The Best Films: 1944, 1945

It's getting to be that time of year again when I begin to compile my list of the 25 best movies of the year. As a prelude I revisit the Top 25 from past years. Click on the titles to learn more about the films.


1. Double Indemnity
2. Laura
3. Henry V
4. Meet Me in St. Louis
5. Jane Eyre
6. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
7. Going My Way
8. Hail, the Conquering Hero
9. Since You Went Away
10. To Have and Have Not
11. National Velvet
12. Wilson
13. Gaslight
14. Ivan the Terrible, Part One
15. Arsenic and Old Lace
16. The Woman in the Window
17. Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
18. The Uninvited
19. Murder My Sweet
20. Lifeboat
21. A Canterbury Tale
22. Mr. Skeffington
23. Torment
24. The Lodger
25. This Happy Breed

1945
1. Children of Paradise
2. Open City
3. The Lost Weekend
4. Brief Encounter
5. Johnny in the Clouds
6. Mildred Pierce
7. Scarlet Street
8. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
9. I Know Where I’m Going
10. A Walk in the Sun
11. Leave Her to Heaven
12. And Then There Were None
13. Dead of Night
14. The Southerner
15. They Were Expendable
16. The Bells of St. Mary's
17. Spellbound
18. Detour
19. Blithe Spirit
20. The Man Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail
21. The Picture of Dorian Gray
22. Wonder Man
23. Hangover Square
24. The Body Snatcher
25. Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne