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Best Movies of the '40s

All Rankings

Top 100 movies of the 40s decade rated on FilmAffinity

1

The Great Dictator The Great Dictator

1940

Charles Chaplin

Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner, Henry Daniell ...

8.6

86,936
2

To Be or Not to Be To Be or Not to Be

1942

Ernst Lubitsch

Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Stanley Ridges, Felix Bressart ...

8.5

36,610
3

Double Indemnity Double Indemnity

1944

Billy Wilder

Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Tom Powers, Porter Hall ...

8.4

35,308
4

Casablanca Casablanca

1942

Michael Curtiz

Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt ...

8.4

100,254
5

The Grapes of Wrath The Grapes of Wrath

1940

John Ford

Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin, Dorris Bowdon ...

8.3

24,453
6

Bicycle Thieves Bicycle Thieves

1948

Vittorio De Sica

Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Gino Saltamerenda, Vittorio Antonucci ...

8.3

37,077
7

Rebecca Rebecca

1940

Alfred Hitchcock

Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson, Nigel Bruce ...

8.2

38,988
8

The Third Man The Third Man

1949

Carol Reed

Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee ...

8.2

46,143
9

It's a Wonderful Life It's a Wonderful Life

1946

Frank Capra

James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers ...

8.2

55,984
10

Scarlet Street Scarlet Street

1945

Fritz Lang

Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea, Jess Baker, Margaret Lindsay ...

8.2

15,054
11

The Best Years of Our Lives The Best Years of Our Lives

1946

William Wyler

Dana Andrews, Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Harold Russell, Teresa Wright ...

8.2

9,309
12

How Green Was My Valley How Green Was My Valley

1941

John Ford

Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Roddy McDowall, Donald Crisp, John Loder ...

8.2

13,288
13

Citizen Kane Citizen Kane

1941

Orson Welles

Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, George Coulouris, Dorothy Comingore ...

8.2

81,118
14

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

1948

John Huston

Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett, Barton MacLane ...

8.1

16,452
15

Rome, Open City Rome, Open City

1945

Roberto Rossellini

Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani, Marcello Pagliero, Maria Michi, Harry Feist ...

8.1

17,903
16

The Heiress The Heiress

1949

William Wyler

Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, Vanessa Brown ...

8.1

7,470
17

White Heat White Heat

1949

Raoul Walsh

James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly, Steve Cochran ...

8.1

11,461
18

Day of Wrath Day of Wrath

1943

Carl Theodor Dreyer

Thorkild Roose, Lisbeth Movin, Sigrid Neiiendam, Preben Lerdorff Rye, Anna Svierkier, Albert Hoeberg

8.1

6,660
19

The Woman in the Window The Woman in the Window

1944

Fritz Lang

Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey, Edmund Breon, Dan Duryea ...

8.1

17,082
20

The Big Sleep The Big Sleep

1946

Howard Hawks

Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone ...

8.1

24,705
21

Children of Paradise Children of Paradise

1945

Marcel Carné

Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Pierre Renoir, Arletty, Marcel Herrand ...

8.1

3,842
22

The Little Foxes The Little Foxes

1941

William Wyler

Bette Davis, Teresa Wright, Herbert Marshall, Patricia Collinge, Carl Benton Reid ...

8.1

7,069
23

Out of the Past Out of the Past

1947

Jacques Tourneur

Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Webb ...

8.1

14,072
24

Laura Laura

1944

Otto Preminger

Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Judith Anderson, Vincent Price, Dorothy Adams

8.1

19,148
25

Notorious Notorious

1946

Alfred Hitchcock

Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern, Leopoldine Konstantin ...

8.1

21,704
26

Rope Rope

1948

Alfred Hitchcock

James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Cedric Hardwicke, Joan Chandler ...

8.1

38,407
27

Late Spring Late Spring

1949

Yasujirō Ozu

Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, Hohi Aoki, Masao Mishima, Kuniko Miyake ...

8.0

4,348
28

Brief Encounter Brief Encounter

1945

David Lean

Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond ...

8.0

13,635
29

Letter from an Unknown Woman Letter from an Unknown Woman

1948

Max Ophüls

Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan, Mady Christians, Marcel Journet, Art Smith, Carol Yorke

8.0

9,367
30

The Philadelphia Story The Philadelphia Story

1940

George Cukor

Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, John Howard ...

8.0

27,953

Ranking Information: 100 Movies. Considered Movies with more than 300 Votes

All Rankings

User history

The Female Soldier

1966

José Bolaños

6.4

(28)

Cheech & Chong's Last Movie

2024

David L. Bushell

Bad Boy (TV Series)

2023

Ron Leshem (Creator) ...

Diamond Walkers

1965

Paul Martin

1961

Ken Annakin

Pinocchio in Outer Space

1965

Ray Goossens

Adolescence (TV Miniseries)

2025

Philip Barantini

7.6

(20,069)

1956

Robert Aldrich

7.0

(970)

Journey to the Seventh Planet

1962

Sidney W. Pink

4.3

(91)

Charlotte (TV Series)

2015

Yoshiyuki Asai

6.7

(300)

See more history

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