45 Donna Reed Movies, Ranked Best to Worst

A holiday classic, It's a Wonderful Life is a feel-good movie that centers around a man, George Bailey, who broken down by the troubles of life wishes that he was never born. An angel appears to show him how the life of the people around him would have been if that was true and how he is loved by all.

The movie follows the lives and love interests of three US Army soldiers deployed in Hawaii and is set in the months leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This Academy Award-winning American war drama-romance is based on a 1951 novel of the same name.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a horror drama mystery romance film which tells the story of Dorian Gray, a handsome and wealthy young woman, who, despite his intelligence, is quite naïve and easily manipulated. While visiting a tavern, he falls for a beautiful singer named Sibyl. Soon, a romance begins, despite disapproval from James, her brother.

They were Expendable is a war drama film which tells the story of a Navy commander during the Second World War, who fights to prove that the American PT boats are worthy of being used in battle.

After a jockey is found shot dead in the locker room, famous detective Nick’s friend Lt. Abrams asks him to help out. Soon, Nick begins investigating the case along with his wife Nora. Soon, he feels that the only way to find the culprit would be to gather all the suspects in a room.

Rocky feels guilty thinking that he may have caused the death of his commanding officer in Tunisia. He decides to pay a visit to the officer’s widow, and they soon fall for each other.  

The Courtship of Andy Hardy is a comedy film which tells the story of a teenage boy,  who starts liking a girl, whose parents’ divorce are being handled by his father Judge Hardy. 

This biographical film depicts some key events in the life of clarinetist Benny Goodman starting with him learning to play clarinet from a Chicago music professor at a young age. After playing for Ben Pollack's traveling band for years, he impresses jazz lover John Hammond and falls in love with his sister Alice, which upsets his mother.

Framed for a murder he did not commit, Jim Guthrie barely escapes lynching and flees into wilderness. On returning home three years later, he finds that he is still a wanted man and must find the true killer within three hours if he wants to escape hanging. 

Chicago reporter Ed Adams comes across a deceased girl, Rosita Jean d’Ur, in a shady boardinghouse and retrieves her address-book. Despite the police declaring cause of death as tuberculosis, Ed calls people from her address-book, who, though alarmed, deny knowing her. Growing suspicious, he tenaciously puts all the puzzle pieces together, but encounters underworld murders and finds his own life at risk. 

Betty Andrews is a young, innocent and unemployed woman who is wrongfully convicted of shoplifting. Despite the best efforts of her lawyer Mary Ellis and Jim Brent, a reporter, she is sent to a women’s prison for a year. Betty is forced to deal with a cruel and sadistic warden, as well as bullying inmates.

Private Eddie Marsh has recently joined the army but possesses an entertainer’s spirit. On his way to arranging a grand show for his fellow soldiers, he falls in love with Colonel Bill Jones’ daughter Kathryn. Now he must put on the greatest show to impress the Colonel and get his blessings. 

An inept journalist enters the Army, hoping that he will be able to earn money writing about his experiences during training. However, he turns out to be an even more inept soldier. 

When a young man suffering from mental disorders suddenly goes on a killing spree, Dr Gillespie is called in to investigate.

The adventure drama follows Lt. William Clark and Captain Meriwether Lewis as they try to explore and document the untamed American frontier with the blessings of President Thomas Jefferson, following the Louisiana Purchase. As both men and nature create adversities, they are guided by Shoshone woman Sacagawea. 

In this 3D Western, a notorious ex-Confederate outlaw Frank Slayton and his gang raid a California-bound stagecoach carrying rancher Ben Warren and his fiancée Jennifer, whom they abduct and leave Ben for dead. As he recovers, Ben, with the help of two men who have a grudge against the outlaw, pursues Slayton and his men to Mexican border to rescue his fiancée.  

The Whole Truth is a crime drama mystery film which tells the story of a movie executive who becomes a suspect for the murder of a beautiful actress acting in his film, who is also his lover.  

This 1942 short film revolves around performers for MGM, whose careers were just beginning at the time. Excerpts from some of their films are also included.

An Australian soldier fighting in the First World War befriends a small Belgian orphaned boy and his sister on the night he is about to return home. He decides to take them home with him, and soon starts raising them himself.

Frankie Laine and Billy Daniels are two singers who try to help an aspiring actress, as her grandmother is opposed to her idea of launching a show-business career.

Roy is a homicidal maniac who is being put away for murder, but Dr Gillespie gets him committed to an asylum instead. Sometime later, Roy’s ex-fiancee, is thinking of getting married to another man, a soldier. She goes to the doctor to ask for advice about Roy.  

Beyond Mombasa is an adventure mystery film which tells the story of an American man who decides to go to East Africa, in order to investigate the death of his brother.

Barbarossa, a fierce pirate, frees a group of Spanish prisoners, and makes them his crew. When they capture a Spanish ship, they discover a beautiful Spanish countess named Alida, and they take her as a prisoner. Learning that her marriage is arranged to a sailor named Jose, Barbarossa demands him to pay the ransom. But slowly he begins to fall for Alida himself. Things get complicated when it turns out that Alida has escaped, and Barbarossa believes that she killed one of his men.  

Ranch hand Pepe’s world is turned upside down when alcoholic Hollywood director Mr.Holt buys his beloved friend, a white stallion from its owner. Pepe then goes on an extraordinary adventure through Hollywood, meeting celebrities like Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, Zsa Zsa Gabór, Bing Crosby, and others before being reunited with his beloved stallion.