Movie Auditor › Rankings › 1950s
Best Movies of the 1950s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
800 films from the 1950s are in our catalog; the 100 best are ranked below. Top of the list is 12 Angry Men ('1957), at 9.0 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 8.1. Biggest split between audiences and critics: Sweet Smell of Success, 8.0 on IMDb against 100 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 Angry Men '1957 | Drama | 9.0 | 100% | 97 | 8.6 | Sidney Lumet |
| 2 | Seven Samurai '1954 | Action / Drama | 8.6 | 100% | 98 | 8.5 | Akira Kurosawa |
| 3 | Rear Window '1954 | Thriller / Mystery / Drama | 8.4 | 99% | 100 | 8.3 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 4 | Sunset Boulevard '1950 | Drama | 8.4 | 98% | 94 | 8.3 | Billy Wilder |
| 5 | Paths of Glory '1957 | War / Drama | 8.4 | 96% | 90 | 8.3 | Stanley Kubrick |
| 6 | Witness for the Prosecution '1957 | Drama / Mystery / Crime | 8.4 | 100% | 76 | 8.2 | Billy Wilder |
| 7 | Night and Fog '1956 | Documentary | 8.6 | - | - | 8.3 | Alain Resnais |
| 8 | Singin' in the Rain '1952 | Comedy / Romance | 8.3 | 100% | 99 | 8.1 | Gene Kelly |
| 9 | Ikiru '1952 | Drama | 8.3 | 98% | 92 | 8.3 | Akira Kurosawa |
| 10 | Vertigo '1958 | Mystery / Romance / Thriller | 8.2 | 94% | 100 | 8.1 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 11 | North by Northwest '1959 | Thriller | 8.2 | 97% | 98 | 8.0 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 12 | Some Like It Hot '1959 | Comedy / Romance / Crime | 8.2 | 95% | 98 | 8.1 | Billy Wilder |
| 13 | All About Eve '1950 | Drama | 8.2 | 99% | 98 | 8.1 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| 14 | The World of Apu '1959 | Drama | 8.4 | 97% | - | 8.1 | Satyajit Ray |
| 15 | Rashomon '1950 | Crime / Drama / Mystery | 8.1 | 98% | 98 | 8.0 | Akira Kurosawa |
| 16 | Ben-Hur '1959 | Drama | 8.1 | 87% | 90 | 7.9 | William Wyler |
| 17 | Dial M for Murder '1954 | Thriller / Crime / Drama | 8.1 | 90% | 75 | 8.0 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 18 | The Bridge on the River Kwai '1957 | Drama / War | 8.1 | 96% | 88 | 7.8 | David Lean |
| 19 | On the Waterfront '1954 | Crime / Drama / Romance | 8.1 | 99% | 91 | 7.8 | Elia Kazan |
| 20 | The Seventh Seal '1957 | Fantasy / Drama | 8.1 | 93% | 88 | 8.1 | Ingmar Bergman |
| 21 | Pather Panchali '1955 | Drama | 8.2 | 98% | - | 7.8 | Satyajit Ray |
| 22 | Wild Strawberries '1957 | Drama | 8.1 | 94% | 88 | 8.1 | Ingmar Bergman |
| 23 | Sansho the Bailiff '1954 | Drama | 8.3 | 100% | 96 | 8.1 | Kenji Mizoguchi |
| 24 | The Young and the Damned '1950 | Drama / Crime | 8.2 | 91% | - | 8.1 | Luis Buñuel |
| 25 | Tokyo Story '1953 | Drama | 8.1 | 100% | 100 | 8.1 | Yasujirō Ozu |
| 26 | Diabolique '1955 | Thriller / Mystery | 8.1 | 95% | - | 7.9 | Henri-Georges Clouzot |
| 27 | The Cranes Are Flying '1957 | Drama / Romance / War | 8.3 | 96% | 76 | 7.9 | Mikhail Kalatozov |
| 28 | The Wages of Fear '1953 | Drama / Thriller | 8.1 | 100% | 85 | 8.0 | Henri-Georges Clouzot |
| 29 | Nights of Cabiria '1957 | Drama / Comedy | 8.1 | 100% | - | 8.0 | Federico Fellini |
| 30 | The Human Condition I: No Greater Love '1959 | War / Drama | 8.5 | 73% | - | 8.1 | Masaki Kobayashi |
