BAFTA 1949-1959
Movies to watch awarded or nominated in BAFTA durign the '50s
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- DirectorDavid LeanStarsRobert NewtonAlec GuinnessKay WalshIn Charles Dickens' classic tale, an orphan wends his way from cruel apprenticeship to den of thieves in search of a true home.
- DirectorJack LeeStarsDirk BogardeBonar ColleanoBill OwenFactory worker Bill Fox (Sir Dirk Bogarde) is fired from a reliable job and becomes a successful motorbike racer, until his wife threatens to leave him unless he comes to his senses.
- DirectorCharles FrendStarsJohn MillsDerek BondDiana ChurchillThe story of British explorer Robert Falcon Scott's 1912 expedition and his quest to be the first to reach the South Pole.
- DirectorFergus McDonellStarsValerie HobsonJames DonaldHoward KeelA husband and wife stop to help two men in a car crash only to find they are criminals on the run.
- DirectorLaurence OlivierStarsLaurence OlivierJean SimmonsJohn LauriePrince Hamlet struggles over whether or not he should kill his uncle, whom he suspects has murdered his father, the former king.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsRalph RichardsonMichèle MorganSonia DresdelA butler working in a foreign embassy in London falls under suspicion when his wife accidentally falls to her death, the only witness being an impressionable young boy.
- DirectorAlessandro BlasettiStarsGino CerviAdriana BenettiGiuditta RissoneA family man travelling for work, Paolo Bianchi, meets on a train a lonely girl, Maria. He sees her again on a bus and she reveals him that she's in troubles: she's pregnant, her baby's father has left her and she doesn't know how to tell to her parents that she's not married. She asks Paolo to play the role of her husband and he accepts....
- DirectorMaurice ClocheStarsPierre FresnayAimé ClariondJean DebucourtSt. Vincent de Paul struggles to bring about peace and harmony among peasants and nobles in the midst of the Black Death in Europe, carrying on his charitable work in the face of all obstacles.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithStarsRobert DonatCedric HardwickeBasil RadfordIn pre-WWI England, a youngster is expelled from a naval academy over a petty theft, and his parents raise a political furor by demanding a trial.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenAlida ValliPulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.
- DirectorCharles FrendStarsDonald HoustonMeredith EdwardsMoira ListerBrothers from a Welsh village take their first trip to London to collect a prize, and meet a con artist and various other urban distractions.
- DirectorRobert HamerStarsDennis PriceAlec GuinnessValerie HobsonA distant poor relative of the Duke D'Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering the eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession.
- DirectorHenry CorneliusStarsStanley HollowayBetty WarrenBarbara MurrayResidents of a part of London declare independence after they discover an old treaty, which leads to the need for a "Passport to Pimlico".
- DirectorThorold DickinsonStarsAnton WalbrookEdith EvansYvonne MitchellAn army officer becomes obsessed with learning the secret to a card game for which an elderly countess sold her soul years earlier.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsDavid FarrarJack HawkinsMichael GoughAs the Germans drop explosive booby-traps on Britain in 1943, the embittered expert who'll have to disarm them fights a private battle with alcohol.
- DirectorAlexander MackendrickStarsBasil RadfordJoan GreenwoodCatherine LaceyScottish islanders try to plunder 50,000 cases of whisky from a stranded ship.
- DirectorRobert A. StemmleStarsGert FröbeTatjana SaisUte SielischAfter he has luckily survived the war, Otto tries to build up his new life in the remains of Berlin.
- DirectorWanda JakubowskaStarsWanda BartównaHuguette FagetTatyana GuretskayaFemale prisoners of various ethnic background struggle to survive the hardships of Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
- DirectorBasil DeardenStarsJack WarnerDirk BogardeJimmy HanleyThe daily routine of two London Policemen is interrupted by a killer.
- DirectorBernard MilesStarsBasil RadfordNiall MacGinnisBernard MilesThe workers in a small plough factory take over the firm, but when a large order falls through, the old management come back to help out.
- DirectorRoy Ward BakerStarsJohn MillsNigel PatrickPeter HammondThe crew of a submarine is trapped on the sea floor when it sinks. How can they be rescued before they run out of air?
- DirectorJohn BoultingRoy BoultingStarsBarry JonesAndré MorellOlive SloaneWhen a scientist threatens to detonate a powerful bomb in the heart of London, Scotland Yard has just seven days to find him before it is too late.
