The Good... of the 1950s
After creating my Best-Of-Lists for every decade I felt like some pretty good movies were still left out. To change that here is my The Good... of the 1950s list. Mind you, as the heading implies the movies on this list are not bad. I just do not feel that they belong on a Best-Of-List.
As ususal, don't hesitate to leave a comment if you feel up to it.
PS: The movies are sorted by year and not necessarily by my preference. This list is by no means complete as I will add new worthwhile films as I stumble across them.
As ususal, don't hesitate to leave a comment if you feel up to it.
PS: The movies are sorted by year and not necessarily by my preference. This list is by no means complete as I will add new worthwhile films as I stumble across them.
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- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsRicardo MontalbanSally ForrestBruce BennettA small-town policeman is assisted by a Harvard professor after the discovery of a human skeleton on a Massachusetts beach.
- 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.
- DirectorRobert StevensonStarsJoseph CottenAlida ValliSpring ByingtonAn ex-hood hopes to start a new life under an assumed name in a small town but his past catches up with him when an old crime-buddy asks him to help with a casino heist.
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsJoan CrawfordWendell CoreyLucile WatsonHarriet Craig enjoys married life but constantly tries to control those around her. She does not even trust her husband Walter and always checks up on him.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsCharles McGrawAdele JergensWilliam TalmanA well-planned robbery goes awry with tough cop Jim Cordell in pursuit of the thieves.
- DirectorMichael GordonStarsIda LupinoStephen McNallyHoward DuffAfter her father is killed in an accident, mill heiress Deborah Chandler marries the plant manager, Selden Clark, but his motives are suspicious.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsBarbara StanwyckWendell CoreyPaul KellyAssistant district attorney Cleve Marshall falls for the mysterious Thelma Jordon when she seeks help solving robberies of her aunt's estate.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsHumphrey BogartGloria GrahameFrank LovejoyA potentially violent screenwriter is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. However, she soon starts to have her doubts.
- DirectorRudolph MatéStarsWilliam HoldenNancy OlsonBarry FitzgeraldA sharp-eyed woman spots a man with a gun on a train and her alert to the railroad police helps them in their search for a ruthless gang who have kidnapped a blind heiress.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsGene TierneyRichard ConteJosé FerrerA woman suffering from kleptomania is hypnotized in an attempt to cure her. Soon afterwards, she's found at the scene of a murder with no memory of how she got there, and seemingly no way to prove her innocence.
- DirectorPat JacksonStarsAnn SothernZachary ScottGigi PerreauA woman impulsively murders her sister after discovering she has been having an affair with her fiancé, and later plans on killing the little girl who may have witnessed the crime.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsRichard WidmarkLinda DarnellStephen McNallyTwo hoodlum brothers are brought into a hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one of them dies the other accuses their black doctor of murder.
- 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.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsMel FerrerJoan FontaineRobert RyanA woman's attempt to appear innocent and sweet clashes with her lover, who sees through her act, and the wealthy man she tries to trick into marrying her.
- DirectorGeorge ShermanStarsRichard ConteColeen GrayRichard TaberIn New York, the murder of a Bellevue Hospital intern prompts the police to send an undercover detective to investigate.
- DirectorJoseph H. LewisStarsJohn DallPeggy CumminsBerry KroegerTwo disturbed young people release their fascination with guns through a crime spree.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsEleanor ParkerAgnes MooreheadEllen CorbyA gentle, naive, pregnant 19-year-old widow is slowly, inexorably ground down by the hardened criminals, sadistic guards, and matron at a woman's prison. Will she be the same person when her sentence is up?
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsCary GrantJosé FerrerPaula RaymondWhile on vacation in a Latin American country, an American neurosurgeon and his wife become tangled in a revolutionary uprising against a tyrannical dictator.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJohn GarfieldPatricia NealPhyllis ThaxterAn otherwise moral captain of a charter boat becomes financially strapped and is drawn into illegal activities in order to keep up payments on his boat.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsRobert TaylorLouis CalhernPaula RaymondAfter the Civil War, a highly decorated Shoshone Indian veteran plans to raise cattle in Wyoming but white farmers plan to grab fertile tribal lands by pitting the whites against the Indians.
