Favorite Films of 1940
by bertramsharp | created - 23 Oct 2011 | updated - 23 Feb 2021 | PublicUpdated: 02/23/2021
I have watched only 31 films with a 1940 release date. I have listed them here ranked from best to worst (in my opinion).
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1. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Not Rated | 112 min | Comedy, Romance
When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey
Votes: 73,870
2. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Passed | 129 min | Drama
An Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin
Votes: 99,983 | Gross: $0.06M
3. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Not Rated | 99 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand each other, without realizing that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut
Votes: 38,506 | Gross: $0.20M
4. Rebecca (1940)
Approved | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson
Votes: 146,786 | Gross: $4.36M
5. Fantasia (1940)
G | 124 min | Animation, Family, Fantasy
A series of eight famous pieces of classical music, conducted by Leopold Stokowski and interpreted in animation by Walt Disney's team of artists.
Directors: James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe Jr., Norman Ferguson, David Hand, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Ben Sharpsteen | Stars: Leopold Stokowski, Deems Taylor, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Corey Burton
Votes: 104,004 | Gross: $76.41M
6. Pinocchio (1940)
G | 88 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A living puppet, with the help of a cricket as his conscience, must prove himself worthy to become a real boy.
Directors: Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen | Stars: Dickie Jones, Christian Rub, Mel Blanc, Don Brodie
Votes: 159,905 | Gross: $84.25M
7. The Ghost Breakers (1940)
Passed | 85 min | Comedy
A radio broadcaster, his quaking manservant and an heiress investigate the mystery of a haunted castle in Cuba.
Director: George Marshall | Stars: Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard, Richard Carlson, Paul Lukas
Votes: 4,161
8. The House of the Seven Gables (1940)
Approved | 89 min | Drama, Thriller
Based on the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, this classic film follows a family feud between two brothers and an ancient curse that haunts them.
Director: Joe May | Stars: George Sanders, Margaret Lindsay, Vincent Price, Dick Foran
Votes: 1,516
9. Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Passed | 120 min | Action, Romance, Thriller
On the eve of World War II, a young American reporter tries to expose enemy agents in London.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders
Votes: 23,724 | Gross: $3.48M
10. His Girl Friday (1940)
Passed | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart
Votes: 63,184 | Gross: $0.30M
11. Remember the Night (1939)
Passed | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Love blooms between a sympathetic attorney and the comely shoplifter he has taken home for the Christmas holiday.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi, Elizabeth Patterson
Votes: 7,193 | Gross: $0.17M
12. One Night in the Tropics (1940)
Passed | 82 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Jim "Lucky" Moore (Allan Jones), an insurance salesman, comes up with a novel policy for his friend, Steve (Robert Cummings): a 'love insurance policy', that will pay out $1-million if ... See full summary »
Director: A. Edward Sutherland | Stars: Allan Jones, Nancy Kelly, Robert Cummings, Bud Abbott
Votes: 1,857
13. Black Friday (1940)
Approved | 70 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Dr. Sovac transplants the brain of a gangster into his professor friend's body to save his life, but there is a side effect that causes a dangerous split personality.
Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Stanley Ridges, Anne Nagel
Votes: 2,877
14. The Fatal Hour (1940)
Approved | 68 min | Crime, Mystery
When Captain Street's best friend Dan Grady is murdered, Street receives help from Chinese detective James Lee Wong and local newspaper reporter Bobbie Logan.
Director: William Nigh | Stars: Boris Karloff, Marjorie Reynolds, Grant Withers, Charles Trowbridge
Votes: 1,309
15. The Great Dictator (1940)
G | 125 min | Comedy, Drama, War
Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner
Votes: 237,416 | Gross: $0.29M
16. Road to Singapore (1940)
Approved | 85 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Two playboys try to forget previous romances in Singapore - until they meet a beautiful dancer.
Director: Victor Schertzinger | Stars: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Charles Coburn
Votes: 4,090
17. Christmas in July (1940)
Passed | 67 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After the co-workers of an ambitious clerk trick him into thinking he has won $25,000 in a slogan contest, he begins to use the money to fulfill his dreams. What will happen when the ruse is discovered?
Director: Preston Sturges | Stars: Dick Powell, Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn, Alexander Carr
Votes: 4,268
18. Doomed to Die (1940)
Approved | 68 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Mr. Wong and a girl reporter investigate a shipping magnate's murder.
