The Best Films of the Decade: The 1950’s

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.

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.

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.

1. The Wages of Fear
2. Tokyo Story
3. Imitation of Life
4. Kiss Me Deadly
5. A Place in the Sun
6. Rio Bravo
7. Pickup on South Street
8. Ordet
9. The Searchers
10. Seven Samurai

My top 5 sticks out like a sore thumb (except the Ozu). Probably will take some flack. I’m cool with that. Bring it.

1952: It is clearly the playground shot from Ikiru with which this idea began (https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/xsEHtPAtMc0bn5N3guqy4OtshHfNU3QXUfUWlkhh-9hdKmj50vH7mmU4p1tMOfZdnBdVQ5SF18HIH_uuzqeRerIvAmBbWOF5RqBA_uiXYXC_sW5YrzatG_2adst3fcp3SzVTCzJOJA) that triumphs in 1952. Kurosawa’s brilliant shot would blow away everything else from the year if it weren’t for Singin’ in the Rain’s iconic crane shot during the titular song (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/23/d4/dc/23d4dc21a134bd757b7ba291bed8f74b.jpg).
1953: The Earrings of Madame de… may be the best example of camera movement until 2006. Although its opening shot is not the greatest opening tracking shot of the 50s, it is very solid (https://www.slantmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/film_earringsofmadamede.jpg). Of course, we must include some shots from cinema’s greatest work of mise-en-scene, Tokyo Story. The frame of Shukichi and Tomi’s adult children staggered around their mother’s body (https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/c_G_1dRKUbLw3ADskSJ1wT2kBLO8Xn2lvwSj12Aft6hy1mKTnhxMr3NQeF7dhWQlVqxiPGcHGFwBcj30S3D-mSw14z2nQeywJKkJkUs7S6QYefyMxhJAP-595IxTI5fWOhupYgivGk-j8xzlBnK_XR_CWst83w) is one of its best frame arrangements. There is also the beautiful shot of the elderly visitors by the sea (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5c/e5/47/5ce5473ea6481b58755dbaeac7ca184e.png).
1954: Kurosawa does something in 1954, 1952, and 1950 that may be unmatched in cinema: he lays claim to the greatest shot of the year in three out of five consecutive years. Seven Samurai’s final shot (https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/QL5xZSg8mA7JuZ8R7bRsGuGZMfCG2tI70X3MQqBnryt1QSnx5gUTbANGPwVsVRqxrnvaVyfuAlK903YhpB10FAoL40BRRFG2xn4FrUzmvWVxrwieMzR5aZYBMnQK6-ZwH2C_sMCwy5KLgDpD7b5wdT6cJqwjmjZJCjD_kJs) may be my favorite closing frame in cinema (The Searchers, Nostalghia, and many others are worthy choices). There is another masterful shot in the film, utilizing the same set piece, that Kurosawa would recreate decades later in Ran (https://i.pinimg.com/originals/10/86/3b/10863be8ed52a3a76871eee612dc572a.png).
continued in next comment

1957: The Seventh Seal’s dance of death (https://www.alternateending.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/seventhsealbkgd.jpg) is one of cinema’s iconic endings. I don’t suppose most people in the world know any other shots from black and white Swedish period dramas besides this one haha. We cannot exclude the tracking shots through Paths of Glory’s trenches (https://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/blogs_2014/05/Paths-of-Glory-1957-Pictures.png), Kubrick’s first great sequences.
1958: Though Cuaron, Chazelle, and Innaritu have recently given Welles’ scene a run for its money, Touch of Evil’s opening (https://www.thebroadcastbridge.com/cache/uploads/content_images/Touch_of_Evil_2_789_352_70_s.jpg) simply must rate among the very best tracking shots of all time. Vertigo has cinema’s greatest 360 shot when Scottie’s obsession is fulfilled (https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/QnT_oqtfvmFJWI0BHj7VE4n5owsjMyAcft4hoAVaSuOp_hq2MipZMSt4k0KRMzJ1ClVlaNa86xpV2-kw0fuCBDETbFGDzRTNf7Ir7N6DcPTbOCoTQJFbmkz7UjE), and it also contains a famous silhouette using the same Technicolor green set piece (https://cms-assets.theasc.com/imager/cms-assets_theasc_com/Vertigo-Sillo_248ed78b6649d6cda0fcadc1ac9bc23e.jpg). The third masterful shot from Hitchcock’s magnum opus I find worthy of mention places Kim Novak next to the Golden Gate Bridge (https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/styles/full/public/image/vertigo-1958-003-kim-novak-beside-golden-gate-bridge.jpg?itok=iWGVcAUW).
1959: The zooming final shot of Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (https://www.criterionforum.org/img/captures/B2AF8990-AEB3-4A03-19F3-13C27BE9000B.jpg) is one of cinema’s greatest freeze frames (I may select Butch Cassidy’s final shot as my favorite), and certainly the most iconic moment of the French New Wave. Hitchcock deserves another mention for a striking composition (https://d2j1wkp1bavyfs.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/North-by-Northwest-05.jpg) that occurs just before North by Northwest’s crop duster arrives.

That’s what I have for the 50s, but I’m sure I have missed some important candidates. Any additions are certainly welcome. It was quite fun to make this list, so I may do the same for other decades.