... The Forgettable ... Of The 1940s
by Akira_Chimera | created - 12 Jul 2011 | updated - 18 Sep 2022 | PublicFirst of all, most movies on this list are not really bad. But they are not good either. In order not to bore you with every average movie I have seen I will restrain myself only to those of interest. That means you will find movies here that were successful at the box office but did not deserve that undue success or movies that did not stand the test of time. Other entries concern movies that are acclaimed by critics but to me are nothing short of being pretentious. Other titles could include films that were much talked about for whatever reason upon their initial release and therefore hold some kind of reputation that, however, do not qualify them for quality movies. You may also find movies here to which famous actors or directors contributed to but which are a let-down in the end nevertheless.
So, have fun browsing through my selection of the odds and sods of the movie world and let me know what you think.
PS: This list is by no means complete as I will add new worthwhile films as I stumble across them.
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1. Earthbound (1940)
Approved | 67 min | Mystery, Fantasy
A murdered man (Baxter) helps his widow (Leeds) bring his killer (Bari) to justice.
Director: Irving Pichel | Stars: Warner Baxter, Andrea Leeds, Lynn Bari, Charley Grapewin
Votes: 141
2. South of Pago Pago (1940)
Approved | 98 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
The son of an island chieftain, young Kehane defiantly opposes the efforts by crooked pearl hunter Bucko Larson to invade his domain. Larson and his minions hope to dissuade our hero by introducing him to seductive Ruby.
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: Victor McLaglen, Jon Hall, Frances Farmer, Olympe Bradna
Votes: 163
3. Untamed (1940)
Approved | 83 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Dr. Bill Crawford, on a hunting trip to Canada, is attacked by a bear and his guide, Joe Easter, saves his life and takes the badly-mauled Crawford to his cabin home, where he lives with ... See full summary »
Director: George Archainbaud | Stars: Ray Milland, Patricia Morison, Akim Tamiroff, William Frawley
Votes: 68
4. The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (1940)
Approved | 74 min | Crime, Drama
A man involved in a crime (Nolan) kills his key witness by mistake and resigns himself to death. He changes his name so as not to harm his family. The law is not content with his explanation, however.
Director: David Burton | Stars: Lloyd Nolan, Jean Rogers, Richard Clarke, Onslow Stevens
Votes: 91
5. South of Suez (1940)
Approved | 86 min | Mystery, Drama
Greedy diamond mine owner Eli Snedeker, resentful that his ex-foreman John Gamble stopped him from taking over kindly, but drunken, mine owner Roger Smythe's mine just as he was about to ... See full summary »
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: George Brent, Brenda Marshall, George Tobias, James Stephenson
Votes: 210
6. Chad Hanna (1940)
Passed | 88 min | Drama, Romance
Country boy joins a circus in the 1840s and falls in love with Albany the star equestrian rider. Later he falls in love with Caroline another runaway who becomes the Circus' new bareback rider.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Henry Fonda, Dorothy Lamour, Linda Darnell, Guy Kibbee
Votes: 347
7. Star Dust (1940)
Approved | 90 min | Drama
Carolyn Sayres gets a Hollywood contract from talent scout Brooke but is later rejected because she's too young. She falls in love with Bud Borden, another contractee who helps her to ... See full summary »
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: Linda Darnell, John Payne, Roland Young, Charlotte Greenwood
Votes: 385
8. Second Chorus (1940)
Passed | 84 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
When perennial college students Danny O'Neill and Hank Taylor are forced to make it on their own, the competitive pair get jobs with Artie Shaw's band and reunite with ex-manager Ellen Miller.
Director: H.C. Potter | Stars: Fred Astaire, Paulette Goddard, Artie Shaw, Charles Butterworth
Votes: 1,761
9. 21 Days Together (1940)
Approved | 72 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
After Larry accidentally kills his lover Wanda's estranged blackmailing husband, someone else is arrested for the crime. Larry and Wanda nervously await the verdict: if the innocent suspect is found guilty then Larry will give himself up.
