1942

Academy winnerMrs. Miniver poster

Mrs. Miniver

Composite 69

vs
Should have wonTo Be or Not to Be poster

To Be or Not to Be

Composite 75.53

The Academy's ballot

Your #1 was To Be or Not to Be (#1).

The full slate

#1
To Be or Not to Be poster

To Be or Not to Be (1942)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #10

Composite 75.53

Dir. Ernst Lubitsch · Carole Lombard · Jack Benny · Robert Stack · Felix Bressart

IMDb 8.1 (49,940 votes) · TMDB 7.8

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

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#2
Bambi poster

Bambi (1942)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #1

Composite 71.07

Dir. David Hand · Donnie Dunagan · Peter Behn · Stan Alexander · Cammie King

IMDb 7.3 (165,591 votes) · TMDB 7.012

Bambi's tale unfolds from season to season as the young prince of the forest learns about life, love, and friends.

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#3
Now, Voyager poster

Now, Voyager (1942)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #5

Composite 70.48

Dir. Irving Rapper · Bette Davis · Paul Henreid · Claude Rains · Gladys Cooper

IMDb 7.8 (20,847 votes) · TMDB 7.4

A woman suffers a nervous breakdown and from an oppressive mother before being freed by the love of a man she meets on a cruise.

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#4
The Magnificent Ambersons poster

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated

Composite 70.36

Dir. Orson Welles · Joseph Cotten · Dolores Costello · Anne Baxter · Tim Holt

IMDb 7.6 (28,746 votes) · TMDB 7.3

The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.

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#5
Mrs. Miniver poster

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

🏆 Winner⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #2

Composite 69

Dir. William Wyler · Greer Garson · Walter Pidgeon · Teresa Wright · May Whitty

IMDb 7.6 (21,353 votes) · TMDB 7.1

Middle-class housewife Kay Miniver deals with petty problems. She and her husband Clem watch her Oxford-educated son Vin court Carol Beldon, the charming granddaughter of the local nobility as represented by Lady Beldon. Then the war comes and Vin joins the RAF.

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#6
The Pride of the Yankees poster

The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated

Composite 68.7

Dir. Sam Wood · Gary Cooper · Teresa Wright · Babe Ruth · Walter Brennan

IMDb 7.6 (12,923 votes) · TMDB 7.408

The story of the life and career of the baseball hall of famer, Lou Gehrig.

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#7
Yankee Doodle Dandy poster

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated

Composite 68.58

Dir. Michael Curtiz · James Cagney · Joan Leslie · Walter Huston · Richard Whorf

IMDb 7.6 (18,052 votes) · TMDB 7.1

A film of the life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer and singer George M. Cohan.

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#8
Random Harvest poster

Random Harvest (1942)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #3

Composite 68.23

Dir. Mervyn LeRoy · Ronald Colman · Greer Garson · Philip Dorn · Susan Peters

IMDb 7.9 (9,288 votes) · TMDB 7.3

Wandered away from his asylum, an amnesiac World War I veteran falls in love with a music hall star but his amnesia makes it difficult to last.

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#9
Cat People poster

Cat People (1942)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #6

Composite 67.75

Dir. Jacques Tourneur · Simone Simon · Kent Smith · Tom Conway · Jane Randolph

IMDb 7.2 (28,699 votes) · TMDB 6.93

A Serbian émigré in Manhattan believes that, because of an ancient curse, any physical intimacy with the man she loves will turn her into a feline predator.

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#10
The Talk of the Town poster

The Talk of the Town (1942)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated

Composite 67.61

Dir. George Stevens · Cary Grant · Jean Arthur · Ronald Colman · Edgar Buchanan

IMDb 7.5 (9,965 votes) · TMDB 7.3

Hilarity ensues when a falsely accused fugitive from justice hides at the house of his childhood friend, which she has recently rented to a high-principled law teacher.

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#11
Holiday Inn poster

Holiday Inn (1942)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #7

Composite 67.55

Dir. Mark Sandrich · Bing Crosby · Fred Astaire · Marjorie Reynolds · Virginia Dale

IMDb 7.3 (19,526 votes) · TMDB 7.0

Lovely Linda Mason has crooner Jim Hardy head over heels, but suave stepper Ted Hanover wants her for his new dance partner after fickle Lila Dixon gives him the brush. Jim's supper club, Holiday Inn, is the setting for the chase by Hanover and his manager.

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#12
Saboteur poster

Saboteur (1942)

⭐ Top-rated

Composite 67.34

Dir. Alfred Hitchcock · Robert Cummings · Priscilla Lane · Otto Kruger · Alan Baxter

IMDb 7.1 (29,728 votes) · TMDB 6.9

Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane flees across the United States after he is wrongly accused of starting the fire that killed his best friend.

