A woman’s funeral in Ghana.Read More »
1951-1960
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Jean Rouch – Funérailles au Ghana (1960)
1951-1960DocumentaryFranceJean RouchShort Film -
Stuart Heisler – The Burning Hills (1956)
USA1951-1960Stuart HeislerWesternSynopsis:
This beautifully-filmed CinemaScope western spins the familiar plot of a greedy cattle baron taking the law into his own hands to monopolize a rich valley before legal claims can be filed on the land. Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood are the headliners here and their chemistry works well. Hunter is okay as a cowboy who wants to square matters for his brother’s murder. However, Ms. Wood is not very convincing as a Mexican girl, in spite of her fetching looks. Predictably, romance blooms, and Hunter and Wood team up to battle the bad guys who trail them like bloodhounds. The action is spotty but a solid cast of familiar character actors nudges the story along. The film has a fine climax, a derring-do affair in the spirit of the old west. The movie was based on a good Louis L’Amour novel and nearly measures up to this great storyteller’s work.Read More » -
Bernard Knowles – Park Plaza 605 (1953)
1951-1960Bernard KnowlesCrimeDramaUSAClassic British mystery thriller starring Tom Conway as suave gumshoe, Norman
Conquest. After intercepting a secret message, Conquest meets foreign femme fatale,
Nadina Rodin (Eva Bartok), in room 605 of the Park Plaza hotel. When Conquest wakes up
in the room the next morning he is lying next to a corpse and the mysterious Rodin is
nowhere to be seen. Conquest is now the police’s number one murder suspect with
Inspector Williams (Sid James) shadowing his every move. In order to clear his name,
Conquest enlists the help of Pixie Everard (Joy Shelton), but things turn even uglier when
he discovers that the murder is connected to a stash of stolen diamonds. As gun-toting,Read More » -
Jirí Menzel – Domy z panelu aka Prefabricated Houses (1959)
1951-1960ArchitectureCzech RepublicDocumentaryJirí MenzelShort FilmA student work by Jiří Menzel, filmed during his second year at the FAMU film school. Views of old Prague and its tenement buildings, symbolising the obsolete past, alternate with shots of construction sites for new prefabricated apartment buildings. In spite of certain unavoidable propagandistic overtones added by the director, it is notable as the beginning of his search for a “dramaturgy of colours.”Read More »
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William A. Berke – Roaring City (1951)
1951-1960CrimeDramaUSAWilliam A. BerkeStory
A private detective gets hired for two jobs: the first is to bet on a fighter in a fixed boxing match, and the second is to pose as a woman’s husband.Read More » -
Peter Graham Scott – Account Rendered (1957)
1951-1960CrimeDramaPeter Graham ScottUSAPlot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
The always reliable Griffith Jones is afforded the leading role in the British Account Rendered. Jones plays a victim of circumstance, accused of murdering his wife Ursula Howells. With the police breathing down his neck, Jones endeavors to prove his innocence. He is aided in this effort by the lovely Honor Blackman (“Pussy Galore” in Goldfinger and the first female star of the long-running TVer The Avengers).Account Rendered is based on a novel by Pamela Barrington.Read More »
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William Witney – City of Shadows (1955)
1951-1960CrimeDramaUSAWilliam Witney -
Maxwell Shane – The Naked Street (1955)
1951-1960Film NoirMaxwell ShaneUSAPlot
Roselle Regalzyk (Anne Bancroft) is the naughty but nice little sister of mobster Phil “Regal” (Anthony Quinn). The unwed Roselle has managed to get herself pregnant by Nick Branda (Farley Granger), another convict who is soon on his way to the electric chair. Phil no sooner has Nick sprung so that he can marry Roselle, then Roselle miscarries, making the shotgun wedding unnecessaryRead More » -
Dino Risi – Il mattatore AKA Love and Larceny (1960)
1951-1960ClassicsComedyCommedia all'ItalianaDino RisiItalySynopsis:
Gerardo, an aspiring actor, trying unsuccessfully to cross over from comedy to tragedy, is involved, due to his ability to mimic dialects of Italy, in a scam concocted by Lallo against a rich cloth-merchant.Read More »