Movie Auditor › Rankings › 1940s
Best Movies of the 1940s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
800 films from the 1940s are in our catalog; the 100 best are ranked below. Top of the list is It's a Wonderful Life ('1946), at 8.6 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 7.9. Biggest split between audiences and critics: Notorious, 7.9 on IMDb against 100 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It's a Wonderful Life '1946 | Drama / Fantasy | 8.6 | 94% | 89 | 8.3 | Frank Capra |
| 2 | Casablanca '1943 | Drama / Romance | 8.5 | 99% | 100 | 8.1 | Michael Curtiz |
| 3 | The Great Dictator '1940 | Comedy / War | 8.4 | 92% | - | 8.3 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 4 | Double Indemnity '1944 | Crime / Thriller | 8.3 | 97% | 95 | 8.1 | Billy Wilder |
| 5 | Citizen Kane '1941 | Mystery / Drama | 8.2 | 99% | 100 | 8.0 | Orson Welles |
| 6 | Bicycle Thieves '1948 | Drama | 8.2 | 99% | - | 8.2 | Vittorio De Sica |
| 7 | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre '1948 | Drama / Western | 8.2 | 100% | 98 | 8.0 | John Huston |
| 8 | Children of Paradise '1945 | Drama / Romance | 8.3 | 98% | 96 | 8.0 | Marcel Carné |
| 9 | The Third Man '1949 | Thriller / Mystery | 8.1 | 99% | 97 | 7.9 | Carol Reed |
| 10 | The Grapes of Wrath '1940 | Drama | 8.1 | 100% | 96 | 7.8 | John Ford |
| 11 | The Best Years of Our Lives '1946 | Drama / Romance / War | 8.1 | 97% | 93 | 7.7 | William Wyler |
| 12 | Late Spring '1949 | Drama | 8.2 | 100% | 93 | 8.0 | Yasujirō Ozu |
| 13 | The Red Shoes '1948 | Drama / Romance | 8.1 | 98% | - | 8.0 | Emeric Pressburger |
| 14 | To Be or Not to Be '1942 | Comedy / War / Romance | 8.1 | 96% | 86 | 7.8 | Ernst Lubitsch |
| 15 | White Heat '1949 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 8.1 | 94% | 89 | 7.7 | Raoul Walsh |
| 16 | Rebecca '1940 | Mystery / Romance / Thriller | 8.0 | 98% | 86 | 7.9 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 17 | The Heiress '1949 | Drama / Romance | 8.1 | 100% | - | 7.8 | William Wyler |
| 18 | Kind Hearts and Coronets '1949 | Comedy / Crime | 8.0 | 100% | - | 7.6 | Robert Hamer |
| 19 | Brief Encounter '1945 | Drama / Romance | 8.0 | 95% | 92 | 7.7 | David Lean |
| 20 | The Shop Around the Corner '1940 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 8.0 | 99% | 96 | 8.1 | Ernst Lubitsch |
| 21 | A Matter of Life and Death '1946 | Romance / Fantasy / Drama | 8.0 | 97% | - | 7.7 | Michael Powell |
| 22 | Rome, Open City '1945 | Drama / War | 8.0 | 100% | - | 8.0 | Roberto Rossellini |
| 23 | Rope '1948 | Thriller / Crime / Drama | 7.9 | 93% | 73 | 7.9 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 24 | The Maltese Falcon '1941 | Mystery / Crime / Thriller | 7.9 | 99% | 97 | 7.7 | John Huston |
| 25 | The Ox-Bow Incident '1943 | Western | 8.0 | 90% | - | 7.7 | William A. Wellman |
| 26 | Notorious '1946 | Drama / Romance / Thriller | 7.9 | 96% | 100 | 7.7 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 27 | The Big Sleep '1946 | Mystery / Crime / Thriller | 7.9 | 96% | 86 | 7.6 | Howard Hawks |
| 28 | Miracle on 34th Street '1947 | Comedy / Drama | 7.9 | 96% | 88 | 7.4 | George Seaton |
| 29 | Arsenic and Old Lace '1944 | Comedy / Crime | 7.9 | 86% | - | 7.6 | Frank Capra |
| 30 | Out of the Past '1947 | Crime / Thriller | 7.9 | 87% | 85 | 7.7 | Jacques Tourneur |
| 31 | Laura '1944 | Drama / Mystery | 7.9 | 100% | - | 7.6 | Otto Preminger |
