PUNQ’s – Top-300 – 1940
by Holypunq | created - 13 Oct 2016 | updated - 13 Oct 2016 | PublicWelcome to 1940! THE WAR IS ON!!! That's the big difference between 1939 and 1940. Now there is no vague hints who the enemies are. No tip-toeing around the political climate. It's full-on propaganda!!! Most films had references to the enemy, fitting or not to the movie, it was forced in. A gloomier Hollywood starting slowly to detached itself from the jolly pace of the 1930s cinema. Non-English cinema suffered greatly from the war. Perhaps the strongest foreign scene was Germany's own agenda driven machine delivering some strong and repulsive outings unique to it's time. A fascinating year.
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1. 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: 237,254 | Gross: $0.29M
2. 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: 159,770 | Gross: $84.25M
3. 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: 73,822
4. 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: 63,126 | Gross: $0.30M
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: 103,931 | Gross: $76.41M
6. 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: 99,911 | Gross: $0.06M
7. The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
Not Rated | 106 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
After being tricked and cast out of Bagdad by the evil Jaffar, King Ahmad joins forces with a thief named Abu to reclaim his throne, the city, and the Princess he loves.
Directors: Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, Alexander Korda, Zoltan Korda, William Cameron Menzies | Stars: Conrad Veidt, Sabu, June Duprez, John Justin
Votes: 14,493 | Gross: $0.27M
8. 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: 146,654 | Gross: $4.36M
9. 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: 38,440 | Gross: $0.20M
10. The Mark of Zorro (1940)
Approved | 94 min | Action, Adventure, Family
A young Spanish aristocrat must masquerade as a fop in order to maintain his secret identity of Zorro as he restores justice to early California.
Director: Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard
Votes: 10,974 | Gross: $4.36M
11. 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: 23,710 | Gross: $3.48M
12. 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: 5,270
13. Puss Gets the Boot (1940)
Approved | 9 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Tom (Jasper) gets told that if he breaks one more thing he is getting thrown out, so Jerry (Jinx) tries his best to make Jasper "Get the Boot".
Directors: Joseph Barbera, William Hanna | Stars: William Hanna, Harry Lang, Bob Laztny, Lillian Randolph
Votes: 2,399
14. The Westerner (1940)
Passed | 100 min | Drama, Western
Judge Roy Bean, a self-appointed hanging judge in Vinegarroon, Texas, befriends saddle tramp Cole Harden, who opposes Bean's policy against homesteaders.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Doris Davenport, Fred Stone
Votes: 6,794
15. The Sea Hawk (1940)
Approved | 127 min | Action, Adventure, History
Geoffrey Thorpe, a buccaneer, is hired by Queen Elizabeth I to nag the Spanish Armada. The Armada is waiting for the attack on England and Thorpe surprises them with attacks on their galleons where he shows his skills on the sword.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains, Donald Crisp
Votes: 10,730
16. Night Train to Munich (1940)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
After Germany invades Czechoslovakia, the German and the British intelligence services try to capture Czech scientist Dr. Axel Bomasch (James Harcourt), inventor of a new type of armor-plating.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Margaret Lockwood, Rex Harrison, Paul Henreid, Basil Radford
Votes: 5,573
17. Waterloo Bridge (1940)
Passed | 108 min | Drama, Romance, War
Myra and Roy meet and fall in love on Waterloo Bridge during an air raid. Their love will be one of the war's unspoken casualties.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor, Lucile Watson, Virginia Field
Votes: 10,925
18. City for Conquest (1940)
Passed | 104 min | Drama, Sport
Danny is a content truck driver, but his girl Peggy shows potential as a dancer and hopes he too can show ambition. Danny acquiesces and pursues boxing to please her, but the two begin to spend more time working than time together.
Directors: Anatole Litvak, Jean Negulesco | Stars: James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Crisp
Votes: 2,710
19. The Letter (1940)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter written in her own hand may prove her undoing.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, Frieda Inescort
Votes: 14,587
20. Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
Approved | 64 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An aspiring reporter is the key witness at the murder trial of a young man accused of cutting a café owner's throat and is soon accused of a similar crime himself.
