The 10 Worst Films of the 1940's

Recently I finished compiling lists of the ten best films of each decade that can be found under my content page. Having done that I thought it would be infinitely more fun to compile a list of the decade's worst films. Films so bad it is likely (especially in the case of the 1930's, 40's and 50's) you have never heard of most of them as they have long been forgotten and, in some cases, may have had their negatives chopped up and made into ukulele picks. That way it can be said something useful came from each of their creations.

In compiling these lists I have purposely skipped over low budget films and, in all but one case, sequels that are much too easy to pick apart. I have decided to concentrate on films with major actors in lead roles, often directed by the top men in their field.

While I compile best lists hoping even just one reader will seek out one or more of the titles I have listed, this list is provided so you will avoid these films at all costs. You can guarantee you will have a better time reading my brief descriptions then you will seeing any of these movies.

This list is the ten worst films of the 1940's. As usual they have been placed in alphabetical order instead of by preference. To try and decide which films are worse then the others would likely result in me tearing my hair out and likely being ticketed for the nearest institution.

BEYOND THE FOREST (1949) - Bette Davis starred in this turgid melodrama about a woman from a small town with the itch for big city life despite her seemingly happy marriage to a doctor. Davis so hated this film that she walked off the set on numerous occasions and returned to finish it only when Jack Warner refused to let her out of her contract and threatened to sue her. This film ended her long and very successful association with Warner Bros and she eventually disowned the film altogether. If you ever see it you will know why.

BRIGHAM YOUNG (1940) - Dean Jagger starred as the title character in a film so sloppy that the religious elements are dwarfed to concentrate on a romance between Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell. The film so angered Mormons that they threatened to sue. I have a feeling they would have won.

CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA (1945) - George Bernard Shaw's witty play was turned into an extravaganza starring Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh in the lead roles. Shaw was incensed that the films huge sets and battle sequences overshadowed his witty and sparkling dialogue while Leigh caused turmoil on the set with tantrums and feuding with Rains and the film's director followed by a serious illness which resulted in a miscarriage. The film's shoot was hampered by Nazi bombing attacks near the set and bad weather that delayed shooting for months. The end result is boring movie with two terrific actors looking as if they wished they were anywhere else in the world.

DEEP WATERS (1948) - A romance by the sea with Dana Andrews as a lobster fisherman who meets a juvenile delinquent (Dean Stockwell) and falls in love with the troubled kid's social worker. The film was so bad that 20^th Century Fox pulled it out of release after less then a week seemingly never to be seen again. The studio was so ashamed they refused to even discuss the film's low grosses.

DUFFY'S TAVERN (1945) - A ridiculously bad comedy about a radio star trying to save his fledgling record company. The film was best known for the dozens of cameo appearances by Paramount stars of the day, all of who obviously took the money and ran without reading the script.

I TAKE THIS WOMAN (1940) - This was a notorious flop in its day with Spencer Tracy as a doctor who falls in love with Hedy Lamarr and showers her with affection and gifts all the while she seems indifferent to his generosity. Doesn't that sound like just the kind of entertainment wartime audiences were looking for? The troubled production went through three directors and eight screenwriters.

SANTA FE TRAIL (1940) - War film with Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland is muddled and unfocused and a complete waste of time for everyone. The problem here is the script that is all over the place never settling on one issue or side. What can you say about a film where Ronald Reagan plays Custer?

SARATOGA TRUNK (1945) - This dud stars Gary Cooper as a cowboy who falls in love with a New Orleans hussy played by Ingrid Bergman. Both stars are wildly miscast and the film was so bad the studio shelved it for 2 years before releasing it.

TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST (1946) - The story of one man's crusade to expose those responsible for the ill treatment of sailors at sea sounds noble but comes off silly and predictable here. Alan Ladd stars and comes off as stiff as a board.

UNDERWATER (1955) - This was your standard below average scuba diving for treasure film with Jane Russell in a bathing suit as its only virtue. Producer Howard Hughes' insistence on realism took the film's budget from low six figures to a then unheard of $6 million. He insisted on shooting in Hawaii instead of in the Caribbean where the film was set. After seeing less then satisfying underwater footage, Hughes sent the production team to the Caribbean after all where storms delayed shooting for weeks and caused sand from the bottom of the ocean to rise up making any footage shot unusable. Hughes then had a tank constructed on the RKO lot that contained over 300,000 gallons of water. Pity Hughes never took time to fix the ludicrous script that was shot.