The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions (Decade Project Vol. 4)

An ongoing project to survey the best films of individual decades, genres, and filmmakers.
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swo17
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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#601 Post by swo17 » Sun Aug 02, 2020 7:41 pm

It doesn't even look like IMDb has a separate listing for Ugolin. In any case, yes

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domino harvey
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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#602 Post by domino harvey » Mon Aug 03, 2020 1:29 am

Was pleasantly surprised by Un témoin dans la ville (1959), the best of Molinaro's early pre-comedy noirs this decade, and give it a hearty recommendation. I could see a label like Arrow releasing this and making a nice profit as it's a real hidden gem with would-be wide appeal and great forward momentum. Lino Ventura avenges the death of his wife by faking the suicide of her murderer, only to have his perfect plan unravel after running into a cabbie on his way out the door. You have the give the film a little latitude on how dumb Ventura's delayed reaction is (if he had just given the driver his 400 francs fare the film would be over), but Ventura's fevered and unwavering stalking immediately after he realizes his mistake is terrific and never slows. By the end, the film becomes a variation of M, with a network of taxi drivers instead of criminals all working together against Ventura, who is oddly likeable in a role that becomes by design less defensible. Those who enjoyed the ASMR of all the driving scenes in Hill's the Driver will especially dig all the diagetically-scored interior car shots here, and for me the best thing about the film was seeing all of the great location shooting.

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#603 Post by bamwc2 » Mon Aug 03, 2020 1:09 pm

Viewing Log:

Arrowhead (Charles Marquis Warren, 1953): Charlton Heston stars as Ed Bannon, a cavalry man who's intense hatred of the Apache stemmed from his being kidnapped as a child and raised by them for several years. He's only happy when he's killing them, and spends the majority of the film warning his army superiors that the peace treaty their about to sign with Toriano (Jack Palance in redface) is a ruse for an all out war. In the film, the Apache had a legend about a leader from the east would come to lead them to victory, so when the opportunity came to have the chief's son Toriano sent off to an eastern boarding school, the tribe saw it as their way of fulfilling the prophecy. The film portrays the Apache as bloodthirsty savages that are willing to use deceit for victory, and Heston's character is far too racist to relate to. This one was really unpleasant to watch.

The Big Night (Joseph Losey, 1951): As the film opens, bartender Andy La Main (Preston Foster) celebrates his teenage son, Georgie's (John Drew Barrymore) birthday, when sportswriter Al Judge (Howard St. John) enters the bar with a group of thugs. Al humiliates Andy and then viciously beats him with his cane for an unknown transgression. Afterwards, Al closes up shop and goes to bed, as Georgie takes his father's gun and embarks into the night on a quest for revenge. Georgie first follows Al to a prize fight where he meets up with generalist professor Dr. Lloyd Cooper (Philip Bourneuf). Unknowing of Georgie's plan for revenge, Cooper helps him find his way around the town at night as every step leads him closer to a fateful confrontation with Al. Barrymore did a good job playing young in his role and was utterly believable as the nervous, anxious kid. The video had me on the edge of my seat as Georgie's fate closes in on him.

Do Bigha Zamin (Bimal Roy, 1953): Shambu Maheto (Balraj Sahni) is deeply in debt to local moneylenders, and the fate of their farm hangs in the balance. Desperate for quick cash, Shambu temporarily moves to the big city with son Kanhaiya (Rattan Kumar) looking for jobs. Shambu becomes a rickshaw carrier, while Kanhaiya takes up work as a shoeshine boy. When an accident puts Shambu out of commission, the family's values are put to the test as a desperate Kanhaiya does whatever it takes to help his father survive. Bollywood is a blind spot for me, but I've seen a few good entries for this project. This one was decent enough, but not the most memorable film in the bunch.

