National Board of Review: Top Ten Films explained

The following is a list of the Top 10 Films chosen annually by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, beginning in 1929.^{[1] [2]}

History

From 1930 until 2018, the NBR chose 74 films that would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture as Best Film. Twenty four of these times, the film selected was number one on the NBR's list for that year.

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 Shark Island
• 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
• Rebecca

1941:

• Citizen Kane
• How Green Was My Valley
• 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
• 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
• Lassie Come Home
• Bataan
• The Moon Is Down
• The Next of Kin

1944:

• None But the Lonely Heart
• Going My Way
• 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
• 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
• Rome, Open City
• The Best Years of Our Lives
• Brief Encounter
• A Walk in the Sun
• It Happened at the Inn
• My Darling Clementine
• The Diary of a Chambermaid
• The Killers
• Anna and the King of Siam

1947:

• Monsieur Verdoux
• Great Expectations
• Shoeshine
• Crossfire
• Boomerang!
• Odd Man Out
• Gentleman's Agreement
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Martin Luther
• Lili
• Roman Holiday
• Stalag 17
• Little Fugitive
• Mogambo
• The Robe

1954:

• On the Waterfront
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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

1959:

• The Nun's Story
• Ben-Hur
• 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
• Wild River
• The Dark at the Top of the Stairs

1961:

• Question 7
• The Hustler
• West Side Story
• The Innocents
• The 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
• 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
• 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
• 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

1966:

• A Man for All Seasons
• Born Free
• Alfie
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• Georgy Girl
• 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!
• 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

1970s

1970:

• Patton
• 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
• 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
• Sounder
• 1776
• The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
• Deliverance
• The Ruling Class
• The Candidate
• Frenzy

1973:

• The Sting
• 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
• The Homecoming

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
• 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
• The Last Tycoon
• The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
• The Front
• The Shootist
• Family Plot
• Silent Movie
• Obsession

1977:

• The Turning Point
• Annie Hall
• 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

1980s

1980:

• Ordinary People
• 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 / 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Broadcast News
• The Untouchables
• 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
• Big
• Running on Empty
• Gorillas in the Mist
• Midnight Run

1989:

• Driving Miss Daisy
• 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
• Hamlet
• Goodfellas
• Awakenings
• Reversal of Fortune
• Miller's Crossing
• Metropolitan
• Mr. & Mrs. Bridge
• Avalon
• The Grifters

1991:

• The Silence of the Lambs
• 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
• One False Move
• Peter's Friends
• Bob Roberts
• Malcolm X

1993:

• Schindler's List
• 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 / 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
• The Usual Suspects

1996:

• Shine
• The English Patient
• Fargo
• Secrets & Lies
• Everyone Says I Love You
• Evita
• Sling Blade
• Trainspotting
• Breaking the Waves
• Jerry Maguire

1997:

• L.A. Confidential
• As Good as It Gets
• The Wings of the Dove
• Good Will Hunting
• Titanic
• The Sweet Hereafter
• Boogie Nights
• The Full Monty
• The Rainmaker
• Jackie Brown

1998:

• Gods and Monsters
• Saving Private Ryan
• Elizabeth
• Happiness
• Shakespeare in Love
• The Butcher Boy
• Lolita
• The Thin Red Line
• A Simple Plan
• Dancing at Lughnasa

1999:

• American Beauty
• 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
• 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
• Adaptation
• Chicago
• Gangs of New York
• The Quiet American
• 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

2004:

• Finding Neverland
• The Aviator
• Closer
• Million Dollar Baby
• Sideways
• Kinsey
• Vera Drake
• Ray
• Collateral
• Hotel Rwanda

2005:

• Good Night, and Good Luck
• Brokeback Mountain
• Capote
• Crash
• A History of Violence
• Match Point
• Memoirs of a Geisha
• Munich
• Syriana
• Walk the Line

2006:

• Letters from Iwo Jima
• Babel
• Blood Diamond
• The Departed
• The Devil Wears Prada
• Flags of Our Fathers
• The History Boys
• Little Miss Sunshine
• Notes on a Scandal
• The Painted Veil

2007:

• No Country for Old Men
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
• 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:

• Slumdog Millionaire
• Burn After Reading
• Changeling
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• The Dark Knight
• Defiance
• Frost/Nixon
• Gran Torino
• Milk
• WALL-E
• The Wrestler

2009:

• Up in the Air
• (500) Days of Summer
• An Education
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Invictus
• The Messenger
• A Serious Man
• Star Trek
• Up
• Where the Wild Things Are

