Crate-Digger Film Canon: All Films of the 40s
by DonRaoul | created - 25 Feb 2021 | updated - 31 Jan 2022 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. 3 Cheers for the Irish (1940)
Approved | 99 min | Comedy, Romance
Peter Casey has been with the New York City police department for 25 years. He's totally surprised when he's asked to retire on his 25th anniversary with the force. He's even more ... See full summary »
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Priscilla Lane, Thomas Mitchell, Dennis Morgan, Virginia Grey
Votes: 313
2. 20 Mule Team (1940)
Passed | 84 min | Western
In California's Death Valley, in 1892, Borax ore miners scratch a hard living until a map pinpointing the location of high-grade Borax ore surfaces, sending prospectors and crooks alike into a gold-rush-like frenzy.
Director: Richard Thorpe | Stars: Wallace Beery, Leo Carrillo, Marjorie Rambeau, Anne Baxter
Votes: 279
3. 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
4. 40,000 Horsemen (1940)
Approved | 100 min | Drama, History, War
Three young Australians join the army at the beginning of World War I and are assigned to the Australian Light Horse cavalry, which is serving in Palestine. The three eventually take part ... See full summary »
Director: Charles Chauvel | Stars: Grant Taylor, Betty Bryant, Chips Rafferty, Pat Twohill
Votes: 239
*40,000 Horsemen
5. Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
Approved | 110 min | Biography, Drama, History
Humble Abraham Lincoln gains the respect of his Illinois neighbors, growing in stature and respect until he is elected President in 1860 and departs for Washington.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Raymond Massey, Gene Lockhart, Ruth Gordon, Mary Howard
Votes: 2,060
6. Adventure in Diamonds (1940)
Approved | 76 min | Crime, Drama
Starring George Brent, Isa Miranda, John Loder, Nigel Bruce, Elizabeth Patterson. Directed by George Fitzmaurice. Print: black/white. Runtime: 76 min. Genre: drama. British army pilot ... See full summary »
Director: George Fitzmaurice | Stars: George Brent, Isa Miranda, John Loder, Nigel Bruce
Votes: 68
7. All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
Approved | 141 min | Drama, Romance
A duchess' irrational behavior toward her children's governess triggers tragic events that will change her family's lives forever.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Bette Davis, Charles Boyer, Jeffrey Lynn, Barbara O'Neil
Votes: 5,388
8. Americaner Shadchen (1940)
Approved | 87 min | Comedy, Romance
Nat Silver has been engaged 7 times already. This time, his 8th, he's really going to get married. But a visitor shows up, Shirley's old boyfriend. With a gun ! He'll kill himself unless he... See full summary »
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer | Stars: Leo Fuchs, Judith Abarbanel, Judel Dubinsky, Anna Guskin
Votes: 118
*American Matchmaker
9. And One Was Beautiful (1940)
Passed | 70 min | Drama, Romance
A woman lets a family friend take the blame after she accidentally kills a man with his car.
Director: Robert B. Sinclair | Stars: Robert Cummings, Laraine Day, Jean Muir, Billie Burke
Votes: 336
10. Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940)
Approved | 88 min | Comedy, Family, Romance
Judge Hardy takes his family to New York City, where Andy quickly falls in love with a socialite. However, he finds the high-society life too expensive and eventually decides that he liked it better back home.
Director: George B. Seitz | Stars: Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, Fay Holden
Votes: 1,016
11. An Angel from Texas (1940)
Passed | 69 min | Comedy, Romance
Stage struck Lydia Weston leaves her small Texas town for Broadway. Left behind is her steady beau Peter. Lydia sends letters and news clippings back home telling everyone she's now a big ... See full summary »
Director: Ray Enright | Stars: Eddie Albert, Rosemary Lane, Wayne Morris, Jane Wyman
Votes: 293
12. Angels Over Broadway (1940)
Passed | 79 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
A cuckolded embezzler on the verge of suicide is helped by a tout, an alcoholic playwright, and a pick-up girl to reimburse the money with a gambling sting.
