Warner Bros. 100th Anniversary 1950s Movies
by urbanemovies | created - 21 Mar 2023 | updated - 05 Apr 2023 | PublicOn April 4, 2023, Warner Bros. Entertainment celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding as Warner Bros. in 1923. It released its first film, Where the North Begins (1923), starring Rin Tin Tin, a few months later. Over the next century, Warner Bros. would go on to become one of the original "Big Five" studios and still holds the distinction today as a current "Big Five" member. Its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery is an international conglomerate with a foothold in all facets of entertainment and a nearly 25% global market share. As a result of its hundred-year effort, the WB movie catalog currently includes a whopping 12,500+ feature films.
Which of these select Warner Bros. produced films released between 1950 and 1959 is its greatest accomplishment during this period?
Discuss the topic here.
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Dial M for Murder (1954)
PG | 105 min | Crime, Thriller
A former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams
Votes: 188,877 | Gross: $0.01M
Warner Bros. Pictures
2. Strangers on a Train (1951)
PG | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A psychopathic man tries to forcibly persuade a tennis star to agree to his theory that two strangers can get away with murder by submitting to his plan to kill the other's most-hated person.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll
Votes: 141,058 | Gross: $7.63M
Warner Bros. Pictures
3. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
PG | 122 min | Drama
Disturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden
Votes: 114,389 | Gross: $8.00M
Warner Bros. Pictures co-production
4. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
PG-13 | 111 min | Drama
A rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.
Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus
Votes: 97,983
Warner Bros. Pictures
5. East of Eden (1955)
PG | 118 min | Drama
Two brothers in 1910s California struggle to maintain their strict, Bible-toting father's favor as an old secret about their long-absent mother comes to light.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: James Dean, Raymond Massey, Julie Harris, Burl Ives
Votes: 48,831
Warner Bros. Pictures
6. Giant (1956)
G | 201 min | Drama, Western
Sprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker
Votes: 42,260
Warner Bros. Pictures
7. The Wrong Man (1956)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Film-Noir
In 1953, an innocent man named Christopher Emanuel "Manny" Balestrero is arrested after being mistaken for an armed robber.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, Anthony Quayle, Harold J. Stone
Votes: 31,377
Warner Bros. Pictures
8. Them! (1954)
Not Rated | 94 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The earliest atomic tests in New Mexico cause common ants to mutate into giant man-eating monsters that threaten civilization.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness
Votes: 24,201
Warner Bros. Pictures
9. I Confess (1953)
Not Rated | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A priest, who comes under suspicion for murder, cannot clear his name without breaking the seal of the confessional.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden, Brian Aherne
Votes: 23,275
Warner Bros. Pictures co-production
10. Moby Dick (1956)
Not Rated | 116 min | Adventure, Drama
The sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain's self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn, James Robertson Justice
Votes: 21,922 | Gross: $10.40M
Warner Bros. Pictures co-production
11. House of Wax (1953)
GP | 88 min | Horror
An associate burns down a wax museum with the owner inside, but he survives only to become vengeful and murderous.
Director: André De Toth | Stars: Vincent Price, Frank Lovejoy, Phyllis Kirk, Carolyn Jones
Votes: 20,264 | Gross: $23.75M
Warner Bros. Pictures
12. The Bad Seed (1956)
Approved | 129 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Rhoda Penmark seems like your average, sweet eight-year-old girl. After her rival at school dies in mysterious circumstances at the school picnic, her mother starts to suspect that Rhoda was responsible.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Gage Clarke, Jesse White
Votes: 15,780
Warner Bros. Pictures
13. Stage Fright (1950)
Approved | 110 min | Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller
A struggling actress tries to help a friend prove his innocence after he's accused of murdering the husband of a high-society entertainer.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, Jane Wyman, Richard Todd, Michael Wilding
Votes: 16,159
Warner Bros. Pictures
14. Auntie Mame (1958)
Approved | 143 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An orphan goes to live with his free-spirited aunt. Conflict ensues when the executor of his father's estate objects to the aunt's lifestyle.
Director: Morton DaCosta | Stars: Rosalind Russell, Forrest Tucker, Coral Browne, Fred Clark
Votes: 12,702 | Gross: $23.30M
Warner Bros. Pictures
15. 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
Warner Bros. Pictures
16. The Dam Busters (1955)
Approved | 105 min | Drama, History, War
Drama based on the attempt by the RAF to destroy six dams in Germany during World War II.
Director: Michael Anderson | Stars: Richard Todd, Michael Redgrave, Ursula Jeans, Basil Sydney
Votes: 11,372
Warner Bros. Pictures
17. Calamity Jane (1953)
Passed | 101 min | Musical, Romance, Western
The story of Calamity Jane, her saloon, and her romance with Wild Bill Hickok.
Director: David Butler | Stars: Doris Day, Howard Keel, Allyn Ann McLerie, Philip Carey
Votes: 10,851
Warner Bros. Pictures
18. The Old Man and the Sea (1958)
Not Rated | 86 min | Adventure, Drama
An old Cuban fisherman's dry spell is broken when he hooks a gigantic fish that drags him out to sea.
