The Top 40 Greatest Films of the 1950s
A decade of some good movies and not so good politics. I've watched 100+ movies from these ten maudlin years.
Directors with multiple entries:
Directors with multiple entries:
- Alfred Hitchcock: 4 films (Vertigo; Rear Window; North by Northwest; Strangers on a Train)
- Akira Kurosawa: 4 films (Seven Samurai; Rashomon; Ikuru; Throne of Blood)
- Billy Wilder: 3 films (Sunset Blvd.; Some Like It Hot; Ace in the Hole)
- Ingmar Bergman: 2 films (The Seventh Seal; Wild Strawberries)
- Henri-Georges Clouzot: 2 films (Diabolique; The Wages of Fear)
- Federico Fellini: 2 films (Nights of Cabiria; La Strada)
- Kenji Mizoguchi: 2 films (Sansho the Bailiff; Ugetsu)
- Nicholas Ray: 2 films (In a Lonely Place; Johnny Guitar)
- Satyajit Ray: 2 films (Pather Panchali; The World of Apu)
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40 titles
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChishû RyûChieko HigashiyamaSô YamamuraAn old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but receive little attention.My rating - 10/10
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraKeiko TsushimaFarmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.My rating - 10/10
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartKim NovakBarbara Bel GeddesA former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.My rating - 10/10
- DirectorCharles LaughtonStarsRobert MitchumShelley WintersLillian GishA self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.My rating - 10/10
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsWilliam HoldenGloria SwansonErich von StroheimA screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.My rating - 10/10
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartGrace KellyWendell CoreyA house and wheelchair-bound photographer, his fashion model girlfriend and his visiting Nurse spy on neighbors from his courtyard window. Despite skepticism by his PD Detective friend, they're convinced one of his neighbors is a murderer.My rating - 9.5/10
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsKinuyo TanakaYoshiaki HanayagiKyôko KagawaIn medieval Japan, a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.My rating - 9.5/10
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneJeffrey HunterVera MilesAn American Civil War veteran embarks on a years-long journey to rescue his niece from the Comanches after the rest of his brother's family is massacred in a raid on their Texas farm.My rating - 9.5/10
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriThe rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.My rating - 9.5/10
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsCharlton HestonOrson WellesJanet LeighA Mexican official and his American wife are targeted in a Texas border town by the crime family he's trying to put behind bars for drug trafficking, as his concern grows over the tactics of the local detective whose cooperation he needs.My rating - 9/10
- DirectorAlexander MackendrickStarsBurt LancasterTony CurtisSusan HarrisonPowerful but unethical Broadway columnist J.J. Hunsecker coerces unscrupulous press agent Sidney Falco into breaking up his sister's romance with a jazz musician.My rating - 9/10
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsHumphrey BogartGloria GrahameFrank LovejoyA potentially violent screenwriter is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. However, she soon starts to have her doubts.My rating - 9/10
- DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsHenrik MalbergEmil Hass ChristensenPreben Lerdorff RyeFollows the lives of the Borgen family, as they deal with inner conflict, as well as religious conflict with each other, and the rest of the town.My rating - 9/10
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowGunnar BjörnstrandBengt EkerotA knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.My rating - 9/10
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsMasayuki MoriMachiko KyôKinuyo TanakaA tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.My rating - 9/10
- DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsVictor SjöströmBibi AnderssonIngrid ThulinAfter living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.My rating - 9/10
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsCary GrantEva Marie SaintJames MasonA New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.My rating - 8.5/10
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsKanu BannerjeeKaruna BannerjeeSubir BanerjeeImpoverished priest Harihar Ray, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work.My rating - 8.5/10
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTakashi ShimuraNobuo KanekoShin'ichi HimoriA bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.My rating - 8.5/10
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsJean-Pierre LéaudAlbert RémyClaire MaurierA young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.My rating - 8.5/10
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsIngrid BergmanGeorge SandersMaria MaubanAn unhappily married couple attempts to find direction and insight while vacationing in Naples.My rating - 8.5/10
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsRalph MeekerAlbert DekkerPaul StewartA doomed female hitchhiker pulls Mike Hammer into a deadly whirlpool of intrigue, revolving around a mysterious "great whatsit".My rating - 8.5/10
- DirectorMikhail KalatozovStarsTatyana SamoylovaAleksey BatalovVasiliy MerkurevVeronica plans a rendezvous with her lover, Boris, at the bank of river, only for him to be drafted into World War II shortly thereafter.My rating - 8.5/10
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsMarilyn MonroeTony CurtisJack LemmonAfter two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.My rating - 8.5/10
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKirk DouglasRalph MeekerAdolphe MenjouA colonel defends three of his soldiers in a court-martial after they abandon a suicidal attack.My rating - 8.5/10