My Oxford Dictionary defines "memorable" as "worth remembering" and "not to be forgotten". I had these words before me as I compiled this book. It includes sixteen of my twenty top favorite films of the 1940s, leading off first with "Casablanca", continuing (in order) with "Laura", "The Picture of Dorian Gray", "Yankee Doodle Dandy", "All About Eve", "Cobra Woman", "Meet Me in Saint Louis", "The Lost Moment", "Ghost Breakers", "Belle Starr", "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein", "Easter Parade", "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", "Three Musketeers", "The Breaking Point" and "The Cat and the Canary." Plus a whole host of lesser masterpieces like "Comrade X", "Copper Canyon" and "Centennial Summer"; plus worthwhile "B" features that encompass series pictures featuring Charlie Chan, Blondie, Hoppy, Sherlock Holmes, Mike Shayne and The Falcon. There's even room for seven all-time great entries in the film noir category: "Caught", "The Unsuspected", "Dark Waters", "The Glass Key", "The Accused", "He Walked By Night" and "Panic in the Streets". Plus my own personal favorite star of the 1940s. I made it my business to see all her films, not once or twice, but four or five times, if possible. I refer to the original MM, Maria Montez, -- she who was most deservedly tagged "The Queen of Technicolor!" Who could forget her? A super-popular star of the 1940s, here she is in two of her finest films: the stylish "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" and that incredible cult classic, "Cobra Woman".