Directors: Ben Hecht, Lee Garmes | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Rita Hayworth, Thomas Mitchell, John Qualen
Votes: 1,338
13. Anne of Windy Poplars (1940)
Approved | 86 min | Drama, Romance
Anne Shirley, now betrothed to her childhood sweetheart Gilbert Blythe, takes a teaching position in a prestigious school far from her home on Prince Edward Island. While she is quickly ... See full summary »
Director: Jack Hively | Stars: Anne Shirley, James Ellison, Henry Travers, Patric Knowles
Votes: 216
14. The Ape (1940)
Approved | 62 min | Horror
Dr. Bernard Adrian is a kindly mad scientist who seeks to cure a young woman's polio. He needs spinal fluid from a human to complete the formula for his experimental serum.
Director: William Nigh | Stars: Boris Karloff, Maris Wrixon, Gene O'Donnell, Dorothy Vaughan
Votes: 2,062
15. Argentine Nights (1940)
Approved | 75 min | Comedy, Music
An all-girl band flees to Argentina to avoid their creditors.
Director: Albert S. Rogell | Stars: The Ritz Brothers, Al Ritz, Harry Ritz, Jimmy Ritz
Votes: 67
16. Arise, My Love (1940)
Passed | 110 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A dashing pilot and a vivacious reporter have romantic and dramatic adventures in Europe as World War II begins.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Ray Milland, Dennis O'Keefe, Walter Abel
Votes: 1,037
17. Arizona (1940)
Passed | 125 min | Drama, Western
In Tucson of the 1860s, a pioneer woman struggles to succeed in the freight and cattle business while at risk at the hands of corrupt and violent local businessmen and rampaging Indians.
Director: Wesley Ruggles | Stars: Jean Arthur, William Holden, Warren William, Porter Hall
Votes: 1,489
18. Bad Man from Red Butte (1940)
Approved | 58 min | Western
A cowboy arrives in a town, and is immediately mistaken for his twin brother who is wanted for murder
Director: Ray Taylor | Stars: Johnny Mack Brown, Bob Baker, Fuzzy Knight, Anne Gwynne
Votes: 112
19. Band Waggon (1940)
TV-G | 85 min | Comedy, Musical
A plot involving spies in a haunted castle gives this team of celebrated British wireless comedians plenty of scope for laughs.
Director: Marcel Varnel | Stars: Arthur Askey, Jack Hylton and His Band, Richard Murdoch, Pat Kirkwood
Votes: 223
20. The Bank Dick (1940)
Not Rated | 72 min | Comedy
Henpecked Egbert Sousé has comic adventures as a substitute film director and unlikely bank guard.
Director: Edward F. Cline | Stars: W.C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel, Evelyn Del Rio
Votes: 7,804
*The Bank Dick
21. Before I Hang (1940)
Passed | 62 min | Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi
A physician on death row for a mercy killing is allowed to experiment on a serum using a criminals' blood, but secretly tests it on himself. He gets a pardon, but finds out he's become a Jekyll-&-Hyde.
Director: Nick Grinde | Stars: Boris Karloff, Evelyn Keyes, Bruce Bennett, Edward Van Sloan
Votes: 1,416
22. Behind the News (1940)
75 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
It's Jeff Flavin's first day on the job as a cub reporter for the Enquirer. The boss, Archer, places him with lazy reporter Stu Woodrow. Stu detests cubs and treats Jeff badly. Jeff saves a... See full summary »
Director: Joseph Santley | Stars: Lloyd Nolan, Doris Davenport, Frank Albertson, Robert Armstrong
Votes: 92
23. Beyond Tomorrow (1940)
Approved | 84 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
The ghosts of three elderly industrialists killed in an airplane crash return to Earth to help reunite a young couple they initially brought together.
