100 Greatest 1950-1959 Movies
List of best films from 1950 to 1959 of USA. Excluding Disney films and films with mixed, negative or panned reception.
--1984-1956
--M-1951
Between Midnight & Dream1950
Denver & Rio Grande1952
--1984-1956
--M-1951
Between Midnight & Dream1950
Denver & Rio Grande1952
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- DirectorCharles LamontStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloPatricia MedinaTwo Brooklyn wrestling promoters go to French Algeria in search of a famous Algerian wrestler but accidentally end-up in the French Foreign Legion.--
- DirectorJoseph M. NewmanStarsEdmond O'BrienJoanne DruOtto KrugerAn electronics expert creates a huge bookie broadcast system for his crime boss, and takes over operations when his boss is murdered. His greed leads him on a deadly destructive path.
- DirectorAlbert S. RogellStarsEdmond O'BrienWanda HendrixRudy ValleeEx-WAVE encounters four fun-loving, work-hating men, all of whom want to marry her.--
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsBette DavisAnne BaxterGeorge SandersA seemingly timid but secretly ruthless ingénue insinuates herself into the lives of an aging Broadway star and her circle of theater friends.--
- DirectorSam WoodStarsRobert TaylorJohn HodiakArlene DahlIn 1878, Ward Kinsman, a prospector and Indian scout, is persuaded by the US Cavalry to find Mary Carlyle, the daughter of a general, who has been taken by Apaches.--
- DirectorFritz LangStarsTyrone PowerMicheline PresleTom EwellAmerican soldiers stranded in the Philippines after the Japanese invasion form guerrilla bands to fight back.
- DirectorGeorge SidneyBusby BerkeleyStarsBetty HuttonHoward KeelLouis CalhernThe story of the great sharpshooter Annie Oakley, who rose to fame while dealing with her love/professional rival, Frank Butler.--
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsSterling HaydenLouis CalhernJean HagenA major heist goes off as planned, but then double crosses, bad luck and solid police work cause everything to unravel.
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsViveca LindforsDane ClarkVirginia MayoWhile recuperating from wartime back injuries at a hospital, veteran Bob Corey is visited on Christmas Eve by a beautiful stranger with an even stranger message.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsVincent PriceEllen DrewVladimir SokoloffMaster swindler James Reavis painstakingly spends years forging documents and land grants that will make his wife and him undisputed owners of the entire territory of Arizona.--
- DirectorGeorge SeatonStarsMontgomery CliftPaul DouglasCornell BorchersExperiences of two Air Force sergeants during the 1948 Berlin Airlift.--
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsTyrone PowerOrson WellesCécile AubryA disinherited 13th Century Saxon nobleman leaves Norman England with an archer friend to seek his fortune in the Far East.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsMel FerrerJoan FontaineRobert RyanA woman's attempt to appear innocent and sweet clashes with her lover, who sees through her act, and the wealthy man she tries to trick into marrying her.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsJudy HollidayWilliam HoldenBroderick CrawfordA tycoon hires a tutor to teach his lover proper etiquette, with unexpected results.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJohn GarfieldPatricia NealPhyllis ThaxterAn otherwise moral captain of a charter boat becomes financially strapped and is drawn into illegal activities in order to keep up payments on his boat.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsGary CooperLauren BacallPatricia NealIn 1894, Brant Royle shocks the aristocratic tobacco growers of Kingsmont by planning to mass-produce cigarettes.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsJames StewartJeff ChandlerDebra PagetTom Jeffords tries to make peace between settlers and Apaches in Arizona territory.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsEleanor ParkerAgnes MooreheadEllen CorbyA gentle, naive, pregnant 19-year-old widow is slowly, inexorably ground down by the hardened criminals, sadistic guards, and matron at a woman's prison. Will she be the same person when her sentence is up?
- DirectorRichard WhorfStarsRonald ColmanCeleste HolmVincent PriceIn order to get even with the pompous president of a soap company, an eccentric genius goes on his quiz show in order to bankrupt his company.--
- DirectorWalter LangStarsClifton WebbMyrna LoyJeanne CrainMyrna Loy plays the wife of the persnickety father of her 12 children, Clifton Webb, who has uniquely humorous methods for dealing with the ordeals such an unwieldy family undoubtedly encounters.
