Favorite Movies of the 1950s?

Great black and white cinematography too.

 

wonderful all around...love this movie since I was a kid...

 

My two all-time favorite movies:

• The Glenn Miller Story (1954)
• The Benny Goodman Story (1956)

 

Journey to the Center of the Earth - 1959

 

there isn't any Sc-Fi movies from the 50's that I do not like! the cheesier the better...

 

It’s amazing how much better this thread is doing than the '60s thread MortSahlFan started!

I wonder if a '70s thread would fare as badly as the '60s one?

 

The Elvis run -



I know Jailhouse Rock ('57) is pretty much his trademark film but King Creole ('58) is the only one I watch; mostly because of the supporting cast - Carolyn Jones (Morticia Addams), in particular.

 

"I'm a $50/week newspaperman, and you can have me for nothing!" (I liked the camera-work there)... Great movie about the media and greed, and holds up great today.

 

My favorite scene from King Creole:

 

So pissed - thought I had a copy of The Defiant Ones (1958) on my shelf. Had to order it. Course, by then I won't be in the mood to watch this G version of two jailbreakers, one white, one black, chained together, trying to make it cross the state border. Robert Mitchum turned down the role (of the white guy presumably) cause he didn't see black and white men shacked together in the first place. And let's face it; Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis were decent dudes. Had they put Melvin Van Peebles and Ernest Borgnine in those roles it would really been fun.

 

Recently watched, The Man With the Golden Arm. Wicked good movie!

 

Ah, but I just saw a classic I almost forgot about on the shelf: Suddenly (1954)

Starring Sterling Hayden as the sheriff (or something like it) of a Midwestern town who must face down a deranged, gangster-ish Frank Sinatra, who is setting up camp to shoot the visiting U.S. President.


Not the best script ever written or put on film but fun to revisit every blue moon.

 

On the Waterfront
Rear Window
Vertigo
North by Northwest
Strangers on a Train
A Streetcar Named Desire
East of Eden
Giant
Bad Day at Black Rock
Blackboard Jungle
A Face in the Crowd
Sweet Smell of Success
Sunset Blvd
Ace in the Hole
Some Like it Hot
Anatomy of a Murder
12 Angry men
A Hatful of Rain
From Here to Eternity
High Noon
Shane
The Searchers
The Quiet Man
Some Came Running
Singin' in the Rain
The Band Wagon
Funny Face
Roman Holiday
Touch of Evil
A Place in the Sun
Paths of Glory
The Killing
The Asphalt Jungle
The African Queen
The Bridge on the River Kwai
La Strada
The 400 Blows
Seven Samarai

 

I own more films from the 1970s than any other decade. It was also a particularly strong decade for American cinema, so I suspect such a thread would do well here.

 

I don’t doubt it for a second. I just thought that, based on this poll...

POLL: What Are Your Favorite Decades For Movies?

...the '60s thread would be faring at least as well as this one.

 

Singin' In The Rain
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot
Forbidden Planet
I'm Alright Jack
An American In Paris
The Ladykillers
The War Of The Worlds

 

In no particular order, I'd have to say:

Kiss Me Deadly
The Narrow Margin
Woman On The Run
Crime Wave
The Line-Up

But it's hard to nail it down to just these five; so many great films to choose from! I especially love the look of LA in the first and SF in my 3rd and 5th choices. A chase scene on the unfinished Embarcadero! Wheeee!

 

didn't see these mentioned:
Bell, Book and Candle - fun picture with the enchanting (literally) Kim Novak
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad - some of Harryhausen's best work

 

Elevator to the Gallows (1958) is one of those unforgettable throwaways by Louis Malle that nonetheless featured a few key elements; Jeanne Moreau without makeup slowly making her way through Paris streets at night to complete a "job" with her hood boyfriend; a brilliant seemingly stream-of-consciousness score featuring Miles Davis (they really did record his playing as he watched the film) and a flatline approach to the gangster flick that transformed the film noir style.

Can't imagine a film like Truffaut's Don't Shoot The Piano Player (1960) (another favorite) without the Malle influence.

 

Singin' In The Rain
Some Like It Hot
Bridge On The River Kwai
On The Waterfront
White Christmas

 

Little Fugitive -- never met anyone who didn't like this. Very original movie! And it's in full on YouTube!

 

The 50s and the 70s are my favorite film decades

 

1970s for me, especially, but I love that entire period from the 1930s through the 1970s. I have a particular interest in classic British and American cinema, film noir, classical Japanese cinema, European arthouse, and the occasional fun, trashy flick.

 

Next three nights, three three classics by my second favorite director, Robert Bresson:

Jounal d'un curé de campagne (Diary of a Country Priest, 1951)

Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (A Man Escaped, 1956)


Pickpocket (1959)

Masterworks each one. Though he claims that it wasn't until he made his last film, L'argent (Money, 1983), that he fully realized what he set out to as a filmmaker I'm glad he fumbled with his 12 earlier efforts - especially that 50s run!

 

Another classic tonight (this one in surprisingly good shape on The Tube).


Pickup on South Street (1953)