---
title: 'They Knew What They Wanted (1940)'
type: 'film'
director: 'Garson Kanin'
released: '1940-01-01'
runtime_minutes: 96
genres:
  - 'Drama'
  - 'Romance'
countries:
  - 'United States'
canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/movies/they-knew-what-they-wanted-1940'
review_count: 0
imdb: 'https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033150/'
publisher: 'CinePixo'
---

# They Knew What They Wanted (1940)

1940 · 96 min · Drama, Romance · United States


## Synopsis

They Knew What They Wanted is a 1940 film directed by Garson Kanin, written by Robert Ardrey, and starring Carole Lombard, Charles Laughton and William Gargan. It is based on the 1924 Pulitzer Prize winning play They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard. For his performance Gargan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Karl Malden made his film debut.

## Credits

- **Director:** [Garson Kanin](https://cinepixo.com/people/garson-kanin)
- **Screenplay:** [Robert Ardrey](https://cinepixo.com/people/robert-ardrey), [Sidney Howard](https://cinepixo.com/people/sidney-howard)
- **Original Music Composer:** [Alfred Newman](https://cinepixo.com/people/alfred-newman)
- **Producer:** [Erich Pommer](https://cinepixo.com/people/erich-pommer), [Harry E. Edington](https://cinepixo.com/people/harry-e-edington)
- **Director of Photography:** [Harry Stradling](https://cinepixo.com/people/harry-stradling)
- **Editor:** [John Sturges](https://cinepixo.com/people/john-sturges)

## Cast

- [Harry Carey](https://cinepixo.com/people/harry-carey-2)
- [Karl Malden](https://cinepixo.com/people/karl-malden)
- [Victor Kilian](https://cinepixo.com/people/victor-kilian)
- [Frank Fay](https://cinepixo.com/people/frank-fay)
- [Carole Lombard](https://cinepixo.com/people/carole-lombard)
- [William Gargan](https://cinepixo.com/people/william-gargan)
- [Charles Laughton](https://cinepixo.com/people/charles-laughton)

## Criticism on CinePixo

No reviews published yet.

Source: https://cinepixo.com/movies/they-knew-what-they-wanted-1940
Film facts: Wikidata (Q2318140); synopsis from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Reviews, themes and notes are the work of this site's members.