Don Quixote (Grigoriy Kozintsev, 1957): Comically delusional Alonso Quexana (Nikolay Cherkasov) becomes enamored with tales of chivalry and reinvents himself as errant knight Don Quixote de la Mancha. Along with his squire Sancho Panza (Yuriy Tolubeev), he embarks on a madcap quest to perform noble deeds. His picaresque quest leads him to a maiden he imagines is in danger, grant some ungrateful slaves their manumission, and famously attack a windmill that he mistakes for a giant. I'm a huge fan of Grigoriy Kozintsev's Shakespeare adaptations. While I don't think that this is on the same level as his final two films, it's still a thoroughly enjoyable adventure. Cherkasov is excellent in the title role as the buffoonish knight, and the film is a breezy interpretation of Cervantes's work. It's an easy recommendation.

Garden of Evil (Henry Hathaway, 1954): Hooker (Gary Cooper), Fiske (Richard Widmark), and Luke (Cameron Mitchell) are a trio of Americans on their way to the California gold rush when their ship wrecks in a lush Mexican village. The seeming paradise belies a festering underbelly with an uneasy peace with the Apache (why is it always the Apache in these movies?). Fellow American Leah Fuller (Susan Hayward) recruits the three men to help rescue her husband John (Hugh Marlowe) who has been trapped in a goldmine cave in deep within Apache territory. The men battle natives as they fight their way to the cave, but will any of them live to see California? Gary Cooper is his usual self, and Widmark is great as the card shark Fiske. Hayward does the most with her role as the desperate sexpot. Last week I said that I wanted see more films by Hathaway after catching his excellent Rawhide. I don't think that this one was quite as good, but it's a decent enough western.

An Inn at Osaka (Heinosuke Gosho, 1954): Mr. Mito (Shuji Sano) had a cushy job in Tokyo until he slapped his boss across the face. Unable to fire Mito, the company instead demotes and reassigns him their Osaka branch. There he arrives at the eponymous inn and begins to learn about the town and its residents. Before long Mito gets to know the inn's staff, particularly a comically brash geisha and the maids. His random encounter with a woman could have become a romantic plot point in different film. Here it leads to something even more special. Eventually Mito takes the hotel and its staff to see a historic castle, and is accepted as a beloved member of the community. There is no real conflict in the film aside from Mito's desire to fit in. It's genial enough, but didn't make that much of an impression.

Shield for Murder (Howard W. Koch and Edmond O'Brien, 1954): Barney Nolan (Edmond O'Brien) is sick and tired of barely eeking out a living of a detective's salary and decides to go rouge. He shoots and kills a bookie for the $25,000 in mafia funds he's carrying, but claims he misfired a warning shot. Early on in the night it seems like he's going to get away with it, and he goes out with his girlfriend, Patty (Marla English). However, when Nolan accidentally kills a witness, me makes a fatal mistake that will lead to his downfall. This was a pretty effective noir that kept its frenetic energy high as Nolan self destructs over the course of the night. O'Brien is characteristically effective in the main role, and John Agar did a good job as the cop who takes him down.

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#604 Post by Michael Kerpan » Mon Aug 03, 2020 1:44 pm

bamwc2 - It's strange watching a Kozintsev film without a Shostakovich score. Both the Quixote and Sancho Panza are pretty great. But the Kozintsev-Shostakovich-Pasternak Shakespeare films are definitely better.

Where did you run across Osaka Inn?

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#605 Post by bamwc2 » Mon Aug 03, 2020 6:00 pm

Michael Kerpan wrote:
Mon Aug 03, 2020 1:44 pm
Where did you run across Osaka Inn?
Somewhere I don't believe I'm allowed to post about.

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#606 Post by Michael Kerpan » Mon Aug 03, 2020 6:08 pm

bamwc2 wrote:
Mon Aug 03, 2020 6:00 pm

Somewhere I don't believe I'm allowed to post about.
Wakarimashita. ;-)

I was hoping for something properly accessible.

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#607 Post by Shrew » Mon Aug 03, 2020 11:27 pm

(There's a English subtitled version up on youtube under the title An Inn at Osaka)

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#608 Post by Michael Kerpan » Mon Aug 03, 2020 11:38 pm

Shrew wrote:
Mon Aug 03, 2020 11:27 pm
(There's a English subtitled version up on youtube under the title An Inn at Osaka)
Thanks!

