Top 15 Kids Movies from the 40s
Fantasia (1940)
Animation, Family, Fantasy, Music, Musical
Disney animators set pictures to Western classical music as Leopold Stokowski conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" features Mickey Mouse as an aspiring magician who oversteps his limits. "The Rite of Spring" tells the story of evolution, from single-celled animals to the... [show more]
Deems Taylor
Leopold Stokowski
The Philadelphia Orchestra
James Algar
Samuel Armstrong
Ford Beebe Jr.
Norman Ferguson
David Hand
Jim Handley
T. Hee
Wilfred Jackson
Hamilton Luske
Bill Roberts
Paul Satterfield
Ben Sharpsteen
National Velvet (1944)
Drama, Family, Sport
Mi Taylor was a young wanderer and opportunist whose father had given him "all the roads in the Kingdom" to travel. One of the roads, and a notation in his father's journal, leads him to the quiet English country-side home of the Brown family. The youngest daughter, Velvet, has a passion for horses... [show more]
Mickey Rooney
Donald Crisp
Elizabeth Taylor
Anne Revere
Clarence Brown
The Yearling (1946)
Drama, Family, Western
The family of Civil War veteran Penny Baxter, who lives and works on a farm in Florida with his wife, Orry, and their son, Jody. The only surviving child of the family, Jody longs for companionship and unexpectedly finds it in the form of an orphaned fawn. While Penny is supportive of his son's... [show more]
Gregory Peck
Jane Wyman
Claude Jarman Jr.
Chill Wills
Clarence Brown
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Drama, Family
Life is hard in a Welsh mining town and no less so for the Morgan family. Seen through the eyes of the family's youngest, Huw, we learn of the family's trials and tribulations. Family patriarch Gwilym and his older sons work in the mines, dangerous and unhealthy as it is. Gwilym has greater hopes... [show more]
Walter Pidgeon
Maureen O'Hara
Anna Lee
Donald Crisp
John Ford
Pinocchio (1940)
Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical
Inventor Gepetto creates a wooden marionette called Pinocchio. His wish that Pinocchio be a real boy is unexpectedly granted by a fairy. The fairy assigns Jiminy Cricket to act as Pinocchio's "conscience" and keep him out of trouble. Jiminy is not too successful in this endeavor and most of the film... [show more]
Mel Blanc
Don Brodie
Stuart Buchanan
Walter Catlett
Norman Ferguson
T. Hee
Wilfred Jackson
Jack Kinney
Hamilton Luske
Bill Roberts
Ben Sharpsteen
Citizen Kane (1941)
Drama, Mystery
A group of reporters are trying to decipher the last word ever spoken by Charles Foster Kane, the millionaire newspaper tycoon: "Rosebud." The film begins with a news reel detailing Kane's life for the masses, and then from there, we are shown flashbacks from Kane's life. As the reporters... [show more]
Joseph Cotten
Dorothy Comingore
Agnes Moorehead
Ruth Warrick
Orson Welles
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
Drama, Romance
In Brooklyn circa 1900, the Nolans manage to enjoy life on pennies despite great poverty and Papa's alcoholism. We come to know these people well through big and little troubles: Aunt Sissy's scandalous succession of "husbands"; the removal of the one tree visible from their tenement; and young... [show more]
Dorothy McGuire
Joan Blondell
James Dunn
Lloyd Nolan
Elia Kazan
Dumbo (1941)
Animation, Drama, Family, Musical
The stork delivers a baby elephant to Mrs. Jumbo, veteran of the circus, but the newborn is ridiculed because of his truly enormous ears and dubbed "Dumbo". After being separated from his mother, Dumbo is relegated to the circus' clown acts; it is up to his only friend, a mouse, to assist Dumbo to... [show more]
Herman Bing
Mel Blanc
Billy Bletcher
Edward Brophy
Samuel Armstrong
Norman Ferguson
Wilfred Jackson
Jack Kinney
Bill Roberts
Ben Sharpsteen
John Elliotte
Lassie Come Home (1943)
Adventure, Drama, Family
Hard times came for Carraclough family and they are forced to sell their dog to the rich Duke of Rudling. However, Lassie, the dog, is unwilling to leave the young Carraclough boy and sets out on the long and dangerous journey in order to rejoin him.
Roddy McDowall
Donald Crisp
May Whitty
Edmund Gwenn
Fred M. Wilcox
Bambi (1942)
Animation, Drama, Family
The animated story of Bambi, a young deer hailed as the 'Prince of the Forest' at his birth. As Bambi grows, he makes friends with the other animals of the forest, learns the skills needed to survive, and even finds love. One day, however, the hunters come, and Bambi must learn to be as brave as his... [show more]
Hardie Albright
Stan Alexander
Bobette Audrey
Peter Behn
James Algar
Samuel Armstrong
David Hand
Graham Heid
Bill Roberts
Paul Satterfield
Norman Wright
Arthur Davis
Clyde Geronimi
Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Horror
Two stories. The Wind in the Willows: Concise version of Kenneth Grahame's story of the same name. J. Thaddeus Toad, owner of Toad Hall, is prone to fads, such as the newfangled motor car. This desire for the very latest lands him in much trouble with the wrong crowd, and it is up to his friends,... [show more]
Bing Crosby
Basil Rathbone
Eric Blore
J. Pat O'Malley
James Algar
Clyde Geronimi
Jack Kinney
The Reluctant Dragon (1941)
Animation, Comedy, Family
Humorist Robert Benchley attempts to find Walt Disney to ask him to adapt a short story about a gentle dragon who would rather recite poetry than be ferocious. Along the way, he is given a tour of Walt Disney Studios, and learns about the animation process.
Robert Benchley
Frances Gifford
Buddy Pepper
Nana Bryant
Alfred L. Werker
Hamilton Luske
Jack Cutting
Ub Iwerks
Jack Kinney
Fun and Fancy Free (1947)
Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical, Romance
Disney version of fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk", featuring Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in the main roles. Also contains another short film, re-released as "Bongo".
Edgar Bergen
Dinah Shore
Luana Patten
Anita Gordon
Jack Kinney
Hamilton Luske
William Morgan
Bill Roberts
Casablanca (1942)
Drama, Romance, War
The story of Rick Blaine, a cynical world-weary ex-patriate who runs a nightclub in Casablanca, Morocco during the early stages of WWII. Despite the pressure he constantly receives from the local authorities, Rick's cafe has become a kind of haven for refugees seeking to obtain illicit letters that... [show more]
Humphrey Bogart
Ingrid Bergman
Paul Henreid
Claude Rains
Michael Curtiz
The Great Dictator (1940)
Comedy, Drama, War
Twenty years after the end of WWI in which the nation of Tomainia was on the losing side, Adenoid Hynkel has risen to power as the ruthless dictator of the country. He believes in a pure Aryan state, and the decimation of the Jews. This situation is unknown to a simple Jewish-Tomainian barber who... [show more]
Charles Chaplin
Jack Oakie
Reginald Gardiner
Henry Daniell
Charles Chaplin