Classic Movies Lists by Director

A consummate craftsman and one of the most esteemed directors of Hollywood’s Golden Age, George Cukor directed a number of classic movies in a career that spanned five decades. Many of his films focused on strong female characters and starred the era’s top actresses, earning him a reputation as a women’s director. Cukor’s body of work contained...

As an actor, writer and director, Raoul Walsh’s career spanned over six decades and produced some of Hollywood’s most iconic class movies. He was a capable director in a wide range of genres whose straightforward style was vibrant, but unpretentious. He did his best work in the 1940s with Errol Flynn, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Virginia...

The brother of noted screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, director Joseph L. Mankiewicz followed his older sibling's footsteps into show business to become one of classic Hollywood's most literate director. Mankiewicz had his start as a writer for Paramount Pictures and later served as a producer for MGM. In the mid-1940s he moved over to 20th...

A former member of the French Foreign Legion and a combat pilot during World War I, William Wellman lived an adventurous life that later colored the films he made as one of classic Hollywood's great directors. Wellman had a great passion for aviation, which he displayed in quite a few pictures, but also had a great disdain for actors even though...

An unrelenting perfectionist notorious for demanding multiple takes, William Wyler directed a string of great classic movies from the 1930s through the 1960s. Along the way, he won three Academy Awards for Best Director and reigned as the most nominated director in history with 12 nods. Wyler was a master of many genres and worked with...

A master director who got his start in silent pictures, Howard Hawks directed numerous classics and became recognized as one of the greats from the studio era. His movies featured rapid-fire dialogue and superb performances from his leading actors, while his exceptional talents transcended the confines of genre, as Hawks directed screwball...

A notoriously difficult director who nearly destroyed his career before it began, Sam Peckinpah almost single-handedly recreated the Western with his violent, ambiguous vision. He made a mess of his life with alcohol and drugs, and left behind a tattered reputation and a long line of enemies. But he was also an incredible filmmaker whose best...

Tirelessly prolific director Michael Curtiz helmed some of Classic Hollywood's most memorable films. He churned out four or five films a year and did some of his best work with dashing leading man Errol Flynn. Though not the most famous of the classic era's directors, Curtiz was nominated for five Best Director Academy Awards and won for...

After getting his start as a screenwriter, Preston Sturges turned to directing in the 1940s and redefined the screwball comedy with a number of classic movies. In a short span of time, he directed a series of great films that were popular with critics and audiences. But his thirst for absolute control over his creative output ultimately ruined...

Hailed as a giant among filmmakers, Ernst Lubitsch directed some of Hollywood’s most sophisticated and entertaining comedies. He became known for his famed Lubitsch Touch, a wry and witty brand of humor infused with style and grace. Lubitsch directed a number of acclaimed hits in the 1930s and 1940s before his untimely death in 1947. Here are...

One of the most revered directors of his generation, Sidney Lumet produced an extraordinary body of work that included some of New Hollywood's most seminal classics. While his best work was made in the 1970s, Lumet spent the previous decades earning a reputation as a consummate professional capable of drawing stellar performances out of his...

Alfred Hitchcock’s career spanned across six decades and over 50 feature films. The acknowledged “Master of Suspense” practically invented the thriller and was a brilliant technician who deftly blended sex, suspense and humor into the genre.

Known for his sweeping historical epics, David Lean directed some of the grandest movies Hollywood has ever known and possessed a technical command few were able to master. Lean's blockbusters of the late 1950s and 1960s made an indelible mark on cinema and won the director two Academy Awards. While few may remember his name, Lean’s iconic...

An obsessive perfectionist who methodically worked in virtual reclusion, director Stanley Kubrick was at once widely praised for his technical brilliance and scorned for his film’s lack of emotional depth. He was one of the most influential directors in postwar Hollywood and has been hailed as the source of inspiration for many of Hollywood’s...

After gaining notoriety on radio, Orson Welles became one of Classic Hollywood’s most pioneering directors. With his very first movie, Welles directed what many consider to be the best film ever made. Active as a director for five decades, Welles made only a handful of films, largely due to his inability to secure financing for his increasingly...

If there was ever a director-actor tandem that defined the Western genre, it was John Ford and John Wayne. Over the course of five decades, Ford and Wayne made over 20 pictures, most of them Westerns and some that stood the test of time as the model for all others to follow. They made other types of films, war movies and even a romantic comedy....

John Huston practically invented the film noir, but he was also a romantic who directed some of the most thrilling adventures in Hollywood history. His collaboration with Humphrey Bogart ranks as one of the greatest director-actor combos ever.

Inspiring, heartfelt, patriotic, witty - the hallmarks of director Frank Capra. Here are nine of the very best classic films from a director who brought an idealized vision of small-town America to the screen.

The master of suspense made spellbinding movies from his early days in England through his wildly successful Hollywood career. here's a list of the best Alfred Hitchcock movies.

Cary Grant was Alfred Hitchcock's favorite actor, and they made four terrific movies together with wit and grace.

Billy Wilder could do it all, from the darkest film noir to the fizziest screwball comedy. The writer-director fled the Nazis to become one of Hollywood’s most celebrated directors, with more than 50 movies to his credit. Here's ten that shouldn't be missed.