This is a list of notable Hollywood* movies released in the 1940s, with GEMs highlighted. Note that the list is sortable by each column. (Multiple levels of sorting are possible by sorting more than one column in succession, from lowest to highest.)
Most of the listed movies can be borrowed from your local public library in DVD form and are also available for streaming. Watching these movies online usually requires a small fee or a subscription to streaming platforms such as YouTube, Amazon Prime, Disney+ or Netflix. The ‘Video at’ column in the list below indicates one preferred streaming option to watch these movies online, though it may also be available on other platforms. A ‘$’ sign indicates a small fee (usually $3.99 or less) for viewing the film. In a few cases, the movie is available for free online viewing, and in these cases the direct link to watch the movie is provided in a separate column. [Note: the availability of movies on various platforms (especially the free ones) is constantly changing: the information is current as of mid-2023, but it is quite possible that the listed streaming option for a particular film could be outdated at a later time.]
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* Some non-Hollywood movies are also included.
Year
Movie
GEM!
Director
Selected Cast
Video at
Link (free)
Wikipedia
More
1940
Abe Lincoln in Illinois
John Cromwell
Raymond Massey, Gene Lockhart, Ruth Gordon, Mary Howard
YouTube $
1940
Grapes of Wrath, The
John Ford
Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine
Prime Video $
1940
Great Dictator, The
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie
Prime Video $
1940
His Girl Friday
Howard Hawks
Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy
Tubi (free)
1940
Letter, The
William Wyler
Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson
YouTube $
1940
Philadelphia Story, The
George Cukor
Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, Ruth Hussey
YouTube $
1940
Pinocchio (animated)
Various (Walt Disney)
Cliff Edwards, Dickie Jones, Christian Rub, Walter Catlett, Charles Judels, Evelyn Venable, Frankie Darro (voices)
Disney+
1940
Pride and Prejudice
Robert Z. Leonard
Laurence Olivier, Greer Garson, Maureen O'Sullivan, Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver
YouTube $
1940
Rebecca
Alfred Hitchcock
Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, Judith Anderson
YouTube (free)
1940
Road to Singapore
Victor Schertzinger
Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour
YouTube $
1940
Shop Around the Corner, The
Ernst Lubitsch
Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Frank Morgan
YouTube $
1941
Citizen Kane
Orson Welles
Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton
YouTube $
1941
Lady Eve, The
Preston Sturges
Henry Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck, Charles Coburn
Prime Video
1941
Little Foxes, The
William Wyler
Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright, Richard Carlson, Patricia Collinge, Charles Dingle, Carl Benton Reid
YouTube (free)
1941
Maltese Falcon, The
John Huston
Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet
YouTube $
1941
Meet John Doe
Frank Capra
Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck
PlutoTV (free)
1941
Sergeant York
Howard Hawks
Gary Cooper, Joan Leslie, Walter Brennan
YouTube $
1942
Casablanca
Michael Curtiz
Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre
YouTube $
1942
Magnificent Ambersons, The
Orson Welles
Joseph Cotton, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead
YouTube $
1942
Mrs. Miniver
William Wyler
Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, May Whitty, Richard Ney
YouTube $
1942
Pride of the Yankees, The
Sam Wood
Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth (as himself), Walter Brennan
Tubi (free)
1943
Jane Eyre
Robert Stevenson
Orson Welles, Joan Fontaine
YouTube $
1943
Madame Curie
Mervyn LeRoy
Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Henry Travers, Albert Bassermann
YouTube $
1943
Ox-Bow Incident, The
William A. Wellman
Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn, Harry Morgan, Jane Darwell
YouTube $
1943
Shadow of a Doubt
Alfred Hitchcock
Joseph Cotton, Teresa Wright, Macdonald Carey, Patricia Collinge, Henry Travers
YouTube $
1944
Arsenic and Old Lace
Frank Capra
Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane
YouTube $
1944
Double Indemnity
Billy Wilder
Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
YouTube $
1944
Gaslight
George Cukor
Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotton, May Whitty, Angela Lansbury
Prime Video
1944
Laura
Otto Preminger
Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price, Judith Anderson
YouTube $
1944
Lifeboat
Alfred Hitchcock
Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson, John Hodiak, Henry Hull
YouTube $
1944
National Velvet
Clarence Brown
Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Anne Revere, Donald Crisp
YouTube $
1944
To Have and Have Not
Howard Hawks
Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan, Lauren Bacall, Dolores Moran, Hoagy Carmichael
YouTube $
1945
Lost Weekend, The
Billy Wilder
Ray Milland, Jane Wyman
YouTube $
1945
Mildred Pierce
Michael Curtiz
Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth
YouTube $
1945
Spellbound
Alfred Hitchcock
Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergman
YouTube (free)
1946
Best Years of Our Lives, The
William Wyler
Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, Harold Russell
PlutoTV (free)
1946
Big Sleep, The
Howard Hawks
Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers
YouTube $
1946
Gilda
Charles Vidor
Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready
YouTube $
1946
Great Expectations
David Lean
John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Bernard Miles, Francis L. Sullivan, Anthony Wager, Alec Guinness
Tubi (free)
1946
It's a Wonderful Life
Frank Capra
Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Henry Travers
Plex (free)
1946
My Darling Clementine
John Ford
Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Linda Darnell, Walter Brennan
YouTube $
1946
Notorious
Alfred Hitchcock
Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains
Tubi (free)
1946
Postman Always Rings Twice, The
Tay Garnett
Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn
YouTube $
1946
The Spiral Staircase
Robert Siodmak
Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore, Kent Smith, Gordon Oliver
Plex (free)
1947
Gentleman's Agreement
Elia Kazan
Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield, Celeste Holm, Anne Revere
YouTube $
1947
Miracle on 34th Street
George Seaton
Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, Gene Lockhart, Natalie Wood, Porter Hall
Disney+
1948
Hamlet
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier, Basil Sydney. Eileen Herlie, Jean Simmons, Stanley Holloway
Plex (free)
1948
Oliver Twist
David Lean
John Howard Davies, Alec Guinness, Robert Newton, Kay Walsh
YouTube (free)
1948
Quartet (Maugham stories I)
Various
Cecil Parker, Dirk Bogarde, George Cole, Honor Blackman, Linden Travers, Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, Jack Watling, Susan Shaw
YouTube (free)
1948
Red River
Howard Hawks
John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru
YouTube (free)
1948
Rope
Alfred Hitchcock
Jimmy Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger
YouTube $
1948
Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The
John Huston
Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett
YouTube $
1949
All the King's Men
Robert Rossen
Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Joanne Dru
YouTube (free)
1949
Heiress, The
William Wyler
Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins
1949
Third Man, The
Carol Reed
Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard