Best Films Of 1940
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- DirectorErnst LubitschStarsMargaret SullavanJames StewartFrank MorganTwo employees at a gift shop can barely stand each other, without realizing that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPaulette GoddardJack OakieDictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsCary GrantKatharine HepburnJames StewartWhen 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.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsCary GrantRosalind RussellRalph BellamyA newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying.
- DirectorNorman FergusonT. HeeWilfred JacksonStarsDickie JonesChristian RubMel BlancA living puppet, with the help of a cricket as his conscience, must prove himself worthy to become a real boy.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsMickey RooneyFay BainterGeorge BancroftInventor Thomas Edison's boyhood is chronicled and shows him as a lad whose early inventions and scientific experiments usually end up with disastrous results. As a consequence, the townsfolk all think Tom is crazy, and creates a strained relationship between Tom and his father. Toms only solace is his understanding mother who believes he's headed to do great things.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsSpencer TracyRita JohnsonLynne Overman82-year-old inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Alva Edison is honored in 1929 and he reflects back on his sixty-year career of scientific achievement.
- DirectorJames AlgarSamuel ArmstrongFord Beebe Jr.StarsLeopold StokowskiDeems TaylorThe Philadelphia OrchestraA series of eight famous pieces of classical music, conducted by Leopold Stokowski and interpreted in animation by Walt Disney's team of artists.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsGreer GarsonLaurence OlivierMary BolandThe arrival of wealthy bachelors in town causes an uproar when families with single daughters aggressively seek engagements, including the Bennet family, with five eligible daughters.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsBrian DonlevyMuriel AngelusAkim TamiroffDan McGinty has great success in his chosen field of crooked politics, but he endangers it all in one crazy moment of honesty.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJoel McCreaLaraine DayHerbert MarshallOn the eve of World War II, a young American reporter tries to expose enemy agents in London.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsErrol FlynnBrenda MarshallClaude RainsGeoffrey Thorpe, a buccaneer, is hired by Queen Elizabeth I to nag the Spanish Armada. The Armada is waiting for an attack on England and Thorpe surprises them with attacks on their galleons where he shows his skills with the sword.
- DirectorJack ConwayStarsClark GableSpencer TracyClaudette ColbertTwo buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a ten-year period, are in love with the same woman.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsBarbara StanwyckFred MacMurrayBeulah BondiLove blooms between a sympathetic attorney and the comely shoplifter he has taken home for the Christmas holiday.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsEdward G. RobinsonHumphrey BogartAnn SothernWhen retired racket boss John Sarto tries to reclaim his place and former friends try to kill him, he finds solace in a monastery and reinvents himself as a pious monk.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneThomas MitchellIan HunterA merchant ship's crew tries to survive the loneliness of the sea and the coming of war.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsVivien LeighRobert TaylorLucile WatsonMyra and Roy meet and fall in love on Waterloo Bridge during an air raid. Their love will be one of the war's unspoken casualties.
- 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.
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsDick PowellEllen DrewRaymond WalburnAfter the co-workers of an ambitious clerk trick him into thinking he has won $25,000 in a slogan contest, he begins to use the money to fulfill his dreams. What will happen when the ruse is discovered?
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsMargaret LockwoodRex HarrisonPaul HenreidAfter Germany invades Czechoslovakia, the German and the British intelligence services try to capture Czech scientist Dr. Axel Bomasch (James Harcourt), inventor of a new type of armor-plating.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaJane DarwellJohn CarradineAn Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
- DirectorBoris IngsterStarsPeter LorreJohn McGuireMargaret TallichetAn aspiring reporter is the key witness at the murder trial of a young man accused of cutting a café owner's throat and is soon accused of a similar crime himself.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsTyrone PowerDorothy LamourEdward ArnoldThe son of a jailed Wall Street broker turns to crime to pay for his father's release.
- DirectorGregory La CavaStarsGinger RogersJoel McCreaMarjorie RambeauA young woman from a family of prostitutes falls in love with a hard-working man, but when he finds out the truth about her background, their romance becomes jeopardized.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineStarsW.C. FieldsCora WitherspoonUna MerkelHenpecked Egbert Sousé has comic adventures as a substitute film director and unlikely bank guard.