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#609 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:00 pm

Red Screamer wrote:
Thu Jul 30, 2020 12:19 am
Girl with Hyacinths (Hasse Ekman, 1950) Because of its structure and theme, people often compare this to Citizen Kane or Laura. But as a lean, mean melo on youth, idealism, and sexuality that lays the irony on thick without losing any emotional intensity, it reminded me of La Casa del Angel. Ekman takes the pulpy material and gives it a stark theatrical spin, using long-takes that are more often modest than showy. His direction largely saves its stylish side for a few key scenes. I’ll have to see this again to add more in-depth thoughts since it’s a movie that begs to be reseen as soon as you finish it, but for now I can give my highest recommendation and leave it at that.

Except...re: the ending—
SpoilerShow
There’s a rich irony in how the ending unfolds: the lounge singer and Anders both think she committed suicide over a crush on him and Britt thinks it was because of her love for Alex. But in its final flashback, the film shows us that her anguish comes from (as much as it's explainable) an inseparable combination of lost love and broken ideals, with the flashbacks' settings defined by WII and, most painfully, her husband’s Nazi sympathies and Alex’s complicity.
I enjoyed how in the film's core structure, despite narrative expectations of the skewed nature of the interviewee's memories painting a biased portrait of Dagmar, she continuously retains her own attitude independent of the individualized perspectives of her in flashbacks. She never budges from assuming an impenetrable disposition that even when smiling contains melancholic undertones, which forces each person in her life to assign meaning to her source of suffering; but her mysteriousness and unknowability burns into their memories, like a ghost haunting their consciouses. Her death prompts them to reflect on their lives with her without leaving room for anyone but this enigmatic spirit to occupy space. Was she actually this unreadable, or has the present circumstance forced her image to shift, given hard evidence that something was troubling her beneath the surface? The flashbacks give us a lot of time with Dagmar, the camera zooming in on her face as we too become the dreamer attempting to decipher a mood, a thought, a feeling, from her face and body language, to no avail.
SpoilerShow
I read the ending similarly, leaning heavily towards the meaninglessness behind involuntary change and the loss of connection or comprehension of the souls of those she loves. The disillusionment in humanity emanating from people she has known and loved sympathizing or compartmentalizing the horrors of Nazism spreads like a disease, and meeting an old friend only to discover she too compromised her morals is just too much (especially when we realize this is Alex- who, unless I'm misremembering is the woman she's in love with?). But I think the piano song is also critical, as the 'straw that broke the camel's back.' She's playing an old favorite somber tune, finding a moment of peace in her music, only to be interrupted by Alex asking her to play an upbeat samba tune. Robbing her of that reprieve, invalidating her own will and existence, and simultaneously forcing her to shift her own mood to a complacent contentment, completely severs any solace or link Dagmar has with our world. When even her coping strategy and safe space is aggressively punctured by another reminder that time has dissolved all good people she's encountered into the same alien muck, there's no secure hold left to keep her alive.

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#610 Post by alacal2 » Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:49 am

