Films of 1956
by christopherpip | created - 09 Jul 2013 | updated - 09 May 2019 | PublicThese are the films I have seen from the year 1956.
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1. Anastasia (1956)
Unrated | 105 min | Biography, Drama, History
An opportunistic businessman tries to pass off a mysterious impostor as the Grand Duchess Anastasia, and she is so convincing that even the biggest skeptics believe her.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, Helen Hayes, Akim Tamiroff
Votes: 9,320
2. Aparajito (1956)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
Following his father's death, a boy leaves home to study in Calcutta, while his mother must face a life alone.
Director: Satyajit Ray | Stars: Pinaki Sengupta, Smaran Ghosal, Kamala Adhikari, Rani Bala
Votes: 15,995 | Gross: $0.17M
3. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
G | 175 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A Victorian Englishman bets that with the new steamships and railways he can circumnavigate the globe in eighty days.
Directors: Michael Anderson, John Farrow | Stars: David Niven, Cantinflas, Finlay Currie, Robert Morley
Votes: 29,707 | Gross: $42.00M
4. Autumn Leaves (1956)
Approved | 107 min | Drama
A lonely middle-aged woman meets a younger man, but their relationship is threatened when the man's troubled past reveals itself.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Joan Crawford, Cliff Robertson, Vera Miles, Lorne Greene
Votes: 3,197
5. Baby Doll (1956)
Approved | 114 min | Comedy, Drama
An immature, naive teenage bride holds her anxious husband at bay while flirting with an amorous Sicilian farmer.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Karl Malden, Carroll Baker, Eli Wallach, Mildred Dunnock
Votes: 8,294
6. Back from Eternity (1956)
Approved | 97 min | Adventure, Drama
After a commercial plane crash lands in a South American jungle, the passengers and pilots must patch up the engines and escape the cannibal-infested area.
Director: John Farrow | Stars: Robert Ryan, Anita Ekberg, Rod Steiger, Phyllis Kirk
Votes: 1,636
7. The Bad Seed (1956)
Approved | 129 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Rhoda Penmark seems like your average, sweet eight-year-old girl. After her rival at school dies in mysterious circumstances at the school picnic, her mother starts to suspect that Rhoda was responsible.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Gage Clarke, Jesse White
Votes: 15,779
8. The Best Things in Life Are Free (1956)
Approved | 104 min | Biography, Musical
Ray joins Buddy and Lew to form a successful 1920s musical show writing team. Soon, they've got several hits on Broadway, but Buddy's ambition leads to friction among the group, as the other 2 feel increasingly left out.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Gordon MacRae, Dan Dailey, Ernest Borgnine, Sheree North
Votes: 381
9. The Brave One (1956)
Approved | 100 min | Drama, Family
A young boy named Leonardo adopts a bull after saving it during a storm, but their friendship is soon threatened by the legal owners of the animal who claim ownership of it and ship it off to the bullring to face a legendary bullfighter.
Director: Irving Rapper | Stars: Michel Ray, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., Elsa Cárdenas, Carlos Navarro
Votes: 1,092
10. Bundle of Joy (1956)
Approved | 98 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
After finding a baby outside an orphanage, a salesgirl receives sympathy from those around her, including her boss' son, as they all assume the baby is hers.
Director: Norman Taurog | Stars: Eddie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Adolphe Menjou, Tommy Noonan
Votes: 1,415
11. Bus Stop (1956)
Approved | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A naive but stubborn cowboy falls in love with a saloon singer and tries to take her away against her will to get married and live on his ranch in Montana.
Director: Joshua Logan | Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Arthur O'Connell, Betty Field
Votes: 12,773
12. Carousel (1956)
Approved | 128 min | Drama, Fantasy, Musical
Fifteen years after his death, a carousel barker is granted permission to return to Earth for one day to make amends to his widow and their daughter.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Cameron Mitchell, Barbara Ruick
Votes: 6,802
13. The Catered Affair (1956)
Approved | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When Jane tells her parents that she is getting married to Ralph Halloran, her mother Agnes starts planning an elaborate wedding, even though Jane does not wish it.
Director: Richard Brooks | Stars: Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds, Barry Fitzgerald
Votes: 3,827
14. A Day of Fury (1956)
Passed | 78 min | Western
When gunslinger Jagade arrives in a law-abiding god-fearing town he manages to turn the townsfolk into scoff-law sinners while the town Marshal is powerless due to a moral debt to Jagade.
Director: Harmon Jones | Stars: Dale Robertson, Mara Corday, Jock Mahoney, Carl Benton Reid
Votes: 501
15. The Eddy Duchin Story (1956)
Approved | 123 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The life story of the famous pianist and band-leader of the 1930s and 1940s.
