Films of the 1940s

Film
Before 1920 | 1920-1929 | 1930-1939 | 1940-1949 | 1950-1959 | 1960-1969 | 1970-1979 | 1980-1989 | 1990-1999 | 2000-2009 | 2010-2019 | 2020-2029

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Notable Film Franchises, 1940-1949

• Andy Hardy
  • Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940)
  • Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941)
  • Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941)
  • The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942)
  • Andy Hardy's Double Life (1942)
  • Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble (1944)
  • Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946)
• The Baker Street Dozen
  • Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)
  • Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943)
  • Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)
  • Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
  • The Spider Woman (1944)
  • The Scarlet Claw (1944)
  • The Pearl of Death (1944)
  • Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear (1945)
  • The Woman in Green (1945)
  • Pursuit to Algiers (1945)
  • Terror by Night (1946)
  • Dressed to Kill (1946)

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• The Crime Doctor series
  • Crime Doctor (1943)
  • The Crime Doctor's Strangest Case (1943)
  • Shadows in the Night (1944)
  • The Crime Doctor's Warning (1945)
  • The Crime Doctor's Courage (1945)
  • Just Before Dawn (1946)
  • Crime Doctor's Man Hunt (1946)
  • The Millerson Case (1947)
  • The Crime Doctor's Gamble (1947)
  • The Crime Doctor's Diary (1949)
• The Dick Tracy film series:
  • Dick Tracy, Detective (1945)
  • Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946)
  • Dick Tracy's Dilemma (1947)
  • Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)
• Twelve films in the Dr. Kildare series.
  • Dr. Kildare's Strange Case (1940)
  • Dr. Kildare Goes Home (1940)
  • Dr. Kildare's Crisis (1940)
  • The People vs. Dr. Kildare (1941)
  • Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day (1941)
  • Dr. Kildare's Victory (1942)
  • Calling Dr. Gillespie (1942), in which the series continued without Lew Ayres and the character of Dr. Kildare
  • Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant (1942)
  • Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case (1943)
  • Three Men in White (1944)
  • Between Two Women (1945)
  • Dark Delusion (1947)
• Ellery Queen
  • Ellery Queen, Master Detective (1940)
  • Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery (1941)
  • Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring (1941)
  • Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime (1941)
  • Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen (1942)
  • A Close Call for Ellery Queen (1942)
  • A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen (1942)
• The last of the Flash Gordon film serials
  • Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)
• Jungle Jim
  • Jungle Jim (1948)
  • The Lost Tribe (1949)
• The first five Lassie films.
  • Lassie Come Home (1943)
  • Son of Lassie (1945)
  • Courage of Lassie (1946)
  • Hills of Home (1948)
  • The Sun Comes Up (1949)
• The first five Road to ... films.
  • Road to Singapore (1940)
  • Road to Zanzibar (1941)
  • Road to Morocco (1942)
  • Road to Utopia (1946)
  • Road to Rio (1947)
• The last three films in The Thin Man sextet:
  • Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)
  • The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
  • Song of the Thin Man (1947)

• Universal Horror
  • Crossovers
    • Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
    • House of Frankenstein (1944)
    • House of Dracula (1945)
    • Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
  • The Dracula series
    • Son of Dracula (1943)
  • The Frankenstein series
    • The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
  • The Mummy series
    • The Mummy's Hand (1940)
    • The Mummy's Tomb (1942)
    • The Mummy's Ghost (1944)
    • The Mummy's Curse (1944)
  • The Wolf Man series
    • The Wolf Man (1941)
  • The Ape Woman series
    • Captive Wild Woman (1943)
    • Jungle Woman (1944)
    • Jungle Captive (1945)
  • The Creeper series
    • House of Horrors
    • The Brute Man

• Why We Fight
  • Prelude to War (1942)
  • The Nazis Strike (1943)
  • Divide and Conquer (1943)
  • The Battle of Britain (1943)
  • The Battle of Russia (1943)
  • The Battle of China (1944)
  • War Comes to America (1945)