<t>Pool of London (Basil Dearden, 1951)<br/>
<br/>
Adrift on dry land. A film about navigation. <br/>
<br/>
In essence the narrative is about seamen on shore leave, two of whom unwittingly get caught up in a diamond heist and within that, emerges one of the first inter-racial relationships in British film.Based on two viewings within the month this much underrated film is circling around the lower reaches of my top 50. Charles Barr, in his authoritative book on Ealing Studios, damns it with faint praise by briefly referring to it in the footnotes. 'If only one film could be preserved for posterity, to illustrate the essence of Ealing from the time before decadence set in, this would be a good choice with its clearcut embodiment of Ealing attitudes towards women, violence, social responsibility and cinematic form'. Unfortunately he doesn't elaborate because I think there's a lot more going on here.<br/>
<br/>
Part of its strength is that it's almost entirely shot on location and makes magnificent use of Dockland, the Thames and the streets of the City of London. But it doesn't feel like a comfortable Ealing London. None of your characterful communities but a place of betrayal and exploitation. One of the crew (played by James Robertson Justice) is almost terrified of leaving the ship and remains in his room to consume his duty free whisky. At one point he launches into a desperate tirade about the real 'festering' city behind the public jewel-like facade. And towards the end there is a sequence of shots of the Thames that look positively prehistoric as one of the main characters struggles to get back to his ship to give himself up. The Studio Canal restoration is impressive and does full justice to the cinematography.<br/>
<br/>
Dearden is particularly good at masculine anxiety where, with one exception, all the male characters seem rootless and directionless, literally 'at sea' on dry land. The exception is Johnny, a West Indian played by Earl Cameron (who sadly died this month at the sprightly age of 102!) who is clearly in touch with his emotions and able to articulate them, although tragically he is unable to use that to form a full relationship with Pat, the woman he meets.<br/>
<br/>
The relationship between Pat and Johnny forms the quiet, beating heart at the centre of this film, as a contrast to the cacophony of the jewel raid (as an aside Dearden uses his theatrical background to make the central villain a stage acrobat - a role essential to both the robbery's success and failure) and its consequences. Although the 'daring' scene where Pat and Johnny are almost jolted by a bus-ride into closer intimacy is the one that attracted most attention at the time, for me, the most powerful sequence, is where they visit Greenwich together and wander through the Naval College up the hill to the Greenwich Observatory - a place central to the history of navigation. Here, Earl's musing on colour and race (although somewhat simplistic - this is Ealing, England at the start of the 50s after all!) take on a real power about the limits and possibilities of time and a person's being in the world. Dearden frames this scene looking up at both of them in midshot with the Obervatory in the background. It's at this point in the film that you realise their relationship has finally strengthened into something rich but will never be consummated and its heartbreaking. (Reading this back, I'm not sure if I've communicated this very well but I hope you get the picture).<br/>
As a footnote, I'm sure many cinemagoers at the time wondered about Pat and Johnny's fates and I was interested in the actors' futures which turned out to be bittersweet. Earl Cameron had a prolific and successful career, got given a CBE and a birthday card from the Queen on his 100h birthday. He was still looking for parts. In looking at the various interviews he's done he comes across as a lovely man with a fierce intellect and quiet anger. Susan Shaw, according to Wikipedia, who played Pat, married twice, the second time to Bonar Colleano who was the lead in Pool of London. He was killed in a car accident, a tragedy from which she never fully recovered leading to a long period of alcoholism. Her addiction resulted in handing over the care of her son to his paternal grandmother. An attempted screen comeback failed and she died of liver failure aged 49. The Rank Organisation paid for her funeral.</t>

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#611 Post by alacal2 » Thu Aug 06, 2020 4:49 am

Lady In A Dressing Gown (J Lee Thompson 1957)

A real curiosity. A study of the consequences of a marriage break up when husband (Anthony Quayle) leaves his wife (Yvonne Mitchell) for a younger woman (Sylvia Syms). This apparently caused quite a stir on its release with Yvonne Mitchell winning Best Actress Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and has been touted as some sort of feminist landmark and a pre-cursor to the British New Wave. Yvonne Mitchell's performance is indeed remarkable but completely wasted on the film as she is on her husband. Quayle seems to me to be completely anaemic in his role. The sexual politics seem very dubious. Mitchell's 'sins' seem to be a failure to multi-task (she ruins all the breakfast and not just the toast!) and untidiness. Most of the film is devoted to her promising to 'make it right' when there are clearly some disturbing mental health issues that the film seems barely registerst. In one of the extras (on Studio Canal's 'Vintage Classics' DVD) Dr Melanie Williams makes a valiant but ultimately unconvincing case for its feminist credentials. Interestingly, in her research on women's reactions to the film many respondents felt one of its messages was never to wear a dressing gown after 9 o'clock if you don't want to lose your husband.