Director: Boris Ingster | Stars: Peter Lorre, John McGuire, Margaret Tallichet, Charles Waldron
Votes: 4,609
21. 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: 7,188 | Gross: $0.17M
22. You Ought to Be in Pictures (1940)
Approved | 10 min | Animation, Family, Comedy
Daffy Duck tries to usurp Porky Pig's job through devious means in this wild blend of live action and animation.
Director: Friz Freleng | Stars: Mel Blanc, Leon Schlesinger, Henry Binder, Gerry Chiniquy
Votes: 1,756
23. 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: 5,287
24. Virginia City (1940)
Passed | 121 min | Western
Union officer Kerry Bradford escapes from Confederate Prison and is set to Virginia City, Nevada, where he finds out that the former commander of his prison, Vance Irby, is planning to send $5 million in gold to save the Confederacy.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn, Miriam Hopkins, Randolph Scott, Humphrey Bogart
Votes: 2,960
25. The Mortal Storm (1940)
Passed | 100 min | Drama
The Roth family leads a quiet life in a small village in the German Alps during the early 1930s. When the Nazis come to power, the family is divided and Martin Breitner, a family friend, is caught up in the turmoil.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young, Frank Morgan
Votes: 6,035
26. A Wild Hare (1940)
Approved | 8 min | Animation, Short, Adventure
While hunting rabbits, Elmer Fudd comes across Bugs Bunny, who tricks and harasses the hunter.
Director: Tex Avery | Stars: Mel Blanc, Arthur Q. Bryan
Votes: 1,866
27. Strange Cargo (1940)
Passed | 113 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Convicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure (Ian Hunter).
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Ian Hunter, Peter Lorre
Votes: 2,972
28. 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: 4,155
29. Der Postmeister (1940)
92 min | Drama
A troubled father, working as a postmaster in province, worries about his daughter taken to the capital by a rich officer.
Director: Gustav Ucicky | Stars: Heinrich George, Hilde Krahl, Siegfried Breuer, Hans Holt
Votes: 216
30. Where's That Fire? (1939)
73 min | Comedy
A hapless fire crew are given the ultimatum: put out a fire successfully or else be sacked. They fail miserably, and their ancient fire engine is stolen by criminals attempting to steal the crown jewels from the Tower of London.
Director: Marcel Varnel | Stars: Will Hay, Moore Marriott, Graham Moffatt, Eric Clavering
Votes: 423
31. Pride and Prejudice (1940)
Approved | 118 min | Drama, Romance
The arrival of wealthy bachelors in town causes an uproar when families with single daughters aggressively seek engagements, including the Bennet family, with five eligible daughters.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver
Votes: 9,221
32. The Bank Dick (1940)
Not Rated | 72 min | Comedy
Henpecked Egbert Sousé has comic adventures as a substitute film director and unlikely bank guard.
Director: Edward F. Cline | Stars: W.C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel, Evelyn Del Rio
Votes: 7,803
33. Goofy's Glider (1940)
8 min | Comedy, Family, Animation
Goofy's new sport: flying his glider (without much success).
Director: Jack Kinney | Stars: Florence Gill, George Johnson, John McLeish
Votes: 642
34. Escape (1940)
Passed | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In 1936, a young man arrives in Hitler's Germany, frantically seeking information about his missing German mother, and finds she is pending execution at a concentration camp.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Norma Shearer, Robert Taylor, Conrad Veidt, Alla Nazimova
Votes: 1,134
35. A Chump at Oxford (1940)
Approved | 62 min | Comedy, Family
As a reward for capturing a bank robber, Stan and Ollie get scholarship to Oxford, but are met with resentment by other students.
Director: Alfred J. Goulding | Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Forrester Harvey, Wilfred Lucas
Votes: 4,300
36. Kitty Foyle (1940)
Passed | 108 min | Drama, Romance
A hard-working white-collar girl from a middle-class family meets and falls in love with a young socialite, but she soon clashes with his family.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Eduardo Ciannelli
Votes: 4,053
37. Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
Passed | 102 min | Musical
Johnny Brett and King Shaw are an unsuccessful dance team in New York. A producer discovers Brett as the new partner for Clare Bennett, but Brett, who thinks he is one of the people they lent money to gives him the name of his partner.
Director: Norman Taurog | Stars: Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, George Murphy, Frank Morgan
Votes: 2,783
38. Donald's Dog Laundry (1940)
Approved | 8 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Donald attempts to entice Pluto to try his automated dog washer, but is unexpectedly caught himself and is scrubbed, and hung on the line to dry.
Director: Jack King | Stars: Lee Millar, Clarence Nash
Votes: 1,275
39. My Little Chickadee (1940)
Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Western
After a scandal runs a gold-digger out of town, she meets a con artist and becomes embroiled in a string of petty deceits.
Director: Edward F. Cline | Stars: Mae West, W.C. Fields, Joseph Calleia, Dick Foran
Votes: 3,058
40. 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: 4,266
41. The Great Profile (1940)
Approved | 82 min | Comedy
Barrymore lampoons himself. A famous actor, given to drink, nearly destroys the show, but his leading lady returns to save it. Meanwhile a young girl tries to reform him.
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: John Barrymore, Mary Beth Hughes, Gregory Ratoff, John Payne
Votes: 268
42. Il pirata sono io! (1940)
75 min | Comedy
In Santa Cruz, in the second half of the eighteenth century. The Governor of the island, to ingratiate himself with the Viceroy, contrives to make assaulting the island from a mock pirate ... See full summary »
Director: Mario Mattoli | Stars: Erminio Macario, Juan de Landa, Dora Bini, Carmen Navascués
Votes: 24
43. Of Fox and Hounds (1940)
Approved | 9 min | Family, Animation, Short
Willoughby, a big dumb hound, is repeatedly tricked by George, the fox, into jumping off cliffs, among other things.
Director: Tex Avery | Stars: Tex Avery, Mel Blanc
Votes: 266
44. Brother Orchid (1940)
Passed | 88 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
When retired racket boss John Sarto tries to reclaim his place and former friends try to kill him, he finds solace in a monastery and reinvents himself as a pious monk.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sothern, Donald Crisp
Votes: 3,170
45. Northwest Passage (1940)
Passed | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Langdon Towne and Hunk Marriner join Major Rogers' Rangers as they wipe out an Indian village. They set out for Fort Wentworth, but when they arrive they find no soldiers and none of the supplies they expected.
Directors: King Vidor, Jack Conway, W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, Walter Brennan, Ruth Hussey
Votes: 3,901
46. Fire Chief (1940)
G | 8 min | Family, Animation, Comedy
Donald and his nephews are the staff of a fire station. Huey, Dewey, and Louie, annoyed by Donald's snoring, ring the fire alarm. Soon, his bumbling sets the fire station itself on fire. ... See full summary »
Director: Jack King | Star: Clarence Nash
Votes: 774
47. Saps at Sea (1940)
G | 56 min | Comedy
Oliver suffers a nervous breakdown as a result of working in a horn factory, but when he follows doctor's orders about sea air, he finds an ex-con is aboard.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson, Ben Turpin
Votes: 3,083
48. Nobuko (1940)
90 min | Drama
A spirited young teacher challenges a conservative school with her liberal thinking and teaching methods.
Director: Hiroshi Shimizu | Stars: Shinobu Aoki, Mariko Aoyama, Mitsuko Higashiyama, Shin'ichi Himori
Votes: 128
49. Go West (1940)
Passed | 80 min | Comedy, Musical, Western
The Marx Brothers come to the rescue in the Wild West when a young man, trying to settle an old family feud so he can marry the girl he loves, runs afoul of crooks.
Director: Edward Buzzell | Stars: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, John Carroll
Votes: 5,825
50. Seven Sinners (1940)
Approved | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Banished from various U.S. protectorates in the Pacific, a saloon entertainer uses her femme-fatale charms to woo politicians, navy personnel, gangsters, riff-raff, judges and a ship's doctor in order to achieve her aims.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne, Albert Dekker, Broderick Crawford
Votes: 1,658
51. Bone Trouble (1940)
Approved | 9 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Pluto's dish is empty, so he goes after the bone in the dish of Butch the bulldog, who is sleeping next door. Can he make it home with the bone before Butch wakes up? No. Soon they are ... See full summary »
Director: Jack Kinney | Stars: Lee Millar, James MacDonald, Clarence Nash, Hal Rees
Votes: 723
52. The Villain Still Pursued Her (1940)
Approved | 66 min | Comedy
A widow and her daughter are threatened with eviction by an unscrupulous lawyer.
Director: Edward F. Cline | Stars: Hugh Herbert, Anita Louise, Alan Mowbray, Buster Keaton
Votes: 356
53. 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
54. 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: 3,353
55. Blackout (1940)
Not Rated | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Early in World War II, Danish sea captain Andersen, delayed in a British port, tangles with German spies.
Director: Michael Powell | Stars: Conrad Veidt, Valerie Hobson, Hay Petrie, Joss Ambler
Votes: 1,352
56. Billposters (1940)
8 min | Animation, Family, Comedy
Donald and Goofy are putting up advertising posters in a farm. Goofy prepares to post on a windmill, but his tools keep disappearing and reappearing on the windmill blades. Donald puts up ... See full summary »
Director: Clyde Geronimi | Stars: Clarence Nash, Danny Webb
Votes: 596
57. 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
58. Angels Over Broadway (1940)
Passed | 79 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
A cuckolded embezzler on the verge of suicide is helped by a tout, an alcoholic playwright, and a pick-up girl to reimburse the money with a gambling sting.
Directors: Ben Hecht, Lee Garmes | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Rita Hayworth, Thomas Mitchell, John Qualen
Votes: 1,336
59. Window Cleaners (1940)
Approved | 8 min | Animation, Short, Family
Donald Duck is a window washer who has problems, from his hat and tail feather being trimmed to waking up Pluto to break the window. And finally tormenting a bee, getting tied up on the platform only to have his rear end stung by a bee.
Director: Jack King | Stars: Lee Millar, Clarence Nash
Votes: 838
60. Jud Süß (1940)
98 min | Drama
Infamous anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda historical drama about Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg and his treasurer Süß Oppenheimer.
Director: Veit Harlan | Stars: Ferdinand Marian, Kristina Söderbaum, Heinrich George, Werner Krauss
Votes: 3,367
61. All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
Approved | 141 min | Drama, Romance
A duchess' irrational behavior toward her children's governess triggers tragic events that will change her family's lives forever.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Bette Davis, Charles Boyer, Jeffrey Lynn, Barbara O'Neil
Votes: 5,384
62. The Riveter (1940)
Approved | 8 min | Animation, Family, Comedy
Construction foreman Pegleg Pete has just fired his riveter; Donald comes by and takes the job, despite a lack of experience and an initial fear of heights, and makes a mess of things.
