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1940s American Movies

Public list by WPS with 4,289 movies or TV shows/series

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4,287 movies found (page 1/143):

Citizen Kane(1941)

PG
| 1h 59min | Mystery, Drama
4.0/5 (with 2,550 votes)

Newspaper magnate, Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.

It's a Wonderful Life(1946)

PG
| 2h 10min | Drama, Kids & Family, Fantasy
4.1/5 (with 1,950 votes)

A holiday favourite for generations... George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.

Samson and Delilah(1949)

NR
| 2h 14min | Drama, Romance / Love, Adventure
3.3/5 (with 82 votes)

When strongman Samson rejects the love of the beautiful Philistine woman Delilah, she seeks vengeance that brings horrible consequences they both regret. The classic story of Samson and Delilah as told by Cecil B. DeMille.

The Great Dictator(1940)

NR
| 2h 5min | Comedy, War
4.2/5 (with 1,461 votes)

Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.

Rope(1948)

1h 21min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
4.0/5 (with 1,118 votes)

Two men attempt to prove they committed the perfect crime by hosting a dinner party after strangling their former classmate to death.

The Secret Garden(1949)

1h 32min | Drama, Kids & Family
3.5/5 (with 13 votes)

When Cholera takes the parents of Mary Lennox, she is shipped from India to England to live with her Uncle Craven. Mary changes the lives of those she encounters at her Uncle's remote estate.

Gilda(1946)

NR
| 1h 50min | Drama, Romance / Love, Thriller
3.8/5 (with 235 votes)

A gambler discovers an old flame while in Argentina, but she's married to his new boss.

The Best Years of Our Lives(1946)

NR
| 2h 51min | Drama, Romance / Love, War
3.9/5 (with 258 votes)

It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.

Miracle on 34th Street(1947)

NR
| 1h 36min | Comedy, Drama, Kids & Family
3.7/5 (with 301 votes)

Kris Kringle, seemingly the embodiment of Santa Claus, is asked to portray the jolly old fellow at Macy's following his performance in the Thanksgiving Day parade. His portrayal is so complete that many begin to question if he truly is Santa Claus, while others question his sanity.

The Big Sleep(1946)

NR
| 1h 56min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
3.8/5 (with 427 votes)

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

The Philadelphia Story(1940)

NR
| 1h 53min | Comedy, Romance / Love
3.9/5 (with 360 votes)

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.

Red River(1948)

3.7/5 (with 213 votes)

Headstrong Thomas Dunson starts a thriving Texas cattle ranch with the help of his faithful trail hand, Groot, and his protégé, Matthew Garth, an orphan Dunson took under his wing when Matt was a boy. In need of money following the Civil War, Dunson and Matt lead a cattle drive to Missouri, where they will get a better price than locally, but the crotchety older man and his willful young partner begin to butt heads on the exhausting journey.

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And Then There Were None(1945)

NR
| 1h 37min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
3.5/5 (with 150 votes)

Ten strangers are summoned to a remote island and while they are waiting for the mysterious host to appear, a recording levels serious accusations at each of the guests. Soon they start being murdered, one by one. As the survivors try to keep their wits, they reach a disturbing conclusion: one of them must be the killer.

Double Indemnity(1944)

1h 48min | Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
4.1/5 (with 769 votes)

A rich woman and a calculating insurance agent plot to kill her unsuspecting husband after he signs a double indemnity policy. Against a backdrop of distinctly Californian settings, the partners in crime plan the perfect murder to collect the insurance, which pays double if the death is accidental.

Notorious(1946)

3.9/5 (with 653 votes)

In order to help bring Nazis to justice, U.S. government agent T.R. Devlin recruits Alicia Huberman, the American daughter of a convicted German war criminal, as a spy. As they begin to fall for one another, Alicia is instructed to win the affections of Alexander Sebastian, a Nazi hiding out in Brazil. When Sebastian becomes serious about his relationship with Alicia, the stakes get higher, and Devlin must watch her slip further undercover.

