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Best Sci-Fi Movies of the 1940s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
29 sci-fi films from the 1940s are in our catalog; the 29 best are ranked below. Top of the list is Haredevil Hare (1948), at 7.8 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 6.3.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Haredevil Hare '1948 | Animation / Comedy / Sci-Fi | 7.8 | - | - | 7.2 | Chuck Jones |
| 2 | Superman '1941 | Action / Animation / Sci-Fi / Fantasy | 7.3 | - | - | 7.0 | Dave Fleischer |
| 3 | The Mechanical Monsters '1941 | Action / Animation / Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 7.4 | - | - | 6.9 | Dave Fleischer |
| 4 | Billion Dollar Limited '1942 | Animation / Action / Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 7.0 | - | - | 7.0 | Dave Fleischer |
| 5 | The Magnetic Telescope '1942 | Animation / Fantasy / Action / Sci-Fi | 7.0 | - | - | 6.9 | Dave Fleischer |
| 6 | Volcano '1942 | Animation / Action / Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 6.9 | - | - | 6.9 | Dave Fleischer |
| 7 | The Bulleteers '1942 | Action / Animation / Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 6.9 | - | - | 6.5 | Dave Fleischer |
| 8 | Electric Earthquake '1942 | Animation / Action / Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 6.8 | - | - | 6.5 | Dave Fleischer |
| 9 | The Arctic Giant '1942 | Fantasy / Animation / Action / Sci-Fi | 6.8 | - | - | 7.0 | Dave Fleischer |
| 10 | Terror on the Midway '1942 | Animation / Fantasy / Action / Sci-Fi | 6.5 | - | - | 6.5 | Dave Fleischer |
| 11 | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde '1941 | Drama / Horror / Sci-Fi | 6.8 | 58% | - | 6.5 | Victor Fleming |
| 12 | Japoteurs '1942 | Animation / Action / Fantasy / Sci-Fi | 6.3 | - | - | 6.0 | Seymour Kneitel |
| 13 | Eleventh Hour '1942 | Animation / Action / Fantasy / Sci-Fi / War | 6.0 | - | - | 5.9 | Dan Gordon |
| 14 | Dr. Cyclops '1940 | Horror / Sci-Fi | 6.4 | 79% | - | 6.2 | Ernest B. Schoedsack |
| 15 | Man-Made Monster '1941 | Horror / Sci-Fi | 6.1 | - | - | 6.1 | George Waggner |
| 16 | The Invisible Man Returns '1940 | Horror / Sci-Fi | 6.5 | 87% | - | 6.3 | Joe May |
| 17 | Black Friday '1940 | Sci-Fi / Crime / Horror / Mystery / Drama | 6.3 | 100% | - | 6.0 | Arthur Lubin |
| 18 | Batman and Robin '1949 | Action / Sci-Fi / Thriller / Crime | 5.9 | - | - | 5.6 | Spencer Gordon Bennet |
| 19 | The Invisible Woman '1940 | Comedy / Horror / Sci-Fi | 6.0 | 67% | - | 5.7 | A. Edward Sutherland |
| 20 | Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man '1943 | Horror / Sci-Fi | 6.4 | 25% | 51 | 6.2 | Roy William Neill |
| 21 | House of Frankenstein '1944 | Horror / Sci-Fi | 6.2 | 55% | - | 6.1 | Erle C. Kenton |
| 22 | Invisible Agent '1942 | Horror / Sci-Fi / War | 5.9 | 67% | - | 5.8 | Edwin L. Marin |
| 23 | The Invisible Man's Revenge '1944 | Horror / Sci-Fi | 5.7 | 40% | 46 | 5.6 | Ford Beebe |
| 24 | The Ghost of Frankenstein '1942 | Horror / Sci-Fi | 6.1 | 73% | - | 5.8 | Erle C. Kenton |
| 25 | House of Dracula '1945 | Horror / Sci-Fi | 5.7 | 56% | - | 5.5 | Erle C. Kenton |
| 26 | The Devil Bat '1940 | Horror / Sci-Fi / Crime | 5.4 | 60% | - | 5.3 | Jean Yarbrough |
| 27 | The Ape '1940 | Horror / Mystery / Sci-Fi | 4.6 | 43% | - | 4.9 | William Nigh |
| 28 | The Ape Man '1943 | Horror / Sci-Fi / Crime | 4.4 | - | - | 4.4 | William Beaudine |
| 29 | The Corpse Vanishes '1942 | Sci-Fi / Horror | 4.6 | - | - | 4.3 | Wallace Fox |
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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Sci-Fi in other decades
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Other genres in the 1940s
Action of the 1940s Animation of the 1940s Comedy 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 Thriller of the 1940s War of the 1940s Western of the 1940s
Directors on this list
Chuck Jones Dave Fleischer Victor Fleming Ernest B. Schoedsack Arthur Lubin Roy William Neill Erle C. Kenton Edwin L. Marin Jean Yarbrough
Actors on this list
Mel Blanc Bud Collyer Joan Alexander Spencer Tracy Ingrid Bergman Albert Dekker Lon Chaney Jr. Lionel Atwill Cedric Hardwicke Vincent Price Stanley Ridges Boris Karloff