FAVORITE FILM BY YEAR

1950 Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder)
give or take: All About Eve (Joseph L Mankiewicz). 

1951 A Place in the Sun (George Stevens)
give or take: A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan)

1952 Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen)
also:  Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen) and  Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen) and  Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen) and  Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen) and  Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen) and  Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen) and maybe  Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen) for good measure.

1953 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks)
runner up: From Here to Eternity (Fred Zinneman) 

1954 Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock)
runner up: A Star is Born (George Cukor)

1955 The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)
give or take: All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk) or Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray). I'm indecisive.

1956 Giant (George Stevens)
runner up: Written on the Wins (Douglas Sirk) 

1957 A Face in the Crowd (Elia Kazan)
runner up: The Three Faces of Eve (Nunnally Johnson) 

1958 Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock)
runner up: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Richard Brooks)

1959 Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder)
runner up: Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk)