The Wider Lens

by majfoalbkeopaza | created - 30 Jan 2021 | updated - 13 Apr 2021 | Public
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1. The House of the Devil (1896)

Not Rated | 3 min | Short, Horror

With the help of a magic cauldron, Mephistopheles conjures up a variety of supernatural characters.

Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Jehanne d'Alcy, Jules-Eugène Legris, Georges Méliès

Votes: 3,987

2. A Chess Dispute (1903)

Not Rated | 1 min | Short, Comedy

A stationary camera looks on as two dapper gents play a game of chess. One drinks and smokes, and when he looks away, his opponent moves two pieces. A fight ensues, first with the squirting... See full summary »

Director: Robert W. Paul | Star: Alfred Collins

Votes: 729

3. A Fantasy (1908)

2 min | Animation, Short, Comedy

The first all-animated film in history, a series of scenes without much narrative structure, but morphing into each other.

Director: Émile Cohl

Votes: 2,833

4. Intolerance (1916)

Passed | 163 min | Drama, History

99 Metascore

The story of a poor young woman separated by prejudice from her husband and baby is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.

Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, Mae Marsh, F.A. Turner

Votes: 16,727 | Gross: $2.18M

5. A Man There Was (1917)

Not Rated | 65 min | Drama, War

Terje Vigen, a sailor, suffers the loss of his family through the cruelty of another man. Years later, when his enemy's family finds itself dependent on Terje's beneficence, Terje must decide whether to avenge himself.

Director: Victor Sjöström | Stars: Victor Sjöström, August Falck, Edith Erastoff, Bergliot Husberg

Votes: 2,324

6. Broken Blossoms or the Yellow Man and the Girl (1919)

Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance

A frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.

Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Donald Crisp, Arthur Howard

Votes: 11,060

7. Way Down East (1920)

Passed | 145 min | Drama, Romance

A naive country girl is tricked into a sham marriage by a wealthy womanizer, then must rebuild her life despite the taint of having borne a child out of wedlock.

Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Mrs. David Landau, Lowell Sherman

Votes: 5,899 | Gross: $4.50M

8. The Kid (1921)

Passed | 68 min | Comedy, Drama, Family

The Tramp cares for an abandoned child, but events put their relationship in jeopardy.

Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Jackie Coogan, Carl Miller

Votes: 134,855 | Gross: $5.45M

9. The Phantom Carriage (1921)

Not Rated | 107 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

On New Year's Eve, the driver of a ghostly carriage forces a drunken man to reflect on his selfish, wasted life.

Director: Victor Sjöström | Stars: Victor Sjöström, Hilda Borgström, Tore Svennberg, Astrid Holm

Votes: 14,091

10. He Who Gets Slapped (1924)

95 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller

A bitter clown endeavors to rescue the young woman he loves from the lecherous count who once betrayed him.

Director: Victor Sjöström | Stars: Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Ruth King

Votes: 4,293 | Gross: $0.19M

11. The Last Laugh (1924)

Not Rated | 90 min | Drama

An aging doorman is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbors and society after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel.

Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Emil Jannings, Maly Delschaft, Max Hiller, Emilie Kurz

Votes: 15,211 | Gross: $0.09M

12. The Big Parade (1925)

Not Rated | 151 min | Drama, Romance, War

A young American soldier witnesses the horrors of the Great War.

Directors: King Vidor, George W. Hill | Stars: John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Hobart Bosworth, Claire McDowell

Votes: 7,282 | Gross: $11.00M

13. Greed (1924)

Not Rated | 140 min | Drama, Thriller, Western

The sudden fortune won from a lottery fans such destructive greed that it ruins the lives of the three people involved.

Director: Erich von Stroheim | Stars: Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt, Dale Fuller

Votes: 10,766 | Gross: $0.16M

14. Variety (1925)

Passed | 72 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

Prologue: The murderer "Boss" Huller - after having spent ten years in prison - breaks his silence to tell the warden his story. "Boss", a former trapeze artist, and his wife own a cheap ... See full summary »

Director: Ewald André Dupont | Stars: Emil Jannings, Maly Delschaft, Lya De Putti, Warwick Ward

Votes: 1,407 | Gross: $0.71M

15. Faust (1926)

Not Rated | 107 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

The demon Mephisto wagers with God that he can corrupt a mortal man's soul.

Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Frida Richard

Votes: 16,626

16. The Scarlet Letter (1926)

Passed | 115 min | Drama

After having a child out of wedlock, a young Puritan woman is pressured to reveal the name of her lover.

Director: Victor Sjöström | Stars: Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Henry B. Walthall, Karl Dane

Votes: 1,941 | Gross: $0.67M

17. The Crowd (1928)

Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Romance

The life of a man and woman together in a large, impersonal metropolis through their hopes, struggles, and downfalls.

Director: King Vidor | Stars: Eleanor Boardman, James Murray, Bert Roach, Estelle Clark

Votes: 9,171

18. The Masks of the Devil (1928)

80 min | Drama

Baron Reiner, a charming though unscrupulous Viennese aristocrat, becomes infatuated with Virginia, an innocent schoolgirl who is engaged to his best friend Manfred. To seduce Virginia, ... See full summary »

Director: Victor Sjöström | Stars: John Gilbert, Alma Rubens, Theodore Roberts, Frank Reicher

Votes: 78

19. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

Passed | 114 min | Biography, Drama, History

98 Metascore

In 1431, Jeanne d'Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer | Stars: Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, André Berley, Maurice Schutz

Votes: 60,686 | Gross: $0.02M

20. The Wind (1928)

Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller

A frail young woman from the East moves in with her cousin in the West, where she causes tension within the family and is slowly driven mad.

Director: Victor Sjöström | Stars: Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Montagu Love, Dorothy Cumming

Votes: 7,160

21. Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

Not Rated | 68 min | Documentary

96 Metascore

A man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.

Director: Dziga Vertov | Stars: Mikhail Kaufman, Elizaveta Svilova

Votes: 27,998

22. The Big House (1930)

Passed | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

74 Metascore

A convict falls in love with his new cellmate's sister, only to become embroiled in a planned break-out which is certain to have lethal consequences.

Directors: George W. Hill, Ward Wing | Stars: Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Robert Montgomery

Votes: 2,593

23. Little Caesar (1931)

Not Rated | 79 min | Action, Crime, Drama

A small-time criminal moves to a big city to seek bigger fortune.

Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, William Collier Jr.

Votes: 14,538

24. L'Age d'Or (1930)

Not Rated | 63 min | Comedy, Drama

A surrealist tale of a man and a woman who are passionately in love with each other, but their attempts to consummate that passion are constantly thwarted by their families, the Church, and bourgeois society.

Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Gaston Modot, Lya Lys, Caridad de Laberdesque, Max Ernst

Votes: 14,810 | Gross: $0.03M

25. City Lights (1931)

G | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

99 Metascore

With the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.

Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers

Votes: 196,085 | Gross: $0.02M

26. M (1931)

Passed | 99 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller

When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.

Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke

Votes: 168,505 | Gross: $0.03M

27. Other Men's Women (1930)

Passed | 71 min | Drama, Romance

Events take an unhappy turn for two Bill and Jack, two locomotive engineers, after Bill is attracted to his best friend's wife.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Grant Withers, Mary Astor, Regis Toomey, James Cagney

Votes: 1,392

28. The Public Enemy (1931)

Passed | 83 min | Crime, Drama

80 Metascore

An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell

Votes: 23,024 | Gross: $1.01M

29. Safe in Hell (1931)

Passed | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

57 Metascore

After accidentally killing the man who raped her and forced her into prostitution, a New Orleans woman flees to a Caribbean island. While she awaits her fiancé, the vicious local police chief sets his sights on her.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Dorothy Mackaill, Donald Cook, Ralf Harolde, John Wray

Votes: 2,039

30. Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931)

TV-PG | 86 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance

On the South Pacific island of Bora Bora, a young couple's love is threatened when the tribal chief declares the girl a sacred virgin.

Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Anne Chevalier, Matahi, Hitu, Bill Bambridge

Votes: 6,385

31. Frisco Jenny (1932)

Passed | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Music

The San Francisco earthquake shakes up the life of Jenny, a madam who gives birth to an illegitimate son and gives him up to protect him.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Ruth Chatterton, Louis Calhern, Helen Jerome Eddy, Donald Cook

Votes: 1,188

32. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)

Passed | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Wrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.

Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Noel Francis

Votes: 14,438 | Gross: $1.42M

33. The Purchase Price (1932)

TV-PG | 68 min | Comedy, Drama

A torch singer becomes a farmer's mail-order bride.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Lyle Talbot, Hardie Albright

Votes: 1,837

34. Scarface (1932)

PG | 93 min | Action, Crime, Drama

90 Metascore

An ambitious and nearly insane violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.

Directors: Howard Hawks, Richard Rosson | Stars: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, Osgood Perkins

Votes: 30,323

35. Shanghai Express (1932)

Approved | 82 min | Adventure, Drama, Film-Noir

83 Metascore

A notorious woman rides a train through a dangerous situation with a British captain she loved.

Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong, Warner Oland

Votes: 10,336

36. Three on a Match (1932)

Passed | 63 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

Although Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs.

Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis, Warren William

Votes: 4,395

37. Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance

A gentleman thief and a lady pickpocket join forces to con a beautiful perfume company owner. Romantic entanglements and jealousies confuse the scheme.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, Charles Ruggles

Votes: 16,200 | Gross: $1.04M

38. Two Seconds (1932)

67 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

A condemned murderer, in the process of being executed, relives the events that led to his being sentenced to die in the electric chair.

Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Vivienne Osborne, Guy Kibbee, Preston Foster

Votes: 1,301

39. The Emperor Jones (1933)

Not Rated | 72 min | Drama, Music

Unscrupulously ambitious Brutus Jones escapes from jail after killing a guard and through bluff and bravado finds himself the emperor of a Caribbean island.

Directors: Dudley Murphy, William C. de Mille | Stars: Paul Robeson, Dudley Digges, Frank H. Wilson, Fredi Washington

Votes: 1,260

40. Employees' Entrance (1933)

Passed | 75 min | Drama, Romance

A working girl is menaced by her tyrannical employer.

Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Warren William, Loretta Young, Wallace Ford, Alice White

Votes: 1,639

41. 42nd Street (1933)

Passed | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical

83 Metascore

When the leading lady of a Broadway musical breaks her ankle, she is replaced by a young unknown actress, who becomes the star of the show.

Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler

Votes: 13,039 | Gross: $2.30M

42. Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

Passed | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical

A wealthy composer rescues unemployed Broadway performers with a new play, but insists on remaining anonymous.

Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler

Votes: 9,147 | Gross: $4.80M

43. Heroes for Sale (1933)

Passed | 76 min | Drama, Romance, War

A veteran fights drug addiction to make his way in the business world.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Loretta Young, Richard Barthelmess, Aline MacMahon, Gordon Westcott

Votes: 2,515

44. Lady Killer (1933)

Passed | 76 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery

A former gangster makes it big in Hollywood, but his old life catches up with him.