- DirectorSidney GilliatStarsDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Glynis JohnsJack HawkinsIn post-WW2 Europe, when the dictator of a small police state dies during surgery, the operating surgeon, who's a visiting American doctor, is held captive in order to preserve the terrible state secret.
- DirectorJack LeeIan DalrympleStarsLeo GennDavid TomlinsonAnthony SteelTrue story of three British POWs and their attempt to escape from Nazi Germany.
- 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.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsMichel SimonGérard PhilipeNicole BesnardThe Faust story retold, with an aged alchemist accepting the gift of renewed youth from the devilish Mephistopheles.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsDavid BrianClaude Jarman Jr.Juano HernandezIn 1940s Mississippi, two teenage boys and an elderly woman combine forces to prevent a miscarriage of justice and clear a black man of a murder charge.
- DirectorThor HeyerdahlStarsThor HeyerdahlHerman WatzingerErik HesselbergA documentary about the Kon-Tiki expedition of the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsMacdonald CareyGail RussellJohnny SandsA newspaper editor in a small agricultural town finds himself going against the people in the town when he gets involved in the plight of the area's fruit pickers, who are mostly Mexican.
- DirectorCharles CrichtonStarsAlec GuinnessStanley HollowaySidney JamesA meek bank clerk who oversees the shipment of bullion joins with an eccentric neighbor to steal gold bars and smuggle them out of the country as miniature Eiffel Towers.
- DirectorJohn BoultingStarsRobert DonatMaria SchellRenée AshersonA chronicle of the life of William Friese-Greene, a British inventor and early pioneer in cinema.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithStarsMichael RedgraveJean KentNigel PatrickAndrew Crocker-Harris (Michael Redgrave), a classics teacher at an English school, is afflicted with a heart ailment and an unfaithful wife (Jean Kent). His interest in his pupils wanes as he looks towards his final days in employment.
- DirectorAlexander MackendrickStarsAlec GuinnessJoan GreenwoodCecil ParkerAn altruistic chemist invents a fabric which resists wear and stain as a boon to humanity, but big business and labor realize it must be suppressed for economic reasons.
- DirectorMaurice ClocheRalph SmartStarsVittorio ManuntaDenis O'DeaGuido CelanoSince the local church is not willing to bless Peppino's donkey for a successful recovery, Peppino went to Rome to see the Holy Father, in spite of the numerous difficulties of actually getting in to see him.
- DirectorPat JacksonStarsGoogie WithersJames DonaldGodfrey TearleHospital drama set at the Yeoman's Hospital, in the English Midlands, during the early 1950s.
- DirectorLuciano EmmerStarsAnna BaldiniVera CarmiEmilio CigoliA variety of different people, both adults, children, families, young lovers and youth gangs, spend a Sunday at the beach of Ostia outside Rome.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsAudie MurphyBill MauldinDouglas DickTruncated adaptation of Stephen Crane's novel about a Civil War Union soldier who stuggles to find the courage to fight in the heat of battle.
- DirectorCy EndfieldStarsFrank LovejoyKathleen RyanRichard CarlsonA man who is down on his luck falls in with a criminal.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsDana AndrewsRichard ConteGeorge TyneDuring WWII, a platoon of American soldiers trudge through the Italian countryside in search of a bridge they have been ordered to blow up, encountering danger and destruction along the way.
- DirectorLeopold LindtbergStarsViveca LindforsRalph MeekerYossi YadinSoviet, British, French and American allies patrol post-war Vienna.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsRalph RichardsonAnn ToddNigel PatrickFictionalized story of British aerospace engineers solving the problem of supersonic flight.
- DirectorGeorge More O'FerrallStarsJack HawkinsMichael DenisonAndrew OsbornThe story of an RAF fighter squadron at the height of the Battle of Britain.
- DirectorAlexander MackendrickStarsPhyllis CalvertJack HawkinsTerence MorganMandy Garland was born deaf and has been mute for all of her life. Her parents believe she is able to speak if she can only be taught, and they enroll her with a special teacher.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsRalph RichardsonTrevor HowardRobert MorleyA man occupies a position of trust with a merchant in an East Asian port. He's sacked after he's caught stealing, but he pretends to commit suicide, and a Captain he befriended agrees to take him to a secret trading post.
