Favorite 50 of the '40s
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1.
Casablanca
(1942)
Set in unoccupied Africa during the early days of World War II: An American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications. (102 mins.)
Director: Michael Curtiz
2.
Out of the Past
(1947)
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. (97 mins.)
Director: Jacques Tourneur
3.
Citizen Kane
(1941)
Following the death of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final utterance. (119 mins.)
Director: Orson Welles
4.
Double Indemnity
(1944)
An insurance rep lets himself be talked into a murder/insurance fraud scheme that arouses an insurance investigator's suspicions. (107 mins.)
Director: Billy Wilder
5.
The Third Man
(1949)
Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime. (104 mins.)
Director: Carol Reed
6.
Brief Encounter
(1945)
Meeting a stranger in a railway station, a woman is tempted to cheat on her husband. (86 mins.)
Director: David Lean
7.
The Big Sleep
(1946)
Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love. (114 mins.)
Director: Howard Hawks
8.
The Maltese Falcon
(1941)
A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette. (100 mins.)
Director: John Huston
9.
Kind Hearts and Coronets
(1949)
A distant poor relative of the Duke of D'Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering the eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession. (106 mins.)
Director: Robert Hamer
10.
Shadow of a Doubt
(1943)
A young woman discovers her visiting "Uncle Charlie" may not be the man he seems to be. (108 mins.)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
11.
Detour
(1945)
Chance events trap hitch-hiker Al Roberts in a tightening net of film noir trouble. (67 mins.)
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
12.
To Be or Not to Be
(1942)
During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy. (99 mins.)
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
13.
Murder, My Sweet
(1944)
After being hired to find an ex-con's former girlfriend, Philip Marlowe is drawn into a deeply complex web of mystery and deceit. (95 mins.)
Director: Edward Dmytryk
14.
Ball of Fire
(1941)
A group of ivory-tower lexicographers realize they need to hear how real people talk, and end up helping a beautiful singer avoid police and escape from the Mob. (111 mins.)
Director: Howard Hawks
15.
Laura
(1944)
A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating. (88 mins.)
Director: Otto Preminger
16.
The Postman Always Rings Twice
(1946)
A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband... but even once the deed is done, they must live with the consequences of their actions. (113 mins.)
Director: Tay Garnett
17.
Notorious
(1946)
A woman is asked to spy on a group of Nazi friends in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them? (101 mins.)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
18.
Letter from an Unknown Woman
(1948)
A pianist about to flee from a duel receives a letter from a woman he cannot remember whom may hold the key to his downfall. (86 mins.)
Director: Max Opuls
19.
The Lady from Shanghai
(1947)
Fascinated by gorgeous Mrs. Bannister, seaman Michael O'Hara joins a bizarre yachting cruise, and ends up mired in a complex murder plot. (87 mins.)
20.
Brute Force
(1947)
At a tough penitentiary, prisoner Joe Collins plans to rebel against Captain Munsey, the power-mad chief guard. (98 mins.)
Director: Jules Dassin
21.
Gilda
(1946)
The sinister boss of a South American casino finds that his right-hand man Johnny and his sensuous new wife Gilda already know each other. (110 mins.)
Director: Charles Vidor
22.
Stairway to Heaven
(1946)
A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court. (104 mins.)
Director: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
23.
They Live by Night
(1948)
An escaped convict is injured and is helped by a woman with whom he has an ill-fated relationship. (95 mins.)
Director: Nicholas Ray
24.
Odd Man Out
(1947)
A wounded Irish nationalist leader attempts to evade police following a failed robbery. Action takes place in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (116 mins.)
Director: Carol Reed
25.
The Set-Up
(1949)
Over-the-hill boxer Bill 'Stoker' Thompson insists he can still win, though his sexy wife Julie pleads with him to quit... (73 mins.)
Director: Robert Wise
26.
Sorry, Wrong Number
(1948)
Whilst on the telephone, an invalid woman overhears what she thinks is a plot to murder her. (89 mins.)
