Films of the Fourties
by fionaandstu | created - 14 Sep 2014 | updated - 27 Oct 2016 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Action in Arabia (1944)
Passed | 75 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Reporter Michael Gordon uncovers intrigue in Damascus, where the Allies and Nazis struggle for control of Arab sympathies.
Director: Léonide Moguy | Stars: George Sanders, Virginia Bruce, Lenore Aubert, Gene Lockhart
Votes: 607
2. Submarine Alert (1943)
Passed | 66 min | Thriller, War
German spies use a stolen shortwave transmitter prototype to broadcast top secret shipping info to an offshore Japanese sub. To nab the spy ring, the U.S. government has the West Coast's top radio engineers fired and shadowed.
Director: Frank McDonald | Stars: Richard Arlen, Wendy Barrie, Nils Asther, Roger Pryor
Votes: 379
3. The Moon Is Down (1943)
90 min | Drama, War
During the Nazi occupation of Norway, a small Norwegian village struggles to cope with the invaders and some locals choose collaboration while others prefer armed resistance.
Director: Irving Pichel | Stars: Cedric Hardwicke, Henry Travers, Lee J. Cobb, Dorris Bowdon
Votes: 537
4. The Frightened Lady (1940)
75 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
"Mark's Priory," the Lebanons' family seat, is a house of terror to Ilsa Crane, Lady Lebanon's niece and secretary. The strange behavior of two sinister footmen, Gilder and Brooks, adds ... See full summary »
Director: George King | Stars: Marius Goring, Penelope Dudley-Ward, Helen Haye, Felix Aylmer
Votes: 356
5. The Upturned Glass (1947)
Not Rated | 90 min | Crime, Drama
A British brain surgeon punishes the murderess of his lover.
Director: Lawrence Huntington | Stars: James Mason, Rosamund John, Pamela Mason, Ann Stephens
Votes: 1,352
6. Green for Danger (1946)
Not Rated | 91 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
After the nurse who declares that a recent surgical death was a murder also dies, an enigmatic Scotland Yard inspector arrives to investigate.
Director: Sidney Gilliat | Stars: Alastair Sim, Sally Gray, Trevor Howard, Leo Genn
Votes: 5,614
7. The October Man (1947)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Mystery
When the murder of a young woman happens, her next-door neighbor is under suspicion due to his previous stay in a mental hospital.
Director: Roy Ward Baker | Stars: John Mills, Joan Greenwood, Edward Chapman, Kay Walsh
Votes: 1,500
8. The Shanghai Gesture (1941)
Approved | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
In Shanghai, dragon lady 'Mother' Gin Sling operates a gambling house for wealthy patrons but she clashes with influential land developer Sir Guy Charteris who wants to put her out of business.
Director: Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Victor Mature, Ona Munson
Votes: 2,967
9. Above Suspicion (1943)
Passed | 90 min | Drama, Thriller, War
Oxford Professor Richard Myles and his new bride Frances are off on a European honeymoon. It isn't the typical honeymoon: they are on a spying mission for British Intelligence on the eve of World War II.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Joan Crawford, Fred MacMurray, Conrad Veidt, Basil Rathbone
Votes: 2,445
10. Lady on a Train (1945)
Passed | 94 min | Comedy, Crime, Film-Noir
In New York, a woman who partially witnesses a killing from a train window seeks the aid of a crime novelist to solve the murder.
Director: Charles David | Stars: Deanna Durbin, Ralph Bellamy, David Bruce, George Coulouris
Votes: 2,564
11. The Thin Man Goes Home (1944)
Approved | 100 min | Film-Noir, Mystery
Nick and Nora head to Nick's hometown of Sycamore Springs to spend some time with his parents. His father, a prominent local physician, was always a bit disappointed with Nick's choice of ... See full summary »
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Lucile Watson, Gloria DeHaven
Votes: 6,270 | Gross: $3.86M
12. Song of the Thin Man (1947)
Not Rated | 86 min | Comedy, Crime, Musical
Nick and Nora Charles are on a gambling boat when someone is murdered. The two main suspects are at large and come to Nick for help. Nick turns them in to the police but then sets out to figure out the mystery.
