Best Movies of 1944 by Rank
53
1
Billy Wilder
Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall, Jean Heather
Mystery / Crime / Film-Noir / Thriller
USA
English
204
2
Vincente Minnelli
Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien
Musical / Family / Romance
USA
English
280
3
Otto Preminger, Rouben Mamoulian
Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews
Film-Noir / Mystery / Romance / Crime / Detective / Thriller
USA
English
292
4
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier, Robert Newton
Drama / War / History / Epic / Biography
UK
English
573
6
Howard Hawks
Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall
Thriller / War / Romance / Drama
USA
English
613
7
Leo McCarey
Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald
Comedy / Drama / Religion / Musical
USA
English
698
8
George Cukor
Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten
Mystery / Thriller / Drama / Period Film / Detective
USA
English
706
9
Preston Sturges
Eddie Bracken, Ella Raines, Raymond Walburn, William Demarest
Comedy / War
USA
English
844
10
Edward Dmytryk
Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Kruger, Mike Mazurki, Miles Mander
Crime / Film-Noir / Thriller / Drama / Mystery / Detective / Cult
USA
English
1110
11
Fritz Lang
Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey, Edmund Breon, Dan Duryea
Film-Noir / Thriller / Crime / Drama
USA
English
1180
12
John Cromwell, André De Toth
Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple
Drama / War
USA
English
1201
13
Frank Capra
Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Raymond Massey
Comedy / Thriller / Crime
USA
English
1209
14
Clarence Brown
Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor, Donald Crisp
Family / Drama / Sports
USA
English
1408
15
Alfred Hitchcock
Tallulah Bankhead, Walter Slezak, William Bendix, Mary Anderson
Drama / War / Adventure
USA
English
1457
17
Alf Sjöberg
Stig Järrel, Alf Kjellin, Mai Zetterling, Olof Winnerstrand
Drama / Romance
Sweden
Swedish
1504
18
Robert Siodmak
Franchot Tone, Ella Raines, Alan Curtis, Aurora Miranda, Thomas Gomez, Fay Helm
Crime / Film-Noir / Mystery / Thriller / Detective
USA
English
1582
19
Vincent Sherman
Bette Davis, Claude Rains, Walter Abel, George Coulouris, Richard Waring
Drama / Romance
USA
English
1656
20
Carol Reed
David Niven, Stanley Holloway, James Donald, John Laurie, Leslie Dwyer
War / Drama
UK
English
1853
21
Charles Vidor
Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly, Lee Bowman, Phil Silvers, Jinx Falkenburg
Comedy / Musical / Romance
USA
English
1853
21
Fritz Lang
Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Carl Esmond, Hillary Brooke, Percy Waram
Film-Noir / Thriller / Drama / Spy / War / Romance / Mystery
USA
English
1897
22
Lewis Allen
Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Dorothy Stickney
Drama / Horror / Mystery / Romance
USA
English
1949
23
Robert Stevenson
Orson Welles, Joan Fontaine, Margaret O'Brien, Peggy Ann Garner
Drama / Romance / Period Film
USA
English
1982
24
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, Dennis Price, Sergeant John Sweet
Drama / Mystery / War / Comedy
UK
English
2077
25
Robert Wise, Gunther von Fritsch
Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, Ann Carter, Eve March, Julia Dean
Drama / Fantasy / Horror
USA
English
2223
26
Jean Negulesco
Sydney Greenstreet, Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson, Peter Lorre, Victor Francen
Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Mystery / Thriller
USA
English
2231
27
David Lean
Robert Newton, Celia Johnson, John Mills, Kay Walsh, Stanley Holloway, Amy Veness
Comedy / Drama
UK
English
2259
28
Mervyn LeRoy
Van Johnson, Spencer Tracy, Robert Mitchum
Drama / War
USA
English
2346
29
Clifford Odets
Cary Grant, Ethel Barrymore, Barry Fitzgerald, June Duprez
Drama
USA
English
2362
30
Clive Brook
Beatrice Lillie, Clive Brook, Googie Withers, Roland Culver, O.B. Clarence
Comedy / Romance
UK
English
2460
31
Emilio Fernández
Dolores del Rio, Pedro Armendáriz, Alberto Galán
Romance / Drama
Mexico
Spanish
2489
32
Edgar Neville
Antonio Casal, Isabel de Pomés, Guillermo Marín
Thriller / Horror / Comedy / Crime
Spain
Spanish
2511
33
Lloyd Bacon
Anne Baxter, Thomas Mitchell, Selena Royle, Edward Ryan, Trudy Marshall
Biography / Drama / War
USA
English
2553
34
King Vidor
Brian Donlevy, Ann Richards, Walter Abel, John Qualen, Stephen McNally
Drama
USA
English
2582
35
Gjon Mili
Lester Young, George 'Red' Callender, Harry Edison
Short / Music
USA
English
2605
36
Roy William Neill
Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Gerald Hamer, Paul Cavanagh, Arthur Hohl
Crime / Mystery / Thriller / Detective
USA
English
2605
36
Robert Siodmak