- DirectorBasil DeardenMichael RelphStarsCecil ParkerCelia JohnsonHarry FowlerWhen a retired colonial serviceman takes a job as a probation officer he finds it a challenge. He and his colleague attempt to reform a hardened criminal and a juvenile delinquent from the London slums.
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsNicole StéphaneEdouard DermitheRenée CosimaThe dangerously obsessive relationship between a psychologically manipulative brother and sister who isolate themselves and draw others into their mind games.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsJudy HollidayAldo RayMadge KennedyFlorence and Chet Keefer have had a troublesome marriage. Whilst in the middle of a divorce hearing, the judge encourages them to remember the good times they have had, hoping that the marriage can be saved. Starring Judy Holliday and Aldo Ray as Florence and Chet.
- DirectorJacqueline AudryStarsEdwige FeuillèreSimone SimonMarie-Claire OliviaLate nineteenth century in a finishing school for young girls near in France, the principal, the fascinating Miss Julie, sows confusion in the heart of the newcomer, Olivia.
- DirectorFrank LaunderStarsAlastair SimElizabeth AllanRoland CulverNewly arrived Army chaplin Captain Paris (Alastair Sim) attempts to book various acts for the entertainment of a troop of soldiers.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithStarsMichael RedgraveRichard WattisMichael DenisonWhen Algernon discovers that his friend, Ernest, has created a fictional brother for whenever he needs a reason to escape dull country life, Algernon poses as the brother, resulting in ever increasing confusion.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsFernandelGino CerviVera TalchiA determined priest and a Communist mayor develop a grudging friendship in spite of their official rivalry.
- DirectorGeorge LoweStarsMeredith EdwardsJohn HuntGeorge BandDocumentary that covers the famous and successful expedition of the Everest conquest by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, the first climbers to reach its peak.
- DirectorJohn Paddy CarstairsStarsNorman WisdomMargaret RutherfordMoira ListerNorman, a stockroom worker at a London store, aspires to be a window dresser. Pursuing his dream, he falls for a shopgirl and they uncover a robbery plot, miraculously foiling the thieves.
- DirectorJ. Lee ThompsonStarsDirk BogardeSusan StephenCecil ParkerIn postwar London, young graduate Tony (Sir Dirk Bogarde) and his girlfriend Anne (Susan Stephen) decide to marry. Her well-to-do parents are not convinced, but they agree once he has got a £5.10.0 job and a 30/- a week single-room flat. The newlyweds find money fearfully tight, the flat cramped, the neighbors a trial, and her parents always hovering. Can faith conquer all? Is there some way of getting rid of tea leaves, except down the sink?
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsCharles LaughtonJohn MillsBrenda de BanzieWidower Henry Hobson refuses to let his three daughters get married because he doesn't want to pay settlements, so they'll just have to outsmart him.
- DirectorAlexander MackendrickStarsPaul DouglasAlex MackenzieJames CopelandAn American businessman in Scotland is conned into shipping a valuable load of cargo to a Scottish island via a coal powered boat.
- DirectorRobert ParrishStarsGregory PeckBernard LeeWin Min ThanIn World War II Burma, a Canadian bomber pilot becomes reckless after losing his bride in a Luftwaffe air-raid.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsNeville BrandEmile MeyerFrank FaylenFed up with the inhumane prison living conditions, a general prison riot breaks out, leading to hostage-taking, a stand-off with the guards and eventual negotiations with the prison administration officials.
- DirectorRalph ThomasStarsDirk BogardeMuriel PavlowKenneth MoreThe trials and tribulations of a group of medical students at St. Swithin's hospital in London, England.
- DirectorCharles CrichtonStarsCornell BorchersYvonne MitchellArmin DahlenA story of litigation between a birth mother and an adopted family due to a child lost during a war.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithStarsDavid NivenMargaret LeightonNoelle MiddletonA court-martial attempts to find out why, and if, an officer embezzled his unit's funds.
- DirectorCharles FrendStarsRobert DonatKay WalshAdrienne CorriThe parson of a small rural community knows he is dying and this makes him reconsider his life so far and what he can still do to help the community.
- DirectorNoel LangleyStarsHildegard KnefDonald WolfitTerence MorganThe story of a genius who hypnotizes an artist's model into becoming a great concert singer, and how she escapes from his influence only by his death.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsJudy HollidayJack LemmonJack CarsonWhile pursing new companions, a former married couple keep running into each other all over town.
