My Top 25 Films of 1942

by shutupandanz | created - 24 Apr 2020 | updated - 24 Apr 2020 | Public
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1. The Talk of the Town (1942)

Approved | 118 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

An escaped prisoner has to prove his innocence to a stuffy law professor with the help of a spirited school teacher.

Director: George Stevens | Stars: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Ronald Colman, Edgar Buchanan

Votes: 9,133

2. 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: 19,026

3. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, Romance

93 Metascore

The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.

Directors: Orson Welles, Fred Fleck, Robert Wise | Stars: Tim Holt, Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter

Votes: 26,769

4. To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Passed | 99 min | Comedy, Romance, War

86 Metascore

During the German occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart

Votes: 43,069

5. Mrs. Miniver (1942)

Approved | 134 min | Drama, Romance, War

A British family struggles to survive the first months of World War II.

Director: William Wyler | Stars: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, May Whitty

Votes: 19,475 | Gross: $13.50M

6. Random Harvest (1942)

Passed | 126 min | Drama, Romance

62 Metascore

An amnesiac World War I veteran falls in love with a music hall star, only to suffer an accident which restores his original memories but erases his post-war life.

Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Ronald Colman, Greer Garson, Philip Dorn, Susan Peters

Votes: 8,407 | Gross: $10.14M

7. Woman of the Year (1942)

Passed | 114 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

74 Metascore

Rival reporters Sam and Tess fall in love and get married, only to find their relationship strained when Sam comes to resent Tess' hectic lifestyle.

Director: George Stevens | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Fay Bainter, Reginald Owen

Votes: 11,015

8. The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941)

Not Rated | 112 min | Comedy, Romance

71 Metascore

An acerbic critic wreaks havoc when a hip injury forces him to move in with a Midwestern family.

Director: William Keighley | Stars: Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Monty Woolley, Richard Travis

Votes: 8,975

9. The Palm Beach Story (1942)

Passed | 88 min | Comedy, Romance

A New York inventor needs cash to develop his big idea, so his adoring wife decides to raise it by divorcing him and marrying an eccentric Florida millionaire with a capricious high-society sister.

Director: Preston Sturges | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee

Votes: 12,883 | Gross: $0.44M

10. The Major and the Minor (1942)

Passed | 100 min | Comedy, Romance

73 Metascore

A frustrated city girl disguises herself as a youngster in order to get a cheaper train ticket home. But little "Sue Sue" finds herself in a whole heap of grown-up trouble when she hides out in a compartment with a handsome Major.

Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Rita Johnson, Robert Benchley

Votes: 7,650 | Gross: $6.38M

11. In This Our Life (1942)

Approved | 97 min | Drama

The day before her wedding, a pampered young woman absconds with her sister's husband. Her sister begins seeing the woman's former fiancé.

Directors: John Huston, Raoul Walsh | Stars: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, George Brent, Dennis Morgan

Votes: 5,264

12. The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

Approved | 128 min | Biography, Drama, Romance

The story of the life and career of famed baseball player Lou Gehrig.

Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth, Walter Brennan

Votes: 12,004

13. Kings Row (1942)

Passed | 127 min | Drama

The dark side and hypocrisy of provincial American life is seen through the eyes of five children as they grow to adulthood at the turn of the century.

Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan, Betty Field

Votes: 5,042

14. My Sister Eileen (1942)

Passed | 96 min | Comedy

Two sisters move from Ohio to New York with hopes of stardom.

Director: Alexander Hall | Stars: Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Janet Blair, George Tobias

Votes: 1,734

15. I Married a Witch (1942)

Passed | 77 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

A beautiful 17th-century witch returns to life to plague politician Wallace Wooley, descendant of her persecutor.

Director: René Clair | Stars: Fredric March, Veronica Lake, Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward

Votes: 9,534 | Gross: $0.31M

16. Larceny, Inc (1942)

Passed | 95 min | Comedy

Three ex-cons buy a luggage shop to tunnel into the bank vault next door. But despite all they can do, the shop prospers...

Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Jane Wyman, Broderick Crawford, Jack Carson

Votes: 3,149

17. Saboteur (1942)

Passed | 109 min | Thriller, War

64 Metascore

A young man accused of sabotage goes on the run to prove his innocence.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings, Otto Kruger, Alan Baxter

Votes: 27,994

18. Roxie Hart (1942)

Passed | 75 min | Comedy

Roxie Hart signs a murder confession in order to attract publicity for her dancing career as dames don't swing in Cook County. Will everything go as planned?

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, George Montgomery, Lynne Overman

Votes: 1,915 | Gross: $2.40M

19. You Were Never Lovelier (1942)

Passed | 97 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance

In Buenos Aires, a man who has decreed that his daughters must marry in order of age allows an American dancer to perform at his club under the condition that he play suitor to his second-oldest daughter.

Director: William A. Seiter | Stars: Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Adolphe Menjou, Isobel Elsom

Votes: 4,089 | Gross: $0.67M

20. Take a Letter, Darling (1942)

Passed | 92 min | Comedy, Romance

A struggling painter takes a job as a secretary to a female advertising executive. While working to obtain an account from a tobacco company, they end up falling in love.

Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Rosalind Russell, Fred MacMurray, Macdonald Carey, Constance Moore

Votes: 605

21. Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942)

Approved | 117 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama

In Europe at the start of World War II, a woman notices that wherever her husband goes, the Germans seem to follow. Meanwhile, a charming reporter is following them.

Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Cary Grant, Walter Slezak, Albert Dekker

Votes: 3,267 | Gross: $0.86M

22. Holiday Inn (1942)

Passed | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Music

70 Metascore

At an inn which is open only on holidays, a crooner and a hoofer vie for the affections of a beautiful up-and-coming performer.

Directors: Mark Sandrich, Robert Allen | Stars: Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds, Virginia Dale

Votes: 17,633 | Gross: $8.18M



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