List #3 in a series of 10
World War II really put the hurt on the foreign film industry for most of the 1940's, especially in Europe, so many of the films on this list aren't as well known as films from other decades
Rankings taken from TSPDT's 2025 list. Feature length films only (sorry, "Le sang des bêtes").
List image from top ranked film, "Bicycle Thieves" (sometimes called "Bicycle Thief")
Film numbers by country:
China—6, 41
Denmark—10
France—3, 11, 13, 18, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, 50
Germany—19, 30
Italy—1, 4, 5, 7, 12, 14, 16, 37, 49
Japan—2, 15, 17, 22, 23, 33, 35, 36, 38, 42, 48
Russia—8, 9
Spain—31, 46, 47
Sweden—34
Previous (1930s): https://www.listchallenges.com/50-best-foreign-language-movies-1930s
