1956 Oscars: From the best to the worst nominees
by cafg-0 | created - 1 month ago | updated - 1 month ago | PublicNominated films I haven't seen: The naked eye & Where mountains float.
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1. The Road (1954)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama
A care-free girl is sold to a traveling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way.
Director: Federico Fellini | Stars: Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart, Aldo Silvani
Votes: 66,584
2. Seven Samurai (1954)
Not Rated | 207 min | Action, Drama
Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki
Votes: 366,819 | Gross: $0.27M
3. Baby Doll (1956)
Approved | 114 min | Comedy, Drama
An immature, naive teenage bride holds her anxious husband at bay while flirting with an amorous Sicilian farmer.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Karl Malden, Carroll Baker, Eli Wallach, Mildred Dunnock
Votes: 8,294
4. Giant (1956)
G | 201 min | Drama, Western
Sprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker
Votes: 42,242
5. The Ladykillers (1955)
Not Rated | 91 min | Comedy, Crime
Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.
Director: Alexander Mackendrick | Stars: Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom
Votes: 31,398
6. Umberto D. (1952)
Not Rated | 89 min | Drama
An elderly man and his dog struggle to survive on his government pension in Rome.
Director: Vittorio De Sica | Stars: Carlo Battisti, Maria Pia Casilio, Lina Gennari, Ileana Simova
Votes: 28,188 | Gross: $0.07M
7. The Burmese Harp (1956)
Not Rated | 116 min | Drama, Music, War
A conscience-driven Japanese soldier traumatized by the events of WWII adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.
Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Rentarô Mikuni, Shôji Yasui, Tatsuya Mihashi, Jun Hamamura
Votes: 6,461
8. Gervaise (1956)
116 min | Drama
A poor laundrywoman tries to cope with a depressing burden of society.
Director: René Clément | Stars: Maria Schell, François Périer, Jany Holt, Mathilde Casadesus
Votes: 1,644
9. The Red Balloon (1956)
Not Rated | 34 min | Short, Comedy, Drama
A red balloon with a mind of its own follows a little boy around the streets of Paris.
Director: Albert Lamorisse | Stars: Pascal Lamorisse, Sabine Lamorisse, Georges Sellier, Vladimir Popov
Votes: 20,127
10. The Ten Commandments (1956)
G | 220 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
Moses, raised as a prince of Egypt in the Pharaoh's household, learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people from slavery.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson
Votes: 77,862 | Gross: $93.74M
11. The King and I (1956)
G | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Musical
A widow accepts a job as a live-in governess to the King of Siam's children.
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, Rita Moreno, Martin Benson
Votes: 27,916 | Gross: $21.30M
12. Forbidden Planet (1956)
G | 98 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
A starship crew in the 23rd century goes to investigate the silence of a distant planet's colony, only to find just two survivors, a powerful robot, and the deadly secret of a lost civilization.
Director: Fred M. Wilcox | Stars: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens
Votes: 53,202 | Gross: $3.00M
13. Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
Passed | 113 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Boxer Rocky Graziano's biopic, based on his autobiography, from childhood to his World Middleweight Championship title win at age 28 in 1947.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Paul Newman, Pier Angeli, Everett Sloane, Eileen Heckart
Votes: 9,021
14. Lust for Life (1956)
Approved | 122 min | Biography, Drama
The life of brilliant but tortured artist Vincent van Gogh.
Directors: Vincente Minnelli, George Cukor | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald, Pamela Brown
Votes: 12,507 | Gross: $3.48M
15. The Harder They Fall (1956)
Passed | 109 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Sport
An ex-sportswriter is hired by a shady fight promoter to promote his latest find, an unknown but easily exploitable rising star from Argentina.
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Rod Steiger, Jan Sterling, Mike Lane
Votes: 9,028
16. Written on the Wind (1956)
Not Rated | 99 min | Drama
Alcoholic playboy Kyle Hadley marries the woman secretly loved by his poor but hard-working best friend, who in turn is pursued by Kyle's nymphomaniac sister.
