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Top Films by Year (1955-1959)

**--Won Academy Award for Best Picture.
*--Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

1955

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 The Night of the Hunter Charles Laughton 61
2 Rebel without a Cause Nicholas Ray 115
3 Pather Panchali Satyajit Ray 159
4 Diabolique Henri-Georges Clouzot 294
5 The Ladykillers Alexander Mackendrick 333
6 Kiss Me Deadly Robert Aldrich 427
7 Ordet Carl Theodor Dreyer 454
8 Rififi Jules Dassin 521
9 East of Eden Elia Kazan 527
10 Marty** Delbert Mann 555
11 Bad Day at Black Rock John Sturges 639
12 All That Heaven Allows Douglas Sirk 670
13 Lola Montès Max Ophüls 730
14 Night and Fog Alain Resnais 744
15 Smiles of a Summer Night Ingmar Bergman 760
16 Oklahoma! Fred Zinnemann 801
17 The Seven Year Itch Billy Wilder 817
18 Lady and the Tramp Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske 832
19 Mister Roberts* John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy 863
20 The Court Jester Melvin Frank and Norman Panama 895
21 Guys and Dolls Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1076
22 The Dam Busters Michael Anderson 1363
23 The Man with the Golden Arm Otto Preminger 1480
24 Richard III Laurence Olivier 1501
25 To Catch a Thief Alfred Hitchcock 1517
26 Blackboard Jungle Richard Brooks 1556
27 The Big Combo Joseph H. Lewis 1584
28 Picnic* Joshua Logan 1775
29 Summertime David Lean 2128
30 The Man from Laramie Anthony Mann 2205
31 Love Me or Leave Me Charles Vidor 2392

1956

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 The Searchers John Ford 28
2 Invasion of the Body Snatchers Don Siegel 180
3 Forbidden Planet Fred M. Wilcox 340
4 The Ten Commandments* Cecil B. DeMille 403
5 Aparajito Satyajit Ray 442
6 Written on the Wind Douglas Sirk 484
7 A Man Escaped Robert Bresson 511
8 The King and I* Walter Lang 519
9 The Killing Stanley Kubrick 542
10 Giant* George Stevens 605
11 Bob le Flambeur Jean-Pierre Melville 1042
12 Carousel Henry King 1162
13 High Society Charles Walters 1263
14 Around the World in Eighty Days** Michael Anderson 1288
15 The Red Balloon Albert Lamorisse 1306
16 Seven Men from Now Budd Boetticher 1345
17 Bigger Than Life Nicholas Ray 1461
18 Lust for Life Vincente Minnelli 1525
19 The Man Who Knew Too Much Alfred Hitchcock 1557
20 The Girl Can't Help It Frank Tashlin 1576
21 The Wrong Man Alfred Hitchcock 1848
22 The Harder They Fall Mark Robson 1926
23 And God Created Woman Roger Vadim 2010
24 Baby Doll Elia Kazan 2138
25 Somebody Up There Likes Me Robert Wise 2169

1957

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 The Bridge on the River Kwai** David Lean 57
2 The Seventh Seal Ingmar Bergman 119
3 Paths of Glory Stanley Kubrick 152
4 12 Angry Men* Sidney Lumet 154
5 Sweet Smell of Success Alexander Mackendrick 177
6 Wild Strawberries Ingmar Bergman 208
7 Nights of Cabiria Federico Fellini 440
8 An Affair to Remember Leo McCarey 514
9 Witness for the Prosecution* Billy Wilder 573
10 Throne of Blood Akira Kurosawa 712
11 Funny Face Stanley Donen 723
12 Curse of the Demon Jacques Tourneur 833
13 The Incredible Shrinking Man Jack Arnold 892
14 A Face in the Crowd Elia Kazan 972
15 Jailhouse Rock Richard Thorpe 1272
16 Kanal Andrzej Wajda 1319
17 Old Yeller Robert Stevenson 1340
18 The Cranes are Flying Mikheil Kalatozishvili 1476
19 The Pajama Game George Abbott and Stanley Donen 1606
20 The Tall T Budd Boetticher 1893
21 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral John Sturges 1939
22 The Curse of Frankenstein Terence Fisher 1999
23 What's Opera, Doc? Chuck Jones 2175
24 Fear Strikes Out Robert Mulligan 2223
25 Mother India Mehboob Khan 2238
26 Pyaasa Guru Dutt 2361

1958

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Vertigo Alfred Hitchcock 11
2 Touch of Evil Orson Welles 54
3 Ashes and Diamonds Andrzej Wajda 444
4 Gigi** Vincente Minnelli 532
5 Horror of Dracula Terence Fisher 718
6 Mon Oncle Jacques Tati 850
7 Ivan the Terrible, Part II Sergei M. Eisenstein and M. Filimonova 930
8 The Defiant Ones* Stanley Kramer 1009
9 The 7th Voyage of Sinbad Nathan Juran 1228
10 The Hidden Fortress Akira Kurosawa 1242
11 Plan 9 from Outer Space Edward D. Wood Jr. 1318
12 South Pacific Joshua Logan 1391
13 Ice-Cold in Alex J. Lee Thompson 1426
14 Man of the West Anthony Mann 1538
15 Damn Yankees! George Abbott and Stanley Donen 1544
16 Elevator to the Gallows Louis Malle 1553
17 The Big Country William Wyler 1586
18 Some Came Running Vincente Minnelli 1640
19 Auntie Mame* Morton DaCosta 1839
20 A Night to Remember Roy Ward Baker 1883
21 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof* Richard Brooks 2025
22 Run Silent Run Deep Robert Wise 2043
23 Big Deal on Madonna Street Mario Monicelli 2100
24 The Fly Kurt Neumann 2198

1959

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Some Like It Hot Billy Wilder 10
2 North by Northwest Alfred Hitchcock 31
3 The 400 Blows François Truffaut 71
4 Ben-Hur** William Wyler 140
5 Rio Bravo Howard Hawks 279
6 Hiroshima mon amour Alain Resnais 303
7 The World of Apu Satyajit Ray 316
8 Pickpocket Robert Bresson 400
9 Imitation of Life Douglas Sirk 531
10 Anatomy of a Murder* Otto Preminger 556
11 Shadows John Cassavetes 611
12 Room at the Top* Jack Clayton 877
13 Pillow Talk Michael Gordon 936
14 Ballad of a Soldier Grigori Chukhraj 997
15 Black Orpheus Marcel Camus 1103
16 The Music Room Satyajit Ray 1317
17 The Diary of Anne Frank* George Stevens 1427
18 Sleeping Beauty Clyde Geronimi 1530
19 I'm All Right Jack John Boulting 1642
20 On the Beach Stanley Kramer 1833
21 The Mouse That Roared Jack Arnold 1980
22 The Nun's Story* Fred Zinnemann 1982
23 Porgy and Bess Otto Preminger 2060
24 Ride Lonesome Budd Boetticher 2338

**--Won Academy Award for Best Picture.
*--Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

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This page was last modified on June 14, 2011