Director: Edward Buzzell | Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Keenan Wynn, Dean Stockwell
Votes: 5,733 | Gross: $3.06M
13. They Were Expendable (1945)
Approved | 135 min | Drama, War
A Navy commander fights to prove the battle-worthiness of the PT boat at the start of World War II.
Directors: John Ford, Robert Montgomery | Stars: Robert Montgomery, John Wayne, Donna Reed, Jack Holt
Votes: 9,261
14. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Passed | 100 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
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: 166,532 | Gross: $2.11M
15. Citizen Kane (1941)
PG | 119 min | Drama, Mystery
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: 465,853 | Gross: $1.59M
16. Passage to Marseille (1944)
Passed | 109 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Five patriotic convicts are helped to escape imprisonment in Devil's Island so they can fight for occupied Free French forces against the Nazis.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Claude Rains, Michèle Morgan, Philip Dorn
Votes: 5,036
17. 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: 237,291 | Gross: $0.29M
18. Whisky Galore! (1949)
Approved | 82 min | Comedy, Crime
Scottish islanders try to plunder 50,000 cases of whisky from a stranded ship.
Director: Alexander Mackendrick | Stars: Basil Radford, Joan Greenwood, Catherine Lacey, Bruce Seton
Votes: 6,654
19. The Third Man (1949)
Approved | 93 min | Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller
Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard
Votes: 181,796 | Gross: $0.45M
20. Scene of the Crime (1949)
Passed | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
While his wife is urging him to quit the force, a Los Angeles homicide detective hunts for the killer responsible for the murder of his ex-partner, who might have been on the take with local bookies.
Director: Roy Rowland | Stars: Van Johnson, Arlene Dahl, Gloria DeHaven, Tom Drake
Votes: 1,365
21. Bicycle Thieves (1948)
Not Rated | 89 min | Drama
In post-war Italy, a working-class man's bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find work. He and his son set out to find it.
Director: Vittorio De Sica | Stars: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Elena Altieri
Votes: 175,101 | Gross: $0.33M
22. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Not Rated | 112 min | Comedy, Romance
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: 73,826
23. Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
Not Rated | 132 min | Drama, War
A tough-as-nails general (Gregory Peck as General Savage) takes over a B-17 bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Millard Mitchell
Votes: 15,795
24. Jungle Book (1942)
Approved | 108 min | Action, Adventure, Family
A boy raised by wild animals tries to adapt to human village life.
Director: Zoltan Korda | Stars: Sabu, Joseph Calleia, John Qualen, Frank Puglia
Votes: 4,695 | Gross: $2.83M
25. Key Largo (1948)
Approved | 100 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A man visits his war buddy's family hotel and finds a gangster running things. As a hurricane approaches, the two end up confronting each other.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore
Votes: 43,963
26. Dark Passage (1947)
Passed | 106 min | Film-Noir, Thriller
A man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try to prove his innocence.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bruce Bennett, Agnes Moorehead
Votes: 21,962
27. Double Indemnity (1944)
Passed | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A Los Angeles insurance representative lets an alluring housewife seduce him into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, an insurance investigator.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Byron Barr
Votes: 167,404 | Gross: $5.72M
28. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Passed | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Two down-on-their-luck Americans searching for work in 1920s Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett
Votes: 132,397 | Gross: $5.01M
29. To Have and Have Not (1944)
Passed | 100 min | Adventure, Comedy, Film-Noir
During 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.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan, Dolores Moran
Votes: 37,994
30. Haunted Honeymoon (1940)
Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
A dead body is discovered in the newly-purchased home of a gentleman sleuth and his mystery-novelist bride.
Directors: Arthur B. Woods, Richard Thorpe | Stars: Robert Montgomery, Constance Cummings, Leslie Banks, Seymour Hicks
Votes: 882
31. Out of the Past (1947)
Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses, and duplicitous dames.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming
Votes: 40,898
32. British Intelligence (1939)
Approved | 61 min | Romance, Thriller, War
Although the home of cabinet minister Arthur Bennett is a hotbed of spies, moles, and double agents, no one knows the true identity of notorious German spymaster Strendler.
Director: Terry O. Morse | Stars: Boris Karloff, Margaret Lindsay, Bruce Lester, Leonard Mudie
Votes: 1,318
33. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
Approved | 110 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
A clumsy daydreamer gets caught up in a sinister conspiracy.
Director: Norman Z. McLeod | Stars: Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Boris Karloff, Fay Bainter
Votes: 6,863
34. For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
Passed | 170 min | Adventure, Drama, History
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: 10,226 | Gross: $17.80M
35. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Passed | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A married woman and a drifter fall in love and then plot to murder her husband.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn
Votes: 22,870 | Gross: $8.33M
36. The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Not Rated | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Fascinated by gorgeous Mrs. Bannister, seaman Michael O'Hara joins a bizarre yachting cruise, and ends up mired in a complex murder plot.
Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane, Glenn Anders
Votes: 33,297 | Gross: $0.01M
37. The Raven (1943)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A French village doctor becomes the target of poison-pen letters sent to village leaders, accusing him of affairs and practicing abortion.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Pierre Fresnay, Ginette Leclerc, Micheline Francey, Héléna Manson
Votes: 10,894 | Gross: $0.03M
38. 49th Parallel (1941)
Not Rated | 123 min | Drama, Thriller, War
A World War II U-boat crew are stranded in northern Canada. To avoid internment, they must make their way to the border and get into the still-neutral U.S.
Director: Michael Powell | Stars: Leslie Howard, Laurence Olivier, Richard George, Eric Portman
Votes: 7,658
39. Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Approved | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Kruger
Votes: 14,702
40. Journey Into Fear (1943)
Approved | 68 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
An American ballistics expert in Turkey finds himself targeted by German agents. Safe passage home by ship is arranged for him, but he soon discovers that his pursuers are also on board.
Directors: Norman Foster, Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dolores Del Río, Ruth Warrick
Votes: 4,686
41. A Walk in the Sun (1945)
Approved | 117 min | Drama, War
During WWII, a platoon of American soldiers trudge through the Italian countryside in search of a bridge they have been ordered to blow up, encountering danger and destruction along the way.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, George Tyne, John Ireland
Votes: 4,081
42. All the King's Men (1949)
Approved | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir
The rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.
Director: Robert Rossen | Stars: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Joanne Dru, John Derek
Votes: 16,579
43. High Sierra (1940)
Passed | 100 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After being released from prison, notorious thief Roy Earle is hired by his old boss to help a group of inexperienced criminals plan and carry out the robbery of a California resort.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Curtis, Arthur Kennedy
Votes: 19,235
44. Sahara (I) (1943)
Approved | 97 min | Action, Drama, War
After the fall of Tobruk in 1942, during the Allied retreat in the Libyan desert, an American tank picks-up a motley group of survivors but they face advancing Germans and a lack of water.
Director: Zoltan Korda | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Bruce Bennett, J. Carrol Naish, Lloyd Bridges
Votes: 9,752
45. The Seventh Cross (1944)
Passed | 112 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
In 1936, seven prisoners escape from a concentration camp. The Nazis put up seven crosses for demonstrative executions. This story about one of the fugitives, who relies on own courage and compassion of people to avoid the seventh cross.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Signe Hasso, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy
Votes: 2,982
46. Caught in the Draft (1941)
Approved | 82 min | Comedy
A movie star who can't stand loud noises accidentally joins the Army.
Director: David Butler | Stars: Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Lynne Overman, Eddie Bracken
Votes: 891
47. Dear Mr. Prohack (1949)
91 min | Comedy, Romance
Arthur Prohack (Cecil Parker) is an official in the Treasury Department with a reputation for fiscal efficiency and running a tight ship. One day he finds out that a struggling businessman ... See full summary »
Director: Thornton Freeland | Stars: Cecil Parker, Glynis Johns, Hermione Baddeley, Dirk Bogarde
Votes: 212
48. The Bishop's Wife (1947)
G | 109 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A debonair angel comes to Earth to help an Episcopalian bishop and his wife in their quest to raise money for the new church.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven, Monty Woolley
Votes: 20,898
49. Return to Yesterday (1940)
69 min | Drama
Robert Maine is torn between returning to the glamour of Hollywood and working with a small theatre company in England. When she falls in love with Maine, Carol has the same dilemma.
