1940s Movies on YouTube

Movies from the 1940s that you can watch right now, for free, on YouTube

(cHdc) Every full-length movie, made in the 1940s, which you can watch on YouTube for free.

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Written by Will Johnson
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[Edit]
This Knol should be cited as:
"Chairpotato Presents : 1940s Movies on YouTube" on Knol, by Will Johnson wjhonson@aol.com for Chairpotato Entertainment Channel on Knol, copyright 2010
URL: http://knol.google.com/k/1940s-movies-on-youtube
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

Directory Project

English Knol Project

Click this link to submit additions and/or corrections.

And be sure to join me every weeknight at Chairpotato's "Night at the Movies!"
to watch along with me all the latest additions!

[Edit]
Rebecca (1940), suspense romance Produced by David O Selznick.  Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
A poor girl suddenly thrust into a Cinderella romance tries to fit into her new life but is confronted by some dark shadows in her husband's past.
    starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine
    and George Sanders, Judith Anderson, Gladys Cooper
    Won Best Picture Oscar for 1940
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13

Kitty Foyle (1940) romance, starring Ginger Rogers
The Shop Around the Corner (1940), romantic comedy
    starring Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan (and notice Frank Morgan as Mr Matachek)
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11
    (Trivia: Frank Morgan, the year previous, was the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz)
Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan play sparring sales-clerks whose animosity eventually turns to romance.  Frank Morgan who playes the shopkeeper, and his wife provide a comical side-story.

His Girl Friday (1940) romance comedy, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11

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The Thief of Baghdad (1940), fantasy adventure, starring Conrad Veidt, Sabu, June Duprez
Fantasia (1940), Walt Disney partly-animated fantasy movie
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6,  Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11
The Philadelphia Story (1940) romance comedy, starring Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart and Katherine Hepburn
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11
Boom Town (1940), romance drama buddy-film
    starring Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy,  Claudette Colbert, and Hedy Lamarr
    (Also notice Frank Morgan, more well-known today as the Wizard in the "Wizard of Oz")
    Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy become partners in an oil-drilling venture.
Dumbo, (1940), Walt Disney animated fantasy movie
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
Pride and Prejudice (1940) classic literature romance, based on the novel by Jane Austen
    starring Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier
The Devil Bat (1940) horror
    starring Bela Lugosi

The Devil and Miss Jones (1941), comedy
    starring Jean Arthur, Charles Coburn, Robert Cummings, Spring Byington
The Maltese Falcoln (1941), suspense drama, starring Humphrey Bogart
    and here is the missing Part 1

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Here Comes Mr Jordan (1941) fantasy, starring Robert Montgomery, Claude Rains
    (Trivia: Robert Montgomery was the father of Elizabeth Montgomery.)
Ziegfeld Girl (1941), produced by Pandro Berman
    starring Jimmy Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, and Lana Turner
    (also notice Jackie Cooper and Edward Everett Horton)
Meet John Doe (1941) tear-jerker romance drama added 3 Sep 09
    directed by Frank Capra; starring Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan
    Spring Byington, James Gleason, Gene Lockhart
    uploaded 10 months ago
When new owners buy the newspaper, reporter Barbara Stanwyck gets the axe because her column has no "fireworks".  She decides her last column is going to be a real zinger,  so she fakes a suicide note from "John Doe", who plans to jump off city hall to protest the lack of jobs.  The mayor's wife gets incensed and insists he contact John Doe and offer him a job, or else!  The newspaper owner now has to track down Barbara who informs him that she made it all up.  Cornered, they have to find a "John Doe" who can play the role, keeping circulation up with his life story, and also preventing their competitor paper from declaring them a fraud.  Gary Cooper, unemployed and homeless fits the bill.
    A truly great movie with a simple but interesting message, and great performances.  Five stars.