Director: George Sidney | Stars: Tyrone Power, Kim Novak, Victoria Shaw, James Whitmore
Votes: 2,154
16. Death in the Garden (1956)
Not Rated | 104 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
Adventurer Shark comes to a small village near a diamond-miners' camp, and local police arrest him, accusing him of having committed a bank robbery in a neighboring town. The police also ... See full summary »
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Simone Signoret, Georges Marchal, Charles Vanel, Michel Piccoli
Votes: 2,612
a/k/a 'Evil Eden'
17. Forbidden Planet (1956)
G | 98 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
A starship crew in the 23rd century goes to investigate the silence of a distant planet's colony, only to find just two survivors, a powerful robot, and the deadly secret of a lost civilization.
Director: Fred M. Wilcox | Stars: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens
Votes: 53,228 | Gross: $3.00M
18. Friendly Persuasion (1956)
Passed | 137 min | Drama, Family, Romance
The pacifist attitude of a Quaker family is tested as a result of the American Civil War.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Richard Eyer
Votes: 7,740
19. Gervaise (1956)
116 min | Drama
A poor laundrywoman tries to cope with a depressing burden of society.
Director: René Clément | Stars: Maria Schell, François Périer, Jany Holt, Mathilde Casadesus
Votes: 1,644
20. Giant (1956)
G | 201 min | Drama, Western
Sprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker
Votes: 42,256
21. The Girl Can't Help It (1956)
Approved | 98 min | Comedy, Music
A gangster hires a down-and-out press agent to make his airheaded girlfriend a singing star.
Director: Frank Tashlin | Stars: Tom Ewell, Jayne Mansfield, Edmond O'Brien, Julie London
Votes: 3,919
22. The Great Man (1956)
Approved | 92 min | Drama
Joe Harris, preparing a eulogy for popular radio commentator Herb Fuller, finds that nobody has a good word to say about him.
Director: José Ferrer | Stars: José Ferrer, Dean Jagger, Keenan Wynn, Julie London
Votes: 475
23. High Society (1956)
Not Rated | 111 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
With socialite Tracy Lord about to remarry, her ex-husband - with the help of a sympathetic reporter - has 48 hours to convince her that she really still loves him.
Director: Charles Walters | Stars: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm
Votes: 17,534 | Gross: $13.00M
24. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Approved | 80 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan
Votes: 54,775
25. The Iron Petticoat (1956)
Approved | 87 min | Comedy
Russian Captain defects to England, not for politics but due to gender discrimination. English Captain ordered to sell capitalism. Defector argues communism better. They fall in love despite KGB attempts to retrieve her.
Director: Ralph Thomas | Stars: Bob Hope, Katharine Hepburn, Noelle Middleton, James Robertson Justice
Votes: 1,262
26. The King and I (1956)
G | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Musical
A widow accepts a job as a live-in governess to the King of Siam's children.
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, Rita Moreno, Martin Benson
Votes: 27,919 | Gross: $21.30M
27. Love Me Tender (1956)
Approved | 89 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
At the end of the Civil War, a Confederate team is ordered to rob a Union payroll train but the war ends leaving these men with their Union loot, until the Feds come looking for it.
Director: Robert D. Webb | Stars: Richard Egan, Debra Paget, Elvis Presley, Robert Middleton
Votes: 4,712 | Gross: $4.50M
28. Lust for Life (1956)
Approved | 122 min | Biography, Drama
The life of brilliant but tortured artist Vincent van Gogh.
Directors: Vincente Minnelli, George Cukor | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald, Pamela Brown
Votes: 12,510 | Gross: $3.48M
29. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
Approved | 153 min | Drama, Romance, War
An ex-soldier faces ethical questions as he tries to earn enough to support his wife and children well.
Director: Nunnally Johnson | Stars: Gregory Peck, Jennifer Jones, Fredric March, Marisa Pavan
Votes: 4,106 | Gross: $10.88M
30. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
PG | 120 min | Drama, Thriller
An American doctor and his wife, a former singing star, witness a murder while vacationing in Morocco, and are drawn into a twisting plot of international intrigue when their young son is kidnapped.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, Doris Day, Brenda de Banzie, Bernard Miles
Votes: 69,590 | Gross: $10.25M
31. Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)
Not Rated | 112 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
In 1950s Las Vegas, a gambling rancher and a ballerina discover that some people have luck at cards while others have luck at love.
Director: Roy Rowland | Stars: Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse, Agnes Moorehead, Lili Darvas
Votes: 993
32. Moby Dick (1956)
Not Rated | 116 min | Adventure, Drama
The sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain's self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn, James Robertson Justice
Votes: 21,916 | Gross: $10.40M
33. The Mystery of Picasso (1956)
PG | 78 min | Documentary, Biography, History
A filmed record of Pablo Picasso painting numerous canvases for the camera, allowing us to see his creative process at work.
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot | Stars: Pablo Picasso, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Claude Renoir
Votes: 2,701 | Gross: $0.27M
a/k/a 'The Mystery of Picasso'
34. The Opposite Sex (1956)
Not Rated | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Former nightclub singer Kay Hilliard, married 10 years and mother of a young daughter, is informed that her husband Steven is having an affair with chorus girl Crystal Allen, so she goes to Reno for a divorce.
Director: David Miller | Stars: June Allyson, Joan Collins, Dolores Gray, Ann Sheridan
Votes: 1,964 | Gross: $6.02M
35. Our Miss Brooks (1956)
Not Rated | 85 min | Comedy
Follows the story of an English teacher that flusters the principal and flirts with a colleague.
Director: Al Lewis | Stars: Eve Arden, Gale Gordon, Don Porter, Robert Rockwell
Votes: 922
36. The Rainmaker (1956)
Approved | 121 min | Romance, Western
During the Depression, a con-man promises rain to a desperate drought-ridden Kansas town and marriage to a local desperate spinster.
Director: Joseph Anthony | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn, Wendell Corey, Lloyd Bridges
Votes: 4,283
37. Rock Around the Clock (1956)
Not Rated | 77 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
A frustrated big-band promoter bumps into rock-and-rollers Bill Haley and the Comets.
Director: Fred F. Sears | Stars: Bill Haley and the Comets, Bill Haley, The Platters, Ernie Freeman Combo
Votes: 1,301 | Gross: $4.00M
38. The Searchers (1956)
Passed | 119 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
An American Civil War veteran embarks on a years-long journey to rescue his niece from the Comanches after the rest of his brother's family is massacred in a raid on their Texas farm.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond
Votes: 96,328
39. Serenade (1956)
Approved | 121 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Damon Vincenti, a young vineyard worker, has a beautiful tenor voice and dreams of becoming a great opera singer. He debuts at Lardelli's Italian restaurant in San Francisco, where he is ... See full summary »
Director: Anthony Mann | Stars: Mario Lanza, Joan Fontaine, Sara Montiel, Vincent Price
Votes: 601
40. The Swan (1956)
Approved | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When a crown prince visits, the princess's mother tries to push the prince into marrying her daughter by presenting a "rival" at the ball - her children's handsome tutor.
Director: Charles Vidor | Stars: Grace Kelly, Alec Guinness, Louis Jourdan, Agnes Moorehead
Votes: 2,852
41. Tea and Sympathy (1956)
Approved | 122 min | Drama
A new senior at a boy's prep school, finds himself harassed by the machismo culture of his classmates and the unfeelingly behavior by his father, only being treated with decency by his roommate and with affection by the coach's wife.
Director: Vincente Minnelli | Stars: Deborah Kerr, John Kerr, Leif Erickson, Edward Andrews
Votes: 3,217
42. The Ten Commandments (1956)
G | 220 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
Moses, raised as a prince of Egypt in the Pharaoh's household, learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people from slavery.
Director: Cecil B. DeMille | Stars: Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson
Votes: 77,893 | Gross: $93.74M
43. Trapeze (1956)
Approved | 105 min | Drama, Romance
A crippled circus acrobat is torn emotionally between two ambitious young trapeze artists, one a talented young American and a less-gifted but beautiful Italian.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida, Katy Jurado
Votes: 5,228
44. The Unguarded Moment (1956)
Approved | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A beautiful teacher is protective of a high school boy who sexually harassed her, and later he becomes a murder suspect.
Director: Harry Keller | Stars: Esther Williams, George Nader, John Saxon, Edward Andrews
Votes: 490
45. War and Peace (1956)
PG | 208 min | Drama, Romance, War
Napoleon's tumultuous relations with Russia, including his disastrous 1812 invasion, serve as the backdrop for the tangled personal lives of two aristocratic families.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer, Vittorio Gassman
Votes: 10,864 | Gross: $12.50M
46. Written on the Wind (1956)
Not Rated | 99 min | Drama
Alcoholic playboy Kyle Hadley marries the woman secretly loved by his poor but hard-working best friend, who in turn is pursued by Kyle's nymphomaniac sister.
Director: Douglas Sirk | Stars: Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone
Votes: 13,427
47. The Wrong Man (1956)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Film-Noir
In 1953, an innocent man named Christopher Emanuel "Manny" Balestrero is arrested after being mistaken for an armed robber.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Henry Fonda, Vera Miles, Anthony Quayle, Harold J. Stone
Votes: 31,373
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