The Grapes of Wrath, John Ford's panoramic adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel deals with the Great Depression, debuts on film.

Ansco, Agfa, and Sakura Natural color films are introduced.

First of the Bing Crosby / Bob Hope / Dorothy Lamour "road" movies, Road to Singapore.

Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, is his first Hollywood film following years of outstanding work in Britain.

14th of June, the Germans take Paris.

In January, the Leotax camera is introduced by Showa Kogaku Seiki. It is a copy of the Leica 35mm camera but without a rangefinder coupled lens.

7th of July, camera production was restricted for military purposes only, slowing the Japanese camera industry's growth.

In September, Mamiya Koki Seisakusho produces the first Mamiya Six camera.

In November, Konishiroku markets the "Sakura Tennen-shoku Film R35" film, Japan's first coupler-in-developer color slide film with multi-layer emulsion.

Nippon Kogaku Kogyo K.K., forerunner of Nikon, is a major producer of military-related optics.

Orson Welles's Citizen Kane is celebrated for its innovative use of sound and flashback structure and for the deep-focus cinematography of Gregg Toland.

Following the German invasion of the USSR, Mosfilm compiles short film reports, documentary sketches, satirical scenes, and musical numbers into several "Fighting Film Albums" to aid the war effort.

Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. The United States passes the declaration of war.

First commercial television license is issued in US.

Due to a nitrate fire at Svenska, the preeminent preserver of its nation's film heritage, the negatives of 95% of all films produced in Sweden in the preceding 34 years are destroyed in minutes.

Eastman Kodak introduces KODACOLOR negative film.

Japan attacks Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on the 7th of December (the 8th of December in Japan), starting Japan's involvement in World War II.

United States government establishes Office of War Information to coordinate wartime propaganda with Hollywood. Frank Capra's seven-part "Why We Fight" series is produced over the next two years.

Ansel Adam's Moonrise, Hernandez.

WW II romantic drama Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, debuts as one of the most popular films of all time.

On January 1, Imperial Navy photos of the Pearl Harbor attack are allowed to be published in Japanese newspapers for the first time.

Maya Deren's silent film Meshes of the Afternoon is a key work of American avant-garde cinema.

The spirit of a nation at war: Fires Were Started, by British documentarist Humphrey Jennings.

In November, various photo exhibits for military propaganda are held in department stores in Tokyo, Japan and other cities. Also, all but three manufacturers of photosensitive materials go out of business. The three remaining are Konishiroku Shashin Kogyo, Fuji Photo Film, and Toyo Shashin Kogyo (forerunner of Oriental Shashin Kogyo).

D-day, 6th of June 1944, the Allied forces invaded occupied France during World War II.

Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity starring Barbara Stanwyck.

25th of August, Paris is liberated from the German occupation.

In Japan, due to a military supply company law enacted in December 1943, most of the major Japanese photo equipment and materials manufacturers are forced to cooperate in the war effort. In the spring, various photo exhibits for military propaganda are held in department stores in Tokyo and other cities.

Marcel Carné's and Jacques Prévert's The Children of Paradise is released following the Liberation of France from German Occupation.

Margaret Bourke-White photographs Hitler's concentration camps.

The Motion Picture Export Association of America (MPEAA) is created to promote the elimination of international trade barriers, negotiate agreements with other nations, and protect American copyrights.

Nationalization of film industries in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia.

In March, Tokyo air raids damage greatly the city. The National Police Agency's Ishikawa Koyo photographs the devastation and is later published in 1953.

8th of May (V-E Day), Allied forces celebrate the previous day's German surrender.

6th of August, an atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima. This is followed by another atomic bomb on Nagasaki on the 9th of August. Hiroshima's mushroom cloud is photographed by Yamada Seizo outside the city as well as by a junior high school student named Fukada Toshio (four successive photos). Matsuahige Yoshito photographs the Hiroshima victims near the epicenter right after the explosion. Another photographer named Kishida Mitsugi photographs the devastation on the morning after. On the 10th of August, army photographer Yamahata Yosuke photographs the aftermath in Nagasaki.

