20 Greatest Movies of Each Year 1950s

Movie Posters for A Streetcar Named Desire, and Seven Samurai
Criteria: The movies are ranked according to their initial and lasting acclaim, influence as well as initial and lasting popularity.

Last Updated: 2021-12-24
20 Greatest Movies of Each Year 1950s

20 Greatest Movies of 1959

  #. Movie Title - (Directors Name)

  1. Some Like It Hot - (Billy Wilder)
  2. North by Northwest - (Alfred Hitchcock)
  3. The 400 Blows - (François Truffaut)
  4. Ben-Hur - (William Wyler)
  5. Rio Bravo - (Howard Hawks)
  6. Hiroshima mon amour - (Alain Resnais)
  7. Anatomy of a Murder - (Otto Preminger)
  8. Imitation of Life - (Douglas Sirk)
  9. Pickpocket - (Robert Bresson)
10. The World of Apu - (Satyajit Ray)
11. Shadows - (John Cassavetes)
12. Pillow Talk - (Michael Gordon)
13. Black Orpheus - (Marcel Camus)
14. Room at the Top - (Jack Clayton)
15. Suddenly, Last Summer - (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
16. Ballad of a Soldier - (Grigory Chukhray)
17. Sleeping Beauty - (Clyde Geronimi)
18. The Nun's Story - (Fred Zinnemann)
19. Floating Weeds - (Yasujirô Ozu)
20. House on Haunted Hill - (William Castle)

Some Like It Hot DVD cover

20 Greatest Movies of 1958

  1. Vertigo - (Alfred Hitchcock)
  2. Touch of Evil - (Orson Welles)
  3. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - (Richard Brooks)
  4. Elevator to the Gallows - (Louis Malle)
  5. Dracula - (Terence Fisher)
  6. Ashes and Diamonds - (Andrzej Wajda)
  7. Mon Oncle - (Jacques Tati)
  8. The Defiant Ones - (Stanley Kramer)
  9. The Hidden Fortress - (Akira Kurosawa)
10. Gigi - (Vincente Minnelli)
11. Big Deal on Madonna Street - (Mario Monicelli)
12. Some Came Running - (Vincente Minnelli)
13. The Music Room - (Satyajit Ray)
14. The Fly - (Kurt Neumann)
15. The Big Country - (William Wyler)
16. A Night to Remember - (Roy Ward Baker)
17. Auntie Mame - (Morton DaCosta)
18. The Blob - (Irvin Yeaworth)
19. Madhumati - (Bimal Roy)
20. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad - (Nathan Juran)

Vertigo DVD cover

20 Greatest Movies of 1957

  1. 12 Angry Men - (Sidney Lumet)
  2. The Bridge on the River Kwai - (David Lean)
  3. The Seventh Seal - (Ingmar Bergman)
  4. Paths of Glory - (Stanley Kubrick)
  5. Wild Strawberries - (Ingmar Bergman)
  6. Sweet Smell of Success - (Alexander Mackendrick)
  7. Throne of Blood - (Akira Kurosawa)
  8. Nights of Cabiria - (Federico Fellini)
  9. Witness for the Prosecution - (Billy Wilder)
10. Mother India - (Mehboob Khan)
11. The Incredible Shrinking Man - (Jack Arnold)
12. The Cranes are Flying - (Mikhail Kalatozov)
13. An Affair to Remember - (Leo McCarey)
14. The Curse of Frankenstein - (Terence Fisher)
15. Pyaasa - (Guru Dutt)
16. A Face in the Crowd - (Elia Kazan)
17. Funny Face - (Stanley Donen)
18. What's Opera, Doc? - (Chuck Jones)
19. Plan 9 from Outer Space - (Edward D. Wood, Jr.)
20. Night of the Demon - (Jacques Tourneur)

