1959 Oscars: From the best to the worst nominees
by cafg-0 | created - 1 month ago | updated - 1 month ago | PublicNominated films I haven't seen: Serengeti shall not die & The race for space
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Not Rated | 161 min | Drama, Mystery
An upstate Michigan lawyer defends a soldier who claims he killed an innkeeper due to temporary insanity after the victim raped his wife. What is the truth, and will he win his case?
Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O'Connell
Votes: 71,359 | Gross: $11.90M
2. Some Like It Hot (1959)
Passed | 121 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
After two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft
Votes: 283,606 | Gross: $25.00M
3. Wild Strawberries (1957)
Not Rated | 91 min | Drama, Romance
After living a life marked by coldness, an aging professor is forced to confront the emptiness of his existence.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Victor Sjöström, Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand
Votes: 115,010
4. North by Northwest (1959)
Approved | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery
A New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis
Votes: 346,279 | Gross: $13.28M
5. The 400 Blows (1959)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama
A young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, Claire Maurier, Guy Decomble
Votes: 128,098
6. Ben-Hur (1959)
G | 212 min | Adventure, Drama
After a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet
Votes: 253,716 | Gross: $74.70M
7. Imitation of Life (1959)
Not Rated | 125 min | Drama
An aspiring white actress takes in an African American widow whose mixed-race daughter is desperate to be seen as white.
Director: Douglas Sirk | Stars: Lana Turner, John Gavin, Sandra Dee, Susan Kohner
Votes: 18,225 | Gross: $13.99M
8. The Great War (1959)
Approved | 137 min | Comedy, Drama, War
The Italian Army fought against the Austrians during World War I.
Director: Mario Monicelli | Stars: Alberto Sordi, Vittorio Gassman, Bernard Blier, Folco Lulli
Votes: 4,607
9. Room at the Top (1958)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, Romance
An ambitious young accountant plots to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter despite falling in love with a married older woman.
Director: Jack Clayton | Stars: Laurence Harvey, Simone Signoret, Heather Sears, Donald Wolfit
Votes: 7,327
10. The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
Approved | 180 min | Biography, Drama, Family
During World War II, a teenage Jewish girl named Anne Frank and her family are forced into hiding in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Millie Perkins, Shelley Winters, Joseph Schildkraut, Richard Beymer
Votes: 13,694 | Gross: $5.01M
11. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
G | 75 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
After being snubbed by the royal family, a malevolent fairy places a curse on a princess which only a prince can break, along with the help of three good fairies.
Directors: Les Clark, Clyde Geronimi, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman, Hamilton Luske | Stars: Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton
Votes: 160,925 | Gross: $51.60M
12. The Bridge (1959)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, History, War
In 1945, Germany is being overrun, and nobody is left to fight but teenagers.
Director: Bernhard Wicki | Stars: Volker Bohnet, Fritz Wepper, Michael Hinz, Frank Glaubrecht
Votes: 8,654
13. The Hanging Tree (1959)
Approved | 107 min | Western
Unusual western about a doctor with a dark past, whose life is complicated and ultimately redeemed by a young thief, and a pretty Swiss immigrant whom he nurses back to health.
Directors: Delmer Daves, Karl Malden, Vincent Sherman | Stars: Gary Cooper, Maria Schell, Karl Malden, George C. Scott
Votes: 4,755
14. The Nun's Story (1959)
Approved | 149 min | Drama
After leaving a wealthy Belgian family to become a nun, Sister Luke struggles with her devotion to her vows during crisis, disappointment, and World War II.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch, Edith Evans, Peggy Ashcroft
Votes: 11,705 | Gross: $12.80M
15. Porgy and Bess (1959)
Not Rated | 138 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
A woman whose past is scorned by nearly everyone around her meets a man who'd love her regardlessly- if only everyone else would allow them to.
Directors: Otto Preminger, Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., Pearl Bailey
Votes: 1,915
16. Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
Approved | 114 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A surgeon is assigned the case of a young woman whose aunt wants her lobotomized to cover up a family secret.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, Albert Dekker
Votes: 17,216 | Gross: $13.90M
17. On the Beach (1959)
Approved | 134 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
After a global nuclear war, the residents of Australia must come to terms with the fact that all life will be destroyed in a matter of months.
Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins
Votes: 14,418 | Gross: $11.00M
18. Pillow Talk (1959)
Passed | 102 min | Comedy, Romance
An interior decorator and a playboy songwriter share a telephone party line and size each other up.
Director: Michael Gordon | Stars: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter
Votes: 19,176 | Gross: $18.75M
19. Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
Approved | 129 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
An Edinburgh professor and assorted colleagues follow an explorer's trail down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the earth's center.
Director: Henry Levin | Stars: James Mason, Pat Boone, Arlene Dahl, Diane Baker
Votes: 19,578 | Gross: $10.00M
20. Black Orpheus (1959)
PG | 100 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
A retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, set during the time of the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro.
