"Hamlet" (1948)

Prince Hamlet struggles over whether or not he should kill his uncle, whom he suspects has murdered his father, the former king. - "Hamlet" is a 1948 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name, adapted and directed by and starring Sir Laurence Olivier. The film was Olivier's second as director, and also the second of the three Shakespeare films that he directed. "Hamlet" was the first British film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is also the first sound film of the play in English.

Olivier's "Hamlet" is the Shakespeare film that has received the most prestigious accolades, winning the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. However, it proved controversial among Shakespearean purists, who felt that Olivier had made too many alterations and excisions to the four-hour play by cutting nearly two hours' worth of content."

"Gentleman's Agreement" (1947)

A reporter pretends to be Jewish in order to cover a story on anti-Semitism, and personally discovers the true depths of bigotry and hatred. - Gentleman's Agreement is a 1947 drama film which was based on Laura Z. Hobson's best selling novel of the same name. It concerns a journalist (played by Gregory Peck) who poses as a Jew to research an exposé on antisemitism in New York City and the affluent community of Darien, Connecticut. It was nominated for eight Oscars and won three: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Celeste Holm), and Best Director (Elia Kazan)."

"It's a Wonderful Life" (1946)

An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed. George Bailey is a small-town man whose life seems so desperate he contemplates suicide. He had always wanted to leave Bedford Falls to see the world, but circumstances and his own good heart have led him to stay. He sacrificed his education for his brother's, kept the family-run savings and loan afloat, protected the town from the avarice of the greedy banker Mr. Potter, and married his childhood sweetheart. As he prepares to jump from a bridge, his guardian angel intercedes; showing him what life would have become for the residents of Bedford Falls if he had never lived."

"The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946)

Three World War II veterans return home to small-town America to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed. - The Best Years of Our Lives (aka Glory for Me and Home Again) is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, and Harold Russell. The film is about three United States servicemen readjusting to civilian life after coming home from World War II.

Samuel Goldwyn was inspired to produce a film about veterans after reading an August 7, 1944, article in Time about the difficulties experienced by men returning to civilian life. Goldwyn hired former war correspondent MacKinlay Kantor to write a screenplay. His work was first published as a novella, Glory for Me, which Kantor wrote in blank verse. Robert E. Sherwood then adapted the novella as a screenplay."

"The Lost Weekend" (1945)

The desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout. - Don Birman is a struggling writer who deals with his writer's block through the bottle. He shares an apartment with his more responsible brother Nick, who is about to go on a weekend vacation. Nick is worried about leaving Don alone, but Don assures him he will be fine and will use the time alone to write. However, he is not fooling even himself, and plans to go on a bender. After drinking all the alcohol in the house, Don goes to a bar, and while his creativity seems to flow, things go from bad to worse."

"Going My Way" (1944)

Father Charles O'Mailey, a young priest at a financially failing Church in a tough neighborhood, gains support and inspires his superior. - "Going My Way" is a 1944 American musical comedy-drama film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald. Based on a story by Leo McCarey, the film is about a young new priest taking over a parish from an established old veteran. Crosby sings five songs in the film, with other songs performed onscreen by Metropolitan Opera's star mezzo-soprano, Risë Stevens (in the role of a famous Metropolitain Opera performer) as well as the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir (playing the role of juvenile delinquents turned into a choir). "Going My Way" was the highest-grossing picture of 1944 and began a 6 year run at the top of the 'Star' popularity charts for Bing Crosby."

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1943)

During the Spanish Civil War, an American allied with the Republicans finds romance during a desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge. - For Whom the Bell Tolls is a 1943 American war film produced and directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff, and Joseph Calleia. The screenwriter Dudley Nichols based his script on the 1940 novel For 'Whom the Bell Tolls' by American novelist Ernest Hemingway. The film is about an American International Brigades volunteer, Robert Jordan (Cooper), who is fighting in the Spanish Civil War against the fascists. During his desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge to protect Republican forces, Jordan falls in love with a young woman guerrilla fighter (Bergman)."

"Casablanca" (1942)

In Casablanca in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate encounters a former lover, with unforeseen complications. Casablanca: easy to enter, but much harder to leave, especially if you're wanted by the Nazis. Such a man is Resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), whose only hope is Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart in one of his most memorable roles), a cynical American who sticks his neck out for no one -- especially Victor's wife, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), the ex-lover who broke his heart. Ilsa offers herself in exchange for Laszlo's transport out of the country and bitter Rick must decide what counts more -- personal happiness or countless lives hanging in the balance. Winner of three Academy Awards including "Best Picture", Casablanca remains one of Hollywood's greatest treasures 70 years after it first lit up the screen."

"Mrs. Miniver" (1942)

A British family struggles to survive the first months of World War II. - Mrs. Miniver is a 1942 American romantic war drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Inspired by the 1940 novel Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther, the film shows how the life of an unassuming British housewife in rural England is touched by World War II.

Produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film features a strong supporting cast that includes Teresa Wright, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Richard Ney and Henry Wilcoxon"

"Citizen Kane" (1941)

When a reporter is assigned to decipher newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane's dying words, his investigation gradually reveals the fascinating portrait of a complex man who rose from obscurity to staggering heights. Though Kane's friend and colleague Jedediah Leland, and his mistress, Susan Alexander, shed fragments of light on Kane's life, the reporter fears he may never penetrate the mystery of the elusive man's final word, "Rosebud."