1951-1960

  • Gerd Oswald – A Kiss Before Dying (1956) (HD)

    1951-1960ClassicsFilm NoirGerd OswaldUSA

    Synopsis
    A ruthless college student resorts to murder in a futile attempt to marry an heiress.Read More »

  • Allen Reisner – St. Louis Blues (1958)

    1951-1960Allen ReisnerDramaMusicalUSA

    W.C. Handy has been called “The Father of the Blues”, although he modestly said that he merely transcribed the music and made it available to a wide audience. Nevertheless, his music defined the blues, the best known being “St. Louis Blues”, which was used as the title of the film biography Paramount Studios made of his life in 1958. The cast of St. Louis Blues reads like a list of some of the best African-American talent of the mid 20th Century: Nat King Cole, Eartha Kitt, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Mahalia Jackson, Ruby Dee, Juano Hernandez, and Pearl Bailey. There is also a future star in the cast: the young boy who plays W.C. Handy as a child would grow up to make a name for himself ten years later when he played with The Beatles: Billy Preston.Read More »

  • André De Toth – Day of the Outlaw (1959)

    USA1951-1960André De TothCrimeWestern

    Eastman Museum writes:
    According to Quentin Tarantino, his eighth and latest film not only pays homage to that peculiar brand of the western set not in dust but in snow, but also an even more peculiar genre of the so-called parlor room mystery. André De Toth’s criminally underrated Day of the Outlaw happened to mine a similar territory in 1959: Set in an isolated, snow-covered town in the far West, the story has a renegade army officer named Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives) and his henchmen riding into the town threatening their worst to the men and women there. Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan) decides to agree to Bruhn’s demands for someone knowledgeable to lead them away from the law and the town, to safety. Mortally wounded himself, Bruhn opts to take Starrett up on his offer in one last act of generosity toward the townspeople, sparing them the mayhem threatened by his men.Read More »

  • Raoul Walsh – The World in His Arms (1952)

    1951-1960AdventureClassicsRaoul WalshUSA

    Synopsis:
    Frustrated by illegal competition from Russians in the seal fur trade, Capt. Jonathan Clark (Gregory Peck) struggles to raise funds to purchase Alaska from Russia. Another competitor, unscrupulous trader Portugee (Anthony Quinn), is hired to transport Russian Countess Mariana Selanova (Ann Blyth) to marry the callous Prince Semyon (Carl Esmond). After Jonathan falls in love with Mariana, he squares off against Portugee, the prince and the Russians to rescue her and restore the trading business.Read More »

  • Marlen Khutsiev & Feliks Mironer – Vesna na Zarechnoy ulitse AKA Spring on Zarechnaya Street (1956)

    1951-1960ClassicsDramaFeliks MironerMarlen KhutsiyevUSSR

    A young school teacher Tanya works at a night school for working people. But it’s uneasy to get used to grown-up men, their constant attempts at flirting, their sometimes too manly jokes and comments. She is especially irritated by Don Juan-like behavior of Sasha Savchenko. She avoids his advances, and Sasha becomes so upset that he drops out of school. After a while, Tanya gets used to this new for her environment, finds in her heart an attraction to Sasha, and there comes Spring, exams time…Read More »

  • Leopoldo Torre Nilsson – La casa del ángel (1957)

    1951-1960ArgentinaDramaLeopoldo Torre Nilsson

    Letterboxd wrote:
    A young teen has been raised by a despotic mother overcome with religious zeal and a father who rules over the household with a heavy, iron hand. Forcibly kept innocent of the sexual nuances of some adult relationships, she is not too clear on her rights, his intentions, or the consequences when her father’s best friend starts to lust after her.Read More »

  • Sergei M. Eisenstein & Jay Leyda – Eisenstein’s Mexican Film: Episodes for Study (1958)

    Documentary1951-1960ClassicsJay LeydaSergei M. EisensteinUSSR

    Quote:
    In 1954, Upton Sinclair donated 100,000 feet of film shot by Sergei Eisenstein in Mexico to the Museum of Modern Art. From this footage, Jay Leyda, assisted by Manfred Kirchheimer, created an almost four hour long assemblage titled “Eisenstein’s Mexican Film: Episodes for Study.” The film is silent with explanatory titles. The MOMA footage was later re-edited by Grigori Aleksandrov to create the 1979 version of “Que Viva Mexico”.Read More »

  • Josef von Báky – Robinson soll nicht sterben AKA The Legend of Robinson Crusoe AKA The Girl and the Legend (1957)

    1951-1960AdventureDramaGermanyJosef von Báky

    London, in 1730. Charly, Jim and Ben work hard, with the brave Maud, in a cotton mill to earn a few shillings. They all dream of the wonderful island told by Daniel Defoe. The latter lives in a miserable room. He is disgraced and rejected by his son Tom, a scoundrel who blames his father for losing his position at the Court …Read More »

  • Douglas Sirk – Interlude (1957)

    1951-1960ClassicsDouglas SirkDramaUSA

    Synopsis:
    The story of a young woman, Helen Banning, who travels to Munich in search of life experience and romance. While working for America House, she meets a famous symphony conductor, Tonio Fischer, and begins a relationship with him. She soon finds out there is much more to this man than his music, including a wife Reni Fisher, but there’s definitely more to the story, which she soon discovers. While dealing with the experiences life has thrown in her way, she is also being courted by Morley Dwyer a doctor from back home, who is currently practicing medicine in a Munich hospital. Who will she choose?Read More »

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