376 Films & TV Shows Set In North America During The 1940s
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Tucker: The Man and His Dream
Michigan Illinois The 1940sThe true story of Preston Tucker. — Ypsilanti, Michigan, 1945. Engineer Preston Tucker dreams of designing the car of future, but his innovative envision will be repeatedly sabotaged by his own unrealistic expectations and the Detroit automobile industry tycoons.
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The Wizard of Loneliness
Vermont The 1940sSometimes needing someone is the bravest thing you can do. — A family drama.
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I'll Be Home for Christmas
Massachusetts The 1940sThe Bundy family try to have a good family Christmas, despite World War II.
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Man Against the Mob
California The 1940sIn 1930s Los Angeles, a police detective leads an elite squad against a vicious organized crime ring.
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84 Charing Cross Road
New York England The 1970s The 1960s The 1950s The 1940sA true story — When a humorous script-reader in her New York apartment sees an ad in the Saturday Review of Literature for a bookstore in London that does mail order, she begins a very special correspondence and friendship with Frank Doel, the bookseller who works at Marks & Co., 84 Charing Cross Road.
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Radio Days
New York The 1930s The 1940sThe Narrator tells us how the radio influenced his childhood in the days before TV. In the New York City of the late 1930s to the New Year's Eve 1944, this coming-of-age tale mixes the narrator's experiences with contemporary anecdotes and urban legends of the radio stars.
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In the Mood
Nevada Colorado California The 1940sHe Was More of a Man At 15, Than Most Men Are At 35! — When 15-year-old Sonny Wisecarver has an affair with his older neighbor Francine and then runs off to marry her, a stern judge has the union annulled. Then, when Sonny finds himself before the same judge after getting involved with another woman in her 20s, the publicity from this case makes him the object of affection for millions of young women
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LBJ: The Early Years
Texas The 1960s The 1940s The 1930sLBJ: The Early Years was a television movie that appeared on the NBC network in February 1987, depicting the life of former President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson from 1934 until 1973. Actor Randy Quaid won a Golden Globe award for his portrayal of Johnson.
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The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains
Georgia The 1940s The 1920sThere is no prison strong enough to hold the human spirit. — The true story of Robert Elliot Burns, the prisoner who, after being sentenced to a Georgia chain gang, attempted two daring escapes.
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A Killing Affair
West Virginia The 1940sPeter Weller (Robocop) stars as Baton Morris, a drifter suspected of murder, in this crime drama. A widow (Kathy Baker) living in West Virginia takes in the man (Weller) whom she believes murdered her husband. As she spends more time with him, she begins to fall for him, but continues to question whether or not she can trust him.Directed by David Saperstein and based on a novel by Robert Houston, A Killing Affair features twists and turns up until the end.
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Highlander
New York Scotland 🇪🇸 Spain The 1980s The 1940s The 16th Century The 18th CenturyThere can be only one. — He fought his first battle on the Scottish Highlands in 1536. He will fight his greatest battle on the streets of New York City in 1986. His name is Connor MacLeod. He is immortal.
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I Hate Actors
California The 1940sA Hollywood studio is producing another spectacular when the top billed male stars suddenly show up as corpses, killed before the critics could ever put pen to paper. Under suspicion is a talent agent. Is he guilty or not? These macabre events have everyone off their feed, from the producers down to the lowest gofer.
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Santa Fe
New York The 1940sPicking up where "God Does Not Believe In Us Anymore" leaves off, Freddy struggles to find work after arriving in New York in 1940. His world of refugee acquaintances includes the depressed daughter of a poet/delicatessen owner, an aging surgeon who cannot find work, and a lovable charlatan photographer. Corti's trilogy continues with "Welcome in Vienna"
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Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti
🇭🇹 Haiti The 1950s The 1940sThis intimate ethnographic study of Voudoun dances and rituals was shot by Maya Deren during her years in Haiti (1947-1951); she never edited the footage, so this “finished” version was made by Teiji Ito and Cherel Ito after Deren’s death.
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Copacabana
New York The 1940sWatch out Meryl! Here comes Barry Manilow: actor. — A hit song is the inspiration for this movie. In 1948, an aspiring songwriter, Tony, is working as a pianist in a bar; he meets Lola who wants to make it in show business. Tony is immediately smitten with the beautiful woman. At Manhattan's Copacabana lounge, they both start finding fame. However, fate steps in and she is swept to Havana to work in a splashy night club act where she is convinced she will find her stardom. Instead she finds Rico, a suave gangster who manages the club.