| 32 | The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp '1943 | War / Drama / Romance | 8.0 | 97% | - | 7.5 | Emeric Pressburger |
| 33 | Beauty and the Beast '1946 | Drama / Fantasy / Romance | 7.9 | - | 92 | 7.5 | Jean Cocteau |
| 34 | Sullivan's Travels '1941 | Comedy / Romance | 7.9 | 100% | 89 | 7.4 | Preston Sturges |
| 35 | Mildred Pierce '1945 | Crime / Drama | 7.9 | 88% | 88 | 7.6 | Michael Curtiz |
| 36 | The Cat Concerto '1947 | Animation / Comedy / Musical | 8.2 | - | - | 7.6 | William Hanna |
| 37 | Day of Wrath '1943 | Drama | 8.0 | 100% | - | 8.0 | Carl Theodor Dreyer |
| 38 | Shadow of a Doubt '1943 | Thriller / Mystery / Crime | 7.8 | 100% | 94 | 7.5 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 39 | The Philadelphia Story '1940 | Comedy / Romance | 7.8 | 100% | 96 | 7.5 | George Cukor |
| 40 | His Girl Friday '1940 | Comedy / Romance / Crime | 7.8 | 99% | 94 | 7.4 | Howard Hawks |
| 41 | Shoeshine '1946 | Drama | 8.0 | 100% | 82 | 7.8 | Vittorio De Sica |
| 42 | The Lost Weekend '1945 | Drama | 7.8 | 97% | - | 7.6 | Billy Wilder |
| 43 | To Have and Have Not '1945 | Romance / War | 7.8 | 97% | 90 | 7.4 | Howard Hawks |
| 44 | The Little Foxes '1941 | Drama | 7.9 | - | - | 7.5 | William Wyler |
| 45 | Gaslight '1944 | Thriller / Drama / Mystery / Crime | 7.8 | 94% | 78 | 7.5 | George Cukor |
| 46 | Great Expectations '1946 | Drama / Romance | 7.8 | 100% | 90 | 7.3 | David Lean |
| 47 | A Tree Grows in Brooklyn '1945 | Drama | 8.0 | 94% | - | 7.5 | Elia Kazan |
| 48 | The Ghost and Mrs. Muir '1947 | Romance / Fantasy / Drama | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.5 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| 49 | Monsieur Verdoux '1947 | Comedy / Crime / Drama | 7.8 | 97% | - | 7.7 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 50 | Stray Dog '1949 | Crime / Drama / Thriller / Mystery | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.6 | Akira Kurosawa |
| 51 | Germany, Year Zero '1948 | Drama | 7.8 | 96% | - | 7.6 | Roberto Rossellini |
| 52 | Letter from an Unknown Woman '1948 | Drama / Romance | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.8 | Max Ophüls |
| 53 | Now, Voyager '1942 | Romance / Drama | 7.8 | 91% | 70 | 7.4 | Irving Rapper |
| 54 | Oliver Twist '1948 | Drama | 7.8 | 100% | 84 | 7.6 | David Lean |
| 55 | Fantasia '1940 | Animation / Fantasy | 7.7 | 95% | 96 | 7.3 | Samuel Armstrong |
| 56 | Key Largo '1948 | Crime / Thriller | 7.7 | 97% | 74 | 7.5 | John Huston |
| 57 | Random Harvest '1942 | Romance / Drama | 7.9 | 91% | 62 | 7.3 | Mervyn LeRoy |
| 58 | Red River '1948 | Western / Drama | 7.7 | 100% | 96 | 7.3 | Howard Hawks |
| 59 | Meshes of the Afternoon '1943 | Mystery / Fantasy | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.6 | Maya Deren |
| 60 | I Remember Mama '1948 | Drama | 7.9 | 100% | - | 7.2 | George Stevens |
| 61 | Black Narcissus '1947 | Drama | 7.7 | 100% | 86 | 7.5 | Emeric Pressburger |
| 62 | My Darling Clementine '1946 | Western | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.5 | John Ford |
| 63 | The Killers '1946 | Crime / Mystery / Thriller | 7.7 | 97% | - | 7.4 | Robert Siodmak |
| 64 | How Green Was My Valley '1941 | Drama | 7.7 | 93% | 88 | 7.3 | John Ford |
| 65 | The Set-Up '1949 | Drama / Crime | 7.8 | 85% | - | 7.4 | Robert Wise |
| 66 | The Lady Eve '1941 | Comedy / Romance | 7.7 | 99% | 96 | 7.3 | Preston Sturges |