Director: Roy Del Ruth | Stars: James Cagney, Mae Clarke, Margaret Lindsay, Leslie Fenton

Votes: 1,885

45. The Mayor of Hell (1933)

Passed | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

Five members of a teen-age gang, including leader Jimmy Smith, are sent to the state reformatory, presided over by the melodramatically callous Thompson. Soon, Patsy Gargan, a former ... See full summary »

Directors: Archie Mayo, Michael Curtiz | Stars: James Cagney, Madge Evans, Arthur Byron, Allen Jenkins

Votes: 1,842

46. Midnight Mary (1933)

Passed | 74 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

An abused orphan sinks into a life of crime.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Loretta Young, Franchot Tone, Ricardo Cortez, Andy Devine

Votes: 1,616

47. Picture Snatcher (1933)

Not Rated | 77 min | Crime, Drama

Ex-convict Danny Kean decides to become honest as a photographer for a paper. He falls in love with Patricia, the daughter of the policeman who arrested him. Mr Nolan, her father, doesn't ... See full summary »

Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: James Cagney, Ralph Bellamy, Patricia Ellis, Alice White

Votes: 1,746

48. Wild Boys of the Road (1933)

Passed | 68 min | Adventure, Drama

In the depths of the Depression, two teenage boys strike out on their own in order to help their struggling parents and find life on the road tougher than expected.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Frankie Darro, Rochelle Hudson, Edwin Phillips, Dorothy Coonan Wellman

Votes: 2,335

49. Of Human Bondage (1934)

Passed | 83 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance

A young man finds himself attracted to a cold, unfeeling waitress who might ultimately destroy them both.

Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Bette Davis, Leslie Howard, Frances Dee, Kay Johnson

Votes: 8,389

50. Fury (1936)

Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

When a wrongly-accused prisoner barely survives a lynch-mob attack and is presumed dead, he vindictively decides to fake his death and frame the mob for his supposed murder.

Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Sylvia Sidney, Spencer Tracy, Walter Abel, Bruce Cabot

Votes: 13,728

51. Modern Times (1936)

G | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

96 Metascore

The Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.

Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Tiny Sandford

Votes: 259,542 | Gross: $0.16M

52. The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)

Passed | 86 min | Biography, Drama, History

The biography of the pioneering French microbiologist who helped revolutionize agriculture and medicine.

Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Paul Muni, Josephine Hutchinson, Anita Louise, Donald Woods

Votes: 3,154

53. Swing Time (1936)

Passed | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance

91 Metascore

Roguish gambler/dancer "Lucky" Garnett is challenged by his fiance's father to come up with $25,000 to prove he's worthy of her hand. But after he falls in love with a dance instructor, Lucky'll do anything to keep from earning the bucks.

Director: George Stevens | Stars: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, Helen Broderick

Votes: 14,587

54. The Awful Truth (1937)

Passed | 90 min | Comedy, Romance

87 Metascore

A married couple file an amicable divorce, but find it harder to let go of each other than they initially thought.

Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy, Alexander D'Arcy

Votes: 21,383

55. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

Passed | 116 min | Biography, Drama

The biopic of the famous French muckraking writer and his involvement in fighting the injustice of the Dreyfus Affair.

Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Paul Muni, Gale Sondergaard, Joseph Schildkraut, Gloria Holden

Votes: 9,020

56. Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)

Passed | 91 min | Drama, Romance

An elderly couple are forced to live hundreds of miles apart when they lose their house and none of their five children will take both parents in.

Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Victor Moore, Beulah Bondi, Fay Bainter, Thomas Mitchell

Votes: 9,515

57. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Approved | 83 min | Animation, Adventure, Family

96 Metascore

Exiled into the dangerous forest by her wicked stepmother, a princess is rescued by seven dwarf miners who make her part of their household.

Directors: William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen | Stars: Adriana Caselotti, Harry Stockwell, Lucille La Verne, Roy Atwell

Votes: 215,507 | Gross: $184.93M

58. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

Passed | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

A priest tries to stop a gangster from corrupting a group of street kids.

Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan

Votes: 23,210

59. Jezebel (1938)

Approved | 104 min | Drama, Romance

In 1850s Louisiana, a free-spirited Southern belle loses her fiancé due to her stubborn vanity and pride, and vows to win him back.

