films I need to see again for re-evaluation and a possible entry into the above list:

The Asphalt Jungle (John Huston / USA / 1950)
Orphe (Jean Cocteau / France / 1950)

Angel Face (Otto Preminger / USA / 1952)
High Noon (Fred Zinnemann / USA / 1952)

La signora senza camelie The Lady without Camelias (Michelangelo Antonioni / Italy / 1953) 
Le salaire de la peur The Wages of Fear (Henri-Georges Clouzot / France / 1953) 
Tokyo monogatari Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu / Japan / 1953) 

Touchez pas au grisbi Hands Off the Loot (Jacques Becker / France / 1954)

East of Eden (Elia Kazan / USA / 1955)
Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich / USA / 1955)
Mr. Arkadin (Orson Welles / Spain, France, Switzerland / 1955)

Un condamn mort s'est chapp ou Le vent souffle o il veut A Man escaped (Robert Bresson / France / 1956)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean / UK, USA / 1957)

Window Water Baby Moving (Stan Brakhage / USA / 1958)