1940

• Abe Lincoln in Illinois
• All This, and Heaven Too
• The Bank Dick
• Before I Hang
• The Blue Bird
• Boom Town
• Brother Orchid
• Christmas in July
• A Chump at Oxford
• Dance, Girl, Dance
• The Devil Bat
• The Doctor Takes a Wife
• Down Argentine Way
• Dr. Cyclops
• Fantasia
• Foreign Correspondent
• The Ghost Breakers
• Go West
• The Grapes of Wrath - The film of the effects of the Depression
• The Great Dictator
• The Great McGinty - The first film directed by Preston Sturges.
• The Green Hornet and The Green Hornet Strikes Again
• His Girl Friday
• The Howards of Virginia
• I Love You Again
• The Invisible Man Returns
• The Invisible Woman (1940)
• Jew Süß
• Kitty Foyle
• Knute Rockne, All American — "win just one for the Gipper"
• The Letter
• The Long Voyage Home
• The Man with Nine Lives
• The Mark of Zorro
• The Mortal Storm
• My Favorite Wife
• My Love Came Back
• Night Train to Munich
• Northwest Passage
• One Million B.C.
• One Night in the Tropics
• Our Town - film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1938 play
• The Philadelphia Story
• Pinocchio
• Pride and Prejudice
• Rebecca
• Remember the Night - the first film starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray.
• The Return of Frank James
• Saps at Sea
• The Sea Hawk
• The Shop Around the Corner
• Strange Cargo
• Susan and God
• Terry and the Pirates
• They Drive by Night
• They Knew What They Wanted
• Third Finger, Left Hand
• The Thief of Bagdad
• Too Many Husbands
• Turnabout
• 21 Days
• Two Girls on Broadway
• Virginia City
• A Window in London
• Wunschkonzert

1941

• 49th Parallel
• The Adventures of Captain Marvel
• All Through the Night
• Ball of Fire
• The Big Store
• The Blood of Jesus
• Blossoms in the Dust
• Buck Privates
• Citizen Kane
• Come Live with Me
• The Devil Commands
• Dive Bomber
• The Devil and Daniel Webster
• The Devil and Miss Jones
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Dumbo
• Footsteps in the Dark
• The 47 Ronin
• Go West, Young Lady
• The Great Lie
• Hellzapoppin'
• Here Comes Mr. Jordan
• High Sierra
• Hold That Ghost
• H.M. Pulham, Esq.
• Hold Back the Dawn
• How Green Was My Valley
• I'll Wait for You
• In the Navy
• I Wake Up Screaming
• I Wanted Wings
• Keep 'em Flying
• King of the Zombies
• The Lady Eve
• The Little Foxes
• Love Crazy
• Lydia
• The Maltese Falcon
• Meet John Doe
• Moon over Miami
• Mr. Bug Goes to Town
• Mr. and Mrs. Smith
• Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
• Notes To You
• One Foot in Heaven
• One Night in Lisbon
• Out of the Fog
• Penny Serenade
• "Pimpernel" Smith
• The Reluctant Dragon
• Scotland Yard
• The Sea Wolf
• Sergeant York
• Ships with Wings
• The Strawberry Blonde
• Sullivan's Travels
• Suspicion
• That Hamilton Woman
• They Died with Their Boots On
• Topper Returns
• Two-Faced Woman
• A Woman's Face
• Ziegfeld Girl

1942

• Across the Pacific
• Bambi
• The Black Swan
• Bowery At Midnight
• Captains of the Clouds
• Casablanca — Here's looking at you, kid.
• Cat People
• Commandos Strike at Dawn
• The Corpse Vanishes
• Desperate Journey
• The First of the Few
• For Me and My Gal
• George Washington Slept Here
• The Glass Key
• Hitler, Dead or Alive
• Holiday Inn
• I Married an Angel
• I Married a Witch
• In This Our Life
• In Which We Serve
• Jungle Book
• Kings Row
• Lady from Chungking
• Les Visiteurs du Soir
• The Mad Monster
• The Magnificent Ambersons
• The Major and the Minor
• The Man Who Came to Dinner — Based on the Kaufman/Hart play of the same name
• Mrs. Miniver — An Oscar-winning World War II propaganda film.
• Moontide
• Moscow Strikes Back
• The Murderer Lives at Number 21
• My Favorite Blonde
• My Sister Eileen
• Now, Voyager
• One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
• The Palm Beach Story
• Pardon My Sarong
• The Pied Piper
• The Pride of the Yankees
• Random Harvest
• Reap the Wild Wind
• Ride 'em Cowboy
• Rio Rita
• Saboteur
• The Spoilers 1942
• Talk of the Town
• This Gun for Hire
• To Be or Not to Be — A comedy set in Poland during the early days of World War II
• Wake Island
• Went the Day Well?
• Who Done It?
• Woman of the Year — The first film to pair Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy
• Yankee Doodle Dandy
• The Young Mr Pitt

