The 10 Best Films of the 1940's

Here is a continuing look at my picks of the best films of the decade. As the country entered war many box office stars left their careers briefly behind to enter the Army while most actresses did their part doing live shows and collecting goods and money for the Red Cross and other organizations. Naturally war movies became hugely popular in the decade while Westerns followed a close second.

Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Gary Cooper were the top 3 box office stars of the decade.

Here are my choices for the ten best films of the decade listed in alphabetical order.

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE - One of the first and greatest of all black comedies is this Frank Capra classic starring Cary Grant as a newly married man who comes home to visit his two aunts, unsuspecting of the fact that they poison lonely gentlemen by having them drink tainted Elderberry wine and then burying the bodies in the cellar. Once Mortimer (Grant) finds out he first mistakes his Uncle Teddy, whose delusional state of mind has him believing he is Teddy Roosevelt, as the culprit. Complicating matters is the unexpected arrival of his murderous brother Jonathan and equally psychotic sidekick Dr. Einstein (Peter Lorre). This fast paced, frantic comedy is hysterical and shocking at the same time and made the "black comedy" what it is today.

CASABLANCA - One of the greatest films of all time is also regarded as one of the great romance films as well. Set in a café in North Africa, the film has thrills, excitement, political intrigue and romance all rolled into one. Humphrey Bogart plays Rick, the owner of the café which is nightly filled with refugees, thieves, smugglers and Nazi's. In one night comes the love of his life (Ingrid Bergman) who left him after a whirlwind romance in Paris and is now married. Trying to escape the Germans, she tries to woo Rick into giving up two letters of transit that will help them escape. The film is nearly perfect as it weaves all the ingredients together with the aid of career making performances by Bogart, Bergman and Claude Rains. The film ends with perhaps the greatest last line ever put in a movie.