Here are my favorites in reverse order. (I added the Kurosawa film and dropped The Blue Dahlia from my original list.)
10. No Regrets for Our Youth (directed by Akira Kurosawa)
9. Great Expectations (directed by David Lean)
8. Shoeshine (directed by Vittorio De Sica)
7. My Darling Clementine (directed by John Ford)
6. The Big Sleep (directed by Howard Hawks)
5. The Killers (directed by Robert Siodmak)
4. Beauty and the Beast (directed by Jean Cocteau)
3. It’s a Wonderful Life (directed by Frank Capra)
2. Notorious (directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
1. The Best Years of Our Lives (directed by William Wyler)
Bonus: I gave the Academy Award-winner for Best Short, Cartoon, The Cat Concerto, a 10/10. I think this is simply the best Tom and Jerry cartoon ever made. A couple of versions are currently available on YouTube.
With such a strong list to begin with I was wondering if you would find anything better.
My order might be different, but I can live with The Best Years of Our Lives at the top. The Killers and The Big Sleep would be runners up for me. Is Black Narcissus not a 1946 movie? It would make top three for me.
I’ll be revisiting Black Narcissus today or tomorrow for 1947. I’d be surprised if it was not in my top 5 for the year.
Great list!
Wow what a strong year!
I’m throwing this one your way as I think you’ll like it (just watched), a note that, being made in 1946, there is a strong comment on the French people and their response to the occupation in WW2 ( and the period after) – I’d missed the implication and it does make it a better movie knowing this. It is let down IMO by a weak rushed romance as an integral part of the plot but the male lead is superb and the ending brilliantly done (esp for the time).
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038824/
That does sound good. I love Michel Simon in anything! Thanks for the tip!