Wishlist: 1940s - Essential Movies I am Yet to Watch
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- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneThomas MitchellIan HunterA merchant ship's crew tries to survive the loneliness of the sea and the coming of war.
- DirectorVeit HarlanStarsFerdinand MarianKristina SöderbaumHeinrich GeorgeInfamous anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda historical drama about Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg and his treasurer Süß Oppenheimer.
- DirectorFritz HipplerStarsCurt BoisCharles ChaplinAlbert EinsteinUnder the guise of a brutally honest documentary, this malevolent propaganda film aims to be an "indispensable tool in the hands of the Aryan race", designed to depict the "true" Jew when the masks of western civilisation fall off.
- DirectorFrank BorzageStarsMargaret SullavanJames StewartRobert YoungThe Roth family leads a quiet life in a small village in the German Alps during the early 1930s. After the Nazis come to power, the family is divided and Martin Breitner, a family friend, is caught up in the turmoil.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsGary CooperWalter BrennanJoan LeslieA Tennessee farmer and marksman is drafted in World War I, and struggles with his pacifist inclinations before becoming one of the most celebrated war heroes.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsChôjûrô KawarasakiYoshizaburo ArashiUtaemon IchikawaThe legendary Forty-seven ronin plot to avenge the death of their lord, Asano Naganori, by killing Kira Yoshinaka, a shogunate official responsible for Asano being forced to commit seppuku.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsGary CooperBarbara StanwyckEdward ArnoldA penniless drifter is recruited by an ambitious columnist to impersonate a non-existent person who said he'd be committing suicide as a protest, and a social movement begins.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandArthur KennedyA highly fictionalized account of the life of George Armstrong Custer from his arrival at West Point in 1857 to his death at the battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876.
- DirectorGeorge WaggnerStarsClaude RainsWarren WilliamLon Chaney Jr.Larry Talbot returns to his father's castle in Wales and meets a beautiful woman. One fateful night, Talbot escorts her to a local carnival where they meet a mysterious gypsy fortune teller.
- DirectorH.C. PotterStarsOle OlsenChic JohnsonMartha RayeOlsen and Johnson, a pair of stage comedians, try to turn their play into a movie and bring together a young couple in love, while breaking the fourth wall every step of the way.
- DirectorAlessandro BlasettiStarsElisa CeganiLuisa FeridaRina MorelliA crown, supposedly made from a nail out of the Cross of Christ and the metal of Roman swords, becomes a legend and a symbol of justice.
- DirectorHiroshi ShimizuStarsKinuyo TanakaHiroko KawasakiTatsuo SaitôAt a rural spa, a soldier accidentally cuts his foot on a hairpin. Soon enough he tracks down its lovely owner and finds himself smitten.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsMieko TakamineShin SaburiHideo FujinoWhen the patriarch of the Toda family suddenly dies, his widow discovers that he has left her with nothing but debt and married children who are unwilling to support her--except for her most thoughtful son, just returned from China.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsSpencer TracyKatharine HepburnFay BainterRival reporters Sam and Tess fall in love and get married, only to find their relationship strained when Sam comes to resent Tess' hectic lifestyle.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsGary CooperTeresa WrightBabe RuthThe story of the life and career of famed baseball player Lou Gehrig.
- DirectorAlessandro BlasettiStarsGino CerviAdriana BenettiGiuditta RissoneA family man travelling for work, Paolo Bianchi, meets on a train a lonely girl, Maria. He sees her again on a bus and she reveals him that she's in troubles: she's pregnant, her baby's father has left her and she doesn't know how to tell to her parents that she's not married. She asks Paolo to play the role of her husband and he accepts....
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChishû RyûShûji SanoShin SaburiA schoolteacher struggles to raise his son Ryohei by himself, having neither money nor future prospects.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsDennis O'KeefeMargoJean BrooksA seemingly-tame leopard used for a publicity stunt escapes and kills a young girl, spreading panic throughout a sleepy New Mexico town.
- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsGene TierneyDon AmecheCharles CoburnAn old roué arrives in Hades to review his life with Satan, who will rule on his eligibility to enter the Underworld.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsCharles LaughtonMaureen O'HaraGeorge SandersA mild-mannered school teacher in a German-occupied town during World War II finds himself torn between collaboration and resistance.
- 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.