Director: Basil Dean | Stars: Vivien Leigh, Leslie Banks, Laurence Olivier, Francis L. Sullivan
Votes: 1,276
10. Santa Fe Trail (1940)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama, War, Western
In 1854, Jeb Stuart, George Custer and other graduates from West Point are posted to Kansas to help pacify the territory before railroad construction to Santa Fe can resume.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Raymond Massey, Ronald Reagan
Votes: 4,155
11. It All Came True (1940)
Approved | 97 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
After crooked nightclub owner Chips Maguire murders a police informant, he blackmails his piano player to allow him to stay at his eccentric mother's boarding house.
Director: Lewis Seiler | Stars: Ann Sheridan, Humphrey Bogart, Jeffrey Lynn, Zasu Pitts
Votes: 1,467
12. East of the River (1940)
Passed | 74 min | Crime, Drama
Two troublesome boys grow into very different men, one becoming a hoodlum and the other embracing college, but both are in love with the same girl.
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: John Garfield, Brenda Marshall, Marjorie Rambeau, George Tobias
Votes: 473
13. The House Across the Bay (1940)
Approved | 88 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
An aircraft designer falls for the wife of an imprisoned gangster. All goes well until the gangster gets out of prison...
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: George Raft, Joan Bennett, Lloyd Nolan, Walter Pidgeon
Votes: 661
14. Saturday's Children (1940)
Approved | 102 min | Drama, Romance
After meeting each other as fellow employees at J.B. Martin Co., forthright twenty-two year old Bobby Halevy and twenty-five year old Rims Rosson, who has his head in the clouds in coming ... See full summary »
Director: Vincent Sherman | Stars: John Garfield, Anne Shirley, Claude Rains, Roscoe Karns
Votes: 581
15. The Howards of Virginia (1940)
Approved | 116 min | Drama, History, War
Just prior to the American War of Independence, aristocratic Virginian Jane Peyton marries unsophisticated rustic farmer and surveyor Matt Howard who takes her to his Shenandoah Valley plantation and later goes to war.
Director: Frank Lloyd | Stars: Cary Grant, Martha Scott, Cedric Hardwicke, Alan Marshal
Votes: 1,262
16. Three Faces West (1940)
Approved | 79 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Austrian refugees Dr Braun and his daughter Leni join the town's plan to relocate to Oregon. The town leader falls for Leni, but she is betrothed to the man who helped them escape from the Third Reich.
Director: Bernard Vorhaus | Stars: John Wayne, Sigrid Gurie, Charles Coburn, Spencer Charters
Votes: 966
17. Susan and God (1940)
Approved | 117 min | Comedy, Drama
Susan Trexel is a wealthy socialite, who while vacationing in Europe undergoes a religious transformation. On her return to America, Susan takes on the task of spreading her new found ... See full summary »
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Joan Crawford, Fredric March, Ruth Hussey, John Carroll
Votes: 1,418 | Gross: $0.82M
18. Kitty Foyle (1940)
Passed | 108 min | Drama, Romance
A hard-working white-collar girl from a middle-class family meets and falls in love with a young socialite, but she soon clashes with his family.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Eduardo Ciannelli
Votes: 4,055
19. Brigham Young (1940)
Approved | 114 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
In 1844, after the assassination of Mormon leader Joseph Smith by an angry mob in Illinois, the Mormons choose Brigham Young as their new leader and follow him to a new promised land in Utah.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Dean Jagger, Brian Donlevy
Votes: 1,140
20. The Return of Frank James (1940)
Approved | 92 min | Drama, Western
Frank James continues to avoid arrest in order to take revenge on the Ford brothers for their murder of his brother Jesse.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Henry Fonda, Gene Tierney, Jackie Cooper, Henry Hull
Votes: 3,685
21. Seven Sinners (1940)
Approved | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Banished from various U.S. protectorates in the Pacific, a saloon entertainer uses her femme-fatale charms to woo politicians, navy personnel, gangsters, riff-raff, judges and a ship's doctor in order to achieve her aims.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne, Albert Dekker, Broderick Crawford
Votes: 1,658
22. North West Mounted Police (1940)
Passed | 126 min | Drama, Romance, Western
In 1885, a Texas Ranger travels to Canada to arrest a trapper who's wanted for murder and who's stirring up the Natives in a rebellion against the Canadian government.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: Gary Cooper, Madeleine Carroll, Paulette Goddard, Preston Foster
Votes: 1,830
23. Strange Cargo (1940)
Passed | 113 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
Convicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure (Ian Hunter).
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Ian Hunter, Peter Lorre
Votes: 2,972
24. Irene (1940)
Approved | 101 min | Comedy, Musical, Mystery
Sent by her employers on an errand to the home of the wealthy Mrs. Vincent, Irene O'Dare meets Don, a friend of Mrs. Vincent's son Bob. Attracted to Irene, Don decides to invest some money ... See full summary »
Director: Herbert Wilcox | Stars: Anna Neagle, Ray Milland, Roland Young, Alan Marshal
Votes: 782
25. Remember the Night (1939)
Passed | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Love blooms between a sympathetic attorney and the comely shoplifter he has taken home for the Christmas holiday.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi, Elizabeth Patterson
Votes: 7,190 | Gross: $0.17M
26. Northwest Passage (1940)
Passed | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Langdon Towne and Hunk Marriner join Major Rogers' Rangers as they wipe out an Indian village. They set out for Fort Wentworth, but when they arrive they find no soldiers and none of the supplies they expected.
Directors: King Vidor, Jack Conway, W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, Walter Brennan, Ruth Hussey
Votes: 3,905
27. The Son of Monte Cristo (1940)
Approved | 102 min | Drama, Romance
General Gurko Lanen is the dictator of Lichtenburg, a country set in the Balkans. With the help of Napoleon II, the rightful ruler Grand Duchess Zona aims to overthrow the general. She is also helped by the visiting Count of Monte Cristo.
Director: Rowland V. Lee | Stars: Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, George Sanders, Florence Bates
Votes: 880
28. Flowing Gold (1940)
Approved | 81 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In the American oilfields, a fugitive from justice's destiny is intertwined with the fortunes and the misfortunes of a small oil company that hires him as a roughneck.
Director: Alfred E. Green | Stars: John Garfield, Frances Farmer, Pat O'Brien, Raymond Walburn
Votes: 522
29. The Fighting 69th (1940)
Passed | 90 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
Although loudmouthed braggart Jerry Plunkett alienates his comrades and officers, Father Duffy, the regimental chaplain, has faith that he'll prove himself in the end.
Director: William Keighley | Stars: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, George Brent, Jeffrey Lynn
Votes: 1,985
30. Flight Command (1940)
Passed | 116 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A rookie flyer, Ens. Alan Drake, joins the famous Hellcats Squadron right out of flight school in Pensacola. He doesn't make a great first impression when he is forced to ditch his airplane... See full summary »
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, Walter Pidgeon, Paul Kelly
Votes: 865
31. The Long Voyage Home (1940)
Approved | 105 min | Drama, War
A merchant ship's crew tries to survive the loneliness of the sea and the coming of war.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Ian Hunter, Ward Bond
Votes: 4,923
32. Dark Command (1940)
Approved | 94 min | Drama, Romance, War
In Kansas during the Civil War, opposing pro-Union and pro-Confederate camps clash and visiting Texan Bob Seton runs afoul of William Cantrell's Raiders.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Walter Pidgeon, Roy Rogers
Votes: 3,036
33. Comrade X (1940)
Passed | 104 min | Comedy, Romance
An American reporter smuggling news out of Soviet Moscow is blackmailed into helping a beautiful Communist leave the country.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Clark Gable, Hedy Lamarr, Oscar Homolka, Felix Bressart
Votes: 1,832
34. A Night at Earl Carroll's (1940)
Approved | 62 min | Comedy, Crime, Musical
Newly-elected reform Mayor Jones celebrates his victory over the crooked political machine with a party at Earl Carroll's night club. Steve Kalkus, the defeated racketeer-politician, has ... See full summary »
Director: Kurt Neumann | Stars: Ken Murray, Rose Hobart, Elvia Allman, Blanche Stewart
Votes: 92
35. Victory (1940)
Approved | 79 min | Adventure, Drama
A hermit's idyllic life on an island is disturbed by the arrival of a bunch of cutthroats.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Fredric March, Betty Field, Cedric Hardwicke, Jerome Cowan
Votes: 124
36. A Bill of Divorcement (1940)
Approved | 74 min | Drama
Father's return from the insane asylum spells calamity for the Fairfield family.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: Maureen O'Hara, Adolphe Menjou, Fay Bainter, Herbert Marshall
Votes: 229
37. Girl in 313 (1940)
Approved | 56 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A police agent infiltrates a gang of jewel thieves, and on the way to finding who the evildoers are, he falls in love with a thief.