Director: Robert Stevenson | Stars: Clive Brook, Anna Lee, May Whitty, Hartley Power
Votes: 156
50. The Tunnel (1940)
Not Rated | 76 min | Drama, Music
In a Welsh coal mining valley, a young man with a beautiful singing voice is called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice when a pit disaster threatens.
Director: Pen Tennyson | Stars: Paul Robeson, Edward Chapman, Simon Lack, Rachel Thomas
Votes: 611
51. To Hell with Hitler (1940)
Passed | 82 min | Comedy, Musical, War
Shortly after the start of World War II, a ukulele player (George) takes the wrong boat and finds himself in (still uninvaded) Norway. He is mistaken for a fellow British intelligence agent... See full summary »
Director: Marcel Varnel | Stars: George Formby, Phyllis Calvert, Garry Marsh, Romney Brent
Votes: 368
52. Convoy (1940)
78 min | Drama, War
A tale of the highs and lows of life protecting the vital convoys between America & England during WWII.
Director: Pen Tennyson | Stars: Clive Brook, John Clements, Edward Chapman, Judy Campbell
Votes: 440
53. Three Cockeyed Sailors (1940)
Passed | 77 min | Comedy, War
Three British sailors find they've accidentally strayed on board a German warship during World War II. They then proceed to take it over and requisition it for the Royal Navy.
Director: Walter Forde | Stars: Tommy Trinder, Claude Hulbert, Carla Lehmann, Michael Wilding
Votes: 134
54. Spare a Copper (1940)
Not Rated | 77 min | Comedy, Musical
A brave wartime copper (policeman) becomes a hero when he thwarts a plot to destroy a battleship. But then the rest of the police get the idea that he is one of the enemy agents.
Director: John Paddy Carstairs | Stars: George Formby, Dorothy Hyson, George Merritt, John Warwick
Votes: 199
55. The Ghost of St. Michael's (1941)
82 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
A hapless teacher named Will Lamb is hired by a grim school in Scotland. The school soon starts to be haunted by a legendary ghost, whose spectral bagpipes signal the death of one of the ... See full summary »
Director: Marcel Varnel | Stars: Will Hay, Claude Hulbert, Felix Aylmer, Raymond Huntley
Votes: 622
56. Turned Out Nice Again (1941)
Not Rated | 81 min | Comedy, Musical
George Pearson, who works for a underwear firm that is 20 years out of date, invests his own money in a new type of thread. The company are not interested in changes, and he quits. Later ... See full summary »
Director: Marcel Varnel | Stars: George Formby, Peggy Bryan, Elliott Mason, Edward Chapman
Votes: 245
57. Ships with Wings (1941)
Approved | 103 min | Drama, War
Lt. Dick Stacey is dismissed from the Fleet Air Arm for poor discipline. He joins the Aircraft Carrier "HMS Ark Royal" (The Ship with Wings). When they go into battle in the Mediterranean he acts heroically and redeems himself.
Director: Sergei Nolbandov | Stars: John Clements, Leslie Banks, Jane Baxter, Ann Todd
Votes: 172
58. Black Sheep of Whitehall (1942)
80 min | Comedy
Professor Davis, who teaches at a correspondence school, discovers that a Nazi Agent is trying to prevent a trade treaty being signed between England and South America. The agent is posing ... See full summary »
Directors: Basil Dearden, Will Hay | Stars: Will Hay, John Mills, Basil Sydney, Henry Hewitt
Votes: 357
59. The Big Blockade (1942)
Approved | 73 min | Drama, War
Wartime propaganda piece reporting on the success of the economic blockade of Germany in the early years of the war.
Director: Charles Frend | Stars: Will Hay, Bernard Miles, John Stuart, David Evans
Votes: 239
60. Somewhere in France (1942)
Approved | 87 min | Adventure, Drama, War
In 1940, a British engineer goes to France to retrieve specialized armaments machinery, loaned to the French, before the invading Nazi armies can capture it.
