Best Movies of 1954 by Rank
8
1
Akira Kurosawa
Takashi Shimura, Toshirô Mifune, Yoshio Inaba, Seiji Miyaguchi
Action / Drama / Period Film
Japan
Japanese
42
2
Elia Kazan
Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint
Crime / Romance / Drama / Gangster
USA
English
89
3
Alfred Hitchcock
James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr
Thriller / Mystery / Film-Noir / Romance
USA
English
103
4
Kenji Mizoguchi
Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyôko Kagawa, Eitarô Shindô
Drama / Period Film
Japan
Japanese
125
5
Federico Fellini
Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart, Aldo Silvani, Marcella Rovere
Drama / Romance
Italy
Italian
308
6
Nicholas Ray
Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge
Western / Cult
USA
English
349
7
George Cukor
Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson, Charles Bickford, Tommy Noonan
Drama / Musical
USA
English
382
8
Stanley Donen
Jane Powell, Howard Keel
Comedy / Family / Musical / Romance / Western
USA
English
500
9
Luchino Visconti
Alida Valli, Farley Granger, Heinz Moog, Rina Morelli
Drama / War / Romance / Period Film
Italy
English
797
10
Otto Preminger
Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte
Musical / Drama / Romance
USA
English
800
11
Roberto Rossellini
Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders, Leslie Daniels, Natalia Ray
Drama
Italy / France
Italian
1033
12
Edward Dmytryk
Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson
Drama / War / Adventure
USA
English
1206
14
Herbert J. Biberman
Rosaura Revueltas, Will Geer, David Wolfe
Drama
USA
English
1223
15
Ishirô Honda
Akira Takarada, Momoko Kôchi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura
Drama / Sci-Fi / Thriller / Horror / Cult
Japan
Japanese
1225
16
Robert Wise
William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March
Drama
USA
English
1233
17
Billy Wilder
Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden
Comedy / Romance / Drama
USA
English
1309
18
Richard Fleischer
Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas
Family / Adventure / Sci-Fi
USA
English
1353
19
Robert Hamer
Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Peter Finch, Cecil Parker
Comedy / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Detective
UK
English
1367
20
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien
Drama
USA / Italy
English
1476
21
Alfred Hitchcock
Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams
Thriller / Crime / Mystery
USA
English
1506
22
William A. Wellman
John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Laraine Day, Robert Stack
Adventure / Drama / Action
USA
English
1666
23
Ralph Thomas
Dirk Bogarde, Muriel Pavlow, Kenneth More, Donald Sinden, Kay Kendall
Comedy
UK
English
1688
24
David Lean
Charles Laughton, John Mills, Brenda De Banzie, Daphne Anderson, Prunella Scales
Comedy / Drama / Romance
UK
English
1953
25
Joy Batchelor, John Halas
Gordon Heath, Maurice Denham
Animation / Drama / Comedy
UK
English
1962
26
Hiroshi Inagaki
Toshirô Mifune, Mariko Okada, Rentaro Mikuni
Action / Adventure / Drama / History
Japan
Japanese
2037
27
Jacques Becker
Jean Gabin, René Dary, Jeanne Moreau, Dora Doll
Thriller / Crime / Drama / Gangster / Caper
France / Italy
French
2075
28
William A. Wellman
Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright, Diana Lynn, Tab Hunter
Drama / Western / Adventure
USA
English
2093
29
Lewis Allen
Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, James Gleason, Nancy Gates, Kim Charney
Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Mystery / Thriller
USA
English
2101
30
Allan Dwan
John Payne, Lizabeth Scott, Dan Duryea, Dolores Moran
Western
USA
English
2111
31
Mikio Naruse
Haruko Sugimura, Sadako Sawamura, Chikako Hosokawa, Yûko Mochizuki
Drama / Romance
Japan
Japanese
2145
32
Josef von Sternberg
