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Best Drama Movies of the 1940s
#1 It's a Wonderful Life (1946) · ★ 8.3 · 5,081 votes · 2h 11m · fantasy, drama, familyGeorge Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest buil…
#2 Bicycle Thieves (1948) · ★ 8.2 · 2,763 votes · 1h 29m · dramaUnemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is do…
#3 Casablanca (1943) · ★ 8.1 · 6,250 votes · 1h 42m · romance, dramaIn Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.…
#4 The Shop Around the Corner (1940) · ★ 8.1 · 865 votes · 1h 39m · comedy, romance, dramaTwo 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.…
#5 Citizen Kane (1941) · ★ 8.0 · 6,252 votes · 1h 59m · drama, mysteryNewspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive m…
#6 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) · ★ 8.0 · 1,397 votes · 2h 6m · adventure, drama, westernTwo jobless Americans convince a prospector to travel to the mountains of Mexico with them in search of gold. But the hostile wilderness, local bandits, and greed all get in the wa…
#7 Rome, Open City (1945) · ★ 8.0 · 996 votes · 1h 44m · drama, history, warDuring the Nazi occupation of 1944 Rome, Resistance leader Giorgio Manfredi is pursued by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a means of escape.…
#8 The Red Shoes (1948) · ★ 8.0 · 773 votes · 2h 13m · romance, dramaA fledgling ballerina falls in love with a brilliant composer, but the jealous head of the ballet company plots to drive them apart.…
#9 Rope (1948) · ★ 7.9 · 3,086 votes · 1h 21m · thriller, drama, crimeTwo young men attempt to prove they committed the perfect murder by hosting a dinner party for the family of a classmate they just strangled to death.…
#10 Rebecca (1940) · ★ 7.9 · 2,037 votes · 2h 10m · thriller, romance, dramaStory of a young woman who marries a fascinating widower only to find out that she must live in the shadow of his former wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years earlier.…
#11 The Grapes of Wrath (1940) · ★ 7.8 · 1,147 votes · 2h 9m · dramaTom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the n…
#12 Notorious (1946) · ★ 7.7 · 1,801 votes · 1h 43m · thriller, romance, dramaIn order to help bring Nazis to justice, U.S. government agent T.R. Devlin recruits Alicia Huberman, the American daughter of a convicted German war criminal, as a spy. As they beg…
#13 The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) · ★ 7.7 · 769 votes · 2h 51m · romance, drama, warIt's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream…
#14 Brief Encounter (1945) · ★ 7.7 · 729 votes · 1h 26m · romance, dramaReturning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with virtuous doctor Alec Harvey. Their c…
#15 White Heat (1949) · ★ 7.7 · 561 votes · 1h 54m · thriller, drama, crimeA psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and then leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. After the heist, events take a crazy t…
#16 The Big Sleep (1946) · ★ 7.6 · 1,206 votes · 1h 54m · thriller, romance, dramaPrivate Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees m…
#17 Laura (1944) · ★ 7.6 · 945 votes · 1h 28m · drama, mysteryA police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.…
#18 The Lost Weekend (1945) · ★ 7.6 · 689 votes · 1h 41m · dramaLongtime alcoholic Don Birnam has been sober for ten days and appears to be over the worst... but his craving has just become more insidious. Evading a country weekend planned by h…
#19 Beauty and the Beast (1946) · ★ 7.5 · 687 votes · 1h 36m · fantasy, romance, dramaThe story of a gentle-hearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl. She is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a…
#20 Gilda (1946) · ★ 7.5 · 679 votes · 1h 50m · thriller, romance, dramaA gambler discovers an old flame while in Argentina, but she's married to his new boss.…
#21 Gaslight (1944) · ★ 7.5 · 590 votes · 1h 54m · thriller, drama, crimeA newlywed fears she's going mad when strange things start happening at the family mansion.…
#22 Black Narcissus (1947) · ★ 7.5 · 583 votes · 1h 40m · dramaA group of Anglican nuns, led by Sister Clodagh, are sent to a mountain in the Himalayas. The climate in the region is hostile and the nuns are housed in an odd old palace. They wo…
#23 My Darling Clementine (1946) · ★ 7.5 · 504 votes · 1h 37m · romance, drama, westernThree brothers stop off for a night in the town of Tombstone. The next morning they find one of their brothers dead and their cattle stolen. They decide to take revenge on the culp…
#24 Spellbound (1945) · ★ 7.4 · 1,012 votes · 1h 51m · thriller, romance, dramaWhen Dr. Anthony Edwardes arrives at a Vermont mental hospital to replace the outgoing hospital director, Dr. Constance Peterson, a psychoanalyst, discovers Edwardes is actually an…
#25 His Girl Friday (1940) · ★ 7.4 · 980 votes · 1h 32m · comedy, romance, dramaWalter 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…
#26 Miracle on 34th Street (1947) · ★ 7.4 · 874 votes · 1h 36m · comedy, drama, familyKris 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…
#27 Lifeboat (1944) · ★ 7.4 · 501 votes · 1h 36m · drama, warDuring World War II, a small group of survivors is stranded in a lifeboat together after the ship they were traveling on is destroyed by a German U-boat.…
#28 The Lady from Shanghai (1947) · ★ 7.3 · 744 votes · 1h 27m · thriller, drama, crimeA romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.…
#29 Bambi (1942) · ★ 7.0 · 6,141 votes · 1h 10m · drama, animation, familyBambi's tale unfolds from season to season as the young prince of the forest learns about life, love, and friends.…
#30 The Wolf Man (1941) · ★ 7.0 · 699 votes · 1h 10m · drama, horrorAfter his brother's death, Larry Talbot returns home to his father and the family estate. Events soon take a turn for the worse when Larry is bitten by a werewolf.…