Year by year: 1945
My 50 favorite films of 1945
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50 titles
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsRay MillandJane WymanPhillip TerryThe desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJoan CrawfordJack CarsonZachary ScottA hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliFred ZinnemannStarsJudy GarlandRobert WalkerJames GleasonIn 1945, during a 48-hour leave, a soldier accidentally meets a girl at Pennsylvania Station and spends his leave with her, eventually falling in love with the lovely New Yorker.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinStarsNikolay CherkasovLyudmila TselikovskayaSerafima BirmanDuring the early part of his reign, Ivan the Terrible faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsEdward G. RobinsonJoan BennettDan DuryeaA man in mid-life crisis befriends a young woman, though her fiancé persuades her to con him out of the fortune they mistakenly assume he possesses.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsEdward G. RobinsonJoan BennettRaymond MasseyWhen a conservative middle aged professor engages in a relationship with a femme fatale, he's plunged into a nightmarish world of blackmail and murder.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsIngrid BergmanGregory PeckMichael ChekhovA psychiatrist protects the identity of an amnesia patient accused of murder while attempting to recover his memory.
- DirectorJohn BrahmStarsLaird CregarLinda DarnellGeorge SandersA promising classical musician finds his life poisoned by a music hall dancer -- and by the strange gaps in his memory.
- DirectorAlbert LewinStarsGeorge SandersHurd HatfieldDonna ReedA corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.
- DirectorJohn M. StahlStarsGene TierneyCornel WildeJeanne CrainA writer falls in love with a young socialite and they're soon married, but her obsessive love for him threatens to be the undoing of them both as well as everyone around them.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsBarry FitzgeraldWalter HustonLouis HaywardSeven guests, a newly hired secretary and two staff are gathered at a manor house on an isolated island by an unknown absentee host and are killed off one-by-one. They work together to determine who the killer is before it's too late.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsZachary ScottBetty FieldJ. Carrol NaishThe life of the poor Tucker family who worked as cotton pluggers and decided to get their own ground, but nature was against them.
- DirectorEdgar G. UlmerStarsTom NealAnn SavageClaudia DrakeThe life of Al Roberts, a pianist in a New York nightclub, turns into a nightmare when he decides to hitchhike to Los Angeles to visit his girlfriend.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsMickey RooneyElizabeth TaylorDonald CrispA jaded former jockey helps a young girl prepare a wild but gifted horse for England's Grand National Sweepstakes.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsWendy HillerRoger LiveseyPamela BrownA young Englishwoman goes to the Hebrides to marry her older, wealthier fiancé. When the weather keeps them separated on different islands, she begins to have second thoughts.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsJohn GarfieldEleanor ParkerDane ClarkMarine hero Al Schmid is blinded in battle and returns home to be rehabilitated. He readjusts to his civilian life with the help of his soon to be wife.
- DirectorGeorge SidneyJoseph BarberaWilliam HannaStarsFrank SinatraKathryn GraysonGene KellyA pair of sailors on leave try to help a movie extra become a singing star.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsDorothy McGuireJoan BlondellJames DunnEncouraged by her idealistic if luckless father, a bright and imaginative young woman comes of age in a Brooklyn tenement during the early 1900s.
- DirectorWalter LangStarsJeanne CrainDana AndrewsDick HaymesEach member of the Frake clan has his/her own reason for attending the annual Iowa State Fair.
- DirectorJoseph H. LewisStarsNina FochMay WhittyGeorge MacreadyJulia Ross secures employment through a rather nosy employment agency, with a wealthy widow, Mrs. Hughes, and goes to live at her house. 2 days later, she awakens - in a different house, in different clothes and with a new identity. She's told she is the daughter-in-law of Mrs. Hughes and has suffered a nervous breakdown. Is Julia really 'Julia', or is it true that she's lost all memory of who she is?
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsPaul MuniMerle OberonCornel WildeBiography of Frederic Chopin.
- DirectorAlberto CavalcantiCharles CrichtonBasil DeardenStarsMervyn JohnsMichael RedgraveRoland CulverGuests invited to a weekend in the country share their supernatural stories, beginning with Walter Craig, who senses impending doom as his half-remembered recurring dream turns into reality.
- DirectorOtto PremingerErnst LubitschStarsTallulah BankheadCharles CoburnAnne BaxterIn 18th century Russia, the naive and idealistic lieutenant Chernov meets Empress Catherine the Great who becomes infatuated with him and appoints him Chief of the Imperial Guard.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsBing CrosbyIngrid BergmanHenry TraversAt a big city Catholic school, Father O'Malley and Sister Benedict indulge in friendly rivalry, and succeed in extending the school through the gift of a building.
- DirectorIrving PichelStarsDorothy LamourArturo de CórdovaJ. Carrol NaishOutcast Benny Martin joined the army to escape public scorn. But when the townspeople learn that he is to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, they pretend that he and his family are cherished, eminent citizens.
- DirectorJohn M. StahlStarsGregory PeckThomas MitchellVincent PriceA young priest is sent to China to establish a Catholic parish.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsJennifer JonesJoseph CottenAnn RichardsAllen Quinton writes a fellow soldier's love letters; tragedy results. Later, Allen meets a beautiful amnesiac who fears postmen...
