Hitlist: 1940s
by rivethead808 | created - 06 Mar 2011 | updated - 20 Mar 2011 | PublicI will be doing a series of checklists showing films I want to see from the given decade. I will of course be removing and adding titles as I watch them and as I find more I want to see. Lists in the series will be "pre-20s", 30s, 40s, and 50s. The lists would be too large if I were to go up in time any higher, though I might consider it in the future.
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1. Dead of Night (1945)
Approved | 77 min | Drama, Horror
Guests invited to a weekend in the country share their supernatural stories, beginning with Walter Craig, who senses impending doom as his half-remembered recurring dream turns into reality.
Directors: Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer | Stars: Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave, Roland Culver, Mary Merrall
Votes: 14,210
Netflix: no
2. Dreams That Money Can Buy (1947)
Approved | 99 min | Drama, Fantasy
After learning how to look inside himself, a poetic bum sells people vivid dreams.
Director: Hans Richter | Stars: Jack Bittner, Libby Holman, Josh White, Norma Cazanjian
Votes: 944
Netflix: no
3. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
PG | 104 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: David Niven, Kim Hunter, Robert Coote, Kathleen Byron
Votes: 24,834
Netflix: In queue
4. Between Two Worlds (1944)
Approved | 112 min | Mystery, Drama, Fantasy
Passengers on an ocean liner can't recall how they got on board or where they are going yet, oddly enough, it soon becomes apparent that they all have something in common.
Director: Edward A. Blatt | Stars: John Garfield, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet, Eleanor Parker
Votes: 2,349
Netflix: no
5. Murderers Among Us (1946)
Not Rated | 85 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
After returning from a concentration camp, Susanne finds an ex-soldier living in her apartment. Together the two try to move past their experiences during World War II.
Director: Wolfgang Staudte | Stars: Hildegard Knef, Elly Burgmer, Erna Sellmer, Hilde Adolphi
Votes: 2,547
The Murderers Are Among Us
Netflix: In queue-instant
6. Dr. Crippen an Bord (1942)
87 min | Crime
The adored trapeze artist Cora is married to the respected doctor Frank Crippen. After a party at home with the Crippens, Cora suddenly disappeared. Apparently she left for Brazil alone ... See full summary »
Director: Erich Engels | Stars: Rudolf Fernau, René Deltgen, Anja Elkoff, Gertrud Meyen
Votes: 46
Dr. Crippen
Story of the Dr. Harvey Hawley Crippen murder
Netflix: no
7. The Raven (1943)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A French village doctor becomes the target of poison-pen letters sent to village leaders, accusing him of affairs and practicing abortion.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Pierre Fresnay, Ginette Leclerc, Micheline Francey, Héléna Manson
Votes: 10,894 | Gross: $0.03M
The Raven
Netflix: In queue-instant
8. The Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne (1945)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama, Romance
A society lady engineers a marriage between her lover and a cabaret dancer who is essentially a prostitute.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Paul Bernard, María Casares, Elina Labourdette, Lucienne Bogaert
Votes: 4,832
Ladies Of The Park
Netflix: no
9. Remorques (1941)
91 min | Action, Drama, Romance
The captain of the tugboat Cyclone, André Laurent, rushes off to save the Mirva. He abandons his sick wife Yvonne and the couple celebrating their marriage. In the early morning, the Cyclone tugs the Mirva ashore with Catherine aboard.