I had had this below movie up, long ago, but it was removed from YouTube.  I've now refound it on another site, so here you go.
How Green Was My Valley (1941) family-life movie added 4 Jan 2011
    directed by John Ford
    Starring Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Donald Crisp, Anna Lee
Several years in the lives of a coal-mining family in Wales
    This film introduced "Master Roddy McDowall" to U.S. audiences
    Won Best Picture Oscar for 1941

Spooks Run Wild (1941) horror
    starring Bela Lugosi

Bambi (1942), Walt Disney animated fantasy movie
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

[Edit]
Gentleman Jim (1942) drama starring Errol Flynn
King's Row (1942) drama
    starring Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan, Betty Field, Charles Coburn and Claude Rains.
The Big Street (1942) romance drama added 20 Apr 2011
    An RKO Radio Picture, produced by Damon Runyon
    starring Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, directed by Irving Reis
    with (among others) Agnes Moorehead and Ozzie Nelson
Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942), law and order romance, starring Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers (in 14 parts)
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8
    Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14
Pittsburgh (1942) buddy-film drama starring John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Marlene Dietrich
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10 (complete)
Follows over several years the relationship between business partners John Wayne and Randolph Scott with Marlene Dietrich as Wayne's love interest.  This film ranks for me as one of the best Randolph Scott movies.
Mrs Miniver (1942) law and order drama directed by William Wyler  (playlist - complete)
    Starring Greer Garson, and Walter Pidgeon
    Vin Miniver was played by Richard Ney
        much later he was "Mr Zeno" in the Outer Limits episode, "The Special One"
    Won Best Picture Oscar for 1942
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) family life drama, written and directed by Orson Welles
    produced by Mercury (an Orson Welles vehicle) for RKO Pictures
    starring Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins
    (Check out Agnes Moorehead as "Aunt Fannie".)

[Edit]
To Be Or Not To Be (1942) law and order drama
    starring Carole Lombard, Jack Benny
    Carole Lombard and Jack Benny play married actors in World War II Warsaw under Nazi occupation.

Girl Crazy (1943) musical starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney
Heaven Can Wait (1943) romance starring Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, Charles Coburn
    A man who has just died, flashback's his life while in Hell's waiting room.

Cover Girl (1944) musical starring Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly
National Velvet (1944) coming-of-age drama starring Mickey Rooney
    with Donald Crisp, Elizabeth Taylor , Anne Revere, Angela Lansbury, Jackie Jenkins, Arthur Treacher
    Produced by Pandro S Berman
Double Indemnity (1944), starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson
    Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11 (part 1 / part 12 both missing)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), musical romance
    directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13
    (Trivia: Notice June Lockhart, later best-known as
    the mother in the TV-series "Lassie" 1958-1964 and the TV-series "Lost in Space" 1965-68)
Ministry of Fear (1944), directed by Fritz Lang
    starring Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds
Mrs Parkington (1944) family-life drama added 18 Apr 2011
    starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Edward Arnold, Agnes Moorehead, Cecil Kellaway
    also notice Gladys Cooper, Dan Duryea and Peter Lawford
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12
    It's Christmas 1938 and Greer Garson, recalls her life in flashbacks just after a family gathering.

[Edit]
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) comedy horror romance added 1 Sep 09 directed by Frank Capra
    starring Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson, Edward Everett Horton
    Peter Lorre, James Gleason, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, John Alexander, Grant Mitchell
Set in Brooklyn, two sweet kindly old spinster sisters Abby (Josephine Hull) and Martha Brewster (Jean Adair) have hit on a "mercy plan" where they knock-off lonely old men and bury them in the basement of their boarding house.  Cary Grant is their nephew, who after learning of this on Halloween night, frantically tries to keep it a secret while his love interest, Priscilla Lane, whom he has just-married is trying to be with him on their honeymoon, and getting upset at his distraction.  Another brother thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt (John Alexander).  Meanwhile (at Reel 6) Cary's final long-lost brother Jonathan (Raymond Massey) shows up with his side-kick Dr Einstein (Peter Lorre), two sinister crooks, only to discover that these old ladies have more kills than they do.
    A truly fantastic movie.  Ghoulish family entertainment.

