The 40 most popular 1950s family movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Sleeping Beauty
1959 · 1h 15m · US
Cursed to die by the evil fairy Maleficent when she was a baby, Princess Aurora is sent into hiding under protection from three good fairies. As she grows up far away, Maleficent becomes increasingly determined to seal the princess's fate.


Cinderella
1950 · 1h 14m · US
Cinderella has faith her dreams of a better life will come true. With help from her loyal mice friends and a wave of her Fairy Godmother's wand, Cinderella's rags are magically turned into a glorious gown and off she goes to the Royal Ball. But when the clock strikes midnight, the spell is broken, leaving a single glass slipper... the only key to the ultimate fairy-tale ending!


Alice in Wonderland
1951 · 1h 15m · US
On a golden afternoon, wildly curious young Alice tumbles into the burrow and enters the merry, madcap world of Wonderland full of whimsical escapades.


Peter Pan
1953 · 1h 17m · US
Leaving the safety of their nursery behind, Wendy, Michael and John follow Peter Pan to a magical world where childhood lasts forever. But while in Neverland, the kids must face Captain Hook and foil his attempts to get rid of Peter for good.


Lady and the Tramp
1955 · 1h 16m · US
Lady, a golden cocker spaniel, meets up with a mongrel dog who calls himself the Tramp. He is obviously from the wrong side of town, but happenings at Lady's home make her decide to travel with him for a while.


Blessed be you
1956 · 1h 25m · AR
María has a powerful reason to hide the fact that she is Enrique's mother.


Journey to the Center of the Earth
1959 · 2h 12m · US
An Edinburgh professor and assorted colleagues follow an explorer's trail down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the earth's center.


Around the World in 80 Days
1956 · 3h 2m · US
Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.


Santa Claus
1959 · 1h 34m · MX
Pitch, the mean-spirited devil, is trying to ruin Christmas. Santa Claus teams up with Merlin the Magician and the children of the world in order to save the day!


The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
1958 · 1h 28m · US
When the lovely Princess Parisa is shrunken by wicked Sokurah the Magician, Sinbad must embark on a quest to an island of monsters to cure her and prevent a war.


Sans famille
1958 · 1h 40m · FR
The Remi abandoned by his foster father sold to the troubadour Vasalis, in his living through the rural villages the people to entertain, gehoplen his three dogs and a monkey. In the beginning Remi takes its new master, but a demanding and hard man, and the animals have not been too much with the clumsy boy. But gradually creates a bond between Remi and his new comrades, until their friendship is suddenly disrupted when Vasalis is arrested for vagrancy and sentenced. Then Remi, alone in the world, along with his animal friends in position to try to keep ...


Cheaper by the Dozen
1950 · 1h 25m · US
"Cheaper by the Dozen", based on the real-life story of the Gilbreth family, follows them from Providence, Rhode Island, to Montclair, New Jersey, and details the amusing anecdotes found in large families.


Holidays in Tyrol
1956 · 1h 40m · DE
10-year-old Rosmarin von Stetten lives with his widowed father Robert in the big city. During the holidays one day in the morning Rosmarin goes to the lake near the castle and meets Thymian, the poorest boy of the village, whose mother did not come back from the war and who has to do several jobs in the village for his living. The boys enter a boat, but both fall into the lake. Thymian crawls out of the water first and is found by a servant from the castle, who thinks he is Rosmarin and bring him to the castle and to bed. The boy doesn't know what happens and thinks he's spellbound...


Neither Seen Nor Recognized
1958 · 1h 35m · FR
In a small French village, everything would be quiet if the local wildlife cop was not being ridiculed by a smart poacher.


My Name is Niki
1952 · 1h 41m · DE
Winnie is desperate and doesn't know what to do next. She is about to marry her lover Paul, who has returned from war captivity. Both want to emigrate to America short after marriage. But the young woman has an illegitimate one-and-a-half-year-old son, whom she has kept secret from her fiancé. The short-tempered Paul would never understand that. When she is on her way to the orphanage, the grumpy senior civil servant Hieronymus Spitz and his little dog Tobby get into her train compartment. After a short observation, Winnie is certain that the misantrope actually has a good heart, because he lovingly takes care of his dog. Without further ado she leaves little Niki with the tax accountant and disappears from the train. Only a note with a request remains. The overwhelmed old gentleman initially wants to get rid of the child, but then takes it home and takes care of it together with his housekeeper. Both take the bundle of joy to their hearts. But then everything turns out differently.


Old Yeller
1957 · 1h 24m · US
Young Travis Coates is left to take care of the family ranch with his mother and younger brother while his father goes off on a cattle drive in the 1860s. When a yellow mongrel comes for an uninvited stay with the family, Travis reluctantly adopts the dog.


Treasure Island
1950 · 1h 36m · US
Enchanted by the idea of locating treasure buried by Captain Flint, Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey and Jim Hawkins charter a sailing voyage to a Caribbean island. Unfortunately, a large number of Flint's old pirate crew are aboard the ship, including Long John Silver.


The Pig Shepard
1957 · 14m
Puppet adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale.