- DirectorGeorge ShermanStarsMaureen O'HaraMacdonald CareyWill GeerWhite settlers plan to defy the agreement between the government and the Comanche in order to mine for silver on Comanche lands, while scout Jim Bowie tries to keep the peace in the territory.--
- DirectorHenry LevinStarsGlenn FordBroderick CrawfordMillard MitchellA D.A. becomes the prison warden where he tries to help an inmate he prosecuted, because he believes his sentence was excessive.--
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsCary GrantJosé FerrerPaula RaymondWhile on vacation in a Latin American country, an American neurosurgeon and his wife become tangled in a revolutionary uprising against a tyrannical dictator.
- DirectorMichael GordonStarsJosé FerrerMala PowersWilliam PrinceThe charismatic swordsman-poet helps another woo the woman he loves.--
- DirectorStuart HeislerStarsGary CooperRuth RomanSteve CochranA former Confederate officer hunting for an outlaw who wronged him finds him in Dallas, but now as a wealthy, respectable citizen.
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsJoan CrawfordDavid BrianSteve CochranA New York socialite climbs the ladder of success man by man until a life among rich gangsters gives her what she thought she always wanted.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsCharlton HestonLizabeth ScottViveca LindforsGamblers who "took" an out-of-town sucker in a crooked poker game feel shadowy vengeance closing in on them.^
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsJune HaverGordon MacRaeJames BartonAn Irish horsecar driver's daughter meets New York showman Tony Pastor and goes into vaudeville.--
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsRobert TaylorLouis CalhernPaula RaymondAfter the Civil War, a highly decorated Shoshone Indian veteran plans to raise cattle in Wyoming but white farmers plan to grab fertile tribal lands by pitting the whites against the Indians.--
- DirectorLewis R. FosterStarsJohn PayneRhonda FlemingDennis O'KeefeA Texas Ranger and a government agent team up to help Mexican patriot Juarez fend off European opposition.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsDana AndrewsFarley GrangerJoan EvansA mentally unbalanced young man kills a priest. One of the priest's colleagues sets out to find the killer.--
- DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsBob HopeLucille BallBruce CabotAn American actor impersonating an English butler is hired by a woman from New Mexico to refine her husband and headstrong daughter. The complications increase when the town believes Arthur to be an Earl, and President Roosevelt decides to pay a visit.
- DirectorAbby BerlinNorman FosterStarsWilliam HoldenColeen GrayMary Jane SaundersWilliam Holden plays a drifter who comes to a small town and discovers a cabin in the forest where five kids--January, February, March, April, and May--are living on their own. Their parents died a while ago, and they want to keep that a secret from the townspeople, especially the young schoolteacher (Coleen Gray), because they don't want to end up in a children's home and then eventually separated. Holden's character moves in with the kids and poses as their uncle to take care of them while romancing the teacher. However, in order to keep the children, he must get married.--
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsSpencer TracyJoan BennettElizabeth TaylorThe father of a young woman deals with the emotional pain of her getting married, along with the financial and organizational trouble of arranging the wedding.--
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsBarbara StanwyckWendell CoreyPaul KellyAssistant district attorney Cleve Marshall falls for the mysterious Thelma Jordon when she seeks help solving robberies of her aunt's estate.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsBurt LancasterVirginia MayoRobert DouglasDardo, a Robin Hood-like figure, and his loyal followers use a Roman ruin in Medieval Lombardy as their headquarters as they conduct an insurgency against their Hessian conquerors.
