Every movie that I watch is listed here. I will also try to add movies I have seen in the past.

Randolph Scott in Thunder Over the Plains (1953)

Detectives and other scrutineers with their magnifying glasses. From 2024 going back in time to 1922.

"The difference between film and theater is that in film, an actor is sort of under a magnifying glass and everything that they do, just the smallest movement, is very detectable." (Quotation by Olivia Thirlby)

Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Paul Henreid, and Conrad Veidt in Casablanca (1942)

Edward G. Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck, and Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity (1944)

Leo Gorcey, Angela Greene, Huntz Hall, and Walter Kingsford in Loose in London (1953)

Julie Bishop and Buster Crabbe in Tarzan the Fearless (1933)

Timothy Hutton, Donald Sutherland, and Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People (1980)

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.

Lotus Long, Keye Luke, and Grant Withers in Phantom of Chinatown (1940)

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