Director: A. Edward Sutherland | Stars: Harry Carey, C. Aubrey Smith, Charles Winninger, Alex Melesh
Votes: 2,334
24. 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: 230
25. The Biscuit Eater (1940)
Passed | 81 min | Drama, Family
Two little boys have faith in a dog they name Promise, so much faith that they enter him in the championship trials for bird dogs. The favorite is Georgia Boy bred and trained by the boys' ... See full summary »
Director: Stuart Heisler | Stars: Billy Lee, Cordell Hickman, Richard Lane, Lester Matthews
Votes: 244
26. Bitter Sweet (1940)
Passed | 94 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
A woman runs away with her music teacher in order to escape an arranged marriage, but they struggle to make ends meet.
Director: W.S. Van Dyke | Stars: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, George Sanders, Ian Hunter
Votes: 565
27. Black Friday (1940)
Approved | 70 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Dr. Sovac transplants the brain of a gangster into his professor friend's body to save his life, but there is a side effect that causes a dangerous split personality.
Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Stanley Ridges, Anne Nagel
Votes: 2,877
28. Blackout (1940)
Not Rated | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Early in World War II, Danish sea captain Andersen, delayed in a British port, tangles with German spies.
Director: Michael Powell | Stars: Conrad Veidt, Valerie Hobson, Hay Petrie, Joss Ambler
Votes: 1,351
29. Blondie Has Servant Trouble (1940)
Approved | 70 min | Comedy, Family
Dagwood and Blondie are overjoyed when Mr. Dithers invites them to stay in an old mansion with servants and everything else--including ghosts.
Director: Frank R. Strayer | Stars: Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, Larry Simms, Daisy
Votes: 332
30. Blondie on a Budget (1940)
Approved | 72 min | Comedy, Family
Dagwood wants to join the trout club and Blondie wants a fur coat. Jealousy reigns when Dag's old girlfriend Joan shows up, but nothing else matters when a drawing at the movie theatre provides money for the coat.
Director: Frank R. Strayer | Stars: Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, Larry Simms, Daisy
Votes: 559
31. Blondie Plays Cupid (1940)
Passed | 68 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
The Bumstead family is off to see relatives in the country when Blondie runs into Charlie and Millie, an eloping couple needing her help.
Director: Frank R. Strayer | Stars: Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, Larry Simms, Daisy
Votes: 399
32. 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
33. Boom Town (1940)
Passed | 119 min | Drama, Romance, Western
Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a ten-year period both love the same woman.
Director: Jack Conway | Stars: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, Hedy Lamarr
Votes: 3,782 | Gross: $9.17M
34. The Border Legion (1940)
Passed | 58 min | Drama, Music, Western
An Eastern doctor is on the run from authorities in New York. Out west he comes to the aid of friends besieged by an outlaw gang known as the border legion. In the end, he is cleared of any wrong-doing back east.
Director: Joseph Kane | Stars: Roy Rogers, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Carol Hughes, Joe Sawyer
Votes: 138
*The Border Legion
35. 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
36. Boys of the City (1940)
Approved | 68 min | Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
Street kids get sent to the country, where they get mixed up in murder and a haunted house.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis | Stars: Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Hal E. Chester, Frankie Burke
Votes: 665
37. 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
38. British Intelligence (1939)
Approved | 61 min | Romance, Thriller, War
Although the home of cabinet minister Arthur Bennett is a hotbed of spies, moles, and double agents, no one knows the true identity of notorious German spymaster Strendler.
Director: Terry O. Morse | Stars: Boris Karloff, Margaret Lindsay, Bruce Lester, Leonard Mudie
Votes: 1,318
39. 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: 2,789
40. Brother Orchid (1940)
Passed | 88 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
When 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.
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sothern, Donald Crisp
Votes: 3,170
41. Brother Rat and a Baby (1940)
Passed | 87 min | Comedy
Three comrades graduate from Viriginia Military Institute. Bing has a chance to return to VMI as a football coach.
Director: Ray Enright | Stars: Priscilla Lane, Wayne Morris, Jane Bryan, Eddie Albert
Votes: 357 | Gross: $0.12M
42. Buck Benny Rides Again (1940)
Passed | 84 min | Adventure, Comedy, Music
Jack Benny (as himself) tries to make good his fictitious boasts about roughing it in Nevada, in a spoof of Western cliches.
Director: Mark Sandrich | Stars: Jack Benny, Ellen Drew, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Andy Devine
Votes: 370
43. Cafe Hostess (1940)
Approved | 65 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Jo (Ann Dvorak), a "percentage girl" at the notorious Club 46, is in despair. She can see no way out of the dreary and sordid routine of entertaining customers - called drinking and dancing... See full summary »
Director: Sidney Salkow | Stars: Preston Foster, Ann Dvorak, Douglas Fowley, Wynne Gibson
Votes: 87
44. Calling Philo Vance (1940)
Passed | 62 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Despite an exclusive contract with the U.S. government, designer Archer Coe's design is being bid on by German, Japanese, and Italian agents - until he's murdered.
Director: William Clemens | Stars: James Stephenson, Margot Stevenson, Henry O'Neill, Edward Brophy
Votes: 495
45. 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
46. The Captain Is a Lady (1940)
65 min | Comedy
Because of a bad investment, Captain and Mrs. Peabody are evicted from their home. Mrs. Peabody finds lodging at a retirement home, but as only single women are allowed, the Captain has to ... See full summary »
Director: Robert B. Sinclair | Stars: Charles Coburn, Beulah Bondi, Virginia Grey, Helen Broderick
Votes: 187
47. Carolina Moon (1940)
Passed | 64 min | Drama, Music, Western
After the evil Wheeler robs plantation owners of their land, Gene sets out to right the wrong.
Director: Frank McDonald | Stars: Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, June Storey, Mary Lee
Votes: 89
48. The Carson City Kid (1940)
Passed | 57 min | Drama, Western
Roy is a bandit who is out to get the man who killed his younger brother. He learns as he rides into the town of Sonora that the man is the owner of the local saloon and gambling hall.
Director: Joseph Kane | Stars: Roy Rogers, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Bob Steele, Noah Beery Jr.
Votes: 337
49. The Frightened Lady (1940)
75 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
"Mark's Priory," the Lebanons' family seat, is a house of terror to Ilsa Crane, Lady Lebanon's niece and secretary. The strange behavior of two sinister footmen, Gilder and Brooks, adds ... See full summary »
Director: George King | Stars: Marius Goring, Penelope Dudley-Ward, Helen Haye, Felix Aylmer
Votes: 357
*The Case of the Frightened Lady
50. Castle on the Hudson (1940)
Approved | 77 min | Crime, Drama
An arrogant mobster, sentenced to a long prison term in Sing Sing, becomes a changed man when given a chance by the fair and progressive warden.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: John Garfield, Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien, Burgess Meredith
Votes: 861
51. 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
52. Chamber of Horrors (1940)
Approved | 79 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A murder is found to be connected to a false heir and a secret underground torture chamber.
Director: Norman Lee | Stars: Leslie Banks, Lilli Palmer, Romilly Lunge, Gina Malo
Votes: 712
53. Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940)
Approved | 63 min | Mystery
An escaped convicted murderer hides out at a New York wax museum where he hopes to get plastic surgery, which will help him revenge himself on Charlie Chan.
Director: Lynn Shores | Stars: Sidney Toler, Victor Sen Yung, C. Henry Gordon, Marc Lawrence
Votes: 1,751
54. Charlie Chan in Panama (1940)
Approved | 67 min | Adventure, Mystery
Inspector Chan investigates a group of travelers, one of whom is a saboteur.
Director: Norman Foster | Stars: Sidney Toler, Jean Rogers, Lionel Atwill, Mary Nash
Votes: 1,519
55. Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise (1940)
Passed | 76 min | Crime, Mystery
Charlie tries to discover the identity of a strangler who strikes multiple times on a cruise ship bound from Honolulu to California.