- DirectorGeorge SeatonStarsClifton WebbJoan BennettRobert CummingsAn angel disguises himself as a crusty old rancher in order to visit Earth and help an unborn child find suitable parents.--
- DirectorLouis KingStarsJoel McCreaShelley WintersPaul KellyFrenchie Fontaine sells her successful business in New Orleans to come West. Her reason? Find the men who killed her father, Frank Dawson. But she only knows one of the two who did and she's determined to find out the other.--
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsLucille BallEddie AlbertCarl Benton ReidScatterbrained Sally Elliott tries to get a job as a Fuller brush girl and desperate for money she borrows her friend's kit without permission and her attempts at selling cosmetics door-to-door are disastrous. She and her fiance Humphrey get involved in a smuggling scheme and she becomes the prime suspect in first one and then a second murder. She and Humphrey find themselves dodging the police while trying to catch the real killers.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsBarbara StanwyckWendell CoreyWalter HustonA firebrand heiress clashes with her tyrannical father, a cattle rancher who fancies himself a Napoleon, but their relationship turns ugly only when he finds himself a new woman.--
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsJane WymanKirk DouglasGertrude LawrenceMerchant marine officer Tom Wingfield reminisces about his life in St. Louis where he had lived with his nagging mother Amanda and crippled shy sister Laura.--
- DirectorFelix E. FeistStarsCharles BickfordBonita GranvillePaul KellyThe story of Cardinal Josef Mindszenty, a Roman Catholic cardinal from Hungary who spoke out against both the German occupation of his country during World War II and the Communist regime that replaced it after the war. Mindszenty was arrested, tortured, and eventually released, but was persecuted to the extent that he wound up taking refuge in the US Embassy in Budapest for many years, still acting as a spokesman for the Hungarians who wanted the Soviet occupation forces and their Hungarian collaborators out of the country.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsGregory PeckHelen WestcottMillard MitchellNotorious gunfighter Jimmy Ringo rides into town to find his true love, who doesn't want to see him. He hasn't come looking for trouble, but trouble finds him around every corner.--
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsJoan CrawfordWendell CoreyLucile WatsonHarriet Craig enjoys married life but constantly tries to control those around her. She does not even trust her husband Walter and always checks up on him.--
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsJames StewartWallace FordWilliam H. LynnDue to his insistence that he has an invisible six foot-tall rabbit for a best friend, a whimsical middle-aged man is thought by his family to be insane - but he may be wiser than anyone knows.
- DirectorAndrew L. StoneStarsWilliam P. Lane Jr.John S. BattleW. Kerr ScottLed by a psychopathic killer, a vicious gang of armed robbers terrorizes Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, robbing banks and payrolls and murdering anyone who might identify them.--
- DirectorFritz LangStarsLouis HaywardLee BowmanJane WyattA deranged writer murders a maid after she resists his advances. The writer engages his brother's help in hiding the body, causing unexpected problems for both of them.--
- DirectorGeorge ArchainbaudStarsGig YoungLynne RobertsMary AndersonThe suspect in a 12-year-old murder case is finally caught and tried, but the witnesses are a bit hard to track down...--
- DirectorRichard SaleStarsJune HaverWilliam LundiganGloria DeHavenUpdated version of "Tin Pan Alley" concerns two songwriters and their romantic entanglements with the pretty pair of sisters helping them plug their songs.--
- 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.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsJackie RobinsonRuby DeeMinor WatsonBiography of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player in the 20th century. Traces his career in the negro leagues and the major leagues. Restored in original Black and White.--
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsPat O'BrienWayne MorrisDolores MoranMartin is a wounded gangster comforted by a visits from a little girl and her tiny dog with one bad eye. As he hides out, he makes plans to find his abusive, double crossing, partner.--
- DirectorDavid BradleyStarsCharlton HestonGrosvenor GlennHarold TaskerThe growing ambition of Julius Caesar is a source of major concern to his close friend Brutus. Cassius persuades him to participate in his plot to assassinate Caesar but they have both sorely underestimated Mark Antony.^
- DirectorGeorge SidneyStarsClark GableLoretta YoungFrank MorganTwo mayors meet at a convention and, despite their contrasting personalities and views, find themselves attracted to one other.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsWilliam BendixUna MerkelRay CollinsAn umpire-hating ex-baseball player loses many jobs because of his passion for watching ball games during working hours, but he decides to combine business with pleasure by becoming an umpire himself.--
- DirectorEarl McEvoyStarsEvelyn KeyesCharles KorvinWilliam BishopPolice seek a smuggler while doctors, unaware she's the same person, desperately comb unprotected New York for a smallpox carrier.--
- DirectorVictor SavilleStarsErrol FlynnDean StockwellPaul LukasDuring the British Raj, the orphan of a British soldier poses as a Hindu and is torn between his loyalty to a Buddhist mystic and aiding the English secret service.
