My Movie Hit-List: 1940s
All of the movies from the 1940s that I want to see
List activity
26 views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
190 titles
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsRay MillandJane WymanPhillip TerryThe desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout.
- DirectorJohn BoultingStarsRichard AttenboroughHermione BaddeleyWilliam HartnellIn Brighton in 1935, small-time gang leader Pinkie Brown murders a journalist and later desperately tries to cover his tracks but runs into trouble with the police, a few witnesses, and a rival gang.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsTyrone PowerJoan BlondellColeen GrayThe rise and fall of Stanton Carlisle, a mentalist whose lies and deceit prove to be his downfall.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsJohn MillsValerie HobsonTony WagerA humble orphan boy in 1810s Kent is given the opportunity to go to London and become a gentleman, with the help of an unknown benefactor.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesEdward G. RobinsonLoretta YoungAn investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsGeorge RaftJoan BennettLloyd NolanAn aircraft designer falls for the wife of an imprisoned gangster. All goes well until the gangster gets out of prison...
- DirectorZoltan KordaStarsGregory PeckJoan BennettRobert PrestonIn British East Africa, a fatal triangle develops involving a frustrated wife, a weak and coward husband, and an English big-game hunter who comes between the couple.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsJoan BennettRobert RyanCharles BickfordA Coast Guardsman suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress becomes involved with a beautiful and enigmatic seductress married to a blind painter.
- DirectorSteve SekelyPaul HenreidStarsPaul HenreidJoan BennettEduard FranzPursued by the big-time gambler he robbed, John Muller assumes a new identity, with unfortunate results.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsJames MasonJoan BennettGeraldine BrooksAfter discovering the dead body of her teenage daughter's lover, a housewife takes desperate measures to protect her family from scandal.
- DirectorRichard RossonHoward HawksStarsRandolph ScottJames BrownElla RainesThe story of a Canadian WWII naval vessel, with a dramatic subplot concerning her first captain.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsEddie BrackenElla RainesRaymond WalburnWoodrow is discharged from the military for hay fever, but fabricates receiving a heroic honorable discharge before returning home.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsPhyllis CalvertRobert HuttonElla RainesThe son of a wealthy Maine shipping magnate causes a crisis in the family when he announces that he wants a career in music rather than in the family business.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsRandolph ScottElla RainesWilliam BishopA group of treasure hunters search for a wagon load of gold, buried years before in Death Valley.
- DirectorArthur LubinStarsBrian DonlevyElla RainesCharles CoburnA unfaithful wife plots with her lover to kill her husband, but the lover is accidentally killed instead. The husband stays in hiding and lets his wife be charged with conspiracy.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsWalter BrennanJeanne CrainLon McCallisterA lad with a penchant for trouble is sent to live with his aunt and uncle in Indiana. Though he's not happy about the arrangement at first, his love of horses and his affection for a young filly that he plans to race make life bearable. He also finds romance with tomboyish Char who shares his love for horses.
- DirectorGeorge SeatonStarsJeanne CrainWilliam HoldenEdmund GwennA retired professor rents his attic apartment to pregnant Peggy and her GI-Bill-student husband. The professor ponders if his life is no longer useful while the young couple faces the challenges shared with many WW II veterans' families.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsJeanne CrainLinda DarnellAnn SothernA letter is addressed to three wives from their "best friend" Addie Ross, announcing that she is running away with one of their husbands - but she does not say which one.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsJeanne CrainMadeleine CarrollGeorge SandersLord Windermere appears to all, including his young wife Margaret, as the perfect husband. But their happy marriage is placed at risk after Lord Windermere starts spending his afternoons with an adventuress who is working her way through London's high society, Mrs. Erlynne. Worse, Windermere gives her big sums of money. To crown it all, he asks his wife to invite the detestable woman to her own birthday party. Upset and outraged, the puritan Lady Windermere decides to leave her husband and goes to Lord Robert Darlington, who has been courting her for some time. Unfortunately she leaves her fan--the one Robert offered her for her birthday--in Robert's house.
- DirectorElia KazanJohn FordStarsJeanne CrainEthel BarrymoreEthel WatersA light-skinned black woman falls in love with a white doctor, though he is unaware of her true race.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsWallace BeeryLeo CarrilloMarjorie RambeauIn California's Death Valley, in 1892, borax miners scratch a hard living until a map pinpointing the location of high-grade borax surfaces, sending prospectors and crooks alike into a gold-rush-like frenzy.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsJack BennyKay FrancisJames EllisonIn 1890, two students at Oxford force their rascally friend and fellow student to pose as an aunt from Brazil--where the nuts come from.
- DirectorIrving PichelStarsMonty WoolleyRoddy McDowallAnne BaxterWhile traveling in France during the Nazi invasion of 1940, an Englishman is entrusted with the care of a group of refugee children.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsTyrone PowerAnne BaxterDana AndrewsA submarine lieutenant and his commander fall in love with the same girl.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsFranchot ToneAnne BaxterAkim TamiroffIn the North African campaign a British straggler manages to pass himself off as a waiter at the hotel commandeered as Rommel's headquarters. He has thoughts of assassinating Rommel but his cover may have an even better use.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsAnne BaxterThomas MitchellSelena RoyleThe lives of a close-knit group of brothers growing up in Iowa during the days of the Great Depression.
- DirectorJohn BrahmJohn CromwellAndré De TothStarsAnne BaxterRalph BellamyAline MacMahonA young manipulative woman moves in with her fiancé's family and turns a happy household against itself.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsAnne BaxterCharles WinningerJohn HodiakA poor family in Florida saves all the money they can in order to plan something special for the soldier they've invited to Sunday dinner. They don't realize that their request to invite the soldier never got mailed. On the day of the scheduled dinner, another soldier is brought to their home and love soon blossoms between him and Tessa, the young woman who runs the home.
- DirectorOtto PremingerErnst LubitschStarsTallulah BankheadCharles CoburnAnne BaxterIn 18th century Russia, the naive and idealistic lieutenant Chernov meets Empress Catherine the Great who becomes infatuated with him and appoints him Chief of the Imperial Guard.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsPaul MuniAnne BaxterClaude RainsThe Devil arranges for a deceased gangster to return to Earth as a well-respected judge to make up for his previous life.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsTyrone PowerGene TierneyJohn PayneAn adventuresome young man goes off to find himself and loses his socialite fiancée in the process. But when he returns 10 years later, she will stop at nothing to get him back, even though she is already married.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsClark GableLana TurnerAnne BaxterAt the end of WW2, aboard a repatriation ship, an Army doctor reminisces about his war years while being interviewed by a reporter.
- DirectorJohn M. StahlStarsCornel WildeLinda DarnellAnne BaxterAfter County Attorney Dave Connors helps Julia Norman with her shiftless father, Jefferson Norman, she leaves Jericho, Kansas for college to study for a law degree. A few years later, Algeria Wedge, the new bride of Dave's best friend Tucker Wedge, makes overtures and plays for Dave, much to the displeasure of Dave's hard-drinking wife Belle. Angered by Dave's rebuffs, Algeria induces the state political boss to back Tucker for a Congress race against Dave. Meanwhile, Julia has returned to Jericho with her law degree and she and Dave fall in love. But after Dave announces he won't run for Congress, she feels she is the reason and she takes a job in Kansas City. Tucker wins the election and he and Algeria go to Washington. Later, Tucker announces his run for the Senate and Dave decides to run against him. After Marjorie Ransome kills a drunk in self-defense, Julia returns to Jericho to work with Dave, now in private practice, on Marjorie's defense. The still-resentful Algeria moves to kill Dave's senate bid when Tucker's newspaper announces that Dave is being sued for divorce, with Julia named as correspondent.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsTyrone PowerAnne BaxterCecil KellawayFollowing American reporter Stephen Fitzgerald from Ireland to New York, a grateful leprechaun acts as the newsman's servant and conscience.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsGregory PeckAnne BaxterRichard WidmarkA pistol-packing tomboy and her grandfather discover a band of bank robbing bandits taking refuge in the neighboring ghost town.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsBette DavisHerbert MarshallTeresa WrightThe ruthless, moneyed Hubbard clan lives in, and poisons, their part of the Deep South at the turn of the twentieth century.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsGary CooperTeresa WrightBabe RuthThe story of the life and career of famed baseball player Lou Gehrig.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsGreer GarsonWalter PidgeonTeresa WrightA British family struggles to survive the first months of World War II.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsTeresa WrightRobert MitchumJudith AndersonA boy haunted by nightmares about the night his entire family was murdered is brought up by a neighboring family in the 1880s. He falls for his lovely adoptive sister but his nasty adoptive brother and mysterious uncle want him dead.
