Greatest 27 Drama Movies Highly Rated Released in 1940

A sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods. Read about Gone with the Wind / IMDB / YouTube

A self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence. Look into Rebecca / IMDB / YouTube

An Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression. More about The Grapes of Wrath / IMDB / YouTube

A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from quitting and remarrying, using an exclusive interview with a death row convict as an enticement to buy himself some time to win her back. Check out His Girl Friday / IMDB / YouTube

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand each other, without realizing that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal. Details on The Shop Around the Corner / IMDB / YouTube

On the eve of World War II, a young American reporter tries to expose enemy agents in London. More about Foreign Correspondent / IMDB / YouTube

The wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter written in her own hand may prove her undoing. Read about The Letter / IMDB / YouTube

Myra and Roy meet and fall in love on Waterloo Bridge during an air raid. Their love will be one of the war's unspoken casualties. Info on Waterloo Bridge / IMDB / YouTube

When one of two truck-driving brothers loses an arm, they both join a transport company where the other is falsely charged as an accessory in the murder of the owner. Check out They Drive by Night / IMDB / YouTube

The arrival of wealthy bachelors in town causes an uproar when families with single daughters aggressively seek engagements, including the Bennet family, with five eligible daughters. Explore Pride and Prejudice / IMDB / YouTube

In this classic adaptation of Emile Zola's novel, a tortured train engineer falls in love with a troubled married woman who has helped her husband commit a murder. Details on The Human Beast / IMDB / YouTube

After committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events that led him to the killing. Read about Daybreak / IMDB / YouTube

Love blooms between a sympathetic attorney and the comely shoplifter he has taken home for the Christmas holiday. More about Remember the Night / IMDB / YouTube

A mentally disabled giant and his level headed guardian find work at a sadistic cowboy's ranch in depression era America. Find out about Of Mice and Men / IMDB / YouTube

Judge Roy Bean, a self-appointed hanging judge in Vinegarroon, Texas, befriends saddle tramp Cole Harden, who opposes Bean's policy against homesteaders. More about The Westerner / IMDB / YouTube

The Roth family leads a quiet life in a small village in the German Alps during the early 1930s. After the Nazis come to power, the family is divided and Martin Breitner, a family friend, is caught up in the turmoil. Check out The Mortal Storm / IMDB / YouTube

After Germany invades Czechia, the German and the British intelligence services try to capture Czech scientist Dr. Axel Bomasch (James Harcourt), inventor of a new type of armor-plating. Get info on Night Train to Munich / IMDB / YouTube

The owner of a coal mining operation, falsely imprisoned for fratricide, takes a drug to make him invisible, despite its side effect: gradual madness. See more about The Invisible Man Returns / IMDB / YouTube

A duchess's irrational behavior toward her children's governess triggers tragic events that will change her family's lives forever. See more about All This, and Heaven Too / IMDB / YouTube

A merchant ship's crew tries to survive the loneliness of the sea and the coming of war. See more about The Long Voyage Home / IMDB / YouTube

An aspiring reporter is the key witness at the murder trial of a young man accused of cutting a café owner's throat, and is soon accused of a similar crime himself. Learn about Stranger on the Third Floor / IMDB / YouTube

After the co-workers of an ambitious clerk trick him into thinking he has won $25,000 in a slogan contest, he begins to use the money to fulfill his dreams. What will happen when the ruse is discovered? Find out about Christmas in July / IMDB / YouTube

In 1854, Jeb Stuart, George Custer and other graduates from West Point are posted to Kansas to help pacify the territory before railroad construction to Santa Fe can resume. Check out Santa Fe Trail / IMDB / YouTube

A hard-working white-collar girl from a middle-class family meets and falls in love with a young socialite, but she soon clashes with his family. Explore Kitty Foyle / IMDB / YouTube

Langdon Towne and Hunk Marriner join Major Rogers' Rangers as they wipe out an Indian village. They set out for Fort Wentworth, but when they arrive they find no soldiers and none of the supplies they expected. Learn about Northwest Passage / IMDB / YouTube

Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a ten-year period, are in love with the same woman. Read about Boom Town / IMDB / YouTube

Frank James continues to avoid arrest in order to take revenge on the Ford brothers for their murder of his brother Jesse. Details on The Return of Frank James / IMDB / YouTube