Best Movies: 1940

The 10 Best Movies of 1940

1.  The Grapes of Wrath. Directed by John Ford. Starring Henry Fonda. This is both Ford's greatest film and Fonda's finest screen performance, a story of tragedy bounded by hope, a tale of depression infused with faith, and in those traits lies its greatness. If you want lessons on how to frame shots for a movie, this is your textbook.

2.  Rebecca. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. Hitchcock's first American film is a testament to his dislike of women. Fontaine is perfect in the title role and all the supporting characters are superb. However, I have always wondered how this film would have turned out with Orson Welles playing Maxim de Winter.

3.  His Girl Friday. Directed by Howard Hawks. Starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell and Ralph Bellamy. Back in this era, Hollywood knew how to re-make old movies into better ones. Far superior to the original The Front Page and quite possibly the fastest comedy I've ever seen. This film contains one of my all-time favorite lines. It comes when someone refers to a woman as an albino and a reporter shoots back "She's not an albino. She was born right here in this country."

4.  The Philadelphia Story. Directed by George Cukor. Starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart. A film that contained all the elements needed for greatness: a magnificent cast, a director working in a milieu he had mastered and a screenplay that contained genuinely witty dialogue. If it has one problem it is that it seems to take itself too seriously at times (I could have done without some of Stewart's speeches about how much he adored the Hepburn character).

5.  The Great Dictator. Directed by Charlie Chaplin. Starring Chaplin and Paulette Goddard. Chaplin successfully transferred his brilliant silent techniques to his first all-talkie film, a brilliantly conceived plea for world peace and sanity in an increasingly insane world. Contains Chaplin's greatest moment on screen -- his dictator playing with an air-filled globe of the world, doing with it what only a megalomaniacal dictator would.

6. Pinocchio. Directed by Hamilton Luske and Ben Sharpsteen. Not Disney's best - that distinction goes to Snow White - but this is my personal favorite, possibly because it was both alternately enchanting and terrifying and contained my favorite score of any Disney film.

7.  The Mark of Zorro. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian. Starring Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell. The best of all the Zorro movies and another remake made better by the innovative Mamoulian, who cut between scenes so extensively it makes it seem there is more action in the film than it actually contains. There's never been a better Zorro than the one played by Power and Darnell proved she could look magnificent in soft focus.

8.  The Bank Dick. Directed by Edward F. Cline. Starring W.C. Fields. A typical Fields film, thin on plot, heavy on hilarious set pieces. My favorite bit is a car chase that rivals the best of Mack Sennett.

9.  The Sea Hawk. Directed by Michael Curtiz. Starring Errol Flynn. Warner Bros. sure knew how to make a rousing adventure film during this era. Get Flynn to play the lead, have Curtiz direct and, for good measure, thrown in a marvelous Erich Wolfgang Korngold score and there you have it.

10. The Shop Around the Corner. Directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. I'm not a big fan of romantic comedies for the most but I am a big fan of this one. Lubitsch usually worked with glamorous characters, but here he shows an uncanny ability to make ordinary, everyday characters seem special. Sullavan is practically forgotten today and this film proves that fact is a tragedy.