Director: Jean Grémillon | Stars: Jean Gabin, Madeleine Renaud, Michèle Morgan, Charles Blavette
Votes: 1,581
Stormy Waters
Netflix: no
10. Sárga kaszinó (1944)
66 min | Thriller
Director: Károly Lajthay | Stars: László Szilassy, Mária Zádor, Vera Szemere, Lili Berky
Votes: 22
Yellow House (Hungarian slang for insane asylum)
Netflix: no
11. Secret Beyond the Door... (1947)
Not Rated | 99 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
After a lovely woman and her new husband settle in an ancient mansion on the East coast, she discovers that he may want to kill her.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Joan Bennett, Michael Redgrave, Anne Revere, Barbara O'Neil
Votes: 5,710
Netflix: no
12. The Devil Commands (1941)
Approved | 65 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Scientist becomes obsessed with the idea of communicating with his dead wife.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Boris Karloff, Anne Revere, Amanda Duff, Richard Fiske
Votes: 1,437
Netflix: in queue
13. The Fallen Idol (1948)
Approved | 95 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
A butler working in a foreign embassy in London falls under suspicion when his wife accidentally falls to her death, the only witness being an impressionable young boy.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Ralph Richardson, Michèle Morgan, Sonia Dresdel, Bobby Henrey
Votes: 9,666 | Gross: $0.34M
Netflix: in queue
14. The Queen of Spades (1949)
95 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
An army officer becomes obsessed with learning the secret to a card game for which an elderly countess sold her soul years earlier.
Director: Thorold Dickinson | Stars: Anton Walbrook, Edith Evans, Yvonne Mitchell, Ronald Howard
Votes: 2,395
Netflix: no
15. The Reckless Moment (1949)
Not Rated | 82 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After discovering the dead body of her teenage daughter's lover, a housewife takes desperate measures to protect her family from scandal.
Director: Max Ophüls | Stars: James Mason, Joan Bennett, Geraldine Brooks, Henry O'Neill
Votes: 5,654
Netflix: no
16. The Seventh Victim (1943)
Approved | 71 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A woman in search of her missing sister uncovers a Satanic cult in New York's Greenwich Village and finds that they could have something to do with her sibling's random disappearance.
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Kim Hunter, Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell
Votes: 7,574
Netflix: yes
17. The Snake Pit (1948)
Approved | 108 min | Drama, Mystery
A detailed chronicle of a woman during her stay in a mental institution.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm
Votes: 8,430 | Gross: $10.00M
Netflix: in queue-instant
18. Thieves' Highway (1949)
Passed | 94 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
A war veteran turned truck driver attempts to avenge the crippling and robbing of his father at the hands of an amoral produce scofflaw.
Director: Jules Dassin | Stars: Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J. Cobb, Barbara Lawrence
Votes: 6,867
Netflix: in queue
19. Alias Nick Beal (1949)
Approved | 93 min | Drama, Fantasy, Film-Noir
A district attorney rises to political success and the governorship but loses his sense of morality once he starts associating with the shadowy and perhaps diabolical Nick Beal.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: Ray Milland, Audrey Totter, Thomas Mitchell, George Macready
Votes: 1,275
Ray Milland is in it.
Netflix: no
20. Brighton Rock (1948)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
In Brighton in 1935, small-time gang leader Pinkie Brown murders a journalist and later desperately tries to cover his tracks but runs into trouble with the police, a few witnesses, and a rival gang.
Director: John Boulting | Stars: Richard Attenborough, Hermione Baddeley, William Hartnell, Harcourt Williams
Votes: 6,820 | Gross: $0.22M
Netflix: no
21. The Great Madcap (1949)
92 min | Comedy
A father decides to teach their bratty kids a lesson about the value of money.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Fernando Soler, Rosario Granados, Andrés Soler, Rubén Rojo
Votes: 1,412
The Great Madcap
Netflix: no
22. Gaslight (1940)
Not Rated | 84 min | Mystery, Thriller
Twenty years after the murder of Alice Barlow, her house is finally occupied again. However, the husband from the couple who have moved in has a secret which he will do anything to keep hidden.
Director: Thorold Dickinson | Stars: Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell, Cathleen Cordell
Votes: 5,272
I cant remember why, but I recall wanting to see this version moreso than the '44.
