ICM Forum's Favorite Movies from 1954 (full list)

A bored photographer recovering from a broken leg passes the time by watching his neighbors and begins to suspect one of them of murder.

Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.

An ex-prize fighter turned New Jersey longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses, including his older brother, as he starts to connect with the grieving sister of one of the syndicate's victims.

In medieval Japan, a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.

A former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.

A care-free girl is sold to a traveling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way.

After helping a wounded gang member, a strong-willed female saloon owner is wrongly suspected of murder and bank robbery by a lynch mob.

An ingratiating bride develops warm ties to her father-in-law while her cold husband blithely slights her for another woman.

An unhappily married couple attempts to find direction and insight while vacationing in Naples.

Ishun is a wealthy but unsympathetic master printer who has wrongly accused his wife and best employee of being lovers. To escape punishment, the accused run away together, but Ishun is certain to be ruined if word gets out.

An aging, world-weary gangster is double-crossed and forced out of retirement when his best friend is kidnapped and their stash of eight stolen gold bars demanded as ransom.

After her return from school in Paris, a playboy finally takes notice of his family's chauffeur's daughter, who's long had a crush on him, but he questions his more serious brother's motives when he warns against getting involved with her.

After a dinosaur-like beast - awoken from undersea hibernation by atom bomb testing - ravages Tokyo, a scientist must decide if his similarly dangerous weapon should be used to destroy it.

Widower Henry Hobson refuses to let his three daughters get married because he doesn't want to pay settlements, so they'll just have to outsmart him.

In George Cukor's remake, fading matinee idol Norman Maine helps young singer and actress Esther Blodgett find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career on a downward spiral.

Mexican workers at a zinc mine call a general strike. It is only through the solidarity of the workers, and importantly the indomitable resolve of their wives, mothers, and daughters, that they eventually triumph.

When a U.S. Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardises the ship, the first officer is urged to consider relieving him of command.

The earliest atomic tests in New Mexico cause common ants to mutate into giant man-eating monsters that threaten civilization.

A German nurse gets sent to the front because she gives medical aid to a wounded Serbian partisan during World War II.

An Italian Countess is allied with Nationalists during the Italian-Austrian war of unification. However, she risks betraying their cause when she falls in love with an Austrian lieutenant.

Depicts the early life of the legendary warrior Musashi Miyamoto; his years as an aspiring warrior, an outlaw and finally a true samurai.

A self-minded adventurer locks horns with a crooked lawman while driving cattle to Dawson.

What is the life of a Geisha like once her beauty has faded and she has retired? Kin has saved her money, and has become a wealthy money-lender, spending her days cold-heartedly collecting debts. Even her best friends, Tomi, Nobu, and Tamae, who were her fellow Geisha, are now indebted to her. For all of them, the glamor of their young lives has passed; Tomi and Tamae have children, but their children have disappointed them. Kin has two former lovers who still pursue her; one she wants to see, and the other she doesn't. But even the one she remembers fondly, when he shows up, proves to be a disappointment.

An Inn at Osaka, rarely seen outside Japan, follows the story of an insurance company executive from Tokyo, Mr. Mito, who is demoted to the Osaka office. He takes a room at a small inn and tries to rebuild his life.

Schoolteacher Hisako Oishi forms an emotional bond with her pupils and teaches them various virtues, while at the same time worrying about their future.