War Films of the 1940s
The progression of the movie industry in the 1940s happened a lot faster than many would have expected it to due to the war going on at the time. Amid the chaos going on in the world, surprisingly, there were many technological advances in Hollywood. Of course, in true Hollywood fashion, many writers and filmmakers used the raging world war as inspiration for myriad of films during the decade.
- Foreign Correspondent (1940): Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, with the screenplay written by Charles Bennett and Joan Harrison, it starred James Hilton and Robert Benchley alongside a brilliant and long list of cast members.
- Dive Bomber (1941): Directed by Michael Curtiz and whose screenplay was written by Frank Wead and Robert Buckner.
- A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941): Directed by Henry King and a collaborative written effort by story writer Darryl F. Zanuck and screenplay writers Darrell Ware and Karl Tunberg.
- Sergeant York (1941): Directed by Howard Hawks and another collaborative effort by writers Abem Finkel, Harry Chandlee, Howard Koch, Justin Huston, Alvin C. York, Tom Skeyhill, and Sam Cowan.
- 49th Parallel (1941)(Also known as The Invaders): Directed by Michael Powell and written by screenplay writer Emeric Pressburger.
- One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1941): Directed by Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger and also written by Emeric Pressburger.
- In Which We Serve (1942): Directed by Noel Coward and David Lean, it was written by Noel Coward.
- Mrs. Miniver (1942): Directed by William Wyler and based on a book by Jan Struther. Screenplay was written in collaboration by Arthur Wimperis, George Froeschel, James Hilton, and Claudine West.
- Wake Island (1942): Directed by John Farrow and written by W. R. Burnett and Frank Butler.
- The More the Merrier (1943): Directed by George Stevens, the screenplay was written by Robert Russell, Frank Ross, Richard Flournoy, and Lewis R. Foster.
- This is the Army (1943): Directed by Michael Curtiz and written by Casey Robinson and Claude Binyon.
- Guadalcanal Diary (1943): Directed by Lewis Seiler, which was adapted from a book written by Richard Tregaskis. The screenplay was written by Lamar Trotti and Jerome Cady.
- Bataan (1943): Directed by Tay Garnett and written by Robert Hardy Andrews.
- Destination Tokyo (1943): Directed by Delmer Daves and written by Delmer Daves, Steve Fisher, and Albert Maltz.
- Sahara (1943): Directed by Zoltan Korda and written by Philip MacDonald, John Howard Lawson, Zoltan Korda and James O’Hanlon.
- Edge of Darkness (1943): Directed by Lewis Milestone, the novel was written by William Woods, with the screenplay written by Robert Rossen.
- The North Star (1943): Directed by Lewis Milestone and written by Lillian Hellman.
- The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943): Directed and written by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
- Winged Victory (1944): Directed by George Cukor and written by Jerome Cady and Moss Hart.
- Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944): Directed by Mervyn LeRoy , book written by Ted W. Lawson and Robert Considine, and screenplay written by Dalton Trumbo.
- The Purple Heart (1944): Directed by Lewis Milestone, story written by Darryl F. Zanuck, screenplay written by Jerome Cady.
As you can see, during the time that the US participated in World War II, the country’s mind on war, it seemed a natural to produce movies about the topic.
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