Top 22 Black-and-White Films of the 1950s

Hollywood noir, samurai epics, and European art-house landmarks share one thing: shadow and light doing the heavy lifting long before color took over. Which monochrome masterpiece reigns supreme? Where do you stand?

1

Seven Samurai

Akira Kurosawa's 1954 epic in which a village hires seven warriors to fight off marauding bandits.

1000pts

2

Sunset Boulevard

Billy Wilder's 1950 film noir about a faded silent-film star and a struggling screenwriter.

917pts

3

The Night of the Hunter

Charles Laughton's 1955 noir fairy tale about a murderous preacher hunting two children.

679pts

4

Ikiru

Akira Kurosawa's 1952 drama about a dying bureaucrat searching for meaning in his final days.

560pts

5

Tokyo Story

Yasujiro Ozu's 1953 meditation on family, aging, and generational distance in postwar Japan.

485pts

6

Rashomon

Akira Kurosawa's 1950 masterpiece recounting a crime through four contradictory eyewitness accounts.

485pts

7

Sweet Smell of Success

Alexander Mackendrick's 1957 noir about a ruthless press agent and a powerful gossip columnist.

485pts

8

12 Angry Men

Sidney Lumet's 1957 courtroom drama confined to a jury room as one holdout juror sways the rest.

485pts

9

The Seventh Seal

Ingmar Bergman's 1957 allegory of a knight playing chess with Death during the plague.

485pts

10

Strangers on a Train

Alfred Hitchcock's 1951 thriller about two men who agree to swap murders.

397pts

11

Diabolique

Henri-Georges Clouzot's 1955 French thriller about a wife and mistress who conspire to kill a cruel headmaster.

397pts

12

The 400 Blows

Francois Truffaut's 1959 French New Wave debut following a troubled Parisian boy.

397pts

13

Paths of Glory

Stanley Kubrick's 1957 anti-war drama about French soldiers court-martialed for refusing a suicidal attack.

397pts

14

Some Like It Hot

Billy Wilder's 1959 comedy about two musicians who disguise themselves in an all-female band.

397pts

15

Umberto D.

Vittorio De Sica's 1952 neorealist portrait of an elderly pensioner and his devoted dog.

397pts

16

La Strada

Federico Fellini's 1954 fable about a brutish strongman and the naive woman he buys as an assistant.

397pts

17

On the Waterfront

Elia Kazan's 1954 drama starring Marlon Brando as a dockworker who takes on mob corruption.

291pts

18

Wild Strawberries

Ingmar Bergman's 1957 drama following an elderly professor's day of reflection and regret.

291pts

19

A Streetcar Named Desire

Elia Kazan's 1951 adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play starring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh.

291pts

20

Anatomy of a Murder

Otto Preminger's 1959 courtroom drama starring James Stewart as a small-town defense lawyer.

291pts

21

All About Eve

Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1950 drama about an aging Broadway star and her scheming young admirer.

162pts

22

Touch of Evil

Orson Welles's 1958 noir opening with one of cinema's most famous long tracking shots.

162pts