Movies & TV from the 1940s

George Bailey has so many problems he is thinking about ending it all - and it's Christmas! As the angels discuss George, we see his life in flashback. As George is about to jump from a bridge, he ends up rescuing his guardian angel, Clarence. Clarence then shows George what his town would have looked like if it hadn't been for all of his good deeds over the years. Will Clarence be able to convince George to return to his family and forget suicide?

Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) owns a nightclub in Vichy-controlled Casablanca, frequented by refugees desperate to escape German domination. Despite the ever-present human misery, Rick manages to remain uninvolved in World War II now raging across Europe and Northern Africa. But all that changes when Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) walks through the front door of Rick's club--Rick must now choose between a life with the woman he loves and becoming the hero that both she and the world need.

In this Irving Berlin musical, Jim (Bing Crosby) and Lila are members of a performing trio who plan to quit and run a country hotel. When Lila says she has fallen in love with the dancer in the act, Ted (Fred Astaire), Jim leaves town with a broken heart. After turning the inn into a holidays-only live entertainment venue, Jim winds up booking -- and falling for -- Linda (Marjorie Reynolds). But when Ted shows up at the place after being dumped by Lila, he too sets his sights on beautiful Linda.

St. Louis 1903. The well-off Smith family has four beautiful daughters, including Esther and little Tootie. 17-year old Esther has fallen in love with the boy next door who has just moved in, John. He however, barely notices her at first. The family is shocked when Mr. Smith reveals that he has been transferred to a nice position in New York, which means that the family has to leave St. Louis and the St. Louis Fair.

Private detective Sam Spade is a no-nonsense loner whose partner is killed while pursuing a case. As Spade seeks out the killer, he becomes entangled in a sinister plot to locate a priceless 16th century statuette, known as the Maltese Falcon.

Orson Welles' masterwork dazzles anew in a superb 70th-anniversary digital transfer. It's grand entertainment, sharply acted (starting many of Welles' Mercury Players on the road to thriving film careers) and directed with inspired visual flair. Chronicling the stormy life of an influential publishing tycoon, rooted in themes of power, corruption, vanity. The American Dream lost in the mystery of a dying man's last word: "Rosebud."

Tracy Lord is the snooty daughter of a wealthy Philadelphia family and about to marry for the second time. Things get hilariously complicated when her cunning ex-husband enters the scene with a tabloid reporter in tow.

Three ill-fated prospectors who set out across the Mexican desert in search of gold but instead find mistrust, betrayal, and death. Considered by many as Bogart's greatest role, this is a true American classic!

In this classic film noir, insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) gets roped into a murderous scheme when he falls for the sensual Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), who is intent on killing her husband (Tom Powers) and living off the fraudulent accidental death claim. Prompted by the late Mr. Dietrichson's daughter, Lola (Jean Heather), insurance investigator Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) looks into the case, and gradually begins to uncover the sinister truth.

In the first of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's horror vehicles for Universal Pictures, the inimitable comic duo star as railway baggage handlers in northern Florida. When a pair of crates belonging to a house of horrors museum are mishandled by Wilbur (Lou Costello), the museum's director, Mr. MacDougal (Frank Ferguson), demands that they deliver them personally so that they can be inspected for insurance purposes, but Lou's friend Chick (Bud Abbott) has grave suspicions.

James Stewart is a Budapest store clerk who finds himself feuding with his co-worker, Margaret Sullavan, only to unknowingly fall in love with her. Co-starring Frank Morgan and Joseph Schildkraut.

L.A. private eye Phillip Marlowe takes on a blackmail case and a trail peopled with murderers, pornographers, nightclub rogues, the spoiled rich and more. Humphrey Boart plays Raymond Chandlers' legendary gumshoe and director Howard Hawkes serves up snappy character encounters (particularly involving Lauren Bacall), brisk pace and atmosphere galore in the certified classic.