Director: Charles Frend | Stars: Tommy Trinder, Constance Cummings, Clifford Evans, Robert Morley
Votes: 400
61. The Next of Kin (1942)
Approved | 102 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Wartime propaganda piece giving the warning "Be like Dad, Keep Mum". A gossipy housewife is overheard talking about what her son is doing by a Nazi spy.
Director: Thorold Dickinson | Stars: Mervyn Johns, John Chandos, Nova Pilbeam, Reginald Tate
Votes: 303
62. The Goose Steps Out (1942)
Approved | 79 min | Comedy
A bumbling teacher turns out to be the double of a German general. He is flown into Germany to impersonate the general and cause chaos and hilarity in a Hitler Youth college.
Directors: Basil Dearden, Will Hay | Stars: Will Hay, Charles Hawtrey, Peter Croft, Barry Morse
Votes: 517
63. The Loves of Joanna Godden (1947)
89 min | Drama, Romance
On Romney Marsh at the turn of the century, a woman farmer has three suitors.
Directors: Charles Frend, Robert Hamer | Stars: Googie Withers, Jean Kent, John McCallum, Derek Bond
Votes: 211
64. Frieda (1947)
Passed | 98 min | Drama, War
A Royal Air Force pilot who was shot down during World War II returns home to his English village with his new bride. The trouble is that she is the German lady who helped him escape. Then her brother arrives.
Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: David Farrar, Glynis Johns, Mai Zetterling, Flora Robson
Votes: 537
65. Against the Wind (1948)
Not Rated | 96 min | Action, Drama, War
A secret London school trains a motley group of men and women for sabotage work in German occupied Belgium during World War II. When one of them is captured by the Germans, five others are parachuted in to rescue him.
Director: Charles Crichton | Stars: Robert Beatty, Simone Signoret, Jack Warner, Gordon Jackson
Votes: 743
66. Saraband (1948)
Approved | 96 min | Biography, Drama, History
Young Sophie Dorothea marries Prince George Louis but it's far from a love match. Then she falls for Swedish Count Philip Christoph von Königsmark.
Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: Stewart Granger, Joan Greenwood, Flora Robson, Françoise Rosay
Votes: 624
First technicolour film from Ealing studios
67. Another Shore (1948)
77 min | Comedy
A young Irishman comes up with an unusual plan to get the money to emigrate to Tahiti.
Director: Charles Crichton | Stars: Robert Beatty, Moira Lister, Stanley Holloway, Michael Medwin
Votes: 154
68. Nine Men (1943)
Approved | 68 min | Drama, War
The Nine men of the title are a British WWII Army patrol stuck in a desert fort during the African campaign. The Men must defend the fort against the Italian and German troops until they cam be relieved.
Director: Harry Watt | Stars: Jack Lambert, Grant Sutherland, Gordon Jackson, Frederick Piper
Votes: 328
69. Far into the Night (1943)
TV-G | 90 min | Drama, War
Comedian Tommy Trinder plays it straight in this tribute to the wartime AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service), the dedicated band who kept the fires of London under control during the blitz and fire bombings of WWII.
Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: Tommy Trinder, James Mason, Philip Friend, Mervyn Johns
Votes: 264
70. Underground Guerrillas (1943)
Approved | 89 min | Drama, War
A World War II film made by Ealing Studios on the Yugoslav guerrilla resistance movement in German-occupied Yugoslavia.
Director: Sergei Nolbandov | Stars: John Clements, Tom Walls, Rachel Thomas, Stephen Murray
Votes: 176
71. My Learned Friend (1943)
Approved | 74 min | Comedy, Thriller
An insane murderer is on the loose, and gunning for the men who put him away. Will Fitch is on the list, and co-opts Claude Babbington to try and stop him from meeting a grisly end.
Directors: Basil Dearden, Will Hay | Stars: Will Hay, Claude Hulbert, Mervyn Johns, Lawrence Hanray
Votes: 427
72. San Demetrio London (1943)
Approved | 104 min | Adventure, Drama, War
Rescue of the tanker MV San Demetrio by parts of her own crew after she had been set afire in the middle of the Atlantic by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer and then had been abandoned.
