The Good... of the 1950s
by Akira_Chimera | created - 21 Mar 2011 | updated - 2 months ago | PublicAfter 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.
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1. Mystery Street (1950)
Passed | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A small-town policeman is assisted by a Harvard professor after the discovery of a human skeleton on a Massachusetts beach.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest, Bruce Bennett, Elsa Lanchester
Votes: 3,453
2. Seven Days to Noon (1950)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama, Thriller
When 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.
Directors: John Boulting, Roy Boulting | Stars: Barry Jones, André Morell, Olive Sloane, Sheila Manahan
Votes: 2,191
3. Walk Softly, Stranger (1950)
Approved | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An 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.
Director: Robert Stevenson | Stars: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Spring Byington, Paul Stewart
Votes: 1,311
4. Harriet Craig (1950)
Approved | 94 min | Drama
Harriet 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.
Director: Vincent Sherman | Stars: Joan Crawford, Wendell Corey, Lucile Watson, Allyn Joslyn
Votes: 2,423
5. Armored Car Robbery (1950)
Passed | 67 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
A well-planned robbery goes awry with tough cop Jim Cordell in pursuit of the thieves.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Charles McGraw, Adele Jergens, William Talman, Douglas Fowley
Votes: 2,997
6. Woman in Hiding (1950)
Passed | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After her father is killed in an accident, mill heiress Deborah Chandler marries the plant manager, Selden Clark, but his motives are suspicious.
Director: Michael Gordon | Stars: Ida Lupino, Stephen McNally, Howard Duff, Peggy Dow
Votes: 1,516
7. The File on Thelma Jordon (1949)
Passed | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Assistant district attorney Cleve Marshall falls for the mysterious Thelma Jordon when she seeks help solving robberies of her aunt's estate.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Paul Kelly, Joan Tetzel
Votes: 3,184
8. In a Lonely Place (1950)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
A potentially violent screenwriter is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. However, she soon starts to have her doubts.
Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy, Carl Benton Reid
Votes: 35,288
9. Union Station (1950)
Approved | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A 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.
Director: Rudolph Maté | Stars: William Holden, Nancy Olson, Barry Fitzgerald, Lyle Bettger
Votes: 2,726
10. Whirlpool (1950)
Approved | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A 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.
Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, José Ferrer, Charles Bickford
Votes: 4,800
11. Shadow on the Wall (1950)
Passed | 84 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A 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.
Director: Pat Jackson | Stars: Ann Sothern, Zachary Scott, Gigi Perreau, Nancy Reagan
Votes: 1,432
12. No Way Out (1950)
Passed | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Two hoodlum brothers are brought into a hospital for gunshot wounds, and when one of them dies the other accuses their black doctor of murder.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, Sidney Poitier
Votes: 6,284
13. The Great Manhunt (1950)
Passed | 97 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
In 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.
Director: Sidney Gilliat | Stars: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins, Walter Rilla
Votes: 821
14. Born to Be Bad (1950)
Approved | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A 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.
Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: Mel Ferrer, Joan Fontaine, Robert Ryan, Zachary Scott
Votes: 2,760
15. The Sleeping City (1950)
Approved | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
In New York, the murder of a Bellevue Hospital intern prompts the police to send an undercover detective to investigate.
Director: George Sherman | Stars: Richard Conte, Coleen Gray, Richard Taber, John Alexander
Votes: 852
16. Gun Crazy (1950)
Passed | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Two disturbed young people release their fascination with guns through a crime spree.
Director: Joseph H. Lewis | Stars: John Dall, Peggy Cummins, Berry Kroeger, Morris Carnovsky
Votes: 14,856
17. Caged (1950)
Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A 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?
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby, Hope Emerson
Votes: 4,715
18. Crisis (1950)
Passed | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
While on vacation in a Latin American country, an American neurosurgeon and his wife become tangled in a revolutionary uprising against a tyrannical dictator.
