Best Movies of 1949 by Rank
78
1
Carol Reed
Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee
Film-Noir / Mystery / Thriller / Crime / Spy
UK
English
181
2
Robert Hamer
Dennis Price, Alec Guinness
Comedy / Drama / Crime
UK
English
292
3
Raoul Walsh
James Cagney, Virginia Mayo
Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Gangster / Thriller
USA
English
468
5
Yasujiro Ozu
Chishu Ryu, Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka, Haruko Sugimura
Drama
Japan
Japanese
523
6
Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen
Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller
Musical / Adventure / Comedy
USA
English
529
7
William Wyler
Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins
Drama / Romance
USA
English
698
8
Henry King
Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Millard Mitchell, Dean Jagger
Drama / War
USA
English
766
10
Alexander Mackendrick
Basil Radford, Catherine Lacey, Bruce Seton, Joan Greenwood, Wylie Watson
Comedy / Crime
UK
English
948
11
Nicholas Ray
Cathy O'Donnell, Farley Granger, Howard Da Silva, Jay C. Flippen
Crime / Film-Noir / Romance / Drama
USA
English
958
12
John Ford
John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar, Ben Johnson
Western / Romance
USA
English
1003
13
Robert Wise
Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, George Tobias, Alan Baxter
Film-Noir / Drama / Sports / Cult
USA
English
1009
14
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Kirk Douglas, Paul Douglas
Drama / Comedy
USA
English
1129
15
Jacques Tati
Guy Decomble, Jacques Tati, Paul Frankeur, Santa Relli
Comedy
France
French
1273
16
Clarence Brown
David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr., Juano Hernandez
Drama
USA
English
1408
17
Max Ophüls
James Mason, Joan Bennett, Geraldine Brooks, Henry O'Neill
Drama / Film-Noir / Crime
USA
English
1409
18
Mark Robson
Kirk Douglas, Arthur Kennedy, Marilyn Maxwell, Paul Stewart
Drama / Film-Noir / Sports
USA
English
1544
19
Henry Cornelius
Stanley Holloway, Betty Warren, Barbara Murray, Paul Dupuis, John Slater
Comedy
UK
English
1753
20
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
David Farrar, Kathleen Byron, Jack Hawkins, Milton Rosmer, Cyril Cusack
Drama / Thriller / War / Film-Noir
UK
English
1900
21
Akira Kurosawa
Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Awaji, Eiko Miyoshi
Drama / Thriller / Film-Noir / Detective
Japan
Japanese
1936
22
Howard Hawks
Cary Grant, Ann Sheridan, Marion Marshall, Randy Stuart, Bill Neff
Comedy / Romance / War
USA
English
1948
23
William A. Wellman
Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy
Action / War / Drama / Epic
USA
English
1958
24
Vincent Sherman
Ronald Reagan, Patricia Neal, Richard Todd, Anthony Nicholls
Drama / War
UK
English
2070
25
Cecil B. DeMille
Hedy Lamarr, Victor Mature, George Sanders, Angela Lansbury
Drama / Romance / Religion / Epic
USA
English
2095
26
Max Ophüls, John Berry
James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Ryan, Frank Ferguson, Curt Bois, Ruth Brady
Drama / Film-Noir / Romance
USA
English
2162
27
Thorold Dickinson
Anton Walbrook, Edith Evans, Yvonne Mitchell, Ronald Howard, Mary Jerrold
Drama / Horror / Fantasy / Period Film
UK
English
2198
28
Ted Tetzlaff
Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart, Ruth Roman
Drama / Film-Noir / Thriller / Crime
USA
English
2214
29
Jean-Pierre Melville
Howard Vernon, Nicole Stéphane, Jean-Marie Robain, Ami Aaröe
Drama / War
France
French
2237
30
Claude Autant-Lara
Danielle Darrieux, Jean Desailly, Louise Conte, Julien Carette
Comedy / Romance
France
French
2318
31
John Farrow
Ray Milland, Audrey Totter, Thomas Mitchell, George Macready, Fred Clark
