The List

A somewhat arbitrary selection of top-grossing, award-winning, National Film Registry listed films (limited by what is available on DVD or to stream).

* denotes a personal favorite

1927 The Jazz Singer Seventh Heaven	1928 The Cameraman*
1929 Broadway Melody	1930 All Quiet on the Western Front L’Age d’Or
1931 Cimarron City Lights* Frankenstein Dracula M* Public Enemy	1932 Scarface Love Me Tonight* Trouble in Paradise Freaks Horse Feathers Grand Hotel Boudou Saved from Drowning
1933 She Done Him Wrong I’m No Angel King Kong The Invisible Man 42nd Street Duck Soup Dinner at Eight Design for Living*	1934 It Happened One Night Cleopatra Imitation of Life The Thin Man Tarzan and His Mate The Scarlet Empress
1935 Mutiny on the Bounty Top Hat A Night at the Opera* The 39 Steps Triumph of the Will Bride of Frankenstein	1936 San Francisco The Great Ziegfeld My Man Godfrey Dodsworth Things to Come Modern Times* Swing Time Show Boat* Libeled Lady
1937 The Life of Emile Zola The Awful Truth Grand Illusion Way Out West Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	1938 You Can’t Take It With You The Adventures of Robin Hood Jezebel Alexander’s Ragtime Band Pygmalion* Alexander Nevsky Bringing Up Baby*
1939 Gone with the Wind Ninotchka* Goodbye, Mr. Chips Stagecoach The Women The Rules of the Game The Wizard of Oz Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Midnight Gunga Din	1940 The Thief of Bagdad The Philadelphia Story The Sea Hawk The Grapes of Wrath Fantasia Pinocchio Rebecca The Great Dictator* The Shop Around the Corner My Little Chickadee The Bank Dick Dance, Girl, Dance
1941 The Wolf Man Suspicion Sullivan’s Travels Citizen Kane The Maltese Falcon Sergeant York How Green Was My Valley	1942 Yankee Doodle Dandy To Be or Not to Be Casablanca Roxie Hart Pride of the Yankees Cat People The Magnificent Ambersons Mrs. Miniver For Me and My Gal* This Gun for Hire
1943 Stormy Weather* The Ox-Bow Incident This is the Army For Whom the Bells Tolls Madame Curie Cabin in the Sky Day of Wrath The More the Merrier The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Meshes of the Afternoon	1944 The Seventh Cross Double Indemnity Gaslight National Velvet* Meet Me in St. Louis Going My Way Miracle of Morgan’s Creek* Arsenic and Old Lace Cover Girl Henry V Cobra Woman Can’t Help Singing Laura To Have and Have Not
1945 Bells of St. Mary’s Anchors Aweigh* The Lost Weekend Mildred Pierce Lady on a Train Don’t Fence Me In Detour Children of Paradise* Open City Blithe Spirit I Know Where I’m Going! Brief Encounter	1946 The Best Years of Our Lives It’s a Wonderful Life Notorious Till the Clouds Roll By Ziegfeld Follies The Postman Always Rings Twice The Big Sleep Green for Danger* My Darling Clementine A Matter of Life and Death No Regrets for Our Youth Beauty and the Beast Gilda The Harvey Girls The Killers
1947 The Gentleman’s Agreement Miracle on 34th Street Unconquered Out of the Past* Body and Soul The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Monsieur Verdoux Black Narcissus	1948 Lady from Shanghai Treasure of the Sierra Madre Red River The Search* The Red Shoes The Three Musketeers Easter Parade Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein Force of Evil The Pirate The Naked City The Bicycle Thief Unfaithfully Yours* Key Largo Letter from an Unknown Woman
1949 The Third Man She Wore a Yellow Ribbon A Run for Your Money All the King’s Men Twelve O’Clock High Inspector General White Heat Adam’s Rib The Heiress Late Spring	1950 All About Eve The Asphalt Jungle Born Yesterday D.O.A. Father of the Bride Gun Crazy Harvey In a Lonely Place Los Olvidados Rashomon Sunset Boulevard Winchester ’73