| 67 | Long-Haired Hare '1949 | Animation / Comedy | 8.1 | - | - | 7.1 | Chuck Jones |
| 68 | Scarlet Street '1945 | Drama / Crime | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.6 | Fritz Lang |
| 69 | Sergeant York '1941 | War / Drama | 7.7 | 81% | - | 7.2 | Howard Hawks |
| 70 | Le Corbeau '1943 | Mystery / Drama / Thriller | 7.8 | 97% | - | 7.5 | Henri-Georges Clouzot |
| 71 | Nightmare Alley '1947 | Drama / Thriller | 7.7 | 87% | 75 | 7.2 | Edmund Goulding |
| 72 | Twelve O'Clock High '1949 | War / Action / Drama | 7.7 | 96% | - | 7.2 | Henry King |
| 73 | Ball of Fire '1941 | Comedy / Romance / Crime | 7.7 | 100% | 78 | 7.4 | Howard Hawks |
| 74 | Gilda '1946 | Romance / Drama / Thriller | 7.6 | 90% | - | 7.5 | Charles Vidor |
| 75 | La Terra Trema '1949 | Drama | 7.8 | 82% | - | 7.8 | Luchino Visconti |
| 76 | The Search '1948 | Drama | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.1 | Fred Zinnemann |
| 77 | Hair-Raising Hare '1946 | Animation / Comedy | 8.0 | - | - | 7.2 | Chuck Jones |
| 78 | Heavenly Puss '1949 | Animation / Comedy / Drama | 8.2 | - | - | 7.5 | Joseph Barbera |
| 79 | The Bishop's Wife '1947 | Comedy / Fantasy / Drama / Romance | 7.6 | 85% | 72 | 7.1 | Henry Koster |
| 80 | Lifeboat '1944 | War / Drama | 7.6 | 90% | 78 | 7.4 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 81 | The Magnificent Ambersons '1942 | Drama / Romance | 7.6 | 89% | 93 | 7.3 | Orson Welles |
| 82 | Drunken Angel '1948 | Drama | 7.6 | 94% | - | 7.6 | Akira Kurosawa |
| 83 | Jenny Lamour '1947 | Drama / Mystery / Thriller | 7.7 | 100% | 89 | 7.5 | Henri-Georges Clouzot |
| 84 | Mrs. Miniver '1942 | Drama / Romance / War | 7.6 | 93% | 77 | 7.1 | William Wyler |
| 85 | Ivan the Terrible, Part I '1944 | Drama | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.3 | Sergei Eisenstein |
| 86 | Waterloo Bridge '1940 | Drama / Romance | 7.7 | 83% | 73 | 7.5 | Mervyn LeRoy |
| 87 | Odd Man Out '1947 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.6 | 100% | 87 | 7.3 | Carol Reed |
| 88 | Johnny Belinda '1948 | Drama | 7.7 | 100% | - | 6.9 | Jean Negulesco |
| 89 | The Big Clock '1948 | Crime / Thriller | 7.6 | 100% | - | 7.3 | John Farrow |
| 90 | Leave Her to Heaven '1945 | Drama / Thriller / Romance | 7.6 | 85% | - | 7.5 | John M. Stahl |
| 91 | Meet John Doe '1941 | Drama / Comedy / Romance | 7.6 | 92% | 63 | 7.3 | Frank Capra |
| 92 | The Woman in the Window '1944 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.6 | 83% | - | 7.4 | Fritz Lang |
| 93 | Yankee Doodle Dandy '1942 | Drama / Musical | 7.6 | 91% | 89 | 7.0 | Michael Curtiz |
| 94 | The Fallen Idol '1948 | Drama / Thriller | 7.6 | 100% | 88 | 7.2 | Carol Reed |
| 95 | A Letter to Three Wives '1949 | Romance / Drama / Mystery | 7.6 | 100% | - | 7.2 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| 96 | The Legend of Sleepy Hollow '1949 | Animation / Horror / Comedy | 7.7 | - | - | 7.4 | Clyde Geronimi |
| 97 | Paisan '1946 | Drama / War | 7.6 | 100% | - | 7.5 | Roberto Rossellini |
| 98 | Panic '1947 | Drama / Crime / Thriller | 7.9 | 100% | - | 7.4 | Julien Duvivier |
| 99 | Portrait of Jennie '1948 | Drama / Romance / Fantasy / Mystery | 7.6 | 93% | - | 7.2 | William Dieterle |
| 100 | The Pride of the Yankees '1942 | Drama | 7.6 | 94% | - | 7.3 | Sam Wood |
Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.
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