National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

The following is a list of the Top-10 films chosen annually by the National Board of Review, beginning in 1929. From 1968 till 2005, 29 times the NBR chose the film that would eventually win the Academy Award for Best Picture as Best Film. Twelve of these times, the film selected was number one on the NBR's list for that year.

Lists

1920s

• 1929:
  • Applause
  • Broadway
  • Bulldog Drummond
  • The Case of Lena Smith
  • Disraeli
  • Hallelujah!
  • The Letter
  • The Love Parade
  • Paris Bound
  • The Valiant

1930s

1930: All Quiet on the Western Front Holiday Laughter The Man from Blankley's Men Without Women Morocco Outward Bound Romance Street of Chance Tol'able David

1931: Cimarron City Lights City Streets Dishonored The Front Page The Guardsman Quick Millions Rango Surrender Tabu

1932: #I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang #As You Desire Me #A Bill of Divorcement #A Farewell to Arms #Madame Racketeer #Payment Deferred #Scarface #Tarzan the Ape Man #Trouble in Paradise #Two Seconds

1933: #Topaze #Berkeley Square #Cavalcade #Little Women #Mama Loves Papa #The Pied Piper #She Done Him Wrong #State Fair #Three-Cornered Moon #Zoo in Budapest

1934: #It Happened One Night #The Count of Monte Cristo #Crime Without Passion #Eskimo #The First World War #The Lost Patrol #Lot in Sodom #No Greater Glory #The Thin Man #Viva Villa!

1935: #The Informer #Alice Adams #Anna Karenina #David Copperfield #The Gilded Lily #Les Misérables #The Lives of a Bengal Lancer #Mutiny on the Bounty #Ruggles of Red Gap #Who Killed Cock Robin?

1936: #Mr. Deeds Goes to Town #The Story of Louis Pasteur #Modern Times #Fury #Winterset #The Devil is a Sissy #Ceiling Zero #Romeo and Juliet #The Prisoner of Zenda #Green Pastures

1937: #Night Must Fall #The Life of Emile Zola #Black Legion #Camille #Make Way for Tomorrow #The Good Earth #They Won't Forget #Captains Courageous #A Star Is Born #Stage Door

1938: #The Citadel #Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs #The Beachcomber #To the Victor #Sing You Sinners #The Edge of the World #Of Human Hearts #Jezebel #South Riding #Three Comrades

1939: #Confessions of a Nazi Spy #Wuthering Heights #Stagecoach #Ninotchka #Young Mr. Lincoln #Crisis #Goodbye, Mr. Chips #Mr. Smith Goes to Washington #The Roaring Twenties #U-Boat 29

1940s

1940: #The Grapes of Wrath #The Great Dictator #Of Mice and Men #Our Town #Fantasia #The Long Voyage Home #Foreign Correspondent #The Biscuit Eater #Gone with the Wind (AA [of 1939]) #Rebecca (AA [of 1940])

1941: #Citizen Kane #How Green Was My Valley (AA) #The Little Foxes #The Stars Look Down #Dumbo #High Sierra #Here Comes Mr. Jordan #Tom, Dick and Harry #Road to Zanzibar #The Lady Eve

1942: #In Which We Serve #One of Our Aircraft Is Missing #Mrs. Miniver (AA) #Journey for Margaret #Wake Island #The Male Animal #The Major and the Minor #Sullivan's Travels #The Moon and Sixpence #The Pied Piper

1943: #The Ox-Bow Incident #Watch on the Rhine #Air Force #Holy Matrimony #The Hard Way #Casablanca (AA) #Lassie Come Home #Bataan #The Moon Is Down #Next of Kin

1944: #None But the Lonely Heart #Going My Way (AA) #The Miracle of Morgan's Creek #Hail the Conquering Hero #The Song of Bernadette #Wilson #Meet Me in St. Louis #Thirty Seconds over Tokyo #Thunder Rock #Lifeboat

1945: #The True Glory #The Lost Weekend (AA) #The Southerner #The Story of G.I. Joe #The Last Chance #The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp #A Tree Grows In Brooklyn #The Fighting Lady #The Way Ahead #The Clock

1946: #Henry V #The Best Years of Our Lives (AA) #Brief Encounter #A Walk in the Sun #It Happened at the Inn #My Darling Clementine #Diary of a Chambermaid #The Killers #- #-

1947: #Monsieur Verdoux #Great Expectations #Shoeshine #Crossfire #Boomerang! #Odd Man Out #Gentleman's Agreement (AA) #To Live in Peace #It's a Wonderful Life #The Overlanders

1948: #Paisan #Day of Wrath #The Search #The Treasure of the Sierra Madre #Louisiana Story #Hamlet (AA) #The Snake Pit #Johnny Belinda #Joan of Arc #The Red Shoes

