Master List #17: The 101 Best Films of the 1940s

Though the 101 movies mentioned here are some of the best ever made, the 1940s still stands as my least favorite decade for movies. The texture of cinema in that era feels boxed in to me--as if only a few directors made an attempt to get away from the confines of studio-approved packaging and the overwhelming influence of World War II. Those who did break out--like Welles, Sturges, and Capra, for instance--paid the price for their mavericking. Thus I've always maintained a distaste for the 1940s (and particularly for Casablanca, which is the most overrated movie of all time, and which I grudgingly include in the list only because of the sheer number of memorable lines it contributed to the world lexicon). Still, for the singular hat-wearing feel they have to offer, the titles on this list are must-sees, for sure. So here, evaluated by (1) overall quality, (2) historical importance, (3) influence, and (4) personal affection, are my choices (with one-line synopses to be added later):

1) It's A Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 46)
2) The Treasure of Sierra Madre (John Huston, 48)
3) Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 41)
4) Sullivan's Travels (Preston Sturges, 41)
5) The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 43)
6) Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincent Minnelli, 44)
7) Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock, 43)
8) Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, 46)
9) Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis, 49)
10) Great Expectations (David Lean, 48)
11) The Set-Up (Robert Wise, 49)
12) The Third Man (Carol Reed, 49)
13) The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 40)
14) Ball of Fire (Howard Hawks, 41)
15) Children of Paradise (Marcel Carné, 45)
16) They Were Expendable (John Ford, 45)
17) The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 41)
18) The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 41)
19) Bambi (David Hand/Walt Disney, 42)
20) The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica, 48)
21) My Darling Clementine (John Ford, 46)
22) To Be or Not To Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 42)
23) Brief Encounter (David Lean, 46)
24) The Red Shoes (Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger, 48)
25) Detour (Edgar Ulmer, 45)
26) She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 49)
27) The Great Dictator (Charles Chaplin, 40)
28) On The Town (Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, 49)
29) Monsiuer Verdoux (Charles Chaplin, 47)
30) Red River (Howard Hawks, 48)
31) Lifeboat (Alfred Hitchcock, 44)
32) The More The Merrier (George Stevens, 43)
33) Fantasia (Luske/Jackson/Algar/Disney et al., 40)
34) His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 40)
35) The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett, 46)
36) The Thief of Bagdad (Powell/Berger/Whelan et al., 40)
37) I Walked With a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur/Val Lewton, 43)
38) White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 49)
39) The Palm Beach Story (Preston Sturges, 42)
40) Long-Haired Hare (Chuck Jones, 49)
41) Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 44) 42) Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 46)
43) Rome--Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 45)
44) Cat People (Jacques Tourneur/Val Lewton, 42)
45) The Heiress (William Wyler, 49)
46) Superman Vs. The Mechanical Monsters (Max Fleicher, 41)
47) Begone Dull Care (Evelyn Lambart/Norman McLaren, 49)
(An experimental masterpiece)
48) The Sullivans (Lloyd Bacon, 44)
49) King-Size Canary (Tex Avery, 47)
50) Yellow Sky (William Wellman, 48)
51) The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (Preston Sturges, 44)
52) The Ox-Bow Incident (William Wellman, 43)
53) The Pride of the Yankees (Sam Wood, 42)
54) Battleground (William Wellman, 49)
55) Force of Evil (Abraham Polonsky, 48)
56) Pinocchio (Luske/Sharpsteen/Disney, 40)
57) Arsenic and Old Lace (Frank Capra, 44)
58) The Killers (Robert Siodmak, 46)
59) Laura (Otto Preminger, 44)
60) Murder My Sweet (Edward Dmytryk, 44)
61) The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles, 47)
62) Yankee Doodle Dandy (Michael Curtiz, 42)
63) Leave Her to Heaven (John M. Stahl, 45)
64) The Cat That Hated People (Tex Avery, 48)
65) The Shop Around The Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 40)
66) Nightmare Alley (Edmond Goulding, 47)
67) Macbeth (Orson Welles, 48)
68) Letter From An Unknown Woman (Max Ophuls. 48)
69) Miracle on 34th Street (George Seaton, 47)
70) Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen/Walt Disney, 46)
71) Shoeshine (Vittorio De Sica, 46)
72) Wilson (Henry King, 44)
73) The Body Snatcher (Robert Wise/Val Lewton, 47)
74) Champion (Mark Robson, 49)
75) Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock, 40)
76) A Letter to Three Wives (Joseph L. Manckiewicz, 49)
77) Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, 47)
78) Since You Went Away (John Cromwell/David O. Selznick, 44)
79) Adam's Rib (George Cukor, 49)
80) Meet John Doe (Frank Capra, 41)
81) Body and Soul (Robert Rossen, 47)
82) The Little Foxes (William Wyler, 41)
83) Christmas in July (Preston Sturges, 40)
84) The Why We Fight series (Capra, Stevens, Huston et.al, 43-45)
85) Sergeant York (Howard Hawks, 41)
86) That Hamilton Woman (Alexander Korda, 41)
87) The Major and the Minor (Billy Wilder, 42)
88) Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 42)
89) The Fallen Idol (Carol Reed, 48)
90) Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 45)
91) Henry V (Lawrence Olivier, 44)
92) It Happens Every Spring (Lloyd Bacon, 49)
93) Lady in the Lake (Robert Montgomery, 47)
94) The Lost Weekend (Billy Wilder, 45)
95) Mighty Joe Young (Ernest B. Schoedsack, 49)
96) Red Hot Riding Hood (Tex Avery, 43)
97) The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 46)
98) Spellbound (Alfred Hitchcock, 45)
99) The Spiral Staircase (Robert Siodmak, 45)
100) Der Fuehrer's Face (Jack Kinney/Walt Disney, 42)
101) The Picture of Dorian Gray (Albert Lewin, 45)