Charles Laughton, Ella Raines, Molly Lamont, Stanley Ridges, Henry Daniell
Drama / Thriller / Detective / Film-Noir / Crime
USA
English
2689
37
Joseph Santley
Tito Guízar, Virginia Bruce, Edward Everett Horton, Robert Livingston, Veloz
Comedy / Musical / Romance
USA
English
2689
37
Helmut Weiss
Heinz Rühmann, Karin Himboldt, Hilde Sessak, Erich Ponto, Paul Henckels
Comedy
Germany
German
2689
37
Edward Ludwig
John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Dennis O'Keefe, William Frawley, Leonid Kinskey
Action / Drama / War / Romance / Adventure
USA
English
2689
37
Erle C. Kenton
Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine, Anne Gwynne, Peter Coe
Fantasy / Horror / Sci-Fi
USA
English
2689
37
Michael Curtiz
Humphrey Bogart, Claude Rains, Michèle Morgan, Philip Dorn
Drama / Adventure / War
USA
English
2689
37
Fred Zinnemann
Spencer Tracy, Signe Hasso, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Agnes Moorehead
Drama / War
USA
English
2689
37
Edwin L. Marin
John Wayne, Ella Raines, Ward Bond, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Audrey Long
Mystery / Western / Romance
USA
English
2689
37
Richard Thorpe
William Powell, Myrna Loy, Lucile Watson, Gloria DeHaven, Anne Revere, Helen Vinson
Comedy / Crime / Mystery / Drama / Family / Romance / Thriller / Detective
USA
English
2691
38
John Brahm
Laird Cregar, George Sanders, Merle Oberon, Cedric Hardwicke, Sara Allgood
Horror / Thriller / Crime
USA
English
2691
38
Elliott Nugent
Danny Kaye, Dinah Shore, Dana Andrews, Constance Dowling, Louis Calhern
Comedy / Musical
USA
English
2718
39
Maya Deren
Maya Deren, John Cage, Alexander Hammid
Short / Experimental
USA
English (Silent)
2756
41
Frank Capra, Anatole Litvak
Anthony Veiller, Walter Huston, Douglas MacArthur
Documentary / War / History
USA
English
2756
41
unknown
Martha Graham
Documentary
USA
English (Silent)
2756
41
William Wyler
Robert Morgan, Vince Evans, Captain James A. Verinis
Documentary / War / History
USA
English
2756
41
Stuart Heisler
William Broadus, Clarence Brooks, Norman Ford, Carlton Moss, Clyde Turner
Documentary / Short / War / Drama / History
USA
English
2792
42
William Castle
Dean Jagger, Kim Hunter, Robert Mitchum, Neil Hamilton
Film-Noir / Mystery / Thriller / Detective / Romance
USA
English
2792
42
Jean Grémillon
Madeleine Renaud, Charles Vanel, Anne Vandène
Drama / Biography
France
French
2792
42
Tex Avery
Wally Maher, Dick Nelson
Animation / Family / Comedy / Short
USA
English
2793
43
John M. Stahl
Gregory Peck, Thomas Mitchell, Vincent Price, Rose Stradner, Roddy McDowall
Drama / Religion
USA
English
2801
44
Harold S. Bucquet, Jack Conway
Katharine Hepburn, Walter Huston, Aline MacMahon, Akim Tamiroff, Turhan Bey
Drama / History / War
USA
English
2805
45
Clarence Brown
Irene Dunne, Alan Marshal, Roddy McDowell, Frank Morgan, Van Johnson
Drama / Romance / War
USA
English
2807
46
William Cameron Menzies
Paul Lukas, Carl Esmond, Peter van Eyck, Mady Christians, Morris Carnovsky
Drama
USA
English
2807
46
Arthur Lubin
Maria Montez, Jon Hall, Turhan Bey, Andy Devine, Kurt Katch, Frank Puglia
Adventure / Fantasy / Romance / Crime
USA
English
2807
46
Robert Siodmak
Maria Montez, Jon Hall, Sabu, Lon Chaney Jr., Edgar Barrier, Mary Nash
Adventure / Drama / Fantasy / Romance
USA
English
2807
46
Preston Sturges
Joel McCrea, Betty Field, Harry Carey, William Demarest, Louis Jean Heydt
Comedy / Drama / Biography / History
USA
English
2807
46
Delmer Daves
The Andrews Sisters, Robert Hutton, Jack Benny, Joan Leslie, Julie Bishop
Comedy / Musical / Romance / War
USA
English
2807
46
Lambert Hillyer
Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Hatton, Nan Holliday, Stephen Keyes, Hugh Prosser
Western / Action
USA
English
2807
46
Friz Freleng, Frank Tashlin, Chuck Jones
Mel Blanc, Arthur Q. Bryan, Billy Bletcher, John T. Smith II, Michael Maltese
Family / Animation / Short / Comedy
USA
English
2807
46
Edward L. Cahn
Ray Collins, Henry O'Neill, Addison Richards, John Nesbitt, Stanley Andrews
Short / Drama
USA
English
2807
46
Will Jason
Pete Smith, William Bailey, Heinie Conklin, Ben Hall, May McAvoy, Dave O'Brien
Comedy / Short
USA
English
2807
46
unknown
Leon Errol, Martha O'Driscoll, Lois Collier, Milburn Stone
Short / War / Documentary / History
USA
English
2807
46
Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Frank Tashlin, Bob Clampett
Mel Blanc
Animation / Short / Comedy
USA
English
2807
46
Frank Tashlin
Mel Blanc, Richard Bickenbach
Animation / Family / Short / Comedy / Music
USA
English
2817
47
Cecil B. DeMille
Gary Cooper, Laraine Day, Signe Hasso, Dennis O'Keefe, Carol Thurston
Drama / Action / Adventure / Romance / War / Biography
USA
English
2860
48
Veit Harlan
Carl Raddatz, Kristina Söderbaum, Irene von Meyendorff
Romance / Drama
Germany
German
