Favorite Films of 1942

by bertramsharp | created - 23 Oct 2011 | updated - 20 Jun 2022 | Public

Updated: 06/20/2022

I have watched 32 films with a 1942 release date. I have listed them here ranked from best to worst (in my opinion).

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1. Casablanca (1942)

PG | 102 min | Drama, Romance, War

100 Metascore

A cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.

Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains

Votes: 606,170 | Gross: $1.02M

2. Holiday Inn (1942)

Passed | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Music

70 Metascore

At an inn which is open only on holidays, a crooner and a hoofer vie for the affections of a beautiful up-and-coming performer.

Directors: Mark Sandrich, Robert Allen | Stars: Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds, Virginia Dale

Votes: 17,628 | Gross: $8.18M

3. Bambi (1942)

G | 69 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama

91 Metascore

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: 154,129 | Gross: $102.80M

4. To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Passed | 99 min | Comedy, Romance, War

86 Metascore

During the German occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart

Votes: 43,044

5. Night Monster (1942)

Passed | 73 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama

Kurt Ingston, a rich recluse, invites the doctors who left him a hopeless cripple to his desolate mansion in the swamps as one by one they meet horrible deaths.

Director: Ford Beebe | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, Leif Erickson, Irene Hervey

Votes: 1,853

6. Saboteur (1942)

Passed | 109 min | Thriller, War

64 Metascore

A young man accused of sabotage goes on the run to prove his innocence.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings, Otto Kruger, Alan Baxter

Votes: 27,987

7. I Married a Witch (1942)

Passed | 77 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

A beautiful 17th-century witch returns to life to plague politician Wallace Wooley, descendant of her persecutor.

Director: René Clair | Stars: Fredric March, Veronica Lake, Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward

Votes: 9,527 | Gross: $0.31M

8. George Washington Slept Here (1942)

Approved | 93 min | Comedy

When Bill and Connie Fuller are forced to move out of their Manhattan apartment because of their pet dog, Connie purchases a dilapidated old Pennsylvania house where George Washington allegedly slept, and persuades Bill to renovate it.

Director: William Keighley | Stars: Jack Benny, Ann Sheridan, Charles Coburn, Percy Kilbride

Votes: 1,956 | Gross: $0.66M

10. Bowery at Midnight (1942)

Approved | 61 min | Crime, Thriller

Kindly soup kitchen operator and professor of criminology Bela Lugosi uses his soup kitchen as a front for a criminal gang who commit a series of daring robberies and murders.

Director: Wallace Fox | Stars: Bela Lugosi, John Archer, Wanda McKay, Tom Neal

Votes: 1,233

11. Valley of Hunted Men (1942)

Passed | 60 min | Drama, Western

It's 1941 and three Nazis escape from a Canadian prison. Two are killed but the third kills Paul Schiller and assumes his identity. This leads him to the Three Mesquiteers ranch where his ... See full summary »

Director: John English | Stars: Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, Jimmie Dodd, Edward Van Sloan

Votes: 86

12. A-Haunting We Will Go (1942)

Approved | 67 min | Adventure, Comedy

Stan and Ollie get involved with con men, crooks, a genial magician, and two interchangeable coffins with disastrous but funny results.

Director: Alfred L. Werker | Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Dante, Sheila Ryan

Votes: 1,377

13. Saludos Amigos (1942)

Passed | 42 min | Animation, Short, Adventure

60 Metascore

Disney animators tour South America and present four animated shorts inspired by their trip.

Directors: Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Norman Ferguson | Stars: Fred Shields, José Oliveira, Lee Blair, Mary Blair

Votes: 7,920

14. The Hare-Brained Hypnotist (1942)

Approved | 7 min | Animation, Short, Comedy

This time Elmer Fudd goes after Bugs using hypnotism, only the plan backfires.

Director: Friz Freleng | Stars: Mel Blanc, Arthur Q. Bryan

Votes: 883

15. The Corpse Vanishes (1942)

Passed | 64 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

A scientist, aided by an old hag and her two sons, kills virginal brides, steals their bodies, and extracts gland fluid to keep his ancient wife alive and young.

Director: Wallace Fox | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Luana Walters, Tristram Coffin, Elizabeth Russell

Votes: 3,513

16. Pardon My Sarong (1942)

Passed | 84 min | Comedy

A pair of bus drivers accidentally steal their own bus. With the company issuing a warrant for their arrest, they tag along with a playboy on a boat trip that finds them on a tropical island, where a jewel thief has sinister plans for them.

Director: Erle C. Kenton | Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Virginia Bruce, Robert Paige

Votes: 2,404

17. Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942)

Approved | 82 min | Comedy, Drama, Western

Two peanut vendors at a traveling rodeo show get in trouble with their boss and hide out on a railroad train heading west. They get jobs as cowboys on a dude ranch, despite the fact that ... See full summary »

Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Dick Foran, Anne Gwynne

Votes: 1,735

18. Who Done It? (1942)

Passed | 77 min | Comedy, Mystery

Two dumb soda jerks dream of writing radio mysteries. When they try to pitch an idea at a radio station, they end up in the middle of a real murder after the station owner is killed during a broadcast.

