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Best Comedy Movies of the 1940s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
297 comedy films from the 1940s are in our catalog; the 50 best are ranked below. Top of the list is The Great Dictator (1940), at 8.4 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 7.8. Biggest split between audiences and critics: The Lady Eve, 7.7 on IMDb against 96 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Great Dictator '1940 | Comedy / War | 8.4 | 92% | - | 8.3 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 2 | To Be or Not to Be '1942 | Comedy / War / Romance | 8.1 | 96% | 86 | 7.8 | Ernst Lubitsch |
| 3 | Kind Hearts and Coronets '1949 | Comedy / Crime | 8.0 | 100% | - | 7.6 | Robert Hamer |
| 4 | The Shop Around the Corner '1940 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 8.0 | 99% | 96 | 8.1 | Ernst Lubitsch |
| 5 | Miracle on 34th Street '1947 | Comedy / Drama | 7.9 | 96% | 88 | 7.4 | George Seaton |
| 6 | Arsenic and Old Lace '1944 | Comedy / Crime | 7.9 | 86% | - | 7.6 | Frank Capra |
| 7 | Sullivan's Travels '1941 | Comedy / Romance | 7.9 | 100% | 89 | 7.4 | Preston Sturges |
| 8 | The Cat Concerto '1947 | Animation / Comedy / Musical | 8.2 | - | - | 7.6 | Joseph Barbera |
| 9 | The Philadelphia Story '1940 | Comedy / Romance | 7.8 | 100% | 96 | 7.5 | George Cukor |
| 10 | His Girl Friday '1940 | Comedy / Romance / Crime | 7.8 | 99% | 94 | 7.4 | Howard Hawks |
| 11 | Monsieur Verdoux '1947 | Comedy / Crime / Drama | 7.8 | 97% | - | 7.7 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 12 | The Lady Eve '1941 | Comedy / Romance | 7.7 | 99% | 96 | 7.3 | Preston Sturges |
| 13 | Long-Haired Hare '1949 | Animation / Comedy | 8.1 | - | - | 7.2 | Chuck Jones |
| 14 | Ball of Fire '1941 | Comedy / Romance / Crime | 7.7 | 100% | 78 | 7.4 | Howard Hawks |
| 15 | Heavenly Puss '1949 | Animation / Comedy / Drama | 8.2 | - | - | 7.5 | Joseph Barbera |
| 16 | Hair-Raising Hare '1946 | Animation / Comedy | 8.0 | - | - | 7.2 | Chuck Jones |
| 17 | Meet John Doe '1941 | Drama / Comedy / Romance | 7.6 | 92% | 63 | 7.3 | Frank Capra |
| 18 | The Legend of Sleepy Hollow '1949 | Animation / Horror / Comedy | 7.7 | - | - | 7.4 | Jack Kinney |
| 19 | Scaredy Cat '1948 | Animation / Comedy | 7.9 | - | - | 7.6 | Chuck Jones |
| 20 | It Happened on Fifth Avenue '1947 | Comedy / Romance / Musical | 7.6 | - | 66 | 7.1 | Roy Del Ruth |
| 21 | Solid Serenade '1946 | Animation / Comedy | 8.1 | - | - | 7.5 | William Hanna |
| 22 | Fast and Furry-ous '1949 | Animation / Comedy | 7.9 | - | - | 7.1 | Chuck Jones |
| 23 | Meet Me in St. Louis '1944 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 7.5 | 99% | 94 | 7.0 | Vincente Minnelli |
| 24 | The Punch Bowl '1944 | Comedy | 7.7 | - | - | 7.2 | Helmut Weiss |
| 25 | Haredevil Hare '1948 | Animation / Comedy / Sci-Fi | 7.8 | - | - | 7.2 | Chuck Jones |
| 26 | The Truce Hurts '1948 | Animation / Comedy | 7.9 | - | - | 7.5 | Joseph Barbera |
| 27 | High Diving Hare '1949 | Animation / Comedy / Western | 7.9 | - | - | 7.4 | Friz Freleng |