- DirectorCy EndfieldStarsDan DuryeaHerbert MarshallGale StormThe story of the fight of a small-town newspaper to free an innocent girl of a murder charge, with the publisher of a metropolitan city newspaper heading, by forced circumstances, the opposing forces.
- DirectorKen AnnakinHarold FrenchStarsJames HayterKathleen HarrisonFelix AylmerThree short stories by W. Somerset Maugham, "The Verger", "Mr. Know-All", and "The Sanatorium" are introduced by the author.
- DirectorBasil DeardenStarsJack WarnerDirk BogardeJimmy HanleyThe daily routine of two London Policemen is interrupted by a killer.
- DirectorHerbert WilcoxStarsAnna NeagleTrevor HowardMarius GoringDuring WW2, a French woman living in England volunteers to work for British Intelligence in Nazi-occupied France.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsLouis HaywardLee BowmanJane WyattA deranged writer murders a maid after she resists his advances. The writer engages his brother's help in hiding the body, causing unexpected problems for both of them.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsBarbara StanwyckWendell CoreyWalter HustonA firebrand heiress clashes with her tyrannical father, a cattle rancher who fancies himself a Napoleon, but their relationship turns ugly only when he finds himself a new woman.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsJane WymanKirk DouglasGertrude LawrenceMerchant marine officer Tom Wingfield reminisces about his life in St. Louis where he had lived with his nagging mother Amanda and crippled shy sister Laura.
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsClaudette ColbertPatric KnowlesFlorence DesmondDuring Word War II, American author Agnes Newton Keith is imprisoned by the Japanese in various POW camps in North Borneo and Sarawak.
- DirectorJack LeeIan DalrympleStarsLeo GennDavid TomlinsonAnthony SteelTrue story of three British POWs and their attempt to escape from Nazi Germany.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsMarlene DietrichJane WymanRichard ToddA struggling actress tries to help a friend prove his innocence after he's accused of murdering the husband of a high-society entertainer.
- DirectorIda LupinoStarsSally ForrestKeefe BrasselleHugh O'BrianA dancer who has just gotten engaged to her partner and choreographer and is about to embark on a major career is devastated to learn that she has contracted polio.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsJames CagneyBarbara PaytonHelena CarterStarting with a violent prison break, clever, ruthless Ralph Cotter corrupts everyone around him.
- DirectorJohn FarrowStarsRobert MitchumClaude RainsFaith DomergueA young doctor falls in love with a disturbed young woman, becomes involved in her husband's death, and must flee with her to the Mexican border.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsJames StewartShelley WintersDan DuryeaA cowboy's obsession with a stolen rifle leads to a bullet-ridden odyssey through the American West.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsLucille BallEddie AlbertCarl Benton ReidScatterbrained Sally Elliott tries to get a job as a Fuller brush girl and desperate for money she borrows her friend's kit without permission and her attempts at selling cosmetics door-to-door are disastrous. She and her fiance Humphrey get involved in a smuggling scheme and she becomes the prime suspect in first one and then a second murder. She and Humphrey find themselves dodging the police while trying to catch the real killers.
- 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.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsJames StewartJeff ChandlerDebra PagetTom Jeffords tries to make peace between settlers and Apaches in Arizona territory.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsTyrone PowerOrson WellesCécile AubryA disinherited 13th Century Saxon nobleman leaves Norman England with an archer friend to seek his fortune in the Far East.
- DirectorCompton BennettAndrew MartonStarsDeborah KerrStewart GrangerRichard CarlsonAdventurer Allan Quartermain leads an expedition into uncharted African territory in an attempt to locate an explorer who went missing during his search for the fabled diamond mines of King Solomon.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsEleanor ParkerPatricia NealRuth RomanThree women who secretly gave up their newborn sons for adoption in 1945 wonder if the 5-year-old survivor of a plane crash, named in the the local newspapers, is their long-abandoned son.
- DirectorWalter LangStarsClifton WebbMyrna LoyJeanne CrainMyrna Loy plays the wife of the persnickety father of her 12 children, Clifton Webb, who has uniquely humorous methods for dealing with the ordeals such an unwieldy family undoubtedly encounters.