Director: Eugene Forde | Stars: Sidney Toler, Marjorie Weaver, Lionel Atwill, Victor Sen Yung
Votes: 1,478
56. Cherokee Strip (1940)
Approved | 86 min | Western
Texans Dave Lovell and Coy Barrett sign a truce to stop the feuding between their families. The Barretts migrate from Texas to Goliath, Oklahoma, a boom town on the border of the Cherokee ... See full summary »
Director: Lesley Selander | Stars: Richard Dix, Florence Rice, William Henry, Victor Jory
Votes: 63
57. The Chinese Den (1940)
72 min | Drama
An affluent Chinese financier marries a lively British singer; however, an unforeseen but dangerous liaison with a plantation owner threatens to transform their once-peaceful retreat into a horrible prison. Is revenge the only solution?
Director: George King | Stars: Paul Lukas, Kay Walsh, Jane Baxter, Robert Douglas
Votes: 63
58. 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: 4,268
59. City for Conquest (1940)
Passed | 104 min | Drama, Sport
Danny is a content truck driver, but his girl Peggy shows potential as a dancer and hopes he too can show ambition. Danny acquiesces and pursues boxing to please her, but the two begin to spend more time working than time together.
Directors: Anatole Litvak, Jean Negulesco | Stars: James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Crisp
Votes: 2,710
60. Colorado (1940)
Passed | 57 min | Western
Trouble in Colorado is tying up Union troops needed back east during the Civil War and Lieut. Burke is sent to investigate. Macklin and his gang are causing the problems and Capt. Mason ... See full summary »
Director: Joseph Kane | Stars: Roy Rogers, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Pauline Moore, Milburn Stone
Votes: 289
61. 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: 1,833
62. Congo Maisie (1940)
Approved | 71 min | Comedy, Drama
Brooklyn showgirl Maisie gets stranded in the African jungle with a romantic doctor.
Director: H.C. Potter | Stars: Ann Sothern, John Carroll, Rita Johnson, Shepperd Strudwick
Votes: 510
63. Convicted Woman (1940)
Approved | 65 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Jobless Betty Andrews, although innocent, is convicted of a department store theft and, despite the best efforts of her lawyer and noted social worker Mary Ellis and a reporter, Jim Brent ... See full summary »
Director: Nick Grinde | Stars: Rochelle Hudson, Frieda Inescort, June Lang, Lola Lane
Votes: 286
64. Convoy (1940)
78 min | Drama, War
A tale of the highs and lows of life protecting the vital convoys between America & England during WWII.
Director: Pen Tennyson | Stars: Clive Brook, John Clements, Edward Chapman, Judy Campbell
Votes: 441
65. The Courageous Dr. Christian (1940)
Not Rated | 67 min | Drama
A doctor fights an epidemic that breaks out in the poor section of town and tries to get the rest of the town to help out.
Director: Bernard Vorhaus | Stars: Jean Hersholt, Dorothy Lovett, Robert Baldwin, Tom Neal
Votes: 106
66. Crimes at the Dark House (1940)
Not Rated | 69 min | Drama
A madman kills a man who has just inherited a large estate, then impersonates his victim to gain entrance to the estate so he can murder his enemies.
Director: George King | Stars: Tod Slaughter, Sylvia Marriott, Hilary Eaves, Geoffrey Wardwell
Votes: 610
67. Crook's Tour (1940)
80 min | Comedy, Mystery
Charters and Caldicott, touring in the Near East, are mistaken for German agents and handed in error a gramophone record which contains vital information for Britain's enemies.
Director: John Baxter | Stars: Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, Greta Gynt, Charles Oliver
Votes: 410
68. Cross-Country Romance (1940)
Approved | 68 min | Comedy, Romance
Larry Smith is a young bacteriologist on his way from New York to San Francisco to work under an eminent scientist in China. He stops along the way at the North house to deliver a scroll ... See full synopsis »
Director: Frank Woodruff | Stars: Gene Raymond, Wendy Barrie, Hedda Hopper, Billy Gilbert
Votes: 277
69. 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: 3,081
70. Dancing on a Dime (1940)
Approved | 74 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
From Wikipedia Dancing on a Dime is a 1940 Paramount Pictures movie directed by Joseph Santley about five actors and dancers putting on a show while living in a theatre. It is adapted from ... See full summary »
Director: Joseph Santley | Stars: Grace McDonald, Robert Paige, Virginia Dale, Peter Lind Hayes
Votes: 40
71. 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: 3,037
72. Dead Man's Shoes (1940)
70 min | Drama
An amnesia victim is a well liked and respected member of his community--until one day someone from his past shows up with evidence that in "the old days" he had been a notorious criminal, and threatens to expose him unless he pays off.
