Top Ten Films of 1959
1. Imitation of Life Dir. Douglas Sirk. With Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, John Gavin A
2. The 400 Blows Dir. François Truffaut. With Jean-Pierre Léaud, Patrick Auffay, Claire Meurier A
3. Pickpocket Dir. Robert Bresson. With Martin LaSalle, Marika Green, Jean Pélégri, Kassagi A
4. Some Like It Hot Dir. Billy Wilder. With Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe A
5. Hiroshima, mon amour Dir. Alain Resnais. With Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada, Stella Dassas A
6. Sleeping Beauty Dir. Clyde Geronimi. Animated. Voices of Mary Martin, Bill Shirley A–
7. North by Northwest Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. With Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason A–
8. Shadows Dir. John Cassavetes. With Hugh Hurd, Lelia Goldoni, Ben Carruthers, Anthony Ray B+
9. Suddenly, Last Summer Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz. With Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor B+
10. Black Orpheus Dir. Marcel Camus. With Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn, Lourdes de Oliveira B+

Reviews from 1959
★ = Full-Length Review / © = Capsule-Length Review / ★  = Blog/Favorites Review (New Window)
 
 ★   The Fugitive Kind Dir. Sidney Lumet. With Anna Magnani, Marlon Brando, Joanne Woodward D–
★   Suddenly, Last Summer Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz. With Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor B+

More Grades from 1959
Unreviewed titles I have seen recently enough to grade
 
       Anatomy of a Murder Dir. Otto Preminger. With James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara B
      Ben-Hur Dir. William Wyler. With Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet C+
      The Last Angry Man Dir. Daniel Mann. With Paul Muni, David Wayne, Luther Adler D
      Pillow Talk Dir. Michael Gordon. With Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter B–
      Plan 9 from Outer Space Dir. Edward D. Wood, Jr. With Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon F
      Room at the Top Dir. Jack Clayton. With Laurence Harvey, Simone Signoret, Heather Sears B

Still to Come from 1959
 
 Gourmet Prospects:
      Ballad of a Soldier Dir. Grigori Chukhrai. With Vladimir Ivashov, Zhanna Prokhorenko
      The Bridge Dir. Bernhard Wicki. With Folker Bohnet, Fritz Wepper, Michael Hinz
      Destiny of a Man Dir. Sergei Bondarchuk. With Sergei Bondarchuk, Pavel Boriskin
      Fires on the Plain Dir. Kôn Ichikawa. With Eiji Funakoshi, Osamu Takizawa, Mickey Curtis
      Floating Weeds Dir. Yasujiro Ozu. With Ganjiro Nakamura, Machiko Kyô, Ayako Wakao
      General della Rovere Dir. Roberto Rossellini. With Vittorio De Sica, Hannes Messemer
      Good Morning Dir. Yasujiro Ozu. With Keiji Sada, Yoshiko Kuga, Chishu Ryu, Kuniko Miyake
      The Great War Dir. Mario Monicelli. With Alberto Sordi, Vittorio Gassman, Folco Lulli
      The Hanging Tree Dir. Delmer Daves. With Gary Cooper, Maria Schell, Karl Malden
      Human Condition I Dir. Masaki Kobayashi. With Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama
      Human Condition II Dir. Masaki Kobayashi. With Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama
      Kapò Dir. Gillo Pontecorvo. With Susan Strasberg, Laurent Terzieff, Emmanuelle Riva
      Nazarín Dir. Luis Buñuel. With Francisco Rabal, Marga López, Rita Macedo
      The Nun's Story Dir. Fred Zinnemann. With Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch, Edith Evans
      Odd Obsession Dir. Kôn Ichikawa. With Machiko Kyô, Ganjiro Nakamura, Junko Kano
      Odds Against Tomorrow Dir. Robert Wise. With Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters
      On the Beach Dir. Stanley Kramer. With Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire
      Operation Petticoat Dir. Blake Edwards. With Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Joan O'Brien
      Our Man in Havana Dir. Carol Reed. With Alec Guinness, Burl Ives, Maureen O'Hara
      Porgy and Bess Dir. Otto Preminger. With Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr.
      Rio Bravo Dir. Howard Hawks. With John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson
      The Tingler Dir. William Castle. With Vincent Price, Judith Evelyn, Darryl Hickman
      The World of Apu Dir. Satyajit Ray. With Soumitra Chatterjee, Sharmila Tagore
      The World, the Flesh, and the Devil Dir. Ranald MacDougall. With Harry Belafonte

Further Research:
      ...And the Wild, Wild Women Dir. Renato Castellani. With Anna Magnani, Giulietta Masina
      The Best of Everything Dir. Jean Negulesco. With Hope Lange, Stephen Boyd, Martha Hyer
      The Big Fisherman Dir. Frank Borzage. With Howard Keel, Susan Kohner, Martha Hyer
      Career Dir. Joseph Anthony. With Anthony Franciosa, Shirley MacLaine, Dean Martin
      Compulsion Dir. Richard Fleischer. With Dean Stockwell, Bradford Dillman, Orson Welles
      Darby O'Gill and the Little People Dir. Robert Stevenson. With Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro
      The Devil's Disciple Dir. Guy Hamilton. With Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier
      The Five Pennies Dir. Melville Shavelson. With Danny Kaye, Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong
      The Gazebo Dir. George Marshall. With Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, Carl Reiner
      Ghost Story of Yotsuya Dir. Nobuo Nakagawa. With Shigeru Amachi, Noriko Kitazawa
      Green Mansions Dir. Mel Ferrer. With Audrey Hepburn, Anthony Perkins, Lee J. Cobb
      Hercules Unchained Dir. Pietro Francisci. With Steve Reeves, Sylva Koscina, Sylvia Lopez
      A Hole in the Head Dir. Frank Capra. With Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson, Eleanor Parker
      House on Haunted Hill Dir. William Castle. With Vincent Price, Carolyn Craig, Richard Long
      Journey to the Center of the Earth Dir. Henry Levin. With Pat Boone, James Mason
      Libel Dir. Anthony Asquith. With Dirk Bogarde, Olivia de Havilland, Paul Massie
      Li'l Abner Dir. Melvin Frank. With Peter Palmer, Leslie Parrish, Stubby Kaye
      Paw Dir. Astrid Henning-Jensen. With Jimmy Sterman, Edvin Adolphson, Asbjørn Andersen
      Say One for Me Dir. Frank Tashlin. With Bing Crosby, Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner
      The Serengeti Shall Not Die Dir. Bernhard Grzimek. Documentary about the African plain
      A Summer Place Dir. Delmer Daves. With Richard Egan, Sandra Dee, Dorothy McGuire
      The Tiger of Eschnapur Dir. Fritz Lang. With Debra Paget, Paul Hubschmid, Walter Reyer
      The Wreck of the Mary Deare Dir. Michael Anderson. With Gary Cooper, Charlton Heston
      The Young Philadelphians Dir. Vincent Sherman. With Paul Newman, Barbara Rush
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