Kevin McCarthy

  • László Benedek – Death of a Salesman (1951)

    1951-1960ClassicsDramaLászló BenedekUSA

    Reportedly unavailable on TV or video because Arthur Miller himself was unhappy with it, this 1951 film version of the classic play nevertheless features a bravura, barn-burning performance from Fredric March, who had been Miller’s original choice to play Willy Loman on the stage. (March turned down the part, and regretted it greatly, which led to his taking the movie part.)Read More »

  • Richard Quine – Drive a Crooked Road (1954)

    1951-1960CrimeFilm NoirRichard QuineUSA

    Music Box Theatre writes:
    Before becoming famous for creating PETER GUNN and the PINK PANTHER movies, Blake Edwards scripted this extraordinary, if virtually unknown, ’50s film noir, which casts a fully-grown Mickey Rooney against type as a lovelorn mechanic whose craving for fast cars and a faster woman (the alluring Dianne Foster) drives him to sign on as wheelman in a bank robbery. In what may be his finest performance, Rooney delivers a compelling characterization of the “Little Freak,” whose desire for a duplicitous woman leads to an unforgettable conclusion. One of finest noir films of the fifties.Read More »

  • Don Siegel – Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

    USA1951-1960Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtDon SiegelHorrorSci-Fi

    Synopsis:
    Dr. Miles Bennell returns to his small town practice to find several of his patients suffering the paranoid delusion that their friends or relatives are impostors. He is initially skeptical, especially when the alleged doppelgangers are able to answer detailed questions about their victim’s lives, but he is eventually persuaded that something odd has happened and determines to find out what is causing this phenomenon.Read More »

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