| 28 | The Night Before Christmas '1941 | Animation / Comedy | 7.9 | - | - | 7.4 | Joseph Barbera |
| 29 | The More the Merrier '1943 | Comedy / Romance | 7.6 | - | - | 6.9 | George Stevens |
| 30 | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse '1947 | Animation / Comedy / Fantasy | 7.8 | - | - | 7.3 | William Hanna |
| 31 | A Day in the Country '1946 | Drama / Romance / Comedy | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.3 | Jean Renoir |
| 32 | The Palm Beach Story '1942 | Comedy / Romance | 7.5 | 94% | - | 7.0 | Preston Sturges |
| 33 | The Devil and Miss Jones '1941 | Comedy / Romance | 7.6 | 90% | - | 7.6 | Sam Wood |
| 34 | The Man Who Came to Dinner '1941 | Comedy | 7.5 | 88% | 71 | 7.1 | William Keighley |
| 35 | Record of a Tenement Gentleman '1947 | Drama / Comedy | 7.7 | 100% | - | 7.2 | Yasujirō Ozu |
| 36 | Buccaneer Bunny '1948 | Animation / Comedy | 7.8 | - | - | 7.2 | Friz Freleng |
| 37 | Los tres huastecos '1948 | Comedy / Drama | 8.1 | - | - | 8.3 | Ismael Rodríguez |
| 38 | Old Rockin' Chair Tom '1948 | Comedy / Animation | 7.8 | - | - | 6.8 | Joseph Barbera |
| 39 | Mouse Trouble '1944 | Animation / Comedy | 7.9 | - | - | 7.3 | William Hanna |
| 40 | The Great Piggy Bank Robbery '1946 | Animation / Comedy / Mystery | 7.7 | - | - | 7.0 | Robert Clampett |
| 41 | Baseball Bugs '1946 | Animation / Comedy | 7.7 | - | - | 6.9 | Friz Freleng |
| 42 | Kitty Foiled '1948 | Animation / Comedy | 7.7 | - | - | 7.1 | William Hanna |
| 43 | Adam's Rib '1949 | Comedy / Romance | 7.4 | 96% | 87 | 7.1 | George Cukor |
| 44 | The Talk of the Town '1942 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 7.5 | 89% | - | 7.4 | George Stevens |
| 45 | Trap Happy '1946 | Comedy / Animation | 7.9 | - | - | 7.5 | William Hanna |
| 46 | Rhapsody Rabbit '1946 | Animation / Comedy | 7.8 | - | - | 7.3 | Friz Freleng |
| 47 | Here Comes Mr. Jordan '1941 | Comedy / Fantasy / Romance | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.0 | Alexander Hall |
| 48 | Bugs Bunny Rides Again '1948 | Animation / Comedy / Western | 7.8 | - | - | 6.7 | Friz Freleng |
| 49 | Donald's Snow Fight '1942 | Animation / Comedy | 7.9 | - | - | 7.2 | Jack King |
| 50 | Hail the Conquering Hero '1944 | Comedy / War | 7.6 | 95% | - | 7.2 | Preston Sturges |
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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Other genres in the 1940s
Action of the 1940s Animation of the 1940s Crime of the 1940s Drama of the 1940s Fantasy of the 1940s Horror of the 1940s Musical of the 1940s Mystery of the 1940s Romance of the 1940s Sci-Fi of the 1940s Thriller of the 1940s War of the 1940s Western of the 1940s
Directors on this list
Charlie Chaplin Ernst Lubitsch George Seaton Frank Capra Preston Sturges Joseph Barbera George Cukor Howard Hawks Chuck Jones Jack Kinney Roy Del Ruth William Hanna
Actors on this list
Charlie Chaplin Paulette Goddard Carole Lombard Alec Guinness James Stewart Maureen O'Hara Cary Grant Joel McCrea William Hanna Katharine Hepburn Rosalind Russell Barbara Stanwyck