MTDb › Best of › Drama › 1950s
Best Drama Movies of the 1950s
#1 12 Angry Men (1957) · ★ 8.6 · 10,417 votes · 1h 37m · dramaThe defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begi…
#2 Seven Samurai (1954) · ★ 8.5 · 4,383 votes · 3h 27m · action, dramaA samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the p…
#3 Rear Window (1954) · ★ 8.3 · 7,347 votes · 1h 53m · thriller, drama, mysteryA wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.…
#4 Paths of Glory (1957) · ★ 8.3 · 3,391 votes · 1h 28m · drama, history, warA commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.…
#5 Sunset Boulevard (1950) · ★ 8.3 · 3,018 votes · 1h 50m · dramaA hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.…
#6 Ikiru (1952) · ★ 8.3 · 1,397 votes · 2h 23m · dramaKanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.…
#7 Witness for the Prosecution (1957) · ★ 8.2 · 1,759 votes · 1h 56m · drama, crime, mysteryAn ailing barrister is thrust back into the courtroom in what becomes one of the most unusual and eventful murder cases of the lawyer's career when he finds himself defending a man…
#8 The Seventh Seal (1957) · ★ 8.1 · 3,472 votes · 1h 36m · fantasy, dramaWhen disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his li…
#9 Wild Strawberries (1957) · ★ 8.1 · 1,853 votes · 1h 31m · dramaCrotchety retired doctor Isak Borg travels from Stockholm to Lund, Sweden, with his pregnant and unhappy daughter-in-law, Marianne, in order to receive an honorary degree from his…
#10 All About Eve (1950) · ★ 8.1 · 1,753 votes · 2h 19m · dramaFrom the moment she glimpses her idol at the stage door, Eve Harrington is determined to take the reins of power away from the great actress Margo Channing. Eve maneuvers her way i…
#11 Tokyo Story (1953) · ★ 8.1 · 1,269 votes · 2h 17m · dramaThe elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their…
#12 The Young and the Damned (1950) · ★ 8.1 · 562 votes · 1h 22m · drama, crimeA group of juvenile delinquents live a violent life in the infamous slums of Mexico City; among them Pedro, whose morality is gradually corrupted and destroyed by the others.…
#13 Dial M for Murder (1954) · ★ 8.0 · 2,937 votes · 1h 45m · thriller, drama, crimeWhen her American lover visits London, a wealthy woman’s jealous husband hatches a plan to murder her and inherit her fortune.…
#14 Rashomon (1950) · ★ 8.0 · 2,620 votes · 1h 28m · drama, crime, mysteryFour people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.…
#15 The 400 Blows (1959) · ★ 8.0 · 2,394 votes · 1h 39m · dramaFor young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days…
#16 The Wages of Fear (1953) · ★ 8.0 · 1,134 votes · 2h 34m · adventure, thriller, dramaIn a run-down South American town, four men are paid to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin into the jungle through to the oil field. Friendships are tested and rivalries develo…
#17 Nights of Cabiria (1957) · ★ 8.0 · 877 votes · 1h 50m · comedy, dramaRome, 1957. A woman, Cabiria, is robbed and left to drown by her boyfriend, Giorgio. Rescued, she resumes her life and tries her best to find happiness in a cynical world. Even whe…
#18 The Hidden Fortress (1958) · ★ 8.0 · 731 votes · 2h 19m · action, adventure, dramaIn feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidde…
#19 Ugetsu (1953) · ★ 8.0 · 668 votes · 1h 36m · fantasy, drama, mysteryIn 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to p…
#20 A Man Escaped (1956) · ★ 8.0 · 640 votes · 1h 41m · thriller, dramaA captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from prison.…
#21 Ben-Hur (1959) · ★ 7.9 · 3,277 votes · 3h 32m · action, adventure, dramaIn ancient Judea, a Jewish aristocrat opposing Roman occupation of his homeland reunites with his childhood friend, now a Roman commander — setting in motion a saga of betrayal, ad…
#22 Roman Holiday (1953) · ★ 7.9 · 2,338 votes · 1h 59m · comedy, romance, dramaOverwhelmed by her suffocating schedule, touring European princess Ann takes off for a night while in Rome. When a sedative she took from her doctor kicks in, however, she falls as…