Director: Douglas Sirk | Stars: Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone
Votes: 13,420
17. The Proud and the Beautiful (1953)
103 min | Drama, Romance
Life in a small Mexican village where joy and misery, hope and pain, passion and guilt, love and decay, life and death are mixed in the peasants life and two French citizens who end up stranded in there, during a typhoid epidemic.
Directors: Yves Allégret, Rafael E. Portas | Stars: Michèle Morgan, Gérard Philipe, Víctor Manuel Mendoza, Carlos López Moctezuma
Votes: 904
18. The Captain from Köpenick (1956)
93 min | Comedy, Drama
A young shoemaker is arrested for stealing a small amount of money, and is released after being jailed for 15 years. He wants to have a pass to get a job and start anew, but without a job ... See full summary »
Director: Helmut Käutner | Stars: Heinz Rühmann, Martin Held, Hannelore Schroth, Willy A. Kleinau
Votes: 1,908
19. Friendly Persuasion (1956)
Passed | 137 min | Drama, Family, Romance
The pacifist attitude of a Quaker family is tested as a result of the American Civil War.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Richard Eyer
Votes: 7,737
20. Richard III (1955)
Not Rated | 161 min | Biography, Drama, History
Shakespeare's powerful tale of the wicked deformed King and his conquests, both on the battlefield and in the boudoir.
Director: Laurence Olivier | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Cedric Hardwicke, Nicholas Hannen, Ralph Richardson
Votes: 5,224
21. Qivitoq (1956)
119 min | Drama, Family, Romance
In this visual masterpiece and first Oscar nominated Danish film, young teacher Eva arriving in Greenland, surprising her fiancée in the arms of a woman. Seeking refuge, she meets a man also carrying a broken heart in the scenic landscape.
Director: Erik Balling | Stars: Astrid Villaume, Gunnar Lauring, Randi Michelsen, Bjørn Watt-Boolsen
Votes: 310
22. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
PG | 120 min | Drama, Thriller
An American doctor and his wife, a former singing star, witness a murder while vacationing in Morocco, and are drawn into a twisting plot of international intrigue when their young son is kidnapped.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, Doris Day, Brenda de Banzie, Bernard Miles
Votes: 69,562 | Gross: $10.25M
23. The Brave One (1956)
Approved | 100 min | Drama, Family
A young boy named Leonardo adopts a bull after saving it during a storm, but their friendship is soon threatened by the legal owners of the animal who claim ownership of it and ship it off to the bullring to face a legendary bullfighter.
Director: Irving Rapper | Stars: Michel Ray, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., Elsa Cárdenas, Carlos Navarro
Votes: 1,092
24. War and Peace (1956)
PG | 208 min | Drama, Romance, War
Napoleon's tumultuous relations with Russia, including his disastrous 1812 invasion, serve as the backdrop for the tangled personal lives of two aristocratic families.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer, Vittorio Gassman
Votes: 10,861 | Gross: $12.50M
25. Anastasia (1956)
Unrated | 105 min | Biography, Drama, History
An opportunistic businessman tries to pass off a mysterious impostor as the Grand Duchess Anastasia, and she is so convincing that even the biggest skeptics believe her.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, Helen Hayes, Akim Tamiroff
Votes: 9,317
26. The Rainmaker (1956)
Approved | 121 min | Romance, Western
During the Depression, a con-man promises rain to a desperate drought-ridden Kansas town and marriage to a local desperate spinster.
Director: Joseph Anthony | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn, Wendell Corey, Lloyd Bridges
Votes: 4,282
27. High Society (1956)
Not Rated | 111 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
With socialite Tracy Lord about to remarry, her ex-husband - with the help of a sympathetic reporter - has 48 hours to convince her that she really still loves him.
Director: Charles Walters | Stars: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm
Votes: 17,527 | Gross: $13.00M
28. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
G | 175 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A Victorian Englishman bets that with the new steamships and railways he can circumnavigate the globe in eighty days.
Directors: Michael Anderson, John Farrow | Stars: David Niven, Cantinflas, Finlay Currie, Robert Morley
Votes: 29,691 | Gross: $42.00M
29. The Silent World (1956)
86 min | Documentary, Adventure
A documentary about the undersea explorers and how they penetrate into the underwater world.