- DirectorDaniel MannStarsShirley BoothRobert RyanMarjie MillarA rooming-house landlady recalls her past in flashbacks.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithStarsOdile VersoisDavid KnightJoseph TomeltyThe Young Lovers is about a young couple - she is Eastern European and the daughter of a communist ambassador, he is in American code expert working for intelligence at the American Embassy in London. At the Covent Garden Opera, watching the Swan Lake ballet, they meet and fall in love and a problem immediately confronts them because they are from different sides of the Iron Curtain. They find their every move monitored by both sides. The course of true love is eventually blocked by bureaucracy, forcing hero and heroine to escape.
- DirectorWilliam T. HurtzStarsJohn BrownColleen CollinsA henpecked husband sees a unicorn outside his window--or does he?
- DirectorDenis SandersStarsBarry AtwaterRobert SherryCorey AllenA dramatic incident from the American Civil War when two Union soldiers and one Confederate soldier, facing each other at a battle front, agree on an hour's truce.
- DirectorBrian Desmond HurstStarsDirk BogardeVirginia McKennaBasil SydneyA European family in East Africa finds itself caught up in an uprising by local black Africans against their white colonial masters. Based on the Mau-Mau rebellion in Kenya in the early 1950s.
- DirectorPeter GlenvilleStarsAlec GuinnessJack HawkinsWilfrid LawsonA Cardinal is arrested for treason against the state. As a Prince of his church, he's a popular hero of this people for his resistance against the Nazis during the war, and his resistance after his country again fell to another totalitarian conqueror. In prison, his interrogator is determined to get a confession of guilt from the strong-willed man, and thus destroy his power over his people. The verbal and psychological battles are gripping and powerful, not even the increasing pressures put upon the Cardinal can force him to weaken, not even solitary confinement, continuous blazing light in his cell, sleeplessness, efforts to persuade him he is going mad. And yet, in the deepening conflict, the superbly indomitable prisoner creates a tremendous pity on his tormentor.
- DirectorLeslie NormanStarsMichael RedgraveSheila SimAlexander KnoxOn a routine flight from Hong Kong to Japan, a British military transport aircraft's fate may or may not depend on a prophetic nightmare.
- DirectorGuy HamiltonStarsJohn MillsEric PortmanChristopher RhodesAllied prisoners - British, Dutch, French and Polish - pool their resources to plan numerous escapes from the "escape-proof" German P.O.W. camp housed in a Medieval castle known as "Colditz".
- DirectorJack ClaytonStarsDavid KossoffAlfie BassAlf DeanFender is a lowly clerk in the warehouse of clothing manufacturers Ranting and Co. His one ambition is to have an overcoat of his own. Refused one by the cold hearted Ranting he asks a tailor friend, Morry, to make him one instead, but dies of cold before he can take delivery of it. Unwilling to give up his only desire even in death, he returns as a ghost to persuade Morry to steal him the overcoat he so coveted in life.
- DirectorLewis GilbertStarsDirk BogardeMargaret LockwoodKay WalshEdward "Teddy" Bare is a delusional psychotic with a lust for wealth, older women and murder. Having committed what he thinks is the perfect murder of his elderly wife; Teddy sets his sights on new targets when her fortune goes elsewhere.
- DirectorMichael TrumanStarsJack HawkinsMargaret JohnstonJune ThorburnAfter Jim Fletcher is told by his firm that his new furniture designs are not in keeping with the firm's image, he threatens to resign and decides to uproot his family and emigrate to Australia. but his problems are only just beginning.
- DirectorHenry CorneliusStarsJulie HarrisLaurence HarveyShelley WintersIn Weimar-era Berlin, an aspiring writer strikes up a friendship with a vivacious, penniless singer.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsMarilyn MonroeTom EwellEvelyn KeyesWhen his family goes away for the summer, a hitherto faithful husband with an overactive imagination is tempted by a beautiful neighbor.
- DirectorNorman McLarenThe surreal story of a bird and its cage with both their conflict and union.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsSterling HaydenColeen GrayVince EdwardsCrook Johnny Clay assembles a five-man team to plan and execute a daring racetrack robbery.
