Best Drama Movies of 1949

1.

The Heiress

5.8
8.1/10 IMDB

Dull and plain Catherine lives with her emotionally distant father, Dr. Sloper, in 1840s New York. Her days are empty — filled with little more than needlepoint. Enter handsome Morris Townsend, a dashing social climber with his eye on the spinster's heart and substantial inheritance.

Starring: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, Vanessa Brown, Mona Freeman, Ray Collins, Betty Linley, Selena Royle, Paul Lees ..
Directed by: William Wyler
Release date: 1949-10-06
2.

White Heat

5.8
8.1/10 IMDB

A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and then leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. After the heist, events take a crazy turn.

Starring: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly, Steve Cochran, John Archer, Wally Cassell, Fred Clark, Paul Guilfoyle, Ford Rainey ..
Directed by: Raoul Walsh
Release date: 1949-09-02
3.

Kind Hearts and Coronets

5.6
8.0/10 IMDB

When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum, Louis avenges his mother's death by attempting to murder every family member who stands between himself and the family fortune. But when he finds himself torn between his longtime love and the widow of one of his victims, his plans go awry.

Starring: Dennis Price, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood, Alec Guinness, Audrey Fildes, Miles Malleson, Clive Morton, John Penrose, Cecil Ramage, Hugh Griffith ..
Directed by: Robert Hamer
Release date: 1949-06-21
4.

Twelve O'Clock High

5.4
7.7/10 IMDB

In the early days of daylight bombing raids over Germany, General Frank Savage must take command of a 'hard luck' bomber group. Much of the story deals with his struggle to whip his group into a disciplined fighting unit in spite of heavy losses, and withering attacks by German fighters over their targets.

Starring: Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Millard Mitchell, Dean Jagger, Robert Arthur, Paul Stewart, John Kellogg, Robert Patten, Lee MacGregor ..
Directed by: Henry King
Release date: 1949-12-21
5.

Adam's Rib

5.4
7.5/10 IMDB

When a woman attempts to kill her uncaring husband, prosecutor Adam Bonner gets the case. Unfortunately for him his wife Amanda (who happens to be a lawyer too) decides to defend the woman in court. Amanda uses everything she can to win the case and Adam gets mad about it. As a result, their perfect marriage is disturbed by everyday quarrels.

Starring: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday, Tom Ewell, David Wayne, Jean Hagen, Hope Emerson, Clarence Kolb, Polly Moran, Will Wright ..
Directed by: George Cukor
Release date: 1949-11-18
6.

A Letter to Three Wives

5.3
7.7/10 IMDB

A letter is addressed to three wives from their "best friend" Addie Ross, announcing that she is running away with one of their husbands - but she does not say which one.

Starring: Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Kirk Douglas, Paul Douglas, Barbara Lawrence, Jeffrey Lynn, Connie Gilchrist, Florence Bates, Hobart Cavanaugh ..
Directed by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Release date: 1949-01-20
7.

All the King's Men

5.2
7.4/10 IMDB

All The King's Men is the story of the rise of politician Willie Stark from a rural county seat to the governor's mansion.

Starring: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Joanne Dru, John Derek, Mercedes McCambridge, Shepperd Strudwick, Ralph Dumke, Anne Seymour, Katherine Warren, Raymond Greenleaf ..
Directed by: Robert Rossen
Release date: 1949-11-16
8.

The Fountainhead

5.0
7.0/10 IMDB

An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards.

Starring: Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey, Kent Smith, Robert Douglas, Henry Hull, Ray Collins, Moroni Olsen, Jerome Cowan, Bob Alden ..
Directed by: King Vidor
Release date: 1949-06-25
Best Drama Movies of 1949 : The Set-Up
9.

The Set-Up

4.7
7.8/10 IMDB

Expecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.

Starring: Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, George Tobias, Alan Baxter, Wallace Ford, Percy Helton, Hal Baylor, Darryl Hickman, James Edwards, David Clarke ..
Directed by: Robert Wise
Release date: 1949-03-29
10.

Criss Cross

4.5
7.4/10 IMDB

Burt Lancaster plays Steve Thompson, a man who seals his dark fate when he returns to Los Angeles to find his ex-wife Anna Dundee (Yvonne DeCarlo) eager to rekindle their love against all better judgement. She encourages their affair but then quickly marries mobster Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea). To deflect suspicion of the affair, Steve Thompson leads Dundee into a daylight armored-truck robbery.

Starring: Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, Esy Morales, Tom Pedi, Percy Helton, Alan Napier, Griff Barnett, Meg Randall ..
Directed by: Robert Siodmak
Release date: 1949-02-04
11.

Little Women

4.5
7.2/10 IMDB

Louisa May Alcott's autobiographical account of her life with her three sisters in Concord Mass in the 1860s. With their father fighting in the civil war, the sisters: Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth are at home with their mother - a very outspoken women for her time. The story is of how the sisters grow up, find love and find their place in the world.

Starring: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Margaret O'Brien, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh, Rossano Brazzi, Mary Astor, Lucile Watson, C. Aubrey Smith, Elizabeth Patterson ..
Directed by: Mervyn LeRoy
Release date: 1949-03-10
Best Drama Movies of 1949 : They Live by Night
12.

They Live by Night

4.4
7.4/10 IMDB

An escaped convict, injured during a robbery, falls in love with the woman who nurses him back to health, but their relationship seems doomed from the beginning.

Starring: Cathy O'Donnell, Farley Granger, Howard Da Silva, Jay C. Flippen, Helen Craig, Will Wright, William Phipps, Ian Wolfe, Harry Harvey, Marie Bryant ..
Directed by: Nicholas Ray
Release date: 1949-11-01
13.

Samson and Delilah

4.3
6.8/10 IMDB

When strongman Samson rejects the love of the beautiful Philistine woman Delilah, she seeks vengeance that brings horrible consequences they both regret. The classic story of Samson and Delilah as told by Cecil B. DeMille.

Starring: Hedy Lamarr, Victor Mature, Angela Lansbury, George Sanders, Henry Wilcoxon, Olive Deering, Fay Holden, Julia Faye, Pedro de Cordoba, William 'Wee Willie' Davis ..
Directed by: Cecil B. DeMille
Release date: 1949-12-21
14.

Intruder in the Dust

4.0
7.6/10 IMDB

Rural Mississippi in the 1940s: Lucas Beauchamp, a local black man with a reputation of not kowtowing to whites, is found standing over the body of a dead white man, holding a pistol that has recently been fired. Quickly arrested for murder and jailed, Beauchamp insists he's innocent and asks the town's most prominent lawyer, Gavin Stevens, to defend him, but Stevens refuses. When a local boy whom Beauchamp has helped in the past and who believes him to be innocent hears talk of a mob taking Beauchamp out of jail and lynching him, he pleads with Stevens to defend Beauchamp at trial and prove his innocence.

Starring: David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr., Juano Hernández, Porter Hall, Elizabeth Patterson, Charles Kemper, Will Geer, David Clarke, Elzie Emanuel, Lela Bliss ..
Directed by: Clarence Brown
Release date: 1949-11-22
15.

Under Capricorn

3.9
6.2/10 IMDB

In 1831, Irishman Charles Adare travels to Australia to start a new life with the help of his cousin who has just been appointed governor. When he arrives he meets powerful landowner and ex-convict, Sam Flusky, who wants to do a business deal with him. Whilst attending a dinner party at Flusky's house, Charles meets Flusky's wife Henrietta who he had known as a child back in Ireland. Henrietta is an alcoholic and seems to be on the verge of madness.

Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Michael Wilding, Margaret Leighton, Cecil Parker, Denis O'Dea, Jack Watling, Harcourt Williams, John Ruddock, Bill Shine ..
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Release date: 1949-09-08
16.

Thieves' Highway

3.9
7.5/10 IMDB

Nick Garcos comes back from his tour of duty in World War II planning to settle down with his girlfriend, Polly Faber. He learns, however, that his father was recently beaten and burglarized by mob-connected trucker Mike Figlia, and Nick resolves to get even. He partners with prostitute Rica, and together they go after Mike, all the while getting pulled further into the local crime underworld.

Starring: Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J. Cobb, Barbara Lawrence, Jack Oakie, Millard Mitchell, Joseph Pevney, Morris Carnovsky, Tamara Shayne, Kasia Orzazewski ..
Directed by: Jules Dassin
Release date: 1949-09-20
17.

Flamingo Road

3.9
7.1/10 IMDB

A stranded carnival dancer takes on a corrupt political boss when she marries into small-town society.

Starring: Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Sydney Greenstreet, David Brian, Gladys George, Virginia Huston, Fred Clark, Gertrude Michael, Alice White, Sam McDaniel ..
Directed by: Michael Curtiz
Release date: 1949-04-30
18.

Champion

3.9
7.4/10 IMDB

An unscrupulous boxer fights his way to the top, but eventually alienates all of the people who helped him on the way up.

Starring: Kirk Douglas, Marilyn Maxwell, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart, Ruth Roman, Lola Albright, Luis van Rooten, Harry Shannon, John Daheim, Ralph Sanford ..
Directed by: Mark Robson
Release date: 1949-04-09
19.

The Secret Garden

3.8
7.5/10 IMDB

When Cholera takes the parents of Mary Lennox, she is shipped from India to England to live with her Uncle Craven. Mary changes the lives of those she encounters at her Uncle's remote estate.

Starring: Margaret O'Brien, Dean Stockwell, Herbert Marshall, Gladys Cooper, Elsa Lanchester, Brian Roper, Reginald Owen, George Zucco, Aubrey Mather, Lowell Gilmore ..
Directed by: Fred M. Wilcox
Release date: 1949-04-30
Best Drama Movies of 1949 : Pinky
20.

Pinky

3.8
7.2/10 IMDB

Pinky, a light skinned black woman, returns to her grandmother's house in the South after graduating from a Northern nursing school. Pinky tells her grandmother that she has been "passing" for white while at school in the North. In addition, she has fallen in love with a young white doctor, who knows nothing about her black heritage.

Starring: Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters, William Lundigan, Basil Ruysdael, Kenny Washington, Nina Mae McKinney, Griff Barnett, Frederick O'Neal, Evelyn Varden ..
Directed by: Elia Kazan
Release date: 1949-09-28
21.

The Passionate Friends

3.8
7.3/10 IMDB

A woman is torn between the love of her life, who is married to someone else, and her older husband.

Starring: Ann Todd, Claude Rains, Trevor Howard, Betty Ann Davies, Isabel Dean, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Arthur Howard, Guido Lorraine, Marcel Poncin, Natasha Sokolova ..
Directed by: David Lean
Release date: 1949-01-26
Best Drama Movies of 1949 : The Window
22.

The Window

3.8
7.4/10 IMDB

An imaginative boy who frequently makes things up witnesses a murder, but can't get his parents or the police to believe him. The only people taking him seriously are the killers - who live upstairs, know that he saw what they did, and are out to permanently silence him.

Starring: Bobby Driscoll, Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart, Ruth Roman, Richard Benedict, James Nolan, Anthony Ross, Tom Ahearne, Tom Coleman ..
Directed by: Ted Tetzlaff
Release date: 1949-05-10
23.

Beyond the Forest

3.8
6.9/10 IMDB

Rosa, the self-serving wife of a small-town doctor, gets a better offer when a wealthy big-city man insists she get a divorce and marry him instead. Soon she demonstrates she is capable of rather deplorable acts -- including murder.