12 Angry Men movie poster

20 Greatest Movies of 1956

  1. The Searchers - (John Ford)
  2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers - (Don Siegel)
  3. The Ten Commandments - (Cecil B. DeMille)
  4. A Man Escaped - (Robert Bresson)
  5. Night and Fog - (Alain Resnais)
  6. Forbidden Planet - (Fred M. Wilcox)
  7. The Killing - (Stanley Kubrick)
  8. Aparajito - (Satyajit Ray)
  9. Written on the Wind - (Douglas Sirk)
10. Giant - (George Stevens)
11. The King and I - (Walter Lang)
12. The Red Balloon - (Albert Lamorisse)
13. Bob le flambeur - (Jean-Pierre Melville)
14. The Burmese Harp - (Kon Ichikawa)
15. Baby Doll - (Elia Kazan)
16. Around the World in 80 Days - (Michael Anderson)
17. The Wrong Man - (Alfred Hitchcock)
18. Bigger Than Life - (Nicholas Ray)
19. And God Created Woman - (Roger Vadim)
20. Moby Dick - (John Huston)

The Searchers DVD cover

20 Greatest Movies of 1955

  1. Pather Panchali - (Satyajit Ray)
  2. Rebel Without a Cause - (Nicholas Ray)
  3. The Night of the Hunter - (Charles Laughton)
  4. Les diaboliques - (Henri-Georges Clouzot)
  5. Rififi - (Jules Dassin)
  6. East of Eden - (Elia Kazan)
  7. Kiss Me Deadly - (Robert Aldrich)
  8. Ordet - (Carl Theodor Dreyer)
  9. All That Heaven Allows - (Douglas Sirk)
10. The Ladykillers - (Alexander Mackendrick)
11. Marty - (Delbert Mann)
12. Blackboard Jungle - (Richard Brooks)
13. The Man with the Golden Arm - (Otto Preminger)
14. Smiles of a Summer Night - (Ingmar Bergman)
15. Bad Day at Black Rock - (John Sturges)
16. Lady and the Tramp - (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske)
17. Lola Montès - (Max Ophüls)
18. The Seven Year Itch - (Billy Wilder)
19. Mister Roberts - (John Ford & Mervyn LeRoy)
20. Guys and Dolls - (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)

Pather Panchali movie poster

20 Greatest Movies of 1954

  1. Seven Samurai - (Akira Kurosawa)
  2. Rear Window - (Alfred Hitchcock)
  3. On the Waterfront - (Elia Kazan)
  4. La strada - (Federico Fellini)
  5. Godzilla - (Ishirô Honda)
  6. Sansho the Bailiff - (Kenji Mizoguchi)
  7. A Star Is Born - (George Cukor)
  8. Johnny Guitar - (Nicholas Ray)
  9. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - (Richard Fleischer)
10. Journey to Italy - (Roberto Rossellini)
11. The Caine Mutiny - (Edward Dmytryk)
12. Vera Cruz - (Robert Aldrich)
13. Sabrina - (Billy Wilder)
14. White Christmas - (Michael Curtiz)
15. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - (Stanley Donen)
16. Dial M for Murder - (Alfred Hitchcock)
17. Them! - (Gordon Douglas)
18. Touchez pas au grisbi - (Jacques Becker)
19. Creature from the Black Lagoon - (Jack Arnold)
20. Senso - (Luchino Visconti)

Seven Samurai DVD cover

20 Greatest Movies of 1953

  1. Tokyo Story - (Yasujirô Ozu)
  2. Ugetsu - (Kenji Mizoguchi)
  3. Roman Holiday - (William Wyler)
  4. The Wages of Fear - (Henri-Georges Clouzot)
  5. Shane - (George Stevens)
  6. From Here to Eternity - (Fred Zinnemann)
  7. Mr. Hulot's Holiday - (Jacques Tati)
  8. The Band Wagon - (Vincente Minnelli)
  9. The Big Heat - (Fritz Lang)
10. I vitelloni - (Federico Fellini)
11. The Earrings of Madame De... - (Max Ophüls)
12. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - (Howard Hawks)
13. Stalag 17 - (Billy Wilder)
14. House of Wax - (André De Toth)
15. The War of the Worlds - (Byron Haskin)
16. Pickup on South Street - (Samuel Fuller)
17. Duck Amuck - (Chuck Jones)
18. The Wild One - (László Benedek)
19. Little Fugitive - (Ray Ashley, Morris Engel & Ruth Orkin)
20. Summer with Monika - (Ingmar Bergman)

