Xixax Film Forum

Film Discussion => News and Theory => Topic started by: jenkins on November 22, 2014, 04:26:26 PM

Title: 50s
Post by: jenkins on November 22, 2014, 04:26:26 PM
this list made me remember movies from the 50s--

POLL RESULTS — Top Ten By Year: 1958:
1. Vertigo (Hitchcock, US)
2. Touch of Evil (Welles, US)
3. Mon Oncle (Tati, France)
4. The Hidden Fortress (Kurosawa, Japan)
5. Some Came Running (Minnelli, US)
6. Elevator to the Gallows (Malle, France)
7. Ashes and Diamonds (Wajda, Poland)
8. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Brooks, US)
9. Man of the West (Mann, US)
10. The Magician (Bergman, Sweden) (tie), The Tarnished Angels (Sirk, US) (tie)
^ http://cinenthusiast.wordpress.com/2014/11/20/top-ten-by-year-1958-poll-results/

i was staring at that list thinking about how much i would've wanted to be visiting theaters in 1958. then because "i sometimes search for reasons to like maybe chat about old movies" on the internet, and we're still here at xixax headed back from 60s, i put together--

los olvidados
the searchers
the 400 blows
sunset boulevard
tokyo story
bob le flambeur
johnny guitar
the earrings of madame de...
the music room
on the bowery
seven samauri
wild strawberries
nights of cabiria
magnificent obsession
vertigo
baby doll
paths of glory
wages of fear
mr. hulot's holiday
a man escaped
pillow talk
sweet smell of success
touch of evil
casque d'or
angel face
rio bravo
godzilla
umberto d.
in a lonely place
little fugitive
shane
strangers on a train
the tall t
night and the city
thunder road
crime wave
the big heat

helpful criterion link: http://www.criterion.com/library/expanded_view?dec=1950s&p=1
Title: Re: 50s🐱
Post by: Axolotl on November 22, 2014, 08:11:50 PM
Ajantrik
Apur Sansar
Baiju Bawra
Do Aankhen Barah Haath
Do Bigha Zameen
Kaagaz ke phool
Madhumati
Mother India
Pyaasa
Yahudi
Title: Re: 50s🐱
Post by: 03 on November 22, 2014, 08:30:14 PM
lol
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: jenkins on November 22, 2014, 09:00:53 PM
Quote from: Axolotl on November 22, 2014, 08:11:50 PM
Do Aankhen Barah Haath

Quote from: imdbProgressive, reform-minded young warden gets permission to take six surly murderers from prison to dilapidated country farm, to rehabilitate it and themselves through hard work and kindly guidance.

and

Madhumati's synopsis begins with "While driving his car on a rainy night"...

if i had access to them! i'd be an exclamation point. glad to see apur sansar, i would've put an apu movie but i was working a the music room system
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: N on November 22, 2014, 09:50:54 PM
I haven't seen that many 50s movies

Most of the ones I like are by Kurosawa

So...
Ikiru
Hakuchi
Throne of Blood
Seven Samurai

The 400 Blows
Touch of Evil
Rear Window

50s is new to me. Give me time.
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: Lottery on November 22, 2014, 09:57:29 PM
Godlike scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNZ1HEpp3DQ
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: samsong on November 23, 2014, 03:37:58 AM
two years ago i did a "best of each decade" list while home with a fever.  i vaguely remember the 50s list being the hardest one to do.

1. nights of cabiria (fellini)
2. pickpocket (bresson)
3. johnny guitar (n. ray)
4. el (bunuel)
5. singin' in the rain (donen)
6. a man escaped (bresson)
7. ordet (dreyer)
8. sansho the bailiff (mizoguchi)
9. sweet smell of success (mackendrick)
10. vertigo (hitchock)

not quite sure how it would look now... nights of cabiria would be at the top though.

i guess this is true of just about any decade but there were more than a handful of giants doing some of their best work during the 50s.  listed the directors in alphabetical order, and their 50s films. (that i've seen anyway, in order of preference.)