1943

• Action In The North Atlantic
• The Adventures of Tartu
• Air Force
• Air Raid Wardens
• Bataan
• The Batman — A Film Serial, and Batman's screen debut.
• Cabin in the Sky
• The Children Are Watching Us
• The Constant Nymph
• Cry 'Havoc'
• Destination Tokyo
• Edge of Darkness
• Five Graves to Cairo
• For Whom the Bell Tolls
• The Gang's All Here
• Government Girl
• A Guy Named Joe
• Hangmen Also Die!
• The Hard Way
• Heaven Can Wait — Not to be confused with the unrelated 1978 movie of the same name.
• Hitler's Madman
• The Human Comedy
• I Walked with a Zombie
• Jane Eyre 1940 - starring Joan Fontaine, co-adapted by Aldous Huxley.
• Journey into Fear
• Lady of Burlesque
• The Leopard Man
• The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
• Madame Curie
• The Mad Ghoul
• The Man in Grey
• Margin for Error
• Mission to Moscow
• The Moon is Down
• The More the Merrier
• Münchhausen
• The New Spirit
• Northern Pursuit
• The North Star
• Old Acquaintance
• Ossessione
• The Ox-Bow Incident
• The Phantom
• Phantom of the Opera — The Claude Rains version
• Power of the Press
• Princess O'Rourke
• Pluto and the Armadillo
• Report from the Aleutians
• Sahara
• Saludos Amigos
• Sanshiro Sugata
• The Seventh Victim
• Shadow of a Doubt
• The Song of Bernadette
• So Proudly We Hail!
• The Spirit of '43
• Stormy Weather
• Thank Your Lucky Stars
• This Land Is Mine
• Titanic
• Watch on the Rhine
• We Dive at Dawn
• We've Never Been Licked
• Where Are Your Children?

1944

• Army
• Arsenic and Old Lace
• Bluebeard
• A Canterbury Tale
• The Canterville Ghost
• The Climax
• Cobra Woman
• Cover Girl
• Dark Waters
• Days of Glory
• Double Indemnity
• Die Feuerzangenbowle
• The Fighting Lady
• The Fighting Seabees
• Going My Way
• Hail the Conquering Hero
• The Halfway House
• Henry V
• I Accuse My Parents
• I'll Be Seeing You
• Ivan the Terrible
• Kismet
• Knickerbocker Holiday
• Lady in the Dark
• Laura
• Lifeboat
• Meet Me in St. Louis
• The Memphis Belle
• Ministry of Fear
• The Miracle of Morgan's Creek - the most controversial film by Preston Sturges.
• The Monster Maker
• The Most Beautiful
• Mr. Skeffington
• Murder, My Sweet
• National Velvet
• None but the Lonely Heart
• None Shall Escape
• Nothing but Trouble
• Opfergang
• Passage to Marseille
• The Princess and the Pirate
• Since You Went Away
• This Happy Breed
• Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
• Time Flies
• To Have And Have Not
• Torment
• Uncertain Glory
• The Uninvited
• Wild Horse Phantom
• Wilson
• The Woman in the Window
• The Woman of My Dreams