Director: Dick Lundy | Stars: Billy Bletcher, Clarence Nash
Votes: 806
63. 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: 2,889
64. The Biscuit Eater (1940)
Passed | 81 min | Drama, Family
Two little boys have faith in a dog they name Promise, so much faith that they enter him in the championship trials for bird dogs. The favorite is Georgia Boy bred and trained by the boys' ... See full summary »
Director: Stuart Heisler | Stars: Billy Lee, Cordell Hickman, Richard Lane, Lester Matthews
Votes: 242
65. Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
Approved | 110 min | Biography, Drama, History
Humble Abraham Lincoln gains the respect of his Illinois neighbors, growing in stature and respect until he is elected President in 1860 and departs for Washington.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Raymond Massey, Gene Lockhart, Ruth Gordon, Mary Howard
Votes: 2,060
66. Donald's Vacation (1940)
8 min | Family, Comedy, Animation
Donald takes a kayak trip. When he gets to his campsite, he unloads the kayak, fights with his folding chair, and goes to sleep. Meanwhile, the chipmunks of the forest (precursors of Chip '... See full summary »
Director: Jack King | Stars: James MacDonald, Clarence Nash
Votes: 886
67. Maryland (1940)
Approved | 92 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A woman tormented by the hunting death of her husband forbids her son to have anything to do with horses. But when he falls for the daughter of his father's trainer, he defies his mother by entering the Maryland Hunt.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Walter Brennan, Fay Bainter, Brenda Joyce, John Payne
Votes: 170
68. Tugboat Mickey (1940)
Approved | 7 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
As Mickey, Donald and Goofy are preparing their tugboat to head out to sea, they receive a distress call from a sinking ship. This program is presented as originally created.
Director: Clyde Geronimi | Stars: Walt Disney, Clarence Nash, Danny Webb
Votes: 1,229
69. Saloon Bar (1940)
76 min | Comedy, Thriller
Against a background of Christmas and the pending arrival of another baby for the landlord, a group of pub locals lead by bookie Joe Harris set out to prove that former customer Eddie ... See full summary »
Director: Walter Forde | Stars: Gordon Harker, Elizabeth Allan, Mervyn Johns, Joyce Barbour
Votes: 293
70. Poopdeck Pappy (1940)
TV-G | 6 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Popeye tries to put his Pappy to bed, but he manages to sneak out to a sleazy bar.
Directors: Dave Fleischer, William Nolan | Stars: Pinto Colvig, Margie Hines, Jack Mercer
Votes: 287
71. Santa Fe Trail (1940)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama, War, Western
In 1854, Jeb Stuart, George Custer and other graduates from West Point are posted to Kansas to help pacify the territory before railroad construction to Santa Fe can resume.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Raymond Massey, Ronald Reagan
Votes: 4,155
72. The Son of Monte Cristo (1940)
Approved | 102 min | Drama, Romance
General Gurko Lanen is the dictator of Lichtenburg, a country set in the Balkans. With the help of Napoleon II, the rightful ruler Grand Duchess Zona aims to overthrow the general. She is also helped by the visiting Count of Monte Cristo.
Director: Rowland V. Lee | Stars: Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, George Sanders, Florence Bates
Votes: 880
73. A Gander at Mother Goose (1940)
Approved | 6 min | Family, Animation, Short
A collection of short gags based on classic nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, in her best Katharine Hepburn, tells us how her garden is really doing. Humpty Dumpty ... See full summary »
Director: Tex Avery | Stars: Margaret Hill-Talbot, Sara Berner, Mel Blanc, Robert C. Bruce
Votes: 385
74. Dark Command (1940)
Approved | 94 min | Drama, Romance, War
In Kansas during the Civil War, opposing pro-Union and pro-Confederate camps clash and visiting Texan Bob Seton runs afoul of William Cantrell's Raiders.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Walter Pidgeon, Roy Rogers
Votes: 3,034
75. Vigil in the Night (1940)
Passed | 96 min | Drama, Romance
A nurse loses her job after selflessly taking the blame for a fatal mistake her sister and co-worker made. She is subsequently employed at a poorly-equipped hospital, where she finds romance and tragedy.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Carole Lombard, Anne Shirley, Brian Aherne, Julien Mitchell
Votes: 1,037
76. Tom Thumb in Trouble (1940)
Approved | 8 min | Animation, Short, Drama
Tom's father mistakenly believes that the little bird who's just rescued his tiny son from drowning in the dishwater is attacking the boy and drives it away. Tom sets off to find the bird and gets lost in a fierce snowstorm.
Director: Chuck Jones | Stars: Margaret Hill-Talbot, Shepperd Strudwick
Votes: 317
77. Trail of the Vigilantes (1940)
Approved | 75 min | Comedy, Western
A reporter goes undercover to break up an outlaw gang.