- DirectorIrving ReisStarsDavid NivenTeresa WrightEvelyn KeyesUncle Rollo finally retires to the house he was brought up in. Lost in thoughts of his lost love, Lark, he does not want to be disturbed in his last days. However, the appearance of his niece and the subsequent romance between her and Lark's nephew causes him to re-evaluate his life and offer some advice so the young couple don't make the same mistake he did all those years ago.
- DirectorVictor SchertzingerStarsBing CrosbyBob HopeDorothy LamourTwo playboys try to forget previous romances in Singapore - until they meet a beautiful dancer.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsTyrone PowerDorothy LamourEdward ArnoldThe son of a jailed Wall Street broker turns to crime to pay for his father's release.
- DirectorVictor SchertzingerStarsBing CrosbyBob HopeDorothy LamourStranded in Africa, Chuck and his pal Fearless have comic versions of jungle adventures, featuring two attractive con-women.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsBob HopeDorothy LamourLynne OvermanA movie star who can't stand loud noises accidentally joins the Army.
- DirectorVictor SchertzingerStarsDorothy LamourWilliam HoldenEddie BrackenAfter a shy sailor is kissed by a female starlet as part of a publicity stunt, he becomes known as a stud; his friends then bet that he'll be able to defrost an icy nightclub singer.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsBing CrosbyBob HopeDorothy LamourTwo carefree castaways on a desert shore find an Arabian Nights city, where they compete for the luscious Princess Shalmar.
- DirectorHal WalkerStarsBing CrosbyBob HopeDorothy LamourTwo vaudeville flops pose as bad guys and join the Klondike gold rush with a saloon singer.
- DirectorElliott NugentStarsBob HopeDorothy LamourPeter LorreShortly before his execution on the death row in San Quentin, amateur sleuth and baby photographer Ronnie Jackson tells reporters how he got there.
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsBing CrosbyBob HopeDorothy LamourTwo inept vaudevillians stow away on a Brazilian-bound ocean liner and foil a plot by a sinister hypnotist to marry off her niece to a greedy fortune hunter.
- DirectorLewis R. FosterStarsDan DuryeaDorothy LamourSterling HaydenThe secretary to a psychiatrist finds herself caught up in the murder of a patient's wife and realizes that her life is also in danger.
- DirectorPer LindbergStarsIngrid BergmanGunnar SjöbergOlof WidgrenWhen Kerstin Norback is shot and gravely wounded by her lover, the trial causes a public scandal, forcing her to move to Stockholm under an assumed name. There she befriends a group of women and attempts to rebuild her life.
- DirectorGregory RatoffStarsIngrid BergmanWarner BaxterSusan HaywardA governess becomes the center of a wealthy family after her employer's wife dies.
- DirectorW.S. Van DykeRobert B. SinclairRichard ThorpeStarsRobert MontgomeryIngrid BergmanGeorge SandersRobert Montgomery and George Sanders team-up to play against type in this probing psychological thriller that features Ingrid Bergman as the object of their obsessions.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsGary CooperIngrid BergmanAkim TamiroffDuring the Spanish Civil War, an American allied with the Republicans finds romance during a desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsCharles BoyerIngrid BergmanJoseph CottenTen years after her aunt was murdered in their London home, a woman returns from Italy in the 1880s to resume residence with her new husband. His obsessive interest in the home rises from a secret that may require driving his wife insane.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsIngrid BergmanGregory PeckMichael ChekhovA psychiatrist protects the identity of an amnesia patient accused of murder while attempting to recover his memory.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsGary CooperIngrid BergmanFlora RobsonAn opportunistic Texas gambler and the exiled Creole daughter of an aristocratic family join forces to achieve justice from the society that has ostracized them.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsCary GrantIngrid BergmanClaude RainsThe daughter of a convicted German spy is asked by American agents to gather information on a ring of German scientists in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsIngrid BergmanCharles BoyerCharles LaughtonIllegal refugees lead dark lives in pre-World War II Paris.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsIngrid BergmanJoseph CottenMichael WildingA young gentleman goes to Australia where he reunites with his now married childhood sweetheart, only to find out she has become an alcoholic and harbors dark secrets.
- DirectorDorothy ArznerRoy Del RuthStarsMaureen O'HaraLouis HaywardLucille BallWhen a troupe of danseuses becomes unemployed, one of them takes up burlesque dancing while another dreams of performing ballet.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsCharles LaughtonMaureen O'HaraGeorge SandersA mild-mannered school teacher in a German-occupied town during World War II finds himself torn between collaboration and resistance.
- DirectorRichard WallaceStarsJohn GarfieldMaureen O'HaraWalter SlezakIn 1940, an American former Republican prisoner during the Spanish Civil War, John McKittrick, is determined to find the killer of NYPD Lieutenant Louie Lepetino, who had helped him escape.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsPaul HenreidMaureen O'HaraWalter SlezakAfter being wronged by the Caribbean authorities, a Dutch captain turns pirate to wage war.
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsDana AndrewsMaureen O'HaraSybil ThorndikeA rich woman in Victorian England marries a poor artist from the wrong side of the track, and finds herself the victim of a blackmailing plot.
- DirectorJohn CromwellEdward F. ClineTay GarnettStarsClaudette ColbertJennifer JonesJoseph CottenWith her husband away to fight in World War II, a housewife must care for their two daughters alone.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsJennifer JonesJoseph CottenAnn RichardsAllen Quinton writes a fellow soldier's love letters; tragedy results. Later, Allen meets a beautiful amnesiac who fears postmen...
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsCharles BoyerJennifer JonesPeter LawfordA free-spirited parlor maid and a Czech refugee surprise an English village with their unconventional ways.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsJennifer JonesJoseph CottenEthel BarrymoreIn Depression-era New York, an impoverished painter has a chance encounter with an enigmatic, old-fashioned little girl in Central Park who inspires him and changes his destiny.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsJennifer JonesJohn GarfieldPedro ArmendárizIn 1930's Cuba, a bank clerk and an American mercenary assist a revolutionary group in a plan to kill the President but the Cuban Secret Police chief and the dictator's military complicate the plan's execution.
- DirectorIrving PichelStarsPaul MuniGene TierneyLaird CregarHighly fictionalized early history of Canada. Trapper/explorer Radisson imagines an empire around Hudson's Bay. He befriends the Indians, fights the French, and convinces King Charles II to sponsor an expedition of conquest.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsTyrone PowerGene TierneyGeorge SandersCheated out of his estate by his sadistic uncle, young Benjamin Blake goes to the South Seas to make his fortune so he can return to claim his birthright.
- DirectorRouben MamoulianStarsHenry FondaGene TierneyLaird CregarTwo con artists take a shopgirl under their wing, but she disrupts their marrying-for-money scheme by falling for a mathematician.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsGene TierneyDon AmecheCharles CoburnAn old roué arrives in Hades to review his life with Satan, who will rule on his eligibility to enter the Underworld.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsHedy LamarrRobert YoungRuth HusseyA man who lived his life as he was advised to do, not how he would have chosen to, is brought out of his shell by a beautiful young woman.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsGary CooperBarbara StanwyckOscar HomolkaA 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.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsDana AndrewsMerle OberonEthel BarrymoreWhen a beautiful socialite falls in love with an embittered composer who is blind, she feigns blindness herself in order to get closer to him.
- DirectorFrank TuttleStarsAlan LaddVeronica LakeRobert PrestonWhen assassin Philip Raven shoots a blackmailer and his beautiful female companion dead, he is paid off in marked bills by his treasonous employer who is working with foreign spies.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsFrances DeeTom ConwayJames EllisonA nurse is hired to care for the wife of a sugar plantation owner, who has been acting strangely, on a Caribbean island.
