The Good... of the 1940s
by Akira_Chimera | created - 21 Mar 2011 | updated - 22 Jan 2022 | PublicAfter creating my Best-Of-Lists for every decade I felt like some pretty good movies were still left out. To change that here is my The Good... of the 1940s list. Mind you, as the heading implies the movies on this list are not bad. I just do not feel that they belong on a Best-Of-List.
As ususal, don't hesitate to leave a comment if you feel up to it.
PS: The movies are sorted by year and not necessarily by my preference. This list is by no means complete as I will add new worthwhile films as I stumble across them.
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
101. Desperate Journey (1942)
Passed | 107 min | Drama, War
When the crew of a downed British bomber escape from their Nazi captors with Top Secret intelligence, they make a desperate journey to get out of Germany alive.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Errol Flynn, Ronald Reagan, Nancy Coleman, Raymond Massey
Votes: 2,592
102. Der große König (1942)
118 min | Drama, History, War
A story of Prussian king (from 1740 to 1786) Frederick II the Great.
Director: Veit Harlan | Stars: Otto Gebühr, Kristina Söderbaum, Gustav Fröhlich, Hans Nielsen
Votes: 321
103. Die Entlassung (1942)
110 min | Drama, History
A sequel to 1940's "Bismarck", Bismarck is dismissed by an under-pressure Wilhelm II. Then the treaty with Russia is in peril as the leader is left with the dilemma of who could complete Bismarck's work.
Director: Wolfgang Liebeneiner | Stars: Emil Jannings, Margarete Schön, Christian Kayßler, Theodor Loos
Votes: 106
104. Joan of Paris (1942)
Passed | 91 min | Drama, Romance, War
An RAF squadron is brought down over occupied France. The flyers reach Paris in spite of the fact that the youngest is injured; his wounds need treating and he must stay hidden. The Gestapo has already issued orders for their arrest.
Director: Robert Stevenson | Stars: Michèle Morgan, Paul Henreid, Thomas Mitchell, Laird Cregar
Votes: 931
105. La nuit fantastique (1942)
103 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Denis is distracted: he's studying all day for philosophy exams and working all night at the flower market; plus, whenever he closes his eyes, he dreams of a mysterious woman in white. His ... See full summary »
Director: Marcel L'Herbier | Stars: Fernand Gravey, Micheline Presle, Saturnin Fabre, Charles Granval
Votes: 385
106. Les Visiteurs du Soir (1942)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
In medieval France, the Devil intervenes when one of his two envoys, sent to seduce and deceive mortals, falls instead for a victim.
Director: Marcel Carné | Stars: Arletty, Marie Déa, Fernand Ledoux, Alain Cuny
Votes: 2,463
107. Bambi (1942)
G | 69 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
The story of a young deer growing up in the forest.
Directors: James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, David Hand, Graham Heid, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Norman Wright, Arthur Davis, Clyde Geronimi | Stars: Hardie Albright, Stan Alexander, Bobette Audrey, Peter Behn
Votes: 154,098 | Gross: $102.80M
108. Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
Passed | 134 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
After the German administrator of Czechoslovakia is shot, his assassin tries to elude the Gestapo and struggles with his impulse to give himself up as hostages are executed.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan, Anna Lee, Gene Lockhart
Votes: 6,390
109. The Leopard Man (1943)
Approved | 66 min | Film-Noir, Horror, Thriller
A seemingly-tame leopard used for a publicity stunt escapes and kills a young girl, spreading panic throughout a sleepy New Mexico town.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Dennis O'Keefe, Margo, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell
Votes: 5,961
110. Phantom of the Opera (1943)
Approved | 92 min | Drama, Horror, Music
An acid-scarred composer rises from the Paris sewers to boost his favorite opera understudy's career.
Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster, Claude Rains, Edgar Barrier
Votes: 8,311 | Gross: $3.49M
111. Yellow Canary (1943)
Approved | 84 min | Drama, Thriller
A woman wrongfully accused of being a Nazi sympathizer is forced to move to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Director: Herbert Wilcox | Stars: Anna Neagle, Richard Greene, Nova Pilbeam, Albert Lieven
Votes: 744
112. Bataan (1943)
Approved | 114 min | Drama, History, War
In 1942, in the Bataan peninsula of the Philippines, a ragtag American unit commanded by Sergeant Bill Dane attempts to blow-up a bridge in order to slow the Japanese advance.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Robert Taylor, George Murphy, Lloyd Nolan, Thomas Mitchell
Votes: 2,705
113. China (1943)
Approved | 79 min | Drama, War
During the Japanese invasion of China, a cynical, macho profiteer meets a compassionate, beautiful schoolteacher.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: Loretta Young, Alan Ladd, William Bendix, Philip Ahn
Votes: 633
114. Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
Passed | 96 min | Thriller, War
In the North African campaign a British straggler manages to pass himself off as a waiter at the hotel commandeered as Rommel's headquarters. He has thoughts of assassinating Rommel but his cover may have an even better use.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Akim Tamiroff, Fortunio Bonanova
Votes: 6,832
115. So Proudly We Hail! (1943)
Passed | 126 min | Drama, Romance, War
A group of nurses returning from the war in the Philippines recall their experiences in combat and in love.
Director: Mark Sandrich | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake, George Reeves
Votes: 2,085
116. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
Passed | 170 min | Adventure, Drama, History
During the Spanish Civil War, an American allied with the Republicans finds romance during a desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, Arturo de Córdova
Votes: 10,228 | Gross: $17.80M
117. Madame Curie (1943)
Passed | 124 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Despite himself, accomplished physicist and avowed bachelor Pierre Curie falls for brilliant student Marie, and together they embark on the discovery of radium.
Directors: Mervyn LeRoy, Albert Lewin | Stars: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Henry Travers, Albert Bassermann
Votes: 3,192
118. Watch on the Rhine (1943)
Approved | 114 min | Drama, Thriller
A German-born engineer, his American wife and their children travel from Mexico to the United States to visit her family, but a Romanian count complicates their plans.
Directors: Herman Shumlin, Hal Mohr | Stars: Bette Davis, Paul Lukas, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Lucile Watson
Votes: 4,977
119. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Passed | 108 min | Film-Noir, Thriller
A teenage girl, overjoyed when her favorite uncle comes to visit the family in their quiet California town, slowly begins to suspect that he is in fact the "Merry Widow" killer sought by the authorities.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey, Henry Travers
Votes: 70,503
120. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1943)
Not Rated | 110 min | Comedy, Adventure, Fantasy
This lavish, impudent, adult fairy tale takes the viewer from 18th-century Braunschweig to St. Petersburg, Constantinople, Venice, and then to the moon using ingenious special effects, stunning location shooting.
Director: Josef von Báky | Stars: Hans Albers, Wilhelm Bendow, Michael Bohnen, Hans Brausewetter
Votes: 2,184
121. Northern Pursuit (1943)
Passed | 93 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A Canadian Mountie of German descent feigns disaffection with his homeland in hopes of infiltrating and thwarting a Nazi sabotage plot.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Errol Flynn, Julie Bishop, Helmut Dantine, John Ridgely
Votes: 1,633
122. Destination Tokyo (1943)
Passed | 135 min | Adventure, War
In order to provide information for the first air raid over Tokyo, a U.S. submarine sneaks into Tokyo Bay and places a spy team ashore.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: Cary Grant, John Garfield, Alan Hale, John Ridgely
Votes: 5,751
123. We Dive at Dawn (1943)
Not Rated | 98 min | Action, Drama, War
All leave is cancelled so that a British submarine can be sent after a new German warship. They chase it so far that they have no fuel to get home.