Starring: Bette Davis, Joseph Cotten, David Brian, Ruth Roman, Minor Watson, Dona Drake, Regis Toomey, Sarah Selby, Ann Doran, Bess Flowers ..
Directed by: King Vidor
Release date: 1949-10-21
24.

Any Number Can Play

3.8
6.8/10 IMDB

When illegal casino owner Charley Enley Kyng develops heart disease, he is advised by a doctor to spend more time with his family. However, he finds it difficult to keep his work separate from his life at home. His son, Paul, feels ashamed of Charley's career and gets into a fight at his prom because of it. Meanwhile, Charley's brother-in-law, Robbin, who works at the casino, begins fixing games due to his extreme gambling debts.

Starring: Clark Gable, Alexis Smith, Wendell Corey, Audrey Totter, Frank Morgan, Mary Astor, Lewis Stone, Barry Sullivan, Marjorie Rambeau, Edgar Buchanan ..
Directed by: Mervyn LeRoy
Release date: 1949-07-15
25.

House of Strangers

3.8
7.3/10 IMDB

Gino Monetti is a ruthless Italian-American banker who is engaged in a number of criminal activities. Three of his four grown sons refuse to help their father stay out of prison after he's arrested for his questionable business practices. Three of the sons take over the business but kick their father out. Max, a lawyer, is the only son that stays loyal to his father.

Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Susan Hayward, Richard Conte, Luther Adler, Paul Valentine, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Debra Paget, Hope Emerson, Esther Minciotti, Diana Douglas ..
Directed by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Release date: 1949-07-01
26.

Colorado Territory

3.8
7.2/10 IMDB

In Colorado territory, outlaw Wes McQueen escapes jail to pull a railroad robbery but, upon meeting pretty settler Julie Ann, he wonders about going straight. Western remake of High Sierra with Joel McCrea taking over the Humphrey Bogart role.

Starring: Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Malone, Henry Hull, John Archer, James Mitchell, Morris Ankrum, Basil Ruysdael, Frank Puglia, Ian Wolfe ..
Directed by: Raoul Walsh
Release date: 1949-06-11
27.

Madame Bovary

3.8
7.0/10 IMDB

After marrying small-town doctor Charles Bovary, Emma becomes tired of her limited social status and begins to have affairs, first with the young Leon Dupuis and later with the wealthy Rodolphe Boulanger. Eventually, however, her self-involved behavior catches up with her.

Starring: Jennifer Jones, James Mason, Van Heflin, Louis Jourdan, Alf Kjellin, Gene Lockhart, Frank Allenby, Gladys Cooper, John Abbott, Harry Morgan ..
Directed by: Vincente Minnelli
Release date: 1949-08-25
28.

Battleground

3.8
7.4/10 IMDB

Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.

Starring: Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Marshall Thompson, Jerome Courtland, Don Taylor, Bruce Cowling, Douglas Fowley, Leon Ames ..
Directed by: William A. Wellman
Release date: 1949-11-09
Best Drama Movies of 1949 : Down to the Sea in Ships
29.

Down to the Sea in Ships

3.7
7.3/10 IMDB

During a whaling expedition in the late 1800's, the aging Captain Bering Joy (Lionel Barrymore) and his new first mate, Dan Lunceford (Richard Widmark) engage in a battle of wills concerning the education of the captain's struggling grandson.

Starring: Richard Widmark, Lionel Barrymore, Dean Stockwell, Cecil Kellaway, Gene Lockhart, Berry Kroeger, John McIntire, Harry Morgan, Harry Davenport, Paul Harvey ..
Directed by: Henry Hathaway
Release date: 1949-02-15
30.

Mighty Joe Young

3.7
7.0/10 IMDB

A young woman, Jill Young, grew up on her father's ranch in Africa, raising a large gorilla named Joe from an infant. Years later, she brings him to Hollywood to become a star.

