The Top 250 Movies of the 1940s

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The Top 250 Movies of the 1940s
Global
Ranking		 Movie Title Release
Year		 Director MPAA
Rating		 Your
Ranking
26 Casablanca 1942 Michael Curtiz PG -
35 Double Indemnity 1944 Billy Wilder NR -
42 The Third Man 1949 Carol Reed NR -
44 Citizen Kane 1941 Orson Welles NR -
63 The Red Shoes 1948 Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger NR -
73 Bicycle Thieves 1948 Vittorio De Sica NR -
79 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 John Huston NR -
87 Notorious 1946 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
110 The Philadelphia Story 1940 George Cukor NR -
111 A Matter of Life and Death 1946 Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger PG -
117 Shadow of a Doubt 1943 Alfred Hitchcock PG -
122 His Girl Friday 1940 Howard Hawks NR -
125 Out of the Past 1947 Jacques Tourneur NR -
133 The Big Sleep 1946 Howard Hawks NR -
138 The Great Dictator 1940 Charles Chaplin G -
139 The Maltese Falcon 1941 John Huston NR -
147 Rope 1948 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
151 It's a Wonderful Life 1946 Frank Capra NR -
153 Brief Encounter 1945 David Lean NR -
158 Rebecca 1940 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
166 To Be or Not to Be 1942 Ernst Lubitsch NR -
168 Sullivan's Travels 1941 Preston Sturges NR -
171 The Best Years of Our Lives 1946 William Wyler NR -
172 Laura 1944 Otto Preminger NR -
190 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 1943 Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger NR -
191 The Shop Around the Corner 1940 Ernst Lubitsch NR -
227 Black Narcissus 1947 Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger NR -
235 Late Spring 1949 Yasujirô Ozu NR -
242 White Heat 1949 Raoul Walsh NR -
280 Arsenic and Old Lace 1944 Frank Capra NR -
292 Children of Paradise 1945 Marcel Carné NR -
322 The Lady Eve 1941 Preston Sturges NR -
328 Key Largo 1948 John Huston NR -
336 The Grapes of Wrath 1940 John Ford NR -
338 Red River 1948 Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson NR -
366 Kind Hearts and Coronets 1949 Robert Hamer NR -
372 To Have and Have Not 1944 Howard Hawks NR -
379 The Ox-Bow Incident 1943 William A. Wellman NR -
381 Gaslight 1944 George Cukor NR -
393 Mildred Pierce 1945 Michael Curtiz NR -
406 The Lost Weekend 1945 Billy Wilder NR -
412 Stray Dog 1949 Akira Kurosawa NR -
423 The Magnificent Ambersons 1942 Orson Welles PG -
445 Rome, Open City 1945 Roberto Rossellini NR -
468 The Lady from Shanghai 1947 Orson Welles NR -
484 Beauty and the Beast 1946 Jean Cocteau NR -
502 My Darling Clementine 1946 John Ford NR -
544 Gilda 1946 Charles Vidor NR -
546 Ball of Fire 1941 Howard Hawks NR -
605 The Killers 1946 Robert Siodmak NR -
625 Lifeboat 1944 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
634 Spellbound 1945 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
640 Suspicion 1941 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
669 Foreign Correspondent 1940 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
744 Cat People 1942 Jacques Tourneur NR -
799 Meet Me in St. Louis 1944 Vincente Minnelli NR -
826 Murder, My Sweet 1944 Edward Dmytryk NR -
853 Scarlet Street 1945 Fritz Lang NR -
870 The Stranger 1946 Orson Welles NR -
880 The Postman Always Rings Twice 1946 Tay Garnett NR -
895 Letter From An Unknown Woman 1948 Max Ophüls NR -
899 The Heiress 1949 William Wyler NR -
912 Detour 1945 Edgar G. Ulmer NR -
918 Now, Voyager 1942 Irving Rapper NR -
963 The Wolf Man 1941 George Waggner NR -
971 Fantasia 1940 James Algar G -
972 Monsieur Verdoux 1947 Charles Chaplin NR -
981 The Palm Beach Story 1942 Preston Sturges NR -
1004 Leave Her to Heaven 1945 John M. Stahl NR -
1010 High Sierra 1941 Raoul Walsh NR -
1040 Adam's Rib 1949 George Cukor NR -
1057 Nightmare Alley 1947 Edmund Goulding NR -
1060 Dark Passage 1947 Delmer Daves NR -
1065 Great Expectations 1946 David Lean NR -
1094 Saboteur 1942 Alfred Hitchcock PG -
1099 Meet John Doe 1941 Frank Capra NR -
1107 Mrs. Miniver 1942 William Wyler NR -
1127 How Green Was My Valley 1941 John Ford NR -
1133 Day of Wrath 1943 Carl Theodor Dreyer NR -
1158 Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942 Michael Curtiz NR -
1172 The Set-Up 1949 Robert Wise NR -
1190 The Pride of the Yankees 1942 Sam Wood NR -
1192 The Ghost and Mrs. Muir 1947 Joseph L. Mankiewicz NR -
1210 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1949 John Ford NR -
1229 Drunken Angel 1948 Akira Kurosawa PG13 -
1262 I Walked with a Zombie 1943 Jacques Tourneur NR -
1290 The Naked City 1948 Jules Dassin NR -
1292 Dead of Night 1945 Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer NR -
1331 And Then There Were None 1945 René Clair NR -
1339 I Know Where I'm Going! 1945 Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger NR -
1359 Odd Man Out 1947 Carol Reed NR -
1376 Sergeant York 1941 Howard Hawks NR -
1402 Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein 1948 Charles Barton NR -
1435 Fort Apache 1948 John Ford NR -
1456 Brute Force 1947 Jules Dassin NR -
1464 The Woman in the Window 1944 Fritz Lang NR -
1472 Miracle on 34th Street 1947 George Seaton G -
1486 Meshes of the Afternoon 1943 Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid NR -
1495 On the Town 1949 Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly NR -
1531 The Fallen Idol 1948 Carol Reed NR -
1582 Pinocchio 1940 Hamilton Luske G -
1590 Hamlet 1948 Laurence Olivier NR -
1595 Heaven Can Wait 1943 Ernst Lubitsch NR -
1600 The Miracle of Morgan's Creek 1944 Preston Sturges NR -
1614 Unfaithfully Yours 1948 Preston Sturges NR -
1624 They Live by Night 1948 Nicholas Ray NR -
1630 Paisan 1946 Roberto Rossellini NR -
1652 All the King's Men 1949 Robert Rossen NR -
1754 The Bishop's Wife 1947 Henry Koster NR -
1775 The Uninvited 1944 Lewis Allen NR -
1790 The Thief of Bagdad 1940 Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan NR -
1876 The Man Who Came to Dinner 1942 William Keighley NR -
1968 Bambi 1942 David Hand G -
1984 Hail the Conquering Hero 1944 Preston Sturges NR -
1995 Easter Parade 1948 Charles Walters NR -
2001 Woman of the Year 1942 George Stevens NR -
2002 The Sea Hawk 1940 Michael Curtiz NR -
2025 The Body Snatcher 1945 Robert Wise NR -
2045 The Talk of the Town 1942 George Stevens NR -
2051 Sahara 1943 Zoltan Korda NR -
2055 The Picture of Dorian Gray 1945 Albert Lewin NR -