| 31 | Umberto D. '1952 | Drama | 8.1 | 98% | 92 | 7.9 | Vittorio De Sica |
| 32 | Duck Amuck '1953 | Animation / Comedy | 8.6 | - | - | 8.1 | Chuck Jones |
| 33 | Roman Holiday '1953 | Romance / Comedy / Drama | 8.0 | 97% | 78 | 7.9 | William Wyler |
| 34 | Rififi '1955 | Crime / Thriller / Drama | 8.1 | 92% | 97 | 7.8 | Jules Dassin |
| 35 | The 400 Blows '1959 | Drama | 8.0 | 99% | - | 8.0 | François Truffaut |
| 36 | Scrooge '1951 | Fantasy / Drama | 8.1 | 86% | - | 7.4 | Brian Desmond Hurst |
| 37 | A Man Escaped '1956 | Drama / Thriller | 8.1 | 100% | - | 8.0 | Robert Bresson |
| 38 | La Strada '1954 | Drama | 8.0 | 97% | - | 7.9 | Federico Fellini |
| 39 | Anatomy of a Murder '1959 | Crime / Drama / Mystery | 8.0 | 100% | 95 | 7.8 | Otto Preminger |
| 40 | Ordet '1955 | Drama | 8.2 | 100% | - | 7.9 | Carl Theodor Dreyer |
| 41 | Ace in the Hole '1951 | Drama | 8.0 | 88% | 72 | 7.9 | Billy Wilder |
| 42 | The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity '1959 | War / Drama | 8.5 | - | - | 8.2 | Masaki Kobayashi |
| 43 | Ugetsu '1953 | Fantasy / Drama / Mystery | 8.1 | 100% | - | 8.0 | Kenji Mizoguchi |
| 44 | Throne of Blood '1957 | Drama | 8.0 | 96% | - | 7.9 | Akira Kurosawa |
| 45 | Aparajito '1956 | Drama | 8.2 | 96% | - | 7.8 | Satyajit Ray |
| 46 | The Hidden Fortress '1958 | Drama / Action | 8.0 | 96% | 89 | 8.0 | Akira Kurosawa |
| 47 | The Red Balloon '1956 | Comedy / Drama / Fantasy | 8.1 | 96% | - | 7.7 | Albert Lamorisse |
| 48 | Strangers on a Train '1951 | Crime / Thriller / Drama | 7.9 | 98% | 88 | 7.7 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 49 | High Noon '1952 | Western | 7.9 | 94% | 89 | 7.7 | Fred Zinnemann |
| 50 | Limelight '1952 | Romance / Drama / Comedy | 8.0 | 88% | 84 | 7.9 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 51 | A Streetcar Named Desire '1951 | Drama / Thriller | 7.9 | 97% | 97 | 7.6 | Elia Kazan |
| 52 | Sweet Smell of Success '1957 | Drama | 8.0 | 98% | 100 | 7.6 | Alexander Mackendrick |
| 53 | The Killing '1956 | Crime / Thriller / Drama | 7.9 | 96% | 91 | 7.6 | Stanley Kubrick |
| 54 | The Night of the Hunter '1955 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.9 | 93% | 97 | 7.9 | Charles Laughton |
| 55 | Touch of Evil '1958 | Crime / Thriller / Drama | 7.9 | 96% | 99 | 7.7 | Orson Welles |
| 56 | Harvey '1950 | Comedy / Fantasy | 7.9 | 88% | 79 | 7.7 | Henry Koster |
| 57 | The Ten Commandments '1956 | Drama | 7.9 | 82% | - | 7.8 | Cecil B. DeMille |
| 58 | In a Lonely Place '1950 | Thriller / Drama / Romance / Mystery | 7.9 | 96% | - | 7.6 | Nicholas Ray |
| 59 | Rio Bravo '1959 | Western / Drama | 7.9 | 96% | 93 | 7.8 | Howard Hawks |
| 60 | Rabbit of Seville '1950 | Animation / Comedy / Musical | 8.3 | - | - | 7.6 | Chuck Jones |
| 61 | A Face in the Crowd '1957 | Drama | 8.1 | 95% | 72 | 7.6 | Elia Kazan |
| 62 | Stalag 17 '1953 | Comedy / Drama / War | 7.9 | 91% | 84 | 7.7 | Billy Wilder |
| 63 | What's Opera, Doc? '1957 | Animation / Comedy / Musical | 8.3 | - | - | 7.6 | Chuck Jones |
| 64 | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof '1958 | Drama | 7.9 | 97% | 84 | 7.6 | Richard Brooks |
| 65 | Ballad of a Soldier '1959 | Drama / Romance / War | 8.2 | 94% | - | 8.0 | Grigoriy Chukhray |
