50s Films set in the 1940s
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- DirectorDavid LeanStarsWilliam HoldenAlec GuinnessJack HawkinsBritish POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsBurt LancasterMontgomery CliftDeborah KerrAt a U.S. Army base in 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his commanding officer's wife and top aide begin a tentative affair.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsElizabeth TaylorRock HudsonJames DeanSprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsGene KellyLeslie CaronOscar LevantThree friends struggle to find work in Paris. Things become more complicated when two of them fall in love with the same woman.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsLana TurnerJohn GavinSandra DeeAn aspiring white actress takes in an African American widow whose mixed-race daughter is desperate to be seen as white.
- DirectorJohn FordMervyn LeRoyJoshua LoganStarsHenry FondaJames CagneyWilliam PowellIn the waning days of World War II, the cargo officer of a Navy supply ship chafes at its role far from the action in the Pacific's backwater areas, his frustration rising when its captain denies the crew liberty over petty irritations.
- DirectorBlake EdwardsStarsCary GrantTony CurtisJoan O'BrienDuring World War II, a commander finds himself stuck with a decrepit (and pink) submarine, a con man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.
- DirectorJoshua LoganStarsRossano BrazziMitzi GaynorJohn KerrOn a South Pacific island during World War II, love blooms between a young nurse and a secretive Frenchman who's being courted for a dangerous military mission.
- DirectorMorton DaCostaStarsRosalind RussellForrest TuckerCoral BrowneAn orphan goes to live with his free-spirited aunt. Conflict ensues when the executor of his father's estate objects to the aunt's lifestyle.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsHumphrey BogartJosé FerrerVan JohnsonWhen a U.S. Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardises the ship, the first officer is urged to consider relieving him of command.
- DirectorGuy GreenStarsRichard AttenboroughJohn GregsonMichael CraigSent to destroy a German petrol dump in the North African desert, a British commando team unexpectedly discovers a large German tank unit, and must inform headquarters in time.
- DirectorDick PowellStarsRobert MitchumCurd JürgensDavid HedisonDuring WWII an American destroyer discovers a German U-boat, and in the ensuing duel the American captain must draw upon all his experience to defeat the equally experienced German commander.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsEmmanuelle RivaEiji OkadaStella DassasA French actress filming an anti-war film in Hiroshima has an affair with a married Japanese architect as they share their differing perspectives on war.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsMarlon BrandoMontgomery CliftDean MartinThe lives of three young men, a German and two Americans, during WWII.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsFrançois LeterrierCharles Le ClaincheMaurice BeerblockA captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from a German prison in France.
- DirectorJesse HibbsStarsAudie MurphyMarshall ThompsonCharles DrakeThe true WWII story of Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in U.S. history. Based on the autobiography of Audie Murphy who stars as himself in the film.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsDirk BogardeDenholm ElliottKay CallardDuring World War II, British commandos are sent to destroy a Luftwaffe airfield on a Greek island.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsSpencer TracyRobert RyanAnne FrancisA one-armed stranger comes to a tiny town possessing a terrible past they want to keep secret, by violent means if necessary.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsTatsuya NakadaiMichiyo AratamaChikage AwashimaA Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan.
- DirectorMichael AndersonStarsRichard ToddMichael RedgraveUrsula JeansDrama based on the attempt by the RAF to destroy six dams in Germany during World War II.
- DirectorEdward D. Wood Jr.StarsEdward D. Wood Jr.Bela LugosiLyle TalbotA psychiatrist tells the stories of a transvestite (Glen or Glenda) and a pseudohermaphrodite (Alan or Anne).
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsLana TurnerLee PhilipsLloyd NolanA peaceful New England town hides secrets and scandals.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsMontgomery CliftAnne BaxterKarl MaldenA priest, who comes under suspicion for murder, cannot clear his name without breaking the seal of the confessional.
- DirectorJack ClaytonStarsLaurence HarveySimone SignoretHeather SearsAn ambitious young accountant plots to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter despite falling in love with a married older woman.