Directors: Charles Frend, Robert Hamer | Stars: Arthur Young, Walter Fitzgerald, Ralph Michael, Neville Mapp
Votes: 537
73. The Halfway House (1944)
78 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
A group of travellers, all with something to hide in their past, take shelter from a storm in an old inn. The inn-keeper seems a little mysterious...
Directors: Basil Dearden, Alberto Cavalcanti | Stars: Mervyn Johns, Glynis Johns, Tom Walls, Françoise Rosay
Votes: 1,209
74. For Those in Peril (1944)
67 min | Drama, War
An RAF officer wishes to fly, but isn't allowed and is posted to the RAF Air Sea Rescue operating in the English Channel.
Director: Charles Crichton | Stars: David Farrar, Ralph Michael, Robert Wyndham, John Slater
Votes: 145
75. They Came to a City (1944)
Not Rated | 78 min | Drama, Fantasy
Adapted from a J.B. Priestley play with many of the original actors. The tale of various people who have come to live in an "ideal" city and their hopes and reasons for doing so.
Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: John Clements, Googie Withers, Raymond Huntley, Renee Gadd
Votes: 285
76. Champagne Charlie (1944)
Approved | 72 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
The story of a 19th century English music hall (vaudeville) performer and life behind the scenes.
Director: Alberto Cavalcanti | Stars: Tommy Trinder, Stanley Holloway, Betty Warren, Jean Kent
Votes: 304
77. While Nero Fiddled (1944)
65 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
A pair of Jolly Jack Tars on shore leave take a Wren (lady sailor) to Stonehenge and get caught in a time warp finishing up in ancient Rome.
Director: Harry Watt | Stars: Tommy Trinder, Frances Day, Sonnie Hale, Francis L. Sullivan
Votes: 135
78. Johnny Frenchman (1945)
Approved | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
There exists an age-old rivalry between the Cornish and Breton fisherfolk, but harbormaster Nat Pomeroy holds a particular grudge - not just for the Bretons' incessant poaching, but for the harbor dues he loses in the process.
Director: Charles Frend | Stars: Françoise Rosay, Tom Walls, Patricia Roc, Ralph Michael
Votes: 197
79. The Girl of the Canal (1945)
Approved | 48 min | Drama
Drama following the lives of two families living on the colourfully painted canal boats of Britain.
Director: Charles Crichton | Stars: Jenny Laird, Bill Blewitt, May Hallatt, Robert Griffiths
Votes: 255
80. Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945)
Not Rated | 89 min | Drama, Thriller
A drunken, abusive tavern-keeper's adulterous wife uses the backward son of a rigid, puritanical pharmacist who makes his entire family miserable.
Director: Robert Hamer | Stars: Mervyn Johns, Mary Merrall, Gordon Jackson, Jean Ireland
Votes: 685
81. The Captive Heart (1946)
Approved | 86 min | Drama, War
In 1940, a concentration camp escapee assumes the identity of a dead British officer, only to become a prisoner of war.
Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: Michael Redgrave, Rachel Kempson, Frederick Leister, Mervyn Johns
Votes: 1,175
82. The Overlanders (1946)
Approved | 91 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
It's the start of WWII in Northern Australia. The Japanese are getting close. People are evacuating and burning everything in a "scorched earth" policy. Rather than kill all their cattle, a... See full summary »
Director: Harry Watt | Stars: Chips Rafferty, John Nugent Hayward, Daphne Campbell, Jean Blue
Votes: 518
Filmed in Australia but produced by Ealing studios
83. Hue and Cry (1947)
82 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
A gang of street boys foil a master crook who sends commands for robberies by cunningly altering a comic strip's wording each week, unknown to writer and printer. The first of the Ealing comedies.
Director: Charles Crichton | Stars: Alastair Sim, Frederick Piper, Harry Fowler, Vida Hope
Votes: 1,783
The first "Ealing comedy"
84. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947)
Approved | 108 min | Drama
A young, compassionate man struggles to save his family and friends from the abusive exploitation of his cold-hearted, grasping uncle.