Starring: Terry Moore, Ben Johnson, Robert Armstrong, Frank McHugh, Douglas Fowley, Denis Greene, Paul Guilfoyle, Nestor Paiva, Regis Toomey, Lora Lee Michel ..
Directed by: Ernest B. Schoedsack
Release date: 1949-07-27
31.

Holiday Affair

3.7
7.1/10 IMDB

Just before Christmas, department store clerk Steve Mason meets big spending customer Connie Ennis, who's actually a comparison shopper sent by another store. Steve lets her go, which gets him fired. They spend the afternoon together, which doesn't sit well with Connie's steady suitor, Carl, when he finds out, but delights her young son Timmy, who quickly takes to Steve.

Starring: Janet Leigh, Robert Mitchum, Wendell Corey, Gordon Gebert, Griff Barnett, Esther Dale, Henry O'Neill, Harry Morgan, Larry J. Blake, Helen Brown ..
Directed by: Don Hartman
Release date: 1949-12-12
32.

Tension

3.7
7.3/10 IMDB

Warren Quimby manages a drugstore while trying to keep his volatile wife, Claire, happy. However, when Claire leaves him for a liquor store salesman, Warren can no longer bear it. He decides to assume a new identity in order to murder his wife's lover without leaving a trace. Along the way, his plans are complicated by an attractive neighbor, as well as a shocking discovery that opens up a new world of doubts and accusations.

Starring: Richard Basehart, Audrey Totter, Cyd Charisse, Barry Sullivan, Lloyd Gough, Tom D'Andrea, William Conrad, Tito Renaldo, Virginia Brissac, Theresa Harris ..
Directed by: John Berry
Release date: 1949-11-25
33.

The Hasty Heart

3.7
7.3/10 IMDB

In the final days of World War II, in a MASH unit in Burma, a severely wounded corporal watches in dismay as fellow soldiers pack-up to return home but a caring nurse and five remaining soldiers bring him solace.

Starring: Ronald Reagan, Patricia Neal, Richard Todd, Anthony Nicholls, Howard Marion-Crawford, Ralph Michael, John Sherman, Alfie Bass, Orlando Martins, Robert Douglas ..
Directed by: Vincent Sherman
Release date: 1949-09-13
Best Drama Movies of 1949 : The Stratton Story
34.

The Stratton Story

3.7
7.1/10 IMDB

Star major league pitcher Monty Stratton loses a leg in a hunting accident, but becomes determined to leave the game on his own terms.

Starring: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead, Bill Williams, Bruce Cowling, Cliff Clark, Mary Lawrence, Dean White, Robert Gist ..
Directed by: Sam Wood
Release date: 1949-05-12
35.

Witness for the Prosecution

3.7
8.2/10 IMDB

Agatha Christie tale of a man on trial for murder: a trial featuring surprise after surprise. Not to be confused with the later Hollywood adaptation.

Starring: Alban Blakelock, Stafford Byrne, Derek Elphinstone, Mary Kerridge, Dale Rogers, John Salew, Hilda Terriss ..
Directed by: John Glyn-Jones
Release date: 1949-06-10
36.

The Reckless Moment

3.7
7.1/10 IMDB

After discovering the dead body of her teenage daughter's lover, a housewife takes desperate measures to protect her family from scandal.

Starring: James Mason, Joan Bennett, Geraldine Brooks, Henry O'Neill, Shepperd Strudwick, David Bair, Roy Roberts, Frances E. Williams, Claire Carleton, William Schallert ..
Directed by: Max Ophüls
Release date: 1949-12-09
37.

Border Incident

3.7
7.0/10 IMDB

The story concerns two agents, one Mexican (PJF) and one American, who are tasked to stop the smuggling of Mexican migrant workers across the border to California. The two agents go undercover, one as a poor migrant.