2075 The Letter 1940 William Wyler NR -
2102 A Letter to Three Wives 1949 Joseph L. Mankiewicz NR -
2124 This Gun for Hire 1942 Frank Tuttle NR -
2143 My Favorite Wife 1940 Garson Kanin NR -
2156 Germany Year Zero 1948 Roberto Rossellini NR -
2157 The Big Clock 1948 John Farrow NR -
2158 A Canterbury Tale 1944 Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger NR -
2162 Shoeshine 1946 Vittorio De Sica NR -
2167 The Spiral Staircase 1945 Robert Siodmak NR -
2173 The Devil and Daniel Webster 1941 William Dieterle NR -
2194 The Bank Dick 1940 Edward F. Cline NR -
2207 Oliver Twist 1948 David Lean NR -
2210 Henry V 1944 Laurence Olivier NR -
2212 Twelve O'Clock High 1949 Henry King NR -
2230 The Mark of Zorro 1940 Rouben Mamoulian NR -
2260 Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House 1948 H.C. Potter NR -
2281 A Day in the Country 1946 Jean Renoir NR -
2290 Gentleman's Agreement 1947 Elia Kazan NR -
2318 Le Corbeau 1943 Henri-Georges Clouzot NR -
2325 Ivan the Terrible, Part One 1944 Sergei M. Eisenstein NR -
2366 Kiss of Death 1947 Henry Hathaway NR -
2367 Call Northside 777 1948 Henry Hathaway NR -
2391 Remember the Night 1940 Mitchell Leisen NR -
2407 Christmas in Connecticut 1945 Peter Godfrey NR -
2421 The Seventh Victim 1943 Mark Robson NR -
2422 Dumbo 1941 Ben Sharpsteen G -
2425 Green for Danger 1946 Sidney Gilliat NR -
2433 Holiday Inn 1942 Mark Sandrich NR -
2449 Sorry, Wrong Number 1948 Anatole Litvak NR -
2457 I Married a Witch 1942 René Clair NR -
2461 The Little Foxes 1941 William Wyler NR -
2470 Criss Cross 1949 Robert Siodmak NR -
2500 The More the Merrier 1943 George Stevens NR -
2524 Ministry of Fear 1944 Fritz Lang PG -
2525 Gaslight 1940 Thorold Dickinson NR -
2546 A Tree Grows In Brooklyn 1945 Elia Kazan NR -
2582 The Strange Love of Martha Ivers 1946 Lewis Milestone NR -
2617 Thieves' Highway 1949 Jules Dassin NR -
2619 They Drive By Night 1940 Raoul Walsh NR -
2673 Force of Evil 1948 Abraham Polonsky PG -
2688 Here Comes Mr. Jordan 1941 Alexander Hall NR -
2697 Five Graves to Cairo 1943 Billy Wilder NR -
2729 The Bells of St. Mary's 1945 Leo McCarey NR -
2736 Anchors Aweigh 1945 George Sidney NR -
2746 Crossfire 1947 Edward Dmytryk NR -
2753 They Were Expendable 1945 John Ford NR -
2808 Sands of Iwo Jima 1949 Allan Dwan NR -
2826 The Major and the Minor 1942 Billy Wilder NR -
2864 3 Godfathers 1948 John Ford NR -
2887 The Blue Dahlia 1946 George Marshall NR -
2898 The Snake Pit 1948 Anatole Litvak NR -
2934 Born to Kill 1947 Robert Wise NR -
2938 They Died With Their Boots On 1941 Raoul Walsh NR -
2954 The Glass Key 1942 Stuart Heisler NR -
2963 A Night in Casablanca 1946 Archie Mayo NR -
2969 Jane Eyre 1943 Robert Stevenson NR -
2972 Going My Way 1944 Leo McCarey NR -
2973 Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man 1943 Roy William Neill NR -
3005 Brighton Rock 1947 John Boulting NR -
3029 The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad 1949 Jack Kinney, James Algar, Clyde Geronimi G -
3040 Road to Morocco 1942 David Butler NR -
3057 Christmas in July 1940 Preston Sturges NR -
3119 Ossessione 1943 Luchino Visconti NR -
3135 Blithe Spirit 1945 David Lean NR -
3165 Macbeth 1948 Orson Welles NR -
