Best Movies of 20th Century 1st Half by Director
1971
525
1949
William A. Wellman
Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy
Action / War / Drama / Epic
USA
English
2329
631
1933
William A. Wellman
Frankie Darro, Edwin Phillips, Rochelle Hudson, Dorothy Coonan Wellman
Drama / Adventure / Crime
USA
English
2549
701
1928
William A. Wellman
Wallace Beery, Louise Brooks, Richard Arlen, Bob Perry, Blue Washington
Adventure / Drama / Crime / Detective
USA
English (Semi-Silent)
2575
711
1939
William A. Wellman
Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy
Action / Adventure / Drama / War
USA
English
2694
738
1939
William A. Wellman
Ronald Colman, Walter Huston, Muriel Angelus, Ida Lupino, Dudley Digges
Drama
USA
English
2694
738
1948
William A. Wellman
Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, Richard Widmark, Robert Arthur, John Russell
Western
USA
English
2809
769
1935
William A. Wellman
Clark Gable, Loretta Young, Jack Oakie, Reginald Owen, Frank Conroy
Western / Action / Adventure / Drama
USA
English
2809
769
1933
William A. Wellman
Loretta Young, Richard Barthelmess, Aline MacMahon, Gordon Westcott
Drama
USA
English
1820
477
1934
Alfred L. Werker
George Arliss, Boris Karloff, Loretta Young, Robert Young
Drama / Romance / Biography
USA
English
2234
607
1939
Alfred L. Werker
Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Ida Lupino, George Zucco, Alan Marshal
Crime / Thriller / Mystery / Detective
USA
English
2516
690
1948
Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann
Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell, James Cardwell
Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Mystery / Thriller / Detective
USA
English
2799
764
1949
Alfred L. Werker
Beatrice Pearson, Mel Ferrer, Richard Hylton, Susan Douglas Rubes
Drama
USA
English
2809
769
1941
Alfred L. Werker, Ford Beebe, Jasper Blystone, Jim Handley, Hamilton Luske, Erwin L. Verity
Robert Benchley, Frances Gifford, Buddy Pepper, Nana Bryant, Claud Allister
Animation / Family / Comedy / Fantasy
USA
English
2809
769
1947
Alfred L. Werker
Louis Hayward, Joan Leslie, Virginia Field, Tom Conway, Richard Basehart
Crime / Drama / Fantasy / Film-Noir / Mystery
USA
English
2712
741
1929
Roland West
Chester Morris, Harry Stubbs, Mae Busch, Eleanore Griffith
Crime / Thriller / Detective / Gangster
USA
English
132
38
1935
James Whale
Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Ernest Thesiger, Elsa Lanchester
Horror / Sci-Fi / Drama
USA
English
240
68
1931
James Whale
Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, Boris Karloff, Edward Van Sloan
Drama / Horror / Sci-Fi
USA
English
884
227
1936
James Whale
Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan
Drama / Musical / Romance / Period Film
USA
English
939
240
1933
James Whale
Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan, Henry Travers, Una O'Connor
Comedy / Drama / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller / Crime
USA
English
1443
372
1932
James Whale
Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Lilian Bond
Horror / Drama / Comedy
USA
English
2366
652
1931
James Whale
Mae Clarke, Kent Douglass, Doris Lloyd, Frederick Kerr, Bette Davis
Drama / War
USA
English
2694
738
1939
James Whale
Louis Hayward, Joan Bennett, Warren William, Joseph Schildkraut, Alan Hale
Adventure / Action
USA
English
2694
738
1935
James Whale
Edward Arnold, Robert Young, Constance Cummings, Sally Eilers, Reginald Denny
Comedy / Mystery / Detective / Crime