14th of August (15th in Japan), President Harry Truman announces the Japanese Surrender.

21st and 25th of August, all the major Japanese newspapers publish photos of Nagasaki taken by Yamahata Yosuke.

U.S. flag waves over Iwo Jima.

V-J Day in Times Square, the famous photograph of a sailor kissing a nurse by Alfred Eisenstaedt.

Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City launches the Italian neorealist movement.

Arthur C. Clark proposes a geosynchronous satellite.

Hollywood's most successful year in its history in terms of motion picture attendance and box-office earnings.

Howard Hawks's The Big Sleep, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, sets the standard for urban American crime dramas for the next decade.

Establishment in Berlin of Deutsche Film Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA), a Soviet company that will soon pass into East German control.

After the war Nippon Kogaku Kogyo K.K.'s production shifts to commercial products and chooses the name "Nikon" for their cameras.

The first Cannes Film Festival is held, planned to open in 1939 but canceled because of the war. The first winner of the Palme d'Or is Maria Candelaria, a Mexican film photographed by one the world's greatest masters of Black and White, Gabriel Figueora.

Eastman Kodak introduces KODAK Ektachrome, the company's first color film processable by the photographer.

In December, the domestic manufacturing of film and cameras in Japan was restarted. However, the production volume was still low and most of the output went to supply the Occupation Forces

New film types introduced in the late '40s: American films dealing with social consciousness; problems of racism, alcoholism, mental illness; semi-documentaries about criminal cases and film noir (dark interpretations of contemporary American reality).

Dennis Gabor describes the principles of holography.

Britain grants India independence.

Bell Laboratories invents the transistor.

Princess Elizabeth marries Prince Philip.

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's Black Narcissus, is a masterpiece of Technicolor design.

Formation in New York of the Actors' Studio, soon to become the center for advancing "The Method" technique of acting embodied in the styles of Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Paul Newman, and Joanne Woodward.

15th of September, Mitarai Takeshi combines the three names (Serenar, Canon, Seiki-Kogaku Kogyo) of his company to Canon Camera Company Ltd.

The Bicycle Thief, by neorealist director Vittorio De Sica and screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, brings worldwide recognition.

Edwin Land markets the Polaroid camera.

Roberto Rossellini's The Miracle is denied an exhibition permit by the New York State of Censors on the grounds that it is blasphemous, setting in motion a series of ground-breaking court cases dealing with film censorship.

Nippon Kogaku Kogyo K.K., forerunner of Nikon, introduces their first 35mm Nikon camera. The Nikon 1 rangefinder uses a 24mm by 32mm film format, not the standard 35mm format.

S. S. Vasan's historical superproduction Chandralehka sets Indian cinema on the course of big-budget entertainment.

First U.S. cable television systems appear.

Nationalization of film industries in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Rumania.

After being dissolved after the war which destroyed most of the factory, Asahi Optical Co. was restarted. It makes binoculars for export.

Chinon Industries, Inc.'s forerunner, Sanshin Seisakusho, is established by Chino Hiroshi to manufacture lens barrels and mounts for cameras such as Olympus, Ricoh, and Yashica.

A wave of protectionist legislation in France, Britain, and Italy sets quotas on American film imports or screen time allotted to domestic product.

Hasselblad introduces the 1600F camera.

Columbia Pictures converts its short-subject division to television production, beginning a trend other Hollywood studios would soon follow.

The Communist Party in the newly established People's Republic of China founds the Beijing Film Studio and nationalizes the film industry.

Following a decade of anti-trust litigation, the United States Supreme Court finds Hollywood guilty of monopolistic practices and hands down the Paramount decision, ordering the studios to divorce and divest their theater chains.

Britain's Ealing Studios establishes its reputation for witty comedies with Passport to Pimlico, Whiskey Galore!, and Kind Hearts and Coronets.

In April, Canon Camera Company markets the Canon IIB 35mm rangefinder camera having a viewfinder which could switch magnifications to match the field of view for the 50mm, 100mm, and 135mm interchangeable lenses.

Takachiho Seisaku-sho is renamed Olympus Kogaku Kogyo K.K. (Olympus Optical Company, Ltd.).