Akemi Negishi, Tadashi Suganuma, Kisaburo Sawamura
Drama / War / Adventure
Japan
Japanese
2160
33
Renato Castellani
Laurence Harvey, Susan Shentall, Flora Robson, Norman Wooland
Drama / Romance / Period Film
Italy / UK
English
2167
34
Frank Launder
Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell, George Cole, Hermione Baddeley, Betty Ann Davies
Comedy / Crime
UK
English
2186
35
Don Siegel
Neville Brand, Emile Meyer, Frank Faylen, Leo Gordon, Robert Osterloh
Drama
USA
English
2227
36
Gordon Douglas
James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness, Onslow Stevens
Sci-Fi / Horror
USA
English
2306
37
Michael Anderson
Michael Redgrave, Ursula Jeans, Charles Carson, Stanley Van Beers, Colin Tapley
Action / War / Drama
UK
English
2328
38
Kenji Mizoguchi
Kazuo Hasegawa, Kyôko Kagawa, Eitarô Shindô, Eitarô Ozawa
Drama / Romance / Period Film
Japan
Japanese
2344
39
Jean Negulesco
Clifton Webb, Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters, Louis Jourdan
Romance / Drama / Adventure
USA
English
2355
40
René Clément
Gérard Philipe, Natasha Parry, Valerie Hobson
Drama / Comedy / Romance
France / UK
English
2408
41
Helmut Käutner
Maria Schell, Bernhard Wicki, Barbara Rütting, Carl Möhner
Drama / War
Yugoslavia / Austria
German
2472
42
Charles Crichton
Cornell Borchers, Yvonne Mitchell, Armin Dahlen, Alexander Knox
Drama
UK
English
2497
43
Nancy Hamilton
Helen Keller, Polly Thompson, Katharine Cornell, Dwight D. Eisenhower
Documentary / Biography
USA
English
2500
44
Aleksander Ford
Aleksandra Slaska, Tadeusz Janczar, Andrzej Kozak
Drama / Gangster
Poland
Polish
2553
45
Robert Aldrich
Burt Lancaster, Jean Peters, John McIntire, Charles Bronson, John Dehner
Western
USA
English
2553
45
Roberto Rossellini
Ingrid Bergman, Mathias Wieman, Renate Mannhardt, Kurt Kreuger, Elise Aulinger
Drama
West Germany / Italy
German
2605
47
Edward Dmytryk
Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, Jean Peters, Richard Widmark, Katy Jurado
Drama / Western
USA
English
2605
47
Irving Rapper
Ginger Rogers, William Holden, Paul Douglas, Pat Crowley, James Gleason
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2605
47
Marcel Pagnol
Roger Crouzet, Robert Vattier, Henri Cremieux, Fernand Sardou, Rellys
Comedy / Drama
France
French
2689
48
Iosif Kheifits
Sergei Lukyanov, Boris Andreyev, Vera Kuznetsova, Aleksey Batalov, Sergei Kurilov
Drama / Romance / Crime
Soviet Union
Russian
2689
48
Juan Antonio Bardem
Elisa Galvé, Fernando Rey, Emma Penella, Rosario García Ortega
Drama
Spain / Argentina
Spanish
2689
48
Jack Arnold
Richard Carlson, Julie Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, Nestor Paiva
Adventure / Horror / Sci-Fi
USA
English
2689
48
Michael Curtiz
Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Gene Tierney, Michael Wilding, Bella Darvi
Drama / History / Period Film / Religion
USA
English
2689
48
Douglas Sirk
Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Barbara Rush, Agnes Moorehead, Otto Kruger
Drama / Romance
USA
English
2689
48
Aleksandr Alov, Vladimir Naumov
Aleksandr Susnin, Lenya Tsyplakov, Mikhail Kramar, Oleg Rutkovskij, Tamara Loginova
Drama
Soviet Union
Russian
2689
48
Arne Mattsson
Gunnel Broström, Folke Sundquist, Margaretha Krook, Erik Strandmark
Drama
Sweden / Iceland
Swedish
2689
48
Robert Aldrich
Gary Cooper, Burt Lancaster, Denise Darcel, Cesar Romero, Sara Montiel
Adventure / Western
USA
English
2689
48
Michael Curtiz
Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger
Comedy / Musical / Romance
USA
English
2691
49
Anthony Mann
James Stewart, Ruth Roman, Corinne Calvet, Walter Brennan, John McIntire
Western
USA
English
2691
49
George Cukor
Judy Holliday, Peter Lawford, Jack Lemmon, Michael O'Shea, Vaughn Taylor
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2691
49
Luis Buñuel
Irasema Dilián, Jorge Mistral, Lilia Prado, Ernesto Alonso
