Best Movies of 1948 by Rank
7
1
Vittorio De Sica
Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Gino Saltamerenda
Drama
Italy
Italian
98
2
John Huston
Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett, Barton MacLane
Adventure / Drama
USA
English
170
3
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Léonide Massine
Drama / Romance / Music
UK
English
197
4
Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson
John Wayne, Montgomery Clift
Western / Action / Adventure / Epic
USA
English
386
5
Max Ophüls
Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan, Mady Christians, Marcel Journet, Art Smith
Drama / Period Film / Romance
USA
English
494
6
Abraham Polonsky
John Garfield, Thomas Gomez
Crime / Film-Noir / Drama / Cult
USA
English
614
7
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons
Drama / Crime / Romance / Thriller / Period Film
UK
English
689
9
David Lean
Robert Newton, Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh, Francis L. Sullivan
Adventure / Crime / Drama / Period Film
UK
English
712
10
Carol Reed
Ralph Richardson, Michèle Morgan, Sonia Dresdel
Drama / Thriller
UK
English
819
11
Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti, Antonio Arcidiacono, Giuseppe Arcidiacono, Venera Bonaccorso
Drama
Italy
Italian
872
12
Jules Dassin
Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor, Frank Conroy
Crime / Film-Noir / Mystery / Drama / Detective
USA
English
1056
14
John Huston
Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Edward G. Robinson, Lionel Barrymore, Claire Trevor
Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Thriller / Gangster
USA
English
1088
15
Fred Zinnemann
Montgomery Clift, Aline MacMahon, Jarmila Novotna, Wendell Corey
Drama / War
Switzerland / USA
English
1212
16
Walter Lang
Robert Young, Maureen O'Hara, Clifton Webb, Richard Haydn
Comedy
USA
English
1288
17
Robert J. Flaherty
Joseph Boudreaux, Lionel Le Blanc, E. Bienvenu
Documentary / Drama
USA
English
1299
18
Frank Capra
Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Van Johnson, Angela Lansbury, Adolphe Menjou
Drama / Comedy / Romance
USA
English
1380
19
Charles Barton
Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi, Glenn Strange
Comedy / Horror / Sci-Fi / Family
USA
English
1409
20
George Stevens
Irene Dunne, Barbara Bel Geddes, Oskar Homolka, Philip Dorn
Drama / Family
USA
English
1433
21
Norman Z. McLeod
Bob Hope, Jane Russell, Robert Armstrong, Iris Adrian, Bobby Watson
Comedy / Western
USA
English
1486
22
Preston Sturges
Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell, Rudy Vallee, Barbara Lawrence, Kurt Kreuger
Comedy
USA
English
1496
23
Alfred Hitchcock
James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Cedric Hardwicke
Thriller / Crime / Cult
USA
English
1506
24
Robert Hamer
Googie Withers, Edward Chapman, Susan Shaw, Patricia Plunkett, David Lines
Crime / Drama
UK
English
1533
25
George Sidney
Lana Turner, Gene Kelly, June Allyson, Van Heflin, Angela Lansbury, Frank Morgan
Action / Adventure / Drama / Romance
USA
English
1614
26
William Dieterle
Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Lillian Gish
Drama / Romance / Fantasy / Mystery
USA
English
1700
27
John Ford
John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple, Pedro Armendáriz, Ward Bond
Western
USA
English
1772
28
Roberto Rossellini
Edmund Moeschke, Ingetraud Hinze, Franz-Otto Krüger
Drama / War
Italy / Germany / France
German
1789
29
Mu Fei
Chaoming Cui, Wei Li, Yu Shi, Wei Wei, Hongmei Zhang
Drama / Romance
China
Mandarin
1797
30
Henry Hathaway
James Stewart, Richard Conte, Lee J. Cobb, Helen Walker, Betty Garde
Film-Noir / Crime / Drama
USA
English
1823
31
Billy Wilder
Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, John Lund, Millard Mitchell
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
1909
32
Roberto Rossellini
Anna Magnani, Sylvia Bataille, Lia Corelli, Federico Fellini, Gabrielle Fontan
Drama / Religion
Italy
Italian
1922
33
Ken Annakin, Arthur Crabtree, Harold French, Ralph Smart
Claud Allister, Felix Aylmer, Angela Baddeley
Drama
UK
English
1929
34
H.C. Potter
Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas, Reginald Denny, Sharyn Moffett
Comedy
USA
English
1936
35
Anthony Asquith
Robert Donat, Cedric Hardwicke, Basil Radford, Margaret Leighton
Drama
UK
English
2131
36
John Ford
John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, Harry Carey Jr., Ward Bond, Mae Marsh
Drama / Western / Religion
USA
English
2178
37
John Farrow
Ray Milland, Maureen O'Sullivan, Charles Laughton, George Macready
Drama / Film-Noir / Thriller
USA
English
2210
38
Joseph Losey
Pat O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Barbara Hale, Dean Stockwell
Family / Drama
USA
English
2223
39
Akira Kurosawa
Takashi Shimura, Toshirô Mifune, Reisaburo Yamamoto, Michiyo Kogure
Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Thriller / Gangster
Japan
Japanese
2266
40
Charles Walters
Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford, Ann Miller, Jules Munshin
Musical / Romance / Comedy
USA
English
2306
41
Vincente Minnelli
Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Walter Slezak, Gladys Cooper
Musical / Adventure / Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2311
42
Fritz Lang
Joan Bennett, Michael Redgrave, Anne Revere, Barbara O'Neil, Natalie Schafer
Film-Noir / Drama / Romance / Mystery
USA
English
2332
43
Jean Cocteau
Jean Marais, Josette Day, Marcel André, Yvonne de Bray, Gabrielle Dorziat
Drama
France
French
2332
43
Anatole Litvak
Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards, Wendell Corey, Harold Vermilyea
Drama / Film-Noir / Thriller
USA
English
2341
44
Victor Fleming
Ingrid Bergman, José Ferrer, Selena Royle, Robert H. Barrat
Drama / History / Religion / Biography
USA
English
2352
45
Fred Zinnemann
Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, Phyllis Thaxter
Thriller / Film-Noir / Drama / Crime
USA
English
2352
45
Anthony Mann
Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt, John Ireland, Raymond Burr
Crime / Film-Noir / Drama / Thriller / Gangster
USA
English
2412
46
Sam Wood
Clark Gable, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Brian Donlevy, Charles Bickford
War / Drama / Action
USA
English
2432
47
Yves Allégret
Simone Signoret, Marcello Pagliero, Bernard Blier, Marcel Dalio
Drama / Film-Noir / Crime
France
French
2432
47
Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Ewald Balser, Ernst Deutsch, Albert Truby, Heinz Moog
Drama / Period Film
Austria
German
2449
48
Sidney Meyers
Gary Merrill, Donald Thompson, Clarence Cooper
Documentary / Drama
USA
English
2450
49
Robert A. Stemmle
Gert Fröbe, Tatjana Sais, Ute Sielisch, Aribert Wäscher
Comedy
Germany
German
2456
50
Vincent Sherman
Errol Flynn, Viveca Lindfors, Robert Douglas, Alan Hale, Romney Brent
Adventure / Romance / Action
USA
English
2456
50
Spencer Gordon Bennet, Thomas Carr
Kirk Alyn, Noel Neill, Carol Forman, Tommy Bond, Pierre Watkin, Jack Ingram
Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi / Crime / Family / Comic / Serial
USA
English
2461
51
Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann
Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell, James Cardwell
Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Mystery / Thriller / Detective
USA
English
2541
52
Emilio Fernández
María Félix, Pedro Armendáriz, Carlos López Moctezuma
