Released between 1940-01-01 and 1940-12-31 (Sorted by Popularity Ascending)
1. City for Conquest (1940)
104 min | Drama, Music, Sport
Danny is a content truck driver, but his girl Peggy shows potential as a dancer and hopes he too can show ambition. Danny acquiesces and pursues boxing to please her, but the two begin to spend more time working than time together.
Directors: Anatole Litvak, Jean Negulesco | Stars: James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Crisp
Votes: 2,088
2. Rebecca (1940)
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: 118,252 | Gross: $4.36M
3. The Great Dictator (1940)
PG | 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: 195,549 | Gross: $0.29M
4. Pinocchio (1940)
F | 88 min | Animation, Comedy, Family
A living puppet, with the help of a cricket as his conscience, must prove himself worthy to become a real boy.
Directors: Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen | Stars: Dickie Jones, Christian Rub, Mel Blanc, Don Brodie
Votes: 126,559 | Gross: $84.25M
5. South of Suez (1940)
86 min | Mystery, Drama
Greedy diamond mine owner Eli Snedeker, resentful that his ex-foreman John Gamble stopped him from taking over kindly, but drunken, mine owner Roger Smythe's mine just as he was about to ... See full summary »
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: George Brent, Brenda Marshall, George Tobias, James Stephenson
Votes: 147
6. Fantasia (1940)
G | 125 min | Animation, Family, Fantasy
A collection of animated interpretations of great works of Western classical music.
Directors: James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe Jr., Norman Ferguson, David Hand, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Ben Sharpsteen | Stars: Leopold Stokowski, Deems Taylor, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Corey Burton
Votes: 86,246 | Gross: $76.41M
7. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
PG | 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: 61,643
8. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
PG | 129 min | Drama, History
A poor Midwest family is forced off their land. They travel to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin
Votes: 84,238 | Gross: $0.06M
9. My Love Came Back (1940)
85 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Amelia is a gifted violinist who is in danger of quitting the Brissac Academy of Music. Julius arranges to have a scholarship given to her through his employee Tony so that Julius can ... See full summary »
Director: Curtis Bernhardt | Stars: Olivia de Havilland, Jeffrey Lynn, Eddie Albert, Jane Wyman
Votes: 420
10. His Girl Friday (1940)
PG | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart
Votes: 51,785 | Gross: $0.30M
11. Tom and Jerry (1940– )
8 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
The series features comic fights between an iconic pair of adversaries, a house cat (Tom) and a mouse (Jerry). The plots of each short usually center on Tom and Jerry's numerous attempts to... See full summary »
Votes: 490
12. The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
PG | 106 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
After being tricked and cast out of Bagdad by the evil Jaffar, King Ahmad joins forces with a thief named Abu to reclaim his throne, the city, and the Princess he loves.
Directors: Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, Alexander Korda, Zoltan Korda, William Cameron Menzies | Stars: Conrad Veidt, Sabu, June Duprez, John Justin
Votes: 11,564 | Gross: $0.27M
13. Strange Cargo (1940)
PG | 113 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Convicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Ian Hunter, Peter Lorre
Votes: 2,142
14. Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
PA | 64 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An aspiring reporter is the key witness at the murder trial of a young man accused of cutting a café owner's throat and is soon accused of a similar crime himself.
Director: Boris Ingster | Stars: Peter Lorre, John McGuire, Margaret Tallichet, Charles Waldron
Votes: 3,491
15. Foreign Correspondent (1940)
PG | 120 min | Action, Romance, Thriller
On the eve of World War II, a young American reporter tries to expose enemy agents in London.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders
Votes: 17,697 | Gross: $3.48M
16. They Drive by Night (1940)
PG | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
When one of two truck-driving brothers loses an arm, they both join a transport company where later, the other is falsely charged as an accessory in the murder of the owner.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino
Votes: 6,882
17. You'll Find Out (1940)
97 min | Comedy, Horror, Musical
The manager of Kay Kyser's band books them for a birthday party bash for an heiress at a spooky mansion, where sinister forces try to kill her.
Director: David Butler | Stars: Kay Kyser, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi
Votes: 1,047
18. My Favorite Wife (1940)
G | 88 min | Comedy, Romance
Missing for seven years and presumed dead, a woman returns home on the day of her husband's second marriage.
Director: Garson Kanin | Stars: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, Gail Patrick
Votes: 8,909
19. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
G | 99 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand each other, without realizing that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.
Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut
Votes: 26,501 | Gross: $0.20M
20. Pride and Prejudice (1940)
G | 118 min | Drama, Romance
The arrival of wealthy bachelors in town causes an uproar when families with single daughters aggressively seek engagements, including the Bennet family, with five eligible daughters.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver
Votes: 7,138
21. It All Came True (1940)
97 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
After crooked nightclub owner Chips Maguire murders a police informant, he blackmails his piano player to allow him to stay at his eccentric mother's boarding house.
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: Ann Sheridan, Humphrey Bogart, Jeffrey Lynn, Zasu Pitts
Votes: 1,037
22. Santa Fe Trail (1940)
110 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
In 1854, Jeb Stuart, George Custer and other graduates from West Point are posted to Kansas to help pacify the territory before railroad construction to Santa Fe can resume.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Raymond Massey, Ronald Reagan
Votes: 3,168
23. Waterloo Bridge (1940)
108 min | Drama, Romance, War
During World War I, believing her fiance to be dead, a young ballerina loses her job and is forced to turn to prostitution.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor, Lucile Watson, Virginia Field
Votes: 8,677
24. Terry and the Pirates (1940)
300 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Dr. Herbert Lee (John Paul Jones), an archaeologist seeking to decipher ancient Mara inscriptions, is aided by his son, Terry (William Tracy), and Terry's pal, Pat Ryan (Jeff York), and ... See full summary »
Director: James W. Horne | Stars: William Tracy, Jeff York, Joyce Bryant, Allen Jung
Votes: 99
25. Gaslight (1940)
84 min | Mystery, Thriller
Twenty years after the murder of Alice Barlow, her house is finally occupied again. However, the husband from the couple who have moved in has a secret which he will do anything to keep hidden.
Director: Thorold Dickinson | Stars: Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell, Cathleen Cordell
Votes: 3,685
26. The Mortal Storm (1940)
PG | 100 min | Drama
The Roth family leads a quiet life in a small village in the German Alps during the early 1930s. When the Nazis come to power, the family is divided and Martin Breitner, a family friend, is caught up in the turmoil.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young, Frank Morgan
Votes: 4,371
27. The Letter (1940)
G | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter in her own hand may prove her undoing.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, Frieda Inescort
Votes: 11,312
28. The Mark of Zorro (1940)
G | 94 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
A young Spanish aristocrat must masquerade as a fop in order to maintain his secret identity of Zorro as he restores justice to early California.
Director: Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard
Votes: 9,028 | Gross: $4.36M
29. The Westerner (1940)
PG | 100 min | Drama, Romance, Western
Judge Roy Bean, a self-appointed hanging judge in Vinegarroon, Texas, befriends saddle tramp Cole Harden, who opposes Bean's policy against homesteaders.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Doris Davenport, Fred Stone
Votes: 4,898
30. The Long Voyage Home (1940)
PG | 105 min | Drama, War
In 1940, the motley crew of the British tramp steamer SS Glencairn prepares the ship for its perilous voyage from the West Indies to Baltimore and then to England.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Ian Hunter, Ward Bond
Votes: 3,732
31. The Sea Hawk (1940)
14A | 127 min | Action, Adventure, History
Geoffrey Thorpe, a buccaneer, is hired by Queen Elizabeth I to nag the Spanish Armada. The Armada is waiting for the attack on England and Thorpe surprises them with attacks on their galleons where he shows his skills on the sword.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains, Donald Crisp
Votes: 8,870
32. Arizona (1940)
125 min | Western
During the 1860s Tucson, a pioneer woman struggles to succeed in the freight and cattle business while at risk at the hands of corrupt and violent local businessmen and rampaging Indians.
Director: Wesley Ruggles | Stars: Jean Arthur, William Holden, Warren William, Porter Hall
Votes: 1,142
33. Swiss Family Robinson (1940)
93 min | Adventure
A family setting out for a new life across the sea is shipwrecked on a deserted island. The family members collaborate to create a home for themselves in the jungle environment.
Director: Edward Ludwig | Stars: Thomas Mitchell, Edna Best, Freddie Bartholomew, Terry Kilburn
Votes: 367 | Gross: $1.94M
34. The Man with Nine Lives (1940)
G | 74 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi
A medical researcher visits the deserted home of a pioneer in cryogenic science who disappeared 10 years earlier and finds him frozen in ice but still alive.
Director: Nick Grinde | Stars: Boris Karloff, Roger Pryor, Jo Ann Sayers, Stanley Brown
Votes: 683
35. Kit Carson (1940)
PG | 97 min | Biography, Romance, Western
Indian fighter, trapper and frontier scout Kit Carson leads a wagon train of settlers from Fort Bridger, along the Oregon Trail through Shoshone territory, to California which plans to secede from Mexico.
Director: George B. Seitz | Stars: Jon Hall, Lynn Bari, Dana Andrews, Harold Huber
Votes: 395
36. Know Your Money (1940)
20 min | Short, Crime, Drama
This entry in MGM's "Crime Does Not Pay" series deals with the efforts of the Secret Service to detect counterfeit money and prosecute those responsible for such crimes.
Director: Joseph M. Newman | Stars: Noel Madison, Dennis Moore, Charles D. Brown, William Edmunds
Votes: 91
37. The Ghost Breakers (1940)
85 min | Comedy, Horror, Mystery
A radio broadcaster, his quaking manservant and an heiress investigate the mystery of a haunted castle in Cuba.
Director: George Marshall | Stars: Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard, Richard Carlson, Paul Lukas
Votes: 2,917
38. Remember the Night (1940)
PG | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A shoplifter and her prosecutor fall in love, creating tensions for his career and family.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi, Elizabeth Patterson
Votes: 4,360 | Gross: $0.17M
39. Kitty Foyle (1940)
108 min | Drama, Romance
A hard-working, white-collar girl from a middle-class family meets and falls in love with a young socialite, but she soon clashes with his family.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Eduardo Ciannelli
Votes: 3,055
40. Our Town (1940)
90 min | Drama, Romance
Change comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: William Holden, Martha Scott, Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi
Votes: 2,267
41. The Blue Bird (1940)
88 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
Mytyl and her brother Tyltyl, a woodchopper's children, are led by the Fairy Berylune on a magical trip through the past, present, and future to locate the Blue Bird of Happiness.
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: Shirley Temple, Spring Byington, Nigel Bruce, Gale Sondergaard
Votes: 1,524
42. 'Northwest Passage' (Book I -- Rogers' Rangers) (1940)
PG | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Langdon Towne and Hunk Marriner join Major Rogers' Rangers as they wipe out an Indian village. They set out for Fort Wentworth, but when they arrive they find no soldiers and none of the supplies they expected.
Directors: King Vidor, Jack Conway, W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, Walter Brennan, Ruth Hussey
Votes: 3,181
43. The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
81 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
The owner of a coal mining operation, falsely imprisoned for fratricide, takes a drug to make him invisible, despite its side effect: gradual madness.
Director: Joe May | Stars: Cedric Hardwicke, Vincent Price, Nan Grey, John Sutton
Votes: 3,430
44. Der ewige Jude (1940)
(Banned) | 62 min | Documentary, History
Under the guise of a brutally honest documentary, this malevolent propaganda film aims to be an "indispensable tool in the hands of the Aryan race", designed to depict the "true" Jew when the masks of western civilisation fall off.
Director: Fritz Hippler | Stars: Curt Bois, Charles Chaplin, Albert Einstein, Adolf Hitler
Votes: 3,452
45. One Million B.C. (1940)
80 min | Adventure, Fantasy, Romance
Tale of Prehistoric survival and love between a male and a female belonging to opposing tribes that happened to be at slightly different stages of evolution.
Directors: Hal Roach Jr., Hal Roach | Stars: Victor Mature, Carole Landis, Lon Chaney Jr., Conrad Nagel
Votes: 1,288
46. Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
90 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
When a troupe of danseuses becomes unemployed, one of them takes up burlesque dancing while another dreams of performing ballet.
Directors: Dorothy Arzner, Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball, Virginia Field
Votes: 1,900
47. All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
PG | 141 min | Drama, Romance
A duchess' irrational behavior toward the governess of her children triggers tragic events that will change her family's lives forever.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Bette Davis, Charles Boyer, Jeffrey Lynn, Barbara O'Neil
Votes: 4,196
48. Night Train to Munich (1940)
95 min | Thriller, War
After Germany invades Czechoslovakia, the German and the British intelligence services try to capture Czech scientist Dr. Axel Bomasch (James Harcourt), inventor of a new type of armor-plating.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Margaret Lockwood, Rex Harrison, Paul Henreid, Basil Radford
Votes: 4,379
49. The Invisible Woman (1940)
72 min | Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi
An attractive model with an ulterior motive volunteers as guinea pig for an invisibility machine.
Director: A. Edward Sutherland | Stars: Virginia Bruce, John Barrymore, John Howard, Charles Ruggles
Votes: 2,148
50. North West Mounted Police (1940)
PG | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In 1885, a Texas Ranger travels to Canada to arrest a trapper who's wanted for murder and who's stirring up the Natives in a rebellion against the Canadian government.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: Gary Cooper, Madeleine Carroll, Paulette Goddard, Preston Foster
Votes: 1,389