Drama / Romance
Mexico
Spanish
2740
50
Claude Autant-Lara
Gérard Philipe, Danielle Darrieux, Antonella Lualdi
Drama / Romance / Period Film
Italy / France
French
2741
51
J. Lee Thompson
Dirk Bogarde, Susan Stephen, Cecil Parker, Eileen Herlie, Athene Seyler
Comedy / Romance
UK
English
2741
51
Léo Joannon
Pierre Fresnay, Pierre Trabaud, Nicole Stéphane, Marcelle Géniat
Drama / Religion
France
French
2741
51
Alexander Mackendrick
Paul Douglas, Alex Mackenzie, James Copeland, Abe Barker, Tommy Kearins
Comedy
UK
English
2741
51
Robert Parrish
Gregory Peck, Win Min Than, Brenda De Banzie, Bernard Lee, Maurice Denham
Adventure / Drama / War / Action
UK
English
2765
53
André De Toth
Sterling Hayden, Gene Nelson, Phyllis Kirk, Ted de Corsia, Charles Bronson
Crime / Film-Noir / Drama / Gangster / Detective
USA
English
2773
54
Ernesto Arancibia
Zully Moreno, Carlos Thompson, Santiago Gómez Cou
Drama
Argentina
Spanish
2773
54
Keisuke Kinoshita
Hideki Goko, Hideko Takamine, Yukio Watanabe
Drama
Japan
Japanese
2788
55
Marcel Carné
Jean Gabin, Arletty, Roland Lesaffre, Marie Daëms
Drama / Comedy / Sports
France / Italy
French
2792
56
Don Weis
John Derek, Elaine Stewart, Thomas Gomez, Amanda Blake
Adventure / Romance
USA
English
2792
56
Otto Preminger, Jean Negulesco
Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe, Rory Calhoun, Tommy Rettig
Adventure / Western / Music / Romance
USA
English
2797
57
Samuel Fuller
Richard Widmark, Bella Darvi, Victor Francen, Cameron Mitchell, Gene Evans
Drama / Sci-Fi / Romance / Action / Spy / War
USA
English
2797
57
Melvin Frank, Norman Panama
Danny Kaye, Mai Zetterling, Torin Thatcher, David Burns, Leon Askin
Comedy / Thriller / Spy / Action
USA
English
2800
58
André Cayatte
Marina Vlady, Bernard Blier, Isa Miranda, Paul Bisciglia
Drama / Crime
France / Italy
French
2800
58
Ettore Giannini
Paolo Stoppa, Clelia Matania, Maria Fiore, Nadia Gray
Comedy / Musical / Drama / Romance
Italy
Italian
2800
58
Carlo Lizzani
Anna Maria Ferrero, Cosetta Greco, Antonella Lualdi
Drama
Italy
Italian
2807
59
Arthur Pierson
Vincent Price, Andy Clyde, Alan Hale Jr., Thurston Hall, Lloyd Corrigan
Drama / Short
USA
English
2807
59
Jack Webb
Jack Webb, Ben Alexander, Richard Boone, Ann Robinson, Stacy Harris, Virginia Gregg
Crime / Drama / Mystery / Detective / Gangster
USA
English
2807
59
Lesley Selander
Chuck Connors, John Hodiak, Barbara Britton, Bruce Bennett, Gene Wesson
War / Adventure / Drama
USA
English
2807
59
Richard Quine
Mickey Rooney, Dianne Foster, Kevin McCarthy, Jack Kelly, Harry Landers
Film-Noir / Thriller / Crime / Drama / Caper / Gangster
USA
English
2807
59
Harmon Jones
Cameron Mitchell, Anne Bancroft, Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Burr, Charlotte Austin
Mystery / Thriller / Detective
USA
English
2807
59
Norman Taurog
Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Janet Leigh, Edward Arnold, Fred Clark, Sheree North
Comedy / Musical
USA
English
2807
59
Vincente Minnelli
Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Marjorie Main, Keenan Wynn, Gladys Hurlbut
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2807
59
Roy Del Ruth
Karl Malden, Claude Dauphin, Patricia Medina, Steve Forrest, Allyn Ann McLerie
Crime / Horror / Mystery
USA
English
2807
59
Robert Mulligan
Rex Marshall, Mildred Natwick, Boris Karloff, Cloris Leachman, Brian Keith
Drama / Thriller
USA
English
2807
59
Tex Avery
Bill Thompson, Frank Graham, Dick Nelson, Wally Maher, Sara Berner, Tex Avery
Animation / Short / Comedy / Family
USA
English
2860
60
Allan Dwan
Barbara Stanwyck, Ronald Reagan, Gene Evans, Lance Fuller
Western
USA
English
2860
60
Fritz Lang
Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford, Edgar Buchanan
Drama / Film-Noir / Crime
USA
English
2860
60
Mikio Naruse
Setsuko Hara, Ken Uehara, Yôko Sugi, Sô Yamamura
Drama
Japan
Japanese