Director: Allan Dwan | Stars: Franchot Tone, Warren William, Broderick Crawford, Andy Devine
Votes: 113
78. Popeye Presents Eugene, the Jeep (1940)
TV-G | 6 min | Animation, Family, Comedy
Olive sends Popeye a puppy, Eugene the Jeep, for his birthday, but despite Popeye's best efforts to make it sleep outside, it keeps finding its way back into the house. A rare spinach-free Popeye.
Directors: Dave Fleischer, Grim Natwick | Stars: Pinto Colvig, Jack Mercer
Votes: 215
79. Pantry Pirate (1940)
Approved | 7 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Pluto is tied up in the backyard and has been ordered by the maid to stay outside while she prepares a roast. Of course, once Pluto smells the scent of the roast, he makes a beeline for the... See full summary »
Director: Clyde Geronimi | Stars: Lee Millar, Lillian Randolph
Votes: 391
80. My Pop, My Pop (1940)
7 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Popeye's 99-year-old father won't admit he's too old to help Popeye build a ship. Popeye tells him to build one side while he builds the other; Pappy's side is a mess. He falls asleep ... See full summary »
Directors: Dave Fleischer, Arnold Gillespie | Star: Jack Mercer
Votes: 181
81. Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940)
Approved | 63 min | Mystery
An escaped convicted murderer hides out at a New York wax museum where he hopes to get plastic surgery, which will help him revenge himself on Charlie Chan.
Director: Lynn Shores | Stars: Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Yung, C. Henry Gordon, Marc Lawrence
Votes: 1,750
82. Wimmin Is a Myskery (1940)
Approved | 6 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
When Popeye tells Olive Oyl that he will propose to her the next morning, she has a dream that their four boys will run roughshod over their house.
Directors: Dave Fleischer, Willard Bowsky | Stars: Margie Hines, Jack Mercer
Votes: 191
83. Mr. Duck Steps Out (1940)
Approved | 8 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Donald's frustration level is stretched to the limit when he attempts to court Daisy without the interference of his nephews.
Director: Jack King | Star: Clarence Nash
Votes: 1,345
84. French Without Tears (1940)
86 min | Comedy
The love affairs of three young Englishmen at a language cramming school in the south of France. Diana, the sister of one of the boys, arrives in town to flirt with all of her brothers' schoolmates.
Director: Anthony Asquith | Stars: Ray Milland, Ellen Drew, Janine Darcey, David Tree
Votes: 119
85. Comrade X (1940)
Passed | 104 min | Comedy, Romance
An American reporter smuggling news out of Soviet Moscow is blackmailed into helping a beautiful Communist leave the country.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Clark Gable, Hedy Lamarr, Oscar Homolka, Felix Bressart
Votes: 1,829
86. A Kick in Time (1940)
Not Rated | 8 min | Animation, Short
Spunky is kidnapped and sold at an auction to a cruel Italian peddler. It's up to Hunky to save him.
Directors: Dave Fleischer, Shamus Culhane | Star: Jack Mercer
Votes: 113
87. Stealin Aint Honest (1940)
Approved | 7 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Olive has a secret treasure map, but while she's showing it to Popeye, Bluto photographs it and gets there first.