1945

• Anchors Aweigh
• And Then There Were None — best-known adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel
• The Bells of St. Mary's
• Blithe Spirit
• The Body Snatcher
• Brief Encounter
• The Bullfighters
• Caesar and Cleopatra
• Christmas in Connecticut
• Dead of Night
• Detour
• Dillinger
• Fallen Angel
• Hotel Berlin
• I Know Where I'm Going!
• Isle of the Dead
• Jungle Queen
• Kolberg
• Lady on a Train
• Leave Her to Heaven
• The Lost Weekend
• Love Letters
• The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
• Mildred Pierce
• Mom and Dad
• Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors —first ever feature-length anime film
• Objective, Burma!
• The Picture of Dorian Gray
• The Red Meadows
• Rome, Open City
• San Antonio
• Sanshiro Sugata Part II
• Saratoga Trunk
• Scarlet Street
• The Screwy Truant
• The Southerner
• Spellbound
• State Fair
• They Were Expendable
• The Three Caballeros
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
• Tsogt Taij
• The Turning Point
• Vacation from Marriage
• A Walk in the Sun
• The Wicked Lady

1946

• Angel on My Shoulder
• The Bandit of Sherwood Forest
• The Beast with Five Fingers
• Beauty and the Beast
• Bedlam
• The Best Years of Our Lives
• The Big Sleep — A classic Film Noir.
• The Blue Dahlia
• Canyon Passage
• The Captive Heart
• Cluny Brown
• The Dark Mirror
• Deception
• Duel in the Sun
• Gilda
• Great Expectations (David Lean version)
• The Harvey Girls
• I See a Dark Stranger
• It's a Wonderful Life — Source of It's a Wonderful Plot.
• The Killers
• Let There Be Light
• Lost City of the Jungle
• A Matter of Life and Death — Called Stairway to Heaven in the US
• Make Mine Music
• Men Without Wings
• Morning for the Osone Family
• My Darling Clementine
• My Reputation
• The Mysterious Mr. M
• Night and Day
• No Regrets for Our Youth
• Notorious
• One More Tomorrow
• Paisan
• The Postman Always Rings Twice
• The Razor's Edge
• She-Wolf of London
• Shoeshine
• Song of the South — Walt Disney's own personal Canon Discontinuity
• The Spiral Staircase
• A Stolen Life
• The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
• The Stranger
• To Each His Own
• Swing Parade of 1946
• The Time of Their Lives (1946)
• Tomorrow Is Forever
• We Leave for England (Englandsfarere)
• The Yearling
• The Years Between

1947

• Angel and the Badman
• The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
• The Bishop's Wife
• Black Narcissus
• Blonde Savage
• Boomerang
• Brighton Rock
• Brute Force
• Bush Christmas
• Cinderella
• Crossfire
• Cry Wolf
• The Damned
• Dark Passage
• Dead Reckoning
• Dishonored Lady
• A Double Life
• Forever Amber
• Fun and Fancy Free
• Gentleman's Agreement
• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
• The Hucksters
• It Happened on 5th Avenue
• Kiss of Death
• The Lady from Shanghai
• Lady in the Lake
• Life with Father
• Miracle on 34th Street
• Monsieur Verdoux
• Monsieur Vincent
• Mourning Becomes Electra
• My Favorite Brunette
• Nightmare Alley
• Odd Man Out
• One Wonderful Sunday
• Out of the Past
• The Paradine Case
• The Pearl
• Record of a Tenement Gentleman
• Ride the Pink Horse
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
• The Senator Was Indiscreet
• Sinbad the Sailor
• Stallion Road
• That Hagen Girl
• They Made Me a Fugitive
• The Unsuspected
• The Voice of the Turtle
• The Web (1947)
• The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap

1948

• 3 Godfathers
• The Babe Ruth Story
• The Big Clock
• Bicycle Thieves
• Call Northside 777
• Casbah
• Coroner Creek
• Drunken Angel
• Easter Parade
• Force of Evil
• A Foreign Affair
• Fort Apache — The first part of John Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy"
• Germany, Year Zero
• Hamlet (Laurence Olivier version)
• A Hen in the Wind
• He Walked By Night
• Hollow Triumph
• Homecoming
• I Remember Mama
• Johnny Belinda
• Julia Misbehaves
• Jungle Goddess
• Key Largo
• Ladies of the Chorus
• Last of the Wild Horses
• La Terra Trema
• Letter from an Unknown Woman
• Louisiana Story
• The Man from Colorado
• Melody Time
• The Miracle of the Bells
• Miranda
• Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
• Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
• The Naked City
• Night Song
• Oliver Twist (David Lean version)
• One Touch of Venus (adaptation of the Broadway musical)
• The Paleface
• The Pirate
• Portrait of Jennie
• The Prince of Thieves
• Rachel and the Stranger
• Red River
• The Red Shoes
• Road House
• Rope
• The Search
• Secret Beyond the Door...
• The Secret Land
• Silver River
• The Snake Pit
• So Dear to My Heart
• A Song Is Born
• Sorry, Wrong Number
• Spring in a Small Town
• State of the Union
• That Lady in Ermine
• The Time of Your Life
• The Three Musketeers
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre — The quintessential Gold Fever story.
• Two Guys from Texas
• Unfaithfully Yours
• Unknown Island
• The Winslow Boy
• The Woman in White

1949

• Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff
• Act of Violence
• Adam's Rib
• The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
• Alice in Wonderland
• All the King's Men
• Batman and Robin (Serial) — The sequel to the original Batman film debut.
• Battleground
• Beyond the Forest
• The Blue Lagoon
• Bitter Rice
• The Bribe
• Caught
• Chains
• The Fountainhead
• The Hasty Heart
• The Heiress
• Here's to the Young Lady
• Holiday Affair
• The House of Tomorrow
• The Inspector General
• I Shot Jesse James
• I Was a Male War Bride
• John Loves Mary
• Jour de fête
• Kind Hearts and Coronets
• Late Spring
• A Letter to Three Wives
• Little Women
• Love Happy
• Lust for Gold
• Mighty Joe Young — The original film.
• My Foolish Heart
• My Friend Irma
• Neptune's Daughter
• Never Fear
• Not Wanted
• On the Town
• The Passionate Friends
• Passport to Pimlico
• Pippi Longstocking — The first Live-Action Adaptation starring Viveca Serlachius as the title character.
• The Reckless Moment
• Rimfire
• Rope Of Sand
• Samson and Delilah
• Sands of Iwo Jima
• The Secret Garden — Starring Margaret O' Brien.
• The Set-Up
• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon — The second part of John Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy"
• Le Silence de la mer
• Stray Dog
• The Third Man
• Too Late for Tears
• Twelve O'Clock High
• Under Capricorn
• The Walking Hills
• The Walls of Malapaga
• Whisky Galore!
• The Window
• White Heat