Director: Anatole Litvak
27.
Dead Reckoning
(1947)
A soldier runs away rather than receive the Medal of Honor, so his buddy gets permission to investigate, and love and death soon follow. (100 mins.)
Director: John Cromwell
28.
Rope
(1948)
Two young men strangle their "inferior" classmate, hide his body in their apartment, and invite his friends and family to a dinner party as a means to challenge the "perfection" of their crime. (80 mins.)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
29.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
(1948)
Fred Dobbs and Bob Curtin, two Americans searching for work in Mexico, convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains. (126 mins.)
Director: John Huston
30.
Rebecca
(1940)
When a naive young woman marries a rich widower and settles in his gigantic mansion, she finds the memory of the first wife maintaining a grip on her husband and the servants. (130 mins.)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
31.
The Killers
(1946)
Hit men kill an unresisting victim, and investigator Reardon uncovers his past involvement with beautiful, deadly Kitty Collins. (103 mins.)
Director: Robert Siodmak
32.
Bicycle Thieves
(1948)
A man and his son search for a stolen bicycle vital for his job. (93 mins.)
Director: Vittorio De Sica
33.
The Magnificent Ambersons
(1942)
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved. (88 mins.)
Director: Orson Welles
34.
Force of Evil
(1948)
An unethical lawyer, with an older brother he wants to help, becomes a partner with a client in the numbers racket. (78 mins.)
Director: Abraham Polonsky
35.
White Heat
(1949)
A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. Shortly after the plan takes place, events take a crazy turn (114 mins.)
Director: Raoul Walsh
36.
The Red Shoes
(1948)
A young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina. (133 mins.)
Director: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
37.
Scarlet Street
(1945)
When a man in mid-life crisis befriends a young woman, her venal fiancé persuades her to con him out of some of the fortune she thinks he has. (103 mins.)
Director: Fritz Lang
38.
The Big Clock
(1948)
A career oriented magazine editor finds himself on the run when he discovers his boss is framing him for murder. (95 mins.)
Director: John Farrow
39.
Red River
(1948)
Dunson is driving his cattle to Red River when his adopted son, Matthew, turns against him. (133 mins.)
Director: Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson
40.
The Stranger
(1946)
An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi. (95 mins.)
Director: Orson Welles
41.
The Woman in the Window
(1944)
When a conservative middle-aged professor engages in a minor dalliance with a femme fatale, he is plunged into a nightmarish quicksand of blackmail and murder. (107 mins.)
Director: Fritz Lang
42.
Arsenic and Old Lace
(1944)
A drama critic learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are homicidal maniacs, and that insanity runs in his family. (118 mins.)
Director: Frank Capra
43.
Portrait of Jennie
(1948)
A mysterious girl inspires a struggling artist. (86 mins.)
Director: William Dieterle
44.
The Search
(1948)
In the Post-War Berlin, an American private helps a lost Czech boy to find his mother. (104 mins.)
Director: Fred Zinnemann
45.
The Heiress
(1949)
A young naive woman falls for a handsome young man who her emotionally abusive father suspects is a fortune hunter. (115 mins.)
Director: William Wyler
46.
It's a Wonderful Life
(1946)
An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would have been like if he never existed. (130 mins.)
Director: Frank Capra
47.
His Girl Friday
(1940)
A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying. (92 mins.)
Director: Howard Hawks
48.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
(1943)
Portrays in warm-hearted detail the life and loves of one extraordinary man. We meet the imposingly rotund General Clive Wynne-Candy... (163 mins.)
Director: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
49.
Cat People
(1942)
An American man marries a Serbian immigrant who fears that she will turn into the cat person of her homeland's fables if they are intimate together. (73 mins.)
Director: Jacques Tourneur
50.
Now, Voyager
(1942)
Boston spinster blossoms under therapy and finds impossible romance. (117 mins.)
Director: Irving Rapper
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