Director: Ricardo Cortez | Stars: Florence Rice, Kent Taylor, Lionel Atwill, Kay Aldridge
Votes: 98
38. Alias the Deacon (1940)
Approved | 74 min | Adventure, Comedy
A hillbilly deacon, who is actually a cardsharp in disguise, becomes involved in a small-town fight game.
Director: Christy Cabanne | Stars: Bob Burns, Mischa Auer, Peggy Moran, Dennis O'Keefe
Votes: 33
39. My Little Chickadee (1940)
Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Western
After a scandal runs a gold-digger out of town, she meets a con artist and becomes embroiled in a string of petty deceits.
Director: Edward F. Cline | Stars: Mae West, W.C. Fields, Joseph Calleia, Dick Foran
Votes: 3,061
40. I'm Nobody's Sweetheart Now (1940)
Approved | 64 min | Adventure, Comedy, Music
Tod Lowell (Dennis O'Keefe)),the quarterback of the Southern State football team has been dating Betty Gilbert (Constance Moore), a nightclub singer. But his mother, Mrs. Henry Lowell ... See full summary »
Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: Dennis O'Keefe, Constance Moore, Helen Parrish, Lewis Howard
Votes: 30
41. Rangers of Fortune (1940)
Approved | 80 min | Western
Two cowboys come to the aid of a town under the control of a crooked boss.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Fred MacMurray, Albert Dekker, Gilbert Roland, Patricia Morison
Votes: 64
42. Mexican Spitfire (1939)
Approved | 67 min | Comedy
Newlyweds Dennis and Carmelita have several obstacles to deal with in their new marriage: Carmelita's fiery Latin temper, a meddling aunt and a conniving ex-fiancee who's determined to break up their marriage.
Director: Leslie Goodwins | Stars: Lupe Velez, Leon Errol, Donald Woods, Linda Hayes
Votes: 404
43. Virginia City (1940)
Passed | 121 min | Western
Union officer Kerry Bradford escapes from Confederate Prison and is set to Virginia City, Nevada, where he finds out that the former commander of his prison, Vance Irby, is planning to send $5 million in gold to save the Confederacy.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Errol Flynn, Miriam Hopkins, Randolph Scott, Humphrey Bogart
Votes: 2,962
44. When the Daltons Rode (1940)
Approved | 81 min | Western
Fictionalized story of how the Dalton brothers were wronged by a crooked development company and became outlaws when the corrupt local courts offered them no justice.
Director: George Marshall | Stars: Randolph Scott, Kay Francis, Brian Donlevy, George Bancroft
Votes: 907
45. Turnabout (1940)
Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Bickering husband and wife Tim and Sally Willows mutter a few angry words to a statue of Buddha and wind up living each other's life.
Director: Hal Roach | Stars: Adolphe Menjou, Carole Landis, John Hubbard, William Gargan
Votes: 757
46. Johnny Apollo (1940)
Approved | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The son of a jailed Wall Street broker turns to crime to pay for his father's release.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Tyrone Power, Dorothy Lamour, Edward Arnold, Lloyd Nolan
Votes: 1,501
47. Torrid Zone (1940)
Passed | 88 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Plagued by revolutionaries that harass his plantation in a banana republic, fruit company exec Steve Case rehires former nemesis Nick Butler to restore order and profits.
Director: William Keighley | Stars: James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien, Andy Devine
Votes: 1,493
48. They Knew What They Wanted (1940)
Approved | 96 min | Drama, Romance
While courting a young woman by mail, a rich farmer sends a photograph of his foreman instead of his own, which leads to complications when she accepts his marriage proposal.
Director: Garson Kanin | Stars: Carole Lombard, Charles Laughton, William Gargan, Harry Carey
Votes: 493
49. Christmas in July (1940)
Passed | 67 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After 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?
Director: Preston Sturges | Stars: Dick Powell, Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn, Alexander Carr
Votes: 4,266
50. I Take This Woman (1940)
Passed | 98 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A doctor (Spencer Tracy) marries a suicidal woman (Hedy Lamarr) but begins to doubt her fidelity.
