Favorite Movies from the 1950s

[BurtWorm]

I ask because I saw two great ones over the weekend:

Anatomy of a Murder (1959), directed by Otto Preminger and starring Jimmy Stewart as an Upper Peninsula lawyer who takes on the case of an army lieutenant (Ben Gazzara) who murders an innkeeper who he believes raped his sexy, not strictly faithful wife (Lee Remick). Groundbreaking for its use of language and subject matter (introducing the words "rape" and "panties" into American cinema's vocabulary). I prejudged this film for years as being a humorless courtroom drama. It's actually full of humor, thanks to Stewart, Remick and the unusually cast Joseph Welch as the judge. Welch is best known for intoning "Have you no decency at long last?" during the Army-McCarthy hearings. The film also has a great score by Duke Ellington, who makes a cameo appearance.

Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), directed by John Sturges and starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borginine and Walter Brennan. Another film I'd never seen. I really didn't have any idea what I was missing. It's just a brilliant, beautiful, tightly wound suspense story and poignant bit of social commentary. One of the most poetic screenplays I recall in a big budget American movie.

[BOSSHOG]

1. Creature from the Black Lagoon

Loved the Music Score.

[BuelahWitch]

2. Rebel Without A Cause

Singin' in the Rain

Our Man in Havana

Auntie Mame

Mister Roberts

Some Like It Hot

[Forkboy]

10. One of my favorites.

The scene where the creature is swimming under Julie Adams and watching her is both erotic and creepy at the same time. One of the classic monster movies. It's also getting the remake treatment.

[raccoon]

3. Old Yeller. nt

[Bossy Monkey]

4. Rear Window

Looking over lists of best movies from the '50s I sure have seen damned few of these for a person born in 1962. Maybe when I reawaken my Netflix account, I'll fix that somewhat.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

5. Some of mine:

Vertigo, 12 Angry Men, The Killing, The 400 Blows, Bridge on the River Kwai, Night of the Hunter, On the Waterfront, Paths of Glory, Ugetsu, Seven Samurai, Ikiru, Touch of Evil.

[joeybee12]

6. A Streetcar Named Desire...

...full of legends, especially Vivien Leigh.

[NewJeffCT]

7. 12 Angry Men

Henry Fonda as the sole liberal jurist eventually winning over a hostile jury.

Bridge on the River Kwai as well - some brilliant acting

[Captain Hilts]

21. Yes. Twelve Angry 'Men' because women were prohibited from being on juries in NY then. nt

[cbayer]

8. Rashomon

It taught me that "truth" is defined by an individual's perspective, an insight that has served me well for many years.

:hi:

[BurtWorm]

9. Great 50s noir

Pickup On South Street (1953), by Sam Fuller, with Richard Widmark. About a pickpocket who, thinking he's getting money, steals microfilm with national secrets on it from a communist agent on the subway and suddenly finds himself being chased by the feds and the commies.

Asphalt Jungle (1950), by John Huston, with Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffee, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen and Marilyn Monroe. Brilliant, gritty, utterly compelling grandaddy of the heist-gone-wrong pictures.

The Big Heat (1953), by Fritz Lang, with Glen Ford, Gloria Grahame and Lee Marvin. Ford gives a great performance as a seethingly angry cop trying to pry open a corruption scandal that hits close to home.

[Forkboy]

11. One comes instantly to mind.

War of the Worlds and On The Beach are pretty darn good, too.

[raccoon]

12. Around the World in 80 Days--one of my favorites. nt

[BurtWorm]

13. Favorite foreign films of the 1950s

M. Hulot Takes a Holiday and Mon Oncle, by Jacques Tati

Bob le Flambeur, by John-Pierre Melville

Jeux Interdits, by Rene Clement

Smiles of a Summer Night, by Ingmar Bergman

Big Deal on Madonna Street, by Mario Monicelli

Pather Panchali, by Satyajit Ray

[kentauros]

14. The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Forbidden Planet

The Day the Earth Stood Still is a 1951 black-and-white science fiction film that tells the story of a humanoid alien visitor who comes to Earth with a warning. The film stars Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Sam Jaffe, and Hugh Marlowe, under the direction of Robert Wise. Screenwriter Edmund H. North based the screenplay on the 1940 Harry Bates' short story "Farewell to the Master." The score was composed by Bernard Herrmann and used two theremin electronic instruments. The film is often considered by movie historians to be one of the classics of the science-fiction genre.


Forbidden Planet is a 1956 science fiction film in CinemaScope and Metrocolor directed by Fred M. Wilcox and starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis and Leslie Nielsen. The characters and setting were inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest, and the plots are very similar.

The film features a number of Oscar-nominated special effects, groundbreaking use of an all-electronic music score, and the first screen appearance of both Robby the Robot and the C-57D flying saucer starship.

[Krakowiak]

15. A Face in the Crowd - great movie about media demagogue (nt)

[BurtWorm]

16. Invasion of the Body Snatchers

[Art_from_Ark]

17. Peter Pan

Vertigo, Rear Window, Bridge Over the River Kwai

[proteus_lives]

18. Them!

Love that movie.

[Skittles]

19. The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)

:thumbsup:

[Captain Hilts]

20. The African Queen. Some Like It Hot. nt

[joeybee12]

31. I just re-watched African Queen...

...now THOSE TWO were stars!

[Captain Hilts]

33. And don't they just look like the jungle has beaten the crap out of them?

They were voted by the AFI ? as the top female and male stars of the 20th Century.

Both good Dems who'd throw a punch if provoked.

[MajorChode]

22. North by Northwest

The Searchers

12 Angry Men

The Bridge on the River Kwai

Roman Holiday

Rear Window

Shane

The Caine Mutiny

Just to name a few.

[Sky Masterson]

23. Guys and Dolls (1955)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVlQXvrWC_A


;)

[Retired AF Dem]

24. Some real good picks above

Shane, my favorite western.

[DemBones DemBones]

27. Some foreign films: "Hiroshima Mon Amour" (Alain Resnais),

"Umberto D" (Vittorio di Sica), "Orfee" (Jean Cocteau), "Nights of Cabiria" (Fellini), "La Strada" (Fellini),
"Wild Strawberries" (Ingmar Bergman), "The Seventh Seal" (Bergman)

[RebelOne]

25. The original "The Thing" in which James Arness plays the alien. n/t

[BurtWorm]

28. The original The Blob with Steve McQueen

[LeftinOH]

26. Night of the Hunter -gives me the willies every time I see it.

[Demoiselle]

32. Yes! Charles Laughton's only work as a director. I love it. nt

[Blue_Tires]

29. I guess I get to be the first to mention Ben Hur, then....

[begin_within]

30. The best film made so far:

Tokyo Story (1953) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046438/

[Brother Buzz]

34. The Mouse That Roared (1959) staring Peter Sellers, Peter Sellers, and Peter Sellers