Starring: Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Howard Da Silva, James Mitchell, Arnold Moss, Alfonso Bedoya, Teresa Celli, Charles McGraw, José Torvay, John Ridgely ..
Directed by: Anthony Mann
Release date: 1949-10-28
Best Drama Movies of 1949 : Come to the Stable
38.

Come to the Stable

3.7
7.1/10 IMDB

Two nuns arrive unannounced in the small New England town of Bethlehem, where they recruit various townspeople to help them build a children's hospital.

Starring: Loretta Young, Celeste Holm, Hugh Marlowe, Elsa Lanchester, Thomas Gomez, Dorothy Patrick, Basil Ruysdael, Dooley Wilson, Regis Toomey, Mike Mazurki ..
Directed by: Henry Koster
Release date: 1949-01-01
39.

The Queen of Spades

3.7
7.2/10 IMDB

An elderly countess strikes a bargain with the devil and exchanges her soul for the ability to always win at cards. An army officer, who is also a fanatic about cards, murders her for the secret, then finds himself haunted by the woman's spirit.

Starring: Adolf Wohlbrück, Edith Evans, Yvonne Mitchell, Ronald Howard, Mary Jerrold, Anthony Dawson, Miles Malleson, Michael Medwin, Athene Seyler, Ivor Barnard ..
Directed by: Thorold Dickinson
Release date: 1949-03-16
40.

He Walked by Night

3.6
7.1/10 IMDB

This film-noir piece, told in semi-documentary style, follows police on the hunt for a resourceful criminal who shoots and kills a cop.

Starring: Richard Basehart, Scott Brady, Roy Roberts, Whit Bissell, James Cardwell, Jack Webb, Reed Hadley, Frank Cady, Thomas Browne Henry, Dorothy Adams ..
Directed by: Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann
Release date: 1949-02-06
41.

Alias Nick Beal

3.6
7.1/10 IMDB

After straight-arrow district attorney Joseph Foster says in frustration that he would sell his soul to bring down a local mob boss, a smooth-talking stranger named Nick Beal shows up with enough evidence to seal a conviction. When that success leads Foster to run for governor, Beal's unearthly hold on him turns the previously honest man corrupt, much to the displeasure of his wife and his steadfast minister.

Starring: Ray Milland, Audrey Totter, Thomas Mitchell, George Macready, Fred Clark, Geraldine Wall, Henry O'Neill, Darryl Hickman, Nestor Paiva, King Donovan ..
Directed by: John Farrow
Release date: 1949-03-04
Best Drama Movies of 1949 : The Small Back Room
42.

The Small Back Room

3.6
7.2/10 IMDB

At the height of World War II, the Germans begin dropping a new type of booby-trapped bomb on England. Sammy Rice, a highly-skilled but haunted bomb-disposal officer, must overcome his personal demons to defeat this new threat.

Starring: David Farrar, Kathleen Byron, Jack Hawkins, Leslie Banks, Michael Gough, Cyril Cusack, Milton Rosmer, Walter Fitzgerald, Emrys Jones, Michael Goodliffe ..
Directed by: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Release date: 1949-02-21
43.

East Side, West Side

3.6
6.9/10 IMDB

A vain businessman puts strains on his happy marriage to a rich, beautiful socialite by allowing himself to be seduced by a former girlfriend.

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, James Mason, Van Heflin, Ava Gardner, Cyd Charisse, Nancy Reagan, Gale Sondergaard, William Conrad, Raymond Greenleaf, Douglas Kennedy ..
Directed by: Mervyn LeRoy
Release date: 1949-12-22
44.