The Maltese Falcon(1941)

NR
| 1h 40min | Mystery, Crime, Thriller
3.9/5 (with 727 votes)

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a beautiful liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

Out of the Past(1947)

3.8/5 (with 236 votes)

Jeff Bailey seems to be a mundane gas station owner in remote Bridgeport, California. He is dating local girl Ann Miller and lives a quiet life. But Jeff has a secret past, and when a mysterious stranger arrives in town, Jeff is forced to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.

How Green Was My Valley(1941)

NR
| 1h 58min | Drama, Kids & Family
3.6/5 (with 169 votes)

A man in his fifties reminisces about his childhood growing up in a Welsh mining village at the turn of the 20th century.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre(1948)

NR
| 2h 6min | Adventure, Drama, Western
4.0/5 (with 488 votes)

Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin, both down on their luck in Tampico, Mexico in 1925, meet up with a grizzled prospector named Howard and decide to join with him in search of gold in the wilds of central Mexico. Through enormous difficulties, they eventually succeed in finding gold, but bandits, the elements, and most especially greed threaten to turn their success into disaster.

Fort Apache(1948)

NR
| 2h 5min | Western
3.6/5 (with 144 votes)

Owen Thursday sees his new posting to the desolate Fort Apache as a chance to claim the military honour which he believes is rightfully his. Arrogant, obsessed with military form and ultimately self-destructive, he attempts to destroy the Apache chief Cochise after luring him across the border from Mexico, against the advice of his subordinates.

Rebecca(1940)

4.0/5 (with 766 votes)

Story of a young woman who marries a fascinating widower only to find out that she must live in the shadow of his former wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years earlier. The young wife must come to grips with the terrible secret of her handsome, cold husband, Max De Winter. She must also deal with the jealous, obsessed Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, who will not accept her as the mistress of the house.

The Grapes of Wrath(1940)

NR
| 2h 9min | Drama
3.9/5 (with 400 votes)

Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California and a new life... Hopefully.

Easter Parade(1948)

NR
| 1h 47min | Music, Romance / Love
3.5/5 (with 56 votes)

On the day before Easter in 1911, Don Hewes is crushed when his dancing partner (and object of affection) Nadine Hale refuses to start a new contract with him. To prove Nadine's not important to him, Don acquires innocent new protege, Hannah Brown, vowing to make her a star in time for next year's Easter parade.

The Naked City(1948)

1h 36min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
3.6/5 (with 101 votes)

The Naked City portrays the police investigation that follows the murder of a young model. A veteran cop is placed in charge of the case and he sets about, with the help of other beat cops and detectives, finding the girl's killer.

The Shop Around the Corner(1940)

NR
| 1h 39min | Comedy, Drama, Romance / Love
4.2/5 (with 299 votes)

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

Little Women(1949)

3.7/5 (with 98 votes)

Louisa May Alcott's autobiographical account of her life with her three sisters in Concord Mass in the 1860s. With their father fighting in the civil war, the sisters: Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth are at home with their mother - a very outspoken women for her time. The story is of how the sisters grow up, find love and find their place in the world.

The Lost Weekend(1945)

NR
| 1h 41min | Drama
3.8/5 (with 236 votes)

Don Birnam, a long-time alcoholic, has been sober for ten days and appears to be over the worst... but his craving has just become more insidious. Evading a country weekend planned by his brother and girlfriend, he begins a four-day bender that just might be his last - one way or another.

Spellbound(1945)

3.7/5 (with 376 votes)

When Dr. Anthony Edwardes arrives at a Vermont mental hospital to replace the outgoing hospital director, Dr. Constance Peterson, a psychoanalyst, discovers Edwardes is actually an impostor. The man confesses that the real Dr. Edwardes is dead and fears he may have killed him, but cannot recall anything. Dr. Peterson, however is convinced his impostor is innocent of the man's murder, and joins him on a quest to unravel his amnesia through psychoanalysis.

The Wolf Man(1941)

1h 10min | Horror, Drama
3.6/5 (with 244 votes)

After his brother's death, Larry Talbot returns home to his father and the family estate. Events soon take a turn for the worse when Larry is bitten by a werewolf.

His Girl Friday(1940)

3.7/5 (with 354 votes)

Walter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s star reporter, who also happens to be his estranged wife. She’s threatening to quit and settle down with a new beau, but, as Walter knows, she has a weakness: she can’t resist a juicy scoop.

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