- DirectorGeorge SeatonStarsBing CrosbyGrace KellyWilliam HoldenA director hires an alcoholic has-been and strikes up a stormy relationship with the actor's wife, who he believes is the cause of all the man's problems.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsDana AndrewsGene TierneyGary MerrillDet. Sgt. Mark Dixon wants to be something his old man wasn't: a guy on the right side of the law. Will Dixon's vicious nature get the better of him?
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsJack HawkinsGia ScalaErik SchumannA long-entrenched British agent planted in the German Army is urged to continue his work during the Second World War, but struggles to keep secret his true identity from the Third Reich.
- DirectorStanley DonenStarsFred AstaireJane PowellPeter LawfordA brother and sister dance act encounter challenges and romance when booked in London during the Royal Wedding.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartJune AllysonHarry MorganBiography of bandleader Glenn Miller from his beginnings to his death over the English Channel in December 1944.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsClark GableBurt LancasterJack WardenA U.S. sub commander, obsessed with sinking a certain Japanese ship, butts heads with his first officer and crew.
- DirectorHenry LevinStarsGlenn FordBroderick CrawfordMillard MitchellA D.A. becomes the prison warden where he tries to help an inmate he prosecuted, because he believes his sentence was excessive.
- DirectorEdward D. Wood Jr.StarsBela LugosiTor JohnsonTony McCoyA mad doctor attempts to create atomic supermen.
- DirectorRonald NeameStarsClifton WebbGloria GrahameRobert FlemyngIn order to fool the Germans into thinking the Allied invasion of Sicily will take place elsewhere, British Military Intelligence comes up with a cunning ruse.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsJames MasonCedric HardwickeJessica TandyThe story of the final years of the respected World War II German general, Erwin Rommel.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsGary CooperBarry JonesRoberta HaynesAn American drifter comes to a remote Polynesian island controlled by a Puritanical missionary and turns the social life of the island upside-down.
- DirectorGeorge WaggnerStarsJohn WaynePatricia NealWard BondDuring WWII, a submarine's second in command inherits the problem of torpedoes that don't explode. When on shore, he is eager to win back his ex-wife.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsRobert MitchumDeborah KerrDuring World War II, an American marine and an Irish nun form an unlikely friendship after being stranded on a South Pacific island. They find comfort in one another while hoping for a rescue, as they try to avoid capture by the Japanese.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsJack PalanceLee MarvinEddie AlbertIn 1944, an American Infantry company sets up an artillery observation post, but tensions between Captain Cooney and Lieutenant Costa run high.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneMaureen O'HaraDan DaileyA biography of Navy flier-turned-screenwriter Frank W. "Spig" Wead.
- DirectorRené ClémentStarsGeorges PoujoulyBrigitte FosseyAmédéeA young French girl orphaned in a German air attack is befriended by the son of a poor farmer, and together they try to come to terms with the realities of death.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsFrank SinatraGina LollobrigidaPeter LawfordDuring WW2, the American OSS mounts covert operations with the native Kachin against the Japanese army in the jungles of Burma.
- DirectorCharles F. HaasStarsTom TryonJan MerlinAlvy Moore"Screaming Eagles" is a historical drama about paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division fighting during the D-Day Invasion in June of 1944. The title was the Division's nickname.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsRichard BasehartGary MerrillOskar WernerAs the US Army approaches Nazi Germany, they recruit German prisoners of war to spy behind German lines.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsElizabeth TaylorDana AndrewsPeter FinchThe young bride of a rich planter finds herself the only white woman at Elephant Walk tea plantation, British Ceylon.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsVan HeflinAldo RayMona FreemanYoung Marines have adventures in love and war.
- DirectorThor HeyerdahlStarsThor HeyerdahlHerman WatzingerErik HesselbergA documentary about the Kon-Tiki expedition of the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl.