#23 The Night of the Hunter (1955) · ★ 7.9 · 1,910 votes · 1h 33m · thriller, drama, crimeIn Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.…
#24 On the Waterfront (1954) · ★ 7.9 · 1,840 votes · 1h 48m · romance, drama, crimeA prizefighter-turned-longshoreman with a conscience goes up against labor leaders to expose corruption, extortion, and murder among the union ranks.…
#25 La Strada (1954) · ★ 7.9 · 1,200 votes · 1h 55m · dramaWhen Gelsomina, a naïve young woman, is purchased from her impoverished mother by brutish circus strongman Zampanò to be his wife and partner, she loyally endures her husband's col…
#26 Diabolique (1955) · ★ 7.9 · 1,139 votes · 1h 58m · thriller, drama, horrorThe cruel and abusive headmaster of a boarding school, Michel Delassalle, is murdered by an unlikely duo -- his meek wife and the mistress he brazenly flaunts. The women become inc…
#27 Throne of Blood (1957) · ★ 7.9 · 1,022 votes · 1h 48m · drama, historyReturning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Was…
#28 Ace in the Hole (1951) · ★ 7.9 · 781 votes · 1h 52m · dramaAn arrogant reporter exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to revitalize his career.…
#29 Umberto D. (1952) · ★ 7.9 · 767 votes · 1h 31m · dramaWhen elderly pensioner Umberto Domenico Ferrari returns to his boarding house from a protest calling for a hike in old-age pensions, his landlady demands her 15,000-lire rent by th…
#30 Limelight (1952) · ★ 7.9 · 619 votes · 2h 17m · comedy, romance, dramaA fading music hall comedian tries to help a despondent ballet dancer learn to walk and to again feel confident about life.…
#31 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) · ★ 7.8 · 2,457 votes · 2h 42m · drama, history, warThe classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up…
#32 The Ten Commandments (1956) · ★ 7.8 · 1,886 votes · 3h 40m · drama, historyEscaping death, a Hebrew infant is raised in a royal household to become a prince. Upon discovery of his true heritage, Moses embarks on a personal quest to reclaim his destiny as…
#33 Rio Bravo (1959) · ★ 7.8 · 1,280 votes · 2h 21m · drama, westernA small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.…
#34 Anatomy of a Murder (1959) · ★ 7.8 · 1,221 votes · 2h 41m · drama, crime, mysterySemi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensiv…
#35 Rififi (1955) · ★ 7.8 · 658 votes · 1h 58m · thriller, drama, crimeOut of prison after a five-year stretch, jewel thief Tony turns down a quick job his friend Jo offers him, until he discovers that his old girlfriend Mado has become the lover of l…
#36 Pather Panchali (1955) · ★ 7.8 · 506 votes · 2h 5m · drama, historyImpoverished priest Harihar Ray, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work. Alone, his wife, Sarbojaya, looks after he…
#37 Strangers on a Train (1951) · ★ 7.7 · 1,943 votes · 1h 41m · thriller, drama, crimeA charming psychopath tries to coerce a tennis star into his theory that two strangers can commit the perfect crime by exchanging murders—each killing the other’s most-hated person…
#38 Touch of Evil (1958) · ★ 7.7 · 1,652 votes · 1h 51m · thriller, drama, crimeA border-town bombing draws Mexican investigator Miguel Vargas into a corruption-ridden police investigation led by crooked captain Hank Quinlan, setting off a deadly struggle over…
#39 High Noon (1952) · ★ 7.7 · 1,639 votes · 1h 25m · thriller, drama, westernWill Kane, the sheriff of a small town in New Mexico, learns a notorious outlaw he put in jail has been freed, and will be arriving on the noon train. Knowing the outlaw and his ga…
#40 Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) · ★ 7.7 · 960 votes · 1h 32m · romance, drama, historyThe deep conversation between a Japanese architect and a French actress forms the basis of this celebrated French film, considered one of the vanguard productions of the French New…