Notable 1940s Cartoons

• "All Out for 'V'" (1942)
• Andy Panda (1940-49)
  • "Fish Fry" (1944)
  • "The Poet & Peasant" (1945)
• Barney Bear (1940-49)
  • "The Rookie Bear" (1941)
• Casper the Friendly Ghost
  • "There's Good Boos Tonight" (1947)
• Classic Disney Shorts
  • "Lend a Paw" (1941)
  • "Truant Officer Donald" (1941)
  • "Der Fuehrer's Face" (1943)
  • "Education for Death" (1943)
  • "Donald's Tire Trouble" (1943)
  • "Pluto and the Armadillo" (1943)
  • "Reason and Emotion" (1943)
  • "How to Play Football" (1944)
  • "Springtime for Pluto" (1944)
  • "Donald's Crime" (1945)
  • "Hockey Homicide" (1945)
  • Cured Duck (1945)
  • "Squatter's Rights" (1946)
  • "Donald's Dilemma" (1947)
  • "Wide Open Spaces" (1947)
  • "Chip an' Dale" (1947)
  • "Pluto's Blue Note" (1947)
  • "The Trial of Donald Duck" (1948)
  • "Mickey and the Seal" (1948)
  • "Tea for Two Hundred" (1948)
  • "Toy Tinkers" (1949)
• Color Classics (1940-41)
• "Dog, Cat and Canary" (1945)
• The Droopy cartoons debuted in 1943
  • "Dumb-Hounded" (1943)
  • "Northwest Hounded Police" (1946)
  • "Señor Droopy" (1949)
• The Fox and the Crow, (1941-49)
  • "Robin Hoodlum" (1948)
  • "The Magic Fluke" (1949)
• Heckle and Jeckle (1946-49)
• "Hell Bent For Election" (1944)
• "How War Came" (1941)
• "Imagination" (1943)
• "Juke Box Jamboree" (1942)
• Little Audrey (1947-49)
• Little Lulu (1943-48)
• Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies
  • "Elmer's Candid Camera" (1940)
  • "A Wild Hare" (1940)
  • "You Ought to Be in Pictures" (1940)
  • "Hollywood Steps Out" (1941)
  • "All This and Rabbit Stew" (1941)
  • "Meet John Doughboy" (1941)
  • "Rhapsody in Rivets" (1941)
  • "Tortoise Beats Hare" (1941)
  • "The Wabbit Who Came to Supper" (1942)
  • "Any Bonds Today?" (1942)
  • "The Ducktators" (1942)
  • "The Dover Boys" (1942)
  • "Any Bonds Today?" (1942)
  • "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs" (1943)
  • "A Corny Concerto" (1943)
  • "Daffy the Commando" (1943)
  • "Greetings Bait" (1943)
  • "Pigs in a Polka" (1943)
  • "Tokio Jokio" (1943)
  • "Tortoise Wins by a Hare" (1943)
  • "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips" (1944)
  • "Hare Ribbin'" (1944)
  • "Little Red Riding Rabbit" (1944)
  • "Russian Rhapsody" (1944)
  • "Swooner Crooner" (1944)
  • "Odor-Able Kitty" (1945)
  • "Plane Daffy" (1945)
  • "Herr Meets Hare" (1945)
  • "Life with Feathers" (1945)
  • "The Big Snooze" (1946)
  • "Book Revue" (1946)
  • "Baseball Bugs" (1946)
  • "Baby Bottleneck" (1946)
  • "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery" (1946)
  • "Hair-Raising Hare" (1946)
  • "Rhapsody Rabbit" (1946)
  • "Walky Talky Hawky" (1946)
  • "Easter Yeggs" (1947)
  • "A Hare Grows in Manhattan" (1947)
  • "A Pest in the House" (1947)
  • "Slick Hare" (1947)
  • "Tweetie Pie" (1947)
  • "Back Alley Oproar" (1948)
  • "Dough Ray Me-ow" (1948)
  • "Gorilla My Dreams" (1948)
  • "Scaredy Cat" (1948)
  • "A Ham in a Role" (1949)
  • "High Diving Hare" (1949)
  • "Frigid Hare" (1949)
  • "For Scent-imental Reasons" (1949)
  • "Long-Haired Hare" (1949)
  • "Mouse Wreckers" (1949)
  • "Rabbit Hood" (1949)
• MGM Oneshot Cartoons (1940-43)
  • "The Milky Way" (1940)
• Mighty Mouse - debuted 1942
  • "Gypsy Life" (1945)
• Momotaro's Sea Eagles (1943) — 37-minute Japanese wartime propaganda cartoon, possibly the oldest surviving Anime film
• "My Boy, Johnny" (1944)

• Animated shorts made in Nazi Germany:

• Verwitterte Melodie (1942)
• Armer Hansi (1943)
• Der Schneemann (1944)

