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Best Fantasy Movies of the 1940s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
61 fantasy films from the 1940s are in our catalog; the 50 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 7.2. Biggest split between audiences and critics: Pinocchio, 7.4 on IMDb against 99 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 | A Matter of Life and Death '1946 | Romance / Fantasy / Drama | 8.0 | 97% | - | 7.7 | Emeric Pressburger |
| 3 | Beauty and the Beast '1946 | Drama / Fantasy / Romance | 7.9 | - | 92 | 7.5 | Jean Cocteau |
| 4 | The Ghost and Mrs. Muir '1947 | Romance / Fantasy / Drama | 7.8 | 100% | - | 7.5 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| 5 | Fantasia '1940 | Animation / Fantasy | 7.7 | 95% | 96 | 7.4 | Wilfred Jackson |
| 6 | The Bishop's Wife '1947 | Fantasy / Drama | 7.6 | 85% | 72 | 7.1 | Henry Koster |
| 7 | Portrait of Jennie '1948 | Drama / Romance / Fantasy / Mystery | 7.6 | 93% | - | 7.2 | William Dieterle |
| 8 | The Picture of Dorian Gray '1945 | Drama / Horror / Fantasy | 7.5 | 94% | 65 | 7.1 | Albert Lewin |
| 9 | Mickey and the Beanstalk '1947 | Animation / Fantasy | 7.6 | - | - | 6.8 | Bill Roberts |
| 10 | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse '1947 | Animation / Comedy / Fantasy | 7.8 | - | - | 7.3 | William Hanna |
| 11 | Pinocchio '1940 | Animation / Fantasy | 7.4 | 100% | 99 | 7.1 | Hamilton Luske |
| 12 | Here Comes Mr. Jordan '1941 | Comedy / Fantasy / Romance | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.0 | Alexander Hall |
| 13 | All That Money Can Buy '1941 | Drama / Fantasy | 7.5 | 100% | - | 7.0 | William Dieterle |
| 14 | The Time of Their Lives '1946 | Comedy / Fantasy / Horror | 7.5 | - | - | 7.2 | Charles Barton |
| 15 | The Thief of Bagdad '1940 | Fantasy / Romance | 7.4 | 100% | - | 7.1 | Ludwig Berger |
| 16 | At Land '1944 | Fantasy | 7.5 | - | - | 7.2 | Maya Deren |
| 17 | Heaven Can Wait '1943 | Comedy / Romance / Fantasy / Drama | 7.3 | 89% | - | 6.9 | Ernst Lubitsch |
| 18 | Cinderella '1947 | Comedy / Fantasy / Romance | 7.4 | - | - | 6.6 | Nadezhda Kosheverova |
| 19 | The Tale of the Fox '1941 | Animation / Comedy / Fantasy | 7.6 | 100% | - | 7.1 | Władysław Starewicz |
| 20 | The Hunchedback Horse '1947 | Fantasy / Animation | 7.4 | - | - | 6.5 | Ivan Ivanov-Vano |
| 21 | Superman '1941 | Action / Animation / Sci-Fi / Fantasy | 7.3 | - | - | 7.0 | Dave Fleischer |
| 22 | Inspiration '1949 | Animation / Fantasy | 7.5 | - | - | 7.0 | Karel Zeman |
| 23 | The Mechanical Monsters '1941 | Action / Animation / Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 7.4 | - | - | 6.9 | Dave Fleischer |
| 24 | The Queen of Spades '1949 | Drama / Fantasy / Horror | 7.1 | 96% | - | 6.5 | Thorold Dickinson |
| 25 | Carnival of Sinners '1943 | Fantasy / Drama / Horror | 7.3 | - | - | 6.7 | Maurice Tourneur |
| 26 | Ritual in Transfigured Time '1946 | Fantasy | 6.9 | - | - | 6.8 | Maya Deren |
| 27 | The Devil's Envoys '1942 | Romance / Fantasy / Drama | 7.2 | 100% | - | 6.8 | Marcel Carné |