ingmar bergman
the seventh seal
wild strawberries
smiles of a summer night
the magician
summer interlude
monika

robert bresson
diary of a country priest
pickpocket
a man escaped

luis bunuel
el
los olvidados
the crime of archibaldo de la cruz
nazarin

henri-georges clouzot
the wages of fear
the mystery of picasso
diabolique

federico fellini
nights of cabiria
i vitelloni
la strada

sam fuller
the forty guns
pickup on south street
house of bamboo
the steel helmet

hitchcock
vertigo
rear window
i confess
north by northwest
strangers on a train
dial m for murder
the wrong man
to catch a thief
the man who knew too much
stage fright

elia kazan
on the waterfront
east of eden
a streetcar named desire
viva zapata!
(baby doll and a face in the crowd strike me as being huge oversights...)

akira kurosawa
rashomon
throne of blood
seven samurai
ikiru
scandal
the hidden fortress
the idiot
the lower depths

jean-pierre melville
bob le flambeur
les enfants terribles

vincente minnelli
the band wagon
some came running
an american in paris

kenji mizoguchi
sansho the bailiff
ugetsu
life of oharu
street of shame

max ophuls
le plaisir
the earrings of madame de...
la ronde
lola montes

yasujiro ozu
tokyo story
early spring
floating weeds
equinox flower
early summer
good morning
tokyo twilight
the flavor of green tea over rice

otto preminger
anatomy of a murder
bonjour tristesse
carmen jones

nicholas ray
johnny guitar
in a lonely place
bigger than life
on dangerous ground
rebel without a cause
bitter victory
the lusty men
party girl

satyajit ray
pather panchali
the music room
the world of apu
aparajito

alain resnais
hiroshima mon amour
night and fog

roberto rossellini
voyage to italy
the flowers of st francis

douglas sirk
imitation of life
written on the wind
all that heaven allows
the tarnished angels
magnificent obsession

frank tashlin
will success spoil rock hunter?
the girl can't help it
artists and models
hollywood or bust

jacques tati
m. hulot's holiday
mon oncle

billy wilder
sunset boulevard
ace in the hole
some like it hot
sabrina


other greats that haven't been mentioned:

the night of the hunter
kiss me deadly
gentlemen prefer blondes
all about eve
un chant d'amour
sleeping beauty
the day the earth stood still
the river
the prowler
mr arkadin
la notte bianche
shadows
forbidden games
limelight
roman holiday
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: Tortuga on November 23, 2014, 06:12:52 AM
I always forget Mon Oncle and some of the Louis Malle and Bresson films were from the fifties. They feel at least mid-sixties to me. Maybe the French were indeed ahead of the game back then.
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: samsong on November 23, 2014, 06:24:00 AM
new top ten would probably be... (one per director)

1. nights of cabiria
2. johnny guitar
3. le plaisir
4. m. hulot's holiday
5. imitation of life
6. tokyo story
7. el
8. diary of a country priest
9. the night of the hunter
10. will success spoil rock hunter?
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: jenkins on November 23, 2014, 12:28:49 PM
i wish i could've seen baby doll with john waters, for example of other ways to treasure cinema, and there's something suspicious about a list that excludes the 400 blows, andbut i like and appreciate how you were using your legs for the 50s

forty guns, that's a terrific sam fuller example for me, because i haven't rewatched it since i discovered how much of a total badass barbara stanwyck is in pre-code movies. i gotta go back! i'd been contemplating pickup on south street, house of bamboo was my least favorite fuller, in a period when i watched fuller movies, and i sold its dvd. le plaisir is the only ophüls movie i own and it's my least favorite ophüls movie. i'm glad you mentioned le notti blanche, i should've mentioned crazed fruit, i'm glad you mentioned mizoguchi, i think forgetting mizoguchi was my biggest glaring oversight, although also i forgot ordet, and i didn't forget orpheus i just didn't include it for some reason. i think minnelli needs the long, long trailer in his list, i'm happy to remember ozu's good morning,

and thanks again for stirring up the 50s <3
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: wilder on November 23, 2014, 04:59:25 PM
a few more, you guys pretty much closed the book

12 Angry Men
The Big Combo
From Here to Eternity
Giant
The Killing
Niagara
Panic in the Streets
The Seven Year Itch
A Star Is Born
A Time to Love and a Time to Die
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: jenkins on November 23, 2014, 05:44:39 PM
because i hope people in the future remember to bring up hackers in conversation, for example

creature from the black lagoon 3d
house of wax 3d
first man into space
the thing from another world
high school hellcats
the blob
five
high noon
a bucket of blood
the tingler
fiend without a face
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: samsong on November 24, 2014, 02:01:22 AM
sirk's there's always tomorrow and all i desire are oversights for me as well as far as viewing goes. eyes without a face is 50s but i'm not the biggest fan... based on my one viewing years ago. 

