Favorite films from the 1950s
Films release from 1950 to 1959 that are my favorites.
Arranged in ABC order.
Arranged in ABC order.
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- DirectorNathan JuranStarsKerwin MathewsKathryn GrantRichard EyerWhen a princess is shrunken by an evil wizard, Sinbad must undertake a quest to an island of monsters to cure her and prevent a war.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsKirk DouglasJames MasonPaul LukasA ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings encounters the advanced submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by Captain Nemo.
- DirectorClyde GeronimiWilfred JacksonHamilton LuskeStarsKathryn BeaumontEd WynnRichard HaydnAlice stumbles into the world of Wonderland. Will she get home? Not if the Queen of Hearts has her way.
- 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.
- DirectorAllen ReisnerStarsGlynis JohnsCameron MitchellRex ThompsonAn immigrant family in 1850's Wisconsin prospers until tragedy strikes.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsJane WymanRock HudsonAgnes MooreheadAn upper-class widow falls in love with a much younger, down-to-earth nurseryman, much to the disapproval of her children and criticism of her country club peers.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsGene KellyLeslie CaronOscar LevantThree friends struggle to find work in Paris. Things become more complicated when two of them fall in love with the same woman.
- 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.
- DirectorMorton DaCostaStarsRosalind RussellForrest TuckerCoral BrowneAn orphan goes to live with his free-spirited aunt. Conflict ensues when the executor of his father's estate objects to the aunt's lifestyle.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsLana TurnerKirk DouglasWalter PidgeonAn unscrupulous movie producer uses an actress, a director and a writer to achieve success.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsSpencer TracyRobert RyanAnne FrancisA one-armed stranger comes to a tiny town possessing a terrible past they want to keep secret, by violent means if necessary.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsNancy KellyPatty McCormackGage ClarkeRhoda Penmark seems like your average, sweet eight-year-old girl. After her rival at school dies in mysterious circumstances at the school picnic, her mother starts to suspect that Rhoda was responsible.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsFred AstaireCyd CharisseOscar LevantA pretentiously artistic director is hired for a new Broadway musical and changes it beyond recognition.
- DirectorEugène LouriéStarsPaul HubschmidPaula RaymondCecil KellawayA ferocious dinosaur awakened by an Arctic atomic test terrorizes the North Atlantic and, ultimately, New York City.
- DirectorAlexander HallStarsMario LanzaDoretta MorrowJames WhitmoreA famous opera singer falls for his sergeant's sister at boot camp.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsCharlton HestonJack HawkinsStephen BoydAfter a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsMark StevensEdmond O'BrienGale StormProwl car cops on night duty romance a reluctant young woman who works for the department while in danger from a vengeful racketeer.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsGlenn FordAnne FrancisLouis CalhernA new English teacher at a violent, unruly inner-city school is determined to do his job, despite resistance from both students and faculty.
- DirectorIrvin S. Yeaworth Jr.Russell S. Doughten Jr.StarsSteve McQueenAneta CorsautEarl RoweAn alien lifeform consumes everything in its path as it grows and grows.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsGene KellyVan JohnsonCyd CharisseTwo Americans on a hunting trip in Scotland become lost. They encounter a small village, not on the map, called Brigadoon, in which people harbor a mysterious secret, and behave as if they were still living two hundred years in the past.
- DirectorJoshua LoganStarsMarilyn MonroeDon MurrayArthur O'ConnellA naive but stubborn cowboy falls in love with a saloon singer and tries to take her away against her will to get married and live on his ranch in Montana.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsDoris DayGordon MacRaeLeon AmesMarjorie Winfield's engagement to Bill Sherman, who has just arrived home from fighting in World War I, serves as the backdrop for the trials and tribulations of her family.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsDoris DayHoward KeelAllyn Ann McLerieThe story of Calamity Jane, her saloon, and her romance with Wild Bill Hickok.