Directors: W.S. Van Dyke, Frank Borzage, Josef von Sternberg | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, Verree Teasdale, Kent Taylor
Votes: 715
51. If I Had My Way (1940)
Approved | 82 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
When a fellow bridge builder is killed in an accident, two of his co-workers take his now-orphaned daughter to New York to be adopted by relatives.
Director: David Butler | Stars: Bing Crosby, Gloria Jean, Charles Winninger, El Brendel
Votes: 210
52. Down Argentine Way (1940)
Approved | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
An American girl on vacation in Argentina falls for a wealthy racehorse owner.
Director: Irving Cummings | Stars: Don Ameche, Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda, Charlotte Greenwood
Votes: 1,365
53. Millionaire Playboy (1940)
Passed | 64 min | Comedy, Romance
Joe Zany has been bashful around girls since he was a baby, and has violent spells of hiccuping when he is kissed by one. His father, utilities magnate J.B. Zany, calls in the services of ... See full summary »
Director: Leslie Goodwins | Stars: Joe Penner, Linda Hayes, Russ Brown, Fritz Feld
Votes: 129
54. No Time for Comedy (1940)
Approved | 93 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Playwright Gaylord Esterbrook scores a hit with his first Broadway play, both with the critics and with leading lady Linda Paige. He and Linda are happily married until a patroness of the ... See full summary »
Director: William Keighley | Stars: Rosalind Russell, James Stewart, Genevieve Tobin, Charles Ruggles
Votes: 1,188
55. Women in War (1940)
Approved | 71 min | Drama, War
A "good-time girl", raised by her somewhat lax divorced father, finds herself involved in an accidental death, and the only way she's able to get out of it is to volunteer--albeit ... See full summary »
Director: John H. Auer | Stars: Elsie Janis, Wendy Barrie, Patric Knowles, Mae Clarke
Votes: 94
56. Our Town (1940)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Family, Romance
Change comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: William Holden, Martha Scott, Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi
Votes: 2,971
57. Jud Süß (1940)
98 min | Drama
Infamous anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda historical drama about Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg and his treasurer Süß Oppenheimer.
Director: Veit Harlan | Stars: Ferdinand Marian, Kristina Söderbaum, Heinrich George, Werner Krauss
Votes: 3,370
58. Green Hell (1940)
Passed | 87 min | Adventure, Romance
In the jungles of the Amazon, a group of Western adventurers and two local native guides try to locate a lost treasure buried beneath an ancient Incan city.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Joan Bennett, John Howard, George Sanders
Votes: 405
59. Captain Caution (1940)
Passed | 86 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
When her father dies, a young woman helps a young man take command of the ship to fight the British during the war of 1812.
Director: Richard Wallace | Stars: Victor Mature, Louise Platt, Leo Carrillo, Bruce Cabot
Votes: 351
60. The Great Profile (1940)
Approved | 82 min | Comedy
Barrymore lampoons himself. A famous actor, given to drink, nearly destroys the show, but his leading lady returns to save it. Meanwhile a young girl tries to reform him.
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: John Barrymore, Mary Beth Hughes, Gregory Ratoff, John Payne
Votes: 269
61. Her First Romance (1940)
Approved | 77 min | Drama, Musical
A rather plain coed Fellows and her beautiful sister Wells compete for the same man Evans. When Ladd thinks Evans is moving in on Linden he knocks him down, but things get straightened out.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Edith Fellows, Wilbur Evans, Julie Bishop, Alan Ladd
Votes: 75
62. Mexican Spitfire Out West (1940)
Approved | 76 min | Comedy
With husband Dennis preoccupied with a business deal, Carmelita decides to teach him a lesson by running off to Reno and filing for divorce.
Director: Leslie Goodwins | Stars: Lupe Velez, Leon Errol, Donald Woods, Elisabeth Risdon
Votes: 248
63. Road to Singapore (1940)
Approved | 85 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Two playboys try to forget previous romances in Singapore - until they meet a beautiful dancer.
Director: Victor Schertzinger | Stars: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Charles Coburn
Votes: 4,089
64. Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
Passed | 102 min | Musical
Johnny Brett and King Shaw are an unsuccessful dance team in New York. A producer discovers Brett as the new partner for Clare Bennett but Brett, who thinks he is one of the people they lent money to, gives him the name of his partner.
Director: Norman Taurog | Stars: Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, George Murphy, Frank Morgan
Votes: 2,786
65. Rhythm on the River (1940)
92 min | Comedy, Musical
Popular songwriter Oliver Courtney has been getting by for years using one ghost writer for his music and another for his lyrics. When both writers meet at an inn, they fall in love and ... See full summary »
Director: Victor Schertzinger | Stars: Bing Crosby, Mary Martin, Basil Rathbone, Oscar Levant
Votes: 416
66. Tin Pan Alley (1940)
Approved | 94 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
Songwriters Calhoun and Harrigan get Katie and Lily Blane to introduce a new one. Lily goes to England, and Katy joins her after the boys give a new song to Nora Bayes. All are reunited when the boys, now in the army, show up in England.
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: Alice Faye, Betty Grable, Jack Oakie, John Payne
Votes: 564
67. French Without Tears (1940)
86 min | Comedy
The love affairs of three young Englishmen at a language cramming school in the south of France. Diana, the sister of one of the boys, arrives in town to flirt with all of her brothers' schoolmates.
Director: Anthony Asquith | Stars: Ray Milland, Ellen Drew, Janine Darcey, David Tree
Votes: 119
68. Spring Parade (1940)
Approved | 89 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A Hungarian woman whose fortune predicts that she will marry may find it coming true when she meets an army drummer.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: Deanna Durbin, Robert Cummings, Mischa Auer, Henry Stephenson
Votes: 382
69. The Boys from Syracuse (1940)
Approved | 73 min | Comedy, Musical
The action takes place in Ephesus in ancient Asia Minor, and the story concerns the efforts of two boys from Syracuse, Anthipholus and his servant Dromio, to find their long-lost twins who,... See full summary »
Director: A. Edward Sutherland | Stars: Allan Jones, Irene Hervey, Martha Raye, Joe Penner
Votes: 159
70. Strike Up the Band (1940)
Passed | 120 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A high-school boy wants to become a professional musician, and his gal pal wants to become his best girl. They work together staging big-band shows with fellow classmates in the hopes of hitting it big.
Director: Busby Berkeley | Stars: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Paul Whiteman, June Preisser
Votes: 1,939
71. We Who Are Young (1940)
Passed | 80 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Two young office workers working at the same large firm secretly marry and defy their employer's policy against coworker fraternization. When the marriage is discovered, Margy (Turner) is ... See full summary »
Director: Harold S. Bucquet | Stars: Lana Turner, John Shelton, Gene Lockhart, Grant Mitchell
Votes: 372
72. Young People (1940)
Approved | 79 min | Drama, Musical
A show-business family leaves the Great White Way and heads for a farm in New England. What results is the difficulties they have before they are accepted by the community.
Director: Allan Dwan | Stars: Shirley Temple, Jack Oakie, Charlotte Greenwood, Arleen Whelan
Votes: 466
73. Michael Shayne: Private Detective (1940)
Approved | 77 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
After gumshoe Mike Shayne is hired by a millionaire to keep his daughter away from gambling and gamblers, he becomes involved in the murder of a racetrack tout.
Director: Eugene Forde | Stars: Lloyd Nolan, Marjorie Weaver, Joan Valerie, Walter Abel
Votes: 604
74. Li'l Abner (1940)
Passed | 78 min | Comedy, Romance
The goings-on in the rural Southern community of Dogpatch, USA.
Director: Albert S. Rogell | Stars: Jeff York, Martha O'Driscoll, Mona Ray, Johnnie Morris
Votes: 522
75. Phantom Raiders (1940)
Passed | 70 min | Mystery
An insurance company tasks with Carter and Beeswax to go to Panama where cargo ships are mysteriously exploding and sending their valuable cargoes to the bottom with all hands.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Walter Pidgeon, Donald Meek, Joseph Schildkraut, Florence Rice
Votes: 487
76. Sky Murder (1940)
Passed | 72 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
A body is found in a locked airplane compartment and a German female refugee is a suspect. Passenger detective Nick Carter is convinced she didn't do it and works to solve the mysterious murder.