Director: William Nigh | Stars: Boris Karloff, Marjorie Reynolds, Grant Withers, William Stelling
Votes: 1,368
19. The Saint's Double Trouble (1940)
Passed | 67 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An enigmatic gang leader known as "The Boss," who is a dead-ringer for Simon, puts "The Saint" under suspicion of murder.
Director: Jack Hively | Stars: George Sanders, Helene Reynolds, Jonathan Hale, Bela Lugosi
Votes: 849
20. One Crowded Night (1940)
Approved | 68 min | Drama
Crucial events in the lives of many people occur on the same night in the same place.
Director: Irving Reis | Stars: Billie Seward, William Haade, Anne Revere, Paul Guilfoyle
Votes: 180
21. Phantom of Chinatown (1940)
Approved | 62 min | Mystery
Detective James Lee Wong is on the scene as archaeologist Dr. John Benton, recently returned from an expedition in China where a valuable ancient scroll was recovered, is murdered while giving a lecture on the expedition.
Director: Phil Rosen | Stars: Keye Luke, Lotus Long, Grant Withers, Charles Miller
Votes: 832
22. Shooting High (1940)
Passed | 65 min | Drama, Music, Western
A movie company making a film about a famous sheriff hires his grandson as a stand-in for the lead. The grandson's friend scares the actor out of town so he can get the role.
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: Jane Withers, Gene Autry, Marjorie Weaver, Frank M. Thomas
Votes: 147
23. The Invisible Woman (1940)
Approved | 72 min | Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi
An attractive model with an ulterior motive volunteers as guinea pig for an invisibility machine.
Director: A. Edward Sutherland | Stars: Virginia Bruce, John Barrymore, John Howard, Charles Ruggles
Votes: 3,357
24. The Mummy's Hand (1940)
Approved | 67 min | Adventure, Fantasy, Horror
Archaeologists defile the tomb of mummified Kharis, who was buried alive for falling in love with an Egyptian princess.
Director: Christy Cabanne | Stars: Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, Wallace Ford, Eduardo Ciannelli
Votes: 4,708
25. British Intelligence (1939)
Approved | 61 min | Romance, Thriller, War
Although the home of cabinet minister Arthur Bennett is a hotbed of spies, moles, and double agents, no one knows the true identity of notorious German spymaster Strendler.
Director: Terry O. Morse | Stars: Boris Karloff, Margaret Lindsay, Bruce Lester, Leonard Mudie
Votes: 1,318
26. Li'l Abner (1940)
Passed | 78 min | Comedy, Romance
The goings-on in the rural Southern community of Dogpatch, USA.
Director: Albert S. Rogell | Stars: Jeff York, Martha O'Driscoll, Mona Ray, Johnnie Morris
Votes: 522
27. Beyond Tomorrow (1940)
Approved | 84 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
The ghosts of three elderly industrialists killed in an airplane crash return to Earth to help reunite a young couple they initially brought together.
Director: A. Edward Sutherland | Stars: Harry Carey, C. Aubrey Smith, Charles Winninger, Alex Melesh
Votes: 2,334
28. The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
Passed | 81 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
The owner of a coal mining operation, falsely imprisoned for fratricide, takes a drug to make him invisible, despite its side effect: gradual madness.
Director: Joe May | Stars: Cedric Hardwicke, Vincent Price, Nan Grey, John Sutton
Votes: 5,295
29. The Ape (1940)
Approved | 62 min | Horror
Dr. Bernard Adrian is a kindly mad scientist who seeks to cure a young woman's polio. He needs spinal fluid from a human to complete the formula for his experimental serum.
Director: William Nigh | Stars: Boris Karloff, Maris Wrixon, Gene O'Donnell, Dorothy Vaughan
Votes: 2,062
30. The Devil Bat (1940)
Approved | 68 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A mad scientist develops an aftershave lotion that causes his gigantic bats to kill anyone who wears it.
Director: Jean Yarbrough | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Suzanne Kaaren, Dave O'Brien, Guy Usher
Votes: 3,449
31. Dr. Cyclops (1940)
Passed | 77 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror
A mad scientist working in the South American jungle miniaturizes his colleagues when he feels his megalomania is threatened.
Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Albert Dekker, Thomas Coley, Janice Logan, Charles Halton
Votes: 2,890
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