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Best Thriller Movies of the 1950s
#1 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.…
#2 Vertigo (1958) · ★ 8.1 · 6,517 votes · 2h 8m · thriller, romance, mysteryA retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.…
#3 North by Northwest (1959) · ★ 8.0 · 4,632 votes · 2h 17m · adventure, thriller, mysteryAdvertising man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.…
#4 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.…
#5 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…
#6 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.…
#7 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.…
#8 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…
#9 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…
#10 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…
#11 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…
#12 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…
#13 The Big Heat (1953) · ★ 7.7 · 577 votes · 1h 29m · thriller, crimeAfter the suspicious suicide of a fellow cop, tough homicide detective Dave Bannion takes the law into his own hands when he sets out to smash a vicious crime syndicate.…
#14 The Killing (1956) · ★ 7.6 · 1,768 votes · 1h 25m · thriller, drama, crimeCareer criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight…
#15 A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) · ★ 7.6 · 1,518 votes · 2h 2m · thriller, dramaA disturbed, aging Southern belle moves in with her sister for solace — but being face-to-face with her brutish brother-in-law accelerates her downward spiral.…
#16 Godzilla (1954) · ★ 7.6 · 1,170 votes · 1h 36m · thriller, horror, science-fictionJapan is thrown into a panic after several ships are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by Dr. Kyohei Yamane soon discover something far more devastating than im…
#17 Elevator to the Gallows (1958) · ★ 7.6 · 729 votes · 1h 32m · thriller, drama, crimeA self-assured businessman murders his employer, husband of his mistress, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events.…
#18 In a Lonely Place (1950) · ★ 7.6 · 685 votes · 1h 33m · thriller, romance, dramaA violent screenwriter and a female neighbor fall in love after she clears him of murder, but she begins to have second thoughts.…
#19 The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) · ★ 7.5 · 1,293 votes · 1h 32m · thriller, drama, science-fictionAn alien and a robot land on Earth after World War II and tell mankind to be peaceful or face destruction.…
#20 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · ★ 7.5 · 1,232 votes · 1h 20m · thriller, horror, science-fictionA small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.…
#21 The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) · ★ 7.4 · 1,608 votes · 2h 1m · thriller, drama, mysteryAn 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…
#22 To Catch a Thief (1955) · ★ 7.3 · 1,724 votes · 1h 46m · thriller, romance, mysteryWhen a string of jewel robberies hits the French Riviera, suspicion falls on retired thief John “The Cat” Robie. To clear his name, he sets out to trap the copycat himself—entangli…
#23 I Confess (1953) · ★ 7.1 · 500 votes · 1h 35m · thriller, drama, crimeWhen a priest hears a murderer’s confession, he becomes bound by his vow of silence—even as circumstantial evidence turns suspicion toward him. Torn between faith and self-preserva…
#24 Killer's Kiss (1955) · ★ 6.3 · 621 votes · 1h 8m · thriller, drama, crimeDavey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Ra…
#25 Fear and Desire (1953) · ★ 5.4 · 555 votes · 1h 2m · thriller, drama, warAfter their airplane crashes behind enemy lines, four soldiers must survive and try to find a way back to their battalion. However, when they come across a local peasant girl the h…