Best Movies of 1940 by Rank
212
3
Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen
Christian Rub, Dickie Jones, Cliff Edwards, Mel Blanc, Evelyn Venable
Animation / Family / Fantasy / Musical
USA
English
227
4
Alfred Hitchcock
Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine
Drama / Romance / Thriller / Mystery
USA
English
261
5
George Cukor
Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
286
6
Edward F. Cline
W.C. Fields, Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel, Evelyn Del Rio, Jessie Ralph
Comedy / Crime / Family
USA
English
345
7
James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe, Norman Ferguson, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Ben Sharpsteen
Leopold Stokowski, Deems Taylor, Julietta Novis, Corey Burton, Walt Disney
Family / Animation / Fantasy / Musical / Cult
USA
English
519
9
Ernst Lubitsch
James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan
Comedy / Romance / Drama
USA
English
527
10
Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, Alexander Korda, Zoltan Korda, William Cameron Menzies
Conrad Veidt, Sabu, June Duprez, John Justin, Rex Ingram
Adventure / Family / Fantasy
UK / USA
English
863
13
Robert Z. Leonard
Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver, Maureen O'Sullivan
Comedy / Drama / Romance / Period Film
USA
English
950
14
Frank Borzage
Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young, Frank Morgan
Drama
USA
English
999
15
Preston Sturges
Brian Donlevy, Muriel Angelus, Akim Tamiroff, William Demarest
Comedy
USA
English
1075
17
Michael Curtiz
Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains, Donald Crisp, Flora Robson, Alan Hale
Adventure / Romance
USA
English
1187
18
John Ford
John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Ian Hunter, Barry Fitzgerald, Wilfrid Lawson
Drama / War
USA
English
1359
19
Rouben Mamoulian
Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone
Adventure / Western / Romance / Comic
USA
English
1388
20
King Vidor, W.S. Van Dyke, Jack Conway
Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, Walter Brennan, Ruth Hussey, Nat Pendleton
Adventure / Drama / History / Romance / Western
USA
English
1489
21
Sam Wood
Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Eduardo Ciannelli
Drama / Romance
USA
English
1500
22
Thorold Dickinson
Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell, Cathleen Cordell, Robert Newton
Thriller
UK
English
1526
23
Garson Kanin
Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, Gail Patrick, Ann Shoemaker
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
1541
24
Dorothy Arzner
Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball, Virginia Field
Comedy / Drama / Romance / Music
USA
English
1748
25
Raoul Walsh
George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, Humphrey Bogart, Gale Page, Alan Hale
Drama / Thriller / Romance / Crime
USA
English
1826
26
William Wyler
Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Doris Davenport, Fred Stone, Forrest Tucker
Western
USA
English
1897
27
Mervyn LeRoy
Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor, Lucile Watson, Virginia Field, Maria Ouspenskaya
Drama / War / Romance
USA
English
1941
28
Carol Reed
Margaret Lockwood, Rex Harrison, Paul Henreid, Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne
Thriller / War / Spy
UK
English
1966
29
Preston Sturges
Dick Powell, Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn, Alexander Carr
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2122
30
Marcel Pagnol
Raimu, Fernandel, Josette Day, Georges Grey
Comedy / Drama / Romance
France
French
2133
31
William Keighley
James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, George Brent, Jeffrey Lynn, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh
Biography / Drama / War / Comedy
USA
English
2144
32
Anatole Litvak
Bette Davis, Charles Boyer, Jeffrey Lynn, Barbara O'Neil
Drama / Romance
USA
English
2222
33
Irving Cummings
Don Ameche, Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda, Charlotte Greenwood, J. Carrol Naish
Comedy / Romance / Musical / Drama
USA
English
2222
33
Lloyd Bacon
Pat O'Brien, Gale Page, Ronald Reagan
Drama / Biography / Sports
USA
English
2231
34
William Dieterle
Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Gordon, Otto Kruger, Donald Crisp, Maria Ouspenskaya
Biography / Drama
USA
English
2300
35
Mark Donskoy
Nikolai Valbert, Stepan Kayukov, Nikolai Dorokhin, Nikolai Plotnikov
Biography / Drama
Soviet Union
Russian
2344
36
Mitchell Leisen
Claudette Colbert, Ray Milland, Dennis O'Keefe, Walter Abel, Dick Purcell
Comedy / Drama / Romance / Adventure / War
USA
English
2351
37
John Cromwell
Raymond Massey, Gene Lockhart, Ruth Gordon, Mary Howard, Minor Watson
Biography / Drama / History
USA
English
2365
38
Walter Lang
Shirley Temple, Spring Byington, Nigel Bruce, Gale Sondergaard, Eddie Collins
Family / Fantasy / Adventure
USA
English
2369
39
George Marshall
Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard, Richard Carlson, Paul Lukas, Willie Best
Comedy / Horror / Thriller / Gangster
USA
English
2373
40
Walter Lang
Alice Faye, Betty Grable, Jack Oakie, John Payne, Allen Jenkins, Esther Ralston
Drama / Musical
USA
English
2512
41
Jack Conway
Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, Hedy Lamarr, Frank Morgan
Adventure / Drama / Romance / Comedy
USA
English
2553
42
Norman Taurog
Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, George Murphy, Frank Morgan, Ian Hunter
Musical / Drama
USA
English
2578
43
Stuart Heisler
Billy Lee, Cordell Hickman, Richard Lane, Lester Matthews, Helene Millard
Drama / Family
USA
English
2605
44
Michael Powell
Conrad Veidt, Valerie Hobson, Hay Petrie, Joss Ambler, Raymond Lovell
Adventure / Romance / Spy
UK
English
2605
44
W.S. Van Dyke
William Powell, Myrna Loy, Frank McHugh, Edmund Lowe, Donald Douglas
Comedy / Drama / Crime / Romance
USA
English
2605
44
William Keighley
James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien, Andy Devine, Helen Vinson
Adventure / Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2689
45
Veit Harlan
Ferdinand Marian, Werner Krauss, Heinrich George, Kristina Söderbaum
Drama / Period Film
Germany
German
2689
45
Humphrey Jennings, Harry Watt
Quentin Reynolds, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Documentary / War / Short
UK
English
2689
45
Kozaburo Yoshimura
Shozaburo Abe, Munenobu Aburai, Shôtarô Fujimatsu, Toyama Fumio
War
Japan
Japanese
2689
45
A. Edward Sutherland
Allan Jones, Nancy Kelly, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Robert Cummings
Comedy / Musical / Romance
USA
English
2689
45
Aleksandr Dovzhenko, Yuliya Solntseva
Olev Eskola
War / Epic
Soviet Union
Russian
2689
45
Victor Schertzinger
Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour, Bob Hope, Charles Coburn, Judith Barrett
Comedy / Musical / Adventure
USA
English
2689
45
Michael Curtiz
Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Raymond Massey, Ronald Reagan, Alan Hale
Action / Adventure / Biography / Drama / Romance / Western / History
USA
English
2689
45
Carl Koch, Jean Renoir
Imperio Argentina, Rossano Brazzi, Michel Simon, Adriano Rimoldi, Carla Candiani
Drama / Musical / Comedy / Romance
Italy / France
Italian
2691
46
Lee Garmes, Ben Hecht
Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Rita Hayworth, Thomas Mitchell, John Qualen, George Watts
Drama / Crime / Caper
USA
English
2691
46
Boris Ingster
Peter Lorre, John McGuire, Margaret Tallichet, Charles Waldron, Elisha Cook Jr.
Drama / Film-Noir / Mystery / Thriller / Crime
USA
English
2756
47
Zora Neale Hurston, Jane Belo
Documentary / Short / Religion
USA
English
2756
47
Joseph Santley
Gene Autry, Jimmy Durante, Ann Miller
Western / Musical
USA
English
2756
47
Fayard Nicholas, Harold Nicholas
Fayard Nicholas, Harold Nicholas
Documentary / History / Biography
USA
English
2771
48
Gustav Ucicky
Heinrich George, Hilde Krahl, Siegfried Breuer, Hans Holt
Drama / Romance
Germany / Austria
German
2771
48
Augusto Genina
Fosco Giachetti, Mireille Balin, Maria Denis, Rafael Calvo
War / Drama
Italy / Spain
Italian
2807
49
Arthur Lubin
Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Stanley Ridges, Anne Nagel, Anne Gwynne
Drama / Horror / Sci-Fi / Crime / Thriller / Gangster
USA
English
2807
49
Anatole Litvak, Jean Negulesco
James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Frank Craven, Donald Crisp, Frank McHugh
Drama / Film-Noir
USA
English
2807
49
Del Lord
Charley Chase, Bruce Bennett, Richard Fiske, Stanley Brown, Don Beddoe
Comedy / Short
USA
English
2807
49
Joe May
George Sanders, Vincent Price, Margaret Lindsay, Dick Foran, Nan Grey
Thriller / Drama / Crime / Period Film
USA
English
2807
49
Jack Hively
Tim Holt, Virginia Gilmore, Joan Carroll, Spring Byington, Robert Barrat
Drama / Romance
USA
English
2807
49
Irving Cummings
Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Henry Fonda, Edward Arnold, Warren William
Biography / Drama / History / Musical
USA
English
2807
49
Nick Grinde
Boris Karloff, Roger Pryor, Jo Ann Sayers, Stanley Brown, John Dilson
Mystery / Sci-Fi / Horror / Thriller
USA
English
2807
49
Eugene Forde
Lloyd Nolan, Marjorie Weaver, Joan Valerie, Walter Abel, Elizabeth Patterson
Comedy / Mystery / Drama / Crime / Detective
USA
English
2807
49
Jules White
Andy Clyde, Shemp Howard, Vernon Dent, Lynton Brent, Richard Fiske, Bud Jamison
Comedy / Short
USA
English
2807
49
Edward F. Cline
Mae West, W.C. Fields, Joseph Calleia, Dick Foran, Ruth Donnelly
Comedy / Western
USA
English
2807
49
Dave Fleischer
Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Gus Wickie
Animation / Short / Musical / Family / Comedy / Fantasy / Comic / Documentary / Serial
USA
English
2807
49
Mitchell Leisen
Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi, Elizabeth Patterson
Comedy / Drama / Romance
USA
English
2807
49
George Abbott
Lucille Ball, Richard Carlson, Ann Miller, Eddie Bracken, Desi Arnaz
Comedy / Musical / Sports / Romance
USA
English
2807
49
George Marshall
Randolph Scott, Kay Francis, Brian Donlevy, George Bancroft, Broderick Crawford
Western
USA
English
NR
-
Clarence Brown
Spencer Tracy, Rita Johnson, Lynne Overman, Charles Coburn, Gene Lockhart
Biography / Drama / Period Film
USA
English
NR
-
Edward Buzzell
Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, John Carroll, Diana Lewis
Comedy / Musical / Western / Family
USA
English
