The Best 1940s International Feature Film
Which of these 35 top rated non-animated foreign movies (non-English) of the 1940s is your favorite?
After voting, you may discuss the poll here.
After voting, you may discuss the poll here.
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35 titles
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsLamberto MaggioraniEnzo StaiolaLianella CarellIn 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.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsArlettyJean-Louis BarraultPierre BrasseurThe theatrical life of a beautiful courtesan in 1830s Paris and the four men who love her.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChishû RyûSetsuko HaraYumeji TsukiokaSeveral people try to talk 27-year-old Noriko into marrying, but all she wants is to keep on caring for her widowed father.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsThorkild RooseLisbeth MovinSigrid NeiiendamThe young wife of an aging priest falls in love with his son amidst the horror of a merciless witch hunt in 17th-century Denmark.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsAnna MagnaniAldo FabriziMarcello PaglieroDuring the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1944, the Resistance leader, Giorgio Manfredi, is chased by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a way to escape.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsRinaldo SmordoniFranco InterlenghiAnnielo MeleTwo shoeshine boys in postwar Rome, Italy save up to buy a horse, but their involvement as dupes in a burglary lands them in juvenile prison; the experience take a devastating toll on their friendship.
- DirectorJean CocteauRené ClémentStarsJean MaraisJosette DayMila ParélyA beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraKeiko AwajiDuring a sweltering summer, a rookie homicide detective tries to track down his stolen Colt pistol.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsEdmund MoeschkeErnst PittschauIngetraud HinzeA young German boy faces the problems of the tough life in the immediate post-WWII Berlin.
- DirectorLuchino ViscontiStarsLuchino ViscontiAntonio PietrangeliAntonio ArcidiaconoIn rural Sicily, the fishermen live at the mercy of the greedy wholesalers. One family risks everything to buy their own boat and operate independently.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsPierre FresnayGinette LeclercMicheline FranceyA French village doctor becomes the target of poison-pen letters sent to village leaders, accusing him of affairs and practicing abortion.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsLouis JouvetSimone RenantBernard BlierA flirtatious wife runs off to meet an older man and the husband closes in with intend to murder him, but finds the deed already done.
- DirectorHelmut WeissStarsHeinz RühmannKarin HimboldtHilde SessakA successful writer, home-schooled in his youth, masquerades as a student at a secondary school to experience all the fun and pranks he missed out on.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinStarsNikolay CherkasovLyudmila TselikovskayaSerafima BirmanDuring the early part of his reign, Ivan the Terrible faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTakashi ShimuraToshirô MifuneReizaburô YamamotoA drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsCarmela SazioGar MooreWilliam TubbsAmerican military personnel interact warily with a variety of Italian locals over a year and a half in the push north during the Italian Campaign of WWII as German forces make their retreat.
- DirectorLuchino ViscontiStarsClara CalamaiMassimo GirottiDhia CristianiGino, a drifter, begins an affair with inn-owner Giovanna, and they plan to get rid of her older husband.
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsHoward VernonNicole StéphaneJean-Marie RobainIn occupied France, an elderly man and his niece are forced to give shelter to a German army lieutenant who seemingly loves their country and culture.
- DirectorJacques TatiStarsJacques TatiGuy DecomblePaul FrankeurA village postman with no sense of humour delivers his mail via bicycle on the day the travelling fair comes to town. He is disrupted by a short film about US speed and efficiency and the playful teasing of the village folk.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsPaul BernardMaría CasaresElina LabourdetteA society lady engineers a marriage between her lover and a cabaret dancer who is essentially a prostitute.
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsPierre FresnaySuzy DelairJean TissierInspector Wens moves into a Paris boarding house to catch a serial killer.
- DirectorMarcel CarnéStarsArlettyMarie DéaFernand LedouxIn medieval France, the Devil intervenes when one of his two envoys, sent to seduce and deceive mortals, falls instead for a victim.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsViviane RomanceMichel SimonMax DalbanAfter an elderly maid is murdered, opinions are manipulated, evidence is planted, violence erupts, and panic ensues.
- DirectorMaurice TourneurStarsPierre FresnayJosseline GaëlNoël RoquevertRoland Brissot bought for a nickel a talisman that gives him love, fame, and wealth. The talisman is a cut left hand, and it works perfectly. Of course, there is nothing free in this world, and after one year, the devil comes and asks for his due.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsFernand LedouxGeorges RollinBlanchette BrunoyIn a lost French village, an old woman is killed and her savings stolen. Several members of her family, all called "Goupi", are suspected.
- DirectorGiuseppe De SantisStarsVittorio GassmanDoris DowlingSilvana ManganoTwo criminals on the run end up working in a rice field and decide to recruit other workers for their next robbery.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsEmilio CigoliLuciano De AmbrosisIsa PolaFour-year-old Pricò becomes the subject of emotional folly by his capricious parents and negligent relatives.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraMiki SanjôA surgeon gets syphilis from a patient when he cuts himself during an operation. The doctor's life is destroyed, but unlike the patient, he doesn't destroy others along with him.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChishû RyûShûji SanoShin SaburiA schoolteacher struggles to raise his son Ryohei by himself, having neither money nor future prospects.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChôko IidaHôhi AokiEitarô OzawaA young boy follows Tashiro home to his tenement housing complex on the outskirts of Tokyo, the boy who was separated from his carpenter father somehow and somewhere in Kudan. All Tashiro knows is that the boy and his father came to town from Chigasaki that morning. Despite Tashiro's want to house the kid until they decide what to do more permanently, Tashiro's roommate, Tamekichi, the tenement's head, won't let the kid stay, not liking children and not wanting to get involved. So Tashiro foists the kid onto their neighbor, the widowed Tane, who too protests, she also not liking children and not wanting to get involved. Tane treats the boy with disdain, which only increases by the next morning due to an overnight incident. Amongst the tenement residents, Tane is charged with going to Chigasaki to see if she can find the father or find out what happened to him. On that trip, what she learns by putting the pieces of the story together is that the father purposefully abandoned the boy as he went off to look for work. This news does not change Tane's outlook or poor treatment of the boy. Nothing changes as the week progresses, however Tane's outlook takes a one hundred eighty degree turn when there is the possibility that she may never see the boy again.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsKinuyo TanakaShûji SanoChieko MurataA man returns from World War II to find his desperate wife had resorted to one night of prostitution to pay for their son's hospital bills.
- DirectorWolfgang StaudteStarsHildegard KnefElly BurgmerErna SellmerAfter returning from a concentration camp, Susanne finds an ex-soldier living in her apartment. Together the two try to move past their experiences during World War II.
- DirectorEmilio FernándezStarsDolores Del RíoPedro ArmendárizAlberto GalánIn Xochimilco 1909, María Candelaria and Lorenzo Rafael long for getting married but the odds are against them. María Candelaria is segregated for being a prostitute's child and the couple faces the greed of Mr. Damian, the town's shop owner who secretly desires María. When María falls sick with Malaria, Lorenzo Rafael steals a quinine bottle from Damian's shop, unleashing tragedy for the lovers.
- DirectorIsmael RodríguezStarsPedro InfanteEvita Muñoz 'Chachita'Carmen MontejoNosotros Los Pobres stars Pedro Infante as a carpenter whose entire family must work together to clear his name after he is charged with a murder..
- DirectorEmilio FernándezStarsPedro ArmendárizMaría Elena MarquésFernando WagnerThe discovery of a perfect pearl forever changes the lives of a poor Mexican fisherman and his family.