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#13
The Palm Beach Story poster

The Palm Beach Story (1942)

⭐ Top-rated

Composite 67.13

Dir. Preston Sturges · Claudette Colbert · Joel McCrea · Mary Astor · Rudy Vallee

IMDb 7.4 (13,810 votes) · TMDB 7.0

A New York inventor, Tom Jeffers, needs cash to develop his big idea, so his adoring wife, Gerry, decides to raise it by divorcing him and marrying an eccentric Florida millionaire, J. D. Hackensacker III.

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#14
This Gun for Hire poster

This Gun for Hire (1942)

⭐ Top-rated

Composite 66.58

Dir. Frank Tuttle · Alan Ladd · Veronica Lake · Robert Preston · Laird Cregar

IMDb 7.3 (11,649 votes) · TMDB 7.0

Sadistic killer-for-hire Philip Raven becomes enraged when his latest job is paid off in marked bills. Vowing to track down his double-crossing boss, nightclub executive Gates, Raven sits beside Gates' lovely new employee, Ellen, on a train out of town. Although Ellen is engaged to marry the police lieutenant who's hunting down Raven, she decides to try and set the misguided hit man straight as he hides from the cops and plots his revenge.

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#15
The Major and the Minor poster

The Major and the Minor (1942)

💰 Box office #9

Composite 66.31

Dir. Billy Wilder · Ginger Rogers · Ray Milland · Rita Johnson · Robert Benchley

IMDb 7.3 (8,525 votes) · TMDB 7.084

Low on funds, working-class girl Susan Applegate disguises herself as a youngster in order to pay half fare home. But little 'Sue Sue' finds herself in a whole heap of grownup trouble when she hides out in a compartment with handsome Major Philip Kirby.

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#16
The Invaders poster

The Invaders (1942)

🎬 Nominee

Composite 66.06

Dir. Michael Powell · Leslie Howard · Laurence Olivier · Raymond Massey · Anton Walbrook

IMDb 7.3 (8,526 votes) · TMDB 7.0

In the early days of World War II, a German U-boat is sunk in Canada's Hudson Bay. Hoping to evade capture, a small band of German soldiers led by commanding officer Lieutenant Hirth attempts to cross the border into the United States, which has not yet entered the war and is officially neutral. Along the way, the German soldiers encounter brave men such as a French-Canadian fur trapper, Johnnie, a leader of a Hutterite farming community, Peter, an author, Philip and a soldier, Andy Brock.

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#17
Woman of the Year poster

Woman of the Year (1942)

💰 Box office #8

Composite 65.98

Dir. George Stevens · Spencer Tracy · Katharine Hepburn · Fay Bainter · Reginald Owen

IMDb 7.1 (11,855 votes) · TMDB 6.94

Rival reporters Sam Craig and Tess Harding fall in love and get married, only to find their relationship strained when Sam comes to resent Tess' hectic lifestyle.

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#18
Kings Row poster

Kings Row (1942)

🎬 Nominee

Composite 63.86

Dir. Sam Wood · Ann Sheridan · Robert Cummings · Ronald Reagan · Betty Field

IMDb 7.5 (5,451 votes) · TMDB 7.322

Five young adults in a small American town face the revelations of secrets that threaten to ruin their hopes and dreams.

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#19
Wake Island poster

Wake Island (1942)

🎬 Nominee

Composite 61.85

Dir. John Farrow · Brian Donlevy · Macdonald Carey · Robert Preston · William Bendix

IMDb 6.6 (2,498 votes) · TMDB 5.926

In late 1941, with no hope of relief or re-supply, a small band of United States Marines tries to keep the Japanese Navy from capturing their island base.

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#20
The Pied Piper poster

The Pied Piper (1942)

🎬 Nominee

Composite 61.73

Dir. Irving Pichel · Monty Woolley · Roddy McDowall · Anne Baxter · Otto Preminger

IMDb 7.0 (884 votes) · TMDB 6.929

Englishman Mr. Howard is on a fishing holiday in eastern France when the Germans invade in 1940. Setting off to try and get back home he is persuaded to take along the two Cavanaugh children, and as his journey progresses his family keeps growing in size. Once in German-occupied northern France a new problem arises — the risk of being heard speaking English.

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How scoring works: films are ranked by a composite of a weighted (Bayesian) IMDb rating — the same method as the IMDb Top 250, so a high score from few voters can't outrank a strong score from many — blended with TMDB. Box office is a tiebreaker and a badge, never part of the score. Raw IMDb ratings and vote counts are shown on each card.