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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 87
2 The Philadelphia Story* George Cukor 131
3 The Great Dictator* Charles Chaplin 183
4 The Grapes of Wrath* John Ford 209
5 Pinocchio Hamilton Luske and Ben Sharpsteen 233
6 Fantasia James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe, Norman Ferguson, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, and Paul Satterfield 266
7 Rebecca** Alfred Hitchcock 299
8 The Shop around the Corner Ernst Lubitsch 345
9 The Bank Dick Edward F. Cline 1028
10 The Thief of Bagdad Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, and Tim Whelan 1090
11 Foreign Correspondent* Alfred Hitchcock 2232
12 The Letter* William Wyler 2299
13 The Great McGinty Preston Sturges 2462
14 Dance, Girl, Dance Dorothy Arzner 2547
15 Knute Rockne, All American Lloyd Bacon 2630
16 The Westerner William Wyler 2724
17 The Mark of Zorro Rouben Mamoulian 2763
18 The Sea Hawk Michael Curtiz 2778

1941

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Citizen Kane* Orson Welles 4
2 The Maltese Falcon* John Huston 68
3 The Lady Eve Preston Sturges 193
4 Sullivan's Travels Preston Sturges 252
5 Dumbo Ben Sharpsteen 616
6 How Green Was My Valley** John Ford 708
7 Sergeant York* Howard Hawks 1133
8 The Wolf Man George Waggner 1192
9 Ball of Fire Howard Hawks 1446
10 The Little Foxes* William Wyler 1755
11 High Sierra Raoul Walsh 1888
12 Suspicion* Alfred Hitchcock 2312
13 They Died with Their Boots on Raoul Walsh 2487

1942

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Casablanca** Michael Curtiz 5
2 To Be or Not to Be Ernst Lubitsch 280
3 Bambi David Hand 311
4 The Magnificent Ambersons* Orson Welles 405
5 Cat People Jacques Tourneur 452
6 The Ox-Bow Incident* William A. Wellman 539
7 Now, Voyager Irving Rapper 612
8 Yankee Doodle Dandy* Michael Curtiz 687
9 The Palm Beach Story Preston Sturges 803
10 The Pride of the Yankees* Sam Wood 1014
11 Listen to Britain Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister 1481
12 Mrs. Miniver** William Wyler 1496
13 Went the Day Well? Alberto Cavalcanti 1551
14 In Which We Serve* Noel Coward and David Lean 1653
15 Woman of the Year George Stevens 1858
16 Road to Morocco David Butler 2208
17 Holiday Inn Mark Sandrich 2401
18 Saboteur Alfred Hitchcock 2562

1943

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 327
2 Shadow of a Doubt Alfred Hitchcock 432
3 Day of Wrath Carl Theodor Dreyer 610
4 Meshes of the Afternoon Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid 713
5 I Walked with a Zombie Jacques Tourneur 864
6 The Miracle of Morgan's Creek Preston Sturges 884
7 Ossessione Luchino Visconti 1257
8 Le Corbeau Henri-Georges Clouzot 1582
9 Cabin in the Sky Vincente Minnelli 2013
10 Heaven Can Wait* Ernst Lubitsch 2168
11 Fires Were Started Humphrey Jennings 2185
12 Stormy Weather Andrew L. Stone 2204
13 The Seventh Victim Mark Robson 2351

1944

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Double Indemnity* Billy Wilder 42
2 Laura Otto Preminger 279
3 Meet Me in St. Louis Vincente Minnelli 283
4 Arsenic and Old Lace Frank Capra 533
5 Ivan the Terrible Sergei M. Eisenstein 618
6 To Have and Have Not Howard Hawks 683
7 Henry V* Laurence Olivier 960
8 National Velvet Clarence Brown 1019
9 Gaslight* George Cukor 1380
10 Murder, My Sweet Edward Dmytryk 1413
11 Hail the Conquering Hero Preston Sturges 1497
12 A Canterbury Tale Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 1559
13 The Woman in the Window Fritz Lang 1643
14 Going My Way** Leo McCarey 1876
15 Ministry of Fear Fritz Lang 2653
16 The Curse of the Cat People Robert Wise and Gunther von Fritsch 2693

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

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This page was last modified on April 20, 2020