The 40 most popular 1940s romance movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Casablanca
1943 · 1h 42m · US
In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.


Rebecca
1940 · 2h 10m · US
Story of a young woman who marries a fascinating widower only to find out that she must live in the shadow of his former wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years earlier. The young wife must come to grips with the terrible secret of her handsome, cold husband, Max De Winter. She must also deal with the jealous, obsessed Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, who will not accept her as the mistress of the house.


Macarena
1944 · 1h 24m · ES
The loves of a Sevilian girl living in a patio house at Macarena's quarter and his sweetheart Manolo are troubled by her older and generous housekeeper who is also in love with her.


Great Expectations
1946 · 1h 58m · UK
In this Dickens adaptation, orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.


Cat People
1942 · 1h 13m · US
A Serbian émigré in Manhattan believes that, because of an ancient curse, any physical intimacy with the man she loves will turn her into a feline predator.


Gilda
1946 · 1h 50m · US
A gambler discovers an old flame while in Argentina, but she's married to his new boss.


Mr. Skeffington
1944 · 2h 25m · US
A beautiful but vain woman who rejects the love of her older husband must face the loss of her youth and beauty.


Jungle Goddess
1948 · 1h 2m · US
When a plane carrying the daughter of a millionaire crashes in an African jungle, two pilots set out to collect the reward. They discover that she has become the goddess of a primitive tribe. An insurgent witch doctor and fierce wild animals make escape from the jungle difficult for the trio.


The Pirate
1948 · 1h 42m · US
A girl is engaged to the local richman, but meanwhile she has dreams about the legendary pirate Macoco. A traveling singer falls in love with her and to impress her he poses as the pirate.


Brief Encounter
1945 · 1h 26m · UK
Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with virtuous doctor Alec Harvey. Their casual friendship soon develops during their weekly visits into something more emotionally fulfilling than either expected, and they must wrestle with the potential havoc their deepening relationship would have on their lives and the lives of those they love.


Fallen Angel
1945 · 1h 38m · US
An unemployed drifter, Eric Stanton wanders into a small California town and begins hanging around the local diner. While Eric falls for the lovely waitress Stella, he also begins romancing a quiet and well-to-do woman named June Mills. Since Stella isn't interested in Eric unless he has money, the lovelorn guy comes up with a scheme to win her over, and it involves June. Before long, murder works its way into this passionate love triangle.


Little Women
1949 · 2h 1m · US
Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.


Boom Town
1940 · 1h 59m · US
Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a twenty year period both love the same woman. McMasters and Sand come to oil towns to get rich. Betsy comes West intending to marry Sand but marries McMasters instead. Getting rich and losing it all teaches McMasters and Sand the value of personal ties.


Two Generations of Women
1943 · CN
No overview available


Bathing Beauty
1944 · 1h 42m · US
After breaking up with her fiancé, a gym teacher returns to work at a women's college, but a legal loophole allows him to enroll as one of her students.


Spellbound
1945 · 1h 51m · US
When Dr. Anthony Edwardes arrives at a Vermont mental hospital to replace the outgoing hospital director, Dr. Constance Peterson, a psychoanalyst, discovers Edwardes is actually an impostor. The man confesses that the real Dr. Edwardes is dead and fears he may have killed him, but cannot recall anything. Dr. Peterson, however is convinced his impostor is innocent of the man's murder, and joins him on a quest to unravel his amnesia through psychoanalysis.
Rosalba
Rosalba
1945 · IT
No overview available


Good Sam
1948 · 1h 54m · US
Sam Clayton has a good heart and likes to help out people in need. In fact, he likes to help them out so much that he often finds himself broke and unable to help his own family buy the things they need--like a house.


Lauracha
1946 · 1h 30m · AR
A man loves a woman of strong character but she abandons her


Notorious
1946 · 1h 43m · US
In order to help bring Nazis to justice, U.S. government agent T.R. Devlin recruits Alicia Huberman, the American daughter of a convicted German war criminal, as a spy. As they begin to fall for one another, Alicia is instructed to win the affections of Alexander Sebastian, a Nazi hiding out in Brazil. When Sebastian becomes serious about his relationship with Alicia, the stakes get higher, and Devlin must watch her slip further undercover.


The Shop Around the Corner
1940 · 1h 39m · US
Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.


Samson and Delilah
1949 · 2h 14m · US
When strongman Samson rejects the love of the beautiful Philistine woman Delilah, she seeks vengeance that brings horrible consequences they both regret.


A Matter of Life and Death
1946 · 1h 44m · UK
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.


The Red Shoes
1948 · 2h 13m · UK
A fledgling ballerina falls in love with a brilliant composer, but the jealous head of the ballet company plots to drive them apart.