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsIrene DunneAlec GuinnessAndrew RayAn urchin, scavenging on a bank of the River Thames, finds a cameo depicting Queen Victoria. So taken by her beauty, he is determined to see her and sets off for Windsor Castle.
- DirectorRichard WhorfStarsRonald ColmanCeleste HolmVincent PriceIn order to get even with the pompous president of a soap company, an eccentric genius goes on his quiz show in order to bankrupt his company.
- DirectorFrank LaunderStarsAlastair SimMargaret RutherfordJohn TurnbullChaos ensues for staff and students alike after an all-boys and an all-girls school are amalgamated into one.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsMichel SimonGérard PhilipeNicole BesnardThe Faust story retold, with an aged alchemist accepting the gift of renewed youth from the devilish Mephistopheles.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsJudy HollidayWilliam HoldenBroderick CrawfordA tycoon hires a tutor to teach his lover proper etiquette, with unexpected results.
- DirectorMax OphülsStarsAnton WalbrookSimone SignoretSerge ReggianiSoldiers, chambermaids, poets, prostitutes, aristocrats-all are on equal footing in this multi-character merry-go-round of love and infidelity.
- DirectorRoberto RosselliniStarsIngrid BergmanMario VitaleRenzo CesanaKarin, a young woman from the Baltic countries, marries fisherman Antonio to escape from a prison camp. But she cannot get used to the tough life in Antonio's volcano-threatened village, Stromboli.
- DirectorJean CocteauStarsJean MaraisFrançois PérierMaría CasaresA poet in love with Death follows his unhappy wife into the underworld.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsAlfonso MejíaRoberto CoboEstela IndaA group of juvenile delinquents live a violent and crime-filled life in the festering slums of Mexico City, as the morals of young Pedro are gradually corrupted and destroyed by the others.
- DirectorJoseph M. NewmanStarsEdmond O'BrienJoanne DruOtto KrugerAn electronics expert creates a huge bookie broadcast system for his crime boss, and takes over operations when his boss is murdered. His greed leads him on a deadly destructive path.
- DirectorIrving PichelStarsJimmy DuranteTerry MooreTom DrakeA little squirrel with lots of charm accidentally helps two poor, down-but-NOT-out families overcome their obstacles.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsMarlon BrandoTeresa WrightEverett SloaneA paralyzed war vet tries to adjust to the world without the use of his limbs.
- DirectorRalph ThomasStarsJean SimmonsTrevor HowardSonia DresdelA former British agent is employed at the Fenton country estate where he aids Fenton's niece in eluding the police after she's unjustly accused of murdering a local gamekeeper.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsBarbara StanwyckJohn LundJane CowlA pregnant woman adopts the identity of a railroad-crash victim and starts a new life with the woman's wealthy in-laws, but is soon blackmailed by her devious ex.
- DirectorEarl McEvoyStarsEvelyn KeyesCharles KorvinWilliam BishopPolice seek a smuggler while doctors, unaware she's the same person, desperately comb unprotected New York for a smallpox carrier.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsVincent PriceEllen DrewVladimir SokoloffMaster swindler James Reavis painstakingly spends years forging documents and land grants that will make his wife and him undisputed owners of the entire territory of Arizona.
- DirectorCrane WilburStarsRichard BasehartMarilyn MaxwellSigne HassoA paroled convict's infatuation with a gold-digger nurse working at a sanitarium leads him to crime.
- DirectorJack DonohueStarsRed SkeltonGloria DeHavenWalter SlezakA clumsy, accident-prone taxicab driver, who invented the elastic-glass, risks losing his valuable invention to a group of con-men led by a crooked lawyer but the pretty lady owner of the Yellow Cab Co. comes to his aid.
- DirectorJohn ReinhardtStarsDan DuryeaMary AndersonGordon GebertA poor father makes monumental efforts to get money to keep his phone installed, so he can get word on his critically injured little daughter.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsJean PetersLouis JourdanDebra PagetIn order to recover his ship impounded by the British, former pirate captain LaRochelle agrees to spy on the notorious Caribbean Sea pirates Blackbeard and Anne Providence.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartKatharine HepburnRobert MorleyIn WWI East Africa, a gin-swilling Canadian riverboat captain is persuaded by a strait-laced English missionary to undertake a trip up a treacherous river and use his boat to attack a German gunship.
