Alice's 500 Greatest Films
The goal in this compilation was to determine film history's definitive creme de la creme. The titles considered to be the greatest of the great from around the world and throughout the history of film.. So, after an in-depth analysis of respected critics and publications from around the globe, cross referenced and tweaked to arrive at the ranking of films representing, we believe, the greatest cinema can offer.
Scroll, contemplate and enjoy.....
Want a printable list of the 500 greatest to check off? Click here
12 Angry Men (1957)
8.9/10
Director: Sidney Lumet
Starring: Ed Begley, Lee J Cobb, Henry Fonda, E G Marshall, Jack Warden, Jack Klugman, Mar...
A teenage boy is accused of killing his father, and between him and capital punishment stands just one man. A vivid, shocking courtroom drama with a p... Read more
Throne of Blood (1957)
8.1/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura
Kurosawa's version of 'Macbeth' spares no effort in creating an atmosphere of obsessive madness and supernatural compulsion. The black and white contr... Read more
Giant ( Blu-ray ) (1956)
7.7/10
Director: George Stevens
Starring: Carroll Baker, Chill Wills, Dennis Hopper, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Rock Hu...
A film of staggering scale and grandeur detailing the lives of cattleman Rock Hudson and his society wife Elizabeth Taylor and three generations of la... Read more
Aparajito ( Apu Trilogy Part 2 ) (1956)
8.2/10
Director: Satyajit Ray
Starring: Pinaki Sengupta, Smaran Ghosal, Karuna Banerji
The chronicle of a Bengali family continues in the 'Apu trilogy' and takes up where 'Pather Panchali' left off. Apu's father brings the family to the... Read more
A Man Escaped (1956)
8.2/10
Director: Robert Bresson
Starring: Francois Letterier, Charles Le Clainche
Director Robert Bresson totally involves the viewer in the gripping and uplifting true story of the escape of a second World War resistance fighter wh... Read more
Sawdust and Tinsel (1956)
7.7/10
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Ake Gronberg, Harriet Andersson
Ingmar Bergman presents the battle of the sexes as a ramshackle, grotesque carnival in one of his most vivid early works. A twisted relationship devel... Read more
The Searchers ( Blu-ray ) (1956)
8/10
Director: John Ford
Starring: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood
This classic western stars John Wayne as a Civil War veteran who tracks a Comanche raiding party for five years to rescue the girl they hold captive.... Read more
Giant (1956)
7.7/10
Director: George Stevens
Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Rock Hudson
A film of staggering scale and grandeur detailing the lives of cattleman Rock Hudson and his society wife Elizabeth Taylor and three generations of la... Read more
The Searchers (1956)
8/10
Director: John Ford
Starring: Ward Bond, Vera Miles, Natalie Wood, John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter
In this revered Western, Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) returns home to Texas after the Civil War. When members of his brother's family are killed or abdu... Read more
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
7.8/10
Director: Don Siegel
Starring: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates
The original sci-fi classic that combined outer space terror with Cold War paranoia. A small California town is under siege from alien "pods" that tur... Read more
The Killing/Killer's Kiss (Blu-ray) (1956)
8.2/10
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards
An early Stanley Kubrick classic about an elaborate race track robbery filmed with total artistic freedom using a multilayered simultaneous storyline.... Read more
The Killing (1956)
8/10
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards
An early Stanley Kubrick classic about an elaborate race track robbery filmed with total artistic freedom using a multilayered simultaneous storyline.... Read more
The Night of the Hunter ( Blu-ray ) (1955)
8/10
Director: Charles Laughton
Starring: Lillian Gish, Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters
Robert Mitchum gives one of his best performances as Harry Powell, a psychotic self-styled preacher who is after the stolen money of a hanged man. Set... Read more
Rebel Without a Cause ( Blu-ray ) (1955)
7.8/10
Director: Nicholas Ray
Starring: Ann Doran, Dennis Hopper, James Dean, Jim Backus, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Willi...
In one of moviedom's most influential roles, James Dean plays Jim Stark, the new kid in town. Stark's loneliness, frustration and anger mirrored those... Read more
East of Eden ( Blu-ray ) (1955)
8/10
Director: Elia Kazan
Starring: Burl Ives, James Dean, Jo Van Fleet, Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, Lois Smith, R...
The film that catapulted James Dean to cult status! Adapted from the John Steinbeck novel, this powerful family drama examines modern conflict and neu... Read more
Bob the Gambler ( Bob le Flambeur ) (1955)
7.8/10
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Starring: Isabelle Corey, Roger Duchesne, Daniel Cauchy
Suffused with wry humour, Jean-Pierre Melville's 'Bob le Flambeur' melds the toughness of American gangster films with Gallic sophistication to lay th... Read more
Apu Trilogy: Pather Panchali/Aparajito/The World Of Apu (1955)
7.6/10
Director: Satyajit Ray
Starring: Kanu Banerji, Karuna Banerji, Subir Banerji
A boy named Apu is born to a poor but proud Brahmin family. His loving older sister, Durga, is a sweet girl, but has formed the bad habit of stealing... Read more
Pather Panchali ( Apu Trilogy Part 1 ) (1955)
8.4/10
Director: Satyajit Ray
Starring: Kanu Banerji, Karuna Banerji, Subir Banerji
A boy named Apu is born to a poor but proud Brahmin family. His loving older sister, Durga, is a sweet girl, but has formed the bad habit of stealing... Read more
Rififi (1955)
8.2/10
Director: Jules Dassin
Starring: Carl Mohner, Magali Noel, Jules Dassin, Jean Servais, Marie Sabouret, Robert Man...
After helming such American noir classics as 'The Naked City' and 'Brute Force', blacklisted director Jules Dassin moved to Paris and embarked on his... Read more
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
8/10
Director: Charles Laughton
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish
Robert Mitchum gives one of his best performances as Harry Powell, a psychotic self-styled preacher who is after the stolen money of a hanged man. Set... Read more