Director: Anthony Asquith | Stars: John Mills, Louis Bradfield, Ronald Millar, Jack Watling
Votes: 1,700
124. San Demetrio London (1943)
Approved | 104 min | Adventure, Drama, War
Rescue of the tanker MV San Demetrio by parts of her own crew after she had been set afire in the middle of the Atlantic by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer and then had been abandoned.
Directors: Charles Frend, Robert Hamer | Stars: Arthur Young, Walter Fitzgerald, Ralph Michael, Neville Mapp
Votes: 537
125. The Silver Fleet (1943)
88 min | Drama, War
Jaap van Leyden (Sir Ralph Richardson) is in charge of a shipyard in newly occupied Holland. At first he collaborates with the Germans because it is the easiest course to follow. Later, a ... See full summary »
Directors: Vernon Sewell, Gordon Wellesley | Stars: Ralph Richardson, Googie Withers, Esmond Knight, Beresford Egan
Votes: 542
126. 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: 7,576
127. Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
Passed | 68 min | Crime, Mystery, Romance
During WWII, several murders occur at a convalescent home where Dr. Watson has volunteered his services. He summons Holmes for help and the master detective proceeds to solve the crime from... See full summary »
Director: Roy William Neill | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Dennis Hoey, Arthur Margetson
Votes: 5,159
128. A Stranger in Town (1943)
Passed | 67 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In a small corrupt town, an honest crusading lawyer running for mayor gets unexpected help from a tourist who happens to be a Supreme Court judge.
Director: Roy Rowland | Stars: Frank Morgan, Richard Carlson, Jean Rogers, Porter Hall
Votes: 1,018
129. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943)
Approved | 98 min | Comedy, Romance, War
After an all-night send-off party for the troops, a small-town girl with an awkward boyfriend wakes up to find herself married and pregnant, but with no memory of her husband's identity.
Director: Preston Sturges | Stars: Eddie Bracken, Betty Hutton, Diana Lynn, William Demarest
Votes: 7,944
130. Obsession (1943)
TV-14 | 140 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Gino, a drifter, begins an affair with inn-owner Giovanna, and they plan to get rid of her older husband.
Director: Luchino Visconti | Stars: Clara Calamai, Massimo Girotti, Dhia Cristiani, Elio Marcuzzo
Votes: 8,275
131. Day of Wrath (1943)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama, History
The young wife of an aging priest falls in love with his son amidst the horror of a merciless witch hunt in 17th-century Denmark.
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer | Stars: Thorkild Roose, Lisbeth Movin, Sigrid Neiiendam, Kirsten Andreasen
Votes: 11,090
132. L'éternel retour (1943)
107 min | Drama, Romance
This is a retelling of Tristan and Isolde, set in 1940s France. The script was written by Jean Cocteau.
Director: Jean Delannoy | Stars: Madeleine Sologne, Jean Marais, Jean Murat, Junie Astor
Votes: 618
133. Angels of Sin (1943)
80 min | Drama
Anne-Marie joins a Dominican convent as a novice where she knows Therese. After shooting a man for which she was imprisoned, Therese protests her innocence, reluctant to tell her secret.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Renée Faure, Jany Holt, Sylvie, Mila Parély
Votes: 1,774
134. The Adventures of Tartu (1943)
Passed | 103 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
In 1940. Captain Terence Stevenson is with the British Army in the bomb disposal unit in London, his primary job is to defuse them. Despite having no experience as a spy, he is asked by his... See full summary »
Director: Harold S. Bucquet | Stars: Robert Donat, Valerie Hobson, Walter Rilla, Glynis Johns
Votes: 1,128
135. Forever and a Day (1943)
Approved | 104 min | Drama, History
During World War II, an American travels to Britain to sell an old house near London that belongs to his family. However, he meets Leslie Trimble who lives in the house and who is ... See full summary »
Directors: Edmund Goulding, Cedric Hardwicke, Frank Lloyd, Victor Saville, Robert Stevenson, Herbert Wilcox, René Clair | Stars: George Kirby, Doreen Munroe, May Beatty, Connie Leon
Votes: 792
136. Holy Matrimony (1943)
Not Rated | 87 min | Comedy, Drama
From Arnold Bennett's novel "Buried Alive". An artist returning from years abroad takes the identity of his dead valet to escape the attentions of the press.