- DirectorWalter LangStarsEthel MermanDonald O'ConnorVera-EllenWashington hostess Sally Adams becomes a Truman-era US ambassador to a European grand duchy.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsHarry BelafonteDorothy DandridgePearl BaileyContemporary version of the Bizet opera, with new lyrics and an African-American cast.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsGordon MacRaeShirley JonesCameron MitchellFifteen years after his death, a carousel barker is granted permission to return to Earth for one day to make amends to his widow and their daughter.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsElizabeth TaylorPaul NewmanBurl IvesBrick is an alcoholic ex-football player who drinks his days away and resists the affections of his wife. A reunion with his terminal father jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.
- DirectorClyde GeronimiWilfred JacksonHamilton LuskeStarsIlene WoodsJames MacDonaldEleanor AudleyWhen Cinderella's cruel stepmother prevents her from attending the Royal Ball, she gets some unexpected help from the lovable mice Gus and Jaq and from her Fairy Godmother.
- DirectorMelvin FrankNorman PanamaStarsDanny KayeGlynis JohnsBasil RathboneA hapless carnival performer masquerades as the court jester as part of a plot against an evil ruler who has overthrown the rightful King.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsRichard CarlsonJulie AdamsRichard DenningA strange prehistoric beast lurks in the depths of the Amazonian jungle. A group of scientists try to capture the animal and bring it back to civilization for study.
- DirectorMichael GordonStarsJosé FerrerMala PowersWilliam PrinceThe charismatic swordsman-poet helps another woo the woman he loves.
- DirectorGeorge AbbottStanley DonenStarsTab HunterGwen VerdonRay WalstonA frustrated fan of the hopeless Washington Senators makes a pact with the Devil to help the baseball team win the league pennant.
- DirectorCharles WaltersJoseph BarberaWilliam HannaStarsEsther WilliamsFernando LamasJack CarsonWith her promoter-trainer and family in tow, Katie Higgins swims her way from the Arkansas Ozarks to foggy London and the English Channel. - SimonJack
- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsAlbert SharpeJanet MunroSean ConneryA wily old codger matches wits with the King of the Leprechauns and helps play matchmaker for his daughter and the strapping lad who has replaced him as caretaker.
- DirectorNorman FosterStarsFess ParkerBuddy EbsenJeff YorkDavy and his friends leave for New Orleans to sell some fur pelts.
- DirectorNorman FosterStarsFess ParkerBuddy EbsenBasil RuysdaelAmerican frontiersman Davy Crockett fights in the Creek Indian War, is elected to the U.S. Congress and fights for Texas at the Alamo.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsMichael RenniePatricia NealHugh MarloweAn alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.
- DirectorStanley DonenStarsJosé FerrerMerle OberonHelen TraubelBiographic movie about the American composer Sigmund Romberg.
- DirectorH. Bruce HumberstoneStarsKathryn GraysonGordon MacRaeSteve CochranShiek Yousseff, poses as a friend of the French while secretly plotting to overthrow them. Apposing Yousseff are the Riffs, whose secret leader, The Red Shadow, is Paul Bonnard, a professor who is studying the desert, and whose attacks on the supply trains intended for Yousseff keep the Riff villages in food. Foreign Legion General Birabeau arrives to conduct an investigation, accompanied by his daughter, Margot. Birabeau hires Bonnard to tutor her, and she is attracted to a Legionaire captain, Claud Fontaine. While the general, Bonnard and Fontaine pay a visit to Yousseff, an American newspaper man, Benji Kidd, discovers a secret way in and out of Yousseff's palace, with the aid of Azuri, a dancing girl in love with Bonnard. The latter is forced to resume his role as the Riffs leader, and kidnap Margot until he can convince her of Yousseff's treachery. But Yousseff's men attack the Riff camp and take Margot prisoner.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsGregory PeckLauren BacallDolores GrayA sportswriter and a fashion-designer marry after a whirlwind romance, and discover they have little in common.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsRay MillandGrace KellyRobert CummingsA former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsMillie PerkinsShelley WintersJoseph SchildkrautDuring World War II, a teenage Jewish girl named Anne Frank and her family are forced into hiding in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
- DirectorFred F. SearsStarsHugh MarloweJoan TaylorDonald CurtisExtraterrestrials traveling in high-tech flying saucers contact a scientist as part of a plan to enslave the inhabitants of Earth.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsJames DeanRaymond MasseyJulie HarrisTwo brothers in 1910s California struggle to maintain their strict, Bible-toting father's favor as an old secret about their long-absent mother comes to light.