- DirectorJohn BerryStarsJohn GarfieldShelley WintersWallace FordNick and his partner Al stage a payroll holdup. Al is shot, and Nick kills a policeman. Nick hides out at a public pool, where he meets Peg Dobbs. They go back to her apartment, and he forces her family to hide him from the police manhunt.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsJames MasonCedric HardwickeJessica TandyThe story of the final years of the respected World War II German general, Erwin Rommel.
- DirectorJohn FarrowStarsWilliam HoldenNancy OlsonWilliam BendixSubmarine commander Ken White reminisces about his wartime years aboard submarine USS Tiger Shark and struggles with feelings of personal guilt.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsRichard WidmarkJack PalanceReginald GardinerA company of Marines races against the clock to find a Japanese rocket base.
- DirectorRobert ParrishDick PowellStarsDick PowellRhonda FlemingRichard ErdmanEx-con Rocky Mulloy seeks the real culprit in the crime for which he was framed in a night world of deceptive dames and double crosses.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsEthel BarrymoreMaurice EvansAngela LansburyMary Herries (Ethel Barrymore) has a passion for art and fine furniture. Even though she is getting on in years, she enjoys being around these priceless articles. One day she meets a strange young painter named Harry Springer Elcott (Maurice Evans), who uses his painting skill to enter into her life. Little does she expect that his only interest in her is to covet everything she has.
- DirectorFrank TuttleStarsLuther AdlerPatricia KnightWilliam L. ShirerActor becomes Hitler's valet, murders him, takes his place and ruins Nazi Germany's war efforts.
- DirectorWilliam Cameron MenziesStarsCarla BalendaElliott ReidEdgar BarrierMatt Corbin, a vacationing magazine writer, takes a fishing trip to Minnesota, and stumbles across a lake in which all the fish have mysteriously died. The locals are tight-lipped about it, but Corbin learns that a group of former-Nazis-turned-Communists have purchased a lodge on an island in the middle of the fish-killing lake, and have built some kind of laboratory. Never one to pass up a chance to sell a story to a magazine, Matt decides to investigate. His only ally is Janet Keller, the sister of the local doctor who has been caught up in whatever those nefarious Commie-Nazis are up to. What they are up to, with Soviet financing, is the development of diseases to use in bacteriological warfare against the United States, starting right there in Minnesota.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsRichard BasehartValentina CorteseWilliam LundiganConcentration camp survivor Victoria Kowelska finds herself involved in mystery, greed, and murder after she assumes the identity of a dead friend in order to gain passage to America.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsLizabeth ScottJane GreerDennis O'KeefeA female ex-convict meets a handsome man and they start dating, but she jeopardizes their relationship by not telling him that she was in prison--and he doesn't reveal his involvement with her parole officer.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsJames CagneyPhyllis ThaxterRaymond MasseyAlcoholic newspaperman Lew Marsh hits bottom, loses his job and is rehabilitated by Charley Dolan. After six years on the wagon he gets his job back and devotes himself to other recovering alcoholics. His boss enlists his help to sober up his nephew, Boyd Copeland, who has married Lew's old sweetheart. Boyd, who is involved with a cabaret singer and the mob, presents quite a challenge.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyAnthony MannStarsRobert TaylorDeborah KerrLeo GennAfter fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero.
- DirectorArch ObolerStarsWilliam PhippsSusan Douglas RubesJames AndersonThe world is destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. Only five Americans survive, including a pregnant woman, a neo-Nazi, a black man and a bank clerk.
- DirectorRudolph MatéStarsRichard DerrBarbara RushPeter HansenAs a new star and planet hurtle toward a doomed Earth, a small group of survivalists frantically work to complete the rocket which will take them to their new home.