Director: Thomas Bentley | Stars: Leslie Banks, Joan Marion, Geoffrey Atkins, Wilfrid Lawson
Votes: 34
73. The Devil Bat (1940)
Approved | 68 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A mad scientist develops an aftershave lotion that causes his gigantic bats to kill anyone who wears it.
Director: Jean Yarbrough | Stars: Bela Lugosi, Suzanne Kaaren, Dave O'Brien, Guy Usher
Votes: 3,450
74. A Dispatch from Reuters (1940)
Approved | 90 min | Biography, Drama
Starting with a small flock of carrier pigeons, nineteenth-century entrepreneur Julius Reuter turns his small company into Europe's most respected news wire service.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Edna Best, Eddie Albert, Albert Bassermann
Votes: 670
75. The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940)
Passed | 88 min | Comedy, Romance
A best-selling author of women's issues and a medical academic find it is to their mutual advantage to falsely claim that they are married.
Director: Alexander Hall | Stars: Loretta Young, Ray Milland, Reginald Gardiner, Gail Patrick
Votes: 1,044
76. Doomed to Die (1940)
Approved | 68 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Mr. Wong and a girl reporter investigate a shipping magnate's murder.
Director: William Nigh | Stars: Boris Karloff, Marjorie Reynolds, Grant Withers, William Stelling
Votes: 1,368
77. 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
78. Dr. Christian Meets the Women (1940)
Approved | 68 min | Drama, Romance
A "professor" hits Dr. Christian's town, promising the local women dramatic weight loss in a very short time if they follow his regimen of strict diet and a particular type of diet pill.
Director: William C. McGann | Stars: Jean Hersholt, Dorothy Lovett, Edgar Kennedy, Rod La Rocque
Votes: 126
79. Dr. Cyclops (1940)
Passed | 77 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror
A mad scientist working in the South American jungle miniaturizes his colleagues when he feels his megalomania is threatened.
Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Albert Dekker, Thomas Coley, Janice Logan, Charles Halton
Votes: 2,890
80. Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940)
Approved | 103 min | Biography, Drama
True story of the doctor who considered it was not immoral to search for a drug that would cure syphillis.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Gordon, Otto Kruger, Donald Crisp
Votes: 1,827
81. 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
82. 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
83. 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: 617
84. Dreaming Out Loud (1940)
81 min | Comedy
Lum and Abner work at a general store in Arkansas. There they get involved in some misadventures with the locals.
Director: Harold Young | Stars: Chester Lauck, Norris Goff, Frances Langford, Frank Craven
Votes: 130
85. Drums of the Desert (1940)
Approved | 64 min | Adventure
On his way to a post as special adviser of the new parachute troops of the French Foreign Legion in Morocco, Paul Dumont meets the beautiful Helene on the ship. A romance ensues, but the ... See full summary »
Director: George Waggner | Stars: Ralph Byrd, Lorna Gray, George Lynn, Willy Castello
Votes: 119
86. 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
87. The Durango Kid (1940)
Approved | 61 min | Western
The first film in which Charles Starrett played an alter-ego character known as "The Durango Kid" but this entry, for all intents and purposes, has only the names of Starrett and "Durango" ... See full summary »
Director: Lambert Hillyer | Stars: Charles Starrett, Luana Walters, Kenneth MacDonald, Francis Walker
Votes: 181
88. The Earl of Chicago (1940)
Approved | 87 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Silky has always moved booze. During prohibition, he smuggled it from Canada, but now that it is legal, he produces his own brand. Seven years before, he sent Doc to prison because Doc was ... See full summary »
Directors: Richard Thorpe, Victor Saville | Stars: Robert Montgomery, Edward Arnold, Reginald Owen, Edmund Gwenn
Votes: 408
89. 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
90. East Side Kids (1940)
Approved | 62 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After being falsely accused of a murder, a group of kids have to find the real killer in order to clear their name.