Director: Richard Brooks | Stars: Cary Grant, José Ferrer, Paula Raymond, Signe Hasso
Votes: 1,926
19. The Breaking Point (1950)
Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An 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.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter, Juano Hernandez
Votes: 4,407
20. Devil's Doorway (1950)
Approved | 84 min | Western
After 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.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: Robert Taylor, Louis Calhern, Paula Raymond, Marshall Thompson
Votes: 1,855
21. The Underworld Story (1950)
Passed | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The 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.
Director: Cy Endfield | Stars: Dan Duryea, Herbert Marshall, Gale Storm, Howard Da Silva
Votes: 1,330
22. Trio (1950)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, Romance
Three short stories by W. Somerset Maugham, "The Verger", "Mr. Know-All", and "The Sanatorium" are introduced by the author.
Directors: Ken Annakin, Harold French | Stars: James Hayter, Kathleen Harrison, Felix Aylmer, Lana Morris
Votes: 905
23. The Blue Lamp (1950)
Approved | 84 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
The daily routine of two London Policemen is interrupted by a killer.
Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: Jack Warner, Dirk Bogarde, Jimmy Hanley, Robert Flemyng
Votes: 2,538
24. Odette (1950)
105 min | Drama, History, War
During WW2, a French woman living in England volunteers to work for British Intelligence in Nazi-occupied France.
Director: Herbert Wilcox | Stars: Anna Neagle, Trevor Howard, Marius Goring, Peter Ustinov
Votes: 1,042
25. House by the River (1950)
Approved | 83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A 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.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Louis Hayward, Lee Bowman, Jane Wyatt, Dorothy Patrick
Votes: 4,171
26. The Furies (1950)
Passed | 109 min | Western
A 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.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Walter Huston, Judith Anderson
Votes: 3,906
27. The Glass Menagerie (1950)
Approved | 107 min | Drama
Merchant 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.
Director: Irving Rapper | Stars: Jane Wyman, Kirk Douglas, Gertrude Lawrence, Arthur Kennedy
Votes: 1,285
28. Three Came Home (1950)
Not Rated | 106 min | Drama, War
During Word War II, American author Agnes Newton Keith is imprisoned by the Japanese in various POW camps in North Borneo and Sarawak.
Director: Jean Negulesco | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Patric Knowles, Florence Desmond, Sessue Hayakawa
Votes: 2,138
29. The Wooden Horse (1950)
101 min | Drama, History, War
True story of three British POWs and their attempt to escape from Nazi Germany.
Directors: Jack Lee, Ian Dalrymple | Stars: Leo Genn, David Tomlinson, Anthony Steel, David Greene
Votes: 1,595
30. Stage Fright (1950)
Approved | 110 min | Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller
A struggling actress tries to help a friend prove his innocence after he's accused of murdering the husband of a high-society entertainer.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, Jane Wyman, Richard Todd, Michael Wilding
Votes: 16,163
31. Never Fear (1950)
Passed | 82 min | Drama
A 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.
Director: Ida Lupino | Stars: Sally Forrest, Keefe Brasselle, Hugh O'Brian, Eve Miller
Votes: 804
32. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)
Approved | 102 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller
Starting with a violent prison break, clever, ruthless Ralph Cotter corrupts everyone around him.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: James Cagney, Barbara Payton, Helena Carter, Ward Bond
Votes: 2,463
33. Where Danger Lives (1950)
Not Rated | 82 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller
A 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.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Claude Rains, Faith Domergue, Maureen O'Sullivan
Votes: 3,394
34. Winchester '73 (1950)
Passed | 92 min | Action, Drama, Western
A cowboy's obsession with a stolen rifle leads to a bullet-ridden odyssey through the American West.
