Criteria: These Greatest Movies of the 1940s are ranked according to their initial and lasting acclaim, influence as well as initial and lasting popularity.
Edited By: Tim, pauldrach, ManPerson, Bruno, Luuk
- Citizen Kane - Orson Welles (1941)
- Casablanca - Michael Curtiz (1942)
- Bicycle Thieves - Vittorio De Sica (1948)
- It's a Wonderful Life - Frank Capra (1946)
- The Third Man - Carol Reed (1949)
- Double Indemnity - Billy Wilder (1944)
- Rome, Open City - Roberto Rossellini (1945)
- The Great Dictator - Charles Chaplin (1940)
- The Maltese Falcon - John Huston (1941)
- Fantasia - Ben Sharpsteen et al. (1940)
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - John Huston (1948)
- The Best Years of Our Lives - William Wyler (1946)
- Children of Paradise - Marcel Carné (1945)
- Notorious - Alfred Hitchcock (1946)
- The Grapes of Wrath - John Ford (1940)
- The Red Shoes - Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (1948)
- Pinocchio - Hamilton Luske & Ben Sharpsteen (1940)
- Rebecca - Alfred Hitchcock (1940)
- His Girl Friday - Howard Hawks (1940)
- The Philadelphia Story - George Cukor (1940)
- Brief Encounter - David Lean (1945)
- Out of the Past - Jacques Tourneur (1947)
- Beauty and the Beast - Jean Cocteau (1946)
- Meet Me in St. Louis - Vincente Minnelli (1944)
- To Be or Not to Be - Ernst Lubitsch (1942)
- Laura - Otto Preminger (1944)
- My Darling Clementine - John Ford (1946)
- A Matter of Life and Death - Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (1946)
- The Big Sleep - Howard Hawks (1946)
- Red River - Howard Hawks (1948)
- Kind Hearts and Coronets - Robert Hamer (1949)
- Black Narcissus - Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (1947)
- White Heat - Raoul Walsh (1949)
- Late Spring - Yasujirō Ozu (1949)
- The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp - Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (1943)
- Bambi - David Hand et al. (1942)
- The Thief of Bagdad - Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger & Tim Whelan (1940)
- The Ox-Bow Incident - William A. Wellman (1942)
- The Lost Weekend - Billy Wilder (1945)
- Cat People - Jacques Tourneur (1942)
- Mildred Pierce - Michael Curtiz (1945)
- Rope - Alfred Hitchcock (1948)
- The Magnificent Ambersons - Orson Welles (1942)
- The Shop Around the Corner - Ernst Lubitsch (1940)
- The Lady Eve - Preston Sturges (1941)
- Letter from an Unknown Woman - Max Ophüls (1948)
- Ivan the Terrible, Part 1 - Sergei M. Eisenstein (1944)
- Shadow of a Doubt - Alfred Hitchcock (1943)
- To Have and Have Not - Howard Hawks (1944)
- How Green Was My Valley - John Ford (1941)
- Meshes of the Afternoon - Maya Deren & Alexander Hammid (1943)
- Sullivan's Travels - Preston Sturges (1941)
- On the Town - Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly (1949)
- Detour - Edgar G. Ulmer (1945)
- Hamlet - Laurence Olivier (1948)
- Paisan - Roberto Rossellini (1946)
- Day of Wrath - Carl Theodor Dreyer (1943)
- Ossessione - Luchino Visconti (1943)
- Arsenic and Old Lace - Frank Capra (1944)
- Fort Apache - John Ford (1948)
- Ivan the Terrible, Part 2 - Sergei M. Eisenstein (1946)
- Henry V - Laurence Olivier (1944)
- Dumbo - Ben Sharpsteen et al. (1941)
- Gaslight - George Cukor (1944)
- Sergeant York - Howard Hawks (1941)
- Now, Voyager - Irving Rapper (1942)
- Miracle on 34th Street - George Seaton (1947)
- Adam's Rib - George Cukor (1949)
- The Wolf Man - George Waggner (1941)
- The Heiress - William Wyler (1949)
- Gilda - Charles Vidor (1946)
- Stray Dog - Akira Kurosawa (1949)
- Samson and Delilah - Cecil B. DeMille (1948)
- Dead of Night - Basil Dearden, Alberto Cavalcanti, Robert Hamer & Charles Crichton (1945)
- The Lady from Shanghai - Orson Welles (1947)
- Monsieur Verdoux - Charles Chaplin (1947)
- Germany, Year Zero - Roberto Rossellini (1948)