jenkins, i think for me the 400 blows suffers from the citizen kane syndrome, in that it's so obviously canonized and among the greatest works of all time that mentioning it is redundant.  but i do genuinely enjoy the other movies i listed more.  bummed to hear le plaisir is your least favorite ophuls.  it isn't typically regarded as his best but it's the one that really hits the sweet spot for me.  not sure there's ever been a better match of author and director quite like de maupassant and ophuls... maybe edith wharton and terence davies.  "happiness is no lark" is something i'll take to my grave.

the forty guns is amazing amazing amazing, and i think finds fuller at the peak of his formal power.  and yes stanwyck is a fucking badass in the movie.  the furies pales in comparison.  speaking of which, anthony mann had a solid decade in the 50s as well.

y'all should seek out frank tashlin's movies.  i'm a big fan.

what are everyone else's top 10 for the 50s?!?!  i like lists. 
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: wilder on November 24, 2014, 02:15:15 AM
The Night of the Hunter
A Face in the Crowd
Sunset Blvd.
The Killing
There's Always Tomorrow (the blocking!)
On the Bowery
Sweet Smell of Success
Bigger Than Life
In A Lonely Place
Ace in the Hole

For the hell of it, because I couldn't fit them all:


Title: Re: 50s
Post by: jenkins on November 24, 2014, 02:28:57 AM
tashlin's jerry lewis movies are mysteries to me, but will success spoil and the girl can't help it are familiar to me and i admire their cinematic spunk

i made that kinda emotionally currented 50s list to start the topic, which list has been vaguely appreciated but not really acknowledged, i guess its tone felt weird, so yeah
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: BB on November 25, 2014, 02:45:17 AM
One big one you guys are missing is Bridge on the River Kwai. Another is Stalag 17, which, while maybe not quite as strong as Sunset Blvd, Some Like It Hot, Ace in the Hole, et al., should probably still be mentioned. A Place in the Sun is similarly eclipsed in its director's output of the decade, but holds up nicely nonetheless. Bad Day at Black Rock is really good too. Hobson's Choice.

If I was making a list not of movies I thought were best or ones I'd consider favourites, but movies I want to watch right now Forbidden Planet would rank high. As would Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Ben-Hur just because I haven't seen it in a while and remember it being awesome. Marty. Just good, easy drinkin'

But top ten? In no particular order...

Sweet Smell of Success
The Night of the Hunter
The Bridge on the River Kwai
All That Heaven Allows
Some Like It Hot
Some Came Running
The Lusty Men
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Giant
North By Northwest

Hurts to leave off Kazan but there you go.
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: Lottery on November 25, 2014, 05:23:53 AM
My knowledge of 50s films and earlier is kinda limited, but...

Seven Samurai
Sansho the Bailiff
Ugetsu Monogatari
The 400 Blows
Apu Trilogy (yes, cheating)
12 Angry Men
Paths of Glory
Sweet Smell of Success
Tokyo Story
Rear Window
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: max from fearless on December 11, 2014, 07:13:36 PM
The Left Handed Gun
Night and the City
Smiles of a Summer Night
The Bandwagon
Johnny Guitar
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Sweet Smell of Success
On the Waterfront
Vertigo
Tokyo Story
The 400 Blows
Babydoll
Ace In the Hole
The Wages of Fear
North by Northwest
A Man Escaped
The Night and the Hunter
Pick up on South Street
Summer with Monika
Sawdust and Tinsel
Ashes and Diamonds
Paths of Glory
Crime wave
Rio Bravo
Black Orpheus
Title: Re: 50s
Post by: wilder on May 25, 2019, 11:08:58 PM
Thread compiled here:

Xixax - 1950s (https://letterboxd.com/xixax/list/xixax-1950s/)

Xixax - 1950s - World Cinema (https://letterboxd.com/xixax/list/xixax-1950s-world-cinema/)


These were not on Letterboxd:

Quote from: Axolotl on November 22, 2014, 08:11:50 PMApur Sansar
Do Aankhen Barah Haath
Do Bigha Zameen