Caught

3.6
7.0/10 IMDB

It was Leonora Eames' childhood dream come true. She had married Smith Ohlrig, a man worth millions. But her innocent dream became a nightmare once she realizes the truth about her husband - he is power mad and insane! Since he will not grant her a divorce, she leaves her life of luxury on Long Island and goes to work as a receptionist in an impoverished doctor's office in NYC's lower east side. After Smith deceives her into a temporary reconciliation, Leonora becomes pregnant. By the time she realizes she is expecting, she and one of the doctors, Larry Quinada (James Mason), have fallen in love. But she is again lured backed to her wealthy husband to give her child financial security. Her sadistic husband is hell-bent on keeping her and her child prisoner. What will happen to Leonora?

Starring: James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Ryan, Frank Ferguson, Curt Bois, Ruth Brady, Natalie Schafer, Art Smith, Barbara Billingsley, Sonia Darrin ..
Directed by: Max Ophüls
Release date: 1949-02-17
Best Drama Movies of 1949 : The Rocking Horse Winner
45.

The Rocking Horse Winner

3.6
7.3/10 IMDB

A strange and tragic tale of a young boy who is able to predict race winners at the horse track by riding his own rocking horse to aid his parents out of their endless round of debts.

Starring: Valerie Hobson, John Howard Davies, Ronald Squire, John Mills, Hugh Sinclair, Charles Goldner, Susan Richards, Cyril Smith ..
Directed by: Anthony Pelissier
Release date: 1949-11-30
Best Drama Movies of 1949 : Reign of Terror
46.

Reign of Terror

3.6
6.9/10 IMDB

The French Revolution, 1794. The Marquis de Lafayette asks Charles D'Aubigny to infiltrate the Jacobin Party to overthrow Maximilian Robespierre, who, after gaining supreme power and establishing a reign of terror ruled by death, now intends to become the dictator of France.

Starring: Robert Cummings, Richard Basehart, Richard Hart, Arlene Dahl, Arnold Moss, Norman Lloyd, Charles McGraw, Beulah Bondi, Jess Barker, Royal Dano ..
Directed by: Anthony Mann
Release date: 1949-10-15
47.

The Big Steal

3.6
6.9/10 IMDB

Army Lieutenant Halliday, accused of stealing the Army payroll, pursues the real thief on a frantic chase through Mexico aided by the thief's ex-girlfriend and is in turn being chased by his accuser, Capt. Blake.

Starring: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, William Bendix, Patric Knowles, Ramon Novarro, Don Alvarado, John Qualen, Pascual García Peña ..
Directed by: Don Siegel
Release date: 1949-07-01
48.

The File on Thelma Jordon

3.5
6.9/10 IMDB

Cleve Marshall, an assistant district attorney, falls for Thelma Jordon, a mysterious woman with a troubled past. When Thelma becomes a suspect in her aunt's murder, Cleve tries to clear her name.

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Paul Kelly, Joan Tetzel, Stanley Ridges, Richard Rober, Minor Watson, Barry Kelley, Kasey Rogers, Basil Ruysdael ..
Directed by: Robert Siodmak
Release date: 1949-11-04
49.

Task Force

3.5
6.5/10 IMDB

After learning the finer points of carrier aviation in the 1920s, career officer Jonathan Scott and his pals spend the next two decades promoting the superiority of naval air power. But military and political "red tape" continually frustrate their efforts, prompting Scott to even consider leaving the Navy for a more lucrative civilian job. Then the world enters a second World War and Scott finally gets the opportunity to prove to Washington the valuable role aircraft carriers could play in winning the conflict. But what will it cost him and his comrades personally?

Starring: Gary Cooper, Jane Wyatt, Wayne Morris, Walter Brennan, Julie London, Jack Holt, Stanley Ridges, John Ridgely, Richard Rober, Art Baker ..
Directed by: Delmer Daves
Release date: 1949-08-30
50.

The Great Sinner

3.5
6.6/10 IMDB

A young man succumbs to gambling fever.

Starring: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Melvyn Douglas, Walter Huston, Ethel Barrymore, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead, Friedrich von Ledebur, Ludwig Donath, Curt Bois ..
Directed by: Robert Siodmak
Release date: 1949-06-29

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