1949: #The Bicycle Thief #The Quiet One #Intruder in the Dust #The Heiress #Devil in the Flesh #Quartet #Germany Year Zero #Home of the Brave #A Letter to Three Wives #The Fallen Idol

1950s

1950: #Sunset Boulevard #All About Eve (AA) #The Asphalt Jungle #The Men #Edge of Doom #Twelve O'Clock High #Panic in the Streets #Cyrano de Bergerac #No Way Out #Stage Fright

1951: #A Place in the Sun #The Red Badge of Courage #An American in Paris (AA) #Death of a Salesman #Detective Story #A Streetcar Named Desire #Decision Before Dawn #Strangers on a Train #Quo Vadis #Fourteen Hours

1952: #The Quiet Man #High Noon #Limelight #5 Fingers #The Snows of Kilimanjaro #The Thief #The Bad and the Beautiful #Singin' in the Rain #Above and Beyond #My Son John

1953: #Julius Caesar #Shane #From Here to Eternity (AA) #Martin Luther #Lili #Roman Holiday #Stalag 17 #The Little Fugitive #Mogambo #The Robe

1954: #On the Waterfront (AA) #Seven Brides for Seven Brothers #The Country Girl #A Star Is Born #Executive Suite #The Vanishing Prairie #Sabrina #20,000 Leagues Under the Sea #The Unconquered #Beat the Devil

1955: #Marty (AA) #East of Eden #Mister Roberts #Bad Day at Black Rock #Summertime #The Rose Tattoo #A Man Called Peter #Not as a Stranger #Picnic #The African Lion

1956: #Around the World in 80 Days (AA) #Moby Dick #The King and I #Lust for Life #Friendly Persuasion #Somebody Up There Likes Me #The Catered Affair #Anastasia #The Man Who Never Was #Bus Stop

1957: #The Bridge on the River Kwai (AA) #12 Angry Men #The Spirit of St. Louis #The Rising of the Moon #Albert Schweitzer #Funny Face #The Bachelor Party #The Enemy Below #A Hatful of Rain #A Farewell to Arms

1958: #The Old Man and the Sea #Separate Tables #The Last Hurrah #The Long, Hot Summer #Windjammer #Cat on a Hot Tin Roof #The Goddess #The Brothers Karamazov #Me and the Colonel #Gigi (AA)

1959: #The Nun's Story #Ben-Hur (AA) #Anatomy of a Murder #The Diary of Anne Frank #Middle of the Night #The Man Who Understood Women #Some Like It Hot #Suddenly, Last Summer #On the Beach #North by Northwest

1960s

1960: #Sons and Lovers #The Alamo #The Sundowners #Inherit the Wind #Sunrise at Campobello #Elmer Gantry #Home from the Hill #The Apartment (AA) #Wild River #The Dark at the Top of the Stairs

1961: #Question 7 #The Hustler #West Side Story (AA) #The Innocents #Hoodlum Priest #Summer and Smoke #The Young Doctors #Judgment at Nuremberg #One, Two, Three #Fanny

1962: #The Longest Day #Billy Budd #The Miracle Worker #Lawrence of Arabia (AA) #Long Day's Journey Into Night #Whistle Down the Wind #Requiem for a Heavyweight #A Taste of Honey #Birdman of Alcatraz #War Hunt

1963: #Tom Jones (AA) #Lilies of the Field #All the Way Home #Hud #This Sporting Life #Lord of the Flies #The L-Shaped Room #The Great Escape #How the West Was Won #The Cardinal

1964: #Becket #My Fair Lady (AA) #Girl with Green Eyes #The World of Henry Orient #Zorba the Greek #Topkapi #The Chalk Garden #The Finest Hours #Four Days in November #Séance on a Wet Afternoon

1965: #The Eleanor Roosevelt Story #The Agony and the Ecstasy #Doctor Zhivago #Ship of Fools #The Spy Who Came in From the Cold #Darling #The Greatest Story Ever Told #A Thousand Clowns #The Train #The Sound of Music (AA)

1966: #A Man for All Seasons (AA) #Born Free #Alfie #Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? #The Bible: In the Beginning #Georgy Girl #John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums #It Happened Here #The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming #Shakespeare Wallah

1967: #Far from the Madding Crowd #The Whisperers #Ulysses #In Cold Blood #The Family Way #The Taming of the Shrew #Doctor Dolittle #The Graduate #The Comedians #Accident

1968: #The Shoes of the Fisherman #Romeo and Juliet #Yellow Submarine #Charly #Rachel, Rachel #The Subject Was Roses #The Lion in Winter #Planet of the Apes #Oliver! (AA) #2001: A Space Odyssey

1969: #They Shoot Horses, Don't They? #Ring of Bright Water #Topaz #Goodbye, Mr. Chips #Battle of Britain #Isadora #The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie #Support Your Local Sheriff! #True Grit #Midnight Cowboy (AA)

1970s

1970: #Patton (AA) #Kes #Women in Love #Five Easy Pieces #Ryan's Daughter #I Never Sang for My Father #Diary of a Mad Housewife #Love Story #The Virgin and the Gypsy #Tora! Tora! Tora!

