The 1,000 Best Films of all time

Selected by piero scaruffi | See the best of all time | Send suggestions | See film directors | Back to cinema
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The 1950s:


9.0 Orson Welles: Touch Of Evil (1958)
8.8 Alfred Hitchcock: North By Northwest (1959)
8.5 Akira Kurosawa: Ikiru/To Live (1952)
8.5 Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo (1958)
8.5 Ingmar Bergman: Det Sjunde Inseglet/ Seventh Seal (1956)
8.3 Federico Fellini: La Strada (1954)
8.0 Billy Wilder: Sunset Boulevard (1950)
8.0 Fritz Lang: The Big Heat (1953)
8.0 Akira Kurosawa: Shichinin No Samurai/ The Seven Samurai (1954)
8.0 Elia Kazan: On The Waterfront (1954)
8.0 Alfred Hitchcock: Rear Window (1954)
8.0 Federico Fellini: Nights of Cabiria (1957)
8.0 Charlie Chaplin: Limelight (1952)
8.0 Ingmar Bergman: Smultronstallet/ Wild Strawberries (1957)
8.0 Ingmar Bergman: Ansiktet/ Magician (1957)
8.0 Vittorio DeSica: Miracolo a Milano/ Miracle in Milan (1951)
7.9 George Stevens: Giant (1956)
7.8 Don Siegel: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
7.8 Elia Kazan: A Face in the Crowd (1957)
7.8 Alfred Hitchcock: To Catch A Thief (1955)
7.8 Vittorio DeSica: Umberto D (1955)
7.8 George Stevens: Shane (1953)
7.8 Henri Clouzot: Le Salaire de la Peur/ Wages of Fear (1953)
7.7 Akira Kurosawa: Rashomon (1950)
7.6 Yasujiro Ozu: Bakushu/ Early Summer (1951)
7.6 Kenji Mizoguchi: Sansho Dayu/ Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
7.6 Fritz Lang: While the City Sleeps (1956)
7.6 John Huston: The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
7.6 John Huston: The African Queen (1951)
7.6 Howard Hawks: Rio Bravo (1959)
7.6 Jean-Luc Godard: A Bout de Souffle/ Breathless (1959)
7.6 Carl Theodor Dreyer: Ordet (1955)
7.5 Billy Wilder: The Big Carnival/ Ace in the Hole (1951)
7.5 Billy Wilder: Some Like It Hot (1959)
7.5 Richard Quine: Bell Book and Candle (1958)
7.5 Joseph Mankiewicz: All About Eve (1950)
7.5 Elia Kazan: Baby Doll (1956)
7.5 Ingmar Bergman: Sommarnattens Leende/ Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
7.5 Ingmar Bergman: Gycklarnas Afton/ Sawdust and Tinsel (1953)
7.5 Robert Aldrich: Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
7.5 Yasujiro Ozu: Tokyo Monogatari/ Tokyo Story (1953)
7.5 John Ford: The Searchers (1956)
7.4 Fred Zinnemann: High Noon (1952)
7.4 Orson Welles: Mr Arkadin (1955)
7.4 Nicholas Ray: Johnny Guitar (1954)
7.4 Satyajit Ray: Pather Panchali/ Song of the Little Road (1955)
7.4 Satyajit Ray: Apur Sansar/ The World of Apu (1959)
7.4 Jean Cocteau: Orpheus (1950)
7.4 Mario Monicelli: La Grande Guerra/ The Great War (1959)
7.4 Robert Aldrich: Vera Cruz (1954)
7.4 Satyajit Ray: Jalsaghar/ Music Room (1958)
7.3 Jacques Tourneur: Curse of the Demon (1957)
7.3 Alain Resnais: Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
7.3 Guru Dutt: Kaagaz Ke Phool/ Paper Flowers (1959)
7.3 Georges Franju: Les Yeux Sans Visage/ Horror Chamber of Dr Faustus/ Eyes Without a Face (1959)
7.3 Douglas Sirk: Written on the Wind (1956)
7.3 Richard Quine: It Happened to Jane (1959)
7.3 Otto Preminger: Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
7.3 Mario Monicelli: I Soliti Ignoti/ Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958)
7.3 Kenji Mizoguchi: Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
7.3 Anthony Mann: The Man From Laramie (1955)
7.3 Budd Boetticher: The Tall T (1957)
7.3 Robert Aldrich: Attack (1956)
7.3 Vincente Minnelli: The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
7.3 Jules Dassin: Rififi (1955)
7.3 William Wyler: Desperate Hours (1955)
7.3 Henry Hathaway: Niagara (1953)
7.3 Jean Cocteau: The Testament of Orpheus (1959)
7.2 Max Ophuls: Lola Montes (1955)
7.2 Vincente Minnelli: Some Came Running (1958)
7.2 Satyajit Ray: Aparajito (1956)
7.2 Roberto Rossellini: Generale Della Rovere (1959)
