1942 Movies
Take a nostalgic look back at the top movies of 1942, celebrating the films, directors and actors that defined the year and left a lasting legacy in the world of entertainment.
Black Swan
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman, Barbara Hershey, Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder
Country: United States of America
Random Harvest
Directed by: Mervyn LeRoy
Starring: Ronald Colman, Greer Garson, Philip Dorn, Susan Peters
Country: United States of America
Outline: An amnesiac World War I veteran falls in love with a music hall star, only to suffer an accident which restores his original memories but erases his post-war life.
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Directed by: Michael Curtiz
Starring: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Richard Whorf
Country: United States of America
Outline: The life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer, and singer George M. Cohan.
The Pride of the Yankees
Directed by: Sam Wood
Starring: Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth, Walter Brennan
Country: United States of America
Outline: The story of the life and career of famed baseball player Lou Gehrig.
Kings Row
Directed by: Sam Wood
Starring: Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan, Betty Field
Country: United States of America
Outline: The dark side and hypocrisy of provincial American life is seen through the eyes of five children as they grow to adulthood at the turn-of-the-century.
Mrs. Miniver
Directed by: William Wyler
Starring: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, May Whitty
Country: United States of America
Outline: A British family struggles to survive the first months of World War II.
Holiday Inn
Directed by: Mark Sandrich
Starring: Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds, Virginia Dale
Country: United States of America
Outline: At an inn which is only open on holidays, a crooner and a hoofer vie for the affections of a beautiful up-and-coming performer.
Road to Morocco
Directed by: David Butler
Starring: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Anthony Quinn
Country: United States of America
Outline: Two carefree castaways on a desert shore find an Arabian Nights city, where they compete for the luscious Princess Shalmar.
For Me and My Gal
Directed by: Busby Berkeley
Starring: Judy Garland, George Murphy, Gene Kelly, Mártha Eggerth
Country: United States of America
Outline: Two vaudeville performers fall in love, but find their relationship tested by the arrival of WWI.
Wake Island
Directed by: John Farrow
Starring: Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston, Macdonald Carey, William Bendix
Country: United States of America
Outline: December, 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.
Reap the Wild Wind
Directed by: Cecil B. DeMille
Starring: Ray Milland, John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Raymond Massey
Country: United States of America
Outline: Florida ship salvager, Loxi, falls for Jack, captain of a ship wrecked on the Key West shore. However, their romance is complicated by the arrival of another suitor, and eventually leads to tragedy.
Casablanca
Directed by: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains
Country: United States of America
Outline: A cynical nightclub owner protects an old flame and her husband from Nazis in Morocco.
To Be or Not to Be
Directed by: Ernst Lubitsch
Starring: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart
Country: United States of America
Outline: During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.
Now, Voyager
Directed by: Irving Rapper
Starring: Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper
Country: United States of America
Outline: A frumpy spinster blossoms under therapy and becomes an elegant, independent woman.
Who Done It?
Directed by: Erle C. Kenton
Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Patric Knowles, William Gargan
Outline: Two dumb soda jerks dream of writing radio mysteries. When they try to pitch an idea at a radio station, they end up in the middle of a real murder when the station owner is killed during a broadcast.
The Palm Beach Story
Directed by: Preston Sturges
Starring: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee
Country: United States of America
Outline: An inventor needs cash to develop his big idea. His wife, who loves him, decides to raise it for him by divorcing him and marrying a millionaire.
The Talk of the Town
Directed by: George Stevens
Starring: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Ronald Colman, Edgar Buchanan
Country: United States of America
Outline: An escaped prisoner and a stuffy law professor vie for the hand of a spirited schoolteacher.
Went the Day Well?
Directed by: Alberto Cavalcanti
Starring: Leslie Banks, C.V. France, Valerie Taylor, Marie Lohr
Country: United States of America
Outline: An English village is occupied by disguised German paratroopers as an advance post for a planned invasion.
Pardon My Sarong
Directed by: Erle C. Kenton
Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Virginia Bruce, Robert Paige
Outline: A pair of bus drivers accidentally steal their own bus. With the company issuing a warrant for their arrest, they tag along with a playboy on a boat trip that finds them on a tropical island, where a jewel thief has sinister plans for them.
This Gun for Hire
Directed by: Frank Tuttle
Starring: Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar
Country: United States of America
Outline: When assassin Philip Raven shoots a blackmailer and his beautiful female companion dead, he is paid off in marked bills by his treasonous employer who is working with foreign spies.
In This Our Life
Directed by: John Huston
Starring: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, George Brent, Dennis Morgan
Country: United States of America
Outline: The day before her wedding, a pampered young woman absconds with her sister's husband; in retaliation, her sister begins seeing the woman's former fiancé.
West of the Law
Directed by: Howard Bretherton
Starring: Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, Raymond Hatton, Evelyn Cook
Outline: The Rough Riders arrive to fight Rand, Ludlow and their gang. Buck poses as a preacher, Tim as a preacher, and Sandy as an undertaker. Buck not only wants the outlaws, but also their unknown boss.
What happened in 1942?
Discover what the world looked like in 1942: