The Alternative List of Fundamental Movies

by pauljessico | created - 25 Apr 2013 | updated - 26 Apr 2013 | Public
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1. Leaving the Factory (1895)

Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short

Workers leaving the Lumière factory for lunch in Lyon, France in 1895; a place of great photographic innovation and one of the birth places of cinema.

Director: Louis Lumière

Votes: 7,555

2. The Arrival of a Train (1896)

Not Rated | 1 min | Documentary, Short

A train arrives at La Ciotat station.

Directors: Auguste Lumière, Louis Lumière | Stars: Madeleine Koehler, Marcel Koehler, Mrs. Auguste Lumiere, Jeanne-Joséphine Lumière

Votes: 12,875

3. A Trip to the Moon (1902)

TV-G | 13 min | Short, Action, Adventure

A group of astronomers go on an expedition to the Moon.

Director: Georges Méliès | Stars: Georges Méliès, Victor André, Bleuette Bernon, Brunnet

Votes: 55,818

4. The Great Train Robbery (1903)

TV-G | 11 min | Short, Action, Adventure

A group of bandits stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels.

Director: Edwin S. Porter | Stars: Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, A.C. Abadie, George Barnes, Justus D. Barnes

Votes: 21,000

5. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Not Rated | 67 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Hypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.

Director: Robert Wiene | Stars: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher, Lil Dagover

Votes: 70,087

6. Sumurun (1920)

Not Rated | 85 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance

The favorite slave girl of a tyrannical sheik falls in love with a cloth merchant. Meanwhile, a hunchback clown suffers unrequited love for a traveling dancer who wants to join the harem.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Ernst Lubitsch, Pola Negri, Paul Wegener, Jenny Hasselqvist

Votes: 822

7. Nosferatu (1922)

Not Rated | 94 min | Fantasy, Horror

Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.

Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Max Schreck, Alexander Granach, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder

Votes: 105,497

8. Our Hospitality (1923)

Passed | 65 min | Comedy, Romance, Thriller

A man returns to his Appalachian homestead. On the trip, he falls for a young woman. The only problem is her family has vowed to kill every member of his family.

Directors: John G. Blystone, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Natalie Talmadge, Joe Keaton, Joe Roberts

Votes: 12,497 | Gross: $1.17M

9. Safety Last! (1923)

Not Rated | 74 min | Action, Comedy, Thriller

A boy leaves his small country town and heads to the big city to get a job. As soon as he makes it big his sweetheart will join him and marry him. His enthusiasm to get ahead leads to some interesting adventures.

Directors: Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor | Stars: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother, Noah Young

Votes: 22,927 | Gross: $1.36M

10. The Last Laugh (1924)

Not Rated | 90 min | Drama

An aging doorman is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbors and society after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel.

Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: Emil Jannings, Maly Delschaft, Max Hiller, Emilie Kurz

Votes: 15,213 | Gross: $0.09M

11. Sherlock Jr. (1924)

Passed | 45 min | Action, Comedy, Romance

A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.

Director: Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton, Erwin Connelly

Votes: 57,067 | Gross: $0.98M

12. Sunrise (1927)

Passed | 94 min | Drama, Romance

95 Metascore

A sophisticated city woman seduces a farmer and convinces him to murder his wife and join her in the city, but he ends up rekindling his romance with his wife when he changes his mind at the last moment.

Director: F.W. Murnau | Stars: George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston, Bodil Rosing

Votes: 53,861 | Gross: $0.54M

13. Sur un air de Charleston (1927)

17 min | Short, Sci-Fi

Shot in three days, this surreal, erotic silent short shows a native white girl teaching a futuristic African airman the Charleston dance.

Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Catherine Hessling, Johnny Hudgins, Pierre Braunberger, André Cerf

Votes: 725

14. The Cameraman (1928)

Passed | 76 min | Comedy, Drama, Family

Hopelessly in love with a woman working at MGM Studios, a clumsy man attempts to become a motion-picture cameraman to be close to the object of his desire.

