to more lists of films Find alternate titles of master list films Go to lists of top films as determined by normal film fans Go to the FAQ and other essays Go to the links page Go to the site map

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 The Grapes of Wrath* John Ford 68
2 The Philadelphia Story* George Cukor 81
3 His Girl Friday Howard Hawks 86
4 Fantasia James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe, Norman Ferguson, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, and Paul Satterfield 158
5 Rebecca** Alfred Hitchcock 225
6 Pinocchio Hamilton Luske and Ben Sharpsteen 245
7 The Shop around the Corner Ernst Lubitsch 344
8 The Bank Dick Edward F. Cline 380
9 The Great Dictator* Charles Chaplin 392
10 The Thief of Bagdad Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, and Tim Whelan 627
11 Foreign Correspondent* Alfred Hitchcock 882
12 Pride and Prejudice Robert Z. Leonard 917
13 The Sea Hawk Michael Curtiz 1219
14 The Mark of Zorro Rouben Mamoulian 1513
15 The Great McGinty Preston Sturges 1813
16 My Little Chickadee Edward F. Cline 1829
17 The Letter* William Wyler 1835
18 Dance, Girl, Dance Dorothy Arzner 1923
19 The Long Voyage Home* John Ford 2095
20 Northwest Passage King Vidor 2123
21 Knute Rockne, All American Lloyd Bacon 2201

1941

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Citizen Kane* Orson Welles 1
2 The Maltese Falcon* John Huston 33
3 Sullivan's Travels Preston Sturges 113
4 The Lady Eve Preston Sturges 125
5 How Green Was My Valley** John Ford 342
6 Dumbo Ben Sharpsteen 507
7 Ball of Fire Howard Hawks 890
8 Sergeant York* Howard Hawks 923
9 Here Comes Mr. Jordan* Alexander Hall 965
10 The Wolf Man George Waggner 1026
11 Meet John Doe Frank Capra 1073
12 The Little Foxes* William Wyler 1308
13 High Sierra Raoul Walsh 1387
14 Suspicion* Alfred Hitchcock 1522
15 Major Barbara Gabriel Pascal 1819
16 The Devil and Daniel Webster William Dieterle 1890
17 49th Parallel* Michael Powell 1902
18 Hellzapoppin' H.C. Potter 2363

1942

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Casablanca** Michael Curtiz 2
2 The Magnificent Ambersons* Orson Welles 142
3 To Be or Not to Be Ernst Lubitsch 197
4 Yankee Doodle Dandy* Michael Curtiz 257
5 Bambi David Hand 311
6 Now, Voyager Irving Rapper 328
7 Cat People Jacques Tourneur 338
8 The Palm Beach Story Preston Sturges 360
9 Woman of the Year George Stevens 566
10 The Pride of the Yankees* Sam Wood 665
11 Mrs. Miniver** William Wyler 701
12 In Which We Serve* Noel Coward and David Lean 764
13 Road to Morocco David Butler 872
14 Holiday Inn Mark Sandrich 1384
15 Saboteur Alfred Hitchcock 1437
16 Random Harvest* Mervyn LeRoy 1457
17 Kings Row* Sam Wood 1654
18 The Talk of the Town* George Stevens 1722
19 Listen to Britain Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister 1838
20 Went the Day Well? Alberto Cavalcanti 2016
21 I Married a Witch René Clair 2136
22 The Man Who Came to Dinner William Keighley 2194
23 Gentleman Jim Raoul Walsh 2223
24 This Gun for Hire Frank Tuttle 2293
25 The Ghost of Frankenstein Erle C. Kenton 2485

1943

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 368
2 The Ox-Bow Incident* William A. Wellman 396
3 Shadow of a Doubt Alfred Hitchcock 401
4 Day of Wrath Carl Theodor Dreyer 607
5 I Walked with a Zombie Jacques Tourneur 849
6 Ossessione Luchino Visconti 869
7 Meshes of the Afternoon Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid 906
8 Cabin in the Sky Vincente Minnelli 1404
9 Heaven Can Wait* Ernst Lubitsch 1467
10 Fires Were Started Humphrey Jennings 1480
11 Le Corbeau Henri-Georges Clouzot 1583
12 Lassie Come Home Fred M. Wilcox 1730
13 For Whom the Bell Tolls* Sam Wood 1734
14 The Song of Bernadette* Henry King 1853
15 The Gang's All Here Busby Berkeley 1959
16 Guadalcanal Diary Lewis Seiler 2117
17 The More the Merrier* George Stevens 2144
18 Why We Fight 1: Prelude to War Frank Capra and Anatole Litvak 2265
19 Son of Dracula Robert Siodmak 2484

1944

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Double Indemnity* Billy Wilder 40
2 Meet Me in St. Louis Vincente Minnelli 204
3 Laura Otto Preminger 207
4 Henry V* Laurence Olivier 286
5 To Have and Have Not Howard Hawks 332
6 Ivan the Terrible Sergei M. Eisenstein 363
7 The Miracle of Morgan's Creek Preston Sturges 433
8 National Velvet Clarence Brown 629
9 Gaslight* George Cukor 688
10 Arsenic and Old Lace Frank Capra 790
11 Hail the Conquering Hero Preston Sturges 938
12 Murder, My Sweet Edward Dmytryk 991
13 Going My Way** Leo McCarey 1200
14 The Uninvited Lewis Allen 1605
15 The Woman in the Window Fritz Lang 1694
16 Thirty Seconds over Tokyo Mervyn LeRoy 1770
17 The Curse of the Cat People Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise 2070
18 Jane Eyre Robert Stevenson 2151
19 Lifeboat Alfred Hitchcock 2388
20 A Canterbury Tale Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 2512

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

Go to 1935-1939 Go to 1945-1949
This page was last modified on April 5, 2008