Last Updated on 25 March 2024

I searched far and wide for lists of best movies made in the 1940s. Criteria included the movies being ranked, not just listed, not just from one genre, and generally created by groups, whether teams or committees or based on general public voting (like Ranker.com).

I was able to find 14 lists. I took the 14 lists and added all their content into a spreadsheet, noting the rank of every film. I ended up averaging the rankings each movie got (there were 192 that were on at least 2 lists) and dividing that average by a factor of the number of lists that movie was on. The lowest score meant a high ranking average on many lists. The complete spreadsheet is attached at the bottom.

The movies that were on the most lists (out of 14) were:

  • Casablanca (1942) – 14 lists
  • Citizen Kane (1941) – 13 lists
  • Double Indemnity (1944) – 12 lists
  • The Third Man (1949) – 11 lists
  • It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) – 11 lists
  • The Grapes of Wrath (1940) – 11 lists
  • The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) – 11 lists
  • The Great Dictator (1940) – 10 lists
  • The Philadelphia Story (1940) – 10 lists
  • Notorious (1946) – 10 lists
  • Beauty and the Beast (1946) – 10 lists

Here are links to the lists I used along with dates the lists were created:

Best-40s-Movies-RankedDownload

Loading