Directors: Edward Sedgwick, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Marceline Day, Harold Goodwin, Sidney Bracey

Votes: 13,189

15. People on Sunday (1930)

Not Rated | 73 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

Two men and two women enjoy a pleasant Sunday at the beach amid the unending toil of the working week.

Directors: Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer, Rochus Gliese, Curt Siodmak, Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Erwin Splettstößer, Brigitte Borchert, Wolfgang von Waltershausen, Christl Ehlers

Votes: 3,548

16. The Skeleton Dance (1929)

Approved | 6 min | Animation, Short, Comedy

The clock strikes midnight, the bats fly from the belfry, a dog howls at the full moon, and two black cats fight in the cemetery: a perfect time for four skeletons to come out and dance a bit.

Director: Walt Disney | Stars: Walt Disney, Carl W. Stalling

Votes: 6,299

17. Zero for Conduct (1933)

Not Rated | 47 min | Drama

In a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the direction on a celebration day.

Director: Jean Vigo | Stars: Jean Dasté, Robert le Flon, Louis Lefebvre, Du Verron

Votes: 9,369

18. Bad Girl (1931)

Passed | 90 min | Drama, Romance

A man and woman, skeptical about romance, nonetheless fall in love and are wed, but their lack of confidence in the opposite sex haunts their marriage.

Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: James Dunn, Sally Eilers, Minna Gombell, Frank Darien

Votes: 1,605

19. Song of Heroes (1932)

50 min | Documentary

Soviet solidarity is strong in Germany where the Communist Party (KPD) marches under the clenched fist in spite of police harassment... Radio broadcasts reach all parts of the Soviet Union,... See full summary »

Director: Joris Ivens

Votes: 108

20. Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Passed | 83 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance

A gentleman thief and a lady pickpocket join forces to con a beautiful perfume company owner. Romantic entanglements and jealousies confuse the scheme.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, Charles Ruggles

Votes: 16,203 | Gross: $1.04M

21. Vampyr (1932)

Not Rated | 75 min | Fantasy, Horror

A drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer | Stars: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz

Votes: 20,528

22. The Invisible Man (1933)

TV-PG | 71 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

87 Metascore

A scientist finds a way of becoming invisible, but in doing so, he becomes murderously insane.

Director: James Whale | Stars: Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan, Henry Travers

Votes: 39,966

23. Design for Living (1933)

Passed | 91 min | Comedy, Mystery, Romance

A woman cannot decide between two men who love her, and the trio agree to try living together in a platonic friendly relationship.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Miriam Hopkins, Edward Everett Horton

Votes: 7,765

24. Hallelujah I'm a Bum (1933)

Passed | 82 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical

A New York tramp (Jolson) falls in love with the mayor's amnesiac girlfriend after rescuing her from a suicide attempt

Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Al Jolson, Madge Evans, Frank Morgan, Harry Langdon

Votes: 866

25. L'Atalante (1934)

Not Rated | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

Newly married couple Juliette and a ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'atalante along with the captain's first mate Le père Jules and a cabin boy.

Director: Jean Vigo | Stars: Dita Parlo, Jean Dasté, Gilles Margaritis, Louis Lefebvre

Votes: 17,478

26. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Not Rated | 75 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi

95 Metascore

Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Baron Henry Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.

Director: James Whale | Stars: Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson

Votes: 53,281 | Gross: $4.36M

27. It Happened One Night (1934)

Passed | 105 min | Comedy, Romance

87 Metascore

A rogue reporter trailing a runaway heiress for a big story joins her on a bus heading from Florida to New York and they end up stuck with each other when the bus leaves them behind at one of the stops along the way.

Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns

Votes: 112,326 | Gross: $4.36M

28. Pluto's Judgement Day (1935)

Approved | 7 min | Animation, Short, Comedy

Pluto chases a kitten through a window and right into Mickey's lap. Mickey scolds him, and goes off to wash the kitten. Pluto falls asleep in front of the fire, and dreams of a hell ruled ... See full summary »

Director: David Hand | Stars: Billy Bletcher, Don Brodie, Pinto Colvig, Walt Disney

Votes: 1,160

29. A Night at the Opera (1935)

Passed | 96 min | Comedy, Music, Musical

A sly business manager and the wacky friends of two opera singers in Italy help them achieve success in America while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.

Directors: Sam Wood, Edmund Goulding | Stars: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Kitty Carlisle

Votes: 34,772 | Gross: $2.54M

30. A Day in the Country (1946)

Not Rated | 40 min | Short, Comedy, Drama

The family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love with a man at the inn, where they spend the day.

Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Sylvia Bataille, Jane Marken, Georges D'Arnoux, André Gabriello

Votes: 7,102

31. Porky's Romance (1937)

Approved | 8 min | Animation, Family, Comedy

The introduction cartoon for Petunia Pig deals with Porky's courtship with her. Once he's won her hand in marriage, he fantasizes about his future with her, which doesn't seem very appealing.

Director: Frank Tashlin | Stars: Joe Dougherty, Mel Blanc, Billy Bletcher, Bernice Hansen

Votes: 446

32. The Country Cousin (1936)

Approved | 9 min | Family, Comedy, Animation

Morty Citymouse invites his cousin Abner Countrymouse for a visit and shows him the ways of the big city, including traps, eating quietly, and busy traffic.

Directors: David Hand, Wilfred Jackson | Stars: Pinto Colvig, Clarence Nash

Votes: 1,667

33. Young and Innocent (1937)

Not Rated | 83 min | Crime, Mystery, Romance

A man on the run from a murder charge enlists the help of a beautiful stranger who must put herself at risk for his cause.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Nova Pilbeam, Derrick De Marney, Percy Marmont, Edward Rigby

Votes: 10,863

34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Approved | 83 min | Animation, Adventure, Family

96 Metascore

Exiled into the dangerous forest by her wicked stepmother, a princess is rescued by seven dwarf miners who make her part of their household.

Directors: William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen | Stars: Adriana Caselotti, Harry Stockwell, Lucille La Verne, Roy Atwell

Votes: 215,565 | Gross: $184.93M

35. The Hurricane (1937)

Approved | 104 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

A Polynesian sailor unjustly imprisoned after defending himself against a colonial bully is relentlessly persecuted by his island's martinet French governor.

Director: John Ford | Stars: Dorothy Lamour, Jon Hall, Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith

Votes: 3,042

36. Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)

Passed | 91 min | Drama, Romance

An elderly couple are forced to live hundreds of miles apart when they lose their house and none of their five children will take both parents in.

Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Victor Moore, Beulah Bondi, Fay Bainter, Thomas Mitchell

Votes: 9,521

37. The Grand Illusion (1937)

Not Rated | 113 min | Drama, War

During WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.

Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean Gabin, Dita Parlo, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim

Votes: 38,870 | Gross: $0.17M

38. Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Passed | 102 min | Comedy

91 Metascore

While trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard, Baby.

Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles, Walter Catlett

Votes: 66,122

39. Holiday (1938)

Passed | 95 min | Comedy, Romance

A young man in love with a girl from a rich family finds his unorthodox plan to go on holiday for the early years of his life met with skepticism by everyone except for his fiancée's eccentric sister and long-suffering brother.

Director: George Cukor | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Doris Nolan, Lew Ayres

Votes: 18,257

40. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939)

Not Rated | 148 min | Drama, Romance

The adopted son of a legendary actor, and an aspiring star himself, turns to his infant brother's wet nurse for support and affection - only for her to give up everything for her beloved's glory.

