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Top Films of the 1940s

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Casablanca 1942 Michael Curtiz 5
2 Citizen Kane 1941 Orson Welles 11
3 The Third Man 1949 Carol Reed 42
4 It's a Wonderful Life 1946 Frank Capra 46
5 Double Indemnity 1944 Billy Wilder 51
6 The Bicycle Thief 1948 Vittorio De Sica 69
7 The Maltese Falcon 1941 John Huston 81
8 His Girl Friday 1940 Howard Hawks 98
9 The Philadelphia Story 1940 George Cukor 126
10 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 John Huston 142
11 Notorious 1946 Alfred Hitchcock 148
12 The Red Shoes 1948 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 150
13 The Best Years of Our Lives 1946 William Wyler 200
14 Beauty and the Beast 1946 Jean Cocteau 201
15 Brief Encounter 1945 David Lean 211
16 The Big Sleep 1946 Howard Hawks 215
17 Children of Paradise 1945 Marcel Carné 216
18 The Great Dictator 1940 Charles Chaplin 222
19 Pinocchio 1940 Hamilton Luske and Ben Sharpsteen 224
20 Fantasia 1940 James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe Jr., Norman Ferguson, David Hand, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, and Ben Sharpsteen 229
21 The Lady Eve 1941 Preston Sturges 239
22 To Be or Not to Be 1942 Ernst Lubitsch 251
23 The Shop around the Corner 1940 Ernst Lubitsch 260
24 The Grapes of Wrath 1940 John Ford 273
25 Meet Me in St. Louis 1944 Vincente Minnelli 284
26 Rebecca 1940 Alfred Hitchcock 311
27 A Matter of Life and Death 1946 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 316
28 Red River 1948 Howard Hawks 319
29 Bambi 1942 David Hand 342
30 Kind Hearts and Coronets 1949 Robert Hamer 345
31 Rome, Open City 1945 Roberto Rossellini 360
32 Sullivan's Travels 1941 Preston Sturges 389
33 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 1943 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 394
34 Laura 1944 Otto Preminger 408
35 Shadow of a Doubt 1943 Alfred Hitchcock 425
36 Cat People 1942 Jacques Tourneur 435
37 Black Narcissus 1947 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 446
38 White Heat 1949 Raoul Walsh 447
39 My Darling Clementine 1946 John Ford 450
40 Mildred Pierce 1945 Michael Curtiz 454
41 The Magnificent Ambersons 1942 Orson Welles 456
42 Out of the Past 1947 Jacques Tourneur 461
43 Dumbo 1941 Ben Sharpsteen 482
44 Great Expectations 1946 David Lean 539
45 Late Spring 1949 Yasujirô Ozu 593
46 Arsenic and Old Lace 1944 Frank Capra 656
47 The Ox-Bow Incident 1942 William A. Wellman 701
48 Dead of Night 1945 Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, and Robert Hamer 787
49 Letter from an Unknown Woman 1948 Max Ophüls 793
50 Day of Wrath 1943 Carl Theodor Dreyer 799
51 Miracle on 34th Street 1947 George Seaton 807
52 Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942 Michael Curtiz 820
53 Meshes of the Afternoon 1943 Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid 823
54 Rope 1948 Alfred Hitchcock 856
55 Adam's Rib 1949 George Cukor 880
56 The Lost Weekend 1945 Billy Wilder 892
57 How Green Was My Valley 1941 John Ford 895
58 'I Know Where I'm Going!' 1945 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 903
59 To Have and Have Not 1944 Howard Hawks 907
60 I Walked with a Zombie 1943 Jacques Tourneur 960
61 Ivan the Terrible 1944 Sergei Eisenstein 987
62 Now, Voyager 1942 Irving Rapper 1012
63 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1949 John Ford 1013
64 On the Town 1949 Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly 1023
65 The Wolf Man 1941 George Waggner 1047
66 Sergeant York 1941 Howard Hawks 1056
67 The Lady from Shanghai 1947 Orson Welles 1074
68 Twelve O'Clock High 1949 Henry King 1094
69 The Postman Always Rings Twice 1946 Tay Garnett 1112
70 Fort Apache 1948 John Ford 1118
71 The Palm Beach Story 1942 Preston Sturges 1119
72 Paisan 1946 Roberto Rossellini 1120
73 Gilda 1946 Charles Vidor 1139
74 The Killers 1946 Robert Siodmak 1207
75 The Pride of the Yankees 1942 Sam Wood 1234
76 Detour 1945 Edgar G. Ulmer 1271
77 Gaslight 1944 George Cukor 1280
78 Force of Evil 1948 Abraham Polonsky 1354
79 The Thief of Bagdad 1940 Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, and Tim Whelan 1359
80 The Bank Dick 1940 Edward F. Cline 1383
81 National Velvet 1944 Clarence Brown 1388
82 They Live by Night 1948 Nicholas Ray 1472
83 Key Largo 1948 John Huston 1486
84 Odd Man Out 1947 Carol Reed 1487
85 Henry V 1944 Laurence Olivier 1503
86 Mrs. Miniver 1942 William Wyler 1546
87 The Heiress 1949 William Wyler 1557
88 Duel in the Sun 1946 King Vidor 1564
89 A Day in the Country 1946 Jean Renoir 1625
90 They Were Expendable 1945 John Ford 1642
91 Monsieur Verdoux 1947 Charles Chaplin 1658
92 The Fallen Idol 1948 Carol Reed 1722
93 Ossessione 1943 Luchino Visconti 1731
94 The Ghost and Mrs. Muir 1947 Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1791
95 The Set-Up 1949 Robert Wise 1801
96 Foreign Correspondent 1940 Alfred Hitchcock 1813
97 The Miracle of Morgan's Creek 1943 Preston Sturges 1843
98 Nightmare Alley 1947 Edmund Goulding 1844
99 Murder, My Sweet 1944 Edward Dmytryk 1855
100 Went the Day Well? 1942 Alberto Cavalcanti 1895
101 Germany, Year Zero 1948 Roberto Rossellini 1912
102 Battleground 1949 William A. Wellman 1926
103 Spring in a Small Town 1948 Mu Fei 1952
104 Leave Her to Heaven 1945 John M. Stahl 1954
105 Le Corbeau 1943 Henri-Georges Clouzot 1959
106 Ball of Fire 1941 Howard Hawks 1960
107 La Terra Trema 1948 Luchino Visconti 1961
108 Cabin in the Sky 1943 Vincente Minnelli 1970
109 All the King's Men 1949 Robert Rossen 2001
110 In Which We Serve 1942 Noël Coward and David Lean 2005
111 Easter Parade 1948 Charles Walters 2026
112 Lifeboat 1944 Alfred Hitchcock 2038
113 High Sierra 1940 Raoul Walsh 2044
114 Brighton Rock 1948 John Boulting 2048
115 Sands of Iwo Jima 1949 Allan Dwan 2055
116 Stormy Weather 1943 Andrew L. Stone 2076
117 Spellbound 1945 Alfred Hitchcock 2099
118 Woman of the Year 1942 George Stevens 2119
119 Shoeshine 1946 Vittorio De Sica 2120
120 Hamlet 1948 Laurence Olivier 2146
121 Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein 1948 Charles Barton 2220
122 A Canterbury Tale 1944 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 2300
123 The Seventh Victim 1943 Mark Robson 2314
124 Hail the Conquering Hero 1944 Preston Sturges 2340
125 The Woman in the Window 1944 Fritz Lang 2341
126 Dance, Girl, Dance 1940 Dorothy Arzner 2359
127 Scarlet Street 1945 Fritz Lang 2398
128 The Uninvited 1944 Lewis Allen 2410
129 Tight Little Island 1949 Alexander Mackendrick 2450
130 Thirty Seconds over Tokyo 1944 Mervyn LeRoy 2458
131 The Little Foxes 1941 William Wyler 2505
132 The Picture of Dorian Gray 1945 Albert Lewin 2507
133 Fires Were Started 1943 Humphrey Jennings 2537
134 Heaven Can Wait 1943 Ernst Lubitsch 2538
135 The Naked City 1948 Jules Dassin 2542
136 The Letter 1940 William Wyler 2543
137 Listen to Britain 1942 Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister 2549
138 Road to Morocco 1942 David Butler 2561
139 Suspicion 1941 Alfred Hitchcock 2566
140 Oliver Twist 1948 David Lean 2579
141 Unfaithfully Yours 1948 Preston Sturges 2580
142 A Letter to Three Wives 1949 Joseph L. Mankiewicz 2602
143 Anchors Aweigh 1945 George Sidney 2651
144 Body and Soul 1947 Robert Rossen 2660
145 Going My Way 1944 Leo McCarey 2671
146 Stray Dog 1949 Akira Kurosawa 2684
147 Holiday Inn 1942 Mark Sandrich 2777
148 The Spiral Staircase 1946 Robert Siodmak 2784
149 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 1945 Elia Kazan 2787
150 D.O.A. 1949 Rudolph Maté 2822
151 Quai des Orfèvres 1947 Henri-Georges Clouzot 2890
152 Portrait of Jennie 1948 William Dieterle 2939
153 Caught 1949 Max Ophüls 2984
154 The Westerner 1940 William Wyler 3005
155 Story of G.I. Joe 1945 William A. Wellman 3006
This page was last modified on April 9, 2025