Director: John M. Stahl | Stars: Monty Woolley, Gracie Fields, Laird Cregar, Una O'Connor
Votes: 897
137. Mr. Lucky (1943)
Approved | 100 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
A gambler has plans to swindle money from a charity program, but starts to have second thoughts when he falls for a rich society girl.
Director: H.C. Potter | Stars: Cary Grant, Laraine Day, Charles Bickford, Gladys Cooper
Votes: 3,538
138. Whistling in Brooklyn (1943)
Passed | 87 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Radio crime show host "The Fox" finds himself on the trail of a serial killer while a suspect himself.
Director: S. Sylvan Simon | Stars: Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford, Jean Rogers, Rags Ragland
Votes: 724
139. The Seventh Cross (1944)
Passed | 112 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
In 1936, seven prisoners escape from a concentration camp. The Nazis put up seven crosses for demonstrative executions. This story about one of the fugitives, who relies on own courage and compassion of people to avoid the seventh cross.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Signe Hasso, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy
Votes: 2,991
140. Address Unknown (1944)
Approved | 75 min | Drama
US art dealer returns to his native Germany for a visit and is attracted by Nazi propaganda.
Director: William Cameron Menzies | Stars: Paul Lukas, Mady Christians, Morris Carnovsky, Carl Esmond
Votes: 1,163
141. The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
Passed | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Mystery writer Cornelius Leyden becomes intrigued after the murdered body of a vicious career criminal washes up in the Bosphorus.
Director: Jean Negulesco | Stars: Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson
Votes: 3,962
142. 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: 8,944
143. The Hitler Gang (1944)
101 min | Biography, Drama, History
The film depicts the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement from a small radical political adventurer and cell to the dictatorial regime of Germany in the genre of a gangster film. The ... See full summary »
Director: John Farrow | Stars: Bobby Watson, Roman Bohnen, Martin Kosleck, Victor Varconi
Votes: 170
144. To Have and Have Not (1944)
Passed | 100 min | Adventure, Comedy, Film-Noir
During World War II, American expatriate Harry Morgan helps transport a French Resistance leader and his beautiful wife to Martinique while romancing a sensuous lounge singer.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan, Dolores Moran
Votes: 38,005
145. It Happened Tomorrow (1944)
Approved | 85 min | Comedy, Fantasy
A young turn-of-the-century newspaper man finds he can get hold of the next day's paper. This brings more problems than fortune, especially as his new girlfriend is part of a phony clairvoyant act.
Director: René Clair | Stars: Dick Powell, Linda Darnell, Jack Oakie, Edgar Kennedy
Votes: 2,858
146. The Punch Bowl (1944)
97 min | Comedy, Family
A successful writer, home-schooled in his youth, masquerades as a student at a secondary school to experience all the fun and pranks he missed out on.
Director: Helmut Weiss | Stars: Heinz Rühmann, Karin Himboldt, Hilde Sessak, Erich Ponto
Votes: 6,614
147. The Canterville Ghost (1944)
Passed | 95 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
The descendent of a ghost imprisoned for cowardice hopes to free the spirit by displaying courage when under duress.
Directors: Jules Dassin, Norman Z. McLeod | Stars: Charles Laughton, Robert Young, Margaret O'Brien, William Gargan
Votes: 3,345
148. The Spider Woman (1943)
Passed | 63 min | Mystery, Thriller
Sherlock Holmes investigates a series of so-called "pajama suicides". He knows the female villain behind them is as cunning as Moriarty and as venomous as a spider.