Mystery / Drama / Thriller / Fantasy
USA
English
2396
32
Sam Wood
James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead, Bill Williams
Biography / Drama / Sports
USA
English
2461
33
James Algar, Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney
Bing Crosby, Eric Blore, Basil Rathbone, J. Pat O'Malley, Colin Campbell
Family / Animation / Fantasy
USA
English
2475
34
Mark Robson
Douglas Dick, Steve Brodie, Jeff Corey, Lloyd Bridges
Drama / War
USA
English
2479
35
Elia Kazan, John Ford
Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters, William Lundigan, Basil Ruysdael
Drama
USA
English
2535
36
King Vidor
Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey, Kent Smith
Drama
USA
English
2541
37
Raoul Walsh
Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Malone, Henry Hull, John Archer, James Mitchell
Western / Crime / Drama
USA
English
2541
37
Robert Siodmak
Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, Esy Morales
Crime / Film-Noir / Thriller / Caper / Gangster / Drama
USA
English
2541
37
Alfred Hitchcock
Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Michael Wilding, Margaret Leighton, Cecil Parker
Drama / Romance / Crime
UK
English
2541
37
Yves Allégret
Madeleine Robinson, Gérard Philipe, Jean Servais, André Valmy
Drama / Crime / Film-Noir
France / Netherlands
French
2545
38
René Clément
Isa Miranda, Jean Gabin, Andrea Checchi, Vera Talchi
Drama / Crime / Romance
France / Italy
Italian
2546
39
Allan Dwan
John Wayne, John Agar, Adele Mara, Forrest Tucker
Action / Drama / War / Romance
USA
English
2549
40
Norman McLaren, Evelyn Lambart
Animation / Short / Music / Experimental
Canada
English (No Dialogue)
2552
41
Henry Koster
Loretta Young, Celeste Holm, Hugh Marlowe, Elsa Lanchester
Drama / Religion
USA
English
2591
42
Edmund Goulding
Paul Douglas, Linda Darnell, Celeste Holm, Charles Coburn, Millard Mitchell
Comedy
USA
English
2591
42
Lloyd Bacon
Ray Milland, Jean Peters, Paul Douglas, Ed Begley, Ted de Corsia, Ray Collins
Comedy / Sci-Fi / Sports / Fantasy
USA
English
2591
42
Vincente Minnelli
Jennifer Jones, James Mason, Van Heflin, Louis Jourdan, Alf Kjellin
Drama / Romance / Period Film
USA
English
2591
42
Anthony Pelissier
Valerie Hobson, John Howard Davies, Ronald Squire, John Mills, Hugh Sinclair
Drama
UK
English
2591
42
Harold D. Schuster, Hamilton Luske
Bobby Driscoll, Luana Patten, Beulah Bondi, Raymond Bond, Daniel Haight
Family / Drama
USA
English
2628
43
Frank Launder
Jean Simmons, Donald Houston, Susan Stranks, Peter Rudolph Jones, Noel Purcell
Adventure / Romance
UK
English
2628
43
David MacDonald
Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, Francis L. Sullivan, Kathleen Ryan, Derek Bond
Action / Adventure / Biography / Drama
UK
English
2628
43
Tay Garnett
Bing Crosby, Rhonda Fleming, Cedric Hardwicke, William Bendix, Murvyn Vye
Comedy / Fantasy / Musical / Adventure
USA
English
2628
43
Victor Saville
Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Flemyng, Harold Warrender, Honor Blackman
Thriller / Drama / Spy
UK
English
2628
43
Anthony Pelissier
John Mills, Betty Ann Davies, Megs Jenkins, Finlay Currie, Gladys Henson
Drama / Comedy
UK
English
2628
43
Henry Levin
Larry Parks, Barbara Hale, William Demarest, Ludwig Donath, Bill Goodwin
Biography / Music
USA
English
2628
43
Josef von Báky
Fritz Kortner, Johanna Hofer, Rosemary Murphy, Lina Carstens, William Sinnigen
Drama
West Germany
German
2628
43
Ernest B. Schoedsack
Terry Moore, Ben Johnson, Robert Armstrong, Frank McHugh, Douglas Fowley
Adventure / Fantasy / Drama
USA
English
2635
44
Henry King
Tyrone Power, Orson Welles, Wanda Hendrix, Marina Berti, Everett Sloane
Adventure / Drama / History
USA
English
2635
44
Busby Berkeley
Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly, Betty Garrett, Edward Arnold
Comedy / Musical / Sports / Drama
USA
English
2635
44
Felix E. Feist
Michael O'Shea, Virginia Grey, Charles McGraw, Julie Bishop, Frank Conroy
Crime / Film-Noir / Drama / Thriller
USA
English
2682
46
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Cécile Aubrey, Gabrielle Dorziat, Michel Auclair
Drama / Crime / Romance
France
French
2699
47
Augusto Genina
Inés Orsini, Rubi D'Alma, Michele Malaspina
Drama / Biography / Religion
Italy
Italian
2699
47
Emilio Fernández
Dolores del Rio, Pedro Armendáriz, Columba Domínguez
Drama
Mexico
Spanish
2708
48
Alfred L. Werker
Beatrice Pearson, Mel Ferrer, Richard Hylton, Susan Douglas Rubes
Drama
USA
English
2719
49
Charles Barton
Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Clyde Beatty, Frank Buck, Max Baer, Buddy Baer
Action / Adventure / Comedy
USA
English
2719
49
Preston Sturges
Betty Grable, Cesar Romero, Rudy Vallee, Olga San Juan, Porter Hall
Comedy / Western / Romance
USA
English
2719
49
Anthony Mann
Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Howard Da Silva, James Mitchell, Arnold Moss
Crime / Film-Noir / Drama
USA
English
2719
49
Robert Stevens
Bela Lugosi, Romney Brent, Ray Walston
Drama / Thriller
USA
English
2719
49
Richard Fleischer
William Lundigan, Dorothy Patrick, Jeff Corey, Nestor Paiva, Charles D. Brown
Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Mystery / Thriller / Detective
USA
English
2719
49
Chuck Jones
Mel Blanc
Animation / Family / Short / Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2719
49
Richard L. Bare
George O'Hanlon, Phyllis Coates
Comedy
USA
English
2719
49
Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Rudolf Ising, Hugh Harman, Robert Clampett, Tom Palmer, Jack King, Robert McKimson, Norm McCabe, Abe Levitow
Mel Blanc, Bea Benaderet, Billy Bletcher, Stan Freberg, Arthur Q. Bryan
Animation / Comedy / Family / Short / Documentary / Biography
USA
English
2719
49
David Miller, Leo McCarey
Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Ilona Massey, Vera-Ellen, Marion Hutton
Comedy / Musical / Detective / Family
USA
English
2719
49
John Hubley
Jim Backus, Jerry Hausner
Animation / Family / Short / Comedy
USA
English
2719
49
Fred M. Wilcox
Margaret O'Brien, Herbert Marshall, Dean Stockwell, Gladys Cooper, Elsa Lanchester
Drama / Family / Fantasy
USA
English
2719
49
Byron Haskin
Lizabeth Scott, Don DeFore, Dan Duryea, Arthur Kennedy, Kristine Miller
Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Mystery / Thriller
USA
English
2719
49
Richard Fleischer
Lloyd Bridges, Barbara Payton, John Hoyt, James Todd, Russ Conway
Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Thriller / Mystery
USA
English
2719
49
Jack Hannah, Jack King
Clarence Nash, Ronald Colman, Pinto Colvig, James MacDonald, Dessie Flynn
Animation / Family / Comedy / Documentary / Serial
USA
English
2737
50
Georges Franju
Georges Hubert, Nicole Ladmiral
Documentary / Short / Drama
France
French
2751
51
Tex Avery
Daws Butler, Colleen Collins, Pinto Colvig
Animation / Comedy / Short
USA
English
2751
51
Jules Dassin
Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J. Cobb, Barbara Lawrence
Film-Noir / Thriller / Drama / Crime / Gangster
USA
English
2776
52
Mehboob Khan
Nargis, Dilip Kumar, V.H. Desai, Cuckoo, Raj Kapoor
Musical / Drama / Crime / Romance
India
Hindi
2776
52
Junli Zheng
Dan Zhao, Yinyan Wu, Daolin Sun, Yunzhu Shangguan
Drama
China
Mandarin
2776
52
Kenji Mizoguchi
Kinuyo Tanaka, Mitsuko Mito, Kuniko Miyake, Ichirô Sugai
Drama / Period Film
Japan
Japanese
2776
52
Elmer Clifton, Ida Lupino
Sally Forrest, Keefe Brasselle, Leo Penn, Dorothy Adams
Drama
USA
English
