Best of 1953

Japanese cinema at its finest. A magical story by the poet of cinema: Mizoguchi. His mastery of images is beyond comprehension.

Classic mythic western. Iconic characters exploring morality and ethics. One of the greats.

One of the all-time greatest romantic movies. Watching Hepburn and Gregory Peck run around Rome together is a complete and utter joy. Wyler certainly knows the secret to memorable love stories.

Vincent Minnelli's brilliant musical wth Fred Astaire's most elegant performance. A true classic.

This French thriller starts out relatively slow by establishing each and every one of its characters. We are completely immersed into their world. Then the adventure begins and it doesn't let up for almost two hours. This is a riveting and brutal film. First-rate suspense with a wide variety of characters. Friedkin later remade this as Sorcerer.

Less is most definitely more when it comes to Ozu's masterpiece. So much is expressed in a single tear drop. The difficult bridge between generations is dealt with in a non-sentimental and subtle way. It may seem deceivingly simple but when explored with closer attention it becomes clear why critics and filmmakers have voted it the 3rd greatest film EVER made.

Another glorious metaphor on the creation of art. Renior's love of the stage shines through with elegant wisdom and whimsical humour. How the heck does he make it all seem so easy?

James Stewart plays a bounty hunter in this dark and exciting Anthony Mann western. By the 50s, the times had changed and so had the genre.

A true classic with Lancaster giving one of his most famous roles. However, it's Sinatra who steals the show. His Oscar-winning performance is riveting to watch. Zinnemann proved that he was one of Hollywood's first-rate directors with this classic and his masterpiece High Noon.

A beautiful and sexy love story with Clark Gable and Grace Kelly. Setting the film in Africa was a stroke of genius. Proof that Ford knew how to tell stories other than westerns.