Director: Erle C. Kenton | Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Patric Knowles, William Gargan

Votes: 2,706

19. The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

Passed | 67 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi

Dr. Frankenstein's plans to replace the brain of his monster are hijacked by his scheming and malevolent assistant Ygor.

Director: Erle C. Kenton | Stars: Cedric Hardwicke, Lon Chaney Jr., Ralph Bellamy, Lionel Atwill

Votes: 7,097

20. Road to Morocco (1942)

Passed | 82 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family

75 Metascore

Two carefree castaways on a desert shore find an Arabian Nights city, where they compete for the luscious Princess Shalmar.

Director: David Butler | Stars: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Anthony Quinn

Votes: 5,858 | Gross: $1.63M

21. Rio Rita (1942)

Passed | 91 min | Comedy, Music, War

Doc and Wishey run into some Nazi-agents, who want to smuggle bombs into the USA from a Mexican border hotel.

Director: S. Sylvan Simon | Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Kathryn Grayson, John Carroll

Votes: 1,282

22. The Phantom Plainsmen (1942)

Approved | 57 min | Drama, Western

It is 1937, but the life out West has not changed much. The boys are working at the Wyoming ranch of Captain Marvin herding horses which he sells to Kurt Redman. Marvin will not sell any ... See full summary »

Director: John English | Stars: Bob Steele, Tom Tyler, Rufe Davis, Rudolph Anders

Votes: 76

23. Alias Boston Blackie (1942)

Approved | 67 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

Blackie tracks down a wrongly convicted prisoner who escapes during a Christmas magic show.

Director: Lew Landers | Stars: Chester Morris, Adele Mara, Richard Lane, George E. Stone

Votes: 694

24. The Mummy's Tomb (1942)

Passed | 61 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

The ancient Egypt Mummy, Kharis, is transported from his homeland with the high priest Mehemet to wreak vengeance on the family who has defiled the sacred tomb of his beloved Princess Ananka.

Director: Harold Young | Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Dick Foran, John Hubbard, Elyse Knox

Votes: 3,852

25. Boss of Hangtown Mesa (1942)

Approved | 58 min | Drama, Music, Western

Judge Ezra Barnes, crooked-lawyer Clint Ranier and saloon-owner Flash Hollister control the town of Hangtown Mesa. The completion of the Rocky Mountain Telegraph Company will loosen and ... See full summary »

Director: Joseph H. Lewis | Stars: Johnny Mack Brown, Fuzzy Knight, William Farnum, Rex Lease

Votes: 60

26. Winning Your Wings (1942)

Approved | 18 min | Short, History, War

Inspirational short film designed to encourage recruits for the American Army Air Forces.

Directors: Owen Crump, John Huston | Stars: James Stewart, Jean Ames, Leah Baird, Don DeFore

Votes: 384

27. Cat People (1942)

Not Rated | 73 min | Fantasy, Horror, Thriller

85 Metascore

An American man marries a Serbian immigrant who fears that she will turn into the cat person of her homeland's fables if they are intimate together.

Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Simone Simon, Tom Conway, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph

Votes: 26,000 | Gross: $4.00M

28. The Living Ghost (1942)

Passed | 61 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

A retired detective, Nick Trayne, is hired to look for a missing banker. During the investigation, the aforementioned banker returns in a zombie-like state. Trayne must track down the madman responsible for the banker's state.

Director: William Beaudine | Stars: James Dunn, Joan Woodbury, Paul McVey, Vera Gordon

Votes: 682

29. The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942)

Passed | 95 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family

While Judge Hardy handles a couple's divorce, Andy takes a shine to their shy daughter.

Director: George B. Seitz | Stars: Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden

Votes: 641

30. Fingers at the Window (1942)

Passed | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

An unemployed actor in Chicago aims to solve the mystery concerning a string of axe murders, apparently committed by a "lunatic".

Director: Charles Lederer | Stars: Lew Ayres, Laraine Day, Basil Rathbone, Walter Kingsford

Votes: 1,145

31. Black Dragons (1942)

Approved | 64 min | Thriller, War

A cabal of American industrialists, all fifth-columnists intent on sabotaging the war effort, are methodically murdered by the malevolent Monsieur Colomb. It is only until detective Dick ... See full summary »

Director: William Nigh | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Joan Barclay, George Pembroke, Clayton Moore

Votes: 1,267

32. The Mad Monster (1942)

Approved | 77 min | Drama, Horror, Romance

A mad scientist changes his simple-minded handyman into a werewolf in order to prove his supposedly crazy scientific theories - and exact revenge.

Director: Sam Newfield | Stars: Johnny Downs, George Zucco, Anne Nagel, Glenn Strange

Votes: 1,940



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