| 1. The
Searchers- Ford |
| 2.
Vertigo- Hitchcock |
| 3.
Tokyo Story- Ozu |
| 4.
Seven Samurai- Kurosawa |
| 5.
Rashoman- Kurosawa |
| 6.
Touch of Evil- Welles |
| 7.
The Earrings of Madame De… – Ophuls |
| 8.
The 400 Blows- Truffaut |
| 9.
The Seventh Seal- Bergman |
| 10. Rear Window- Hitchcock |
| 11. Early Summer- Ozu |
| 12. A Man Escaped- Bresson |
| 13. Lola Montes- Ophuls |
| 14. Paths of Glory- Kubrick |
| 15. Singin’ in the Rain- Donen, Kelly |
| 16. North By Northwest- Hitchcock |
| 17. Rio Bravo- Hawks |
| 18. La Strada – Fellini |
| 19. Umberto D- De Sica |
| 20. Pickpocket- Bresson |
| 21. Wild Strawberries- Bergman |
| 22. Sunset Boulevard – Wilder |
| 23. Written on the Wind- Sirk |
| 24. Le Plaisir- Ophuls |
| 25. The Cranes Are Flying- Kalatozov |
| 26. The Music Room- S. Ray |
| 27. The Bridge on the River Kwai- Lean |
| 28. Strangers on a Train- Hitchcock |
| 29. Johnny Guitar- N. Ray |
| 30. High Noon- Zinnemann |
| 31. Los Olvidados- Bunuel |
| 32. Diabolique- Clouzot |
| 33. On the Waterfront- Kazan |
| 34. The Quiet Man- Ford |
| 35. The Sweet Smell of Success – Mackendrick |
| 36. Some Like It Hot- Wilder |
| 37. Throne of Blood- Kurosawa |
| 38. Mon Oncle- Tati |
| 39. Floating Weeds- Ozu |
| 40. The Night of the Hunter – Laughton |
| 41. Journey to Italy- Rossellini |
| 42. Sansho the Bailiff – Mizoguchi |
| 43. Anatomy of a Murder- Preminger |
| 44. All About Eve- Mankiewicz |
| 45. La Ronde- Ophuls |
| 46. Elevator to the Gallows – Malle |
| 47. The Man with the Golden Arm- Preminger |
| 48. Pather Panchali- S. Ray |
| 49. Aparajito- S. Ray |
| 50. The Nights of the Cabiria- Fellini |
| 51. All that Heaven Allows- Sirk |
| 52. Ordet- Dreyer |
| 53. I Vitelloni- Fellini |
| 54. Pickup on South Street- Fuller |
| 55. The World of Apu- S. Ray |
| 56. Bob le Flambeur- Melville |
| 57. Shane- Stevens |
| 58. El- Bunuel |
| 59. Ugetsu- Mizoguchi |
| 60. Mr. Hulot’s Holiday- Tati |
| 61. A Star is Born- Cukor |
| 62. The Life of Oharu- Mizoguchi |
| 63. A Streetcar Named Desire- Kazan |
| 64. Detective Story- Wyler |
| 65. Ben-Hur- Wyler |
| 66. Othello- Welles |
| 67. Imitation of Life- Sirk |
| 68. Ikiru- Kurosawa |
| 69. The Big Heat- Lang |
| 70. Gun Crazy- Lewis |
| 71. In a Lonely Place- N. Ray |
| 72. Rebel Without a Cause- N. Ray |
| 73. The Wages of Fear- Clouzot |
| 74. Ashes and Diamonds- Wajda |
| 75. Orpheus- Cocteau |
| 76. Winchester ’73- A. Mann |
| 77. Forbidden Games- Clément |
| 78. Kiss Me Deadly- Aldrich |
| 79. The Asphalt Jungle- Huston |
| 80. East of Eden- Kazan |
| 81. The Naked Spur- A. Mann |
| 82. Some Came Running- Minnelli |
| 83. A Place in the Sun- Stevens |
| 84. The River- Renoir |
| 85. Ace in the Hole- Wilder |
| 86. The Band Wagon- Minnelli |
| 87. Hiroshima Mon Amour- Resnais |
| 88. The Man Who Knew Too Much- Hitchcock |
| 89. Magnificent Obsession- Sirk |
| 90. Gigi- Minnelli |
| 91. An American in Paris- Minnelli |
| 92. Il Generale Della Rovere- Rossellini |
| 93. Diary of a Country Priest- Bresson |
| 94. The Flowers of St. Francis- Rossellini |
| 95. Rififi – Dassin |
| 96. Horror of Dracula- Fisher |
| 97. Equinox Flower- Ozu |
| 98. Julius Caesar- Mankiewicz |
| 99. Curse of the Demon- Tourneur |
| 100. The Ten Commandments- DeMille |
1. Tokyo Story
2. Vertigo
3. Seven Samurai
4. The Searchers
5. The 400 Blows
6. Singin’ in the Rain
7. Rashomon
8. The Seventh Seal
9. Sunset Boulevard
10. 12 Angry Men
Thanks again for sharing Leo- I think so far it’s only this and the 10/20’s where we have a different #1 film and both “Sunrise” and “Tokyo Story” are great choices.