| 66 | Forbidden Games '1952 | Drama / War | 8.0 | 100% | - | 7.8 | René Clément |
| 67 | Rabbit Seasoning '1952 | Animation / Comedy | 8.3 | - | - | 7.4 | Chuck Jones |
| 68 | Early Summer '1951 | Drama | 8.1 | 100% | 94 | 7.9 | Yasujirō Ozu |
| 69 | The Life of Oharu '1952 | Drama | 8.1 | 100% | - | 7.8 | Kenji Mizoguchi |
| 70 | The Big Heat '1953 | Crime / Thriller | 7.9 | 95% | - | 7.7 | Fritz Lang |
| 71 | The Searchers '1956 | Western | 7.8 | 87% | 94 | 7.7 | John Ford |
| 72 | Elevator to the Gallows '1958 | Crime / Drama / Thriller | 7.9 | 93% | 94 | 7.6 | Louis Malle |
| 73 | Pyaasa '1957 | Drama / Romance | 8.3 | 100% | - | 7.3 | Guru Dutt |
| 74 | The Asphalt Jungle '1950 | Crime / Drama | 7.8 | 98% | 85 | 7.5 | John Huston |
| 75 | One Froggy Evening '1955 | Animation / Comedy / Musical | 8.4 | - | - | 7.7 | Chuck Jones |
| 76 | East of Eden '1955 | Drama | 7.8 | 86% | 72 | 7.5 | Elia Kazan |
| 77 | The Big Country '1958 | Drama / Western / Romance | 7.9 | 100% | 61 | 7.6 | William Wyler |
| 78 | Rabbit Fire '1951 | Animation / Comedy | 8.3 | - | - | 7.5 | Chuck Jones |
| 79 | Hiroshima Mon Amour '1959 | Drama / Romance | 7.8 | 96% | - | 7.7 | Alain Resnais |
| 80 | Night and the City '1950 | Drama / Crime | 7.8 | 86% | - | 7.5 | Jules Dassin |
| 81 | A Night to Remember '1958 | Drama / Action | 7.9 | 100% | - | 7.7 | Roy Ward Baker |
| 82 | The African Queen '1952 | Romance / War / Drama | 7.7 | 96% | 91 | 7.3 | John Huston |
| 83 | The Bad and the Beautiful '1952 | Drama / Romance | 7.8 | 79% | 86 | 7.3 | Vincente Minnelli |
| 84 | Orpheus '1950 | Romance / Fantasy / Drama | 7.8 | 97% | - | 7.7 | Jean Cocteau |
| 85 | The Day the Earth Stood Still '1951 | Sci-Fi / Thriller / Drama | 7.7 | 92% | 83 | 7.4 | Robert Wise |
| 86 | The Quiet Man '1952 | Romance / Comedy / Drama | 7.7 | 91% | 85 | 7.3 | John Ford |
| 87 | Invasion of the Body Snatchers '1956 | Sci-Fi / Horror / Thriller | 7.7 | 97% | 92 | 7.5 | Don Siegel |
| 88 | I Vitelloni '1953 | Comedy / Drama | 7.8 | 100% | 87 | 7.7 | Federico Fellini |
| 89 | Feed the Kitty '1952 | Animation / Comedy | 8.1 | - | - | 7.4 | Chuck Jones |
| 90 | Imitation of Life '1959 | Drama / Romance | 7.8 | 82% | 87 | 7.4 | Douglas Sirk |
| 91 | A Place in the Sun '1951 | Drama / Romance / Crime | 7.7 | 90% | 76 | 7.3 | George Stevens |
| 92 | Auntie Mame '1958 | Comedy / Drama | 7.9 | 88% | - | 7.0 | Morton DaCosta |
| 93 | The Gunfighter '1950 | Western | 7.7 | 93% | 94 | 7.4 | Henry King |
| 94 | The Browning Version '1951 | Drama | 8.0 | 89% | - | 7.6 | Anthony Asquith |
| 95 | The Unknown Soldier '1955 | Drama / War | 8.0 | - | - | 7.2 | Edvin Laine |
| 96 | The Court Jester '1955 | Musical / Comedy | 7.8 | 97% | - | 7.3 | Norman Panama |
| 97 | Big Deal on Madonna Street '1958 | Comedy / Crime | 7.9 | 89% | - | 8.1 | Mario Monicelli |
| 98 | The Bridge '1959 | Drama / War | 8.0 | 100% | - | 7.6 | Bernhard Wicki |
| 99 | Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century '1953 | Animation / Comedy / Sci-Fi | 8.1 | - | - | 7.6 | Chuck Jones |
| 100 | Rebel Without a Cause '1955 | Drama | 7.6 | 91% | 89 | 7.5 | Nicholas Ray |
Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.
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