10 Best Movies of 1942, Ranked (original) (raw)
The official poster for Casablanca
Image via Warner Bros.
Published Dec 1, 2023, 9:00 AM EST
Jeremy has more than 2500 published articles on Collider to his name, and has been writing for the site since February 2022. He's an omnivore when it comes to his movie-watching diet, so will gladly watch and write about almost anything, from old Godzilla films to gangster flicks to samurai movies to classic musicals to the French New Wave to the MCU... well, maybe not the Disney+ shows.
His favorite directors include Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa, Quentin Tarantino, Werner Herzog, John Woo, Bob Fosse, Fritz Lang, Guillermo del Toro, and Yoji Yamada. He's also very proud of the fact that he's seen every single Nicolas Cage movie released before 2022, even though doing so often felt like a tremendous waste of time. He's plagued by the question of whether or not The Room is genuinely terrible or some kind of accidental masterpiece, and has been for more than 12 years (and a similar number of viewings).
When he's not writing lists - and the occasional feature article - for Collider, he also likes to upload film reviews to his Letterboxd profile (username: Jeremy Urquhart) and Instagram account.
He has achieved his 2025 goal of reading all 13,467 novels written by Stephen King, and plans to spend the next year or two getting through the author's 82,756 short stories and 105,433 novellas.
Sign in to your Collider account
Given the average life expectancy for the average person living in the world is a little over 70 years old, there's a good chance - as morbid as it sounds - that many people born in 1942 are no longer part of this world. Human life is finite, but if things are properly preserved, works of art created by humans can remain on this planet for as long as the Earth exists. This is the case for many of the greatest movies "born" in 1942, with numerous classics that still hold up when watched 80+ years later.
Much of the world may have been wrapped up in the middle of a devastating Second World War, but the conflict couldn't destroy audience's appetites for cinema as a whole. Maybe productions had to be scaled down a little, and perhaps epics were harder to pull off while resources were tight... but skilled directors still found ways to make memorable movies. The following films exemplify this well, as they make up the very best releases of 1942, ranked below from good to greatest.
10 'Bambi'
Directed by David Hand
Bambi and his Mother
Image via Walt Disney Animation Studios
The early animated works from Walt Disney have a certain charm to them, but Bambi - the fifth release from the animation studio - had something else to offer: a crushingly sad story. Bambi is well-known for being one of the first genuinely heartbreaking animated tearjerkers, and though later animated films like those from Pixar and certain anime movies/shows might well out-sad Bambi, this story about a young deer having to get by without his mother still hits pretty hard.
Bambi is also a very simple movie, even for a Disney release, and is one that's likely to appeal to children a good deal more than older viewers. Yet there's still undeniable heart to the whole thing, and much of the animation still holds up, even if it now does also look old-fashioned (kind of in a charming way, though). It's not top-tier Disney, but it's still a minor classic worth remembering and revisiting every now and then.
Release Date
August 14, 1942
Runtime
70 minutes
Director
James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, David Hand
9 'Saboteur'
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
After making a series of films in Britain (some of them very good), Alfred Hitchcock began working in Hollywood by the start of the 1940s, and found immense success there (with Rebecca, from 1940, being the only film of his to win Best Picture at the Oscars). One solid early American film by the master of suspense was Saboteur, which was one of many movies from the director to utilize a "man on the run" narrative.
Still, Hitchcock did these very predictable yet satisfying stories well, and tweaked things just enough each time to prevent them from getting stale. Here, the protagonist of Saboteur is wrongly accused of starting a deadly fire, and then goes on the run while trying to prove his innocence, only to find out some unexpected things along the way. It moves well, has a good deal of personality when it comes to visuals, and was a key movie in Hitchcock's body of work that showed how his style was continually developing for the better.
8 'Yankee Doodle Dandy'
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Image via Warner Bros.
James Cagney might be best remembered today for his fiery performances as tough, no-nonsense gangsters in crime movies like White Heat and The Public Enemy, but Yankee Doodle Dandy showed he had what it took to star in a rather extravagant - and largely entertaining - musical. The film also works as a biopic of George M. Cohan, with Cagney playing Cohan, and the film largely playing out as a life story.
Cohan was talented in various ways, with Yankee Doodle Dandy showcasing how he was simultaneously a playwright, actor, dancer, composer, and singer. Sure, it can seem a little hokey and by-the-numbers today, but it's important to remember that biopic fatigue hadn't likely set in back in 1942, and that movies like Yankee Doodle Dandy could well have proven influential for biopics - both good and bad - that came out in subsequent decades.
7 'Cat People'
Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Simone Simon in Cat People
Image via RKO Radio Pictures
A gripping and classic gothic horror movie that plays on the fear of the unknown rather than trying to shock viewers with unusual sights, Cat People is a subtle and undeniably effective psychological film. The plot may sound a little far-fetched, but it works within the film, and centers on a fashion designer who falls in love with a marine engineer, only for an unusual condition affecting the former to ultimately threaten their bond.
She fears she's cursed to turn into a panther at some point, after which she worries she won't be able to control herself and will end up killing the man she loves. Those hoping for monster mayhem or wild transformation sequences might be disappointed, but those who want something eerie, slow burn in nature, and psychologically intriguing ought to give Cat People a shot. And, in any event, it's certainly better than the remake/update from the early 1980s.
