Best of the 1940's

Best Picture



1. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

2. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
3. Casablanca (1942)
4. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
5. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
6. Citizen Kane (1941)
7. Random Harvest (1942)
8. The Bicycle Thief (1948)
9. Double Indemnity (1944)
10. How Green Was My Valley (1941)
11. Laura (1944)


Best Director


Orson Welles - Citizen Kane (1941)

Frank Capra - It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
Charles Chaplin - The Great Dictator (1940)
Michael Curtiz - Casablanca (1942)
John Ford - The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Alfred Hitchcock - Rope (1948)
John Huston - The Maltese Falcon (1941)
John Huston - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Otto Preminger - Laura (1944)
Billy Wilder - Double Indemnity (1944)
William Wyler - The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)


Best Actor


Humphrey Bogart - Casablanca (1942)

Humphrey Bogart - The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Humphrey Bogart - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Charles Chaplin - The Great Dictator (1940)
Gary Cooper - Sergeant York (1941)
Henry Fonda - The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Fredric March - The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Ray Milland - The Lost Weekend (1945)
Gregory Peck - The Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
James Stewart - It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Orson Welles - Citizen Kane (1941)


Best Actress


Greer Garson - Random Harvest (1942)

Lauren Bacall - The Dark Passage (1947)
Ingrid Bergman - Casablanca (1942)
Jane Darwell - The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Bette Davis - Now, Voyager (1942)
Greer Garson - Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Katharine Hepburn - The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Vivien Leigh - Waterloo Bridge (1940)
Maureen O'Hara - How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Rosalind Russell - His Girl Friday (1940)
Barbara Stanwyck - Double Indemnity (1944)


Best Supporting Actor


Henry Travers - It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Alfonso Bedoya - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Walter Huston - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Peter Lorre - The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Roddy McDowall - How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Claude Rains - Casablanca (1942)
Edward G. Robinson - Double Indemnity (1944)
Harold Russell - The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Enzo Staiola - The Bicycle Thief (1948)
Clifton Webb - Laura (1944)
Orson Welles - The Third Man (1949)


Best Supporting Actress


Gene Tierney - Laura (1941)

Lauren Bacall - The Big Sleep (1946)
Linda Darnell - A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Paulette Goddard - The Great Dictator (1940)
Josephine Hull - Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Myrna Loy - The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Dorothy McGuire - Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
Donna Reed - It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Natalie Wood - Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Teresa Wright - The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Jane Wyman - The Lost Weekend (1945)


Best Screenplay


John Huston - The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Delmer Daves - Dark Passage (1947)
Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein & Elizabeth Reinhardt - Laura (1944)
Julius Epstein, Philip G. Epstein & Howard Koch - Casablanca (1942)
Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett & Frank Capra - It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Arthur Laurents - Rope (1948)
Herman J. Mankiewicz & Orson Welles - Citizen Kane (1941)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz - A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Robert E. Sherwood - The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Claudine West, George Froeschel and Arthur Wimperis - Random Harvest (1942)
Billy Wilder & Raymond Chandler - Double Indemnity (1944)


Best Family Picture


Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Bambi (1942)
Fantasia (1940)
Lassie Come Home (1943)
Mickey and the Beanstalk (1947)
Peter and the Wolf (1946)
Pinocchio (1940)


Funniest Film


His Girl Friday (1940)

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
The Lady Eve (1941)
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Woman of the Year (1942)


Best Sports Film


The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

Gentleman Jim (1942)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
It Happen Every Spring (1949)
Knute Rockne: All-American (1940)
National Velvet (1945)
The Story of Seabiscuit (1949)
The Stratton Story (1949)
Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)


For all the movies of the 1940's in consideration, click here