Irene Dunne and Richard Dix in Cimarron (1931)

Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell in The Mark of Zorro (1940)

Can there even be a thing like 'nearly good B-pictures'? At first I wasn't so sure either. But after years of watching B-movies, more often than not I stumbled across a B-picture which I wouldn't exactly consider to be a good (or even brillant) one. On the other hand it didn't reach the absolute bottoms of z-grade moviedom that connoisseurs of this kind of pictures are used to either. It was simply a movie which, in terms of B-pictures, was competently done, had all those ingredients we love so much in this kind of movies, yes, possibly it was even done bad for all the right reasons. But nevertheless, it didn't click with me, didn't offer that special something which makes B-pictures so enjoyable. What you can expect on this list are B-pictures which are not bad per se, they are more like near misses which can still offer plenty for the B-movie fan. Especially if you are a fan of a certain subgenre, actor or whatever. So have fun browsing through the nearly, but not quite, good B-pictures of the 1940s.

If you're up to it, don't hesitate to leave a comment.

PS: The movies are sorted by year and not necessarily by my preference. This list is by no means complete as I will add new worthwhile films as I stumble across them.

Randolph Scott, Steve Brodie, Richard Hale, John Halloran, William Moss, Nestor Paiva, Ann Richards, Lawrence Tierney, Tom Tyler, and Phil Warren in Badman's Territory (1946)

Al St. John's signature character sidekicked -- and stole the spotlight -- from more than one series cowboy.

The Long and Winding Trail of Fuzzy Q. Jones

Lash La Rue in The Frontier Phantom (1952)

Here's a list of films, probably not exhaustive, set at least in part in The Lone Star state!

David Carradine and Chuck Norris in Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)

Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, and Roland Got in Across the Pacific (1942)

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