Director: George B. Seitz | Stars: Walter Pidgeon, Donald Meek, Karen Verne, Edward Ashley
Votes: 459
77. The Blue Bird (1940)
Approved | 88 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Mytyl and her brother Tyltyl, a woodchopper's children, are led by the Fairy Berylune on a magical trip through the past, present, and future to locate the Blue Bird of Happiness.
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: Shirley Temple, Spring Byington, Nigel Bruce, Gale Sondergaard
Votes: 1,978
78. Private Affairs (1940)
Approved | 74 min | Comedy, Romance
Amos Bullerton, son of an old Boston family, has chosen for twenty years to remain a "black sheep" rather than submit to the dictation of his staid family. Jane Bullerton, his daughter, ... See full summary »
Director: Albert S. Rogell | Stars: Nancy Kelly, Robert Cummings, Hugh Herbert, Roland Young
Votes: 63
79. Young Tom Edison (1940)
Approved | 86 min | Biography, Drama, Family
Inventor 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Norman Taurog | Stars: Mickey Rooney, Fay Bainter, George Bancroft, Virginia Weidler
Votes: 1,263
80. Those Were the Days! (1940)
74 min | Comedy, Romance
A middle-aged couple think back to their college days and courtship.
Director: Theodore Reed | Stars: William Holden, Bonita Granville, Ezra Stone, Judith Barrett
Votes: 114
81. Music in My Heart (1940)
Approved | 70 min | Musical, Romance
Rita Hayworth co-stars with famed recording artist Tony Martin in this musical comedy featuring the music of Andre Kostelanetz and his orchestra. Following various comic misunderstandings, ... See full summary »
Director: Joseph Santley | Stars: Tony Martin, Rita Hayworth, Edith Fellows, Andre Kostelanetz and His Orchestra
Votes: 621
82. Too Many Girls (1940)
Passed | 85 min | Comedy, Music, Sport
A young lady goes to college, and without her knowledge, her father sends four football players as her bodyguards. They eventually join the college team and turn it into one the best--and one of them falls in love with her.
Director: George Abbott | Stars: Lucille Ball, Richard Carlson, Ann Miller, Eddie Bracken
Votes: 1,026
83. Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
Approved | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
When a troupe of danseuses becomes unemployed, one of them takes up burlesque dancing while another dreams of performing ballet.
Directors: Dorothy Arzner, Roy Del Ruth | Stars: Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball, Virginia Field
Votes: 3,080
84. Hired Wife (1940)
Approved | 96 min | Comedy, Romance
CEO Stephen marries his secretary Kendal in name only, an arrangement made to protect his finances from an attempt at a hostile business takeover. Once the threat is neutralized, he asks Kendal for a divorce but she refuses.
Director: William A. Seiter | Stars: Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Virginia Bruce, Robert Benchley
Votes: 460
85. Lucky Partners (1940)
Approved | 99 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two strangers share a sweepstakes ticket and then embark on an "imaginary" honeymoon with their "winnings".
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Ronald Colman, Ginger Rogers, Jack Carson, Spring Byington
Votes: 1,105
86. Forty Little Mothers (1940)
Approved | 90 min | Drama, Romance
An out-of-work professor gets a break from an old college buddy to teach at an exclusive girl's school. But events conspire against him: he finds an abandoned child which he takes under his... See full summary »
Director: Busby Berkeley | Stars: Eddie Cantor, Judith Anderson, Ralph Morgan, Rita Johnson
Votes: 365
87. Lillian Russell (1940)
Passed | 127 min | Biography, Drama, History
The life story of the musical star from her discovery in 1890 by bandleader Tony Pastor until her retirement in 1912, when she married newspaperman Alexander Moore.
Director: Irving Cummings | Stars: Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Henry Fonda, Edward Arnold
Votes: 580
88. Dr. Kildare Goes Home (1940)
Passed | 79 min | Drama
Dr. James Kildare has just completed his internship at Blair General Hospital and is assigned to work with his mentor, Dr. Leonard Gillespie. But fearing for the health of his father, Dr. ... See full summary »
Director: Harold S. Bucquet | Stars: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, Samuel S. Hinds
Votes: 451
89. Dr. Kildare's Crisis (1940)
Passed | 75 min | Drama
Nurse Mary Lamont is excited about her brother's impending visit. The young man's strange behavior puzzles Dr. Kildare who believes he may be hiding a serious illness.