The Twelve Months
1956 · 55m · SU
A poor girl was given an impossible task by her stepmother: to gather snowdrops in a winter forest. Suddenly she stumbled across twelve brothers who happened to be the twelve months.


Schwarzwaldmelodie
1956 · DE
No overview available


Darby O'Gill and the Little People
1959 · 1h 31m · US
A wily old codger matches wits with the King of the Leprechauns and helps play matchmaker for his daughter and the strapping lad who has replaced him as caretaker.


Good Morning
1959 · 1h 34m · JP
Two boys beg their parents for a television set, nagging them until all patience is lost. The parents order the boys to be quiet and the boys do exactly that--refusing to utter a word. The boys' silence ultimately puts the whole neighborhood into turmoil.


The Elves
1956 · 1h 12m · DE
At night, elves help people as long as they are not seen. Unfortunately, a shoemaker's wife is too curious.


Charley's Aunt
1959 · 1h 41m · DK
Charles and Peter have passed their law degree and are looking forward to wooing a few girls in the country. For that, they need a chaperone and persuade their fellow student Ditlev to play Charles's aunt from Brazil. Ditlev has a talent for acting and takes the role very seriously, but when Charles's real aunt turns up, things get complicated.


Marumakal
1952 · IN
No overview available


Angels in the Outfield
1951 · 1h 39m · US
The short-tempered manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates mends his ways in return for a little divine assistance.


Inang Mahal
1956 · PH
No overview available


Sunstroke
1953 · 1h 30m · DK
We are at Fiskeby Badehotel, owned by a charming young executive's daughter, Miss Søgaard. One day, when Miss Søgaard is on her way to inspect the hotel, she meets a young man on the road. One day, when Miss Søgaard is on her way to inspect the hotel, she meets a young man on the road. It is love at first sight. However, the young man turns out to be the doorman at her own hotel, where she now takes a job disguised as a bellboy. She wants to get to know the doorman better without him knowing who she is.


King Thrushbeard
1954 · DE
No overview available


The Snow Queen
1957 · 1h 1m · SU
When the Snow Queen, a lonely and powerful fairy, kidnaps the human boy Kai, his best friend Gerda must overcome many obstacles on her journey to rescue him.


The Boys
1959 · 1h 14m · SU
Three boys live in the same house and go to the same school in Kiev. After one of the boys gets in trouble, their friendship is put to a serious test for the first time in their lives.


The Cutlass
1954 · 1h 23m · SU
The teenager Misha Polyakov, being with his mother in a Ukrainian village on vacation with his grandmother and about to return home to Petrograd, offers his best friend Genka to go with him. Suddenly, a white gang of Nikitsky bursts into the village and attacks Misha’s house, where Commissioner Polevoy lives. The purpose of Nikitskiy (aka Nikolskiy) is a dagger located at Polevoy. Saving the commissioner, Misha learns from him the history and secret of the weapon, and receives it for storage with a request to solve the secret. Having returned with adventures to Petrograd, Misha Polyakov with friends begins to unravel the riddle of the dagger, in the handle of which is encrypted text.


The Snow Maiden
1952 · 1h 7m · SU
The tale about a girl with a cold heart who is dying in agony because of joy and love.


Nightingale Song
1957 · 1h 17m · ES
Joselito is a naughty boy that sings like the nightingales. He lives in a little town near Sevilla. He has a great success due to his magnificent voice and then he can practice charity with a girl from his town.


Don't Forget My Little Traudel
1957 · 1h 26m
17-year-old Traudel flees the orphanage she has to live in, in order to venture to Berlin.


Little Red Riding Hood
1954 · 46m · DE
Ever since a little girl received a red cap from her grandmother—which she loves to wear—everyone has called her “Little Red Riding Hood.” Little Red Riding Hood lives with her mother and her five brothers in a little cottage on the edge of the forest. Since their father passed away, Little Red Riding Hood’s brothers have been working as lumberjacks to support the family. The little girl helps her mother with the housework as best she can. When Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother falls seriously ill, her mother has to take care of her, while the girl handles the chores at home and also prepares meals for her five brothers.
The First Melody
The First Melody
1958 · 34m · RO
A romantic story about the first love.


The Heir
1954 · 1h 32m · DK
Anders returns to Denmark to visit his ill mom too late. Her lawyer tells him he's the illegitimate child of an estate owner. He goes there incognito and works on the big farm and falls for the maid and later for a gold digger.


Anna Thangi
1958 · 2h 20m · IN
Two siblings turn inseparable after the death of their parents. Things take a turn after they get married to their respective partners.


Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier
1955 · 1h 33m · US
Legends (and myths) from the life of famed American frontiersman Davy Crockett are depicted in this feature film edited from television episodes. Crockett and his friend George Russel fight in the Creek Indian War. Then Crockett is elected to Congress and brings his rough-hewn ways to the House of Representatives. Finally, Crockett and Russell journey to Texas and the last stand at the Alamo.
1950s cinema fought television with everything it had: widescreen formats, colour, and spectacle. Underneath the scale, it was also the decade of Japanese cinema's international breakthrough and the birth of the modern art film.
Family films are made to work for two audiences at once, which is a harder brief than it sounds. The enduring ones layer real emotional stakes under the accessibility.