Oscar-winning films don’t always stand the test of time – some disappear from memory almost instantly while others become rightful classics celebrated for decades to come. But, for sure, they will always be the films that won that particularly coveted award.
Here are the Best Picture Oscar-winning films from 1946 to 1955 and where to stream them currently.
Enjoy!
Oscar-winning films: quick links
Best Picture Oscar-winning films 1946 to 1955
The Lost Weekend – 1946 winner
Film (1945). The first of Billy Wilder’s two Best Picture Oscar-winning films (the second being 1960’s The Apartment), this film noir drama is based on Charles R Jackson’s novel of the same name about an alcoholic writer.
Groundbreaking for its all-too-realistic portrayal of alcoholism, we play witness to a four-day drinking binge of a man with a serious addiction.
Starring Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Phillip Terry and Howard da Silva. Watch the trailer.
Streaming on Apple TV+ (rental)
The Best Years of Our Lives – 1947 winner
Film (1946). Directed by William Wyler, this drama takes up the stories of three US soldiers trying to come to terms with civilian life in a society that has changed in their absence, after coming home from active service during World War Two.
Their roles and ranks in different parts of the service jar with who they were, and are again now, in the so-called real world, a dissonance that gets to the heart of the confusion felt by returning servicemen, and secured seven Oscar wins for the film.
Starring Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews and Fredric March. Watch the trailer.
Streaming on Prime Video.
Gentleman’s Agreement – 1948 winner
Film (1947). Like many Best Picture Oscar-winners, this drama was based on a novel, this time Laura Z Hobson’s work of the same name.
A widowed journalist pretends to be Jewish to help with an article he’s writing about antisemitism in New York City and other locations.
Starring Gregory Peck, Anne Revere, June Havoc and Dorothy McGuire. Watch the trailer.
Available to buy on Apple TV+.
Hamlet – 1949 winner
Film (1948). The first sound film of Shakespeare’s masterpiece in English, and star Laurence Olivier’s second of three Shakespeare films as director, this one has the honour of being the first British film to win the Best Picture Oscar.
Shakespeare purists bristled at the cuts he made in order to turn the unwieldy stage play into 155 minutes of cinema, but Olivier was feted, not for the first time, as one of the world’s greatest living actors.
Starring Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons and John Laurie. Watch the trailer.
Streaming on SBS On Demand.
All the King’s Men – 1950 winner
Film (1949). Based on Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer-winning novel of the same name, Robert Rossen wrote, produced and directed this drama about a politician in the American South whose idealism sees him rise … and then fall.
Starring Broderick Crawford, John Ireland and Mercedes McCambridge. Watch the trailer.
Streaming on Apple TV+ (rental).
All About Eve – 1951 winner
Film (1950). Directed by Joseph L Mankiewicz, this drama focuses on Margo Channing, an ageing star of Broadway, and an eager young fan called Eve, who gets close to Margo, threatening to upend not just her career but life.
Like others on this list, All About Eve is widely regarded as one of the best films ever made and, among its many high points, helped usher Marlyn Monroe towards stardom, seen here in one of her earliest roles.
Starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders and Marilyn Monroe. Watch the trailer.
Available to buy on Apple TV+.
An American in Paris – 1952 winner
Film (1951). In this musical romcom for the ages, directed by Vincente Minnelli, Paris forms the backdrop to the story of WW2 veteran Jerry Mulligan, who’s trying to make his living as an artist in the city, but he and his friend face headwinds when they both fall for the same woman.
In some ways, the plot is secondary, interspersed as it is with spectacular dance numbers choreographed by the film’s star, Gene Kelly, set to music by George Gershwin, with lyrics by George’s brother Ira. So much so that the film culminates in a 17-minute dance number set to the tune An American in Paris.
A box-office smash, it was nominated for eight Oscars, winning six. In short, ‘S Wonderful …
Starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant and Nina Foch. Watch the trailer.
Streaming on Apple TV+ (rental).
The Greatest Show on Earth – 1953 winner
Film (1952). Any film featuring James Stewart as a mysterious clown who never takes off his makeup is going to be a little too creepy for some viewers, but this Cecile B DeMille drama shot in Technicolor tells the intertwined story of a no-nonsense circus manager and a pair of trapeze artists jostling for the big time.
Set in, and featuring, the real-life Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Circus, including nearly 1,500 people and hundreds of animals, the film is almost unbelievably lavish and includes genuine feats of circus derring-do.
Starring Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, James Stewart and Dorothy Lamour. Watch the trailer.
Streaming on Apple TV+ (rental).
From Here to Eternity – 1954 winner
Film (1953). A romantic war drama from Fred Zinnermann, this one follows three US soldiers stationed in Hawaii in the months before the infamous Pearl Harbor attack. One, a former boxer, is sent to the stockade for not joining his unit’s boxing team, while his commanding officer and the unit’s top non-commissioned officer fall into a tumultuous affair.
It won eight Oscars from its 13 nominations, including Best Supporting Actress for Donna Reed.
Starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed and Frank Sinatra. Watch the trailer.
Streaming on Apple TV+ (rental).
On the Waterfront – 1955 winner
Film (1954). Elia Kazan’s crime drama received 12 Oscar nominations and won eight, including Best Actor for its star Marlon Brando, who plays Terry Malloy, a prizefighter who threw a fight, and lost his career, at the behest of a mob boss called Johnny Friendly.
The focus here is union violence and the endemic corruption marring the lives of longshoremen in New Jersey, but also on redemption, as Terry develops a meaningful relationship with the sister of one of the union’s victims.
Starring Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J Cobb and Rod Steiger. Watch the trailer.
Streaming on Apple TV+ (rental).
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