Movies · 1945
Cinema at the Dawn of Post-War Peace
As World War II draws to a dramatic close, cinema shifts from wartime propaganda to dark psychological realism and poignant human drama. Filmmakers around the world craft unforgettable masterpieces reflecting a global desire for healing and reinvention.
- 1945 Film | USA | Drama
The Lost Weekend
Billy Wilder's harrowing portrait of alcoholism swept the Academy Awards, featuring a career-defining performance by Ray Milland as a desperate, struggling writer.
- 1945 Film | USA | Film Noir
Mildred Pierce
Joan Crawford revitalized her stardom and earned an Academy Award as a self-made matriarch trapped in a deadly web of sacrifice, business, and betrayal.
- 1945 Film | Italy | Neorealism
Rome, Open City
Roberto Rossellini birthed Italian Neorealism with this gritty, raw depiction of the Nazi occupation of Rome and the brave underground resistance movement.
- 1945 Film | UK | Romance
Brief Encounter
Director David Lean weaves a bittersweet, understated tale of repressed suburban love between two strangers who meet unexpectedly at a railway station.
- 1945 Film | USA | Psychological Thriller
Spellbound
Alfred Hitchcock pairs Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck in a box-office sensation famous for its dream sequence designed by surrealist Salvador Dalí.
- 1945 Film | France | Drama
Les Enfants du Paradis
Filmed secretly during the Nazi occupation, Marcel Carné's epic theatrical romance stands as a monumental triumph of French cinema history.
- 1945 Film | USA | Psychological Noir
Leave Her to Heaven
Gene Tierney delivers an unforgettably chilling performance as a pathologically possessive woman in Technicolor's biggest box-office hit of 1945.
- 1945 Film | USA | Crime/Noir
Detour
Edgar G. Ulmer's ultra-low-budget masterpiece became a definitive cult film noir, following a hitchhiking pianist trapped in a nightmarish descent of bad luck.
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