2010s

2010:

• 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

2011:

• Hugo
• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Drive
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
• The Ides of March
• J. Edgar
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

2012:

• Zero Dark Thirty
• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Les Misérables
• Lincoln
• Looper
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Promised Land
• Silver Linings Playbook

2013:

• Her
• 12 Years a Slave
• Fruitvale Station
• Gravity
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Lone Survivor
• Nebraska
• Prisoners
• Saving Mr. Banks
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
• The Wolf of Wall Street

2014:

• A Most Violent Year^[3]
• American Sniper
• Birdman
• Boyhood
• Fury
• Gone Girl
• The Imitation Game
• Inherent Vice
• The LEGO Movie
• Nightcrawler
• Unbroken

2015:

• Bridge of Spies
• Creed
• The Hateful Eight
• Inside Out
• The Martian
• Room
• Sicario
• Spotlight
• Straight Outta Compton

2016:

• Manchester by the Sea
• Arrival
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Hail, Caesar!
• Hell or High Water
• Hidden Figures
• La La Land
• Moonlight
• Patriots Day
• Silence
• Sully

2017:

• The Post ^[4]
• Baby Driver
• Call Me by Your Name
• The Disaster Artist
• Downsizing
• Dunkirk
• The Florida Project
• Get Out
• Lady Bird
• Logan
• Phantom Thread

2018:

• Green Book ^[5]
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
• Black Panther
• Can You Ever Forgive Me?
• Eighth Grade
• First Reformed
• If Beale Street Could Talk
• Mary Poppins Returns
• A Quiet Place
• Roma
• A Star Is Born

2019:

• The Irishman ^[6]
• 1917
• Dolemite Is My Name
• Ford v Ferrari
• Jojo Rabbit
• Knives Out
• Marriage Story
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Richard Jewell
• Uncut Gems
• Waves

2020s

2020:

• Da 5 Bloods^[7]
• First Cow
• The Forty-Year-Old Version
• Judas and the Black Messiah
• The Midnight Sky
• Minari
• News of the World
• Nomadland
• Promising Young Woman
• Soul
• Sound of Metal

2021:

• Licorice Pizza^[8]
• Belfast
• Don't Look Up
• Dune
• King Richard
• The Last Duel
• Nightmare Alley
• Red Rocket
• The Tragedy of Macbeth
• West Side Story

2022:

• ^[9]
• Aftersun
• The Banshees of Inisherin
• Everything Everywhere All at Once
• The Fabelmans
• RRR
• Till
• The Woman King
• Women Talking

2023:

• Killers of the Flower Moon^[10]
• Barbie
• The Boy and the Heron
• Ferrari
• The Holdovers
• The Iron Claw
• Maestro
• Oppenheimer
• Past Lives
• Poor Things

Notes and References

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20070929103045/http://www.nbrmp.org/awards/past.cfm?year=1929 National Board of Review of Motion Pictures :: Awards for 1929
2. https://nationalboardofreview.org/award-names/top-films/ Top Films Archives - National Film Board of Review
3. https://theplaylist.net/national-board-of-review-names-a-most-violent-year-best-film-of-2014-plus-full-list-of-awards-20141202/ National Board Of Review Names 'A Most Violent Year' Best Film Of 2014 Plus Full List Of Awards
4. https://www.avclub.com/national-board-of-review-names-the-post-as-best-movie-o-1820815389 National Board Of Review names The Post as best movie of the year|AV Club
5. https://deadline.com/2018/11/national-board-of-review-2019-winners-green-book-a-star-is-born-1202509666/ National Board Of Review Names ‘Green Book’ Best Picture; ‘A Star Is Born's Bradley Cooper As Best Director - Deadline
6. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/irishman-tops-national-board-review-2019-honorees-full-list-1259206 'The Irishman' Tops National Board of Review 2019 Honorees: Full List|Hollywood Reporter
7. https://ew.com/awards/2020-national-board-of-review-winners-list/ National Board of Review 2020 winners: Spike Lee, Riz Ahmed, more|EW.com
8. https://www.indiewire.com/2021/12/national-board-of-review-winners-2021-licorice-pizza-1234682925/ National Board of Review Winners 2021:|IndieWire
9. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/top-gun-maverick-best-movie-2022-national-board-review-1235277963/ Top Gun: Maverick Named Best Movie of 2022 by National Board of Review - The Hollywood Reporter
10. https://variety.com/2023/film/awards/national-board-of-review-winners-2023-1235821182/ National Board of Review Winners: Killers of the Flower Moon