USA
English
2748
749
1937
James Whale
Brian Aherne, Olivia de Havilland, Edward Everett Horton
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2799
764
1930
James Whale
Colin Clive, Ian Maclaren, David Manners, Billy Bevan, Anthony Bushell
Drama / War
UK / USA
English
2809
769
1937
James Whale
John 'Dusty' King, Richard Cromwell, Slim Summerville, Maurice Murphy, Andy Devine
Drama / Crime / War
USA
English
2809
769
1933
Jack White
Milton Berle, Norma Taylor, Mary Cole, Gertrude Mudge, Henry King
Comedy / Musical / Short
USA
English
2809
769
1940
Jules White
Andy Clyde, Shemp Howard, Vernon Dent, Lynton Brent, Richard Fiske, Bud Jamison
Comedy / Short
USA
English
2809
769
1946
Richard Whorf, Vincente Minnelli, George Sidney
June Allyson, Lucille Bremer, Judy Garland, Kathryn Grayson, Van Heflin
Biography / Musical
USA
English
422
116
1920
Robert Wiene
Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher, Lil Dagover
Drama / Horror / Experimental
Germany
English (Silent)
2742
747
1930
Robert Wiene
Fritz Kortner, Käthe von Nagy, Heinrich George
Crime / Drama
Germany
German
2794
762
1923
Robert Wiene
Gregori Chmara, Elisabeta Skulskaja, Alla Tarasova
Drama / Experimental
Germany
German (Silent)
1469
377
1943
Fred M. Wilcox
Roddy McDowall, Donald Crisp, Elizabeth Taylor
Adventure / Drama / Family
USA
English
2809
769
1949
Fred M. Wilcox
Margaret O'Brien, Herbert Marshall, Dean Stockwell, Gladys Cooper, Elsa Lanchester
Drama / Family / Fantasy
USA
English
2486
680
1937
Herbert Wilcox
Anna Neagle, Anton Walbrook, Walter Rilla, H.B. Warner, Mary Morris
Drama / History / Romance / Biography
UK
English
2692
737
1928
Herbert Wilcox
Sybil Thorndike, Marie Ault, Mary Brough, Ada Bodart, Dacia Deane, Haddon Mason
Drama / War
UK
English (Silent)
2692
737
1924
Herbert Wilcox
Lionel Barrymore, Ivy Duke, Werner Krauss, Bernhard Goetzke, Randle Ayrton
Drama / Romance
UK / Germany
English (Silent)
1096
274
1927
Ted Wilde, J.A. Howe, Harold Lloyd, Lewis Milestone
Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Walter James, Leo Willis, Olin Francis
Comedy / Family / Romance / Crime
USA
English (Silent)
2514
688
1928
Ted Wilde
Harold Lloyd, Ann Christy, Bert Woodruff, Babe Ruth, Bryon Douglas, Brooks Benedict
Action / Comedy / Family / Adventure / Crime
USA
English (Silent)
53
11
1944
Billy Wilder
Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall, Jean Heather
Mystery / Crime / Film-Noir / Thriller
USA
English
1308
331
1942
Billy Wilder
Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Rita Johnson, Robert Benchley
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
1330
336
1943
Billy Wilder
Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Akim Tamiroff, Erich von Stroheim, Peter van Eyck
Thriller / War / Spy / Adventure / Drama
USA
English
1808
473
1948
Billy Wilder
Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich, John Lund, Millard Mitchell
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2692
737
1919
Irvin Willat
Harry Houdini, Thomas Jefferson, Ann Forrest, Augustus Phillips, Tully Marshall
Adventure / Drama
USA
English (Silent)
2809
769
1919
Irvin Willat
Hobart Bosworth, Jane Novak, Wallace Beery, James Gordon, Richard Wayne
Drama / War
USA
English (Silent)
2758
753
1941
Spencer Williams
Cathryn Caviness, Spencer Williams, Juanita Riley
Drama / Fantasy / Religion
USA
English
2809
769
1925
Sering D. Wilson
Animation / Comedy / Short / Sports
USA
English (Silent)
2809
769
1920
Lawrence C. Windom