7.2 Andzej Wajda: Popiol i Diament/ Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
7.2 Luchino Visconti: Bellissima (1951)
7.2 Francois Truffaut: Les Quatrecents Coups/ The 400 Blows (1959)
7.2 Jacques Tati: Mon Oncle/ My Uncle (1958)
7.2 Nicholas Ray: Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
7.2 Yasujiro Ozu: Tokyo Boshoku/ Tokyo Twilight (1957),
7.2 Kenji Mizoguchi: Saikaku Ichidai Onna/ Life of Oharu (1952)
7.2 Jean-Pierre Melville: Bob the Gambler (1956)
7.2 Anthony Mann: Naked Spur (1952)
7.2 Akira Kurosawa: Kakushi Toride no San-akunin/Hidden Fortress (1958)
7.2 Stanley Kubrick: Paths of Glory (1957)
7.2 Henri Clouzot: Les Diaboliques/ The Devils (1955)
7.2 John Cassavetes: Shadows (1959)
7.2 Robert Bresson: Un Condamnè à Mort s'est Echappè/ A Death-row Convict Escaped (1956)
7.2 Budd Boetticher: Ride Lonesome (1959)
7.2 Jacques Becker: Touchez Pas au Grisbi/ Grisbi (1954)
7.2 Robert Aldrich: Autumn Leaves (1956)
7.2 Vincente Minnelli: An American In Paris (1951)
7.2 Henry King: The Gunfighter (1950)
7.1 Jean Renoir: The River (1951)
7.1 Max Ophuls: Madame de/ The Earrings of Madame de (1953)
7.1 Mario Monicelli: Guardie e Ladri/ Cops and Robbers (1951)
7.1 Kenji Mizoguchi: Chikamatsu Monogatari/ Crucified Lovers (1954)
7.1 Alfred Hitchcock: Stage Fright (1950)
7.1 Alfred Hitchcock: Dial M for Murder (1954)
7.1 Howard Hawks: Monkey Business (1952)
7.1 Alessandro Blasetti: Peccato Che Sia Una Canaglia/ Too Bad He's Bad (1959)
7.1 Jacques Becker: Casque d'Or (1952)
7.1 Guru Dutt: Pyaasa/ Thirst (1957)
7.0 Youssef Chahine: Bab al-Hadid/ Cairo Station (1958)
7.0 Stanley Kubrick: The Killing (1956)
7.0 Vincente Minnelli: The Bandwagon (1953)
7.0 Vincente Minnelli: Gigi (1958)
7.0 Vincente Minnelli: Brigadoon (1954)
7.0 Val Guest: Quatermass Experiment (1956)
7.0 Teinosuke Kinugasa: Jigokumen/ Gate of Hell (1954)
7.0 Stanley Kramer: Defiant Ones (1958)
7.0 Jacques Tourneur: Nightfall (1956)
7.0 Stanley Donen: Singin' In The Rain (1952)
7.0 Sidney Lumet: 12 Angry Men (1957)
7.0 Shui Hua: Linjia Puzi/ Lin Family (1959)
7.0 Shirley Clarke: Bridges Go-Round (1959)
7.0 Sam Fuller: Pickup on South Street (1953)
7.0 Roger Vadim: Et Dieu Crea la Femme/ And God Created Woman (1957)
7.0 Robert Wise: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
7.0 Rene` Clement: Jeux Interdits (1952)
7.0 Raj Kapoor: Awaara (1951)
7.0 Nicholas Ray: In A Lonely Place (1950)
7.0 Michail Kalatozov: Letjat Zuravli/ Cranes are Flying (1957)
7.0 Mervyn LeRoy: Mister Roberts (1955)
7.0 Mehboob Khan: Mother India (1957)
7.0 Masaki Kobayashi: Ningen no Joken/ Human Condition (1959)
7.0 Lev Atamanov: Snezhnaya Koroleva/ The Snow Queen (1957)
7.0 Laszlo Benedek: The Wild One (1954)
7.0 Kurt Neumann: The Fly (1958)
7.0 Kon Ichikawa: Burmese Harp/ Biruma no Tategoto (1956)
7.0 King Vidor: Man Without a Star (1955)
7.0 King Vidor: Ruby Gentry (1952)
7.0 Jules Dassin: Night and the City (1950)
7.0 Joseph Lewis: Gun Crazy (1950)
7.0 John Sturges: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
7.0 Jacqueline Audry: Olivia (1951)
7.0 Jack Arnold: The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
7.0 Jack Arnold: It Came from Outer Space (1953)
7.0 Jack Arnold: Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
7.0 Ishiro Honda: Gojira/ Godzilla (1954)
7.0 Ida Lupino: The Hitch-hiker (1953)
7.0 Grigorij Chukrai: Ballada o soldate (1959)
7.0 Gordon Douglas: Them (1955)
7.0 George Cukor: It Should Happen to You (1954)
7.0 George Cukor: A Star Is Born (1954)
7.0 Fred Wilcox: Forbidden Planet (1956)
7.0 Frank Tashlin: The Girl Can't Help It (1956)
7.0 Frank Tashlin: Hollywood or Bust (1956)
7.0 Frank Tashlin: Artists And Models (1955)
7.0 Delmer Daves: 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
7.0 Delmer Daves: Cowboy (1957)
7.0 Delbert Mann: Marty (1955)
7.0 David Lean: The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