Directors: John Sturges, Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Felipe Pazos, Harry Bellaver, Richard Alameda
Votes: 8,643
Warner Bros. Pictures co-production
19. Baby Doll (1956)
Approved | 114 min | Comedy, Drama
An immature, naive teenage bride holds her anxious husband at bay while flirting with an amorous Sicilian farmer.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Karl Malden, Carroll Baker, Eli Wallach, Mildred Dunnock
Votes: 8,296
Warner Bros. Pictures co-production
20. Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)
Not Rated | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During the Napoleonic wars, a British Navy Captain has adventures in Central American waters.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Gregory Peck, Virginia Mayo, Robert Beatty, Moultrie Kelsall
Votes: 7,514
Warner Bros. Pictures
21. The Crimson Pirate (1952)
Not Rated | 105 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
During the 1700s, pirate Captain Vallo seizes a British warship and gets involved in various money-making schemes involving Caribbean rebels led by El Libre, British envoy Baron Jose Gruda, and a beautiful courtesan named Consuelo.
Director: Robert Siodmak | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Nick Cravat, Eva Bartok, Torin Thatcher
Votes: 6,992
Warner Bros. Pictures co-production
22. 7 Men from Now (1956)
Approved | 78 min | Western
A former sheriff blames himself for his wife's death during a Wells Fargo robbery and vows to track down and kill the seven men responsible.
Director: Budd Boetticher | Stars: Randolph Scott, Gail Russell, Lee Marvin, Walter Reed
Votes: 5,998
Warner Bros. Pictures co-production
23. Caged (1950)
Not Rated | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A gentle, naive, pregnant 19-year-old widow is slowly, inexorably ground down by the hardened criminals, sadistic guards, and matron at a woman's prison. Will she be the same person when her sentence is up?
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby, Hope Emerson
Votes: 4,715
Warner Bros. Pictures
24. Crime Wave (1953)
Approved | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Reformed parolee Steve Lacey is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him out for shelter.
Director: André De Toth | Stars: Gene Nelson, Sterling Hayden, Phyllis Kirk, Ted de Corsia
Votes: 4,553
Warner Bros. Pictures
25. No Time for Sergeants (1958)
Approved | 119 min | Comedy, War
Will Stockdale is a country bumpkin drafted into the Air Force and too dumb to realize he's driving everyone around him crazy, no one more than Sergeant King.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Andy Griffith, Myron McCormick, Nick Adams, Murray Hamilton
Votes: 4,441
Warner Bros. Pictures
26. 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: 4,275
Warner Bros. Pictures
27. The Breaking Point (1950)
Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An otherwise moral captain of a charter boat becomes financially strapped and is drawn into illegal activities in order to keep up payments on his boat.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter, Juano Hernandez
Votes: 4,403
Warner Bros. Pictures
28. Young Man with a Horn (1950)
Passed | 112 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A young trumpet player is torn between an honest singer and a manipulative heiress.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, Hoagy Carmichael
Votes: 3,891
Warner Bros. Pictures
29. Damn Yankees (1958)
Approved | 111 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
A frustrated fan of the hopeless Washington Senators makes a pact with the Devil to help the baseball team win the league pennant.
Directors: George Abbott, Stanley Donen | Stars: Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon, Ray Walston, Russ Brown
Votes: 3,447
Warner Bros. Pictures
30. The Damned Don't Cry (1950)
Approved | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A New York socialite climbs the ladder of success man by man until a life among rich gangsters gives her what she thought she always wanted.
Director: Vincent Sherman | Stars: Joan Crawford, David Brian, Steve Cochran, Kent Smith
Votes: 3,560 | Gross: $1.54M
Warner Bros. Pictures
31. By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953)
Approved | 101 min | Comedy, Family, Musical
Marjorie Winfield's engagement to Bill Sherman, who has just arrived home from fighting in World War I, serves as the backdrop for the trials and tribulations of her family.
Director: David Butler | Stars: Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Leon Ames, Rosemary DeCamp
Votes: 2,480
Warner Bros. Pictures
32. Room for One More (1952)
Approved | 98 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
New Jersey couple Anna and Poppy Rose become foster parents to several kids born into less fortunate circumstances, including a desperately unhappy 13-year-old girl and a physically handicapped boy with a penchant for getting into serious trouble.
Director: Norman Taurog | Stars: Cary Grant, Betsy Drake, Lurene Tuttle, Randy Stuart
Votes: 2,942
Warner Bros. Pictures
33. Illegal (1955)
Approved | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
After an overly aggressive district attorney unknowingly sends an innocent man to the chair, he resigns, turns to drinking, and acquires a criminal clientèle.
Director: Lewis Allen | Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Nina Foch, Hugh Marlowe, Jayne Mansfield
Votes: 2,335
Warner Bros. Pictures
34. Storm Warning (1950)
Approved | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Marsha Mitchell, a traveling dress model, stops in a southern town to see her sister who has married a Ku Klux Klansman. Marsha witnesses the KKK commit a murder and helps District Attorney Burt Rainey bring the criminals to justice.
Director: Stuart Heisler | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Doris Day, Steve Cochran
Votes: 2,663
Warner Bros. Pictures
35. Miracle in the Rain (1956)
Approved | 108 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Wartime romance about a lonely man and woman who meet one rainy afternoon in New York.
Director: Rudolph Maté | Stars: Jane Wyman, Van Johnson, Peggie Castle, Fred Clark
Votes: 1,382
Another 1950s Warner Bros. Production Not Listed
Warner Bros. Pictures' Miracle in the Rain (as pictured example)
Tell Your Friends