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: James Stewart, Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally
Votes: 21,987
35. The Fuller Brush Girl (1950)
Approved | 85 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Scatterbrained 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Lloyd Bacon | Stars: Lucille Ball, Eddie Albert, Carl Benton Reid, Gale Robbins
Votes: 1,071
36. Harvey (1950)
Approved | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Due 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.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: James Stewart, Wallace Ford, William H. Lynn, Victoria Horne
Votes: 58,262
37. Broken Arrow (1950)
Approved | 93 min | Drama, Romance, Western
Tom Jeffords tries to make peace between settlers and Apaches in Arizona territory.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: James Stewart, Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget, Basil Ruysdael
Votes: 9,687
38. The Black Rose (1950)
Approved | 120 min | Adventure, History, Romance
A disinherited 13th Century Saxon nobleman leaves Norman England with an archer friend to seek his fortune in the Far East.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Tyrone Power, Orson Welles, Cécile Aubry, Jack Hawkins
Votes: 2,458
39. King Solomon's Mines (1950)
Passed | 103 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
Adventurer 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.
Directors: Compton Bennett, Andrew Marton | Stars: Deborah Kerr, Stewart Granger, Richard Carlson, Hugo Haas
Votes: 7,021
40. Three Secrets (1950)
Approved | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Three 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.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Eleanor Parker, Patricia Neal, Ruth Roman, Frank Lovejoy
Votes: 670
41. Cheaper by the Dozen (1950)
Approved | 86 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Myrna 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.
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: Clifton Webb, Myrna Loy, Jeanne Crain, Betty Lynn
Votes: 5,679 | Gross: $9.65M
42. The Mudlark (1950)
Approved | 99 min | Drama
An 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.
Director: Jean Negulesco | Stars: Irene Dunne, Alec Guinness, Andrew Ray, Beatrice Campbell
Votes: 941
43. Champagne for Caesar (1950)
Not Rated | 99 min | Comedy, Romance
In 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.
Director: Richard Whorf | Stars: Ronald Colman, Celeste Holm, Vincent Price, Barbara Britton
Votes: 1,235
44. The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950)
Not Rated | 81 min | Comedy
Chaos ensues for staff and students alike after an all-boys and an all-girls school are amalgamated into one.
Director: Frank Launder | Stars: Alastair Sim, Margaret Rutherford, John Turnbull, Richard Wattis
Votes: 1,886
45. Beauty and the Devil (1950)
Approved | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
The Faust story retold, with an aged alchemist accepting the gift of renewed youth from the devilish Mephistopheles.
Director: René Clair | Stars: Michel Simon, Gérard Philipe, Nicole Besnard, Simone Valère
Votes: 1,815
46. Born Yesterday (1950)
Not Rated | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A tycoon hires a tutor to teach his lover proper etiquette, with unexpected results.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Judy Holliday, William Holden, Broderick Crawford, Howard St. John
Votes: 12,423
47. La Ronde (1950)
Not Rated | 93 min | Drama, Romance
Soldiers, chambermaids, poets, prostitutes, aristocrats-all are on equal footing in this multi-character merry-go-round of love and infidelity.
Director: Max Ophüls | Stars: Anton Walbrook, Simone Signoret, Serge Reggiani, Simone Simon
Votes: 5,960
48. Stromboli (1950)
Approved | 81 min | Drama
Karin, 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.
Director: Roberto Rossellini | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Mario Vitale, Renzo Cesana, Mario Sponzo
Votes: 7,971
49. Orpheus (1950)
Not Rated | 112 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A poet in love with Death follows his unhappy wife into the underworld.
Director: Jean Cocteau | Stars: Jean Marais, François Périer, María Casares, Marie Déa
Votes: 13,414
50. The Young and the Damned (1950)
Not Rated | 80 min | Crime, Drama
A 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.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Alfonso Mejía, Roberto Cobo, Estela Inda, Miguel Inclán
Votes: 22,012
51. 711 Ocean Drive (1950)
Passed | 102 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An 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.
