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Best Documentary Movies of the 1950s

This collection ranks 1,151 documentary movies released in the 1950s. The list is ranked using a weighted combination of audience ratings, vote volume and popularity data, so movies with only a handful of votes never outrank widely acclaimed films. The #1 film is Night and Fog.

1,151 qualifying moviesRanked using a weighted combination of ratings, vote volume and popularity data

  1. 6

    Kon-Tiki

    1950· 58m· no

    7.459
  2. 7

    Araya

    1959· 1h 30m· es

    7.233
  3. 9

    Benjy

    1951· 10m· en

    7.02
  4. 16

    At Sea!

    1952· 1h 15m· no

    0
  5. 19

    Glass

    1958· 10m· nl

    7.740
  6. 20

    Baby

    1954· 6m· en

    5.73
  7. 29

    Picasso

    1954· 50m· it

    6.01
  8. 36

    L'onda

    1955· 7m· it

    7.17
  9. 45

    Ikebana

    1957· 32m· ja

    6.414
  10. 50

    Siam

    1954· 32m· en

    5.73

Frequently asked questions

How many documentary movies came out in the 1950s?

1,151 documentary movies from the 1950s carry real rating data.

How are these documentary films ranked?

By a weighted score combining audience ratings, vote volume and popularity. Movies with very few votes are statistically shrunk toward the global average, so they cannot dominate the top of the list.

What is the highest-rated documentary movie of the 1950s?

Night and Fog holds the top position in this collection.