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Best Romance Movies of the 1940s

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

1. 
   #1 Casablanca (1943) · ★ 8.1 · 6,250 votes · 1h 42m · romance, drama

   In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.…

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 The Red Shoes (1948) · ★ 8.0 · 773 votes · 2h 13m · romance, drama

   A fledgling ballerina falls in love with a brilliant composer, but the jealous head of the ballet company plots to drive them apart.…

4. 
   #4 Rebecca (1940) · ★ 7.9 · 2,037 votes · 2h 10m · thriller, romance, drama

   Story 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.…

5. 
   #5 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.…

6. 
   #6 Notorious (1946) · ★ 7.7 · 1,801 votes · 1h 43m · thriller, romance, drama

   In 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…

7. 
   #7 The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) · ★ 7.7 · 769 votes · 2h 51m · romance, drama, war

   It'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…

8. 
   #8 Brief Encounter (1945) · ★ 7.7 · 729 votes · 1h 26m · romance, drama

   Returning 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…

9. 
   #9 Out of the Past (1947) · ★ 7.7 · 667 votes · 1h 37m · thriller, romance, crime

   The peaceful life of a gas station owner is disrupted when a man from his past arrives in town and forces him to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.…

10. 
    #10 The Big Sleep (1946) · ★ 7.6 · 1,206 votes · 1h 54m · thriller, romance, drama

    Private 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…

11. 
    #11 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.…

12. 
    #12 Beauty and the Beast (1946) · ★ 7.5 · 687 votes · 1h 36m · fantasy, romance, drama

    The 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…

13. 
    #13 Gilda (1946) · ★ 7.5 · 679 votes · 1h 50m · thriller, romance, drama

    A gambler discovers an old flame while in Argentina, but she's married to his new boss.…

14. 
    #14 To Have and Have Not (1945) · ★ 7.5 · 587 votes · 1h 40m · adventure, romance, war

    A Martinique charter boat skipper gets mixed up with the underground French resistance operatives during WWII.…

15. 
    #15 My Darling Clementine (1946) · ★ 7.5 · 504 votes · 1h 37m · romance, drama, western

    Three 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…

16. 
    #16 Spellbound (1945) · ★ 7.4 · 1,012 votes · 1h 51m · thriller, romance, drama

    When 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…

17. 
    #17 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…

18. 
    #18 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…

19. 
    #19 Suspicion (1941) · ★ 7.1 · 929 votes · 1h 39m · thriller, romance, mystery

    A sheltered heiress falls for a charming playboy and elopes with him, but soon discovers his gambling vice and mounting debts. As his lies deepen and those around them meet mysteri…

20. 
    #20 Cat People (1942) · ★ 6.9 · 700 votes · 1h 13m · romance, horror, mystery

    A Serbian émigré in Manhattan believes that, because of an ancient curse, any physical intimacy with the man she loves will turn her into a feline predator.…

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