Nowhere To Go (Seth Holt 1958)

A cracking little noir with an interesting pedigree. One of the last Ealing Studios projects and intended to be the 'least Ealing film ever made' by its director (which it is - apart from a very brief Ealing 'moment set in a petshop). Holt, a much underrated director, was brother-in-law to Robert Hamer and producer on The Lady Killers and went on to direct a couple of Hammers (including Taste of Fear). The occasionally ascerbic script was by Kenneth Tynan and the film was Maggie Smith's first screen appearence - playing more of a femme fataliste than fatale. There's a superbly shot 10-minute almost wordless opening scene of a prison break-in and breakout. George Nader plays the thief on the run who, inspite of some intelligent forward planning ends up with no way out. Great minimalist jazz score which the director commissioned separately from the film and then used as part of the editing process.

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#612 Post by bamwc2 » Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:51 am

Viewing Log:

Born Yesterday (George Cukor, 1950): Scrapyard millionaire Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford) arrives in Washington D.C. along with his ditsy fiance Billie (Judy Holliday). Journalist Paul Verrall (William Holden) grills Harry, but impresses him so much that the industrialist offers him $200 a week to turn his airhead girlfriend into a sophisticate. Paul drills Billie on U.S. history and civics, turning her into a fan of Thomas Paine and a user of big words. Empowered by her newfound knowledge, Billie rebels against her abusive partner, and falls head over heels for Paul. Holden is competent as the square jawed tutor, but this is unmistakably Judy Holliday's movie. The gender politics of the film hasn't aged well, but Holliday really was great.

The Geisha Boy (Frank Tashlin, 1958): The first of two Tashlins that I plan to watch for the project, and the only one without Dean Martin, was a wonderful discovery. Jerry Lewis stars as Gilbert Wooley a third-rate magician who couldn't hack it in the states, so he takes a job in the USO. Wacky shenanigans with his rabbit Harry puts him on the wrong side of starlet Lola Livingston (Marie McDonald) on the flight oversees, but his spirit is buoyed with his introduction to the stunner Kimi Sikita (Nobu McCarthy). After witnessing Wooley's madcap hijinks, Kimi's young orphaned ward Mitsuo (Robert Hirano) laughs for the first time. Later he asks Wooley to be his new father, and the heart-struck magician spends the rest of the film acting as the boy's surrogate papa. The jokes were pretty good in this one, and the script proves that Lewis could handle the schmaltzy as well as the best of them. It was also a very progressive film for its time featuring both an interracial kiss and romance. Obviously G.I.s had been bringing Asian brides home as far back as WWII, but it took Hollywood a while to catch up in its portrayal.

The Hanging Tree (Delmer Daves, et al, 1959): Gary Cooper stars as Joseph 'Doc' Frail, a old west doctor who saves the life of gold thief Rune (Ben Piazza) and turns him into an indentured servant. Doc becomes the new healer for gold mining community Skull Creek a sleepy town where little yellow nuggets seem to be in short supply. Doc's raucous past threatens his standing in the community, but when Frenchy (Karl Malden) finds Swiss immigrant Elizabeth Mahler, (Maria Schell) doc's services become vital to her survival. He spends the coming weeks nursing Elizabeth back to health, but Frenchy proves to be a lingering problem for the two of them. Cooper is great in this one as the hard drinking, gambling healer, and Malden is terrifying as the rapey gold miner. It was a much better western for the star than his Garden of Evil.

It's Always Fair Weather (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1955): G.I.s Ted Riley (Gene Kelley), Doug Hallerton (Dan Dailey), and Angie Valentine (Michael Kidd) return from the war to New York thick as thieves. When bartender Tim (David Burns) bets them that they won't stay friends, they make an oath saying that they'll return to the bar chums in exactly ten years. All three of them go their own ways, but reunite as promised in 1955 only to find that they don't have much in common and no longer like each other. The three ex-friends go about their day. Doug, an advertising executive, has too much to drink at a company party and makes a fool of himself. Ted trains a crooked prize fighter, and tries to romance New York sophisticate Jackie Leighton (Cyd Charisse). The three reunite in the end for an electric encounter that brings them closer again. It took me a while to warm up to this one, but once I did, I fell in love. The five principles do a tremendous job with their song and dance numbers, and seeing Gene Kelly dance on roller skates (something that I understand I can see again if I ever watch Xanadu) was pure magic.

