A gross oversight: Masaki Kobayashi. "The Human Condition" has been called by some the best film ever made. It grossly overshadows Akira Kurosawa and most others. It's 9 hours and 47 minutes broken into three parts: "No Greater Love," "The Road to Eternity" and "A Soldier's Prayer." There are no words to describe it in English (or most languages). The closest? A cinematic masterpiece. His movie, "Kwaidan" possesses an incredible blend of art-work and cinematic genius as well (so is worth a mention). The story, "Hoichi the Earless" is very solid concerning acting, cinematography, action and so forth.

I agree with your choice of Glen Ford, Billy Wilder and several others.