’40s Movies You Should Watch

Casablanca, Key Largo, Notorious, The Lost Weekend, and more.

’40s Movies You Should Watch
The Third Man (1949)

Casablanca, Key Largo, Notorious, The Lost Weekend, and more.

I asked Go Into The Story readers to post reflections about a favorite movie from the 1940s with two goals:

  • To provide background and analysis on movies from this decade
  • To inspire people to watch movies which is critical for learning the craft of screenwriting

Act of Violence

Arsenic and Old Lace

Bicycle Thieves

Brief Encounter

Casablanca

Double Indemnity

Five Graves to Cairo

Here Comes Mr. Jordan

His Girl Friday

It’s a Wonderful Life

Key Largo

Kind Hearts and Coronets

Laura

Les enfants du paradis

Mrs. Miniver

Notorious

Now, Voyager

Out of the Past

Rope

Stray Dog

The Best Years of Our Lives

The Big Sleep

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

The Lost Weekend

The Maltese Falcon

The Ox-Bow Incident

The Philadelphia Story

The Sin of Harold Diddlebock

The Third Man

To Have and Have Not

My advice: Use the analysis and background provided above, then pick 10 of these movies and watch them.

This is one key to immersing yourself in the world of cinema which you MUST do in order to become a better screenwriter.

Tomorrow: ’50s Movies.