Director: Kenji Mizoguchi | Stars: Shôtarô Hanayagi, Kôkichi Takada, Ryôtarô Kawanami, Kinnosuke Takamatsu

Votes: 4,399

41. Ninotchka (1939)

Not Rated | 110 min | Comedy, Romance

A stern Soviet woman sent to Paris to supervise the sale of jewels seized from Russian nobles finds herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire, Bela Lugosi

Votes: 22,908 | Gross: $1.19M

42. The Rules of the Game (1939)

Not Rated | 110 min | Comedy, Drama

99 Metascore

A bourgeois life in France at the onset of World War II, as the rich and their poor servants meet up at a French chateau.

Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, Paulette Dubost, Mila Parély

Votes: 31,342

43. Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

Passed | 121 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance

86 Metascore

At a remote South American trading port, the manager of an air-freight company is forced to risk his pilots' lives in order to win an important contract as a traveling American showgirl stops in town.

Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth, Richard Barthelmess

Votes: 15,666

44. Stagecoach (1939)

Passed | 96 min | Adventure, Drama, Western

93 Metascore

A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn something about each other in the process.

Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Andy Devine, John Carradine

Votes: 53,794

45. The Long Voyage Home (1940)

Approved | 105 min | Drama, War

A merchant ship's crew tries to survive the loneliness of the sea and the coming of war.

Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Ian Hunter, Ward Bond

Votes: 4,924

46. They Drive by Night (1940)

Approved | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

When one of two truck-driving brothers loses an arm, they both join a transport company where the other is falsely charged as an accessory in the murder of the owner.

Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino

Votes: 8,829

47. The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Not Rated | 112 min | Comedy, Romance

96 Metascore

When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.

Director: George Cukor | Stars: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey

Votes: 73,882

48. His Girl Friday (1940)

Passed | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying.

Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart

Votes: 63,197 | Gross: $0.30M

49. Dumbo (1941)

G | 64 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama

96 Metascore

Ridiculed because of his enormous ears, a young circus elephant is assisted by a mouse to achieve his full potential.

Directors: Samuel Armstrong, Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen, John Elliotte | Stars: Sterling Holloway, Edward Brophy, Herman Bing, Billy Bletcher

Votes: 142,148 | Gross: $1.60M

50. Sullivan's Travels (1941)

Passed | 90 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Hollywood director John L. Sullivan sets out to experience life as a homeless person in order to gain relevant life experience for his next movie.

Director: Preston Sturges | Stars: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest

Votes: 28,530

51. To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Passed | 99 min | Comedy, Romance, War

86 Metascore

During the German occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch | Stars: Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart

Votes: 43,056

52. Cat People (1942)

Not Rated | 73 min | Fantasy, Horror, Thriller

85 Metascore

An American man marries a Serbian immigrant who fears that she will turn into the cat person of her homeland's fables if they are intimate together.

Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Simone Simon, Tom Conway, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph

Votes: 26,005 | Gross: $4.00M

53. Roxie Hart (1942)

Passed | 75 min | Comedy

Roxie Hart signs a murder confession in order to attract publicity for her dancing career as dames don't swing in Cook County. Will everything go as planned?

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, George Montgomery, Lynne Overman

Votes: 1,915 | Gross: $2.40M

54. The Palm Beach Story (1942)

Passed | 88 min | Comedy, Romance

A New York inventor needs cash to develop his big idea, so his adoring wife decides to raise it by divorcing him and marrying an eccentric Florida millionaire with a capricious high-society sister.

Director: Preston Sturges | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee

Votes: 12,882 | Gross: $0.44M

55. Bambi (1942)

G | 69 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama

91 Metascore

The story of a young deer growing up in the forest.

Directors: James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, David Hand, Graham Heid, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Norman Wright, Arthur Davis, Clyde Geronimi | Stars: Hardie Albright, Stan Alexander, Bobette Audrey, Peter Behn

Votes: 154,164 | Gross: $102.80M

56. I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

Passed | 69 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

A nurse is hired to care for the wife of a sugar plantation owner, who has been acting strangely, on a Caribbean island.

Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Frances Dee, Tom Conway, James Ellison, Edith Barrett

Votes: 13,667

57. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Passed | 108 min | Film-Noir, Thriller

94 Metascore

A teenage girl, overjoyed when her favorite uncle comes to visit the family in their quiet California town, slowly begins to suspect that he is in fact the "Merry Widow" killer sought by the authorities.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey, Henry Travers

Votes: 70,527

58. The Curse of the Cat People (1944)

Passed | 70 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

The young, friendless daughter of Oliver and Alice Reed befriends her father's dead first wife and an aging, reclusive actress.

Directors: Gunther von Fritsch, Robert Wise | Stars: Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, Ann Carter

Votes: 7,179

59. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Not Rated | 118 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller

A Brooklyn writer of books on the futility of marriage risks his reputation after he decides to tie the knot. Things get even more complicated when he learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are habitual murderers.

Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson

Votes: 74,992

60. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943)

Approved | 98 min | Comedy, Romance, War

86 Metascore

After an all-night send-off party for the troops, a small-town girl with an awkward boyfriend wakes up to find herself married and pregnant, but with no memory of her husband's identity.

Director: Preston Sturges | Stars: Eddie Bracken, Betty Hutton, Diana Lynn, William Demarest

Votes: 7,946

61. Double Indemnity (1944)

Passed | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

95 Metascore

A Los Angeles insurance representative lets an alluring housewife seduce him into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, an insurance investigator.

Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Byron Barr

Votes: 167,530 | Gross: $5.72M

62. To Have and Have Not (1944)

Passed | 100 min | Adventure, Comedy, Film-Noir

90 Metascore

During World War II, American expatriate Harry Morgan helps transport a French Resistance leader and his beautiful wife to Martinique while romancing a sensuous lounge singer.

Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan, Dolores Moran

Votes: 38,017

63. The Bullfighters (1945)

Approved | 61 min | Adventure, Comedy, Musical

Bumbling detective Stan Laurel disguises himself as a famous matador in order to hide from the vengeful Richard K. Muldoon, who spent time in prison on Stan's bogus testimony.

Directors: Malcolm St. Clair, Stan Laurel | Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Margo Woode, Richard Lane

Votes: 1,405

64. The Southerner (1945)

Approved | 92 min | Drama

The life of the poor Tucker family who worked as cotton pluggers and decided to get their own ground, but nature was against them.

Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Zachary Scott, Betty Field, J. Carrol Naish, Beulah Bondi

Votes: 3,874

65. Isle of the Dead (1945)

Not Rated | 71 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

On a Greek island during the 1912 war, several people are trapped by quarantine for the plague. If that isn't enough worry, one of the people, a superstitious old peasant woman, suspects ... See full summary »

Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Marc Cramer, Katherine Emery

Votes: 5,266

66. Rome, Open City (1945)

Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Thriller, War

During the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1944, the Resistance leader, Giorgio Manfredi, is chased by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a way to escape.

Director: Roberto Rossellini | Stars: Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, Marcello Pagliero, Vito Annichiarico

Votes: 28,991

67. Scarlet Street (1945)

Approved | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

A man in mid-life crisis befriends a young woman, though her fiancé persuades her to con him out of the fortune they mistakenly assume he possesses.

Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea, Margaret Lindsay

Votes: 19,207

68. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Approved | 170 min | Drama, Romance, War

93 Metascore

Three World War II veterans, two of them traumatized or disabled, return home to the American midwest to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.

Director: William Wyler | Stars: Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Fredric March, Teresa Wright

Votes: 70,585 | Gross: $23.65M

69. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

PG | 130 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy

89 Metascore

An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.

