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 His Girl Friday Howard Hawks 72
2 The Grapes of Wrath* John Ford 102
3 The Philadelphia Story* George Cukor 109
4 Fantasia James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe, Norman Ferguson, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, and Paul Satterfield 199
5 Pinocchio Hamilton Luske and Ben Sharpsteen 217
6 Rebecca** Alfred Hitchcock 225
7 The Great Dictator* Charles Chaplin 369
8 The Bank Dick Edward F. Cline 429
9 The Shop around the Corner Ernst Lubitsch 472
10 The Thief of Bagdad Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, and Tim Whelan 709
11 Foreign Correspondent* Alfred Hitchcock 1054
12 Pride and Prejudice Robert Z. Leonard 1277
13 The Sea Hawk Michael Curtiz 1702
14 The Mark of Zorro Rouben Mamoulian 1710
15 Dance, Girl, Dance Dorothy Arzner 1764
16 The Great McGinty Preston Sturges 1841
17 Knute Rockne, All American Lloyd Bacon 1988
18 My Little Chickadee Edward F. Cline 2130
19 The Letter* William Wyler 2259
20 My Favorite Wife Garson Kanin 2332

1941

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Citizen Kane* Orson Welles 2
2 The Maltese Falcon* John Huston 44
3 Sullivan's Travels Preston Sturges 125
4 The Lady Eve Preston Sturges 138
5 How Green Was My Valley** John Ford 417
6 Dumbo Ben Sharpsteen 565
7 Sergeant York* Howard Hawks 919
8 The Wolf Man George Waggner 985
9 Ball of Fire Howard Hawks 986
10 Meet John Doe Frank Capra 1231
11 Here Comes Mr. Jordan* Alexander Hall 1283
12 The Little Foxes* William Wyler 1603
13 High Sierra Raoul Walsh 1666
14 Hellzapoppin' H.C. Potter 1811
15 Suspicion* Alfred Hitchcock 1822
16 49th Parallel* Michael Powell 2219
17 The Devil and Daniel Webster William Dieterle 2296
18 Major Barbara Gabriel Pascal 2380

1942

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Casablanca** Michael Curtiz 3
2 The Magnificent Ambersons* Orson Welles 201
3 To Be or Not to Be Ernst Lubitsch 248
4 Bambi David Hand 323
5 Yankee Doodle Dandy* Michael Curtiz 338
6 Now, Voyager Irving Rapper 361
7 The Palm Beach Story Preston Sturges 437
8 Cat People Jacques Tourneur 458
9 The Pride of the Yankees* Sam Wood 671
10 Woman of the Year George Stevens 827
11 Mrs. Miniver** William Wyler 949
12 In Which We Serve* Noel Coward and David Lean 978
13 Road to Morocco David Butler 1212
14 Saboteur Alfred Hitchcock 1416
15 Went the Day Well? Alberto Cavalcanti 1520
16 Listen to Britain Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister 1559
17 Holiday Inn Mark Sandrich 1781
18 Gentleman Jim Raoul Walsh 1916
19 The Talk of the Town* George Stevens 2015
20 Random Harvest* Mervyn LeRoy 2097
21 Kings Row* Sam Wood 2160
22 Why We Fight 1: Prelude to War Frank Capra and Anatole Litvak 2316

1943

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Shadow of a Doubt Alfred Hitchcock 382
2 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 390
3 The Ox-Bow Incident* William A. Wellman 525
4 Day of Wrath Carl Theodor Dreyer 593
5 I Walked with a Zombie Jacques Tourneur 883
6 Meshes of the Afternoon Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid 1020
7 Ossessione Luchino Visconti 1248
8 Fires Were Started Humphrey Jennings 1456
9 Heaven Can Wait* Ernst Lubitsch 1499
10 Lassie Come Home Fred M. Wilcox 1787
11 Le Corbeau Henri-Georges Clouzot 1815
12 The More the Merrier* George Stevens 1945
13 For Whom the Bell Tolls* Sam Wood 1946
14 The Gang's All Here Busby Berkeley 2314
15 Cabin in the Sky Vincente Minnelli 2344
16 Jane Eyre Robert Stevenson 2378

1944

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Double Indemnity* Billy Wilder 41
2 Meet Me in St. Louis Vincente Minnelli 226
3 Laura Otto Preminger 259
4 Henry V* Laurence Olivier 375
5 To Have and Have Not Howard Hawks 383
6 Ivan the Terrible Sergei M. Eisenstein 453
7 The Miracle of Morgan's Creek Preston Sturges 487
8 National Velvet Clarence Brown 657
9 Arsenic and Old Lace Frank Capra 686
10 Gaslight* George Cukor 923
11 Hail the Conquering Hero Preston Sturges 975
12 Murder, My Sweet Edward Dmytryk 1241
13 Going My Way** Leo McCarey 1314
14 A Canterbury Tale Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 1656
15 The Woman in the Window Fritz Lang 1991
16 Thirty Seconds over Tokyo Mervyn LeRoy 2284
17 The Curse of the Cat People Robert Wise and Gunther von Fritsch 2294

**--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 June 14, 2011