Rank 'Em: The Best Picture Winners of the '40s

Decade by decade, I'm ranking the winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture.  From greatest to least great, here's the '40s.

1. Rebecca (1940) - Alfred Hitchcock famously never had much luck at the Oscars, but one of the films he directed did get the big prize, beating out classics like "The Grapes of Wrath," "The Philadelphia Story," and "The Great Dictator."  Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier have a perfectly lovely romance before the film pivots into one of the best psychological thrillers ever made, featuring a villain who leaves a chill even though she's never seen onscreen.

 

2. Casablanca (1943) - One of the most quotable films of all time remains a great watch to this day for its strong writing and characters, and excellent sense of humor.  It was one of several war themed films competing that year, the last time the Best Picture category would have ten nominees for several decades.  Out of all the films on this list, "Casablanca" left the largest cultural footprint, with parodies and homages that persist to this day.

3. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) - The cast is full of familiar faces, but the real star of the film is Howard Russell, the disabled WWII veteran who played Homer Parrish, and snagged an Oscar for his trouble.  The telling of Homer's story is awfully sentimental and perhaps too rosy from a modern viewpoint, but its the one that the U.S. needed  in the aftermath of the war.  Its hopeful outlook is still inspiring, so many years and so many wars later.

4. Hamlet (1948) - Still one of the most lauded Shakespeare adaptations ever made, and would set the bar for all the cinematic "Hamlets" to follow.  This was only the second film Laurence Olivier had ever directed, and its success would help propel his career on stage and screen to even greater heights.  This is a chilly, Gothic take on "Hamlet," but also a  very entertaining one, full of intrigue and suspense, with an exciting sword fight to cap it off.

5. The Lost Weekend (1945) - Billy Wilder's portrait of an alcoholic, based on Raymond Chandler, and played by Ray Milland, is a strong piece of melodrama.  Wilder nails the psychology of addiction, and is able to relay it in very visual terms.  The film is very dated now, but is still one of the foundational films about substance abuse and recovery.   Its also one of only three films to have won both the Cannes Grand Prix and the Academy Award for Best Picture.

6. Mrs. Miniver (1942) - Greer Garson is one of my favorite film stars from this era, and "Mrs. Miniver" gives her one of her best roles.  She plays the steady matriarch of a British family that encounters hardship and loss during WWII.  The film was a huge popular success, and highly influential for its portrayal of ordinary people displaying bravery on the homefront - to the extent that it's seen in some corners as a particularly effective propaganda film.  

7. Going My Way (1944) - Most of the film is a sweet religious comedy, about a young priest gently bringing an old priest and his parish into a more modern mindset. I actually prefer the sequel, "The Bells of St. Mary's," which gives Bing Crosby a more interesting scene partner in Ingrid Bergman.  Still, "Going My Way" is a perfectly charming old school feel-good picture, and lets Bing sing "Going My Way" and "Swinging on a Star" for the finale.

8. How Green Was My Valley (1941) - This was the film that beat out "Citizen Kane" and "The Maltese Falcon" for Best Picture, and definitely didn't deserve it.  I have no quarrel with this John Ford picture otherwise, one of his UK movies  about a Welsh mining family surviving in tough times.  It's a beautifully mounted effort, with some great production design and epic visuals.  It just doesn't happen to be a masterpiece like some of the other contenders.

9. Gentleman's Agreement (1947) - Issue pictures have been around longer than people think, and "Gentleman's Agreement" is a great example.  Gregory Peck plays a journalist who goes undercover to expose antisemitism in New York, and finds it in his own home.  Racial and religious prejudice was considered a brave subject to tackle at the time, and the film's success allowed director Elia Kazan to make even more challenging movies in the years to come.

10. All the King's Men (1949) - Finally, the reason this is the lowest ranked winner on the list is because I can barely recall anything about it, despite seeing the movie far more recently than most of the others.  This political drama and film noir about a corrupt Louisiana politician, Willie Stark, was so unmemorable that the only performance I remember is Mercedes McCambridge as Willie's affair partner.  Then again, I've never been too fond of film noir.

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