Macao (Josef von Sternberg, et al, 1952): Nick Cochran (Robert Mitchum) is down on his luck and trying to make a new start in Macao. Unfortunately for him, he's immediately (and falsely) made for a cop that's there to bring Vincent Halloran (Brad Dexter), the criminal head of a local casino, back home to face charges. Julie Benson (Jane Russell), an American sex pot that Nick saves at the beginning of the film, repays the favor by robbing him of his last few dollars. Broke, Nick searches for a job at Vincent's casino, and gets mixed up with the with the intrigue involving the real officer there to arrest Vincent. This was an interesting turn for director, von Sternberg, and reminiscent of his other crime pic, Shanghai Express. While I don't think that this one reaches the heights of Shanghai Express, it's a pretty good film with solid performances from its leads. It's unfortunate that the only Asian people in the movie are assassins working for Vincent, but I suppose that the film is simply a relic of its era.

Repast (Mikio Naruse, 1951): Michiyo Okamoto (Setsuko Hara) is a disaffected housewife. Just five years ago she was full of dreams about the future, but gave them all up to look after her neglectful husband Hatsu (Ken Uehara), who sees her as more of a servant than a partner. Tensions rise when his cousin Satako (Yukiko Shimazahi) comes for an extended visit. Hatsu begins staying out late with her, and Michiyo grows suspicious that they're having an affair. Unable to cope, Michiyo leaves her husband and returns to her family in her native Tokyo. Hatsu eventually follows, and she begins to see him in a new light. The beginning of the film was quite powerful. Made more than a decade before Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique would illuminate the plight of the American housewife, Naruse brought attention to the overworked and unfulfilled lives of Japanese women. Unfortunately, the film's ending feels like a betrayal of socially conscious issues it raises in its first half.

I vampiri (Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava, 1957): Mario Bava's feature length debut starts off with the discovery of a corpse drained of all its blood. Its the fourth such victim found over the course of the summer, all of them young women that have been completely exsanguinated. Journalist Pierre Lantin (Dario Michaelis) launches his own investigation as Inspector Chantal's (Carlo D'Angelo) proves fruitless. Eventually, the investigation leads Lantin to the Du Grand family, who have an ancient anscestral castle outside of town. There he discovers Giselle du Grand (Gianna Maria Canale), a beautiful young woman who may not be what she appears. I had no idea going in, but this could have also counted for the sci-fi project, as the machinations of a mad scientist play a crucial role in the film's terror. Like a lot of Bava's work, this one was rough around the edges, but showed the promise of a talented filmmaker who go on to become one of Italy's all time horror greats.

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#613 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Aug 06, 2020 10:58 am

bamwc2 -- You and I see Repast very differently. ;-)

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#614 Post by bamwc2 » Thu Aug 06, 2020 12:50 pm

Michael Kerpan wrote:
Thu Aug 06, 2020 10:58 am
bamwc2 -- You and I see Repast very differently. ;-)
How so? Disagreement about the ending?

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#615 Post by Michael Kerpan » Thu Aug 06, 2020 5:59 pm

Disagreement about the nature of the husband and the ultimate resolution. ;-)

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#616 Post by bamwc2 » Thu Aug 06, 2020 6:27 pm

Has anyone here tried streaming Preminger's Saint Joan on Amazon? The name and the cover art are correct, but the description is clearly for John Farrow's The Saint Strikes Back. I'd like to confirm it's the right movie before paying $3.99.

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#617 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Aug 06, 2020 6:35 pm

Every detail on that page except the poster is for the Farrow movie, so I would bet big money on that being what it's for, and the picture being an error.

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#618 Post by bamwc2 » Thu Aug 06, 2020 6:47 pm

I wonder if I could get a refund if it's the wrong movie. I just streamed Tiger Bay on Amazon without realizing I could get it on the Criterion Channel. I'm still a bit grumpy over that and don't want to waste another $3.99.