Leave Her to Heaven (1945), drama starring Gene Tierney, Jeanne Crain and Cornel Wilde
Mildred Pierce (1945), suspense drama starring Joan Crawford

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The Lost Weekend (1945) suspense drama (playlist - complete)
    Starring Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Phillip Terry
    Won Best Picture Oscar for 1945 and also Best Director for Billy Wilder
    The introductory and trailing credits have been cut off this version -- boo!!
Ray Milland is an alcoholic, this movie follows his experiences over one weekend binge.  Jane Wyman is his long-suffering romantic interest, but the actual romance is slim to none.  Gritty and moralistic. "How to lose your friends."
Scarlet Street (1945), law and order romance "Walter Wanger presents", produced and directed by Fritz Lang
    starring Edward G Robinson, Joan Bennett
    with Dan Duryea, Margaret Lindsay, Rosalind Ivan, Jess Barker (and others)
Watch it at this link on Archive.org or at this link on YouTube
Middle-aged bank cashier Edward G Robinson, meets young Joan Bennett one night.  Rosalind Ivan plays Edward's shrewish wife.  Smitten by Joan, but unaware that she has a boyfriend Dan Duryea, Edward starts paying for Joan's expenses by embezzling from his bank.
Thunderhead: Son of Flicka (1945) coming-of-age western added 28 Jan 2011
    Produced by Robert Bassler, directed by Louis King
    starring Roddy McDowall, Preston Foster, Rita Johnson
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8
Sequel to the popular My Friend Flicka.  A teen-aged boy (Roddy McDowall, reprising his role) tries to train Flicka's son Thunderhead to be a racing horse.  Lots of scenes with lots of horses.

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) romance drama (playlist - complete)
    Starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo
    Harold Russell although billed ninth, actually won the Supporting Actor Oscar for this film.
    Won Best Picture Oscar for 1946, Best Actor for Fredric March and Best Director for William Wyler
Notorious (1946), drama, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Ingrid Bergman & Cary Grant
Great Expectations (1946) drama
Pinky (1946), drama, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore
Home Sweet Homicide (1946) comedy suspense starring Peggy Ann Garner, Randolph Scott
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10 (complete)

[Edit]
It's A Wonderful Life (1946), tear-jerker, produced/directed by Frank Capra
    and starring Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
    (also notice: Beulah Bondi, and Ward Bond)
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8
    Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15
  • (Trivia: Beulah Bondi appeared in the Henry Fonda starring vehicle "Trail of the Lonesome Pine"; both James Stewart and Ward Bond were among the closest friends of Henry Fonda)

The Chase (1946) law and order suspense added 25 Aug 09
    starring Robert Cummings, Michele Morgan, Steve Cochran, Peter Lorre
An unemployed man Robert Cummings returns a wallet to a man Steve Cochran who turns out to be apparently a small-time mobster, and in return the mobster gives him a job as his chauffeur.  Peter Lorre is the mobster's slimy side-kick and Michele Morgan plays the dame who wants to split.
At first this plays like a typical film noire but stay tuned for a twist.
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) suspense drama
    starring Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas (his first film)
    Judith Anderson, Roman Bohnen, Darryl Hickman

Dark Alibi (1946) comedy suspense added 30 Dec 2010, a Charlie Chan mystery
    starring Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland, Ben Carter
Charlie Chan takes the case of a man convicted of a bank robbery, whose fingerprints were found in a bank vault.
Trivia: Tim Ryan (b. 1899), who here plays "Foggy", was the first husband of Irene Ryan, better known today as "Granny" from "The Beverly Hillbillies"

[Edit]
Gentleman's Agreement (1947) romance drama (playlist - complete), produced by Darryl F Zanuck
    Starring Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield
    With Celeste Holm, Anne Revere, June Havoc, Albert Dekker, Jane Wyatt, Dean Stockwell
    Won Best Picture Oscar for 1947, Best Director for Elia Kazan, Best Supporting Actress Celeste Holm
Gregory Peck is a writer who decides the best way to do a new piece on anti-Semitism is to tell everyone that he is Jewish himself.

A Double Life (1947) drama starring Ronald Coleman as an actor who becomes his role in real life
Nightmare Alley (1947) drama starring Tyrone Power
Brute Force (1947) drama starring Burt Lancaster (and notice Yvonne Carlo)
Cry Wolf (1947) suspense drama starring Barbara Stanwyck and Errol Flynn
Out of the Past (1947) drama starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Flemming
Lady in the Lake (1947) suspense drama starring Robert Montgomery, directed by Robert Montgomery
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11
The boss' secretary wants to hire a private detective to find the boss' wife so she can be served with divorce papers.  The detective is the typical suspicious, hard-nosed wise-cracker, the secretary is a cool cucumber, who knows what she wants and is determined to get it.  But something here is amiss.  What?  Can you figure it out before the movie ends?

[Edit]
My Favorite Brunette (1947) comedy law and order romance added May 2010
    starring Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney
When Dorothy Lamour comes looking for a detective, Bob Hope pretends to be one, but gets caught up in an intrigue involving kidnapping, government agents, and killers.
Heading for Heaven (1947) comedy added 28 Dec 2010
Trivia: One of the few movies available for free online, where we can see Irene Ryan younger.  In her old age, she was "Granny" on "The Beverly Hillbillies"

Julia Misbehaves (1948) romance comedy
    starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lawford, Elizabeth Taylor, Cesar Romero
A high-living actress gal-about-town (Greer Garson) learns that the daughter she left behind, is about to get married.
Hamlet (1948) classic literature drama (playlist - complete), produced and directed by Laurence Olivier
    Starring Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons
    And notice Peter Cushing as "Osric"
    Won Best Picture Oscar for 1948, Best Actor for Laurence Olivier
Oliver Twist (1948), drama, based on the book Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.
    Starring Robert Newton, Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh, Francis L Sullivan
    and John Howard Davies as "Oliver Twist"
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (missing), Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
    Part 8 (missing), Part 9, Part 10, Part 11 (missing), Part 12, Part 13

[Edit]
The Search (1948), tear-jerker drama starring Montgomery Clift
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10 (complete)
I Remember Mama (1948) family-life movie, starring Irene Dunne
Red River (1948) western drama, (playlist - complete) produced and directed by Howard Hawks
    starring John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru, Walter Brennan
Rope (1948), suspense drama directed by Alfred Hitchcock
    starring James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Sir Cedric Hardwick

Adam's Rib (1949) romance comedy, starring Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11
On the Town (1949) musical starring Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Ann Miller, Vera Ellen, and Betty Garret
My Friend Irma (1949) buddy-film comedy (playlist - complete)
    starring John Lund, Diana Lynn, Don DeFore, Marie Wilson
    "and introducing" Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
    This was the film debut of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
Set in New York City, Marie Wilson is "Irma", a completely ditzy blonde, Diana Lynn is her career-woman roommate who has her heart set on winning her rich boss as her husband.  John Lund is Marie's wheeler-dealer boyfriend who "discovers" and then tries to promote Dean Martin as a new singing sensation, while Jerry has to play second fiddle even though the two had previously been a duel-act.

[Edit]
The Fountainhead (1949) romance drama, directed by King Vidor
    based on a novel by Ayn Rand
    starring Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal
    Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12

My Dear Secretary (1949) comedy romance added 28 Dec 2010
    starring Laraine Day, Kirk Douglas, Keenan Wynn, Helen Walker
    with Rudy Vallee, Florence Bates, Alan Mowbray, Irene Ryan, Gale Robbins, Grady Sutton
Kirk Douglas is a famous writer, Laraine Day is an aspiring writer, who becomes his secretary and love interest.  Keenan Wynn is the best-friend side-kick and he and Irene Ryan as "Mary the maid" provide the comic relief.
This is an odd "B" movie, which cannot seem to decide if it's a comedy or a romance drama.  Some of the drama scenes go way too far into melo-drama as well.

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