3168 Random Harvest 1942 Mervyn LeRoy NR -
3182 The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer 1947 Irving Reis NR -
3203 Dead Reckoning 1947 John Cromwell NR -
3221 The Mortal Storm 1940 Frank Borzage NR -
3239 The Thin Man Goes Home 1945 Richard Thorpe NR -
3252 49th Parallel 1941 Michael Powell NR -
3324 Quai des Orfèvres 1947 Henri-Georges Clouzot NR -
3414 It Happened on Fifth Avenue 1947 Roy Del Ruth NR -
3421 Isle of the Dead 1945 Mark Robson NR -
3468 Portrait of Jennie 1948 William Dieterle NR -
3527 Night Train to Munich 1940 Carol Reed NR -
3683 Shadow of the Thin Man 1941 W.S. Van Dyke NR -
3791 Battleground 1949 William A. Wellman NR -
3809 For Whom the Bell Tolls 1943 Sam Wood NR -
3820 The Harvey Girls 1946 George Sidney NR -
3851 Angel and the Badman 1947 James Edward Grant NR -
3862 The Westerner 1940 William Wyler NR -
3896 I Was a Male War Bride 1949 Howard Hawks NR -
3900 The Curse of the Cat People 1944 Gunther von Fritsch, Robert Wise NR -
3935 The Search 1948 Fred Zinnemann NR -
3960 Duel in the Sun 1946 King Vidor NR -
3990 The Sea Wolf 1941 Michael Curtiz PG -
4001 The Clock 1945 Vincente Minnelli NR -
4005 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1941 Victor Fleming NR -
4053 The Leopard Man 1943 Jacques Tourneur NR -
4087 Hold That Ghost 1941 Arthur Lubin NR -
4122 Little Women 1949 Mervyn LeRoy NR -
4141 A Foreign Affair 1948 Billy Wilder NR -
4153 No Regrets for Our Youth 1946 Akira Kurosawa NR -
4166 Whisky Galore! 1949 Alexander Mackendrick NR -
4172 Hair-Raising Hare 1946 Chuck Jones NR -
4213 House of Dracula 1945 Erle C. Kenton NR -
4273 Phantom Lady 1944 Robert Siodmak NR -
4300 House of Frankenstein 1944 Erle C. Kenton NR -
4380 Act of Violence 1948 Fred Zinnemann NR -
4400 The Song of Bernadette 1943 Henry King NR -
4433 Pride and Prejudice 1940 Robert Z. Leonard NR -
4435 The Great McGinty 1940 Preston Sturges NR -
4461 Mighty Joe Young 1949 Ernest B. Schoedsack NR -
4470 The Pirate 1948 Vincente Minnelli NR -
4473 Hellzapoppin' 1941 H.C. Potter NR -
4485 Phantom of the Opera 1943 Arthur Lubin NR -
4492 The Long Voyage Home 1940 John Ford NR -
4510 Go West 1940 Edward Buzzell NR -
4519 Fun and Fancy Free 1947 Jack Kinney G -
4522 Jour de fête 1949 Jacques Tati NR -
4529 Too Late for Tears 1949 Byron Haskin NR -
4558 One Wonderful Sunday 1947 Akira Kurosawa NR -
4568 National Velvet 1944 Clarence Brown G -
4590 Mr. & Mrs. Smith 1941 Alfred Hitchcock NR -
4598 Mr. Skeffington 1944 Vincent Sherman NR -
4611 Lady in the Lake 1947 Robert Montgomery NR -
4612 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 1949 Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney NR -
4655 Raw Deal 1948 Anthony Mann NR -
4664 The Three Musketeers 1948 George Sidney NR -
4665 The Paleface 1948 Norman Z. McLeod NR -
4698 Cabin in the Sky 1943 Vincente Minnelli NR -
4713 Man Hunt 1941 Fritz Lang NR -
4721 Johnny Belinda 1948 Jean Negulesco NR -
4723 Body and Soul 1947 Robert Rossen NR -
4814 Conflict 1945 Curtis Bernhardt NR -
4815 You Were Never Lovelier 1942 William A. Seiter NR -
4824 State Fair 1945 Walter Lang NR -
4863 Waterloo Bridge 1940 Mervyn LeRoy NR -

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