**--Won Academy Award for Best Picture.
*--Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
| Rank | Title | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | Children of Paradise | Marcel Carné | 125 |
| 2 | Brief Encounter | David Lean | 165 |
| 3 | Open City | Roberto Rossellini | 220 |
| 4 | The Lost Weekend** | Billy Wilder | 381 |
| 5 | Mildred Pierce* | Michael Curtiz | 415 |
| 6 | Dead of Night | Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, and Robert Hamer | 673 |
| 7 | Detour | Edgar G. Ulmer | 676 |
| 8 | 'I Know Where I'm Going!' | Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger | 804 |
| 9 | Spellbound* | Alfred Hitchcock | 1213 |
| 10 | They Were Expendable | John Ford | 1248 |
| 11 | A Tree Grows in Brooklyn | Elia Kazan | 1395 |
| 12 | The Spiral Staircase | Robert Siodmak | 1504 |
| 13 | And Then There Were None | René Clair | 1544 |
| 14 | Story of G.I. Joe | William A. Wellman | 1636 |
| 15 | The Ladies of the Bois De Boulogne | Robert Bresson | 1656 |
| 16 | Scarlet Street | Fritz Lang | 1793 |
| 17 | A Walk in the Sun | Lewis Milestone | 1812 |
| 18 | Leave Her to Heaven | John M. Stahl | 1944 |
| 19 | The Southerner | Jean Renoir | 1988 |
| Rank | Title | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | It's a Wonderful Life* | Frank Capra | 14 |
| 2 | Notorious | Alfred Hitchcock | 109 |
| 3 | The Best Years of Our Lives** | William Wyler | 114 |
| 4 | The Big Sleep | Howard Hawks | 150 |
| 5 | Beauty and the Beast | Jean Cocteau | 184 |
| 6 | My Darling Clementine | John Ford | 247 |
| 7 | Great Expectations* | David Lean | 249 |
| 8 | Stairway to Heaven | Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger | 260 |
| 9 | The Killers | Robert Siodmak | 569 |
| 10 | Gilda | Charles Vidor | 641 |
| 11 | The Postman Always Rings Twice | Tay Garnett | 777 |
| 12 | Paisan | Roberto Rossellini | 859 |
| 13 | Duel in the Sun | King Vidor | 1103 |
| 14 | Shoeshine | Vittorio De Sica | 1458 |
| 15 | The Yearling* | Clarence Brown | 2117 |
| Rank | Title | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | Out of the Past | Jacques Tourneur | 232 |
| 2 | Black Narcissus | Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger | 340 |
| 3 | Miracle on 34th Street* | George Seaton | 464 |
| 4 | Monsieur Verdoux | Charles Chaplin | 715 |
| 5 | Odd Man Out | Carol Reed | 868 |
| 6 | The Lady from Shanghai | Orson Welles | 886 |
| 7 | Body and Soul | Robert Rossen | 918 |
| 8 | Brighton Rock | John Boulting | 963 |
| 9 | Gentleman's Agreement** | Elia Kazan | 1086 |
| 10 | Kiss of Death | Henry Hathaway | 1270 |
| 11 | The Ghost and Mrs. Muir | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | 1316 |
| 12 | Life with Father | Michael Curtiz | 2072 |
| 13 | T-Men | Anthony Mann | 2194 |
| Rank | Title | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | The Bicycle Thief | Vittorio De Sica | 71 |
| 2 | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre* | John Huston | 74 |
| 3 | Red River | Howard Hawks | 194 |
| 4 | The Red Shoes* | Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger | 222 |
| 5 | Letter from an Unknown Woman | Max Ophüls | 402 |
| 6 | Force of Evil | Abraham Polonsky | 775 |
| 7 | Hamlet** | Laurence Olivier | 806 |
| 8 | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein | Charles Barton | 844 |
| 9 | Oliver Twist | David Lean | 865 |
| 10 | They Live by Night | Nicholas Ray | 890 |
| 11 | Key Largo | John Huston | 1105 |
| 12 | La Terra Trema | Luchino Visconti | 1121 |
| 13 | Rope | Alfred Hitchcock | 1194 |
| 14 | Louisiana Story | Robert J. Flaherty | 1329 |
| 15 | Fort Apache | John Ford | 1352 |
| 16 | Easter Parade | Charles Walters | 1530 |
| 17 | Unfaithfully Yours | Preston Sturges | 1536 |
| 18 | The Fallen Idol | Carol Reed | 1701 |
| 19 | Germany, Year Zero | Roberto Rossellini | 1865 |
| 20 | The Pirate | Vincente Minnelli | 1965 |
| 21 | Portrait of Jennie | William Dieterle | 2130 |
| 22 | The Naked City | Jules Dassin | 2177 |
| 23 | State of the Union | Frank Capra | 2224 |
| Rank | Title | Director(s) | Overall Rank |
| 1 | The Third Man | Carol Reed | 28 |
| 2 | Kind Hearts and Coronets | Robert Hamer | 193 |
| 3 | White Heat | Raoul Walsh | 266 |
| 4 | Adam's Rib | George Cukor | 348 |
| 5 | On the Town | Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly | 537 |
| 6 | All the King's Men** | Robert Rossen | 797 |
| 7 | The Heiress* | William Wyler | 827 |
| 8 | Late Spring | Yasujiro Ozu | 889 |
| 9 | Twelve O'Clock High* | Henry King | 942 |
| 10 | She Wore a Yellow Ribbon | John Ford | 1008 |
| 11 | Tight Little Island | Alexander Mackendrick | 1184 |
| 12 | Sands of Iwo Jima | Allan Dwan | 1336 |
| 13 | A Letter to Three Wives* | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | 1347 |
| 14 | Champion | Mark Robson | 1408 |
| 15 | The Set-Up | Robert Wise | 1427 |
| 16 | Passport to Pimlico | Henry Cornelius | 1573 |
| 17 | The Reckless Moment | Max Ophüls | 1731 |
| 18 | Battleground* | William A. Wellman | 1866 |
| 19 | Jour de Fête | Jacques Tati | 1908 |
| 20 | Samson and Delilah | Cecil B. DeMille | 2179 |
**--Won Academy Award for Best Picture.
*--Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