Netflix: yes
23. Gaslight (1944)
Passed | 114 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Ten years after her aunt was murdered in their London home, a woman returns from Italy in the 1880s to resume residence with her new husband. His obsessive interest in the home rises from a secret that may require driving his wife insane.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, May Whitty
Votes: 33,870
Netflix: save
24. Golden Earrings (1947)
Approved | 95 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
On the eve of WW2, a British spy goes to Germany to obtain a secret poison-gas formula from a scientist but things go awry and he is saved by a beautiful nomadic gypsy woman.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Ray Milland, Marlene Dietrich, Murvyn Vye, Bruce Lester
Votes: 1,276 | Gross: $7.00M
Netflix: no
25. Jour de Fête (1949)
Not Rated | 70 min | Comedy
A village postman with no sense of humour delivers his mail via bicycle on the day the travelling fair comes to town. He is disrupted by a short film about US speed and efficiency and the playful teasing of the village folk.
Director: Jacques Tati | Stars: Jacques Tati, Guy Decomble, Paul Frankeur, Santa Relli
Votes: 9,052
Holiday
Netflix: no
26. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
Not Rated | 106 min | Comedy, Crime
A distant poor relative of the Duke D'Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering the eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession.
Director: Robert Hamer | Stars: Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood
Votes: 39,702
Netflix: yes
27. Kiss of Death (1947)
Approved | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A crook arrested for a jewelry heist initially refuses to give up his accomplices, but he changes his mind once his wife dies under worrying circumstances.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray, Richard Widmark
Votes: 9,567
Netflix: yes
28. Le tempestaire (1947)
22 min | Short, Drama, Fantasy
In a village in Brittany, a young maid and an old woman are spinning while the wind blows threateningly outdoors. In spite of the bad omen, the young maid's boyfriend decides to sail away. ... See full summary »
Director: Jean Epstein
Votes: 763
Netflix: no
29. Ministry of Fear (1944)
Passed | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Stephen Neale has just been released from an asylum during World War II in England when he accidentally stumbles onto a deadly Nazi spy plot and tries to stop it.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Carl Esmond, Hillary Brooke
Votes: 8,930
Ray Milland...
Netflix: no
30. Pursued (1947)
Passed | 101 min | Western
A boy haunted by nightmares about the night his entire family was murdered is brought up by a neighboring family in the 1880s. He falls for his lovely adoptive sister but his nasty adoptive brother and mysterious uncle want him dead.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Teresa Wright, Robert Mitchum, Judith Anderson, Dean Jagger
Votes: 3,832
Netflix: yes
31. The Big Clock (1948)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A magazine tycoon commits a murder and pins it on an innocent man, who then tries to solve the murder himself.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: Ray Milland, Maureen O'Sullivan, Charles Laughton, George Macready
Votes: 9,532
Ray Milland...
Netflix: yes
32. The Body Snatcher (1945)
Approved | 78 min | Horror, Thriller
A ruthless doctor and his young prize student find themselves continually harassed by their murderous supplier of illegal cadavers.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniell, Edith Atwater
Votes: 10,190
Netflix: no
33. The Spiral Staircase (1946)
Approved | 83 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
In 1916, a shadowy serial killer is targeting women with "afflictions"; one night during a thunderstorm, the mute Helen feels menaced.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore, Kent Smith
Votes: 11,258
Netflix: in queue
34. The Woman in the Window (1944)
Passed | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
When a conservative middle aged professor engages in a relationship with a femme fatale, he's plunged into a nightmarish world of blackmail and murder.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey, Edmund Breon
Votes: 17,769
Netflix: in queue-instant
35. The Vampire's Ghost (1945)
Passed | 59 min | Horror
In a small African port, a tawdry bar is run by a man named Webb Fallon. Fallon is actually a vampire, but he is becoming weary of his "life" of the past few hundred years.
Director: Lesley Selander | Stars: John Abbott, Charles Gordon, Peggy Stewart, Grant Withers
Votes: 606
Netflix: no
36. I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama, Romance
A young Englishwoman goes to the Hebrides to marry her older, wealthier fiancé. When the weather keeps them separated on different islands, she begins to have second thoughts.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey, Pamela Brown, Finlay Currie
Votes: 9,779
Netflix: in queue-instant
37. Prison (1949)
79 min | Drama
A film director tries to create the best film in history, but finds out that human abilities have their limits.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Doris Svedlund, Birger Malmsten, Eva Henning, Hasse Ekman
Votes: 2,141
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