Yeah which is quite interesting, great minds think alike I guess!
what an incredible year for film!
Kiss me Deadly at 78? Top 10 for sure. Otherwise great list!! Kiss me Deadly is top 10 all time on Martin Scorcese list btw. 😅
@Kent. Thanks for the comment here on the 50’s page. I love talking old movies. What movie are you moving down to make room for Kiss Me Deadly? Top 10 seems way too ambitious for Kiss Me Deadly. And I love Scorsese but he champions a lot of movies. KIss Me Deadly wasn’t on his Sight and Sound choices of best movies. Those are below:
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – Stanley Kubrick
8½ (1963) – Federico Fellini
Ashes and Diamonds (1958) – Andrzej Wajda
Citizen Kane (1941) – Orson Welles
The Leopard (1963) – Luchino Visconti
Paisan (1946) – Roberto Rossellini
The Red Shoes (1948) – Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger
The River (1951) – Jean Renoir
Salvatore Giuliano (1962) – Francesco Rosi
The Searchers (1956) – John Ford
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) – Mizoguchi Kenji
Vertigo (1958) – Alfred Hitchcock
I apologize Drake, if I let Marty tell me something that could be misconstrued later. I saw him in an interview with a great late Rodger Ebert when he said it was one of the 10 best films ever made. I kind of feel like a jerk foregoing on that point. I saw that the searchers was your favorite film of all time. Great choice. Mine is unforgiven. Kind of funny they both share very serious aspects. I think unforgiven is the superior film, but just so you know I think the searchers is an all-time great film. On a totally different different aspects. I just saw the third John Wick film. I’ve been having health problems off and on for the last year. I just saw the third film last night. It was superb. I don’t want to be hyperbolic, but on first viewing, I would say it’s the best action film ever made. Above Die hard and The Bourne ultimatum. Keanu Reeves is excellent in the film. The direction the spacing the storyboarding is exquisite.
@Kent- haha I wasn’t doubting you– just to be clear– I’m positive you’re right and Scorsese said that. I just know he’s a tad prone to hyperbole and probably has about 50 “top 10” films. haha. He’s such a cinema lover- who can blame him? He’s passionate. I’d be the same way if I didn’t write them down. He’s a big admirer of the film- for sure. I think Tarantino is too. I respect these guys for sure– but I also part ways with them. For years (not sure if it’s still true) Scorsese picked a movie called “The Horse Thief” (1986) as the best film of the 1990’s. I tracked it down. And it didn’t nab a spot in my top 100.
Great stuff here on John Wick. I think they’ve progressively gotten better. JW3 is currently in my top 10 of 2019 and I look forward to a second viewing. Have you seen Atomic Blonde? I think it’s actually stronger than any JW film.
kent, speaking of unforgiven and searchers, they are both based on books by alan lemay and im sorry to hear about health problems. to me searchers is an all time great probaly top ten. i actually have yet to see unforgiven, i have fairly recently gotten into cinema, but clint eastwood is an all time great actor. john wayne gives perhaps the greatest film performance ever as ethan. anyways i hope you get better.
Most apparitions in the « Best Performances of the Year » category, in the 50’s :
James Stewart (5) :
} 5# en 1950.
} 5# en 1953.
} 5# en 1954.
} 1# en 1958.
} 2# en 1959.
Kirk Douglas (4) :
} 4# en 1951.
} 5# en 1951.
} 4# en 1956.
} 5# en 1957.
William Holden (3) :
} 1# en 1950.
} 4# en 1953.
} 3# en 1957.
Toshiro Mifune (3) :
} 2# en 1950.
} 2# en 1954.
} 6# en 1957.