Hollywood legend Humphrey Bogart ("The African Queen," "Casablanca") is a Martinique charter boat skipper who gets mixed up with beautiful Lauren Bacall ("The Big Sleep," "Misery") and underground French resistance operatives during WWII. Critics raved over sultry 19 year-old Bacall's powerful screen debut. Based on a novel by the great American novelist Hemingway with a script by Pulitzer Prize-winner William Faulkner.

Joseph Cotton star as Uncle Charlie, a calculating and charming killer who hides out in his relatives' small hometown. There, he befriends his favorite niece and namesake, Young Charlie (Teresa Wright). But she begins to suspect he may be the famed Merry Widow murderer. A deadly game of cat and mouse ensues as the psychopathic killer plots the death of his young niece to protect his secret.

Bogart and Bacall ignite the screen in this acclaimed story of a war veteran who finds himself in a deadly fight against gangsters who have taken over a Florida hotel during a tropical storm.

Two thrill-seeking friends (Granger and Dall) strangle a classmate and then hold a party for their victim's family and friends, serving refreshments on a buffet table fashioned from a trunk containing the lifeless body. When dinner conversation revolves around talk of the 'perfect murder', their former teacher (Stewart) becomes increasingly suspicious that his students have turned his intellectual theories into brutal reality.

James Cagney explodes on the screen as a demented gangster whose intricate plan to rob an oil refinery is thwarted by a government infiltrator. Co-starring Edmond O'Brien and Virginia Mayo. Recently selected by the prestigious American Film Institute as one of the 400 greatest American films of all time, who also added Cody Jarrett to its' list of 50 Greatest Villains.

At the end of World War II, Fred Derry (Dana Andrews), Al Stevenson (Fredric March) and Homer Parrish (Harold Russell) return home to Boone City. Fred was a decorated captain in the Army Air Forces in Europe, Al a sergeant in the Army, and Homer a sailor who served on an aircraft carrier. He also finds love in the form of Peggy Stephenson. The movie ends with the Stephenson family, Homer and Wilma, and Fred and Peggy all facing challenging but nonetheless bright futures.

Cary Grant ("The Awful Truth," "Suspicion," "North by Northwest") stars as a drama critic whose life is turned upside down when he discovers that his two spinster aunts have taken to poisoning their gentlemen house guests and burying the bodies in their old Victorian home. A classic and hilarious black comedy based on the popular Broadway play.

Story of World War I hero who captured German position single- handedly. Film also portrays York's earlier life in the mountains of Tennessee.

Successful movie director John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea), convinced he won't be able to film his ambitious masterpiece until he has suffered, dons a hobo disguise and sets off on a journey, aiming to "know trouble" first-hand. When all he finds is a train ride back to Hollywood and a beautiful blonde companion (Veronica Lake), he redoubles his efforts, managing to land himself in more trouble than he bargained for when he loses his memory and ends up a prisoner on a chain gang.

After the fall of the Libyan city of Tobruk, Sergeant Joe Gunn and his crew retreat in their tank across the Sahara. Along the way they pick up six Allied stragglers and Tambul, a Sudanese corporal and his Italian prisoner. Tambul directs the group to a desert fortress, where they hope to find desperately needed water. When the Germans attack, Gunn leads his desert-weary men in a desperate battle, hoping that British reinforcements can arrive in time.

Henry Fonda is a fanatical cavalry commander of a remote outpost bent on leading his men to slaughter. The first segment of director/producer John Ford's cavalry trilogy features an all-star cast that includes Henry Fonda, John Wayne, Shirley Temple and Victor McLaglen. Features outstanding outdoor photography and nail-biting action.

It's no accident when wealthy Charles (Henry Fonda) falls for Jean (Barbara Stanwyck). Jean is a con artist with her sights set on Charles' fortune. Matters complicate when Jean starts falling for her mark. When Charles suspects Jean is a gold digger, he dumps her. Jean, fixated on revenge and still pining for the millionaire, devises a plan to get back in Charles' life. With love and payback on her mind, she re-introduces herself to Charles, this time as an aristocrat named Lady Eve Sidwich.