- DirectorGeorge SidneyStarsTyrone PowerKim NovakVictoria ShawThe life story of the famous pianist and band-leader of the 1930s and 1940s.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsWilliam HoldenBarbara StanwyckJune AllysonWhen the head of a large manufacturing firm dies suddenly from a stroke, his vice presidents vie to see who will replace him.
- 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.
- DirectorKurt NeumannStarsDavid HedisonPatricia OwensVincent PriceA scientist has a horrific accident when he tries to use his newly invented teleportation device.
- DirectorFred M. WilcoxStarsWalter PidgeonAnne FrancisLeslie NielsenA starship crew in the 23rd century goes to investigate the silence of a distant planet's colony, only to find just two survivors, a powerful robot, and the deadly secret of a lost civilization.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsJane RussellMarilyn MonroeCharles CoburnShowgirls Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw travel to Paris, pursued by a private detective hired by the suspicious father of Lorelei's fiancé, as well as a rich, enamored old man and many other doting admirers.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsElizabeth TaylorRock HudsonJames DeanSprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsSandra DeeJames DarrenCliff RobertsonA young girl discovers surfing and love (in that order) during one transitive summer.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliCharles WaltersStarsLeslie CaronMaurice ChevalierLouis JourdanWeary of the conventions of Parisian society, a rich playboy and a youthful courtesan-in-training enjoy a platonic friendship which may not stay platonic for long.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsRay MillandJoan CollinsFarley GrangerThe Girl in the Red Velvet Swing is the true story of Evelyn Nesbit (Dame Joan Collins), a beautiful showgirl caught in a love triangle with elderly architect Stanford White (Ray Milland) and eccentric young millionaire Harry K. Thaw (Farley Granger).
- DirectorRichard SaleStarsDan DaileyJune HaverDennis DayStage-and-night club star Jeannie Laird (June Haver) buys her first home, and everyone who is anyone comes to her first garden party only to be blinded by smoke from next door. Jeannie charges next door to bawl out her new neighbor and meets comic-strip artist Bill Carter (Dan Dailey). Bill has devoted himself to his strip and raising his ten-year-old son Joe (Billy Gray) since the death of his wife. Joe bases his strip on the everyday happenings of he and his son and is proud of keeping it scrupulously honest. After Jeannie and Bill fall in love, young Joe is hurt, especially when Bill starts using a lot of the father-son time to be with Jeannie. Bill cancels a father-son trip to Canada, and Joe decides to write a letter to Bill's syndicate pointing out that the current plot line of the script being set in Canada isn't honest, since they didn't go.
- DirectorStanley DonenStarsMarge ChampionGower ChampionDebbie ReynoldsBroadway choreographer Ted Sturgis auditions dancers for a new musical after the lead walks out, with talent ranging from a ballerina to an untrained novice and his former partner, a retired star.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsMario LanzaAnn BlythDorothy KirstenThis film traces the life of tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). He loves Musetta, in his home town of Naples, and then Dorothy, the daughter of one of the Metropolitan Opera's patrons. Caruso is unacceptable to both women's fathers: to Musetta's because he sings; to Dorothy's because he is a peasant. To New York patricians, Caruso is short, barrel-chested, loud, emotional, and unrefined. Their appreciation comes slowly. The film depicts Caruso's lament that "the man does not have the voice, the voice has the man": he cannot be places he wants to be, because he must be elsewhere singing, including the day his mother dies. Throughout, Mario Lanza and stars from the Met sing.