Director: Marcel Camus | Stars: Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn, Lourdes de Oliveira, Léa Garcia
Votes: 12,265
21. Career (1959)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
More than anything in the world, Sam Lawson wants to be a successful actor. Is he willing to sacrifice his wife, happiness and personal reputation to achieve his goal?
Director: Joseph Anthony | Stars: Dean Martin, Anthony Franciosa, Shirley MacLaine, Carolyn Jones
Votes: 708
22. Village by the River (1958)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama
An independent-thinking doctor in a rural community with his own ideas of how medicine should be practiced begins to find himself ostracized from the community after one of his patients commits suicide.
Director: Fons Rademakers | Stars: Max Croiset, Mary Dresselhuys, Bernard Droog, Jan Retèl
Votes: 428
23. The Young Philadelphians (1959)
Approved | 136 min | Drama
A promising lawyer tries to handle his social and professional problems while climbing the ranks in Philadelphia.
Director: Vincent Sherman | Stars: Paul Newman, Barbara Rush, Alexis Smith, Brian Keith
Votes: 4,274
24. Operation Petticoat (1959)
Approved | 124 min | Comedy, Romance, War
During World War II, a commander finds himself stuck with a decrepit (and pink) submarine, a con man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Joan O'Brien, Dina Merrill
Votes: 15,876 | Gross: $23.30M
25. The Last Angry Man (1959)
Approved | 100 min | Drama
An aspiring journalist's story of his aged uncle doctor leads to the uncle's life being profiled on TV.
Director: Daniel Mann | Stars: Paul Muni, David Wayne, Betsy Palmer, Luther Adler
Votes: 1,026
26. Boy of Two Worlds (1959)
G | 93 min | Family, Drama
Young boy whose father was from Denmark and mother from a tropical island must live with his paternal aunt in Denmark. His skin color becomes an issue right away and he decides to escape and live in the forest.
Director: Astrid Henning-Jensen | Stars: Edvin Adolphson, Jimmy Sterman, Asbjørn Andersen, Ninja Tholstrup
Votes: 182
27. The Gazebo (1959)
Passed | 100 min | Comedy, Thriller
TV writer Elliott Nash buries something under the new gazebo in his suburban backyard. But the nervous man can't let it rest there.
Director: George Marshall | Stars: Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Carl Reiner, John McGiver
Votes: 2,224
28. Libel (1959)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama, Mystery
A shell-shocked World War II veteran with memory problems is accused of being an impostor by a former comrade.
Director: Anthony Asquith | Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Olivia de Havilland, Paul Massie, Robert Morley
Votes: 1,599
29. The Five Pennies (1959)
Approved | 117 min | Biography, Drama, Music
Danny Kaye cuts loose with his trademark musical clowning. Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong plays his horn and croons in that famed gargling-granite voice. Big Band icons Bob Crosby, Ray Anthony and Shelly Manne join the fun.
Director: Melville Shavelson | Stars: Danny Kaye, Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, Harry Guardino
Votes: 2,120
30. A Hole in the Head (1959)
Approved | 120 min | Comedy, Drama
Widower Tony is trying to keep a small Miami hotel afloat while raising a 12-year-old son. He's forced to ask his harried brother Mario for help, but he'll only bail Tony out if he quits his bohemian lifestyle and marries a sensible woman.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson, Eleanor Parker, Carolyn Jones
Votes: 2,849 | Gross: $11.00M
31. The Big Fisherman (1959)
Approved | 180 min | Drama, History
Exploring the life of Peter, from being a successful fisherman to becoming a follower of Jesus Christ and being dependent on Jesus Christ.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Howard Keel, John Saxon, Susan Kohner, Martha Hyer
Votes: 455
32. Li'l Abner (1959)
Approved | 114 min | Comedy, Musical, Family
As Sadie Hawkins Day approaches, Daisy Mae hopes to win the hand of Li'l Abner by catching him in the traditional race.
Director: Melvin Frank | Stars: Leslie Parrish, Stubby Kaye, Peter Palmer, Howard St. John
Votes: 1,496
33. The Young Land (1959)
Approved | 89 min | Western
An American gunslinger kills a Mexican man in California immediately after the Mexican-American war. The killer is arrested and put on trial for murder with the Hispanic population waiting to learn of American justice.
Director: Ted Tetzlaff | Stars: Patrick Wayne, Yvonne Craig, Dennis Hopper, Dan O'Herlihy
Votes: 347
34. The Best of Everything (1959)
Approved | 121 min | Drama, Romance
An expose of the lives and loves of Madison Avenue working girls and their higher ups.
Director: Jean Negulesco | Stars: Hope Lange, Stephen Boyd, Suzy Parker, Martha Hyer
Votes: 2,354
35. Say One for Me (1959)
120 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Father Conroy (Crosby) has a parish which serves the acting and performance community. When one of his parishoners gets too sick to work, his daughter Holly (Reynolds) finds a job working ... See full summary »
Director: Frank Tashlin | Stars: Debbie Reynolds, Bing Crosby, Robert Wagner, Ray Walston
Votes: 351
Tell Your Friends