Director: Harold S. Bucquet | Stars: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, Robert Young
Votes: 387
90. Dr. Kildare's Strange Case (1940)
Passed | 77 min | Crime, Drama
Young Dr. Kildare tries to help an unlucky brain surgeon and his seemingly insane patient.
Director: Harold S. Bucquet | Stars: Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, Shepperd Strudwick
Votes: 616
91. New Moon (1940)
Passed | 105 min | Adventure, Musical, Romance
On a Louisiana-bound ship, a nobleman planning a campaign for liberty encounters an heiress.
Directors: Robert Z. Leonard, W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Mary Boland, George Zucco
Votes: 641
92. Saps at Sea (1940)
G | 56 min | Comedy
Oliver suffers a nervous breakdown as a result of working in a horn factory, but when he follows doctor's orders about sea air, he finds an ex-con is aboard.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson, Ben Turpin
Votes: 3,081
93. I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby (1940)
Approved | 61 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
When Public Enemy No. 3 Sonny McGann meets composer Bob Gunther, he gets the idea of having Bob write music to a poem he has written about his long-lost sweetheart Sadie McGlonsky. ... See full summary »
Director: Albert S. Rogell | Stars: Broderick Crawford, Jessie Ralph, Johnny Downs, Peggy Moran
Votes: 36
94. Sandy Gets Her Man (1940)
Approved | 74 min | Comedy
Fireman Bill Carey and police officer Tom Gerrity are rivals for the hand of Nan Clark. Each hopes to marry Nan so that her father, Councilman Clark, the city finance commissioner, will ... See full synopsis »
Directors: Otis Garrett, Paul Gerard Smith | Stars: Baby Sandy, Stuart Erwin, Una Merkel, Edgar Kennedy
Votes: 51
95. Hit Parade of 1941 (1940)
Approved | 88 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A small radio station is saved of getting bankrupt by a backer, who invests money for a TV equipment, if the owner allows, that his dancing daughter Annabelle can dance and sing on the ... See full summary »
Director: John H. Auer | Stars: Kenny Baker, Frances Langford, Hugh Herbert, Mary Boland
Votes: 96
96. Dulcy (1940)
Passed | 73 min | Adventure, Comedy, Romance
A dizzy young woman aranges to turn her inventor-boyfriend's vacation into a chance meeting with a possible investor who happens to be her brother's future father-in-law. And Wacky stuff happens.
Director: S. Sylvan Simon | Stars: Ann Sothern, Ian Hunter, Roland Young, Reginald Gardiner
Votes: 364
97. Haunted Honeymoon (1940)
Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
A dead body is discovered in the newly-purchased home of a gentleman sleuth and his mystery-novelist bride.
Directors: Arthur B. Woods, Richard Thorpe | Stars: Robert Montgomery, Constance Cummings, Leslie Banks, Seymour Hicks
Votes: 882
98. Scatterbrain (1940)
Approved | 73 min | Comedy
Eddie MacIntyre is a press agent, talent scout and right-hand man to J.R.Russell, Producer/Director of Perfection Pictures, is planning a scheme in which he will "plant" his girl friend, ... See full summary »
Director: Gus Meins | Stars: Judy Canova, Alan Mowbray, Ruth Donnelly, Eddie Foy Jr.
Votes: 54
99. In Old Missouri (1940)
Approved | 71 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
The Weavers play sharecroppers. They confront their landlord with their tale of woe only to find he is in money trouble too. He also has a wastrel son and a socialite wife who wants a ... See full summary »
Director: Frank McDonald | Stars: Leon Weaver, Frank Weaver, June Weaver, June Storey
Votes: 43
100. Grand Ole Opry (1940)
Approved | 67 min | Comedy, Music
Abner Weaver, a small-town mayor in the Ozarks, through the music of performers from 'The Grand Ole Opry," and the antics and help of his family and the local citizens, manages to pass a ... See full summary »
Director: Frank McDonald | Stars: Leon Weaver, Frank Weaver, June Weaver, Lois Ranson
Votes: 70
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