Won Best Director, but not Best Picture (Academy Awards)
by Senator_Ivan_Alec | created - 10 May 2017 | updated - 11 months ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. 7th Heaven (1927)
110 min | Drama, Romance
A street cleaner saves a young woman's life, and the pair slowly fall in love until war intervenes.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Ben Bard, Albert Gran
Votes: 4,162 | Gross: $3.92M
1928 - Frank Borzage "Wings" won Best Picture, directed by William A. Wellman, who was not nominated for Best Director.
2. Two Arabian Knights (1927)
TV-G | 92 min | Adventure, Comedy, Romance
Two American soldiers are captured by the Germans on the Western Front during World War One and escape a POW camp only to stumble into further life-threatening adventures when they come across an Arabian king's daughter while on the lam.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: William Boyd, Mary Astor, Louis Wolheim, Ian Keith
Votes: 1,142 | Gross: $0.51M
1928 - Lewis Milestone "Wings" won Best Picture, directed by William A. Wellman, who was not nominated for Best Director. "Two Arabian Knights" was not nominated for Best Picture.
3. The Divine Lady (1928)
Not Rated | 99 min | Drama, History, Romance
The story of the romance between Emma, Lady Hamilton, and British war hero Admiral Horatio Nelson.
Director: Frank Lloyd | Stars: Corinne Griffith, Victor Varconi, H.B. Warner, Ian Keith
Votes: 935
1929 - Frank Lloyd "The Broadway Melody" won Best Picture, directed by Harry Beaumont. "The Divine Lady" was not nominated for Best Picture.
4. Skippy (1931)
Passed | 85 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Skippy, the mischievous son of a wealthy doctor, meets Sooky in poverty-ridden Shantytown, and together they try to save Sooky's pet from a cruel dogcatcher.
Director: Norman Taurog | Stars: Jackie Cooper, Robert Coogan, Mitzi Green, Jackie Searl
Votes: 1,000
1931 - Norman Taurog "Cimarron" won Best Picture, directed by Wesley Ruggles.
5. Bad Girl (1931)
Passed | 90 min | Drama, Romance
A man and woman, skeptical about romance, nonetheless fall in love and are wed, but their lack of confidence in the opposite sex haunts their marriage.
Director: Frank Borzage | Stars: James Dunn, Sally Eilers, Minna Gombell, Frank Darien
Votes: 1,604
1932 - Frank Borzage "Grand Hotel" won Best Picture, directed by Edmund Goulding, who was not nominated for Best Director.
6. The Informer (1935)
Approved | 91 min | Crime, Drama
In 1922, an Irish rebel informs on his friend, then feels doom closing in.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel, Preston Foster, Margot Grahame
Votes: 7,178 | Gross: $2.07M
1935 - John Ford "Mutiny on the Bounty" won Best Picture, directed by Frank Lloyd.
7. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Not Rated | 115 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft, Lionel Stander
Votes: 23,219
1936 - Frank Capra "The Great Ziegeld" won Best Picture, directed by Robert Z. Leonard.
8. The Awful Truth (1937)
Passed | 90 min | Comedy, Romance
A married couple file an amicable divorce, but find it harder to let go of each other than they initially thought.
Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy, Alexander D'Arcy
Votes: 21,378
1937 - Leo McCarey "The Life of Emile Zola" won Best Picture, directed by William Dieterle.
9. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Passed | 129 min | Drama
An Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Charley Grapewin
Votes: 99,959 | Gross: $0.06M
1940 - John Ford "Rebecca" won Best Picture, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
10. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Passed | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Two down-on-their-luck Americans searching for work in 1920s Mexico convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett
Votes: 132,433 | Gross: $5.01M
1948 - John Huston "Hamlet" won Best Picture, directed by Laurence Olivier.
11. A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Passed | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A letter is addressed to three wives from their "best friend" Addie Ross, announcing that she is running away with one of their husbands - but she does not say which one.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Kirk Douglas
Votes: 10,798
1949 - Joseph L. Mankiewicz "All the King's Men" won Best Picture, directed by Robert Rossen.
12. A Place in the Sun (1951)
Passed | 122 min | Drama, Romance
A poor boy gets a job working for his rich uncle and ends up falling in love with two women.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere
Votes: 24,786
1951 - George Stevens "An American in Paris" won Best Picture, directed by Vincente Minnelli.
13. The Quiet Man (1952)
Passed | 129 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A retired American boxer returns to the village of his birth in 1920s Ireland, where he falls for a spirited redhead whose brother is contemptuous of their union.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond
Votes: 42,405 | Gross: $10.55M
1952 - John Ford "The Greatest Show on Earth" won Best Picture, directed by Cecil B. DeMille.