Babe Ruth, Ruth Taylor, William Sheer, Margaret Seddon, Frances Victory
Biography / Comedy / Drama / Sports
USA
English (Silent)
957
243
1949
Robert Wise
Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, George Tobias, Alan Baxter
Film-Noir / Drama / Sports / Cult
USA
English
1618
423
1945
Robert Wise
Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniell, Edith Atwater, Russell Wade
Drama / Horror / Thriller
USA
English
2079
562
1944
Robert Wise, Gunther von Fritsch
Simone Simon, Kent Smith, Jane Randolph, Ann Carter, Eve March, Julia Dean
Drama / Fantasy / Horror
USA
English
2692
737
1919
Chester Withey
Norma Talmadge, Pedro de Cordoba, Charles K. Gerrard, Stuart Holmes, Marc McDermott
Drama
USA
English (Silent)
2758
753
1916
Marion Wong
Violet Wong, Harvey Soo Hoo, Marion Wong, Chin Shee
Drama
USA
English (Silent)
375
106
1935
Sam Wood
Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx
Comedy / Family / Romance / Musical
USA
English
914
233
1942
Sam Wood
Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan
Drama / Romance
USA
English
1121
282
1943
Sam Wood
Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Akim Tamiroff
Drama / Romance / Adventure / War
USA
English
1179
296
1942
Sam Wood
Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright
Drama / Family / Biography / Sports
USA
English
1490
383
1940
Sam Wood
Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Eduardo Ciannelli
Drama / Romance
USA
English
1525
396
1937
Sam Wood
Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Allan Jones, Maureen O'Sullivan
Comedy / Family
USA
English
2413
666
1949
Sam Wood
James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead, Bill Williams
Biography / Drama / Sports
USA
English
2429
670
1948
Sam Wood
Clark Gable, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Brian Donlevy, Charles Bickford
War / Drama / Action
USA
English
2608
721
1933
Sam Wood
Marie Dressler, Lionel Barrymore, Helen Mack, Beulah Bondi, Russell Hardie
Comedy
USA
English
2608
721
1941
Sam Wood
Jean Arthur, Robert Cummings, Charles Coburn, Edmund Gwenn, Spring Byington
Comedy / Drama / Romance
USA
English
2807
768
1945
Sam Wood
Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Flora Robson, Jerry Austin, John Warburton
Drama / Romance / Western
USA
English
2809
769
1922
Sam Wood
Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, Edythe Chapman, Alec B. Francis, Robert Bolder
Drama / Romance
USA
English (Silent)
2809
769
1920
Sam Wood
Wallace Reid, Bebe Daniels, Raymond Hatton, Willis Marks, George B. Williams
Comedy / Romance
USA
English (Silent)
2809
769
1922
Sam Wood
Gloria Swanson, Richard Wayne, Stuart Holmes, Lucien Littlefield, Charles Ogle
Western / Crime / Romance
USA
English (Silent)
1991
533
1923
Wallace Worsley
Lon Chaney, Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry, Kate Lester, Winifred Bryson
Drama / Horror / Period Film / Romance
USA
English (Silent)
2514
688
1920
Wallace Worsley
Charles Clary, Doris Pawn, Jim Mason, Lon Chaney, Milton Ross, Ethel Grey Terry
Crime / Drama / Thriller / Horror
USA
English (Silent)
2604
718
1919
William Worthington
Sessue Hayakawa, Toyo Fujita, Edward Peil Sr., Tsuru Aoki
Drama
USA
English (Silent)
2809
769
1921
John Griffith Wray
Florence Vidor, Lloyd Hughes, Theodore Roberts, Gertrude Claire, Madge Bellamy
Drama
USA
English (Silent)
100
28
1946
William Wyler
Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo
Drama / Romance
USA
English
355
99
1939
William Wyler
Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier
Drama / Romance / Period Film
USA
English
492
136
1949
William Wyler
Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins
Drama / Romance
USA
English
881
226
1937
William Wyler
Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea, Humphrey Bogart, Wendy Barrie
Crime / Drama / Gangster
USA
English
1061
264
1942
William Wyler
Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon
Drama / Romance / War
USA
English
1718
445
1936
William Wyler
Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, Joel McCrea, Catherine Doucet
Drama
USA
English
1827
478
1940
William Wyler
Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Doris Davenport, Fred Stone, Forrest Tucker
Western
USA
English
2082
563
1933
William Wyler
John Barrymore, Bebe Daniels, Doris Kenyon, Isabel Jewell, Melvyn Douglas
Drama / Romance
USA
English
2608
721
1935
William Wyler
Margaret Sullavan, Herbert Marshall, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen, Eric Blore
Comedy / Romance / Drama
USA
English
2608
721
1929
William Wyler
Charles Bickford, Raymond Hatton, Fred Kohler, Fritzi Ridgeway, Joe De La Cruz
Drama / Western
USA
English
2758
753
1944
William Wyler
Robert Morgan, Vince Evans, Captain James A. Verinis
Documentary / War / History
USA
English
2809
769
1929
William Wyler
James Murray, Barbara Kent, George Kotsonaros, Wheeler Oakman, Jack Hanlon
Drama / Sports / Crime / Comedy / Action
USA
English (Semi-Silent)
2692
737
1937
Sadao Yamanaka
Tsuruzo Nakamura, Emitaro Ichikawa, Shizue Yamagishi, Choemon Bando
Drama
Japan
Japanese
2862
781
1936
Sadao Yamanaka
Chojuro Kawarasaki, Utaemon Nakamura, Shizue Yamagishi
Drama
Japan
Japanese
2862
781
1935
Sadao Yamanaka
Denjirô Ôkôchi, Kiyozo, Kunitaro Sawamura
Comedy
Japan
Japanese
2692
737
1945
Jean Yarbrough
Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Alan Curtis, Rita Johnson, Henry Travers, Lois Collier
Comedy / Crime
USA
English
2809
769
1929
Hal Yates
Edgar Kennedy, Stuart Erwin, Anita Garvin, Marion Byron, Spec O'Donnell
Short / Comedy
USA
English (Silent)
2692
737
1940
Kozaburo Yoshimura
Shozaburo Abe, Munenobu Aburai, Shôtarô Fujimatsu, Toyama Fumio
War
Japan
Japanese
2758
753
1931
Anthony Young
John J. Bradley, Emile Gauvreau
Documentary / War / History
USA
English
1378
351
1934
Harold Young
Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, Raymond Massey, Nigel Bruce, Bramwell Fletcher
Adventure / Comedy / Period Film / Family
UK
English
2742
747
1931
Sergei Yutkevich
Yuri Korvin-Krukovsky, V. Fedoseyev, Nikolai Michurin
Drama
Soviet Union
Russian
2540
698
1947
Luigi Zampa
Aldo Fabrizi, Gar Moore, Mirella Monti, John Kitzmiller
Drama / War / Comedy
Italy
Italian
2790
759
1947
Luigi Zampa
Anna Magnani, Nando Bruno, Ave Ninchi, Ernesto Almirante
Drama
Italy
Italian
2692
737
1920
Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky
G. Budzhalov, A. Solovyov, Nikolai Kostromskoy, Ye. Sokolova, M. Kudelko
Drama
Russia
Russian (Silent)
2862
781
1949
Junli Zheng
Dan Zhao, Yinyan Wu, Daolin Sun, Yunzhu Shangguan
Drama
China
Mandarin
1088
273
1948
Fred Zinnemann
Montgomery Clift, Aline MacMahon, Jarmila Novotna, Wendell Corey
Drama / War
Switzerland / USA
English
2366
652
1948
Fred Zinnemann
Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, Phyllis Thaxter
Thriller / Film-Noir / Drama / Crime
USA
English
2692
737
1944
Fred Zinnemann
Spencer Tracy, Signe Hasso, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Agnes Moorehead
Drama / War
USA
English
