The 20th Century Fox Story (1940-1944)

As the 1940's began, 20th Century Fox's power, standing and success in Hollywood was rapidly increasing. Tyrone Power was proving to be a reliable and consistent box office draw in various genres for his films at the studio. Fox's musicals were even beginning to rival MGM's with their uses of lavish Technicolor and their box office profits. The studio's many musical genre stars during this time included Alice Faye, Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda, Cesar Romero, Don Ameche and Sonja Henie while other top box office stars at Fox included newcomer Gene Tierney and studio veteran Henry Fonda. The decade got off to a great start with the release of 1940's "The Grapes of Wrath" and 1941's Best Picture Academy Award winner "How Green Was My Valley", two classic dramas both directed by John Ford (who won Oscars for both) and both widely considered to be among the greatest films of all time. "Tales of Manhattan" (1942), "Jane Eyre" (1943), "The Ox-Bow Incident" (1943), "The Song of Bernadette" (1943), "Laura" (1944) and "Wilson" (1944) are among the other top highlights of the early 40's.

Those films and over 200 others are all present and accounted for in this listing of the 1940-1944 theatrical release slate of 20th Century Fox. With its versatile release combinations of screwball comedy, lighthearted musicals and romances and epic war dramas, It regularly maintained its third place position (behind MGM and RKO) throughout this time as Hollywood's most profitable studio.

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