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. 1
   Seven Samurai

   Akira Kurosawa's 1954 epic in which a village hires seven warriors to fight off marauding bandits.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Sunset Boulevard

   Billy Wilder's 1950 film noir about a faded silent-film star and a struggling screenwriter.
   917pts
3. 3
   The Night of the Hunter

   Charles Laughton's 1955 noir fairy tale about a murderous preacher hunting two children.
   679pts
4. 4
   Ikiru

   Akira Kurosawa's 1952 drama about a dying bureaucrat searching for meaning in his final days.
   560pts
5. 5
   Tokyo Story

   Yasujiro Ozu's 1953 meditation on family, aging, and generational distance in postwar Japan.
   485pts
6. 6
   Rashomon

   Akira Kurosawa's 1950 masterpiece recounting a crime through four contradictory eyewitness accounts.
   485pts
7. 7
   Sweet Smell of Success

   Alexander Mackendrick's 1957 noir about a ruthless press agent and a powerful gossip columnist.
   485pts
8. 8
   12 Angry Men

   Sidney Lumet's 1957 courtroom drama confined to a jury room as one holdout juror sways the rest.
   485pts
9. 9
   The Seventh Seal

   Ingmar Bergman's 1957 allegory of a knight playing chess with Death during the plague.
   485pts
10. 10
    Strangers on a Train

    Alfred Hitchcock's 1951 thriller about two men who agree to swap murders.
    397pts
11. 11
    Diabolique

    Henri-Georges Clouzot's 1955 French thriller about a wife and mistress who conspire to kill a cruel headmaster.
    397pts
12. 12
    The 400 Blows

    Francois Truffaut's 1959 French New Wave debut following a troubled Parisian boy.
    397pts
13. 13
    Paths of Glory

    Stanley Kubrick's 1957 anti-war drama about French soldiers court-martialed for refusing a suicidal attack.
    397pts
14. 14
    Some Like It Hot

    Billy Wilder's 1959 comedy about two musicians who disguise themselves in an all-female band.
    397pts
15. 15
    Umberto D.

    Vittorio De Sica's 1952 neorealist portrait of an elderly pensioner and his devoted dog.
    397pts
16. 16
    La Strada

    Federico Fellini's 1954 fable about a brutish strongman and the naive woman he buys as an assistant.
    397pts
17. 17
    On the Waterfront

    Elia Kazan's 1954 drama starring Marlon Brando as a dockworker who takes on mob corruption.
    291pts
18. 18
    Wild Strawberries

    Ingmar Bergman's 1957 drama following an elderly professor's day of reflection and regret.
    291pts
19. 19
    A Streetcar Named Desire

    Elia Kazan's 1951 adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play starring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh.
    291pts
20. 20
    Anatomy of a Murder

    Otto Preminger's 1959 courtroom drama starring James Stewart as a small-town defense lawyer.
    291pts
21. 21
    All About Eve

    Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1950 drama about an aging Broadway star and her scheming young admirer.
    0pts
22. 22
    Touch of Evil

    Orson Welles's 1958 noir opening with one of cinema's most famous long tracking shots.
    0pts

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