Best Movies of 1947

Kris Kringle, seemingly the embodiment of Santa Claus, is asked to portray the jolly old fellow at Macy's following his performance in the Thanksgiving Day parade. His portrayal is so complete that many begin to question if he truly is Santa Claus, while others question his sanity.

The film is about an unemployed banker, Henri Verdoux, and his sociopathic methods of attaining income. While being both loyal and competent in his work, Verdoux has been laid-off. To make money for his wife and child, he marries wealthy widows and then murders them. His crime spree eventually works against him when two particular widows break his normal routine.

In 1900, strong-willed widow Lucy Muir goes to live in Gull Cottage by the British seaside, even though it appears to be haunted. On her very first night she meets the ghost of the crusty former owner, Captain Gregg—and refuses to be scared off. They eventually become friends and allies, after Lucy gets used to the idea of a man's ghost haunting her bedroom.

A group of Anglican nuns, led by Sister Clodagh, are sent to a mountain in the Himalayas. The climate in the region is hostile and the nuns are housed in an odd old palace. They work to establish a school and a hospital, but slowly their focus shifts. Sister Ruth falls for a government worker, Mr. Dean, and begins to question her vow of celibacy. As Sister Ruth obsesses over Mr. Dean, Sister Clodagh becomes immersed in her own memories of love.

A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.

Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery.

A man convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison and works with a woman to try and prove his innocence.

Stanton Carlisle joins a seedy carnival, working with "Mademoiselle Zeena" and her alcoholic husband, Pete.

Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins' dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's chains?

An Episcopal Bishop, Henry Brougham, has been working for months on the plans for an elaborate new cathedral which he hopes will be paid for primarily by a wealthy, stubborn widow. He is losing sight of his family and of why he became a churchman in the first place. Enter Dudley, an angel sent to help him. Dudley does help everyone he meets, but not necessarily in the way they would have preferred. With the exception of Henry, everyone loves him, but Henry begins to believe that Dudley is there to replace him, both at work and in his family's affections, as Christmas approaches.

A magazine writer poses as a Jew to expose anti-Semitism.

Tom enters from stage left in white tie and tails, sits at the piano, gets his focus as the orchestra in the pit beneath him warms up, and begins to play Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody". Unbeknownst to Tom and the audience, Jerry is asleep across several of the high-note keys inside the instrument, so Tom's playing eventually wakes him. Jerry is pummeled by hammers, bounced by wires, and squeezed by Tom as the cat tries to play the concerto while dispensing with Jerry. Jerry's defensive antics add to the brio of the program and answer Tom with Jerry's own skillful musical attack. By the concerto's end, the duet leaves only one animal standing for the audience's applause.

Attorney Anthony Keane agrees to represent Londonite Mrs. Paradine, who has been fingered in her husband's murder. From the start, the married lawyer is drawn to the enigmatic beauty, and he begins to cast about for a way to exonerate his client. Keane puts the Paradine household servant on the stand, suggesting he is the killer. But Keane soon loses his way in the courtroom, and his half-baked plan sets off a stunning chain of events.

An ex-con trying to go straight must face a crazed criminal out for revenge.

A mysterious thief has stolen the prosperous Happy Valley's most prized possession: the musical Singing Harp. Can Mickey, Donald, and Goofy find the answer in the irritable Willie the Giant's magnificent castle up in the blue sky?

Paratroopers Captain 'Rip' Murdock and Sergeant Johnny Drake are mysteriously ordered to travel to Washington, DC. When Drake learns that he is to be awarded the Medal of Honor, he disappears before newspaper photographers can take his picture. Murdock follows the clues and tracks him down, where he learns Drake is dead. Further investigations reveal unexpected twists. Rip learns that Johnny had been accused of murder and sets out to find out whatever he can. He falls in love with Coral whose husband Johnny is supposed to have killed.

Jiminy Cricket hosts two Disney animated shorts: “Bongo,” about a circus bear escaping to the wild, and “Mickey and the Beanstalk,” a take on the famous fairy tale.

Tom, sick of Jerry stealing the milk out of his bowl, poisons it. Instead of killing the mouse, the potion transforms him into a muscular beast.

Spike is guarding a private fishing hole - in his sleep. Tom sneaks in to do some fishing - with Jerry as bait. But one particularly vicious fish turns out to be more than Tom or Jerry bargained for, particularly when he wakes up Spike.

A New Yorker hobo moves into a mansion and along the way he gathers friends to live in the house with him. Before he knows it, he is living with the actual home owners.

Tom's day at the beach doesn't start out well. First he gets his swimsuit caught in the door of the beach house, and doesn't realize it until his intended dive in the ocean sends him snapping back and crashing through the door. He runs out and tries again. This time he is so determined to jump in the water that when he does so, he doesn't notice the tide is out and that he is swimming in the sand, which is filled with broken bottles, tin cans and other debris. Later, he tries to win over a beautiful girl on the beach, but, being the boor he is, he annoys her by drinking her soda pop, eating her hot dog and munching loudly as he lays his head in her lap. Suddenly, a tomato flies through the air and lands on his head. So does a banana peel. Tom looks for the culprit and finds him in the girl's picnic basket. Jerry is inside, eating what he wants and tossing out the rest...

Tom chases Jerry into a bottle of invisible ink, and Jerry then proceeds to have fun torturing Tom.

Mammy Two-Shoes tells Tom and Butch that the cat who gets rid of the icebox-raiding, breadbox-invading mouse (Jerry) is the one who can stay.

A man is murdered, apparently by one of a group of soldiers just out of the army. But which one? And why?

Humphrey Bogart visits the Mocrumbo Restaurant. He orders fried rabbit and Elmer Fudd has twenty minutes to serve it.

A hungry cat has the idea of giving "Jumbo Gro" fertilizer to a scrawny canary to make him a bigger meal, which leads to a race between the cat, the canary, a dog, and a mouse to see who can grow the biggest.

This time Bugs' race with Cecil Turtle features a rocket-powered tortoise shell.

Charley Davis, against the wishes of his mother, becomes a boxer. As he becomes more successful the fighter becomes surrounded by shady characters, including an unethical promoter named Roberts, who tempt the man with a number of vices. Charley finds himself faced with increasingly difficult choices.

A con man tries to blackmail a Mexican gangster.

A classical musician from a working class background is sidetracked by his love for a wealthy, neurotic socialite.

Society sleuths Nick and Nora Charles investigate a murder in a jazz club.

Tom is given the task of guarding the fridge during the night by Mammy-Two-Shoes, but as soon as he has started he is tricked by Jerry into falling into the basement, where he lands in a barrel of cider. Now drunk, Tom staggers around in the house getting up to no good with Jerry.

After leaving her family's farm to study nursing in the city, a young woman finds herself on an unexpected path towards politics.

Teenager Susan Turner, with a severe crush on playboy artist Richard Nugent, sneaks into his apartment to model for him and is found there by her sister Judge Margaret Turner. Threatened with jail, Nugent agrees to date Susan until the crush abates.

In a quiet Connecticut town, a kindly priest is murdered while waiting at a street corner. The citizens are horrified and demand action from the police. All of the witnesses identify John Waldron, a nervous out-of-towner, as the killer. Although Waldron vehemently denies the crime, no one will believe him. District Attorney Henry Harvey is then put on the case and faces political opposition in his attempt to prove Waldron's innocence. Based on a true story.

After being found wandering the streets of Los Angeles, a severely catatonic woman tells a doctor the complex story of how she wound up there.

Donald needs a log for his fire. Unfortunately, the one he picks is occupied by a couple of chipmunks and their stash of acorns. When he cuts it down, Chip and Dale fall out, but their acorns stay behind, so they work at putting out Donald's fire and retrieving their stash. Donald, of course, takes this as calmly and cheerfully as you would expect.

World War II veteran Bob MacDonald surprises his new wife, Betty, by quitting his city job and moving them to a dilapidated farm in the country. While Betty gamely struggles with managing the crumbling house and holding off nosy neighbors and a recalcitrant pig, Bob makes plans for crops and livestock. The couple's bliss is shaken by a visit from a beautiful farm owner, who seems to want more from Bob than just managing her property.

Spain, 1518: young caballero Pedro De Vargas offends his sadistic neighbor De Silva, who just happens to be an officer of the Inquisition. Forced to flee, Pedro, friend Juan Garcia, and adoring servant girl Catana join Cortez' first expedition to Mexico. Arriving in the rich new land, Cortez decides to switch from exploration to conquest...with only 500 men. Embroiled in continuous adventures and a romantic interlude, Pedro almost forgets he has a deadly enemy...

Helen Brent has just received a Reno divorce. That night, she discovers her neighbor Laury Palmer and a gentleman caller murdered in Palmer's home. The killer is her neighbor's other boyfriend Sam Wilde, an insanely jealous man who won't abide anyone "cutting in" on him.

Thomas the cat finds Tweetie in the snow, warming himself by a cigar butt. Thomas's mistress rescues the little yellow bird before her cat can devour him, but Thomas doesn't give up.

The secretary of an affably suave radio mystery host mysteriously commits suicide after his wealthy young niece disappears.

Two ex-soldiers return from overseas--one of them having smuggled into the country a French orphan girl he has become attached to. They wind up running into their old sergeant--who hates them--and getting involved with a race-car builder who's trying to find backers for a new midget racer he's building.

Two U.S. Treasury ("T-men") agents go undercover in Detroit, and then Los Angeles, in an attempt to break a U.S. currency counterfeiting ring.

On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable sounding, sequence of events that led to her death.

A brash young lawyer takes a short-term but high-paid job as bodyguard for a slick business exec being threatened by a former partner, and quickly realizes he may be in over his head.

A boy haunted by nightmares about the night his entire family was murdered is brought up by a neighboring family in the 1880s. He falls for his lovely adoptive sister but his nasty adoptive brother and mysterious uncle want him dead.

After being framed for a policeman's murder, a criminal escapes prison and sets out for revenge.

In a long flashback, a New York publisher is in Venice pursuing the lost love letters of an early-19th-century poet, Jeffrey Ashton, who disappeared mysteriously. Using a false name, Lewis Venable rents a room from Juliana Bordereau, once Jeffrey Ashton's lover, now an aged recluse. Running the household is Juliana's severe niece, Tina, who mistrusts Venable from the first moment. He realizes all is not right when late one night he finds Tina, her hair unpinned and wild, at the piano. She calls him Jeffrey and throws herself at him. The family priest warns Venable to tread carefully around her fantasies, but he wants the letters at any cost, even Tina's sanity.