- DirectorCompton BennettAndrew MartonStarsDeborah KerrStewart GrangerRichard CarlsonAdventurer Allan Quartermain leads an expedition into uncharted African territory in an attempt to locate an explorer who went missing during his search for the fabled diamond mines of King Solomon.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsJames CagneyBarbara PaytonHelena CarterStarting with a violent prison break, clever, ruthless Ralph Cotter corrupts everyone around him.--
- DirectorJoseph H. LewisStarsHedy LamarrJohn HodiakJames CraigDuring the 1950s, an undercover U.S. Immigration investigator travels to Cuba to bust a crime ring that smuggles illegal-aliens into the USA but he falls in love with a smuggled woman.--
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsBetty HuttonFred AstaireRoland YoungAfter the war, Donald Elwood meets his former USO partner, Kitty McNeil, who is now a rich widow with a little child. She tries to evade her paternal grandmother, who wants her to live in a way according to the customs of her dead husband's class.--
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsLana TurnerRay MillandTom EwellA girl from Kansas arrives in New York City to become a model. Her further success brings her before moral choice.
- DirectorAlexander HallStarsRonald ReaganCharles CoburnRuth HusseyTo her family's discomfiture, grandmother Louisa starts dating two men...a grocer and her son's boss.( --
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsLouis CalhernAnn HardingEduard FranzBiography of celebrated American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes.
- DirectorFelix E. FeistStarsLee J. CobbJane WyattJohn DallA veteran homicide detective who has witnessed his socialite girlfriend kill her husband sees his newly-minted detective brother assigned to the case alongside him.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsMarlon BrandoTeresa WrightEverett SloaneA paralyzed war vet tries to adjust to the world without the use of his limbs.-- @
- DirectorH.C. PotterVictor SavilleStarsGreer GarsonWalter PidgeonJohn HodiakGreer Garson and Walter Pidgeon reprise their legendary roles as Mr. and Mrs. Miniver in this lovingly crafted sequel to their Academy Award®-winning hit Mrs. Miniver.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsBurt LancasterEdmund GwennDorothy McGuireGentle romantic comedy about a Secret Service Agent trying to catch a cold case counterfeiter and a United Nations translator.
- DirectorRay EnrightRaoul WalshStarsErrol FlynnAlexis SmithS.Z. SakallAn Australian sheepman comes to Montana looking for grazing space, and is opposed by local ranchers and a wealthy cattle-woman.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsMarjorie MainJames WhitmoreAnn DvorakA paroled embezzler skips town with his $100K loot and boards the Chicago-New York train, followed by an assortment of shady characters who want the money, but en-route to NYC the embezzler is murdered and his loot disappears.--
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsIrene DunneAlec GuinnessAndrew RayAn urchin, scavenging on a bank of the River Thames, finds a cameo depicting Queen Victoria. So taken by her beauty, he is determined to see her and sets off for Windsor Castle.--
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsBetty GrableDan DaileyDavid WayneBetty Grable and Dan Dailey are a married song and dance team who cannot have children. The movie follows the travails as they try and adopt and keep the kids they adopt while performing on their TV show.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsRicardo MontalbanSally ForrestBruce BennettA small-town policeman is assisted by a Harvard professor after the discovery of a human skeleton on a Massachusetts beach.--
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsAnn SothernJane PowellBarry SullivanA mother and daughter compete over the same singing role and, unbeknownst to each other, the same man.--
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsRandolph ScottDorothy MaloneForrest TuckerA mysterious stranger crosses paths with an outlaw bank robber and a greedy rancher.
- DirectorJules DassinStarsRichard WidmarkGene TierneyGoogie WithersA small-time grifter and nightclub tout takes advantage of some fortuitous circumstances and tries to become a big-time player as a wrestling promoter.--
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsBarbara StanwyckJohn LundJane CowlA pregnant woman adopts the identity of a railroad-crash victim and starts a new life with the woman's wealthy in-laws, but is soon blackmailed by her devious ex.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsRichard WidmarkLinda DarnellStephen McNallyTwo hoodlum brothers are brought into a hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one of them dies the other accuses their black doctor of murder.--
- DirectorW. Lee WilderStarsCesar RomeroJune HavocMarie McDonaldA down-on-her-luck San Francisco woman, turning in desperation to jewel robbery, barely escapes getting nabbed in a heist and moves to Los Angeles where she gets an honest job as a waitress. Her troubles start again, however, when she falls madly in love, blind to the fact that her boyfriend is a four-flushing, small-time con man.--
- DirectorHugo FregoneseStarsJames MasonMärta TorénDan DuryeaAfter stealing a gangster's money and his girlfriend, a doctor heads for a small village in Mexico.--
- DirectorElia KazanStarsRichard WidmarkPaul DouglasBarbara Bel GeddesA doctor and a policeman in New Orleans have only 48 hours to locate a killer infected with pneumonic plague.