Marlon Brando (2) :
} 1# en 1951.
} 1# en 1954.
Montgomery Clift (2) :
} 2# en 1951.
} 1# en 1953.
Frank Sinatra (2) :
} 2# en 1953.
} 1# en 1955.
James Dean (2) :
} 2# en 1955.
} 2# en 1956.
Takashi Shimura (2) :
} 2# en 1952.
} 3# en 1954.
Tony Curtis (2) :
} 4# en 1957.
} 6# en 1959.
Gene Kelly (1) :
} 1# en 1952.
John Wayne (1) :
} 1# en 1956.
Max Von Sydow (1) :
} 1# en 1957.
Cary Grant (1) :
} 1# en 1959.
Victor Sjöström (1) :
} 2# en 1957.
Christopher Lee (1) :
} 2# en 1958.
Edmund O’Brien (1) :
} 3# en 1950.
Robert Walker (1) :
} 3# en 1951.
Jean Gabin (1) :
} 3# en 1952.
Burt Lancaster (1) :
} 3# en 1953.
Robert Mitchum (1) :
} 3# en 1955.
Rock Hudson (1) :
} 3# en 1955.
Alec Guinness (1) :
} 3# en 1957.
Orson Welles (1) :
} 3# en 1958.
Charlton Heston (1) :
} 3# en 1959.
Sterling Hayden (1) :
} 4# en 1950.
Gary Cooper (1) :
} 4# en 1952.
Anthony Quinn (1) :
} 4# en 1954.
Burt Lancaster (1) :
} 4# en 1957.
Chhabi Biswas (1) :
} 4# en 1958.
Dean Martin (1) :
} 4# en 1959.
Carlo Battisti (1) :
} 5# en 1952.
Roger Duchesne (1) :
} 5# en 1956.
Jack Lemmon (1) :
} 5# en 1959.
Humphrey Bogart (1) :
} 6# en 1950.
Karl Maden (1) :
} 6# en 1951.
@KidCharlemagne — thank you! This is fantastic- tremendous help.
Appreciate the comment. Hope I doesn’t make mistakes. I do this because of the conversation we had about the best actors/per decade.
@KidCharlemagne — Absolutely. It is fascinating. I did this as well for my own internal notes when I was doing the top 100 actors and actresses of all-time but not broken out by decade like this which is great… It’s so cool to go back and look at what a run some of these actors went on
waterfront is top 10 at least. leonard bernsteins score along with brando’s brilliant acting, script, kazans directing, the other performances and some iconic scenes script it is one of the best films ever.
@m — thanks again for the comment. Talk to me about Kazan’s directing. What impressed you? You had me until that point. I used to think On the Waterfront was on that level but he’s just not on the level of Ozu, Kurosawa, Ophuls …
After my 4th (!) viewing of Vertigo, I feel like I agree with TSPDT. Its the best film of the 50s and one of the 10 greatest of all time. The kissing scenes are so incredible. Im taking a film studies course in school and we are learning how to make a suspense movie. Vertigo is the perfect example of how to create suspense and not mystery.
“Mystery is an intellectual process, like in a whodunit. But suspense is essentially an emotional process. Therefore, you can only get the suspense element going by giving the audience information”. Many people have criticised the flashback/letter scene because it takes away the element of surprise. What it does do is create mystery, tension and one of the most frustratingly perfect endings in cinematic history…
It so hard to come up with a definitive top 10 of all time though. Drake, if you were forced to submit your top 10, would you be confident about your choice? Would there be any new films that you may consider including?
@Azman. Yeah- I mean I just did them in April of 2019– it isn’t math, so there are always films that are close or essentially tied or grouped together. But I feel good about mine.
Wait, I looked at your top 500 and it said that films from 2009-present weren’t there. I’m confused. You mentioned that you did it in ‘April of 2019’.
@Azman. I impose a 10-year moratorium on all new films– just meaning I didn’t include any 2009-present films.
@Azman– also, I should add that although I’m confident in my top 10. I fully expect it to change the next time I do it (it already has with Joan of Arc). Just because I’m confident doesn’t mean there isn’t more to learn and process in the future. These lists are fun, but they’re not definitive. I do not believe all opinions are equal and evaluating are is subjective…but I am not fool enough to think there are definitively 10 films better than any other or something like that.
Yup Drake I agree. It’s just that my friend asked me for a top 10 and I couldn’t think of definite top 10. So I was just wondering if you faced the same struggle or not.