- DirectorIda LupinoStarsMala PowersTod AndrewsRobert ClarkeA young woman who has just become engaged has her life completely shattered when she is raped while on her way home from work.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsJohn GavinLiselotte PulverJock MahoneyOn the Russian front in 1944, German private Ernst Graeber receives a leave and visits his family in Germany but Germany isn't the same country he left behind.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsTatsuya NakadaiMichiyo AratamaKokinji KatsuraAs a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist struggles to maintain his determination to keep his ideals.
- DirectorRobert ParrishDick PowellStarsDick PowellRhonda FlemingRichard ErdmanEx-con Rocky Mulloy seeks the real culprit in the crime for which he was framed in a night world of deceptive dames and double crosses.
- DirectorJack LeeStarsVirginia McKennaPeter FinchKenji TakakiA newly wealthy English woman returns to Malaya to build a well for the villagers who helped her during war. Thinking back, she recalls the Australian man who made a great sacrifice to aid her and her fellow prisoners of war.
- DirectorStanley DonenStarsCary GrantJayne MansfieldLeif EricksonIn 1944, three Navy pilots stationed in Hawaii and a P.R. officer go on a 4-day leave to San Francisco where they party with a good crowd in the executive suite of a busy hotel.
- DirectorRobert PiroshStarsVan JohnsonLane NakanoGeorge MikiThe story of Japanese-American soldiers who fought in Europe during World War II.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsClaus HolmMario AdorfHannes MessemerA serial killer strikes again during World War II in Germany. The wrong man is arrested and a detective hunts down the real killer, but justice in Nazi Germany is not so easily administered.
- DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsJoyce MackenzieStanley ClementsHurd HatfieldWhen Laura Mansfield's father is killed by a delivery man, the police has few clues and the investigation drags on but Laura decides to find the killer on her own.
- DirectorGerald MayerStarsMarshall ThompsonVirginia FieldAndrea KingAn escaped psychiatric patient causes havoc.
- DirectorJoseph M. NewmanStarsEdmond O'BrienJoanne DruOtto KrugerAn electronics expert creates a huge bookie broadcast system for his crime boss, and takes over operations when his boss is murdered. His greed leads him on a deadly destructive path.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsVittorio De SicaHannes MessemerSandra MiloBardone, a petty con man, is arrested by the Gestapo and coerced into impersonating a partisan leader in order to expose another resistance organizer.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsDonald O'ConnorJanet LeighBuddy HackettWorld War II veteran Clarence "Jigger" Millard forms a band with several other former GIs. The band fails to take off and he is forced to join a minstrel show headed by Colonel Wallace. He soon falls for Wallace's niece Chris Hall.
- DirectorHal WalkerStarsDean MartinJerry LewisMike KellinAlvin Corwin is low man on the totem pole, and goes from one mishap to another at an army training camp in World War II.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsRichard BurtonCurd JürgensRuth RomanA commander receives a citation for an attack on Erwin Rommel's headquarters, which is actually undeserved, as the commander is unfit for his job. On top of that, unbeknownst to him, his wife is having an affair with one of his officers.
- DirectorRalph ThomasStarsJohn MillsJohn GregsonDonald SindenThe attack by British submarines on the German battleship "Tirpitz" in a Norwegian fjord during World War II.
- DirectorAndrzej WajdaStarsTeresa IzewskaTadeusz JanczarWienczyslaw GlinskiIn 1944, during the Warsaw uprising against the Nazis, Polish Lieutenant Zadra and his resistance fighters use Warsaw's sewer system to escape the German encirclement.
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsClaudette ColbertPatric KnowlesFlorence DesmondDuring Word War II, American author Agnes Newton Keith is imprisoned by the Japanese in various POW camps in North Borneo and Sarawak.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsJohn WayneRobert RyanDon TaylorMajor Kirby leads The Wildcats squadron into the historic WWII battle of Guadalcanal.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsRentarô MikuniShôji YasuiTatsuya MihashiA conscience-driven Japanese soldier traumatized by the events of WWII adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJohn WayneDonna ReedCharles CoburnAn ex-football coach is hired by a small Catholic college to train its football team in the hopes of winning games and making money to save the school from bankruptcy.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsRobert TaylorRichard ToddDana WynterEn route to Normandy, an American and a British officer reminisce in flashback about their romances with the same woman.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsRock HudsonDana WynterWendy HillerIn British Colonial Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising, Peter and Kimani, who grew up together, find themselves on the opposite sides.
