Favourite British Films 1940s
by jmct-53906 | created - 05 Feb 2016 | updated - 2 months ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. In Which We Serve (1942)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, War
This "story of a ship", the British destroyer H.M.S. Torrin, is told in flashbacks by survivors as they cling to a life raft.
Director: Noël Coward | Stars: Noël Coward, John Mills, Bernard Miles, Celia Johnson
Votes: 6,450 | Gross: $0.45M
2. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Not Rated | 163 min | Drama, Romance, War
From the Boer War through World War II, a soldier rises through the ranks in the British military.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook, James McKechnie
Votes: 16,361
3. Millions Like Us (1943)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, War
A young woman called into service at a factory during World War II falls in love with a member of the RAF.
Directors: Sidney Gilliat, Frank Launder | Stars: Patricia Roc, Eric Portman, Gordon Jackson, Anne Crawford
Votes: 1,105
4. This Happy Breed (1944)
Not Rated | 115 min | Comedy, Drama
Just after World War I, the Gibbons family moves to a nice house in the suburbs. They live an ordinary life throughout the years, but everything changes when World War II breaks out.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Robert Newton, Celia Johnson, John Mills, Kay Walsh
Votes: 4,001
5. Blithe Spirit (1945)
96 min | Comedy, Fantasy
A man and his second wife are haunted by the ghost of his first wife.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings, Kay Hammond, Margaret Rutherford
Votes: 8,023
6. The Way Ahead (1944)
Approved | 91 min | Drama, War
World War II drama that follows a group of British draftees, starting with their rigorous basic training, and ending with their deployment in North Africa.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: David Niven, Stanley Holloway, James Donald, John Laurie
Votes: 2,226
7. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
PG | 104 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: David Niven, Kim Hunter, Robert Coote, Kathleen Byron
Votes: 24,920
8. Odd Man Out (1947)
Approved | 116 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A wounded Irish nationalist leader attempts to evade police following a failed robbery in Belfast.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: James Mason, Robert Newton, Cyril Cusack, F.J. McCormick
Votes: 11,427
9. The Third Man (1949)
Approved | 93 min | Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller
Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard
Votes: 181,893 | Gross: $0.45M
10. I Became a Criminal (1947)
Approved | 78 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After WW2, former RAF airman Clem Morgan joins a gang of black-market smugglers-thieves but when a robbery goes wrong, Clem is caught , framed for a policeman's murder, and is sent to prison where he plots his escape and revenge.
Director: Alberto Cavalcanti | Stars: Sally Gray, Trevor Howard, Griffith Jones, Rene Ray
Votes: 1,922
11. Great Expectations (1946)
Approved | 118 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
A humble orphan boy in 1810s Kent is given the opportunity to go to London and become a gentleman, with the help of an unknown benefactor.
Director: David Lean | Stars: John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Tony Wager, Jean Simmons
Votes: 26,419
12. Dead of Night (1945)
Approved | 77 min | Drama, Horror
Guests invited to a weekend in the country share their supernatural stories, beginning with Walter Craig, who senses impending doom as his half-remembered recurring dream turns into reality.
Directors: Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer | Stars: Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave, Roland Culver, Mary Merrall
Votes: 14,222
13. Brighton Rock (1948)
Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
In Brighton in 1935, small-time gang leader Pinkie Brown murders a journalist and later desperately tries to cover his tracks but runs into trouble with the police, a few witnesses, and a rival gang.
Director: John Boulting | Stars: Richard Attenborough, Hermione Baddeley, William Hartnell, Harcourt Williams
Votes: 6,826 | Gross: $0.22M
14. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
Not Rated | 106 min | Comedy, Crime
A distant poor relative of the Duke D'Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering the eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession.
Director: Robert Hamer | Stars: Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood
Votes: 39,732
15. The Fallen Idol (1948)
Approved | 95 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
A butler working in a foreign embassy in London falls under suspicion when his wife accidentally falls to her death, the only witness being an impressionable young boy.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Ralph Richardson, Michèle Morgan, Sonia Dresdel, Bobby Henrey
Votes: 9,671 | Gross: $0.34M
16. Henry V (1944)
Not Rated | 137 min | Biography, Drama, History
In the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France in 1415.
Director: Laurence Olivier | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Robert Newton, Leslie Banks, Felix Aylmer
Votes: 7,076
17. Hamlet (1948)
Approved | 154 min | Drama
Prince Hamlet struggles over whether or not he should kill his uncle, whom he suspects has murdered his father, the former king.
