Fantasia is a 1940 American animated musical anthology film produced and released by Walt Disney Productions, with story direction by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer and production supervision by Walt Disney and Ben Sharpsteen. The third Disney animated feature film, it consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Music critic and composer Deems Taylor acts as the film's Master of Ceremonies who introduces each segment in live action.
Disney settled on the film's concept in 1938 as work neared completion on The Sorcerer's Apprentice, originally an elaborate Silly Symphony cartoon designed as a comeback role for Mickey Mouse, who had declined in popularity. As production costs surpassed what the short could earn, Disney decided to include it in a feature-length film of multiple segments set to classical pieces with Stokowski and Taylor as collaborators. The soundtrack was recorded using multiple audio channels and reproduced with Fantasound, a pioneering sound system developed by Disney and RCA that made Fantasia the first commercial film shown in stereo and a precursor to surround sound.
Fantasia was first released as a theatrical roadshow that was held in 13 cities across the U.S. between 1940 and 1941; the first began at the Broadway Theatre in New York City on November 13, 1940. While acclaimed by critics, it failed to make a profit owing to World War II's cutting off distribution to the European market, the film's high production costs, and the expense of building Fantasound equipment and leasing theatres for the roadshow presentations. Since 1942, the film has been reissued multiple times by RKO Radio Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution with its original footage and audio being deleted, modified, or restored in each version. When adjusted for inflation, Fantasia is the 23rd highest-grossing film of all time in the U.S.
The Fantasia franchise has grown to include video games, Disneyland attractions, and a live concert series. A sequel, Fantasia 2000, co-produced by Walt's nephew Roy E. Disney, was released in 1999. Fantasia has grown in reputation over the years and is now widely acclaimed; in 1998, the American Film Institute ranked it as the 58th greatest American film in their 100 Years...100 Movies and the fifth greatest animated film in their 10 Top 10 list. In 1990, Fantasia was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasia_(1940_film); accessed October 18, 2022.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omwdODyz8vI; accessed October 18, 2022.
Drama mystery movie written, directed by and starring Orson Welles.
Story: Following the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance; ‘Rosebud’. (IMDB)
Orson Welles’s epic tale of a publishing tycoon’s rise and fall is entertaining, poignant, and inventive in its storytelling, earning its reputation as a landmark achievement in film.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus
Why is Citizen Kane among the best movies of the 1940s?
✓ Included among the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die and Roger Ebert’s Great Movies list.
✓ Considered by many critics, filmmakers, and fans to be the greatest film ever made.
✓ Particularly praised for its cinematography, editing, music, and its narrative structure, all of which have been considered innovative and precedent-setting.
https://frametrek.com/best-movies-of-the-1940s/; accessed September 21, 2022.
Black comedy film directed by Frank Capra and starring Cary Grant.
Story: A drama critic learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are homicidal maniacs, and that insanity runs in his family. (IMDB)
Why is Arsenic and Old Lace among the best movies of the 1940s?
✓ Included among the American Film Institute’s list of the Top 100 Funniest American Movies.
✓ The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews from audiences and critics, who praised its spirit, humor and Capra’s direction.
https://frametrek.com/best-movies-of-the-1940s/; accessed September 21, 2022.
Crime drama film-noir directed by Billy Wilder, starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck.
Story: An insurance representative lets himself be talked by a seductive housewife into a murder/insurance fraud scheme that arouses the suspicion of an insurance investigator. (IMDB)
A dark, tautly constructed adaptation of James M. Cain’s novel – penned by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler – Double Indemnity continues to set the standard for the best in Hollywood film noir.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus
Why is Double Indemnity among the best movies of the 1940s?
✓ Included among the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die and Roger Ebert’s Great Movies list.
✓ Selected into the National Film Registry in for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
✓ Praised by many critics and widely regarded as a classic, often is cited as having set the standard for film noir.
https://frametrek.com/best-movies-of-the-1940s; accessed September 21, 2022.
British romantic drama film directed by David Lean, starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard.
Story: Meeting a stranger in a railway station, a woman is tempted to cheat on her husband. (IMDB)
Brief Encounter adds a small but valuable gem to the Lean filmography, depicting a doomed couple’s illicit connection with affecting sensitivity and a pair of powerful performance.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus
Why is Brief Encounter among the best movies of the 1940s?
✓ Included among the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.
✓ Won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and also voted as the second greatest British film of all time by the British Film Institute.
✓ Widely praised for its black-and-white photography and the mood created by the steam-age railway setting.
https://frametrek.com/best-movies-of-the-1940s/; accessed September 22, 2022.
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) is producer Samuel Goldwyn's classic, significant American film about the difficult, traumatic adjustments (unemployment, adultery, alcoholism, and ostracism) that three returning veteran servicemen experienced in the aftermath of World War II. In more modern times, Coming Home (1978) portrayed the same plight of the returning serviceman. The major stars, who each gave the performance of their lives in this Best Picture winner, were:
The germinal idea for the literate, meticulously-constructed film came from a Time Magazine pictorial article (August 7, 1944) that was then re-fashioned into a novel titled Glory for Me by commissioned author MacKinlay Kantor. Kantor's blank-verse novel was the basis for an adapted screenplay by distinguished Pulitzer Prize winning scriptwriter Robert E. Sherwood (his earlier works were The Petrified Forest and Idiot's Delight).
The ironic title refers to the troubling fact that many servicemen had 'the best years of their lives' in wartime, not in their experiences afterwards in peacetime America when they were forced to adapt to the much-changed demands and became the victims of dislocating forces. However, it could be argued that the servicemen also gave up and sacrificed 'the best years of their lives' - their youthful innocence and health - by serving in the military and becoming disjointed from normal civilian life. [Photographs in the houses of each of the returning servicemen recall an earlier time that was irretrievably past.]
The poignant, moving film realistically transports its present-day audiences back to the setting of the late 1940s, where the film's three typical protagonists return from their honored wartime roles to their past, altered middle-American lives and are immediately thrust into domestic tragedies, uncertainties, conflicts and awkward situations - handicapped (both physically and emotionally) by their new civilian roles. Wyler's Best Picture-winning Mrs. Miniver (1942) can be considered as a companion piece to this film, from the British perspective.
The superb, eloquent, and realistically-intimate film was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won seven Oscars: Best Picture (Samuel Goldwyn's sole competitive Oscar win), Best Actor (Fredric March - his second Oscar - the first was for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)), Best Supporting Actor (Harold Russell), Best Director (William Wyler - his second of three career Oscars), Best Screenplay (Robert E. Sherwood), Best Editing, Best Musical Score -- its nomination for Best Sound was the only one that failed to win. Real-life double amputee (from a ship explosion) and one of the cast's inexperienced actors - Harold Russell received an additional Special Honorary Oscar "for bringing hope and courage to fellow veterans" for his first performance. [Russell is the only actor ever to win two Oscars for the same role. He wouldn't act again until Inside Moves (1980) and Dogtown (1997).] Under-rated actor Dana Andrews was denied a deserved Oscar nomination, as a returning 'fly-boy.'
https://www.filmsite.org/besty.html; accessed September 22, 2022.
Western adventure drama film written and directed by John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart.
Story: Two Americans searching for work in Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains. (IMDB)
Remade but never duplicated, this darkly humorous morality tale represents John Huston at his finest.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus
Why is The Treasure of the Sierra Madre among the best movies of the 1940s?
✓ Included among the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die and Roger Ebert’s Great Movies list.
✓ Selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
✓ One of the most popular movies of the 1940s, with a significant influence on pop culture."
https://frametrek.com/best-movies-of-the-1940s/; accessed September 22, 2022.
Romantic psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Story: A self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat’s wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife’s spectral presence. (IMDB)
Hitchcock’s first American film (and his only Best Picture winner), Rebecca is a masterpiece of haunting atmosphere, Gothic thrills, and gripping suspense.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus
Why is Rebecca among the best movies of the 1940s?
✓ Included among the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.
✓ Won two Academy Awards, Best Picture and Best Cinematography, out of a total 11 nominations.
✓ Selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
https://frametrek.com/best-movies-of-the-1940s/; accessed September 21, 2022.
Story: A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette. (IMDB)
Suspenseful, labyrinthine, and brilliantly cast, The Maltese Falcon is one of the most influential noirs – as well as a showcase for Humphrey Bogart at his finest.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus
Why is The Maltese Falcon among the best movies of the 1940s?
✓ Included among the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die and Roger Ebert’s Great Movies list.
✓ Selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
✓ Ranked #6 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 10 greatest films in the genre “Mystery”, and #31 on their list of the Greatest Movies of All Time.
https://frametrek.com/best-movies-of-the-1940s/; accessed September 21, 2022.
Romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
Story: A cynical American expatriate struggles to decide whether or not he should help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape French Morocco. (IMDB)
An undisputed masterpiece and perhaps Hollywood’s quintessential statement on love and romance, Casablanca has only improved with age, boasting career-defining performances from Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus
Why is Casablanca among the best movies of the 1940s?
✓ Winner of 3 Oscars, including “Best Picture of the Year” Academy Award.
✓ Included among the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die and Roger Ebert’s Great Movies list.
✓ Its lead characters, memorable lines, and pervasive theme song have all become iconic.
https://frametrek.com/best-movies-of-the-1940s/; accessed September 21, 2022.
Mystery film-noir directed by Otto Preminger and starring Gene Tierney.
Story: A Police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating. (IMDB)
A psychologically complex portrait of obsession, Laura is also a deliciously well-crafted murder mystery.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus
Why is Laura among the best movies of the 1940s?
✓ Included among the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die and Roger Ebert’s Great Movies list.
✓ Selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
✓ The American Film Institute named it one of the 10 best mystery films of all time.
https://frametrek.com/best-movies-of-the-1940s; accessed September 21, 2022.
Meet Me in St Louis tells the story of a family in suburban, mid-western St Louis in 1903. The city, and the well-to-do Smith family, is on the verge of hosting (and celebrating) the arrival of the spectacular 1904 World's Fair. However, the head of the family is beckoned to New York due to a job promotion -- an uprooting move that threatens to change the lives of the family members forever. Directed by Vincente Minnelli during WWII, Meet Me in St Louis is a delightful, classic, nostalgic, poignant, and romanticised musical film -- and one of the greatest musicals ever made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7guqfYsG0dE; accessed October 24, 2022.
Christmas fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart.
Story: An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed. (IMDB)
The holiday classic to define all holiday classics, It’s a Wonderful Life is one of a handful of films worth an annual viewing.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus
Why is It’s a Wonderful Life among the best movies of the 1940s?
✓ Selected by the Vatican in the “values” category of its list of 45 “great films”.
✓ Included among the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die and Roger Ebert’s Great Movies list.
✓ The American Film Institute ranked this as the #1 Most Inspirational Movie of All Time and as the #20 Greatest Movie of All Time.
https://frametrek.com/best-movies-of-the-1940s/; accessed September 22, 2022.
Crime film-noir directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and Kirk Douglas.
Story: A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses and duplicitous dames. (IMDB)
Anchored by a wistful Robert Mitchum, Out of the Past is an exemplary noir steeped in doom and sensuality.
Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus
Why is Out of the Past among the best movies of the 1940s?
✓ Included among the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die and Roger Ebert’s Great Movies list.
✓ Film historians consider it a superb example of film-noir due to its complex, fatalistic story-line, dark cinematography, and classic femme fatale.
✓ Added to the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
https://frametrek.com/best-movies-of-the-1940s/; accessed September 22, 2022.