Director: William Wyler | Stars: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent, Margaret Lindsay

Votes: 15,056

60. Dark Victory (1939)

Approved | 104 min | Drama, Romance

A young socialite is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, and must decide whether or not she'll meet her final days with dignity.

Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald

Votes: 12,405

61. Destry Rides Again (1939)

Approved | 95 min | Comedy, Western

81 Metascore

Deputy sheriff Destry tames the town of Bottle Neck, including saloon singer Frenchy.

Director: George Marshall | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart, Mischa Auer, Charles Winninger

Votes: 12,556 | Gross: $0.35M

62. Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)

Approved | 104 min | Drama, Romance, War

Newlyweds Gil and Lana Martin try to establish a farm in the Mohawk Valley but are menaced by Indians and Tories as the Revolutionary War begins.

Director: John Ford | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Henry Fonda, Edna May Oliver, Eddie Collins

Votes: 6,791 | Gross: $1.00M

63. 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: 5,278

64. Gone with the Wind (1939)

Passed | 238 min | Drama, Romance, War

97 Metascore

A sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.

Directors: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood | Stars: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil

Votes: 334,375 | Gross: $198.68M

65. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Passed | 129 min | Comedy, Drama

73 Metascore

A naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption at home and subterfuge from his hero in Washington, but he tries to forge ahead despite attacks on his character.

Director: Frank Capra | Stars: James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold

Votes: 121,413 | Gross: $9.60M

66. The Old Maid (1939)

Approved | 95 min | Drama

The arrival of an ex-lover on a young woman's wedding day sets in motion a chain of events which will alter her and her cousin's lives forever.

Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, George Brent, Donald Crisp

Votes: 4,062

67. The Roaring Twenties (1939)

Passed | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Three men attempt to make a living in Prohibitionist America after returning home from fighting together in World War I.

Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Priscilla Lane, Gladys George

Votes: 15,535

68. Stagecoach (1939)

Passed | 96 min | Adventure, Drama, Western

93 Metascore

A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn something about each other in the process.

Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Andy Devine, John Carradine

Votes: 53,788

69. 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: 5,388

70. Dots (1940)

3 min | Short, Animation

An experimental film of dots animated by being drawn directly on filmstock.

Director: Norman McLaren

Votes: 1,029

71. 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: 1,827

72. 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: 1,152

73. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Passed | 129 min | Drama

96 Metascore

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: 99,982 | Gross: $0.06M

74. 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: 237,412 | Gross: $0.29M

75. The Letter (1940)

Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

84 Metascore

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: 14,604

76. The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Not Rated | 112 min | Comedy, Romance

96 Metascore

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: 73,869

77. Pinocchio (1940)

G | 88 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy

99 Metascore

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

78. Remember the Night (1939)

Passed | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

78 Metascore

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

79. The Westerner (1940)

Passed | 100 min | Drama, Western

78 Metascore

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: 6,800

80. Ball of Fire (1941)

Approved | 111 min | Comedy, Romance

78 Metascore

A group of professors working on a new encyclopedia while living in a Manhattan mansion take in a mouthy nightclub singer who is wanted by the police to help bring down her mob boss lover.

Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Homolka, Henry Travers

Votes: 14,063

81. Citizen Kane (1941)

PG | 119 min | Drama, Mystery

100 Metascore

Following the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'

Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead

Votes: 466,079 | Gross: $1.59M

82. The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)

Passed | 107 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance

A nineteenth-century New Hampshire farmer makes a pact with Satan for economic success, then enlists famed orator Daniel Webster to extract him from his contract.

Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Edward Arnold, Walter Huston, Jane Darwell, Simone Simon

Votes: 5,608

83. Dumbo (1941)

G | 64 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama

96 Metascore

Ridiculed because of his enormous ears, a young circus elephant is assisted by a mouse to achieve his full potential.