- Spellbound - Alfred Hitchcock (1945)
- Great Expectations - David Lean (1946)
- The Bank Dick - Edward F. Cline (1940)
- Shoeshine - Vittorio De Sica (1946)
- The Killers - Robert Siodmak (1946)
- Twelve O'Clock High - Henry King (1949)
- Oliver Twist - David Lean (1948)
- Mrs. Miniver - William Wyler (1942)
- They Live by Night - Nicholas Ray (1948)
- Yankee Doodle Dandy - Michael Curtiz (1942)
- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon - John Ford (1949)
- All the King's Men - Robert Rossen (1949)
- Johnny Belinda - Jean Negulesco (1948)
- Odd Man Out - Carol Reed (1947)
- The Ghost and Mrs. Muir - Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1947)
- Leave Her to Heaven - John M. Stahl (1945)
- The Set-Up - Robert Wise (1949)
- Partie de campagne - Jean Renoir (1946)
- Key Largo - John Huston (1948)
- The Postman Always Rings Twice - Tay Garnett (1946)
- The Little Foxes - William Wyler (1941)
- Scarlet Street - Fritz Lang (1945)
- Foreign Correspondent - Alfred Hitchcock (1940)
- The Palm Beach Story - Preston Sturges (1942)
- The Miracle of Morgan's Creek - Preston Sturges (1944)
- The Woman in the Window - Fritz Lang (1944)
- Heaven Can Wait - Ernst Lubitsch (1943)
- I Walked with a Zombie - Jacques Tourneur (1943)
- Going My Way - Leo McCarey (1944)
- Meet John Doe - Frank Capra (1941)
- A Letter to Three Wives - Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1949)
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Elia Kazan (1945)
- Ball of Fire - Howard Hawks (1941)
- The Letter - William Wyler (1940)
- High Sierra - Raoul Walsh (1941)
- Random Harvest - Mervyn LeRoy (1942)
- La terra trema - Luchino Visconti (1948)
- Le corbeau - Henri-Georges Clouzot (1943)
- National Velvet - Clarence Brown (1944)
- The Pride of the Yankees - Sam Wood (1942)
- Woman of the Year - George Stevens (1942)
- The Mortal Storm - Frank Borzage (1940)
- For Whom the Bell Tolls - Sam Wood (1943)
- The Song of Bernadette - Henry King (1943)
- Lassie Come Home - Fred M. Wilcox (1943)
- Murder, My Sweet - Edward Dmytryk (1944)
- Duel in the Sun - King Vidor (1946)
- Crossfire - Edward Dmytryk (1947)
- The Uninvited - Lewis Allen (1944)
- This Gun for Hire - Frank Tuttle (1942)
- Drunken Angel - Akira Kurosawa (1948)
- I Know Where I'm Going! - Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (1945)
- Gentleman's Agreement - Elia Kazan (1947)
- Hellzapoppin' - H. C. Potter (1941)
- Suspicion - Alfred Hitchcock (1941)
- Cabin in the Sky - Vincente Minnelli (1943)
- Holiday Inn - Mark Sandrich (1942)
- The Mark of Zorro - Rouben Mamoulian (1940)
- Jour de fête - Jacques Tati (1949)
- Quai des Orfèvres - Henri-Georges Clouzot (1947)
- Spring in a Small Town - Fei Mu (1948)
- The Sea Hawk - Michael Curtiz (1940)
- The Fallen Idol - Carol Reed (1948)
- The Naked City - Jules Dassin (1948)
- D.O.A. - Rudolph Maté (1949)
- Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein - Charles Barton (1948)
- Battleground - William A. Wellman (1949)
- Body and Soul - Robert Rossen (1947)
- Nightmare Alley - Edmund Goulding (1947)
- A Canterbury Tale - Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (1944)
- Hail the Conquering Hero - Preston Sturges (1944)
- Lifeboat - Alfred Hitchcock (1944)
- Since You Went Away - John Cromwell (1944)
- The Spiral Staircase - Robert Siodmak (1946)
- They Were Expendable - John Ford (1945)
- The Bells of St. Mary's - Leo McCarey (1945)
- The Seventh Victim - Mark Robson (1943)
- Dark Passage - Delmer Daves (1947)
- The Stranger - Orson Welles (1946)
- Kiss of Death - Henry Hathaway (1947)
- Force of Evil - Abraham Polonsky (1948)
- The Snake Pit - Anatole Litvak (1948)
- Easter Parade - Charles Walters (1948)
- Anchors Aweigh - George Sidney (1945)
- The Story of G.I. Joe - William A. Wellman (1945)