Director: Frank Capra | Stars: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell

Votes: 499,368

70. Notorious (1946)

Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance

100 Metascore

The daughter of a convicted German spy is asked by American agents to gather information on a ring of German scientists in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern

Votes: 107,311 | Gross: $10.46M

71. School for Postmen (1947)

16 min | Short, Comedy

School for Postmen" is a 1947 short film directed and starring Jacques Tati, playing a French postman adamant to prove he can be just as fast as American postmen at delivering mail.

Director: Jacques Tati | Stars: Jacques Tati, Paul Demange

Votes: 2,390

72. Out of the Past (1947)

Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

85 Metascore

A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses, and duplicitous dames.

Director: Jacques Tourneur | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming

Votes: 40,942

73. The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

Not Rated | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Fascinated by gorgeous Mrs. Bannister, seaman Michael O'Hara joins a bizarre yachting cruise, and ends up mired in a complex murder plot.

Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane, Glenn Anders

Votes: 33,340 | Gross: $0.01M

74. Yellow Sky (1948)

Approved | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Western

A pistol-packing tomboy and her grandfather discover a band of bank robbing bandits taking refuge in the neighboring ghost town.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, Richard Widmark, Robert Arthur

Votes: 5,766

75. Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Not Rated | 89 min | Drama

In post-war Italy, a working-class man's bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find work. He and his son set out to find it.

Director: Vittorio De Sica | Stars: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Elena Altieri

Votes: 175,241 | Gross: $0.33M

76. Force of Evil (1948)

Passed | 79 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

89 Metascore

An unethical lawyer who wants to help his older brother becomes a partner with a client in the numbers racket.

Director: Abraham Polonsky | Stars: John Garfield, Thomas Gomez, Beatrice Pearson, Marie Windsor

Votes: 7,673

77. Portrait of Jennie (1948)

Approved | 86 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

In Depression-era New York, an impoverished painter has a chance encounter with an enigmatic, old-fashioned little girl in Central Park who inspires him and changes his destiny.

Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Lillian Gish

Votes: 7,627

78. Rope (1948)

Approved | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

73 Metascore

Two men attempt to prove they committed the perfect crime by hosting a dinner party after strangling their former classmate to death.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Dick Hogan

Votes: 153,751

79. Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

Not Rated | 87 min | Drama, Romance

A pianist about to flee from a duel receives a letter from a woman he cannot remember, who may hold the key to his downfall.

Director: Max Ophüls | Stars: Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan, Mady Christians, Marcel Journet

Votes: 13,646

80. Fort Apache (1948)

Passed | 128 min | Drama, Western

At Fort Apache, an honorable and veteran war captain finds conflict when his regime is placed under the command of a young, glory hungry lieutenant colonel with no respect for the local Indian tribe.

Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple, Pedro Armendáriz

Votes: 19,699

81. Red River (1948)

Passed | 133 min | Drama, Western

96 Metascore

Dunson leads a cattle drive, the culmination of over 14 years of work, to its destination in Missouri. But his tyrannical behavior along the way causes a mutiny, led by his adopted son.

Directors: Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson | Stars: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru, Walter Brennan

Votes: 34,410

82. Macbeth (1948)

Passed | 107 min | Drama, History, War

Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.

Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Jeanette Nolan, Dan O'Herlihy, Roddy McDowall

Votes: 7,797

83. The Pirate (1948)

Approved | 102 min | Adventure, Comedy, Musical

A girl is engaged to the local rich man, but meanwhile she has dreams about the legendary pirate Macoco. A traveling singer falls in love with her and to impress her he poses as the pirate.

Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Walter Slezak, Gladys Cooper

Votes: 5,615 | Gross: $2.96M

84. Under Capricorn (1949)

Approved | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

61 Metascore

A young gentleman goes to Australia where he reunites with his now married childhood sweetheart, only to find out she has become an alcoholic and harbors dark secrets.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Michael Wilding, Margaret Leighton

Votes: 8,113

85. The Silence of the Sea (1949)

Not Rated | 87 min | Drama, Romance, War

In occupied France, an elderly man and his niece are forced to give shelter to a German army lieutenant who seemingly loves their country and culture.

