1. Citizen Kane
Year of Release: 1941
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Mystery
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Orson Welles
Actors: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Everett Sloane
Plot: A news conglomerate leader dies, leaving behind a mystery about his life, and how he became the man he was. News reporters interview his acquaintances to find some kind of resolution.
2. The Maltese Falcon
Year of Release: 1941
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Mystery/Crime
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: John Huston
Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Barton MacLane, Sydney Greenstreet
Plot: A private detective gets mixed up in a hunt for a valuable item. As he searches for the loot, plot points are exposed.
3. How Green Was My Valley
Year of Release: 1941
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: John Ford
Actors: Roddy McDowall , Maureen O'Hara, Walter Pidgeon, Donald Crisp, Sara Allgood, Patric Knowles
Plot: A coal mining town in a welsh community experiences the turn of the century and the implications of a different type of working age, along with death, disease, and disaster.
4. Dumbo
Year of Release: 1941
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Animation/Family
MPAA Rating: G
Director: Ben Sharpsteen
Actors: Edward Brophy, Sterling Holloway, Verna Felton, Herman Bing, Sarah Selby, Cliff Edwards
Plot: A little elephant with big ears learns what it means to be special.
5. The Wolf Man
Year of Release: 1941
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Fantasy
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: George Waggner
Actors: Claude Rains, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., Warren William, Fay Helm, Ralph Bellamy
Plot: A man gets bitten by a werewolf... and becomes one himself!
6. The Lady Eve
Year of Release: 1941
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Romance
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Preston Sturges
Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette, William Demarest, Eric Blore
Plot: After a year in the Amazon, a bumbling but rich young man is headed home on a ship when he meets, and falls in love with, a beautiful cardsharp. After a misunderstanding, however, he rejects her, and so she must disguise herself to get back into his life.
7. Sullivan's Travels
Year of Release: 1941
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Adventure
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Preston Sturges
Actors: Veronica Lake, Joel McCrea, Robert Warwick, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Porter Hall
Plot: A film maker pretends to be a homeless person to gain insight into his next film as he is in for a huge learning experience.
8. Sergeant York
Year of Release: 1941
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Biography/Drama
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Howard Hawks
Actors: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie, George Tobias, Stanley Ridges, Margaret Wycherly
Plot: This is the story of a Tennessee pacifist who is drafted into the military during WWI and grows to understand that sometimes there is a need for war. He ultimately becomes the most decorated hero of the war by single-handedly capturing over a hundred enemy soldiers.
9. Meet John Doe
Year of Release: 1941
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Drama
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Frank Capra
Actors: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Brennan, Gene Lockhart, Edward Arnold, Irving Bacon
Plot: A fired reporter thinks she has gained revenge by posting a letter from "John Doe" who threatens suicide due to the many social ills. But the story proves popular and the paper, seeing opportunity, hires her back, as well as creating their own "Doe" to play the part - but when the man sparks a movement, no one will remain unaffected.
10. Suspicion
Year of Release: 1941
Overall Rating: 2.8 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Actors: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty, Isabel Jeans
Plot: A would-be spinster is swept off her feet by a dashing stranger, only to suspect that he is a murderer. Is she his next intended victim, or is her overactive imagination getting the best of her?