- DirectorHelmut KäutnerStarsHans AlbersIlse WernerHans SöhnkerThe film tells the story of the blond "singing sailor" Hannes Kröger who works in a St. Pauli club on the Große Freiheit 7, and falls in love with a girl. But she prefers his rival Willem and Hannes returns to the sea.
- DirectorEmilio FernándezStarsDolores Del RíoPedro ArmendárizAlberto GalánIn Xochimilco 1909, María Candelaria and Lorenzo Rafael long for getting married but the odds are against them. María Candelaria is segregated for being a prostitute's child and the couple faces the greed of Mr. Damian, the town's shop owner who secretly desires María. When María falls sick with Malaria, Lorenzo Rafael steals a quinine bottle from Damian's shop, unleashing tragedy for the lovers.
- 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 FordRobert MontgomeryStarsRobert MontgomeryJohn WayneDonna ReedA Navy commander fights to prove the battle-worthiness of the PT boat at the start of World War II.
- 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.
- DirectorBodil IpsenLau LauritzenStarsPoul ReichhardtLisbeth MovinPer BuckhøjThe memories of a Danish saboteur as he awaits his execution in a German wartime prison.
- DirectorLeopold LindtbergStarsEwart G. MorrisonJohn HoyRay ReaganEscaping a Nazi prison train in war-torn Italy, an American and a British soldier set out for the Swiss border and find themselves leading a multi-national party of refugees for the Italian underground.
- DirectorKing VidorOtto BrowerWilliam DieterleStarsJennifer JonesJoseph CottenGregory PeckBeautiful, biracial Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between two brothers, one good and the other bad.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsDana AndrewsBrian DonlevySusan HaywardBusinessman Logan Stuart is torn between his love of two very different women in 1850's Oregon and his loyalty to a compulsive gambler friend who goes over the line.
- DirectorWolfgang StaudteStarsHildegard KnefElly BurgmerErna SellmerAfter returning from a concentration camp, Susanne finds an ex-soldier living in her apartment. Together the two try to move past their experiences during World War II.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsAlan LaddVeronica LakeWilliam BendixAn ex-bomber pilot is suspected of murdering his unfaithful wife.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsMinosuke BandôKinuyo TanakaKôtarô BandôUtamaro is a great artist who lives to create portraits of beautiful women, using the brothels of Tokyo to provide his models.
- DirectorJohn BoultingStarsRichard AttenboroughHermione BaddeleyWilliam HartnellIn Brighton in 1935, small-time gang leader Pinkie Brown murders a journalist and later desperately tries to cover his tracks but runs into trouble with the police, a few witnesses, and a rival gang.
- DirectorGeorge SeatonStarsEdmund GwennMaureen O'HaraJohn PayneAfter a divorced New York mother hires a nice old man to play Santa Claus at Macy's, she is startled by his claim to be the genuine article. When his sanity is questioned, a lawyer defends him in court by arguing that he's not mistaken.
- DirectorJules DassinStarsBarry FitzgeraldHoward DuffDorothy HartA step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneHenry FondaShirley TempleAt Fort Apache, an honorable and veteran war captain finds conflict when his regime is placed under the command of a young, glory hungry lieutenant colonel with no respect for the local Indian tribe.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsRex HarrisonLinda DarnellRudy ValleeA man dreams of revenge when he suspects his wife is unfaithful.
- DirectorH.C. PotterStarsCary GrantMyrna LoyMelvyn DouglasA man and his wife decide they can afford to have a house in the country built to their specifications. It's a lot more trouble than they think.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsJeanne CrainLinda DarnellAnn SothernA letter is addressed to three wives from their "best friend" Addie Ross, announcing that she is running away with one of their husbands - but she does not say which one.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsCarole LombardRobert MontgomeryGene RaymondA couple who have been married for three years are shocked to learn that their marriage is not legally valid.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsGregory PeckAnn ToddCharles LaughtonA happily married London barrister falls in love with the accused poisoner he is defending.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsIngrid BergmanJoseph CottenMichael WildingA young gentleman goes to Australia where he reunites with his now married childhood sweetheart, only to find out she has become an alcoholic and harbors dark secrets.
- DirectorGunther von FritschRobert WiseStarsSimone SimonKent SmithJane RandolphThe young, friendless daughter of Oliver and Alice Reed befriends her father's dead first wife and an aging, reclusive actress.