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#619 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Aug 06, 2020 6:53 pm

bamwc2 wrote:
Thu Aug 06, 2020 6:47 pm
I wonder if I could get a refund if it's the wrong movie. I just streamed Tiger Bay on Amazon without realizing I could get it on the Criterion Channel. I'm still a bit grumpy over that and don't want to waste another $3.99.
Normally I'd say try, since Amazon are generally understanding, but it would be a hard argument to pitch since every detail is for the other film. You'd have a better case if it was a mix between description, cast, director, year, etc. but all you'd have in your defense is the cover.

Plus if you scroll down to the comments, it looks like ones from about ten years ago talk about the Preminger film, but everything in the last few years mention the Farrow, and there are even a few that explicitly warn people to avoid stating that the wrong poster is associated with the film, so I think that's your answer (unfortunately)

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#620 Post by bamwc2 » Thu Aug 06, 2020 7:40 pm

Oops. I didn't even realize there were comments. Thanks.

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#621 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:00 pm

bamwc2 wrote:
Thu Aug 06, 2020 7:40 pm
Oops. I didn't even realize there were comments. Thanks.
FYI I did a quick google search, and one of the first links has the film up in full for free. Feel free to PM me if you're having trouble.

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#622 Post by bamwc2 » Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:18 pm

Thanks. I already started up a different movie tonight, and have two lined up for tomorrow. I'll check it out soon though.

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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#623 Post by bamwc2 » Fri Aug 07, 2020 4:04 pm

Viewing Log:

Artists and Models (Frank Tashlin, 1955): Rick Todd (Dean Martin) is an unemployed artist who can't keep a job thanks to the goofball antics of his friend and roommate Eugene Fullstack (Jerry Lewis). Eugene's obsession with comic book hero Bat Lady is so extreme that he has nighttime psychic channeling of stories that involve real life military secrets. Meanwhile, Abby Parker (Dorothy Malone), the artist of Bat Lady, is fired from her job at the same time that she comes into their lives. It turns out that she and her model Bessie Sparrowbrush (Shirley MacLaine) live across the way from Rick and Eugene, and the four of them quickly form a couple of romantic pairings. But when the secret of Eugene's real life superpower comes to light, a group of spies wreak havoc on their lives. With lots of singing, and gags, this is your typical Lewis-Martin team up with some parapsychology thrown in for good measure. The songs were entertaining, and the jokes worked pretty well. It's no masterpiece, but was a lot of fun.

Bakumatsu taiyô-den (Yûzô Kawashima, 1957): Set in the last days of the shogunate in the 1860s, Saheiji (Furankî Sakai), a jocular and resourceful hobo, spends his days at a Shinagawa brothel where he's forced to stay until he's paid off his debts. He's regarded as a harmless grifter, but it turns out that he's the most intelligent resident there as he uses his wits to solve the problems of the protitutes there. Staying one step ahead of everyone around him, Saheiji turns out to be a lovable loser. With beautiful staging and strong performances, the film is a warm and joyful comedy. From what I gather it's still remembered fondly in Japan. Watching it now, I completely understand why.

I, a Negro (Jean Rouch, 1958): Shot with a non-professional cast, Jean Rouche recruited a group of Nigerian day laborers in Abidjan to play versions of themselves. The cast adopt the names of famous actors/movie characters (e.g. Dorothy Lamour, Tarzan, Lemmy Caution), but the main character is Edward G. Robinson (or, when he boxes, Edward Ray Sugar G. Robinson). The group work day in and day out to get enough money to eat for the next 24 hours (and have a little booze on the side), but are never able to better themselves in any meaningful way. Not everything is solemn though. There's Robinson's aforementioned stint as a boxer, and Lemmy's insistence that he's an FBI agent. The group of friends find time to do ordinary things like go swimming and make love, but their work duties are never far behind. I found this to be a fascinating look into a group of people that the filmmaking industry would usually ignore. Because of the way it was made, it's not as polished as the other films on the list, but it's easily worth the time you'll put into it.