- DirectorDon ChaffeyStarsRichard ToddBernard LeeMichael WildingIn 1943, an Italian-administered P.O.W. camp for captured Allies goes through a series of failed escapes only to culminate in a daring plan for a dramatic mass escape.
- DirectorFrancis D. LyonStarsFaith DomergueRichard LongMarshall ThompsonAmerican G.I.s who trespass on a Hindu ceremony are hunted down by a beautiful woman who has the power to transform herself into a cobra.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsWilliam HoldenEdmond O'BrienAlexis SmithJerry McKibbon is a tough, no nonsense reporter, mentoring special prosecutor John Conroy in routing out corrupt officials in the city, which may even include Conroy's own police detective father as a suspect.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsEthel WatersJulie HarrisBrandon De WildeHer older brother's wedding forces preteen tomboy Frankie to face her own immaturity.
- DirectorEarl McEvoyStarsEvelyn KeyesCharles KorvinWilliam BishopPolice seek a smuggler while doctors, unaware she's the same person, desperately comb unprotected New York for a smallpox carrier.
- DirectorStuart HeislerStarsLinda DarnellTab HunterDonald GrayIn 1943, an Allied hospital ship is sunk by the Japanese in the South Pacific where a nurse and a Marine become marooned on an island abandoned by natives.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsJack PalanceJeff ChandlerMartine CarolAfter 1945, six German ex-soldiers are hired to defuse unexploded Allied bombs in the ruins of Berlin.
- DirectorLewis SeilerStarsSteve CochranPhilip CareyMari AldonAn American tank crew fights its way into Germany in World War II.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsCary GrantJosé FerrerPaula RaymondWhile on vacation in a Latin American country, an American neurosurgeon and his wife become tangled in a revolutionary uprising against a tyrannical dictator.
- DirectorPeter GlenvilleStarsDanny KayeCurd JürgensNicole MaureyJacobowsky (Danny Kaye), a Jewish refugee, flees from the Germans with Colonel Prokoszny (Curt Jurgens), an aristocratic, anti-Semitic Polish officer trying to get papers to England. Prokoszny learns to appreciate Jacobowsky, despite their competition for the same woman, and together they outwit their pursuers.
- DirectorWalter LangStarsJames StewartBarbara HaleJames GleasonBill Lawrence wins a jackpot worth $24,000 on a radio quiz program. His happiness, and that of his family, is short-lived after he discovers he'll be compelled to sell the prizes in order to pay an amount of $7,000 income tax on them.
- DirectorHerbert WilcoxStarsErrol FlynnAnna NeagleDavid FarrarA young actress must decide which of two lovers will be her husband. She daydreams about each one to help her decide.
- DirectorAlexander HallStarsRonald ReaganCharles CoburnRuth HusseyTo her family's discomfiture, grandmother Louisa starts dating two men...a grocer and her son's boss.
- DirectorCompton BennettStarsTrevor HowardRichard AttenboroughSonny TuftsIn 1940, the Captain of an old Royal Navy destroyer struggles with his crew, as well as the Nazis.
- DirectorArne SkouenStarsJack FjeldstadHenny MoanAlf MallandDuring World War II, nine members of the Norwegian Resistance are trapped by the Germans in a deadly ambush. Only one escapes, and a fierce hunt through the ice desert has begun.
- DirectorEwald André DupontStarsJohn IrelandMercedes McCambridgeJames BartonA man believed to have murdered a woman, escapes from the insane asylum to find if he was the one who actually killed her using the scarf she was wearing.