Director: Laurence Olivier | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, John Laurie, Esmond Knight
Votes: 18,409 | Gross: $7.09M
18. It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)
92 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
An escaped convict tries to hide out at his former lover's house, but she has since married and is reluctant to help him.
Director: Robert Hamer | Stars: Googie Withers, Jack Warner, John McCallum, Edward Chapman
Votes: 2,380 | Gross: $0.01M
19. Passport to Pimlico (1949)
Approved | 84 min | Comedy
Residents of a part of London declare independence after they discover an old treaty, which leads to the need for a "Passport to Pimlico".
Director: Henry Cornelius | Stars: Stanley Holloway, Betty Warren, Barbara Murray, Paul Dupuis
Votes: 5,289
20. Brief Encounter (1945)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama, Romance
Meeting a stranger in a railway station, a woman is tempted to cheat on her husband.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey
Votes: 44,260
21. Went the Day Well? (1942)
Approved | 92 min | Thriller, War
An English village is occupied by disguised German paratroopers as an advance post for a planned invasion.
Director: Alberto Cavalcanti | Stars: Leslie Banks, C.V. France, Valerie Taylor, Marie Lohr
Votes: 4,341 | Gross: $0.02M
22. The October Man (1947)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Mystery
When the murder of a young woman happens, her next-door neighbor is under suspicion due to his previous stay in a mental hospital.
Director: Roy Ward Baker | Stars: John Mills, Joan Greenwood, Edward Chapman, Kay Walsh
Votes: 1,500
23. The Wicked Lady (1945)
Not Rated | 97 min | Adventure, Drama
A noblewoman begins to lead a dangerous double life in order to alleviate her boredom.
Director: Leslie Arliss | Stars: Margaret Lockwood, James Mason, Patricia Roc, Griffith Jones
Votes: 1,639
24. Green for Danger (1946)
Not Rated | 91 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
After the nurse who declares that a recent surgical death was a murder also dies, an enigmatic Scotland Yard inspector arrives to investigate.
Director: Sidney Gilliat | Stars: Alastair Sim, Sally Gray, Trevor Howard, Leo Genn
Votes: 5,620
25. The Red Shoes (1948)
Not Rated | 135 min | Drama, Music, Romance
A young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann
Votes: 39,185 | Gross: $10.90M
26. Black Narcissus (1947)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama
A group of nuns struggle to establish a convent in the Himalayas, while isolation, extreme weather, altitude, and culture clashes all conspire to drive the well-intentioned missionaries mad.
Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger | Stars: Deborah Kerr, David Farrar, Flora Robson, Jenny Laird
Votes: 27,692
27. Waterloo Road (1945)
76 min | Drama, Romance, War
A drama set during World War II. A tale of adultery and desertion.
Director: Sidney Gilliat | Stars: John Mills, Stewart Granger, Alastair Sim, Joy Shelton
Votes: 690
28. Oliver Twist (1948)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
In Charles Dickens' classic tale, an orphan wends his way from cruel apprenticeship to den of thieves in search of a true home.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Robert Newton, Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh, Francis L. Sullivan
Votes: 13,663
29. Holiday Camp (1947)
Approved | 97 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
The Huggett family go to a holiday camp, and get involved in crooked card players, a murderer on the run, and a pregnant young girl and her boyfriend missing from home.
Director: Ken Annakin | Stars: Flora Robson, Dennis Price, Jack Warner, Hazel Court
Votes: 552
30. The Hidden Room (1949)
Approved | 96 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller
Clive Riordan plans a devilish revenge against his wife's lover.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Robert Newton, Sally Gray, Phil Brown, Naunton Wayne
Votes: 2,677
31. The History of Mr. Polly (1949)
Approved | 95 min | Drama
With an inheritance after his father's death, Alfred Polly finds love in the arms of a schoolgirl but marries an unattractive cousin and opens a shop, leading him to unhappiness, arson, suicide attempts and escape.
Director: Anthony Pelissier | Stars: John Mills, Sally Ann Howes, Betty Ann Davies, Megs Jenkins
Votes: 652
32. Lady in Distress (1940)
59 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A passerby witnesses a murder through the windows of a passing train, then tries to track down the killer.
Director: Herbert Mason | Stars: Michael Redgrave, Sally Gray, Paul Lukas, Hartley Power
Votes: 391
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