Director: Roy William Neill | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Gale Sondergaard, Dennis Hoey
Votes: 5,129
149. Bluebeard (1944)
Passed | 72 min | Crime, Horror, Thriller
In Paris, an artist hires portrait models, and after he finishes their portraits, he strangles them.
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer | Stars: John Carradine, Jean Parker, Nils Asther, Ludwig Stössel
Votes: 2,134
150. Henry V (1944)
Not Rated | 137 min | Biography, Drama, History
In the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France in 1415.
Director: Laurence Olivier | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Robert Newton, Leslie Banks, Felix Aylmer
Votes: 7,072
151. Dark Waters (1944)
Approved | 90 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
A woman returns to the USA after a German U-boat sank her ship, and finds out that someone wants to kill her for her inheritance.
Director: André De Toth | Stars: Merle Oberon, Franchot Tone, Thomas Mitchell, Fay Bainter
Votes: 1,095
152. The Pearl of Death (1944)
Passed | 69 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
When a valuable pearl with a sinister reputation is stolen, Sherlock Holmes must investigate its link to a series of brutal murders.
Director: Roy William Neill | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Dennis Hoey, Evelyn Ankers
Votes: 4,855
153. The Halfway House (1944)
78 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
A group of travellers, all with something to hide in their past, take shelter from a storm in an old inn. The inn-keeper seems a little mysterious...
Directors: Basil Dearden, Alberto Cavalcanti | Stars: Mervyn Johns, Glynis Johns, Tom Walls, Françoise Rosay
Votes: 1,210
154. The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944)
Passed | 140 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
When the U.S. forces withdraw from Java, ahead of the Japanese invasion, U.S. Navy doctor Corydon M. Wassell coordinates the remaining wounded servicemen and leads them to safety towards the last Allied evacuation points.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: Gary Cooper, Laraine Day, Signe Hasso, Dennis O'Keefe
Votes: 1,102
155. Great Freedom No. 7 (1944)
111 min | Drama, Music, Romance
The film tells the story of the blond "singing sailor" Hannes Kröger who works in a St. Pauli club on the Große Freiheit 7, and falls in love with a girl. But she prefers his rival Willem and Hannes returns to the sea.
Director: Helmut Käutner | Stars: Hans Albers, Ilse Werner, Hans Söhnker, Hilde Hildebrand
Votes: 1,044
156. The Way Ahead (1944)
Approved | 91 min | Drama, War
World War II drama that follows a group of British draftees, starting with their rigorous basic training, and ending with their deployment in North Africa.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: David Niven, Stanley Holloway, James Donald, John Laurie
Votes: 2,224
157. Wilson (1944)
Passed | 154 min | Biography, Drama, History
A chronicle of the political career of US President Woodrow Wilson.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Alexander Knox, Charles Coburn, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Thomas Mitchell
Votes: 1,695 | Gross: $2.00M
158. The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)
Approved | 130 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The dramatized life of immortal humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, from his days as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River until his death in 1910 shortly after Halley's Comet returned.
Director: Irving Rapper | Stars: Fredric March, Alexis Smith, Donald Crisp, Alan Hale
Votes: 1,360
159. Mr. Skeffington (1944)
Approved | 146 min | Drama, Romance
Popular and beautiful Fanny Trellis is forced into a loveless marriage with an older man, Jewish banker Job Skeffington, in order to save her beloved brother Trippy from an embezzlement charge.
Director: Vincent Sherman | Stars: Bette Davis, Claude Rains, Walter Abel, George Coulouris
Votes: 6,678
160. I'll Be Seeing You (1944)
Approved | 85 min | Drama, Family, Romance
A soldier suffering from combat fatigue meets a young woman on Christmas furlough from prison and their mutual loneliness blossoms into romance.
Directors: William Dieterle, George Cukor | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple, Spring Byington
Votes: 2,522
161. Summer Storm (1944)
Passed | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
In this filmed Chekhov adaptation, Olga is an alluring peasant woman who lures cynical aristocrat Fedor away from his milquetoast fiancée, with tragic consequences.