Tokyo Story movie poster

20 Greatest Movies of 1952

  1. Singin' in the Rain - (Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly)
  2. High Noon - (Fred Zinnemann)
  3. Ikiru - (Akira Kurosawa)
  4. The Quiet Man - (John Ford)
  5. Umberto D. - (Vittorio De Sica)
  6. The Bad and the Beautiful - (Vincente Minnelli)
  7. Forbidden Games - (René Clément)
  8. The Life of Oharu - (Kenji Mizoguchi)
  9. Limelight - (Charles Chaplin)
10. Casque d'Or - (Jacques Becker)
11. The Greatest Show on Earth - (Cecil B. DeMille)
12. Le Plaisir - (Max Ophüls)
13. Europa '51 - (Roberto Rossellini)
14. Come Back, Little Sheba - (Daniel Mann)
15. Bend of the River - (Anthony Mann)
16. Viva Zapata! - (Elia Kazan)
17. Ivanhoe - (Richard Thorpe)
18. The Lusty Men - (Nicholas Ray)
19. Scaramouche - (George Sidney)
20. Moulin Rouge - (John Huston)

Singin' in the Rain movie poster

20 Greatest Movies of 1951

  1. A Streetcar Named Desire - (Elia Kazan)
  2. The African Queen - (John Huston)
  3. Strangers on a Train - (Alfred Hitchcock)
  4. An American in Paris - (Vincente Minnelli)
  5. The Day the Earth Stood Still - (Robert Wise)
  6. Diary of a Country Priest - (Robert Bresson)
  7. A Place in the Sun - (George Stevens)
  8. Ace in the Hole - (Billy Wilder)
  9. The Thing from Another World - (Christian Nyby & Howard Hawks)
10. Awaara - (Raj Kapoor)
11. The River - (Jean Renoir)
12. Miracle in Milan - (Vittorio De Sica)
13. Early Summer - (Yasujirô Ozu)
14. The Lavender Hill Mob - (Charles Crichton)
15. Alice in Wonderland - (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske)
16. Quo Vadis - (Mervyn LeRoy)
17. Scrooge - (Brian Desmond Hurst)
18. Othello - (Orson Welles)
19. The Man in the White Suit - (Alexander Mackendrick)
20. Detective Story - (William Wyler)

A Streetcar Named Desire movie poster

20 Greatest Movies of 1950

  1. Rashômon - (Akira Kurosawa)
  2. Sunset Boulevard - (Billy Wilder)
  3. All About Eve - (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
  4. The Asphalt Jungle - (John Huston)
  5. Los olvidados - (Luis Buñuel)
  6. In a Lonely Place - (Nicholas Ray)
  7. Gun Crazy - (Joseph H. Lewis)
  8. Orpheus - (Jean Cocteau)
  9. Cinderella - (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson & Hamilton Luske)
10. Winchester '73 - (Anthony Mann)
11. Harvey - (Henry Koster)
12. Night and the City - (Jules Dassin)
13. Born Yesterday - (George Cukor)
14. Stromboli - (Roberto Rossellini)
15. La ronde - (Max Ophüls)
16. Un chant d'amour - (Jean Genet)
17. The Gunfighter - (Henry King)
18. Father of the Bride - (Vincente Minnelli)
19. Rio Grande - (John Ford)
20. Broken Arrow - (Delmer Daves)

Rashômon movie poster
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