Director: Robert F. Hill | Stars: Leon Ames, Dennis Moore, Joyce Bryant, Hal E. Chester
Votes: 297
91. Edison, the Man (1940)
Passed | 107 min | Biography, Drama
82 year old inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Alva Edison is honored in 1929 and he reflects back on his sixty year career of scientific achievement.
Director: Clarence Brown | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Rita Johnson, Lynne Overman, Charles Coburn
Votes: 1,777
92. Eli Eli (1940)
88 min | Drama
An elderly couple, Mendel and Hannah Shapiro, need to raise money to hang onto their farm and turn to their adult children for help.
Director: Joseph Seiden | Stars: Max Badin, Esther Field, Izidor Frankel, Lazar Freed
Votes: 11
93. Ellery Queen, Master Detective (1940)
Approved | 69 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
Famed detective and crime novelist Ellery Queen solves a case involving the suspicious death of a rich man whose inheritors fight over his estate.
Director: Kurt Neumann | Stars: Ralph Bellamy, Margaret Lindsay, Charley Grapewin, James Burke
Votes: 217
94. Escape (1940)
Passed | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In 1936, a young man arrives in Hitler's Germany, frantically seeking information about his missing German mother, and finds she is pending execution at a concentration camp.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Norma Shearer, Robert Taylor, Conrad Veidt, Alla Nazimova
Votes: 1,152
95. Escape to Glory (1940)
64 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A British ship is attacked by a German U-boat at the onset of World War II. The reactions of the frightened passengers-from a German doctor to a drunken Irishman-are chronicled in this good story.
Director: John Brahm | Stars: Pat O'Brien, Constance Bennett, John Halliday, Alan Baxter
Votes: 57
96. Days of Hope (1940)
78 min | Drama, War
1937, during the spanish civil war, at Teruel. The fight of the Republicans (with very poor means but high commitment) against fascist army of General Franco. Can be seen as romanticized ... See full summary »
Directors: André Malraux, Boris Peskine | Stars: Andrés Mejuto, Nicolás Rodríguez, José Santpere, Julio Peña
Votes: 361
L'Espoir
97. Fantasia (1940)
G | 124 min | Animation, Family, Fantasy
A series of eight famous pieces of classical music, conducted by Leopold Stokowski and interpreted in animation by Walt Disney's team of artists.
Directors: James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe Jr., Norman Ferguson, David Hand, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Ben Sharpsteen | Stars: Leopold Stokowski, Deems Taylor, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Corey Burton
Votes: 104,009 | Gross: $76.41M
98. The Fargo Kid (1940)
Passed | 63 min | Drama, Western
Follows the Fargo Kid as he rides into town on an outlaw's horse and is mistaken for him. He then gets hired to kill a man.
Director: Edward Killy | Stars: Tim Holt, Ray Whitley, Emmett Lynn, Jane Drummond
Votes: 165
99. The Farmer's Daughter (1940)
Approved | 60 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
Broadway producer Nickie North, and his press agent Scoop Trimble, land a backer for a new show, but their "angel" requires that they rehearse the show out-of-town and star Clarice Sheldon,... See full summary »
Director: James P. Hogan | Stars: Martha Raye, Charles Ruggles, Richard Denning, Gertrude Michael
Votes: 74
100. The Fatal Hour (1940)
Approved | 68 min | Crime, Mystery
When Captain Street's best friend Dan Grady is murdered, Street receives help from Chinese detective James Lee Wong and local newspaper reporter Bobbie Logan.
Director: William Nigh | Stars: Boris Karloff, Marjorie Reynolds, Grant Withers, Charles Trowbridge
Votes: 1,309
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