Directors: Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Louis Malle | Stars: Frédéric Dumas, Albert Falco, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, François Saout
Votes: 1,814
30. Bus Stop (1956)
Approved | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A naive but stubborn cowboy falls in love with a saloon singer and tries to take her away against her will to get married and live on his ranch in Montana.
Director: Joshua Logan | Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Arthur O'Connell, Betty Field
Votes: 12,769
31. The Eddy Duchin Story (1956)
Approved | 123 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The life story of the famous pianist and band-leader of the 1930s and 1940s.
Director: George Sidney | Stars: Tyrone Power, Kim Novak, Victoria Shaw, James Whitmore
Votes: 2,154
32. Between Heaven and Hell (1956)
Approved | 94 min | Drama, War
The spoiled rich son of a wealthy Southerner is changed by his experiences in the Pacific during World War II.
Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Robert Wagner, Terry Moore, Broderick Crawford, Buddy Ebsen
Votes: 1,531
33. The Bold and the Brave (1956)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama, War
An assortment of American types come together in the Italian campaign of 1944.
Directors: Lewis R. Foster, Mickey Rooney | Stars: Wendell Corey, Mickey Rooney, Don Taylor, Nicole Maurey
Votes: 261
34. The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956)
Approved | 99 min | Comedy, Romance
A minority stockholder takes on the crooked board of directors at a billion dollar corporation.
Director: Richard Quine | Stars: Judy Holliday, John Williams, Paul Douglas, Fred Clark
Votes: 2,286
35. The Bad Seed (1956)
Approved | 129 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Rhoda Penmark seems like your average, sweet eight-year-old girl. After her rival at school dies in mysterious circumstances at the school picnic, her mother starts to suspect that Rhoda was responsible.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Gage Clarke, Jesse White
Votes: 15,770
36. Julie (1956)
Approved | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A terrified wife tries to escape from her insanely jealous husband who is bent on killing her.
Director: Andrew L. Stone | Stars: Doris Day, Louis Jourdan, Barry Sullivan, Frank Lovejoy
Votes: 2,225
37. The Proud and Profane (1956)
Not Rated | 111 min | Drama, Romance, War
In the Pacific during WWII, a Roman Catholic widow falls for a tough lieutenant colonel.
Director: George Seaton | Stars: William Holden, Deborah Kerr, Thelma Ritter, Dewey Martin
Votes: 654
38. Stagecoach to Fury (1956)
Approved | 76 min | Western
A cavalry officer organizes fellow passangers against Mexican outlaws, while at a stagecoach stop. A character study of each passenger is provided, via flashback.
Director: William F. Claxton | Stars: Forrest Tucker, Mari Blanchard, Wallace Ford, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr.
Votes: 145
39. Teenage Rebel (1956)
Approved | 94 min | Drama
Nancy Fallon gets custody of her teenage daughter Dodie back from her ex-husband after she remarries, but she must win her love.
Director: Edmund Goulding | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Michael Rennie, Mildred Natwick, Rusty Swope
Votes: 395
40. Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)
Not Rated | 112 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
In 1950s Las Vegas, a gambling rancher and a ballerina discover that some people have luck at cards while others have luck at love.
Director: Roy Rowland | Stars: Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse, Agnes Moorehead, Lili Darvas
Votes: 992
41. The Power and the Prize (1956)
Approved | 98 min | Drama
An American business executive (Robert Taylor) plans to marry an Austrian refugee (Elisabeth Müller) in London but he encounters disapproval and opposition from his American social and business circles.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: Robert Taylor, Elisabeth Müller, Burl Ives, Charles Coburn
Votes: 426
42. The Best Things in Life Are Free (1956)
Approved | 104 min | Biography, Musical
Ray joins Buddy and Lew to form a successful 1920s musical show writing team. Soon, they've got several hits on Broadway, but Buddy's ambition leads to friction among the group, as the other 2 feel increasingly left out.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Gordon MacRae, Dan Dailey, Ernest Borgnine, Sheree North
Votes: 381
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