Directors: Dave Fleischer, Thomas Johnson | Stars: Margie Hines, Jack Mercer, Tedd Pierce
Votes: 193
88. 20 Mule Team (1940)
Passed | 84 min | Western
In California's Death Valley, in 1892, Borax ore miners scratch a hard living until a map pinpointing the location of high-grade Borax ore surfaces, sending prospectors and crooks alike into a gold-rush-like frenzy.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Wallace Beery, Leo Carrillo, Marjorie Rambeau, Anne Baxter
Votes: 278
89. Ants in the Plants (1940)
Not Rated | 7 min | Animation, Short
Lots of gags as the little guy fights the bad guy. The insects are living together peacefully, and everybody is going along with their daily business as the evil ant-eater is attacking the ... See full summary »
Directors: Dave Fleischer, Myron Waldman | Stars: Margie Hines, Jack Mercer
Votes: 214
90. The Stars Look Down (1940)
Approved | 110 min | Drama
In a small coal-mining village Bob Fenwick leads a strike over safety standards at the local colliery. Meanwhile his son, David, goes off to university with the hope one day to return to help the miners with their working conditions.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Michael Redgrave, Margaret Lockwood, Edward Rigby, Emlyn Williams
Votes: 1,180
91. Mexican Spitfire (1939)
Approved | 67 min | Comedy
Newlyweds Dennis and Carmelita have several obstacles to deal with in their new marriage: Carmelita's fiery Latin temper, a meddling aunt and a conniving ex-fiancee who's determined to break up their marriage.
Director: Leslie Goodwins | Stars: Lupe Velez, Leon Errol, Donald Woods, Linda Hayes
Votes: 404
92. The Heart of a Queen (1940)
103 min | Biography, Drama
While awaiting her unjust execution at the hands of the treacherous Queen Elizabeth I, the tragic Mary Stuart reflects at the series of cruel political machinations that set up her path to the scaffold.
Director: Carl Froelich | Stars: Zarah Leander, Willy Birgel, Maria Koppenhöfer, Lotte Koch
Votes: 105
93. Elmer's Candid Camera (1940)
Approved | 8 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Elmer takes up wildlife photography, but finds his subject, a rabbit similar to the later Bugs Bunny character, much too wild.
Director: Chuck Jones | Stars: Mel Blanc, Arthur Q. Bryan
Votes: 1,111
94. I Love You Again (1940)
Passed | 99 min | Comedy, Romance
Boring businessman Larry Wilson recovers from amnesia and discovers he's really a con man...and loves his soon-to-be-ex wife.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Frank McHugh, Edmund Lowe
Votes: 3,802
95. Pilgrim Porky (1940)
7 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
The Pilgrims, led by captain Porky Pig, set sail from Plymouth for America. We get a series of ocean sailing blackout gags, including a running bit between our narrator and the cook, ... See full summary »
Director: Robert Clampett | Stars: Mel Blanc, Robert C. Bruce, Thurl Ravenscroft, The Sportsmen Quartet
Votes: 280
96. Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940)
Approved | 103 min | Biography, Drama
True story of the doctor who considered it was not immoral to search for a drug that would cure syphillis.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Gordon, Otto Kruger, Donald Crisp
Votes: 1,825
97. Sniffles Takes a Trip (1940)
Approved | 8 min | Animation, Family, Short
Sniffles the mouse is in the country for a restful vacation, but the woodland creatures keep him awake and eventually frighten him into scurrying back to the city.
Director: Chuck Jones | Stars: Mel Blanc, Margaret Hill-Talbot
Votes: 313
98. The Bear's Tale (1940)
Approved | 9 min | Animation, Family, Short
The bears go out for a bicycle ride while their porridge cools. Goldilocks comes along, but stops at grandmother's house instead, where the wolf is waiting. He sends her away, then realized... See full summary »
Director: Tex Avery | Stars: Tex Avery, Bea Benaderet, Sara Berner, Mel Blanc
Votes: 491
99. It's a Date (1940)
Approved | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
An aspiring actress is offered the lead in a major new play, but discovers that her mother, a more seasoned performer, expects the same part. The situation is further complicated when they both become involved with the same man.
Director: William A. Seiter | Stars: Deanna Durbin, Kay Francis, Walter Pidgeon, Eugene Pallette
Votes: 669
100. The Sour Puss (1940)
7 min | Animation, Family, Comedy
Porky decides to go fishing the next day and tells his cat. The cat sleeps fitfully. The next day, while they are fishing, the cat gets into a battle with a flying fish who behaves rather like Daffy Duck.
Director: Robert Clampett | Star: Mel Blanc
Votes: 279
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