Female movie stars of the 40s

The early years of the 1940s decade were not promising for the American film industry, especially following the late 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, and the resultant loss of foreign markets.

However, Hollywood film production rebounded and reached its profitable peak of efficiency during the years 1943 to 1946 – a full decade and more after the rise of sound film production, now that the technical challenges of the early 1930s sound era were far behind.

Advances in film technology (sound recording, lighting, special effects, cinematography and use of color) meant that films were more watchable and ‘modern’. Following the end of the war, Hollywood’s most profitable year in the decade was 1946, with all-time highs recorded for theatre attendance.

The world was headed toward rearmament and warfare in the early to mid-1940s, and the movie industry, like every other aspect of life, responded to the national war effort by making movies, producing many