IMDb's 1940s Top 50
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The early years of the 40s decade were not promising for the American film industry, however, Hollywood film production rebounded and reached its profitable peak of efficiency during the years 1943 to 1946. Advances in film technology (sound recording, lighting, special effects, cinematography and use of color) meant that films were more watchable and 'modern'. The films themselves took on a more realistic rather than escapist tone, as they had done during the Depression years of the 30s. The 40s also were the decade that saw the birth of a new genre in film noir ("black film") pared with the revival of gangster films.
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1 -
It's a Wonderful Life
1946, in 33 top lists Check -
2 -
Casablanca
1942, in 39 top lists Check -
3 -
The Great Dictator
1940, in 25 top lists Check -
4 -
Citizen Kane
1941, in 39 top lists Check -
5 -
Double Indemnity
1944, in 37 top lists Check -
6 -
Ladri di biciclette
1948 — a.k.a. Bicycle Thieves, in 36 top lists Check -
7 -
Les enfants du paradis
1945 — a.k.a. Children of Paradise, in 21 top lists Check -
8 -
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1948, in 25 top lists Check -
9 -
Banshun
1949 — a.k.a. Late Spring, in 17 top lists Check -
10 -
The Third Man
1949, in 38 top lists Check -
11 -
The Red Shoes
1948, in 27 top lists Check -
12 -
Rebecca
1940, in 23 top lists Check -
13 -
White Heat
1949, in 16 top lists Check -
14 -
The Best Years of Our Lives
1946, in 30 top lists Check -
15 -
The Grapes of Wrath
1940, in 24 top lists Check -
16 -
To Be or Not to Be
1942, in 24 top lists Check -
17 -
The Heiress
1949, in 10 top lists Check -
18 -
Vredens dag
1943 — a.k.a. Day of Wrath, in 13 top lists Check -
19 -
A Matter of Life and Death
1946, in 23 top lists Check -
20 -
The Shop Around the Corner
1940, in 14 top lists Check -
21 -
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
1943, in 16 top lists Check -
22 -
Out of the Past
1947, in 16 top lists Check -
23 -
Brief Encounter
1945, in 22 top lists Check -
24 -
Roma città aperta
1945 — a.k.a. Rome, Open City, in 23 top lists Check -
25 -
Kind Hearts and Coronets
1949, in 21 top lists Check -
26 -
The Ox-Bow Incident
1943, in 14 top lists Check -
27 -
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
1945, in 6 top lists Check -
28 -
Sciuscià
1946 — a.k.a. Shoeshine, in 10 top lists Check -
29 -
Miracle on 34th Street
1947, in 8 top lists Check -
30 -
The Maltese Falcon
1941, in 26 top lists Check -
31 -
The Big Sleep
1946, in 22 top lists Check -
32 -
Laura
1944, in 21 top lists Check -
33 -
Notorious
1946, in 24 top lists Check -
34 -
Rope
1948, in 10 top lists Check -
35 -
Arsenic and Old Lace
1944, in 9 top lists Check -
36 -
Mildred Pierce
1945, in 17 top lists Check -
37 -
Sullivan's Travels
1941, in 24 top lists Check -
38 -
The Lost Weekend
1945, in 17 top lists Check -
39 -
La belle et la bête
1946 — a.k.a. Beauty and the Beast, in 26 top lists Check -
40 -
Now, Voyager
1942, in 13 top lists Check -
41 -
Random Harvest
1942, in 7 top lists Check -
42 -
The Little Foxes
1941, in 7 top lists Check -
43 -
Letter from an Unknown Woman
1948, in 15 top lists Check -
44 -
Panique
1946, in 5 top lists Check -
45 -
Gaslight
1944, in 11 top lists Check -
46 -
The Philadelphia Story
1940, in 22 top lists Check -
47 -
His Girl Friday
1940, in 22 top lists Check -
48 -
To Have and Have Not
1944, in 16 top lists Check -
49 -
Shadow of a Doubt
1943, in 15 top lists Check -
50 -
Great Expectations
1946, in 18 top lists Check
Last updated on Dec 9, 2024; source