Director: Douglas Sirk | Stars: Linda Darnell, George Sanders, Anna Lee, Edward Everett Horton
Votes: 676
162. Experiment Perilous (1944)
Approved | 91 min | Film-Noir, Romance, Thriller
In 1903, a doctor suspects murder in the gothic Bederaux family.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Hedy Lamarr, George Brent, Paul Lukas, Albert Dekker
Votes: 2,126
163. Tomorrow, the World! (1944)
Approved | 86 min | Drama, War
German boy Emil comes to live with his American uncle who tries to teach the former Hitler Youth to reject Nazism.
Director: Leslie Fenton | Stars: Fredric March, Betty Field, Agnes Moorehead, Joan Carroll
Votes: 729
164. The Children Are Watching Us (1943)
Not Rated | 84 min | Drama
Four-year-old Pricò becomes the subject of emotional folly by his capricious parents and negligent relatives.
Director: Vittorio De Sica | Stars: Emilio Cigoli, Luciano De Ambrosis, Isa Pola, Adriano Rimoldi
Votes: 3,054
165. Uncertain Glory (1944)
Approved | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
After a career criminal is recaptured and knows he faces the guillotine, he offers to exchange his life for 100 hostages slated for execution by the Germans.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Errol Flynn, Paul Lukas, Lucile Watson, Faye Emerson
Votes: 1,494
166. Torment (1944)
95 min | Drama, Romance
An idealistic adolescent suffering under the thumb of a sadistic schoolmaster falls in love with a loose girl who is bullied and tormented by another lover.
Director: Alf Sjöberg | Stars: Stig Järrel, Alf Kjellin, Mai Zetterling, Olof Winnerstrand
Votes: 3,769
167. And Now Tomorrow (1944)
Approved | 86 min | Drama, Romance
A wealthy woman who lost her hearing to meningitis meets a doctor who is concocting a serum that will cure deafness.
Director: Irving Pichel | Stars: Alan Ladd, Loretta Young, Susan Hayward, Barry Sullivan
Votes: 469
168. None But the Lonely Heart (1944)
Passed | 113 min | Drama, Romance
When an itinerant reluctantly returns home to help his sickly mother run her shop, they are both tempted to turn to crime to help make ends meet.
Director: Clifford Odets | Stars: Cary Grant, Ethel Barrymore, Barry Fitzgerald, June Duprez
Votes: 2,827
169. Double Exposure (1944)
Approved | 63 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
A news magazine hires an out-of-town photographer and the antics begin. Some comic relief.
Director: William Berke | Stars: Chester Morris, Nancy Kelly, Jane Farrar, Phillip Terry
Votes: 262
170. On Approval (1944)
Approved | 80 min | Comedy
Two wealthy Victorian widows are courted tentatively by two impoverished British aristocrats. When one of the dowagers suggests that her beau go away with her for a month to see if they are compatible, the fireworks begin.
Director: Clive Brook | Stars: Clive Brook, Beatrice Lillie, Googie Withers, Roland Culver
Votes: 720
171. A Canterbury Tale (1944)
Not Rated | 124 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
Three modern-day pilgrims investigate a bizarre crime in a small town while on their way to Canterbury.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, Dennis Price, John Sweet
Votes: 6,486
172. The Woman Who Dared (1944)
105 min | Drama
The wife of a mechanic and former fighter pilot falls in love with the idea of flying herself. This soon becomes an obsession and she undertakes a lofty feat: the longest solo flight ever made by a woman.
Director: Jean Grémillon | Stars: Madeleine Renaud, Charles Vanel, Jean Debucourt, Raymonde Vernay
Votes: 646
173. Hangover Square (1945)
Passed | 77 min | Crime, Drama, Music
A promising classical musician finds his life poisoned by a music hall dancer -- and by the strange gaps in his memory.
Director: John Brahm | Stars: Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell, George Sanders, Glenn Langan
Votes: 4,139
174. The House on 92nd Street (1945)
Approved | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Bill Dietrich becomes a double agent for the F.B.I. in a German spy ring.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: William Eythe, Lloyd Nolan, Signe Hasso, Gene Lockhart
Votes: 3,295
175. Fallen Angel (1945)
Approved | 98 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
A slick con man arrives in a small town looking to make some money, but soon gets more than he bargained for.
Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Alice Faye, Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Charles Bickford
Votes: 6,513
176. Scarlet Street (1945)
Approved | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A man in mid-life crisis befriends a young woman, though her fiancé persuades her to con him out of the fortune they mistakenly assume he possesses.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea, Margaret Lindsay
Votes: 19,192
177. The Brighton Strangler (1945)
Approved | 67 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After suffering a head injury during the Blitz, an actor comes to believe himself to be the Brighton Strangler, the murderer he was playing onstage.
Director: Max Nosseck | Stars: John Loder, June Duprez, Michael St. Angel, Miles Mander
Votes: 538
178. The Enchanted Cottage (1945)
Approved | 91 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A plain maid and a wounded war veteran are transformed by their love for each other while residing in an enchanted honeymoon cottage.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, Herbert Marshall, Mildred Natwick
Votes: 3,530
179. Along Came Jones (1945)
Approved | 90 min | Comedy, Romance, Western
A good-natured saddle tramp traveling with his sidekick is mistaken for a ruthless outlaw with a price on his head.
Director: Stuart Heisler | Stars: Gary Cooper, Loretta Young, William Demarest, Dan Duryea
Votes: 2,405
180. Blithe Spirit (1945)
96 min | Comedy, Fantasy
A man and his second wife are haunted by the ghost of his first wife.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings, Kay Hammond, Margaret Rutherford
Votes: 8,013
181. The Thin Man Goes Home (1944)
Approved | 100 min | Comedy, Crime, Film-Noir
Nick and Nora head to Nick's hometown of Sycamore Springs to spend some time with his parents. His father, a prominent local physician, was always a bit disappointed with Nick's choice of ... See full summary »
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Lucile Watson, Gloria DeHaven
Votes: 6,273 | Gross: $3.86M
182. The Valley of Decision (1945)
Passed | 119 min | Drama, Romance
An Irish maid falls for the son of her wealthy boss, though their disapproving fathers and a bitter strike at the steel mill complicate matters.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Greer Garson, Gregory Peck, Donald Crisp, Lionel Barrymore
Votes: 2,374
183. And Then There Were None (1945)
Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Seven guests, a newly hired secretary and two staff are gathered at a manor house on an isolated island by an unknown absentee host and are killed off one-by-one. They work together to determine who the killer is before it's too late.
Director: René Clair | Stars: Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward, Roland Young
Votes: 16,644
184. My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)
Not Rated | 65 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Julia Ross secures employment through a rather nosy employment agency, with a wealthy widow, Mrs. Hughes, and goes to live at her house. 2 days later, she awakens - in a different house, in... See full summary »
Director: Joseph H. Lewis | Stars: Nina Foch, May Whitty, George Macready, Roland Varno
Votes: 3,757
185. The Seventh Veil (1945)
Approved | 94 min | Drama, Music
A concert pianist with amnesia fights to regain her memory.
Director: Compton Bennett | Stars: James Mason, Ann Todd, Herbert Lom, Hugh McDermott
Votes: 2,373
186. The Woman in Green (1945)
Approved | 68 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Sherlock Holmes investigates when young women around London turn up murdered, each with a finger severed. Scotland Yard suspects a madman, but Holmes believes the killings to be part of a diabolical plot.
Director: Roy William Neill | Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Hillary Brooke, Henry Daniell
Votes: 6,871
187. Brief Encounter (1945)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama, Romance
Meeting a stranger in a railway station, a woman is tempted to cheat on her husband.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey
Votes: 44,240
188. Counter-Attack (1945)
Approved | 90 min | Drama, War
During WW2, a Mexican stand-off ensues between a group of German soldiers and a team of Soviet fighters trapped together in the basement of a bombed-out Russian building.