Moby Dick (John Huston, 1956): I can't say the same about John Huston's adaptation of the Herman Melville classic though. Shamefully, I've never read the source material, so I can't comment on the film as an adaptation, but I can say that I found it alternately tedious and horrifying. Though he only receives second billing, Richard Basehart stars as Ishmael, a ship hand who signs up to join Captain Ahab's (Gregory Peck) whaling crew. While they're ostensibly after any whale they can find, Ahab is on the lookout for Moby Dick, the great white whale who took his leg in a previous encounter. Ahab's obsession puts both him and his crew in harm's way, and ultimately leads to disaster. I hate using 'boring' in film criticism, but I found long stretches of it humdrum while they're out at sea. The monotony is only broken by the periodic whale hunts, which are mostly composed of actual footage of them. As someone who takes animal welfare seriously, I found these scenes to be both barbaric and unnecessary. I strongly recommend passing on this one.

Saint Joan (Otto Preminger, 1957): Director Otto Preminger tells the story of Joan of Arc in flashback with a decidedly supernatural bent. When the film starts, meek French king, Charles VII (Richard Widmark) has a ghostly encounter with the spirit of the executed Joan (Jean Seberg). From there we go back to when she first met Charles as a young Dauphin pretending to be a lowly monk in the court. She sees through the ruse, and is placed in charge of the French army. After military success, she's captured by the English where she's put on trial for heresy and executed by being burned at the stake. Widmark, who I usually love, overplays his character to the point of haminess. Seberg is laconic in her role, but never given much to do other than to talk about God's plan for her. I really wanted to like this one, but the ghostly bookends to the film completely fail. I hate to say it, but the critical consensus is right. This one is just bad.

Il Tetto (Vittorio De Sica, 1956): Natale (Giorgio Listuzzi) and Louisa Pilon (Gabriella Pallotta) are a pair of Italian newlyweds without a home to call their own. They cannot afford to buy one, and it's illegal to build one in the Roman outskirts where they live. It turns out, however, that there's a loophole in the law which states that no one may be evicted from a house once a roof has been erected. Consequently, Natale leads an effort with a comically ragtag group of friends to build a one room house with a roof over it overnight before the police know what's going on. And that's pretty much it. Not much happens in this comedy from De Sica, and it doesn't have the same reputation of most of his 50s output. It was a decent enough diversion, but ultimately seems like a quick and minor entry into the director's canon.

Tiger Bay (J. Lee Thompson, 1959): Bronislaw Korchinsky (Horst Buchholz), a Polish sailor, returns to the English apartment of his ex-lover only to kill her with her own gun during an argument. Gillie (Hayley Mills), a young tomboy, witnesses the murder and steals the handgun after the killer stashed it. Bronislaw realizes that she saw everything, and hunts her down after a church service. Instead of hurting her, he takes the gun back and pretends to be the girl's friend. Much of the rest of the movie is about Bronislaw playing with the girl as he attempts to eat up the time until he returns to sea where the British police can't touch him. Long rumored to be forthcoming from Criterion, the film seems like it would make an interesting pairing with their Sundays and Cybèle. While I don't believe this film rises to the level of Bourguignon's masterwork, its still a good film in its own right. Mills demonstrates the talent that would her a Disney superstar less than a decade later, and Buchholz is excellent as the cornered man willing to do whatever it takes to avoid arrest.

bamwc2
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:54 am

Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#624 Post by bamwc2 » Fri Aug 07, 2020 4:51 pm

I'm looking for some guidance on The File on Thelma Jordon. According to imdb, it opened in London on November 4, 1949, but didn't play anywhere else until January of 1950. Is it eligible for the list or not?

Edit: I just ran into the same problem with D.O.A.. It's premier was 12/23/49, but didn't officially open in the states until April 1950.
Last edited by bamwc2 on Fri Aug 07, 2020 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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domino harvey
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Re: The 1950s List: Discussion and Suggestions

#625 Post by domino harvey » Fri Aug 07, 2020 4:53 pm

We go by IMDB year regardless of release dates listed, so not eligible

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