- DirectorRudolph MatéStarsTony CurtisPiper LaurieEverett SloaneIn 13th-century Tangiers, regent Mustapha hires a paid assassin to kill baby Prince Hussein in order to usurp his throne but the assassin has second thoughts and steals the baby for himself.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsJames StewartMarlene DietrichGlynis JohnsAn aeronautical engineer predicts that a new model of plane will fail catastrophically and in a novel manner after a specific number flying hours.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsKirk DouglasEleanor ParkerWilliam BendixOn one day in the 21st Precinct squad room, assorted characters form a backdrop for the troubles of hard-nosed Detective Jim McLeod.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsTyrone PowerSusan HaywardHugh MarloweA stagecoach stop employee and a stranded woman traveller find themselves at the mercy of four desperate outlaws intent on robbing the next day's gold shipment.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsGary CooperMari AldonRichard WebbAfter destroying a Seminole fort, American soldiers and their rescued companions must face the dangerous Everglades and hostile Indians in order to reach safety.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsRobert TaylorDenise DarcelHope EmersonA trail guide escorts a group of women from Chicago to California to marry men that have recently begun settling there.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsGregory PeckVirginia MayoRobert BeattyDuring the Napoleonic wars, a British Navy Captain has adventures in Central American waters.
- DirectorBretaigne WindustRaoul WalshStarsHumphrey BogartZero MostelTed de CorsiaA crusading district attorney finally gets a chance to prosecute the organizer and boss of Murder Inc.
- DirectorTay GarnettStarsLoretta YoungBarry SullivanBruce CowlingAn invalid husband (Barry Sullivan) wrongly believes his wife (Loretta Young) and doctor (Bruce Cowling) are conspiring to kill him and outlines that suspicion in a letter, which causes a serious concern when he ends up dying anyway.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsRichard BasehartGary MerrillOskar WernerAs the US Army approaches Nazi Germany, they recruit German prisoners of war to spy behind German lines.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsVan HeflinEvelyn KeyesJohn MaxwellAfter Susan Gilvray reports a prowler outside her house police officer Webb Garwood investigates and sparks fly. If only her husband wasn't in the way.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsBette DavisGary MerrillEmlyn WilliamsA mystery writer becomes involved in a tangled web of murderous deception not unlike the plots of her novels.
- DirectorMichael GordonStarsGlenn FordGene TierneyEthel BarrymoreIn 1871 a convict escapes, with other prisoners, to kill the man that framed him, but has second thoughts after meeting the man's beautiful future wife.
- DirectorLawrence HuntingtonStarsMichael DenisonDulcie GrayAnthony NichollsMichael Denison plays a lawyer investigating kidnapping charges against Dulcie Gray. Based on a novel of Josephine Tey.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsCary GrantJeanne CrainFinlay CurrieDr. Noah Praetorius falls in love with Deborah, a student who discovers that she is pregnant by her old boyfriend.
- DirectorHarold FrenchPat JacksonAnthony PelissierStarsNigel PatrickRoland CulverAlison LeggattAdaptations of three short stories by W. Somerset Maugham comprise this anthology film in which the celebrated author introduces each segment of the film in front of the camera.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsSpencer TracyPat O'BrienDiana LynnJim Curtayne, formerly a successful defense attorney who is now a recovering alcoholic, attempts a comeback when he defends a neighbor's son facing a homicide charge.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsPier AngeliJohn EricsonPatricia CollingeA reluctant soldier, Peter, serves in Italy during WWII. He marries a local girl named Teresa and brings her to the US.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsArthur KennedyPeggy DowJulie AdamsAfter he gets blinded by a German sniper's bullet in 1943, Sergeant Larry Nevins begins the long and painful road to recovery.
- DirectorLaslo BenedekStarsFredric MarchMildred DunnockKevin McCarthyAn over-the-hill salesman faces a personal turning point when he loses his job and attempts to make peace with his family.
- DirectorPeter LorreStarsPeter LorreKarl JohnHelmuth RudolphGerman scientist murders his fiancée during World War II when he learns that she has been selling the results of his secret research to the enemy.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsSpencer TracyJoan BennettElizabeth TaylorShortly after coming to terms with his daughter's marriage, a father faces the prospect of becoming a grandfather.
- DirectorJohn BoultingStarsRobert DonatMaria SchellRenée AshersonA chronicle of the life of William Friese-Greene, a British inventor and early pioneer in cinema.
- DirectorRoy Ward BakerStarsTyrone PowerAnn BlythMichael RennieA scientist obsessed with the past transports himself back in time to 18th-century London, where he falls in love with a beautiful young woman.