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Howard Vernon, Nicole Stéphane, Jean-Marie Robain, Ami Aaröe

Votes: 5,657

86. Jour de Fête (1949)

Not Rated | 70 min | Comedy

A village postman with no sense of humour delivers his mail via bicycle on the day the travelling fair comes to town. He is disrupted by a short film about US speed and efficiency and the playful teasing of the village folk.

Director: Jacques Tati | Stars: Jacques Tati, Guy Decomble, Paul Frankeur, Santa Relli

Votes: 9,057

87. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

Approved | 68 min | Animation, Comedy, Family

74 Metascore

An animated adaptation of "The Wind in the Willows" followed by an adaptation of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".

Directors: James Algar, Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney | Stars: Bing Crosby, Basil Rathbone, Eric Blore, John McLeish

Votes: 17,898

88. I Was a Male War Bride (1949)

Approved | 105 min | Comedy, Romance, War

After marrying an American lieutenant with whom he was assigned to work in post-war Germany, a French captain attempts to find a way to accompany her back to the States under the terms of the War Bride Act.

Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Cary Grant, Ann Sheridan, Marion Marshall, Randy Stuart

Votes: 9,212

89. Long-Haired Hare (1949)

Approved | 8 min | Animation, Short, Adventure

Bugs Bunny retaliates against the pompous opera star who does him violence.

Director: Chuck Jones | Stars: Mel Blanc, Nicolai Shutorev

Votes: 3,125

90. The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

Passed | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

85 Metascore

A major heist goes off as planned, but then double crosses, bad luck and solid police work cause everything to unravel.

Director: John Huston | Stars: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore

Votes: 29,982

92. Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Det. Sgt. Mark Dixon wants to be something his old man wasn't: a guy on the right side of the law. Will Dixon's vicious nature get the better of him?

Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Gary Merrill, Bert Freed

Votes: 9,970

93. Night and the City (1950)

Not Rated | 96 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery

A small-time grifter and nightclub tout takes advantage of some fortuitous circumstances and tries to become a big-time player as a wrestling promoter.

Director: Jules Dassin | Stars: Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers, Hugh Marlowe

Votes: 15,292 | Gross: $3.60M

94. 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

95. 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: 21,988

96. Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Passed | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir

94 Metascore

A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.

Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson

Votes: 236,556

97. Esposa último modelo (1950)

86 min | Comedy

When a young lady who knows nothing about housework falls in love with a handsome young man, her grandmother and governess help her look like an ideal housewife and an excellent match for marriage.

Director: Carlos Schlieper | Stars: Mirtha Legrand, Ángel Magaña, Osvaldo Miranda, Amalia Sánchez Ariño

Votes: 77

98. Rabbit of Seville (1950)

Approved | 7 min | Animation, Short, Comedy

Bugs Bunny gives Elmer Fudd a close shave as they sing and act out Rossini's opera.

Director: Chuck Jones | Stars: Mel Blanc, Arthur Q. Bryan

Votes: 5,651

99. The Flowers of St. Francis (1950)

Not Rated | 85 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

A series of vignettes depicting the lives of the original Franciscan monks, including their leader and the bumbling Ginepro.

Director: Roberto Rossellini | Stars: Aldo Fabrizi, Gianfranco Bellini, Peparuolo, Severino Pisacane

Votes: 4,046

100. Diary of a Country Priest (1951)

Not Rated | 95 min | Drama

A young priest taking over the parish at Ambricourt tries to fulfill his duties even as he fights a mysterious stomach ailment.

Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Claude Laydu, Nicole Ladmiral, Jean Riveyre, Adrien Borel

Votes: 12,725



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