Drama / Romance
Mexico
Spanish
2591
53
Robert Stevenson
Dick Powell, Signe Hasso, Harry J. Anslinger, Maylia, Ludwig Donath
Adventure / Crime / Drama / Thriller
USA
English
2591
53
Zoltan Korda
Charles Boyer, Ann Blyth, Jessica Tandy, Cedric Hardwicke, Mildred Natwick
Drama / Crime
USA
English
2628
54
George Seaton
Jeanne Crain, William Holden, Edmund Gwenn, Gene Lockhart, Griff Barnett
Drama / Comedy
USA
English
2628
54
Roy Del Ruth
William Bendix, Claire Trevor, Charles Bickford, Sam Levene, William Frawley
Biography / Drama / Sports
USA
English
2628
54
Orson Welles
Orson Welles, Jeanette Nolan, Dan O'Herlihy, Roddy McDowall, Edgar Barrier
Drama / Period Film
USA
English
2628
54
Howard Hawks
Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong
Comedy / Musical / Gangster
USA
English
2628
54
Alberto Lattuada
Carla Del Poggio, John Kitzmiller, Pierre Claudé, Giulietta Masina
Drama / Romance / War
Italy
Italian
2635
55
Rouben Mamoulian
Mickey Rooney, Gloria DeHaven, Walter Huston, Frank Morgan
Musical / Comedy / Drama / Romance
USA
English
2635
55
William A. Wellman
Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, Richard Widmark, Robert Arthur, John Russell
Western
USA
English
2646
57
Wanda Jakubowska
Tatjana Gorecka, Antonina Gorecka, Barbara Drapinska, Aleksandra Slaska
Drama / War
Poland
Polish
2699
59
Jean Delannoy
Michèle Morgan, Jean Marais, Jean Chevrier, Robert Murzeau
Romance / Drama / Comedy
France
French
2699
59
Gustaf Molander
Birger Malmsten, Eva Stiberg, Eva Dahlbeck, Åke Claesson
Drama / Romance
Sweden
Swedish
2699
59
Ingmar Bergman
Mai Zetterling, Birger Malmsten, Olof Winnerstrand, Naima Wifstrand
Drama
Sweden
Swedish
2699
59
Charles Frend
John Mills, Derek Bond, Diana Churchill, Harold Warrender
Action / Adventure / Drama / History
UK
English
2699
59
Renato Castellani
Francesco Golisano, Alberto Sordi, Oscar Blando, Liliana Mancini
Comedy / Drama
Italy
Italian
2719
60
Bernard Vorhaus
Turhan Bey, Lynn Bari, Cathy O'Donnell, Richard Carlson, Donald Curtis
Film-Noir / Horror / Thriller
USA
English
2719
60
Gordon Douglas
Louis Hayward, Janet Blair, George Macready, Edgar Buchanan, Rhys Williams
Action / Adventure / History / Romance / Crime / Period Film
USA
English
2719
60
Jack Bernhard
Robert Paige, Leslie Brooks, Russ Vincent, Michael Whalen, James Griffith
Film-Noir / Thriller / Mystery / Detective
USA
English
2719
60
George Sherman
Donald O'Connor, Marjorie Main, Percy Kilbride, Penny Edwards, Joe Besser
Comedy / Musical
USA
English
2719
60
Michael Curtiz
Jack Carson, Janis Paige, Don DeFore, Doris Day, Oscar Levant, S.Z. Sakall
Comedy / Musical / Romance
USA
English
2719
60
Richard L. Bare
George O'Hanlon, Art Gilmore, Kit Guard, Charles Horvath, Fred Kelsey, Donald Kerr
Comedy / Crime / Short / Detective
USA
English
2719
60
Robert Florey
Johnny Weissmuller, Brenda Joyce, George Zucco, Andrea Palma, Fernando Wagner
Action / Adventure / Drama / Comic
USA
English
2719
60
Lewis Seiler
Dane Clark, Alexis Smith, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Jeffrey Lynn
Drama / Film-Noir / Sports
USA
English
2719
60
H.C. Potter
Joan Fontaine, James Stewart, Eddie Albert, Roland Young, Willard Parker
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2751
61
Cy Endfield
William Gargan, Marjorie Lord, John Banner, Peter Brocco
Drama / Mystery / Romance / Thriller
USA
English
2751
61
Leo McCarey
Gary Cooper, Ann Sheridan, Ray Collins, Edmund Lowe
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2751
61
Yasujiro Ozu
Kinuyo Tanaka, Shuji Sano, Chieko Murata, Chishu Ryu
Drama
Japan
Japanese
2751
61
Frank Borzage
Dane Clark, Gail Russell, Ethel Barrymore, Allyn Joslyn
Drama / Film-Noir
USA
English
