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Best Comedy Movies of the 1940s

Comedy films released 1940–1949, ranked by TMDB rating among titles with at least 500 votes.

1. 
   #1 The Great Dictator (1940) · ★ 8.3 · 3,791 votes · 2h 5m · comedy, war

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

2. 
   #2 The Shop Around the Corner (1940) · ★ 8.1 · 865 votes · 1h 39m · comedy, romance, drama

   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.…

3. 
   #3 To Be or Not to Be (1942) · ★ 7.8 · 859 votes · 1h 39m · comedy, romance, war

   During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.…

4. 
   #4 Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) · ★ 7.6 · 1,069 votes · 1h 58m · comedy, crime

   Mortimer Brewster, a newspaper drama critic, playwright, and author known for his diatribes against marriage, suddenly falls in love and gets married; but when he makes a quick tr…

5. 
   #5 Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) · ★ 7.6 · 627 votes · 1h 44m · comedy, crime

   When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum,…

6. 
   #6 The Philadelphia Story (1940) · ★ 7.5 · 1,021 votes · 1h 53m · comedy, romance

   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.…

7. 
   #7 His Girl Friday (1940) · ★ 7.4 · 980 votes · 1h 32m · comedy, romance, drama

   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…

8. 
   #8 Miracle on 34th Street (1947) · ★ 7.4 · 874 votes · 1h 36m · comedy, drama, family

   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…

9. 
   #9 Sullivan's Travels (1941) · ★ 7.4 · 525 votes · 1h 31m · comedy, adventure, romance

   Successful movie director John L. Sullivan, convinced he won't be able to film his ambitious masterpiece until he has suffered, dons a hobo disguise and sets off on a journey, aimi…

10. 
    #10 Fun and Fancy Free (1947) · ★ 6.3 · 546 votes · 1h 13m · comedy, fantasy, adventure

    Jiminy Cricket hosts two Disney animated shorts: Bongo about a circus bear escaping to the wild, and Mickey and the Beanstalk, a take on the famous fairy tale.…

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