- DirectorLewis GilbertStarsKenneth MoreMuriel PavlowLyndon BrookBiopic of RAF Group Captain Douglas Bader who, after having lost both legs, flew a British fighter plane during WWII.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsJohn GregsonAnthony QuaylePeter FinchIn the first major naval battle of World War II, the British Navy must find and destroy a powerful German warship.
- DirectorJack LeeStarsVirginia McKennaPeter FinchKenji TakakiA newly wealthy English woman returns to Malaya to build a well for the villagers who helped her during war. Thinking back, she recalls the Australian man who made a great sacrifice to aid her and her fellow prisoners of war.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJohn ForsytheShirley MacLaineEdmund GwennHarry's dead and, while no one really minds, everyone feels responsible. After Harry's body is found in the woods, several locals must determine not only how and why he was killed but what to do with the body.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsAva GardnerStewart GrangerBill TraversAnglo-Indian Victoria Jones seeks her true identity amid the chaos of the British withdrawal from India.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsSpencer TracyRobert WagnerClaire TrevorSelfish Chris Teller pressures his older brother, a retired climber, to accompany him on a treacherous Alpine climb to loot the bodies of plane crash victims.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsHenry FondaAnthony PerkinsBetsy PalmerA cynical former sheriff turned bounty hunter helps a young, recently appointed acting sheriff with his advice, his experience and his gun.
- DirectorRonald NeameStarsPeter FinchMary UreNatasha ParryA doctor's sophisticated wife joins him at his remote Asian practice to try and patch up their marriage. Increasingly violent friction between local rubber plantation workers and the authorities force both parties to make decisions.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsRobert MitchumDeborah KerrDuring World War II, an American marine and an Irish nun form an unlikely friendship after being stranded on a South Pacific island. They find comfort in one another while hoping for a rescue, as they try to avoid capture by the Japanese.
- DirectorLaurence OlivierStarsMarilyn MonroeLaurence OlivierRichard WattisAn American showgirl becomes entangled in political intrigue when the Prince Regent of a foreign country attempts to seduce her.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsFrançois LeterrierCharles Le ClaincheMaurice BeerblockA captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from a German prison in France.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsKanu BannerjeeKaruna BannerjeeSubir BanerjeeImpoverished priest Harihar Ray, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsGlenn FordVan HeflinFelicia FarrBroke small-time rancher Dan Evans is hired by the stagecoach line to put big-time captured outlaw leader Ben Wade on the 3:10 train to Yuma but Wade's gang tries to free him.
- DirectorMartin RittStarsJohn CassavetesSidney PoitierJack WardenThe growing friendship of two NYC longshoremen is threatened by a notably repellent punk.
- DirectorLeslie NormanStarsPeter FinchDana WilsonElizabeth SellarsAfter Jim Macauley finds his wife with another man, he takes their young daughter and they hit the road. With a young child as his responsibility, he finds he can't be quite the fancy-free wanderer that he had been.
- DirectorNunnally JohnsonStarsJoanne WoodwardDavid WayneLee J. CobbA doctor treats a woman suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder.
- DirectorFalk HarnackStarsLilli PalmerIvan DesnySusanne von AlmassyIn 1920, an unknown 24-year-old woman was fished out of Berlin's Landwehr kanal after a suicide attempt. Since she has no papers and no answers to any questions, they soon assign them to the insane asylum Dallendorf. A co-patient believes she recognizes the Czar's daughter Anastasia Romanowa - who apparently was the only one who survived the murder of the tsar's family in 1918.
- DirectorRaymond RouleauStarsSimone SignoretYves MontandJean DebucourtSalem 1692. The young Abigail, seduced and abandoned by John Proctor, accuses John's wife of being a witch in revenge. It will be the beginning of a series of witchcraft trials and a dark moment in American history.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsMichael RedgraveAnn ToddLeo McKernThe day before a young man is to be executed for killing his girlfriend, his alcoholic father shows up to try to prove his innocence.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsDeborah KerrJohn KerrLeif EricksonA new senior at a boy's prep school, finds himself harassed by the machismo culture of his classmates and the unfeelingly behavior by his father, only being treated with decency by his roommate and with affection by the coach's wife.
- DirectorAlexander MackendrickStarsBurt LancasterTony CurtisSusan HarrisonPowerful but unethical Broadway columnist J.J. Hunsecker coerces unscrupulous press agent Sidney Falco into breaking up his sister's romance with a jazz musician.