14. Giant (1956)
G | 201 min | Drama, Western
Sprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker
Votes: 42,251
1956 - George Stevens "Around the World in Eighty Days" won Best Picture, directed by Michael Anderson.
15. The Graduate (1967)
PG | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, William Daniels
Votes: 288,449 | Gross: $104.95M
1967 - Mike Nichols "In the Heat of the Night" won Best Picture, directed by Norman Jewison.
16. Cabaret (1972)
PG | 124 min | Drama, Music, Musical
A female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.
Director: Bob Fosse | Stars: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem, Joel Grey
Votes: 59,396 | Gross: $42.77M
1972 - Bob Fosse "The Godfather" won Best Picture, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
17. Reds (1981)
PG | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia, and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States.
Director: Warren Beatty | Stars: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Edward Herrmann, Jerzy Kosinski
Votes: 24,719 | Gross: $40.38M
1981 - Warren Beatty "Chariots of Fire" won Best Picture, directed by Hugh Hudson.
18. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
R | 145 min | Biography, Drama, War
The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Tom Cruise, Bryan Larkin, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava
Votes: 115,968 | Gross: $70.00M
1989 - Oliver Stone "Driving Miss Daisy" won Best Picture, directed by Bruce Beresford, who was not nominated for Best Director.
19. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
R | 169 min | Drama, War
Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns
Votes: 1,496,627 | Gross: $216.54M
1998 - Steven Spielberg "Shakespeare in Love" won Best Picture, directed by John Madden.
20. Traffic (2000)
R | 147 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A conservative judge is appointed by the President to spearhead America's escalating war against drugs, only to discover that his teenage daughter is a crack addict. Two DEA agents protect an informant. A jailed drug baron's wife attempts to carry on the family business.
Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: Michael Douglas, Benicio Del Toro, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jacob Vargas
Votes: 219,745 | Gross: $124.12M
2000 - Steven Soderbergh "Gladiator" won Best Picture, directed by Ridley Scott.
21. The Pianist (2002)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music
During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
Votes: 912,380 | Gross: $32.57M
2002 - Roman Polanski "Chicago" won Best Picture, directed by Rob Marshall.
22. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
R | 134 min | Drama, Romance
Ennis and Jack are two shepherds who develop a sexual and emotional relationship. Their relationship becomes complicated when both of them get married to their respective girlfriends.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid
Votes: 382,237 | Gross: $83.04M
2005 - Ang Lee "Crash" won Best Picture, directed by Paul Haggis.
23. Life of Pi (2012)
PG | 127 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain, Tabu
Votes: 666,910 | Gross: $124.99M
2012 - Ang Lee "Argo" won Best Picture, directed by Ben Affleck, who was not nominated for Best Director.
24. Gravity (2013)
PG-13 | 91 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Dr Ryan Stone, an engineer on her first time on a space mission, and Matt Kowalski, an astronaut on his final expedition, have to survive in space after they are hit by debris while spacewalking.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris, Orto Ignatiussen
Votes: 863,266 | Gross: $274.09M
2013 - Alfonso Cuarón "12 Years a Slave" won Best Picture, directed by Steve McQueen.
25. The Revenant (I) (2015)
R | 156 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson
Votes: 874,452 | Gross: $183.64M
2015 - Alejandro González Iñárritu "Spotlight" won Best Picture, directed by Tom McCarthy.
26. La La Land (2016)
PG-13 | 128 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
While navigating their careers in Los Angeles, a pianist and an actress fall in love while attempting to reconcile their aspirations for the future.
Director: Damien Chazelle | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Rosemarie DeWitt, J.K. Simmons
Votes: 671,564 | Gross: $151.10M
2016 - Damien Chazelle "Moonlight" won Best Picture, directed by Barry Jenkins.
27. Roma (2018)
R | 135 min | Drama
A year in the life of a middle-class family's maid in Mexico City in the early 1970s.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey, Carlos Peralta
Votes: 169,819
2018 - Alfonso Cuarón "Green Book" won Best Picture, directed by Peter Farrelly, who was not nominated for Best Director.
28. The Power of the Dog (2021)
R | 126 min | Drama, Western
Charismatic rancher Phil Burbank inspires fear and awe in those around him. When his brother brings home a new wife and her son, Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to the possibility of love.
Director: Jane Campion | Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee
Votes: 193,831
2021 - Jane Campion "CODA" won Best Picture, directed by Sian Heder, who was not nominated for Best Director.
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