- Here Comes Mr. Jordan - Alexander Hall (1941)
- Gentleman Jim - Raoul Walsh (1942)
- The Talk of the Town - George Stevens (1942)
- Whisky Galore! - Alexander Mackendrick (1949)
- Cluny Brown - Ernst Lubitsch (1946)
- The Yearling - Clarence Brown (1946)
- The Bishop's Wife - Henry Koster (1947)
- Sands of Iwo Jima - Allan Dwan (1949)
- The More the Merrier - George Stevens (1943)
- In Which We Serve - Noël Coward & David Lean (1942)
- 49th Parallel - Michael Powell (1941)
- Sahara - Zoltan Korda (1943)
- Pride and Prejudice - Robert Z. Leonard (1940)
- They Died with Their Boots On - Raoul Walsh (1941)
- Road to Morocco - David Butler (1942)
- Stormy Weather - Andrew L. Stone (1943)
- Torment - Alf Sjöberg (1944)
- The Devil and Daniel Webster - William Dieterle (1941)
- Thirty Seconds over Tokyo - Mervyn LeRoy (1944)
- Kings Row - Sam Wood (1942)
- Destination Tokyo - Delmer Daves (1943)
- Red Hot Riding Hood - Tex Avery (1943)
- Waterloo Bridge - Mervyn LeRoy (1940)
- Brute Force - Jules Dassin (1947)
- The Westerner - William Wyler (1940)
- The Outlaw - Howard Hughes (1943)
- The Picture of Dorian Gray - Albert Lewin (1945)
- And Then There Were None - René Clair (1945)
- It Always Rains on Sunday - Robert Hamer (1947)
- The Spring River Flows East - Cai Chusheng & Zheng Junli (1947)
- The Clock - Vincente Minnelli (1945)
- Objective, Burma! - Raoul Walsh (1945)
- Criss Cross - Robert Siodmak (1949)
- Man Hunt - Fritz Lang (1941)
- Buck Privates - Arthur Lubin (1941)
- Five Graves to Cairo - Billy Wilder (1943)
- Jane Eyre - Robert Stevenson (1943)
- Superman - Dave Fleischer (1941)
- Cover Girl - Charles Vidor (1944)
- The Man Who Came to Dinner - William Keighley (1942)
- The Strange Love of Martha Ivers - Lewis Milestone (1946)
- The Razor's Edge - Edmund Goulding (1946)
- Boomerang! - Elia Kazan (1947)
- The Cat Concerto - William Hanna & Joseph Barbera (1947)
- Pursued - Raoul Walsh (1947)
- The Major and the Minor - Billy Wilder (1942)
- Hold That Ghost - Arthur Lubin (1941)
- Portrait of Jennie - William Dieterle (1948)
- Dance, Girl, Dance - Dorothy Arzner (1940)
- The Great McGinty - Preston Sturges (1940)
- Road to Singapore - Victor Schertzinger (1940)
- Passport to Pimlico - Henry Cornelius (1949)
- Fireworks - Kenneth Anger (1947)
- State Fair - Walter Lang (1945)
- Life with Father - Michael Curtiz (1947)
- Boom Town - Jack Conway (1940)
- Saboteur - Alfred Hitchcock (1942)
- Watch on the Rhine - Herman Shumlin (1943)
- Ministry of Fear - Fritz Lang (1944)
- The Glass Key - Stuart Heisler (1942)
- The Big Clock - John Farrow (1948)
- Brighton Rock - John Boulting (1948)
- Andaz - Mehboob Khan (1949)
- Hangmen Also Die! - Fritz Lang (1943)
- All This, and Heaven Too - Anatole Litvak (1940)
- The Devil and Miss Jones - Sam Wood (1941)
- Le silence de la mer - Jean-Pierre Melville (1949)
- Bitter Rice - Giuseppe De Santis (1949)
- Unfaithfully Yours - Preston Sturges (1948)
- The Curse of the Cat People - Robert Wise & Gunther von Fritsch (1944)
- The Three Caballeros - Norm Ferguson et al. (1944)
- A Walk in the Sun - Lewis Milestone (1945)
- The Body Snatcher - Robert Wise (1945)
- The Blue Dahlia - George Marshall (1946)
- Les dames du bois de Boulogne - Robert Bresson (1945)
- The Egg and I - Chester Erskine (1947)
- King-Size Canary - Tex Avery (1947)
- The Great Piggy Bank Robbery - Bob Clampett (1946)
- Listen to Britain - Humphrey Jennings & Stewart McAllister (1942)
- Blood of the Beasts - Georges Franju (1949)
- I Was a Male War Bride - Howard Hawks (1949)
- The Long Voyage Home - John Ford (1940)
- Air Force - Howard Hawks (1943)
- Remember the Night - Mitchell Leisen (1940)
- The Black Swan - Henry King (1942)
- The Leopard Man - Jacques Tourneur (1943)
- Hold Back the Dawn - Mitchell Leisen (1941)
- Green for Danger - Sidney Gilliat (1946)