Director: Alberto Cavalcanti | Stars: Derek Bond, Cedric Hardwicke, Mary Merrall, Sally Ann Howes
Votes: 983
85. Scott of the Antarctic (1948)
PG | 111 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
The story of British explorer Robert Falcon Scott's 1912 expedition and his quest to be the first to reach the South Pole.
Director: Charles Frend | Stars: John Mills, Derek Bond, Diana Churchill, Harold Warrender
Votes: 2,434
86. Eureka Stockade (1949)
Approved | 103 min | Drama, History, Western
In 1854, Australian gold rush miners struggle for their rights against an oppressive government.
Director: Harry Watt | Stars: Chips Rafferty, Jane Barrett, Jack Lambert, Peter Illing
Votes: 209
87. Passport to Pimlico (1949)
Approved | 84 min | Comedy
Residents of a part of London declare independence after they discover an old treaty, which leads to the need for a "Passport to Pimlico".
Director: Henry Cornelius | Stars: Stanley Holloway, Betty Warren, Barbara Murray, Paul Dupuis
Votes: 5,286
88. Train of Events (1949)
Approved | 88 min | Drama
A train disaster is told as four short stories to give character studies of the people involved, how it will affect them, and how they deal with it.
Directors: Sidney Cole, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden | Stars: Jack Warner, Gladys Henson, Susan Shaw, Patric Doonan
Votes: 479
89. A Run for Your Money (1949)
Approved | 83 min | Comedy
Brothers from a Welsh village take their first trip to London to collect a prize, and meet a con artist and various other urban distractions.
Director: Charles Frend | Stars: Donald Houston, Meredith Edwards, Moira Lister, Alec Guinness
Votes: 721
90. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
PG | 104 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: David Niven, Kim Hunter, Robert Coote, Kathleen Byron
Votes: 24,834
91. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
Not Rated | 106 min | Comedy, Crime
A distant poor relative of the Duke D'Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering the eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession.
Director: Robert Hamer | Stars: Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood
Votes: 39,702
92. Black Narcissus (1947)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama
A group of nuns struggle to establish a convent in the Himalayas, while isolation, extreme weather, altitude, and culture clashes all conspire to drive the well-intentioned missionaries mad.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: Deborah Kerr, David Farrar, Flora Robson, Jenny Laird
Votes: 27,647
93. A Canterbury Tale (1944)
Not Rated | 124 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
Three modern-day pilgrims investigate a bizarre crime in a small town while on their way to Canterbury.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, Dennis Price, John Sweet
Votes: 6,482
94. I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama, Romance
A young Englishwoman goes to the Hebrides to marry her older, wealthier fiancé. When the weather keeps them separated on different islands, she begins to have second thoughts.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey, Pamela Brown, Finlay Currie
Votes: 9,779
95. It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)
92 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
An escaped convict tries to hide out at his former lover's house, but she has since married and is reluctant to help him.
Director: Robert Hamer | Stars: Googie Withers, Jack Warner, John McCallum, Edward Chapman
Votes: 2,379 | Gross: $0.01M
96. Went the Day Well? (1942)
Approved | 92 min | Thriller, War
An English village is occupied by disguised German paratroopers as an advance post for a planned invasion.
Director: Alberto Cavalcanti | Stars: Leslie Banks, C.V. France, Valerie Taylor, Marie Lohr
Votes: 4,338 | Gross: $0.02M
97. Listen to Britain (1942)
Not Rated | 20 min | Documentary, Short
A depiction of life in wartime England during the Second World War. Director Humphrey Jennings visits many aspects of civilian life and of the turmoil and privation caused by the war, all without narration.
Directors: Humphrey Jennings, Stewart McAllister | Stars: Leonard Brockington, Joseph Macleod, Bud Flanagan, Chesney Allen
Votes: 1,855
98. The Fallen Idol (1948)
Approved | 95 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
A 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.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Ralph Richardson, Michèle Morgan, Sonia Dresdel, Bobby Henrey
Votes: 9,666 | Gross: $0.34M
99. Rebecca (1940)
Approved | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson
Votes: 146,672 | Gross: $4.36M
100. Suspicion (1941)
Approved | 99 min | Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller
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: 42,404 | Gross: $4.50M
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