Director: Joseph M. Newman | Stars: Edmond O'Brien, Joanne Dru, Otto Kruger, Barry Kelley
Votes: 2,048
52. The Great Rupert (1950)
Passed | 87 min | Comedy, Family
A little squirrel with lots of charm accidentally helps two poor, down-but-NOT-out families overcome their obstacles.
Director: Irving Pichel | Stars: Jimmy Durante, Terry Moore, Tom Drake, Frank Orth
Votes: 1,575
53. The Men (1950)
Passed | 87 min | Drama
A paralyzed war vet tries to adjust to the world without the use of his limbs.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Marlon Brando, Teresa Wright, Everett Sloane, Jack Webb
Votes: 5,151 | Gross: $7.10M
54. The Clouded Yellow (1950)
Approved | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A 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.
Director: Ralph Thomas | Stars: Jean Simmons, Trevor Howard, Sonia Dresdel, Barry Jones
Votes: 985
55. No Man of Her Own (1950)
Passed | 98 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
A 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.
Director: Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, John Lund, Jane Cowl, Phyllis Thaxter
Votes: 2,903
56. The Killer That Stalked New York (1950)
Passed | 79 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
Police seek a smuggler while doctors, unaware she's the same person, desperately comb unprotected New York for a smallpox carrier.
Director: Earl McEvoy | Stars: Evelyn Keyes, Charles Korvin, William Bishop, Dorothy Malone
Votes: 1,803
57. The Baron of Arizona (1950)
Approved | 97 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Master 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.
Director: Samuel Fuller | Stars: Vincent Price, Ellen Drew, Vladimir Sokoloff, Beulah Bondi
Votes: 2,541
58. Outside the Wall (1950)
Passed | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A paroled convict's infatuation with a gold-digger nurse working at a sanitarium leads him to crime.
Director: Crane Wilbur | Stars: Richard Basehart, Marilyn Maxwell, Signe Hasso, Dorothy Hart
Votes: 410
59. The Yellow Cab Man (1950)
Approved | 85 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A 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.
Director: Jack Donohue | Stars: Red Skelton, Gloria DeHaven, Walter Slezak, Edward Arnold
Votes: 547 | Gross: $2.60M
60. Chicago Calling (1951)
75 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
A poor father makes monumental efforts to get money to keep his phone installed, so he can get word on his critically injured little daughter.
Director: John Reinhardt | Stars: Dan Duryea, Mary Anderson, Gordon Gebert, Ross Elliott
Votes: 341
61. Anne of the Indies (1951)
Approved | 81 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In 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.
Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Jean Peters, Louis Jourdan, Debra Paget, Herbert Marshall
Votes: 1,493
62. The African Queen (1951)
PG | 105 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In 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.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Peter Bull
Votes: 84,340 | Gross: $0.54M
63. He Ran All the Way (1951)
Passed | 77 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Nick 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.
Director: John Berry | Stars: John Garfield, Shelley Winters, Wallace Ford, Selena Royle
Votes: 3,020
64. The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951)
Approved | 88 min | Biography, Drama, War
The story of the final years of the respected World War II German general, Erwin Rommel.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: James Mason, Cedric Hardwicke, Jessica Tandy, Luther Adler
Votes: 6,712
65. Submarine Command (1951)
Approved | 87 min | Drama, War
Submarine commander Ken White reminisces about his wartime years aboard submarine USS Tiger Shark and struggles with feelings of personal guilt.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: William Holden, Nancy Olson, William Bendix, Don Taylor
Votes: 685
66. Halls of Montezuma (1951)
Approved | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A company of Marines races against the clock to find a Japanese rocket base.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Richard Widmark, Jack Palance, Reginald Gardiner, Robert Wagner
Votes: 2,956
67. Cry Danger (1951)
Passed | 79 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Ex-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.