Directors: Samuel Armstrong, Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen, John Elliotte | Stars: Sterling Holloway, Edward Brophy, Herman Bing, Billy Bletcher

Votes: 142,116 | Gross: $1.60M

84. The Lady Eve (1941)

Passed | 94 min | Comedy, Romance

96 Metascore

A trio of classy card sharks targets a socially awkward brewery heir, until one of them falls in love with him.

Director: Preston Sturges | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette

Votes: 23,388

85. The Little Foxes (1941)

Approved | 116 min | Drama, Romance

The ruthless, moneyed Hubbard clan lives in, and poisons, their part of the Deep South at the turn of the twentieth century.

Director: William Wyler | Stars: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright, Richard Carlson

Votes: 13,121

86. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Passed | 100 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery

97 Metascore

San Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.

Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre

Votes: 166,610 | Gross: $2.11M

87. The Reluctant Dragon (I) (1941)

Approved | 74 min | Animation, Comedy, Family

Humorist Robert Benchley learns about the animation process at Walt Disney Studios while trying to find the great man himself to pitch him the idea of making a cartoon about a shy dragon.

Directors: Alfred L. Werker, Hamilton Luske, Jack Cutting, Ub Iwerks, Jack Kinney | Stars: Robert Benchley, Frances Gifford, Buddy Pepper, Nana Bryant

Votes: 3,819 | Gross: $0.87M

88. The Sea Wolf (1941)

Approved | 100 min | Adventure, Drama

73 Metascore

After being fished out of the sea by a sailer, three fugitives find themselves prisoners of the ship's brutal skipper who refuses to put them ashore and they hatch an escape plan during a crew mutiny.

Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino, John Garfield, Alexander Knox

Votes: 4,413

89. Suspicion (1941)

Approved | 99 min | Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller

83 Metascore

A shy young heiress marries a charming gentleman, and soon begins to suspect he is planning to murder her.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce

Votes: 42,453 | Gross: $4.50M

90. 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

91. 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: 606,167 | Gross: $1.02M

92. The Glass Key (1942)

Passed | 85 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.

Director: Stuart Heisler | Stars: Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Brian Donlevy, Bonita Granville

Votes: 7,401

93. Now, Voyager (1942)

Passed | 117 min | Drama, Romance

70 Metascore

A frumpy spinster blossoms under therapy and becomes an elegant, independent woman.

Director: Irving Rapper | Stars: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper

Votes: 19,021

94. The Spoilers (1942)

Passed | 87 min | Drama, Western

In Nome, Alaska, miner Roy Glennister and his partner Dextry, financed by saloon entertainer Cherry Malotte, fight to save their gold claim from crooked commissioner Alexander McNamara.

Director: Ray Enright | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, John Wayne, Margaret Lindsay

Votes: 3,253

95. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)

Passed | 170 min | Adventure, Drama, History

68 Metascore

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

96. Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)

Not Rated | 14 min | Short, Fantasy, Mystery

A woman returning home falls asleep and has vivid dreams that may or may not be happening in reality. Through repetitive images and complete mismatching of the objective view of time and space, her dark inner desires play out on-screen.

Directors: Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid | Stars: Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid

Votes: 15,211

97. Old Acquaintance (1943)

Passed | 110 min | Drama, Romance

Old friends Kit Marlowe and Millie Drake adopt contrasting lifestyles: Kit is a single, critically acclaimed author while married Millie writes popular pulp novels.

Director: Vincent Sherman | Stars: Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, Gig Young, John Loder

Votes: 3,859

98. The Ox-Bow Incident (1942)

Passed | 75 min | Drama, Western

When a posse captures three men suspected of killing a local farmer, they become strongly divided over whether or not to lynch the men.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn

Votes: 24,960 | Gross: $1.64M

99. 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

100. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Passed | 108 min | Film-Noir, Thriller

94 Metascore

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: 70,517



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