- DirectorCharles DavidStarsDeanna DurbinRalph BellamyDavid BruceIn New York, a woman who partially witnesses a killing from a train window seeks the aid of a crime novelist to solve the murder.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsGary CooperBarbara StanwyckEdward ArnoldA penniless drifter is recruited by an ambitious columnist to impersonate a non-existent person who said he'd be committing suicide as a protest, and a social movement begins.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsVictor MatureRichard ConteFred ClarkPolice Lieut. Candella, longtime friend of the Rome family, walks a tightrope in the case of cop-killer Martin Rome.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneJoanne DruJohn AgarCaptain Nathan Brittles, on the eve of retirement, takes out a last patrol to stop an impending massive Indian attack. Encumbered by women who must be evacuated, Brittles finds his mission imperiled.
- DirectorJoe MayStarsGeorge SandersMargaret LindsayVincent PriceBased on the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, this classic film follows a family feud between two brothers and an ancient curse that haunts them.
- DirectorZoltan KordaStarsSabuJoseph CalleiaJohn QualenA boy raised by wild animals tries to adapt to human village life.
- DirectorAlbert LewinStarsGeorge SandersHurd HatfieldDonna ReedA corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.
- DirectorRay EnrightStarsMarlene DietrichRandolph ScottJohn WayneIn 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.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsChôjûrô KawarasakiYoshizaburo ArashiUtaemon IchikawaThe legendary Forty-seven ronin plot to avenge the death of their lord, Asano Naganori, by killing Kira Yoshinaka, a shogunate official responsible for Asano being forced to commit seppuku.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsHumphrey BogartLauren BacallWalter BrennanDuring World War II, American expatriate Harry Morgan helps transport a French Resistance leader and his beautiful wife to Martinique while romancing a sensuous lounge singer.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJeanette NolanDan O'HerlihyMacbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsKathryn GraysonJosé IturbiEthel BarrymoreIn Philadelphia, the soprano Prudence Budell returns from Europe after a period of five years training in the best Europeans music schools. Her millionaire grandmother Abigail Trent Budell sponsors an opera company under the command of the famous maestro Jose Iturbi to give a chance to Prudence to lead an opera. They hire the also famous tenor Guido Russino Betelli, but Prudence does not feel comfortable with him on the stage. When Prudence accidentally sees the American-Italian truck driver Johnny Donnetti singing opera, she convinces Jose Iturbi to give a chance to Johnny. They fall in love for each other, but when Prudence visits his work to tell that he will be hired, she meets Mary and she believes Johnny is in love of his colleague.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsHumphrey BogartLauren BacallBruce BennettA man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try to prove his innocence.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsRalph RichardsonMichèle MorganSonia DresdelA butler working in a foreign embassy in London falls under suspicion when his wife accidentally falls to her death, the only witness being an impressionable young boy.
- DirectorJules DassinStarsBarry FitzgeraldHoward DuffDorothy HartA step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.
- DirectorArthur LubinStarsNelson EddySusanna FosterClaude RainsAn acid-scarred composer rises from the Paris sewers to boost his favorite opera understudy's career.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJohn IrelandSheila RyanHugh BeaumontA beautician and her crooked boyfriend attempt to rob the bookie operation located in the back room, but when the plan goes wrong, they frame an innocent man.
- DirectorJohn FarrowStarsRay MillandMaureen O'SullivanCharles LaughtonA magazine tycoon commits a murder and pins it on an innocent man, who then tries to solve the murder himself.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsCary GrantJoan FontaineCedric HardwickeA shy young heiress marries a charming gentleman, and soon begins to suspect he is planning to murder her.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsBarbara StanwyckBurt LancasterAnn RichardsWhile on the telephone, an invalid woman overhears what she thinks is a murder plot and attempts to prevent it.
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsBob HopeJane RussellRobert ArmstrongCalamity Jane is dispatched to find out who's smuggling rifles to the Indians, and winds up married to a hapless correspondence-school dentist as part of her cover.