- DirectorBretaigne WindustStarsGinger RogersDennis MorganThelma RitterGinger Rogers and Dennis Morgan, serving on a sequestered jury during a murder trial, fall in love. She is divorced, he is married.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsDeborah KerrRobert WalkerMark StevensAn English woman, inherits a Texas Ranch and heads to America. A gambler in debt pursues her, so does a bachelor on the hunt, who is traveling with his lawyer, to whom Kirbe is most attracted. Unfortunately, he thinks she's running a scam.--
- DirectorIrving PichelStarsMickey RooneyJeanne CagneyBarbara BatesAfter taking 20 dollars from his employer to go on a date with plans to repay it the next day, an auto mechanic falls into increasingly disastrous circumstances for more and more money which rapidly spirals out of his control.--
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsBing CrosbyColeen GrayCharles BickfordA horse trainer who has fallen on hard times looks to his horse, Broadway Bill, to finally win the big race.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsJune AllysonDick PowellRicardo MontalbanTwo boxing promoters compete to sign up Mexican-American prizefighter Johnny Monterez who, despite his talent, is ashamed of his heritage and boxes on borrowed time due to a permanent hand injury.--
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneMaureen O'HaraBen JohnsonA cavalry officer posted on the Rio Grande is confronted with murderous raiding Apaches, a son who's a risk-taking recruit and his wife from whom he has been separated for many years.--
- DirectorWilliam KeighleyStarsErrol FlynnPatrice WymoreScott ForbesIn California during the Civil War, a Confederate patrol and a Union troop must set their differences aside in order to survive a Shoshone attack.
- DirectorMel FerrerStarsClaudette ColbertRobert RyanJane CowlA woman preparing to marry her fiance is accused of bigamy by a stranger but she fights back by trying to prove she's the victim of a conspiracy designed to discredit her.--
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsJoan FontaineJoseph CottenFrançoise RosayAn industrialist and a pianist who fall in love in postwar Italy are pronounced dead when they miss their flight home, but the former's wife does not give him up.--
- DirectorPat JacksonStarsAnn SothernZachary ScottGigi PerreauA woman impulsively murders her sister after discovering she has been having an affair with her fiancé, and later plans on killing the little girl who may have witnessed the crime.--
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsFarley GrangerCathy O'DonnellJames CraigA struggling young father-to-be gives in to temptation and impulsively steals money from the office of a shady lawyer--with catastrophic consequences.--
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsAudie MurphyWanda HendrixBurl IvesA tomboy frontier lawyer finds an outlaw and his son hiding out from a false murder charge.--
- DirectorCy EndfieldStarsFrank LovejoyKathleen RyanRichard CarlsonA man who is down on his luck falls in with a criminal.--
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsMarlene DietrichJane WymanRichard ToddA struggling actress tries to help a friend prove his innocence after he's accused of murdering the husband of a high-society entertainer.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsJoel McCreaEllen DrewDean StockwellIn 1865, the small Southern town of Walsburg has become so dangerous that Parson Josiah Doziah Gray gives his sermons while holding a gun.
- DirectorCharles WaltersStarsJudy GarlandGene KellyEddie BrackenA small-town farmer, down on her luck, finds her homestead invaded by a theatrical troupe invited to stay by her ne'er-do-well sister.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsWilliam HoldenGloria SwansonErich von StroheimA screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.--
- DirectorSidney GilliatStarsDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Glynis JohnsJack HawkinsIn post-WW2 Europe, when the dictator of a small police state dies during surgery, the operating surgeon, who's a visiting American doctor, is held captive in order to preserve the terrible state secret.--
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsDoris DayGordon MacRaeGene NelsonA socialite with aspirations of a career in show business bets her wealthy uncle $25,000 that she can say "no" to everything for two days straight, hoping winning will help her fulfill her dreams.--