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsErrol FlynnJames BrownWilliam PrinceA platoon of special ops are tasked to parachute into the remote Burmese jungle and destroy a strategic Japanese radar station, but getting out isn't as easy.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsDenjirô ÔkôchiSusumu FujitaKen'ichi EnomotoA Japanese general and his men disguise themselves as monks in order to pass an enemy border patrol.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsBurgess MeredithRobert MitchumFreddie SteeleAt the close of WWII, Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Ernie Pyle travels with the U.S. Army's Company C Division during their liberation of Italy.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsGreer GarsonGregory PeckDonald CrispAn Irish maid falls for the son of her wealthy boss, though their disapproving fathers and a bitter strike at the steel mill complicate matters.
- DirectorLeopold LindtbergHermann HallerFranz SchnyderStarsJosiane HeggGermaine TournierHeinrich GretlerAmidst the Nazi invasion of France in 1942, a young girl is evacuated to Switzerland but is still haunted by the terrors she has witnessed.
- DirectorLeslie ArlissStarsMargaret LockwoodJames MasonPatricia RocA noblewoman begins to lead a dangerous double life in order to alleviate her boredom.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsBoris KarloffBela LugosiHenry DaniellA ruthless doctor and his young prize student find themselves continually harassed by their murderous supplier of illegal cadavers.
- DirectorGarson KaninCarol ReedStarsDwight D. EisenhowerLeslie BanksWinston ChurchillA documentary account of the allied invasion of Europe during World War II compiled from the footage shot by nearly 1400 cameramen.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsWilliam EytheLloyd NolanSigne HassoBill Dietrich becomes a double agent for the F.B.I. in a German spy ring.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsJoan FontaineArturo de CórdovaBasil RathboneAn English lady falls madly in love with a French pirate.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsBette DavisJohn DallNigel BruceA schoolteacher becomes the mentor of a talented young miner and seeks to get him into a university.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsGeorge SandersElla RainesGeraldine FitzgeraldBachelor Harry Quincey, head designer in a small-town cloth factory, lives with his selfish sisters, glamorous hypochondriac Lettie and querulous widow Hester. His developing relationship with new colleague Deborah Brown promises happiness at last...thwarted by passive, then increasingly active opposition from one sister. Will Harry resort to desperate measures?
- DirectorWilliam DieterleGeorge CukorStarsGinger RogersJoseph CottenShirley TempleA soldier suffering from combat fatigue meets a young woman on Christmas furlough from prison and their mutual loneliness blossoms into romance.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsAlice FayeDana AndrewsLinda DarnellA slick con man arrives in a small town looking to make some money, but soon gets more than he bargained for.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsDorothy McGuireRobert YoungHerbert MarshallA plain maid and a wounded war veteran are transformed by their love for each other while residing in an enchanted honeymoon cottage.
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsWanda RothgardtGeorg RydebergGabriel AlwSet entirely in one room, an innocent young man is accused of plagiarizing the work of an old professor. Later, he will be blamed for the professor's murder.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsRobert AldaJoan LeslieAlexis SmithGeorge Gershwin is a driven composer whose need to succeed destroys his relationship with singer Julie Adams and socialite Christine Gilbert.
- DirectorMax NosseckStarsLawrence TierneyEdmund LoweAnne JeffreysJohn Dillinger begins his life of crime as a petty thief, meets his future gang in prison and eventually masterminds a series of daring robberies.
- DirectorGregory RatoffStarsConstance BennettGracie FieldsJorge RigaudAmong the terrified refugees jamming the roads out of Paris in 1940 are Kitty de Mornay, a rich American divorced from her French husband, and her companion Emmyline (Emmy) Quayle. A German patrol orders their car back to Paris and, en route, they stop at an inn where they find a wounded RAF flyer, Lieutenant Gray. They hide him in the luggage compartment of their car. While attempting to repair a flat tire, they are accosted by Gestapo Captain Kurt von Webber. He drives them to Emmy's apartment. Later, with the help of Kitty's estranged husband, Andre de Mornay - a member of the French underground movement - Kitty and Emmy smuggle Lt. Gray out of Paris to safety. Since they now have means of getting to unoccupied France, they contact a priest who is harboring many RAF fliers. Funeral processions are allowed across the border unchallenged by the German sentries, and Kitty and Emmy stage one in which their RAF men pose as mourners. Von Weber suspects the women, and he plants a spy in Emmy's flat.
- DirectorCharles DavidStarsDeanna DurbinRalph BellamyDavid BruceIn New York, a woman who partially witnesses a killing from a train window seeks the aid of a crime novelist to solve the murder.
- DirectorArthur CrabtreeStarsPhyllis CalvertStewart GrangerPatricia RocA respectable, convent-raised woman is haunted by the memory of being raped as a teenager. But when her grown daughter returns from school, her life begins to unravel in monumentally surprising ways.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsAlan LaddGail RussellWilliam DemarestSalty owes money to Doc Baxter, and he and his pal Smitty have one month to pay up. They get a race horse and a disbarred jockey, Johnny Cates, who must fake his identity to race. Johnny and Salty both fall in love with Barbara Brooks and, to get even, Johnny considers throwing the horse race.
- DirectorH. Bruce HumberstoneStarsDanny KayeVirginia MayoVera-EllenAfter being murdered by gangsters, an exuberant nightclub entertainer returns as a ghost to persuade his meek twin brother to help bring his killers to justice.