This isn't an easy one at all, and I can't profess to have seen EVERY 50s clasic, but from those I have, here's my top 5:

1. 12 Angry Men
2. Vertigo
3. Bridge on the River Kwai
4. Paths of Glory
5. Anatomy of a Murder

Honorable mentions: Touch of Evil, The Big Heat, North by Northwest, Ben Hur, Rear Window, and High Noon.

I'll just give you my favourites:

Ulysses (1954)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Hell Drivers (1957)
Scrooge (1951)
An Inspector Calls (1954)

Re: Top 5 Films of the 50s
 

1. Throne of Blood
2. Paths of Glory
3. Sunset Blvd.
4. The Wages of Fear
5. Sweet Smell of Success

Just so this isn’t numbers and titles: I managed a neat run of Kurosawa films, I think, two years ago. Throne of Blood was definitely my favorite (though High and Low is close but that’s the 60’s). Also my favorite Shakespeare adaptation. It’s a fun nightmare to behold. Mifune is bigger than life and it features some of cinema’s best head-wear.

Paths of Glory appeals to the damn fool idealist in me. It’s stirring though almost too neat and binary. Still, it’s the empathetic heights it reaches during those scenes with the soldier awaiting their sacrifice that place it so highly for me.

I’ve been meaning to do a Sunset Blvd. / Mulholland Dr. twofer for a bit now. Am I the only one who spells the titles that way, with the abbreviations? So as to say “Beloved” and “Dream”, respectively? In any cases Sunset is a beautiful and hilariously grim piece of work.

As I’ve said elsewhere, I’m a sucker for stories of men letting their egos get the best of them and then ending up in pit of nihilism. Wages has that in spades. Bimba is super cool too.

Sweet Smell of Success would mandatory viewing based on the Bernstein score alone. Goodfellas couldn’t make being a thug look this cool.

Agh, and I’m leaving out so many classics! La Strada, The Seventh Seal (disarmingly funny), The Band Wagon (two words: Cyd Charisse), Stalag 17, etc.

It is isn't it? I like it as well. One of my favourite bits is Death cutting the tree down, and the matter-of-fact way he responds to the concern of the poor bugger that's up it :).

5.) Pickup on South Street (1953)
4.) The Killing (1956)
3.) The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
2.) Night and the City (1950)
1.) Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

I'm ashamed to say that I've never seen Sweet Smell of Success (1957), it's actually playing at a theater near me this weekend - so I hope to catch it there.

Yeah, I mean, it’s got this reputation as, like, a super serious art movie but it just breezes by sometimes. It’s the only Bergman that I’ve seen but I’m glad I got this new expectation for whenever I do sit down and catch up on his filmography.

It’s seriously great. Based off your list (which is made up pretty much entirely of films still unchecked from my watch list) you should love it. You can see it running through the DNA of pretty much every other exceptional film dealing in corruption and city night-life since it’s release.

Looking at your list reminds me that I forgot about The Big Heat.

I know it's not on your list, but I'm not as high on Sunset Blvd as some others are. It was a good movie, but I wasn't overwhelmed.

****, I also forgot about The Big Heat, and D.O.A. and Night of the Hunter now that I'm thinking about it!

EDIT: Also, I agree with you on Sunset Boulevard. I think it was a victim of hype for me: too many people hold it up as the quintessential noir, when we all know that nod should go to Out of the Past

Re: Top 5 Films of the 50s
 

I haven't watched that many films of the 50s but my list would probably go something like this.

5. Dial M for Murder
4. Touch of Evil
3. The Bridge on the River Kwai
2. Seven Samurai
1. 12 Angry Men

Honorable mentions:
Witness for the Prosecution
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Harvey

That's a solid list:up: If you haven't seen Sweet Smell of Success and you like film noir, watch it. I think you'll like it.

Re: Top 5 Films of the 50s
 

I really need to see Witness for the Prosecution.

Re: Top 5 Films of the 50s
 

I can't make a list as there's way too many 1950s films I love. So I'll limit it to film noir which is my favorite genre.

Ace in the Hole
Caged
Detective Story
In a Lonely Place
Kiss Me Deadly
Pickup on South Street
Strangers on a Train
Sweet Smell of Success
The Asphalt Jungle
Touch of Evil

Whoops that's 10 and done alphabetically, oh well!

Too many to rank accurately so I'll do it like this:

1: 12 Angry Men
2: Paths of Glory
3: North by Northwest/Some Like it Hot
4: The Man Who Knew Too Much/The Bridge on the River Kwai
5: High Noon -
6: Night of the Hunter/Diabolique

Honorable mentions: The Fly, The Incredible Shrinking Man.

In no particular order:

The Human Condition Trilogy (I'm cheating :p) - Masaki Kobayashi
Tokyo Story - Yasujirō Ozu
The Life of Oharu - Kenji Mizoguchi
Wild Strawberries - Ingmar Bergman
Gate of Hell - Teinosuke Kinugasa
Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa (I'm cheating again :p:p)

One film per country:

1. Sansho the Bailiff (1954) dir. Kenji Mizoguchi (Japan)
2. The Seventh Seal (1957) dir. Ingmar Bergman (Sweden)
3. Venom and Eternity (1951) dir. Isidore Isou (France)
4. Umberto D. (1952) dir. Vittorio De Sica (Italy)
5. Ballad of a Soldier (1959) dir. Grigoriy Chukhray (Soviet Union)

Two or three American 10/10s, too, and if I had to choose I'd probably go with:
6. Night and the City (1950) dir. Jules Dassin (USA)

Top 5

Witness for the Prosecution
All About Eve
¡Bienvenido, Mister Marshall!
Tokyo Story
Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Honorable mentions (or possibly top 5):
Some Like It Hot, Sunset Boulevard, The Night of the Hunter, The Wages of Fear, Forbidden Planet

Re: Top 5 Films of the 50s
 

Here are my top 1950's films, in no particular order:

North by Northwest

Bridge on the River Kwai

Seventh Seal

Sunset Boulevard

05. A Place in the Sun (George Stevens, 1951)

04. Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)

03. North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)

02. The Bad and the Beautiful (Vincente Minelli, 1952)

01. In A Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950)

Here's the top 5 from my ballot for the 50s countdown:

1. East of Eden
2. The Robe
3. Rear Window
4. Wild Strawberries
5. Alice In Wonderland