| 28 | I Married a Witch '1942 | Romance / Fantasy / Comedy | 7.1 | 95% | - | 6.9 | René Clair |
| 29 | Blithe Spirit '1945 | Comedy / Fantasy | 7.0 | 78% | - | 6.9 | David Lean |
| 30 | Mighty Joe Young '1949 | Fantasy / Drama / Action | 7.0 | 91% | 61 | 6.4 | Ernest B. Schoedsack |
| 31 | Cabin in the Sky '1943 | Musical / Fantasy / Comedy | 7.1 | 81% | - | 6.5 | Vincente Minnelli |
| 32 | Wonder Man '1945 | Comedy / Fantasy / Musical | 6.8 | 100% | - | 6.6 | H. Bruce Humberstone |
| 33 | How to Play Baseball '1942 | Comedy / Animation / Fantasy | 7.1 | - | - | 6.9 | Jack Kinney |
| 34 | It Happened Tomorrow '1944 | Fantasy / Comedy / Romance | 7.0 | 71% | - | 6.8 | René Clair |
| 35 | Angel on My Shoulder '1946 | Fantasy / Comedy | 6.8 | - | - | 6.6 | Archie Mayo |
| 36 | I Walked with a Zombie '1943 | Mystery / Horror / Drama / Fantasy | 7.0 | 85% | - | 6.8 | Jacques Tourneur |
| 37 | Münchhausen '1943 | Fantasy / Comedy | 7.0 | - | - | 6.5 | Josef von Báky |
| 38 | Billion Dollar Limited '1942 | Animation / Action / Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 7.0 | - | - | 7.0 | Dave Fleischer |
| 39 | The Magnetic Telescope '1942 | Animation / Fantasy / Action / Sci-Fi | 7.0 | - | - | 6.9 | Dave Fleischer |
| 40 | The Secret Life of Walter Mitty '1947 | Comedy / Fantasy / Romance | 6.9 | 69% | - | 6.8 | Norman Z. McLeod |
| 41 | A Guy Named Joe '1944 | Drama / Romance / War / Fantasy | 6.9 | 60% | - | 6.7 | Victor Fleming |
| 42 | Volcano '1942 | Animation / Action / Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 6.9 | - | - | 6.9 | Dave Fleischer |
| 43 | The Bulleteers '1942 | Action / Animation / Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 6.9 | - | - | 6.5 | Dave Fleischer |
| 44 | The Canterville Ghost '1944 | Comedy / Fantasy | 6.9 | 86% | - | 6.9 | Jules Dassin |
| 45 | Alice in Wonderland '1949 | Musical / Fantasy / Animation | 6.2 | - | - | 5.5 | Dallas Bower |
| 46 | Electric Earthquake '1942 | Animation / Action / Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 6.8 | - | - | 6.5 | Dave Fleischer |
| 47 | Topper Returns '1941 | Comedy / Fantasy / Mystery | 6.8 | 88% | - | 6.5 | Roy Del Ruth |
| 48 | The Arctic Giant '1942 | Fantasy / Animation / Action / Sci-Fi | 6.8 | - | - | 7.0 | Dave Fleischer |
| 49 | Terror on the Midway '1942 | Animation / Fantasy / Action / Sci-Fi | 6.5 | - | - | 6.5 | Dave Fleischer |
| 50 | Jungle Drums '1943 | Animation / Action / Fantasy / Thriller / War | 6.3 | - | - | 6.0 | Dan Gordon |
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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Action of the 1940s Animation of the 1940s Comedy of the 1940s Crime of the 1940s Drama 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
Frank Capra Jean Cocteau Joseph L. Mankiewicz Wilfred Jackson Henry Koster William Dieterle Bill Roberts William Hanna Hamilton Luske Charles Barton Maya Deren Ernst Lubitsch
Actors on this list
James Stewart Donna Reed David Niven Jean Marais Gene Tierney Rex Harrison Walt Disney Cary Grant Loretta Young Jennifer Jones Joseph Cotten George Sanders