Movies Set in California in the 1940s

Kinora's catalogue lists 27 films set in California in the 1940s, spanning 1941–2001. Each is tagged by where and when it takes place — filter by real-world setting, era, and environment, or open any film for its full tagged world.

Explore films set in California in the 1940s →

• 1995

  A Walk in the Clouds

  Napa Valley — 1940s
  Ruraldir. Alfonso Arau
• 1992

  American Me

  Los Angeles — 1940s · 1950s · 1970s
  Urbandir. Edward James Olmos
• 1955

  Bad Day at Black Rock

  California — 1940s
  Desert · Ruraldir. John Sturges
• 1991

  Barton Fink

  Los Angeles — 1940s
  Urbandir. Joel Coen
• 1988

  Bird

  New York City · Los Angeles · Kansas City — 1940s · 1950s
  Urbandir. Clint Eastwood
• 1962

  Birdman of Alcatraz

  Leavenworth · San Francisco — 1940s
  Islanddir. John Frankenheimer
• 1980

  Coal Miner's Daughter

  Kentucky · Nashville · Los Angeles — 1940s · 1950s · 1960s · 1970s
  Ruraldir. Michael Apted
• 1949

  Criss Cross

  Los Angeles — 1940s
  Urbandir. Robert Siodmak
• 1949

  D.O.A.

  San Francisco · Los Angeles — 1940s
  Urbandir. Rudolph Maté
• 1947

  Dark Passage

  San Francisco — 1940s
  Urbandir. Delmer Daves
• 1945

  Detour

  Reno · Arizona · Los Angeles — 1940s
  Urban · Desertdir. Edgar G. Ulmer
• 1995

  Devil in a Blue Dress

  Los Angeles — 1940s
  Urbandir. Carl Franklin
• 1941

  High Sierra

  Sierra Nevada · Los Angeles — 1940s
  Mountain · Urbandir. Raoul Walsh
• 1945

  Mildred Pierce

  California — 1940s
  Suburban · Urbandir. Michael Curtiz
• 1947

  Out of the Past

  Lake Tahoe · Acapulco · San Francisco — 1940s
  Rural · Mountain · Urbandir. Jacques Tourneur
• 1942

  Saboteur

  California · New York City — 1940s
  Urban · Desertdir. Alfred Hitchcock
• 1943

  Shadow of a Doubt

  Santa Rosa — 1940s
  Suburbandir. Alfred Hitchcock
• 1946

  The Big Sleep

  Los Angeles — 1940s
  Urbandir. Howard Hawks
• 1954

  The Caine Mutiny

  Pacific Ocean · San Francisco — 1940s
  Coastal Seadir. Edward Dmytryk
• 1947

  The Lady from Shanghai

  New York City · San Francisco — 1940s
  Urban · Coastal Seadir. Orson Welles
• 1941

  The Maltese Falcon

  San Francisco — 1940s
  Urbandir. John Huston
• 2001

  The Man Who Wasn't There

  Santa Rosa — 1940s
  Suburbandir. Joel Coen
• 1946

  The Postman Always Rings Twice

  Los Angeles — 1940s
  Ruraldir. Tay Garnett
• 1983

  The Right Stuff

  California · Space — 1940s · 1950s · 1960s
  Desert · Off Worlddir. Philip Kaufman
• 1973

  The Way We Were

  New York City · Los Angeles — 1940s · 1950s
  dir. Sydney Pollack
• 1949

  White Heat

  California — 1940s
  Urbandir. Raoul Walsh
• 1988

  Who Framed Roger Rabbit

  Los Angeles — 1940s
  Urbandir. Robert Zemeckis