- DirectorStuart HeislerStarsTony CurtisFrank LovejoyMary MurphyIn 1943, in the wake of the Allied amphibious landing on the Japanese-held Bougainville Island, four Marines are sent to scout the location of Japanese minefields.
- DirectorGeorge ShermanStarsRichard ConteColeen GrayRichard TaberIn New York, the murder of a Bellevue Hospital intern prompts the police to send an undercover detective to investigate.
- DirectorVictor VicasStarsJeffrey HunterAnnemarie DüringerNigel PatrickAmerican and British counter-espionage combine to convince the Germans the cross-channel invasion will be in the Netherlands instead of France.
- DirectorLewis GilbertStarsMichael RedgraveDirk BogardeBonar ColleanoIn the North Sea in 1944, passengers of a downed Royal Air Force transport aircraft talk about their lives while awaiting rescue in their dinghy.
- DirectorRudolph MatéStarsGlenn FordGeraldine BrooksCedric HardwickeAn ex-soldier and his new girlfriend comb France for a valuable relic...which others are willing to kill for.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsRichard ToddJean PetersMarjorie RambeauThe rise of Peter Marshall, from modest Scottish upbringing, to New York seminary, time in Atlanta churches, his marriage, appointment as chaplain of the US Senate, and early death at 46. Based on real events.
- DirectorArthur LubinStarsBurt LancasterVirginia MayoChuck ConnorsAWOL marine Sgt. Jim O'Hearn is court-martialed for a variety of offenses that carry 143 years in the stockade or the death penalty but refuses to aid in his own defense.
- DirectorFred F. SearsStarsWilliam CampbellR. Wright CampbellMarian CarrWhit, condemned and awaiting execution, reviews the events of his life that has brought him to Cell 2455 on San Quentin's Death Row, a story he had told in a autobiography that became a sensational best-seller. As a boy, the young Whit stole groceries to help feed his impoverished family, later moving on into major crime to impress a young gang moll, Jo-Anne, and turns into a cold-blooded thug when he is repudiated by the girl he loves, Doll. And by his own lawyer when he is arrested and tried as the infamous Lover's Lane Bandit. In cell 2455, he studies law to the point where he wins stay after stay, twice within minutes of his scheduled execution.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsGene KellyJ. Carrol NaishTeresa CelliNow grown-up, Johnny Columbo returns to New York from Italy having sworn a vendetta against the Black Hand who killed his father years earlier. Becoming romantically involved with a girl from school and meeting up with an honest cop also fighting the gangs, Columbo starts to wonder if there may be legal ways to defeat them.
- DirectorJack LeeIan DalrympleStarsLeo GennDavid TomlinsonAnthony SteelTrue story of three British POWs and their attempt to escape from Nazi Germany.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsHideko TakamineItsuo WatanabeMakoto MiyagawaSchoolteacher Hisako Oishi forms an emotional bond with her pupils and teaches them various virtues, while at the same time worrying about their future.
- DirectorHenry LevinStarsEdmond O'BrienLizabeth ScottTerry MooreA lawyer for a rich elderly industrialist works out a complex inheritance scam to pass off a con as the industrialist's long-lost son and claim the huge inheritance.
- DirectorMichael AndersonStarsRichard ToddWilliam HartnellAkim TamiroffIn 1949, during the Chinese Civil War, British warship H.M.S. Amethyst sails up the Yangtse river but on the return trip, finds its way blocked by a barrage of fire from the Communist Chinese shore batteries.
- DirectorJohn Paddy CarstairsStarsNorman WisdomHonor BlackmanEdward ChapmanA British road repairman gets into a feud with the army, gets drafted, and is mistakenly parachuted into German-occupied France where his physical resemblance to the local German commandant triggers a hilarious chain reaction.
- DirectorCharles LamontStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloPatricia MedinaTwo Brooklyn wrestling promoters go to French Algeria in search of a famous Algerian wrestler but accidentally end-up in the French Foreign Legion.