• Noveltoons (1943-49)
  • "The Enchanted Square" (1947)
• Popeye cartoons ran throughout the decade
• Private Snafu (1943-45) — Wartime Cartoons made by Warner Brothers, but separate from their main Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies unit, aimed at members of the armed forces
• Puppetoons (1940-1947)
  • "Tulips Shall Grow" (1942)
  • "Jasper and the Beanstalk" (1945)
  • "John Henry and the Inky-Poo" (1946)
  • "Tubby the Tuba" (1947)
• "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" (1948) — nope, not the one with Yukon Cornelius, but instead a Max Fleischer theatrical short
• Screen Songs (1945-49) — revival of cartoon series
• "The Story of Menstruation" (1946) — educational short made by Disney, shown to schoolgirls in public health classes
• Superman Theatrical Cartoons (1941-43) — first nine made by Max and Dave Fleischer, last eight made by Famous Studios
  • "The Mad Scientist" (1941)
  • "The Mechanical Monsters" (1941)
• Tex Avery MGM Cartoons (1942-49)
  • "Bad Luck Blackie" (1949)
  • "Blitz Wolf" (1942)
  • "Batty Baseball" (1944)
  • "Jerky Turkey" (1945)
  • "King Size Canary" (1947)
  • "The Cat That Hated People" (1948)
  • "Little Rural Riding Hood" (1949)
  • One Ham's Family (1943)
  • "Red Hot Riding Hood" (1943)
  • "Screwball Squirrel (1944)" (1944)
  • "Swing Shift Cinderella" (1945)
  • "Who Killed Who?" (1943)
• Tom and Jerry, one of the most famous cartoons of the era, debuted in 1940
  • "Puss Gets the Boot" (1940)
  • "The Night Before Christmas''
  • "Dog Trouble"
  • "The Yankee Doodle Mouse" (1943)
  • "Mouse Trouble" (1944)
  • "Tee for Two" (1945)
  • "Flirty Birdy" (1945)
  • "Quiet Please!" (1945)
  • "The Milky Waif" (1946)
  • "The Cat Concerto" (1947)
  • "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse" (1947)
  • "Kitty Foiled" (1948)
  • "Hatch Up Your Troubles" (1949)
  • "The Little Orphan" (1949)
• "The Way of Peace" (1947) — odd little Christian anti-war cartoon
• Woody Woodpecker and other classic shorts from Universal
  • "Knock Knock" (1940)
  • "The Cracked Nut" (1941)
  • "The Screwball" (1943)
  • "The Dizzy Acrobat" (1943)
  • "The Barber of Seville" (1944)
  • "Musical Moments From Chopin" (1946)

Notable 1940s Live Action Shorts

• The Battle of Midway (1942)
• The Battle of San Pietro (1945)
• Beyond the Line of Duty (1942)
• A Boy and His Dog (1946)
• A Case of Spring Fever (1940)
• Charlie Chan
• The Crime Does Not Pay series from MGM
  • Forbidden Passage (1941)
  • Don't Talk (1942)
  • A Gun in His Hand (1945)
  • The Luckiest Guy in the World (1947)
• Down on the Farm (1941)
• Facing Your Danger (1946)
• The Fighting Generation (1944)
• Forty Boys and a Song (1941)
• Give Us the Earth! (1947)
• Going to Blazes! (1948)
• Heavenly Music (1943)
• Hired! - A short training film for Chevrolet sales managers. Was shown in two parts on Mystery Science Theater 3000 with movies Bride of the Monster and "Manos" The Hands of Fate.

• Hiss and Yell (1946)
• The House I Live In — 1945 live-action short in which Frank Sinatra delivers a plea for racial tolerance
• I Won't Play (1944)
• Jammin' the Blues (1944) — live-action blues jam session on film
• Johnny At The Fair (1947)
• The Lead Shoes (1949)
• The Little Rascals — the original series continued until 1944
• London Can Take It! (1940)
• Main Street on the March! (1941)
• Main Street Today (1944)
• Men and Dust (1940)
• Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
• The Negro Soldier (1944)
• The Passing Parade series by John Nesbitt
  • Stairway to Light (1945)
  • Goodbye, Miss Turlock (1947)
  • Annie Was a Wonder (1949)
• Service with the Colors (1940)
• Siege (1940) — newsreel documenting the siege of Warsaw in September 1939
• The "Pete Smith Specialties" for MGM
  • Army Champions (1941)
  • Marines in the Making (1942)
  • Movie Pests (1944)
  • Seeing Hands (1943)
  • Sure Cures (1946)
  • Quicker'n a Wink (1940)
  • Water Trix (1949)
  • You Can't Win (1948)
• The So You Want... series
  • So You Want to Be in Pictures (1947)
  • So You Want to Be on the Radio (1948)
  • So You Want to Be a Detective (1948)
  • So You Think You're Not Guilty (1949)
• Smart as a Fox (1946)
• Star in the Night (1945)
• The Tanks Are Coming (1941)
• Tarzan short films throughout the decade
• Teddy, the Rough Rider (1940)
• The Three Stooges were busy throughout the decade making comedy shorts.
  • You Nazty Spy!
• "X" Marks the Spot (1944)

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