6 'The Murderer Lives at Number 21'
Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot
Henri-Georges Clouzot was a French filmmaker whose most acclaimed movies were released in the 1950s; notably, the suspenseful arthouse action movie The Wages of Fear (1953), and the exceedingly unsettling 1955 horror movie Diabolique. But in the 1940s, he made something a little less known and perhaps a bit more comedic, though one film still deserving of attention: The Murderer Lives at Number 21.
It's about a consistent game of cat and mouse between a detective and a serial killer, with the former getting a room at the boarding house the latter is apparently staying at, so he can better monitor what he's up to. There's a wonderful uneasiness to The Murderer Lives at Number 21 as a whole, and it balances dark comedy with genuine mystery and thrills to expert effect, being an overall simple yet hard-to-resist classic French crime caper.
5 'The Magnificent Ambersons'
Directed by Orson Welles
Image via RKO Radio Pictures
In 1941, Orson Welles made cinematic history by starring in and directing the endlessly acclaimed Citizen Kane. Just one year later, he released another ambitious movie called The Magnificent Ambersons, where he worked almost entirely behind the camera (his only "acting" role in the film was as the narrator).
Unfortunately, The Magnificent Ambersons was one of those films that was tragically tampered with behind the scenes, with a complex tale about family drama, love, and betrayal getting cut down to less than 90 minutes. Watching it gives the impression it was the sort of movie that needed more time to breathe, but it's a testament to Welles and his cast that they still managed to make something very striking and overall impressive with The Magnificent Ambersons; even enough for it to be one of Guillermo del Toro's all-time favorites.
4 'Now, Voyager'
Directed by Irving Rapper
Bette Davis and Gladys Cooper as Charlotte and Mrs. Windle Vale talking in the film 'Now, Voyager'
Image via Warner Bros.
Bette Davis was one of the finest performers of her generation; in fact, saying that might be something of an understatement. In 1942, she lent her talents to the romantic melodrama that was Now, Voyager, which follows Davis as she plays a young woman struggling with life. Most notably, she's experienced a nervous breakdown, and she has an overbearing mother who clearly isn't making things any easier.
But things turn around and start to feel more romantic than dramatic when she goes on a cruise and meets a man who seems like he really cares for her, and the two fall in love. The story doesn't end there, and there are various personal and social obstacles to overcome, but it is ultimately a nice film about the drive all human beings have to get what they want, and the usefulness of persevering, even when times seem especially tough. If you're a voyager, maybe you should even turn your life around now.
3 'Mrs. Miniver'
Directed by William Wyler
Image via Loew's Inc.
Things get a bit confusing Oscar-wise in 1942, because Mrs. Miniver won for 1942 and got a Best Picture Oscar at the 1943 ceremony. However, another movie debuted in 1942, but got a wider release in 1943, making it compete against 1943 movies, and then ended up winning in 1944. What that movie was will be revealed shortly, but as for Mrs. Miniver? It's actually surprisingly really good, and a fascinating time capsule of how people lived during the first years of World War II.
Granted, it's not a documentary, so there are liberties taken and nothing is too horrifically intense or violent. But to make a movie about civilians getting through World War II while World War II was being fought is an ambitious approach to a family drama/war movie, and it pays off excellently here. You could accuse Mrs. Miniver of being propaganda, but it also just feels empathetic to life at the time, and likely provided catharsis for moviegoers to see, especially since the film ends with some sense of hope that the end of the war could be near.
2 'To Be or Not to Be'
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
To Be or Not to Be is technically a war movie (and a great one), and joins Mrs. Miniver as a World War II movie made during the thick of the global conflict. All that being said, it's perhaps more of a comedy than a war film, even if it does take some of the war-related stuff fairly seriously. Narratively, it's about an acting troupe using their acting skills to help a Polish soldier find a German spy, as they all find themselves stuck in Poland during the Nazi Occupation.
As such, To Be or Not to Be unravels a bit like a farce, but a somewhat tense and uneasy one at times, given that things can go a little wrong and it's funny, but if they go too wrong and endanger the characters, there could be serious consequences, given the whole living life during wartime thing. It's very fast, very clever, and the story is genuinely engaging even without all the humor, making To Be or Not to Be an overall highlight of 1942 on numerous levels.
1 'Casablanca'
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Image via Warner Bros.
There aren't too many movies out there where you could feasibly argue they're perfect from start to finish, but there also aren't too many movies out there like Casablanca. This is a beloved film that gets just about everything right, and it's genuinely exhausting to try and think about flaws or things it does wrong, even slightly. It was that aforementioned Best Picture winner that was first screened in late 1942, got a wider release in 1943, and then won an Oscar for Best Picture in early 1944.
It's a movie about two people who were briefly in love, yet drifted apart, and are then suddenly reunited... only things have changed between them, and the whole world has changed, too, given the whole World War II thing is making people have understandably different priorities. It's a deeply touching movie about love, sacrificing something to do what's right, and hanging on to the memories of times that were good. But it's not all war and sadness, because Casablanca also has a super sharp script and plenty of comedic relief that never detracts from the tear-jerking stuff. Perfectly written, paced, and acted, it really is an all-around masterpiece that seems like it could well just be aging more and more like the finest of wine.
Release Date
January 15, 1943
Runtime
102 minutes
Director
Michael Curtiz