- DirectorFrancis D. LyonStarsFess ParkerJeffrey HunterJeff YorkDuring the Civil War Union spy Andrews and his men volunteer to steal a Confederate train and drive it to Union territory while destroying the Confederate railway system along the way.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsJames StewartCharlton HestonBetty HuttonThe dramatic lives of trapeze artists, a clown, and an elephant trainer are told against a background of circus spectacle.
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsDanny KayeFarley GrangerZizi JeanmaireThe opening scene of the movie describes it best: "Once upon a time there lived in Denmark a great storyteller named Hans Christian Andersen. This is not the story of his life, but a fairy tale about the great spinner of fairy tales."
- DirectorJohn PaulStarsAnna RussellMildred DunnockFrank RogierAn "electronic puppet" version of the Humperdinck opera, adapted for children and using spoken dialogue as well as Humperdinck's music.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsDean StockwellDarryl HickmanScotty BeckettBased on a collection of stories with the focus on young John Humperdink "Dink" Stover, a student at the Lawrenceville Prepatory School, in 1896, whose family, in Eastcester, New York, have just about given up on his education because he is an incorrigible student. He gets into one situation after another and incurs the dislike of his classmates, who think he is cowardly but he changes their opinion when he challenges several of them to a fight. When he returns home for the summer, he meets Miss Dolly Travers and increases his 'hatred of women' because she does not accept his schoolboy pranks. Back at school, in the fall, he is more difficult than ever until his philosophy is changed by a teacher.
- 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.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsGreer GarsonRobert RyanBarry SullivanAn inexperienced female teacher is hired at a private elite school for boys where she raises a few eyebrows among the all-male faculty.
- DirectorCharles WaltersStarsBing CrosbyGrace KellyFrank SinatraWith socialite Tracy Lord about to remarry, her ex-husband - with the help of a sympathetic reporter - has 48 hours to convince her that she really still loves him.
- DirectorRoy RowlandStarsJane PowellTony MartinDebbie ReynoldsThree sailors come ashore and take the city by storm, but can they win the hearts of three women by song?
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsVincent PriceFrank LovejoyPhyllis KirkAn associate burns down a wax museum with the owner inside, but he survives only to become vengeful and murderous.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsVincent PriceCarol OhmartRichard LongA millionaire offers $10,000 to five people who agree to be locked in a large, spooky, rented house overnight with him and his wife.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsMontgomery CliftAnne BaxterKarl MaldenA priest, who comes under suspicion for murder, cannot clear his name without breaking the seal of the confessional.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsGlenn FordRed ButtonsTaina ElgSergeant Murphy Savage impersonates a dead general in order to inspire the demoralized troops in fighting their way out of Nazi encirclement.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsLana TurnerJohn GavinSandra DeeAn aspiring white actress takes in an African American widow whose mixed-race daughter is desperate to be seen as white.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsGrant WilliamsRandy StuartApril KentAfter Scott Carey begins to shrink because of exposure to a combination of radiation and insecticide, medical science is powerless to help him.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsKevin McCarthyDana WynterLarry GatesA small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsGlenn FordDebbie ReynoldsEva GaborA U.S. sergeant serving in Spain creates envy among his Air Force superiors and the Spanish locals when his brand new futuristic sports car and pretty wife arrive at the base.
- DirectorStanley DonenGene KellyStarsGene KellyDan DaileyCyd CharisseThree soldiers meet ten years after their last meeting in New York, and find out that they have little in common now.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsRobert TaylorElizabeth TaylorJoan FontaineA knight seeks to free the captive King Richard and put him back on the throne.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsElvis PresleyJudy TylerMickey ShaughnessyAfter serving time for manslaughter, young Vince Everett becomes a teenage rock star.
- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsHal StalmasterLuana PattenJeff YorkJohnny Tremain is drawn into the Revolutionary War, and becomes a patriot fighting to free the colonies from England. Along the way he learns about life and about himself.
- DirectorWalter LangStarsYul BrynnerDeborah KerrRita MorenoA widow accepts a job as a live-in governess to the King of Siam's children.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStanley DonenStarsHoward KeelAnn BlythDolores GrayA roguish poet is given the run of the scheming Wazir's harem while pretending to help him usurp the young caliph.
- DirectorGeorge SidneyStarsKathryn GraysonHoward KeelAnn MillerAn ex-husband and wife team star in a musical version of 'The Taming of the Shrew'; off-stage, the production is troublesome with ex-lovers' quarrels and two gangsters looking for some money owed to them.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsRobert TaylorAva GardnerMel FerrerKing Arthur's rule is threatened by the adulterous love between Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, a relationship the king's enemies hope to exploit.
- DirectorClyde GeronimiWilfred JacksonHamilton LuskeStarsBarbara LuddyLarry RobertsPeggy LeeThe romantic tale of a sheltered uptown Cocker Spaniel dog and a streetwise downtown Mutt.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsVictor MatureGuy MadisonRobert PrestonA trapper and his two partners work as scouts for a remote army fort where they witness an incompetent colonel's decision to throw his small unprepared garrison against Red Cloud's sizable Sioux force.
- DirectorMartin RittStarsPaul NewmanJoanne WoodwardAnthony FranciosaAccused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsDoris DayJames CagneyCameron MitchellA fictionalized account of the career of jazz singer Ruth Etting and her tempestuous marriage to gangster Marty Snyder, who helped propel her to stardom.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsKathryn GraysonRed SkeltonHoward KeelThree Broadway producers struggling to get backing for their show, hope one's sudden inheritance of a half interest in a Parisian fashion house is the answer. They travel to Paris only to learn the salon is in debt and requires their help.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsDoris DayGene NelsonS.Z. SakallA showgirl returns to her New York home to visit her alcoholic mother, where she catches the eye of a Broadway producer.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliGeorge CukorStarsKirk DouglasAnthony QuinnJames DonaldThe life of brilliant but tortured artist Vincent van Gogh.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartDoris DayBrenda de BanzieAn American doctor and his wife, a former singing star, witness a murder while vacationing in Morocco, and are drawn into a twisting plot of international intrigue when their young son is kidnapped.
- DirectorRoy RowlandStarsDan DaileyCyd CharisseAgnes MooreheadIn 1950s Las Vegas, a gambling rancher and a ballerina discover that some people have luck at cards while others have luck at love.
- DirectorMichael KiddStarsDanny KayePier AngeliSalvatore BaccaloniDowntrodden but creative English school-teacher (Danny Kaye) on archeological trip discovers joys of love and circus life with acrobat (Pier Angeli).
- DirectorCurtis BernhardtStarsLana TurnerFernando LamasUna MerkelOperating under royal orders, a count must woo a young and wealthy widow in order to save a kingdom from bankruptcy.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsEsther WilliamsVictor MatureWalter PidgeonBiopic of Australian swimming champ and entertainer Annette Kellerman. After overcoming polio, Kellerman achieves fame and creates a scandal when her one-piece bathing suit is considered indecent.
- 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.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartJanet LeighRobert RyanA bounty hunter trying to bring a murderer to justice is forced to accept the help of two less-than-trustworthy strangers.
- DirectorRobert Z. LeonardStarsAnn SothernJane PowellBarry SullivanA mother and daughter compete over the same singing role and, unbeknownst to each other, the same man.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsMarilyn MonroeJoseph CottenJean PetersAs two couples are visiting Niagara Falls, tensions between one wife and her husband reach the level of murder.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsDana AndrewsPeggy CumminsNiall MacGinnisAmerican professor John Holden arrives in London for a parapsychology conference, only to find himself investigating the mysterious actions of Devil-worshipper Julian Karswell.