The Best Years of Our Lives
1946 · 2h 51m · US
It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.


Annelie
1941 · 2h 50m · DE
On New Year′s Eve 1871 Annelie is born – 15 minutes too late, since her parents had calculated her birth to be exactly at midnight. These 15 minutes will again and again become the girl′s fate.


Stormy Waters
1941 · 1h 31m · FR
A married tugboat captain falls for a woman he rescues from a sinking ship.


Thunder Birds
1942 · 1h 18m · US
On a secluded base in Arizona, veteran World War I pilot Steve Britt trains flyers to fight in World War II. One of his trainees, Englishman Peter Stackhouse, competes with Britt for the affections of Kay Saunders, the daughter of a local rancher. Despite their differences, Britt makes sure Sutton passes his training and becomes a combat pilot -- even though he loses Kay to the young man in the process.


His Girl Friday
1940 · 1h 32m · US
Walter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s star reporter, who also happens to be his estranged wife. She’s threatening to quit and settle down with a new beau, but, as Walter knows, she has a weakness: she can’t resist a juicy scoop.


Suspicion
1941 · 1h 39m · US
A sheltered heiress falls for a charming playboy and elopes with him, but soon discovers his gambling vice and mounting debts. As his lies deepen and those around them meet mysterious ends, she begins to suspect that her husband’s affection may conceal a deadly motive—and that she could be his next victim.


Children of Paradise
1945 · 3h 10m · FR
In a chaotic 19th-century Paris teeming with aristocrats, thieves, psychics, and courtesans, theater mime Baptiste is in love with the mysterious actress Garance. But Garance, in turn, is loved by three other men: pretentious actor Frederick, conniving thief Lacenaire, and Count Edouard of Montray.


Ziegfeld Girl
1941 · 2h 12m · US
Discovery by Flo Ziegfeld changes a girl's life but not necessarily for the better, as three beautiful women find out when they join the spectacle on Broadway: Susan, the singer who must leave behind her ageing vaudevillian father; vulnerable Sheila, the working girl pursued both by a millionaire and by her loyal boyfriend from Flatbush; and the mysterious European beauty Sandra, whose concert violinist husband cannot endure the thought of their escaping from poverty by promenading her glamor in skimpy costumes.


Dragonwyck
1946 · 1h 43m · US
A simple Connecticut farm girl is recruited by a distant relative, an aristocratic patroon, to be governess to his young daughter in his Hudson Valley mansion.


The Clock
1945 · 1h 30m · US
A G.I. en route to Europe falls in love during a whirlwind two-day leave in New York City.


The Thief of Bagdad
1940 · 1h 47m · UK
When Prince Ahmad is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar, he joins forces with the scrappy thief Abu to win back his royal place, as well as the heart of a beautiful princess.


Fiesta
1947 · 1h 44m · US
When a matador leaves town to focus on his music, his twin sister takes on his identity in the bullfighting ring.


Blue Skies
1946 · 1h 44m · US
Jed Potter looks back on a love triangle conducted over the course of years and between musical numbers. Dancer Jed loves showgirl Mary, who loves compulsive nightclub-opener Johnny, who can't stay committed to anything in life for very long.


Adventures of Don Juan
1948 · 1h 46m · US
Spanish Lothario Don Juan, the legendary lover and adventurer returns to Spain following a scandal and comes to the aid of his queen, who is under threat from sinister forces.


Victory Joe
1946 · 1h 37m · PH
A story about Rosie, believing that her boyfriend has been killed in the war, she falls in love with an American military officer.
Resurrección
Resurrección
1943 · 1h 28m · MX
This is an early film from Director Gilberto Martinez Solares, who would go on to become better-known for his unique perspective on horror films of the 60's and 70's - like "Santanico Pademonium" "Face of the Screaming Wolf" and his own "House of Terror", (these features, in turn, would inspire future award-wining Directors such as Tarantino and Del Toro). As far as Resurreccion goes, it is a semi-historical Drama, based on Leo Tolstoy's novel also titled "Resurrection" . However, Solares' movie loosely uses the start of the 1910 to 1920 Mexican Revolution as its cornerstone, (instead of the Russian battle that Tolstoy relied on for his 1899 literary work ). It essentially documents one man's effort to find redemption for his past sins. It stars actors Emilio Tuero, Lupita Tovar, Sara Garcia and Jose Pulido, among others.
1940s cinema is split by the war: propaganda and home-front melodrama, then the darker, more cynical film noir that followed. Italian neorealism emerged from the rubble at the decade's end.
Romance is the genre most shaped by its era's ideas about intimacy, which makes watching across decades a genuine education. It spans the screwball comedies, the sweeping melodramas, and the modern indie two-hander.