7.0 Claude Autant-Lara: La Traverse` de Paris/ Four Bags Full (1956)
7.0 Chuck Jones: Duck Amuck (1953)
7.0 Charles Laughton: The Night of the Hunter (1955)
7.0 Charles Lamont: Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
7.0 Charles Crichton: Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
7.0 Bimal Roy: Madhumati (1958)
7.0 Bimal Roy: Do Bigha Zamin (1953)
7.0 Bert Gordon: Beginning of the End (1957)
7.0 Andzej Wajda: Kanal/ Dannati di Varsavia (1956)
7.0 Andrzej Munk: Eroica (1958)
7.0 Alexander Mackendrick: The Man In White Suit (1951)
7.0 Alexander Mackendrick: The Ladykillers (1955)
7.0 Alexander Mackendrick: Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
7.0 Fred Zinnemann: From Here to Eternity (1953)
7.0 Fred Zinnemann: A Hatful Of Rain (1957)
7.0 William Wyler: Roman Holiday (1953)
7.0 William Wyler: Detective Story (1951)
7.0 William Wyler: Ben-Hur (1959)
7.0 Robert Wise: Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
7.0 Robert Wise: Executive Suite (1954)
7.0 Billy Wilder: The Seven Year Itch (1955)
7.0 Jacques Tati: Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot/ Hulot's Holidays (1953)
7.0 Luchino Visconti: Senso (1954)
7.0 George Stevens: A Place In The Sun (1951)
7.0 Otto Preminger: Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
7.0 Mario Monicelli: Guardie e Ladri/ Cops and Robbers (1951)
7.0 Kenji Mizoguchi: Shin Heike Monogatari/ New Tales of the Tara Clan (1955)
7.0 Anthony Mann: Winchester '73 (1951)
7.0 Anthony Mann: The Far Country (1954)
7.0 Joseph Mankiewicz: The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
7.0 Joseph Mankiewicz: People Will Talk (1951)
7.0 Louis Malle: Ascenseur pour l'Echafaud (1958)
7.0 Joseph Losey: The Prowler (1951)
7.0 Fritz Lang: Rancho Notorious (1952)
7.0 Fritz Lang: Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1955)
7.0 Akira Kurosawa: Kumonosu-jo/Throne of Blood (1957)
7.0 Elia Kazan: Viva Zapata (1952)
7.0 Alfred Hitchcock: Wrong Man (1956)
7.0 Alfred Hitchcock: Strangers on a Train (1951)
7.0 Alfred Hitchcock: I Confess (1953)
7.0 Howard Hawks: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
7.0 Christian Nyby: The Thing From Another World (1951)
7.0 Pietro Germi:Un Maledetto Imbroglio (1959)
7.0 Richard Fleischer: Narrow Margin (1952)
7.0 Luis Bunuel: Los Olvidados/ The Young and the Damned (1950)
7.0 Luis Bunuel: El (1953)
7.0 Robert Bresson: Pickpocket (1959)
7.0 Budd Boetticher: Seven Men From Now (1956)
7.0 Ingmar Bergman: Sommarem med Monika/ Summer with Monica (1952)
7.0 Ingmar Bergman: Jungfrukallan/ Virgin Spring (1959)
7.0 Michelangelo Antonioni: Il Grido/ The Cry (1957)
7.0 Michelangelo Antonioni: Cronaca di Un Amore/ Story of a Love Affair (1950)
7.0 Mehboob Khan: Mother India (1957)
7.0 Bimal Roy: Do Bigha Zamin (1953)
7.0 Ko Nakahira: Kurutta Kajitsu/ Crazed Fruit/ Juvenile Jungle (1956)
7.0 Karel Zeman: Vynalez Zkazj/ Invention for Destruction/ The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958)
7.0 William Wellman: Track of the Cat (1954)
7.0 Henry Koster: Harvey (1950)
7.0 Leopoldo Torre Nilsson: La Casa del Angel (1957)
Only some of those rated under 7.0 are listed below. Too many to list all of them.


6.9 Billy Wilder: Stalag 17 (1953)
6.9 Federico Fellini: Lo Sceicco Bianco (1952)
6.9 Federico Fellini: I Vitelloni (1953)
6.9 Luis Bunuel: Ascent to Heaven (1952)
6.8 Elia Kazan: East of Eden (1955)
6.8 Luis Bunuel: Nazarin (1959)
6.7 Federico Fellini: Il Bidone (1955)
6.5 Luis Bunuel: Susana (1951)
6.5 Luis Bunuel: Illusion Travels by Streetcar (1954)
6.5 Luis Bunuel: El Bruto/ The Brute (1953)
6.5 Luis Bunuel: Criminal Life (1955)

See these pages for the others
This list comes from the ratings for the films of each director. If your favorite film is missing, check its rating in the page of its director.

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