1955 - one opinion

Good choices.

1955 - Another opinion

Top 10

Night Of The Hunter / Charles Laughton

Not rated

Mister Roberts / John Ford & Mervyn LeRoy
Bad Bad At Black Rock / John Sturgis
The Court Jester / Melvin Frank and Norman Panama
Kiss Me, Deadly / Robert Aldrich
Marty / Delbert Mann
Du Rififi Chez Les Hommes (Rififi) / Jules Dassin
Ikimono No Kiroku (Record Of A Living Being) / Akira Kurosawa
The Ladykillers / Alexander Mackendrick
To Catch A Thief / Alfred Hitchcock

BEST ACTOR Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter

BEST ACTRESS Anna Magnani in The Rose Tattoo

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Takashi Shimura in Ikimono No Kiroku (I Live In Fear: Record Of A Living Being)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Lillian Gish in The Night of the Hunter

63 films seen

I don't begin to know how to compile "top 10" or "best" lists, much less how to order and rate them, but I know what I like and what I'm most likely to watch most often. Throwing my wholehearted support behind titles like Bad Day At Black Rock, Night Of the Hunter, Les Diaboliques, The Big Combo and The Phenix City Story among others, there are a few of which I'm especially fond as yet unmentioned.

Summertime  

One of David Lean's quiet and intimate stories of romance, it truly makes Venice one of its three principal characters, and I can't think of another film that more effectively imparts a sense of place. If I never get there, I'll still always feel I've been there through this lovely film.



We're No Angels

Michael Curtiz again demonstrates his endless adaptability with the unlikely combination of Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov and Aldo Ray as escaped Devil's Island convicts who, with nothing better to do, take it upon themselves to help local merchant Leo G. Carroll through business and domestic woes. A charmer.



The Left Hand Of God

Bogart again, as another escapee, this time from ruthless yet courtly warlord Lee J. Cobb, hiding in plain sight as a priest assigned to the mission of E.G. Marshall and Agnes Moorehead, disarming and inspiring all with his most un-clerical demeanor and methods. Directed by Edward Dmytryk, for whom Bogart had done such stellar work the year before in The Caine Mutiny.



It's Always Fair Weather

The flip side of On the Town: Gene Kelly, Dan Daily and Michael Kidd as wartime buddies who reunite after ten years and discover their erstwhile friendship has curdled into mutual contempt. One doesn't often come across a big MGM musical that so effectively incorporates humorously bitter cynicism into its narrative, and for good measure, Kelly does another dance through city streets - this time on roller skates - that leaves his more famous one in the rain high and dry.
  
 
   


 

Here is my Top Ten, in order:

Kiss Me Deadly Robert Aldrich
The Night of the Hunter Charles Laughton
Ordet Carl Theodor Dreyer
The Ladykillers Alexander Mackendrick
Les Diaboliques Henri-Georges Clouzot 
Rififi Jules Dassin
East of Eden Elia Kazan
Muerte de un Ciclista Juan Antonio Bardem
Smiles of a Summer Night Ingmar Bergman
Picnic Joshua Logan

And my honorable mentions, any of which could make the Top Ten in a weak year (such as 1974 ) in alpha order:

All that Heaven Allows Douglas Sirk
Bad Day at Black Rock John Sturges
Blackboard Jungle Richard Brooks
Cast A Dark Shadow Lewis Gilbert
Ensayo de un Crimen Luis Buñuel
Floating Clouds (Ukigumo) Mikio Naruse
Marty Delbert Mann
Rebel Without a Cause Nicholas Ray
Richard III Laurence Olivier
Six Bridges to Cross Joseph Pevney
The Big Combo Joseph H. Lewis
The Big Knife Robert Aldrich
The End of the Affair  Edward Dmytryk
The Grasshopper Samson Samsonov
The Man with the Golden Arm Otto Preminger
The Rose Tattoo  Daniel Mann
The Unknown Soldier Edvin Laine

I have not seen Ikimono No Kiroku (Record Of A Living Being) Akira Kurosawa, which was recommended by mikef6.

Wow! Three interesting picks, MDF, and at the 11th hour too! I bet you do great in clearance sales picking up the bargains others have overlooked.

Le Amiche and French Cancan were obvious, being by great directors. The only reason I did not list them was because I do not much like them.

I need to see more Decoin and Hossein. Thanks for the reminder.

I have never heard of Dementia. I see the score is by George Antheil. Recycling existing stuff, or composed for this movie, I wonder?

A shout-out for these Five excellent films, surprisingly all with under 100 votes at IMDb. ?...

Volca nok  Yugoslavia  Dir. France Stiglic . A tense and gritty war time thriller, tells the action story of Macedonian partisans hiding out in the snow covered mountain forests, battling the occupying force of Bulgarian fascists...

Jibun no ana no nakade , A Hole of My Own Making Japan. Dir. Tomu Uchida. Compelling post war melodrama from socially conscious filmmaker Uchida adapting from author Tatsuzô Ishikawa 

Blekitny krzyz  , Men Of the Blue Cross . Poland. Dir Andrzej Munk.  A spectacular scenic fozen mountain backdrop the setting for this exciting action tale based on true accounts of the Blue Cross rescue team. The Men Of Blue Cross venture behind enemy lines to rescue wounded and trapped partisans...

Ôkami , Wolf. Japan. Directed Written and Produced independently by Kaneto Shindo. A powerful drama set in the  chaos & social upheaval of the post war years...
 
Tarao bannai hayabusa no maô  Japan. Dir. Sadatsugu Matsuda. Master of disguise Private Eye Tarao Bannai  (Chiezô Kataoka), and his assistant Masako investigate the mysterious murder in the middle of a baseball game...

Five more excellent classics, maybe under-the-radar ? ...
Istoria mias kalpikis liras , The Counterfeit Coin.  Greece Dir. Yorgos Tzavellas 
Chiyari Fuji , Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji. Japan. Dir. Tomu Uchida
Cesta do praveku  , A Journey to the Beginning of Time. Czechoslovakia. Dir. Karel Zeman
Ukrotitelnitsa tigrov , Tiger Tamer . Soviet Union.  Dir. Aleksandr Ivanovsky, Nadezhda Kosheverova
There's Always Tomorrow USA. Dir. Douglas Sirk…. Outstanding Performance Barbara Stanwyck ! 

 A Hole of My Own Making , Tomu Uchida