Director: Zoltan Korda | Stars: Paul Muni, Marguerite Chapman, Larry Parks, Harro Meller
Votes: 564
189. They Were Expendable (1945)
Approved | 135 min | Drama, War
A Navy commander fights to prove the battle-worthiness of the PT boat at the start of World War II.
Directors: John Ford, Robert Montgomery | Stars: Robert Montgomery, John Wayne, Donna Reed, Jack Holt
Votes: 9,262
190. A Walk in the Sun (1945)
Approved | 117 min | Drama, War
During WWII, a platoon of American soldiers trudge through the Italian countryside in search of a bridge they have been ordered to blow up, encountering danger and destruction along the way.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, George Tyne, John Ireland
Votes: 4,080
191. Roughly Speaking (1945)
Approved | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Determined to overcome poverty, Louise Randall attends business school and weds Rodney Crane. Her driven nature leads to marital breakdown. She navigates career growth and family life with new spouse Harold, striving for a better future.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Rosalind Russell, Jack Carson, Robert Hutton, Jean Sullivan
Votes: 880
192. 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: 10,191
193. Rome, Open City (1945)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Thriller, War
During the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1944, the Resistance leader, Giorgio Manfredi, is chased by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a way to escape.
Director: Roberto Rossellini | Stars: Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, Marcello Pagliero, Vito Annichiarico
Votes: 28,977
194. Murder, He Says (1945)
Passed | 91 min | Comedy, Mystery
Professional pollster Pete Marshall gets more than he bargained for when he heads deep into the Ozarks to investigate the disappearances of several of his colleagues.
Director: George Marshall | Stars: Fred MacMurray, Helen Walker, Marjorie Main, Jean Heather
Votes: 2,023
195. Dillinger (1945)
Passed | 70 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
John Dillinger begins his life of crime as a petty thief, meets his future gang in prison and eventually masterminds a series of daring robberies.
Director: Max Nosseck | Stars: Lawrence Tierney, Edmund Lowe, Anne Jeffreys, Eduardo Ciannelli
Votes: 2,139 | Gross: $4.00M
196. Confidential Agent (1945)
Passed | 118 min | Drama, Thriller
In 1937, agents from the opposing sides of the Spanish Civil War travel to the neutral UK to secure coal contracts and to undermine each other's efforts.
Director: Herman Shumlin | Stars: Charles Boyer, Lauren Bacall, Katina Paxinou, Peter Lorre
Votes: 1,369
197. Lady on a Train (1945)
Passed | 94 min | Comedy, Crime, Film-Noir
In New York, a woman who partially witnesses a killing from a train window seeks the aid of a crime novelist to solve the murder.
Director: Charles David | Stars: Deanna Durbin, Ralph Bellamy, David Bruce, George Coulouris
Votes: 2,564
198. Without Love (1945)
Approved | 111 min | Comedy, Romance
In Washington, D.C. during World War II, Jamie Rowan enters into a loveless marriage with scientist Pat Jamieson and becomes his assistant. Struggles bring them closer together.
Director: Harold S. Bucquet | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Keenan Wynn
Votes: 2,714
199. Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)
Passed | 105 min | Drama, Family
A Norwegian farmer lovingly raises his daughter in rural World War II-era Benson Junction, Wisconsin.
Director: Roy Rowland | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Margaret O'Brien, James Craig, Frances Gifford
Votes: 2,345
200. The Corn Is Green (1945)
Approved | 115 min | Drama
A schoolteacher becomes the mentor of a talented young miner and seeks to get him into a university.
Director: Irving Rapper | Stars: Bette Davis, John Dall, Nigel Bruce, Rhys Williams
Votes: 3,220
Tell Your Friends