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The Trip to Bountiful
Texas The 1940sCarrie Watts is living the twilight of her life trapped in an apartment in 1940's Houston, Texas with a controlling daughter-in-law and a hen-pecked son. Her fondest wish -- just once before she dies -- is to revisit Bountiful, the small Texas town of her youth which she still refers to as "home."
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Caffe Italia Montréal
Quebec The 1900s The 1910s The 1920s The 1930s The 1940sUsing archival documents, fictions, current accounts, and excerpts from a theatrical creation, Paul Tana paints a nuanced portrait of the Italians of Montreal. From the first waves of immigration at the beginning of the century to the men and women taken to a prisoner of war camps during World War II, to the hardships and joys of building vibrant lives in Montréal. Caffè Italia Montréal chronicles a significant chapter in Canada’s history.
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The Philadelphia Experiment
Pennsylvania The 1980s The 1940sWill you survive? — Based on an "actual event" that took place in 1943. About a US Navy Destroyer Escort that disappeared from the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and sent two men 40 years into the future to 1984.
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A Soldier's Story
Louisiana The 1940sAlone, far from home, and far from justice, he has three days to learn the truth about a murder... and the truth is a story you won't forget. — In a rural town in Louisiana, a black Master Sergeant is found shot to death just outside the local Army Base. Military lawyer, Captain Davenport—also a black man—is sent from Washington to conduct an investigation. Facing an uncooperative chain of command and fearful black troops, Davenport must battle with deceit and prejudice in order to find out exactly who really did kill the Master Sergeant.
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Before Stonewall
🇺🇸 United States of America The 1960s The 1950s The 1940s The 1930s The 1920s The 1910sNew York City's Stonewall Inn is regarded by many as the site of gay and lesbian liberation since it was at this bar that drag queens fought back against police June 27-28, 1969. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections to construct an audiovisual history of the gay community before the Stonewall riots.
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Under the Volcano
🇲🇽 Mexico The 1940s The 1930sOne cannot live without love. — Against a background of war breaking out in Europe and the Mexican fiesta Day of Death, we are taken through one day in the life of Geoffrey Firmin, a British consul living in alcoholic disrepair and obscurity in a small southern Mexican town in 1939. The Consul's self-destructive behaviour, perhaps a metaphor for a menaced civilization, is a source of perplexity and sadness to his nomadic, idealistic half-brother, Hugh, and his ex-wife, Yvonne, who has returned with hopes of healing Geoffrey and their broken marriage.
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Racing with the Moon
California The 1940sIt was 1943. And young men were counting the days before they went off to war... — Henry and Nicky are small town pals from blue collar families with only a short time before they ship off to World War II. Henry begins romancing new-to-town Caddie Winger, believing her to be wealthy. Mischievious and irresponsible, Nicky gets into trouble which forces the other two to become involved, testing their relationship, as well as the friendship between the boys.
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Maria's Lovers
Pennsylvania The 1940sThey all loved her... too much. — Ivan Bibic returns to his Pittsburgh PA suburb after surviving a Japanse POW camp, causing regular nightmares. All the time he remained faithfully devoted to his childhood love, fellow ethnic Yugoslavian virgin Maria Bosic. She dates him again, thus ruining a virtual engagement to captain Al Griselli. Against Ivan's dad's advice, they get married. But Ivan became psychologically impotent, feels unworthy of her and starts wondering, even looking for another girl. Meanwhile slick guitar-and-song-busker Clarence Butts moves in to South-Western PA, and seduces Maria.
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A Christmas Story
Indiana The 1940sPeace, Harmony, Comfort and Joy... Maybe Next Year. — The comic mishaps and adventures of a young boy named Ralph, trying to convince his parents, teachers, and Santa that a Red Ryder B.B. gun really is the perfect Christmas gift for the 1940s.
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The Right Stuff
California The 1960s The 1950s The 1940sHow the future began. — A chronicle of the original Mercury astronauts in the formation of America's space program: Alan Shepherd, the first American in space; Gus Grissom, the benighted astronaut for whom nothing works out as planned; John Glenn, the straight-arrow 'boy scout' of the bunch who was the first American to orbit the earth; and the remaining pilots: Deke Slayton, Scott Carpenter and Wally Schirra.
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