1940s in Film

It is not surprising that the further we get from our own time, the less we have experienced. My own “self-education” in film has suffered this way, and I find I am embarrassingly under-experienced in the films of the first half century of cinema. Most of what I have enjoyed of the decade of the forties seems to be centered on a handful of directors and producers:

12. “Rope” (1948) Alfred Hitchcock

11. “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948) John Huston

10. “Pinocchio” (1940) Walt Disney

9. “The Maltese Falcon” (1941) John Huston

8. “Rebecca” (1940) Alfred Hitchcock

7. “Fantasia” (1940) Walt Disney

6. “Arsenic and Old Lace” (1944) Frank Capra

5. “Casablanca” (1942) Michael Curtis

4. “Shadow of a Doubt” (1943) Alfred Hitchcock

3. “Notorious” (1946) Alfred Hitchcock

2. “The Great Dictator” (1940) Charlie Chaplin

1. “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) Frank Capra