Directors: Robert Parrish, Dick Powell | Stars: Dick Powell, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Erdman, William Conrad
Votes: 2,740
68. Kind Lady (1951)
78 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Mary 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 ... See full summary »
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Ethel Barrymore, Maurice Evans, Angela Lansbury, Keenan Wynn
Votes: 1,124
69. The Magic Face (1951)
88 min | Drama, War
Actor becomes Hitler's valet, murders him, takes his place and ruins Nazi Germany's war efforts.
Director: Frank Tuttle | Stars: Luther Adler, Patricia Knight, William L. Shirer, Jaspar von Oertzen
Votes: 114
70. The Whip Hand (1951)
Approved | 82 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
Matt 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,... See full summary »
Director: William Cameron Menzies | Stars: Carla Balenda, Elliott Reid, Edgar Barrier, Raymond Burr
Votes: 716
71. The House on Telegraph Hill (1951)
Approved | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Concentration 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.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Richard Basehart, Valentina Cortese, William Lundigan, Fay Baker
Votes: 3,849
72. The Company She Keeps (1951)
Approved | 82 min | Drama
A 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.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Lizabeth Scott, Jane Greer, Dennis O'Keefe, Fay Baker
Votes: 652
73. Come Fill the Cup (1951)
113 min | Crime, Drama
Alcoholic 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 ... See full summary »
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: James Cagney, Phyllis Thaxter, Raymond Massey, James Gleason
Votes: 546
74. Quo Vadis (1951)
Not Rated | 171 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
After fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero.
Directors: Mervyn LeRoy, Anthony Mann | Stars: Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn, Peter Ustinov
Votes: 16,757 | Gross: $24.29M
75. Five (1951)
Approved | 93 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
The 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.
Director: Arch Oboler | Stars: William Phipps, Susan Douglas Rubes, James Anderson, Charles Lampkin
Votes: 1,569
76. When Worlds Collide (1951)
Approved | 83 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
As 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.
Director: Rudolph Maté | Stars: Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, Peter Hansen, John Hoyt
Votes: 9,239
77. The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951)
Approved | 88 min | Adventure
In 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.
Director: Rudolph Maté | Stars: Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Everett Sloane, Jeff Corey
Votes: 785
78. No Highway in the Sky (1951)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Thriller
An aeronautical engineer predicts that a new model of plane will fail catastrophically and in a novel manner after a specific number flying hours.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins
Votes: 4,461
79. Detective Story (1951)
Approved | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
On one day in the 21st Precinct squad room, assorted characters form a backdrop for the troubles of hard-nosed Detective Jim McLeod.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Cathy O'Donnell
Votes: 9,494
80. Rawhide (1951)
Approved | 89 min | Drama, Romance, Western
A 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.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, Hugh Marlowe, Dean Jagger
Votes: 3,140
81. Distant Drums (1951)
Approved | 101 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After destroying a Seminole fort, American soldiers and their rescued companions must face the dangerous Everglades and hostile Indians in order to reach safety.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Gary Cooper, Mari Aldon, Richard Webb, Ray Teal
Votes: 2,368
82. Westward the Women (1951)
Passed | 118 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A trail guide escorts a group of women from Chicago to California to marry men that have recently begun settling there.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Robert Taylor, Denise Darcel, Hope Emerson, John McIntire
Votes: 3,805
83. Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)
Not Rated | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During the Napoleonic wars, a British Navy Captain has adventures in Central American waters.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Gregory Peck, Virginia Mayo, Robert Beatty, Moultrie Kelsall
Votes: 7,514
84. The Enforcer (1951)
Approved | 87 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller
A crusading district attorney finally gets a chance to prosecute the organizer and boss of Murder Inc.
Directors: Bretaigne Windust, Raoul Walsh | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Zero Mostel, Ted de Corsia, Everett Sloane
Votes: 5,649
85. Cause for Alarm! (1951)
Passed | 74 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An 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.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Loretta Young, Barry Sullivan, Bruce Cowling, Margalo Gillmore
Votes: 2,648
86. Decision Before Dawn (1951)
Not Rated | 119 min | Drama, War
As the US Army approaches Nazi Germany, they recruit German prisoners to spy behind German lines.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Richard Basehart, Gary Merrill, Oskar Werner, Hildegard Knef
Votes: 2,996
87. The Prowler (1951)
Approved | 92 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
After 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.
Director: Joseph Losey | Stars: Van Heflin, Evelyn Keyes, John Maxwell, Katherine Warren
Votes: 4,095
88. Another Man's Poison (1951)
TV-G | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A mystery writer becomes involved in a tangled web of murderous deception not unlike the plots of her novels.
Director: Irving Rapper | Stars: Bette Davis, Gary Merrill, Emlyn Williams, Anthony Steel
Votes: 3,372
89. The Secret of Convict Lake (1951)
Approved | 83 min | Western
In 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.
Director: Michael Gordon | Stars: Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore, Zachary Scott
Votes: 1,506
90. The Franchise Affair (1951)
88 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Michael Denison plays a lawyer investigating kidnapping charges against Dulcie Gray. Based on a novel of Josephine Tey.
Director: Lawrence Huntington | Stars: Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray, Anthony Nicholls, Marjorie Fielding
Votes: 392
91. People Will Talk (1951)
Approved | 110 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Dr. Noah Praetorius falls in love with Deborah, a student who discovers that she is pregnant by her old boyfriend.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Cary Grant, Jeanne Crain, Finlay Currie, Hume Cronyn
Votes: 7,103
92. Encore (1951)
Not Rated | 89 min | Comedy, Drama
Adaptations 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.
Directors: Harold French, Pat Jackson, Anthony Pelissier | Stars: Nigel Patrick, Roland Culver, Alison Leggatt, Charles Victor
Votes: 602
93. The People Against O'Hara (1951)
Passed | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Jim 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.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Pat O'Brien, Diana Lynn, John Hodiak
Votes: 1,539
94. Teresa (1951)
Approved | 102 min | Drama
A reluctant soldier, Peter, serves in Italy during WWII. He marries a local girl named Teresa and brings her to the US.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Pier Angeli, John Ericson, Patricia Collinge, Richard Bishop
Votes: 743
95. Bright Victory (1951)
Approved | 97 min | Drama, Romance, War
After he gets blinded by a German sniper's bullet in 1943, Sergeant Larry Nevins begins the long and painful road to recovery.
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Arthur Kennedy, Peggy Dow, Julie Adams, James Edwards
Votes: 978
96. Death of a Salesman (1951)
115 min | Drama
An over-the-hill salesman faces a personal turning point when he loses his job and attempts to make peace with his family.
Director: Laslo Benedek | Stars: Fredric March, Mildred Dunnock, Kevin McCarthy, Cameron Mitchell
Votes: 1,193
97. The Lost Man (1951)
98 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
German 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.
Director: Peter Lorre | Stars: Peter Lorre, Karl John, Helmuth Rudolph, Johanna Hofer
Votes: 1,161
98. Father's Little Dividend (1951)
Not Rated | 82 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Shortly after coming to terms with his daughter's marriage, a father faces the prospect of becoming a grandfather.
Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor
Votes: 4,297 | Gross: $6.81M
99. The Magic Box (1951)
Approved | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History
A chronicle of the life of William Friese-Greene, a British inventor and early pioneer in cinema.
Director: John Boulting | Stars: Robert Donat, Maria Schell, Renée Asherson, Richard Attenborough
Votes: 1,419
100. I'll Never Forget You (1951)
90 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A scientist obsessed with the past transports himself back in time to 18th-century London, where he falls in love with a beautiful young woman.
Director: Roy Ward Baker | Stars: Tyrone Power, Ann Blyth, Michael Rennie, Dennis Price
Votes: 1,070
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