1943 National Board of Review – Best Director Winner

Bataan
Tay Garnett
In 1942, in the Bataan peninsula of the Philippines, a ragtag American unit commanded by Sergeant Bill Dane attempts to blow-up a bridge in order to slow the Japanese advance.

Casablanca
Michael Curtiz
A cynical American expatriate struggles to decide whether or not he should help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape French Morocco.

The Ox-Bow Incident
William A. Wellman
When a posse captures three men suspected of killing a local farmer, they become strongly divided over whether or not to lynch the men.