1971: #Macbeth #The Boy Friend #One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich #The French Connection (AA) #The Last Picture Show #Nicholas and Alexandra #The Go-Between #King Lear #The Tales of Beatrix Potter #Death in Venice

1972: #Cabaret #Man of La Mancha #The Godfather (AA) #Sounder #1776 #The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds #Deliverance #The Ruling Class #The Candidate #Frenzy

1973: #The Sting (AA) #Paper Moon #Bang the Drum Slowly #Serpico #O Lucky Man! #The Last American Hero #The Hireling #The Day of the Dolphin #The Way We Were #-

1974: #The Conversation #Murder on the Orient Express #Chinatown #The Last Detail #Harry and Tonto #A Woman Under the Influence #Thieves Like Us #Lenny #Daisy Miller #The Three Musketeers

1975: #Nashville, Barry Lyndon #Conduct Unbecoming #One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (AA) #Lies My Father Told Me #Dog Day Afternoon #The Day of the Locust #The Passenger #Hearts of the West #Farewell, My Lovely #Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

1976: #All the President's Men #Network #Rocky (AA) #The Last Tycoon #The Seven-Per-Cent Solution #The Front #The Shootist #Family Plot #Silent Movie #Obsession

1977: #The Turning Point #Annie Hall (AA) #Julia #Star Wars #Close Encounters of the Third Kind #The Late Show #Saturday Night Fever #Equus #The Picture Show Man #Harlan County, USA

1978: #Days of Heaven #Coming Home #Interiors #Superman #Movie Movie #Midnight Express #An Unmarried Woman #Pretty Baby #Girlfriends #Comes a Horseman

1979: #Manhattan #Yanks #The Europeans #The China Syndrome #Breaking Away #Apocalypse Now #Being There #Time After Time #North Dallas Forty #Kramer vs. Kramer (AA)

1980s

1980: #Ordinary People (AA) #Raging Bull #Coal Miner's Daughter #Tess #Melvin and Howard #The Great Santini #The Elephant Man #The Stunt Man #My Bodyguard #Resurrection

1981: #Chariots of Fire (AA), Reds #Atlantic City #Stevie #Gallipoli #On Golden Pond #Prince of the City #Raiders of the Lost Ark #Heartland #Ticket to Heaven #Breaker Morant

1982: #Gandhi (AA) #The Verdict #Sophie's Choice #An Officer and a Gentleman #Missing #E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial #The World According to Garp #Tootsie #Moonlighting #The Chosen

1983: #Betrayal, Terms of Endearment (AA) #Educating Rita #Tender Mercies #The Dresser #The Right Stuff #Testament #Local Hero #The Big Chill #Cross Creek #Yentl

1984: #A Passage to India #Paris, Texas #The Killing Fields #Places in the Heart #Mass Appeal #Country #A Soldier's Story #Birdy #Careful, He Might Hear You #Under the Volcano

1985: #The Color Purple #Out of Africa (AA) #The Trip to Bountiful #Witness #Kiss of the Spider Woman #Prizzi's Honor #Back to the Future #The Shooting Party #Blood Simple #Dreamchild

1986: #A Room with a View #Hannah and Her Sisters #My Beautiful Laundrette #The Fly #Stand By Me #The Color of Money #Children of a Lesser God #'Round Midnight #Peggy Sue Got Married #The Mission

1987: #Empire of the Sun #The Last Emperor (AA) #Broadcast News #The Untouchables #Gaby: A True Story #Cry Freedom #Fatal Attraction #Hope and Glory #Wall Street #Full Metal Jacket

1988: #Mississippi Burning #Dangerous Liaisons #The Accused #The Unbearable Lightness of Being #The Last Temptation of Christ #Tucker: The Man and His Dream #Big #Running on Empty #Gorillas in the Mist #Midnight Run

1989: #Driving Miss Daisy (AA) #Henry V #Sex, Lies, and Videotape #The Fabulous Baker Boys #My Left Foot #Dead Poets Society #Crimes and Misdemeanors #Born on the Fourth of July #Glory #Field of Dreams

1990s

1990: #Dances with Wolves (AA) #Hamlet #GoodFellas #Awakenings #Reversal of Fortune #Miller's Crossing #Metropolitan #Mr. and Mrs. Bridge #Avalon #The Grifters

1991: #The Silence of the Lambs (AA) #Bugsy #Grand Canyon #Thelma & Louise #Homicide #Dead Again #Boyz n the Hood #Rambling Rose #Frankie and Johnny #Jungle Fever

1992: #Howards End #The Crying Game #Glengarry Glen Ross #A Few Good Men #The Player #Unforgiven (AA) #One False Move #Peter's Friends #Bob Roberts #Malcolm X

1993: #Schindler's List (AA) #The Age of Innocence #The Remains of the Day #The Piano #Shadowlands #In the Name of the Father #Philadelphia #Much Ado About Nothing #Short Cuts #The Joy Luck Club

1994: #Forrest Gump (AA); Pulp Fiction #Quiz Show #Four Weddings and a Funeral #Bullets Over Broadway #Ed Wood #The Shawshank Redemption #Nobody's Fool #The Madness of King George #Tom & Viv #Heavenly Creatures

1995: #Sense and Sensibility #Apollo 13 #Carrington #Leaving Las Vegas #The American President #Mighty Aphrodite #Smoke #Persuasion #Braveheart (AA) #The Usual Suspects

1996: #Shine #The English Patient (AA) #Fargo #Secrets & Lies #Everyone Says I Love You #Evita #Sling Blade #Trainspotting #The People vs. Larry Flynt #Breaking the Waves and Jerry Maguire

1997: #L.A. Confidential #As Good as It Gets #The Wings of the Dove #Good Will Hunting #Titanic (AA) #The Sweet Hereafter #Boogie Nights #The Full Monty #The Rainmaker #Jackie Brown

1998: #Gods and Monsters #Saving Private Ryan #Elizabeth #Happiness #Shakespeare in Love (AA) #The Butcher Boy #Lolita #The Thin Red Line #A Simple Plan #Dancing at Lughnasa

1999: #American Beauty (AA) #The Talented Mr. Ripley #Magnolia #The Insider #The Straight Story #Cradle Will Rock #Boys Don't Cry #Being John Malkovich #Tumbleweeds #Three Kings

2000s

2000: #Quills #Traffic #Croupier #You Can Count On Me #Billy Elliot #Before Night Falls #Gladiator (AA) #Wonder Boys #Sunshine #Dancer in the Dark

2001: #Moulin Rouge! #In the Bedroom #Ocean's Eleven #Memento #Monster's Ball #Black Hawk Down #The Man Who Wasn't There #A.I. Artificial Intelligence #The Pledge #Mulholland Drive

2002: #The Hours #Chicago (AA) #Gangs of New York #The Quiet American #Adaptation. #Rabbit-Proof Fence #The Pianist #Far from Heaven #Thirteen Conversations About One Thing #Frida

2003: #Mystic River #The Last Samurai #The Station Agent #21 Grams #House of Sand and Fog #Lost in Translation #Cold Mountain #In America #Seabiscuit #Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

2004: #Finding Neverland #The Aviator #Closer #Million Dollar Baby (AA) #Sideways #Kinsey #Vera Drake #Ray #Collateral #Hotel Rwanda

2005: #Good Night, and Good Luck. #Brokeback Mountain #Capote #Crash (AA) #A History of Violence #Match Point #Memoirs of a Geisha #Munich #Syriana #Walk the Line

2006: (in alphabetical order, except for #1) #Letters from Iwo Jima #Babel #Blood Diamond #The Departed (AA) #The Devil Wears Prada #Flags of Our Fathers #The History Boys #Little Miss Sunshine #Notes on a Scandal #The Painted Veil

2007: (in alphabetical order except for #1; Best Film, Best Animated Feature, and Best Foreign Language Film ineligible) #No Country for Old Men (AA) #The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford #Atonement #The Bourne Ultimatum #The Bucket List #Into the Wild #Juno #The Kite Runner #Lars and the Real Girl #Michael Clayton #Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

2008: (in alphabetical order except for #1; Best Film, and Best Foreign Language Film ineligible) #Slumdog Millionaire (AA) #Burn After Reading #Changeling #The Curious Case of Benjamin Button #The Dark Knight #Defiance #Frost/Nixon #Gran Torino #Milk #WALL-E #The Wrestler

2009: (in alphabetical order except for #1; Best Film, and Best Foreign Language Film ineligible) #Up in the Air #(500) Days of Summer #An Education #The Hurt Locker (AA) #Inglourious Basterds #Invictus #The Messenger #A Serious Man #Star Trek #Up #Where the Wild Things Are

2010s

• 2010: (in alphabetical order except for #1)
• #The Social Network
• #Another Year
• #The Fighter
• #Hereafter
• #Inception
• #The King's Speech
• #Shutter Island
• #The Town
• #Toy Story 3
• #True Grit
• #Winter's Bone