The following things happened in the 50s:
- Cuba became a communist country.
- The U.S. government created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
- Singapore gained self-rule.
- Videotape was demonstrated for the first time.
- The first franchised McDonald's restaurant was opened.
- The first nuclear-powered submarines were launched.
- Joseph Stalin suffered a stroke and was eventually replaced by Nikita Khrushchev.
- I Love Lucy became a hugely popular TV show.
- The Korean War took place.
- Several nations officially recognized the People's Republic of China.
Linked entries can be viewed in their entirety on YouTube. The movies below are listed in the order I enjoyed them.
A knight plays a game of chess against Death while several individuals contemplate their own mortality. The Seventh Seal is the movie that put Ingmar Bergman (and, to a lesser extent, Max von Sydow) on the map, and it remains one of the best films ever made. It's especially relevant in light of the recent (ongoing?) pandemic, which in many respects resembles the plague from which The Seventh Seal's characters are fleeing.
Warning: The link above will send you to the (badly) colorized version. This is not what people would have seen in 1957.
What a fun little movie. In The River several young people come of age against the background of India in full flower. Director Jean Renoir (with Satyajit Ray!) uses the subject matter to ask some introspective questions, and the result is a movie that seems both simple and profound at the same time.
3. The Joker is Wild (1957)
Frank Sinatra stars as Joe E. Lewis, a nightclub singer and comedian battling alcoholism. It was based on a real person, done on a low budget, and only shot during certain times of day, but the director's attention to detail shows and Sinatra was perfect for the part.
Joan Crawford falls in love with a younger man who's not all he's cracked up to be. I'd like to go on record and say I'm now a huge Joan Crawford fan. She's excellent in this movie, and also excellent in Johnny Guitar (below). I would, in fact, like to retroactively award her the Klaus Kinski Best Mentally Disturbed Actor/Actress Award, which I've just invented and for which there is no corresponding statuette.
Fun Fact: Nobody really knows how old Joan Crawford was. Crawford herself claimed 1908, which means that she was in her late 40s when this movie was filmed. Her costar in Autumn Leaves, Cliff Robertson, was born in 1923.
5. Death in the Garden (1956)
This movie feels like something Werner Herzog would have attempted in the 70s. In Luis Bunuel's Death in the Garden French diamond miners contend with the corrupt authorities in an unnamed South American country. It's definitely one of the best movies from the year in which it was released.
Fun Fact: Actress Simone Signoret would go on to win an Academy Award for 1958's Room at the Top.
"Run into a bit of ice I think."
I've never been a big fan of James Cameron's Titanic, so it's no surprise I liked this movie more than that one. It goes into more of the mechanics of the disaster, and doesn't try to compress the event into a half-baked love triangle. It's not exactly action-packed, but it does a great job of balancing the perspectives of groups and individuals as matters grow increasingly dire.
7. Johnny Guitar (1954)
Joan
"Mommie Dearest" Crawford as a gunfighter! This entire movie is
vaguely ridiculous, right down to the title character. Thing is, it's a
lot of fun. The director, Nicholas Ray, also did Rebel Without a Cause
and was a big influence on the French New Wave movement.
Fun
Fact: There was a lot of drama during filming. Crawford was drinking a
lot, and her costar Mercedes McCambridge had an ax to grind over
Crawford's previous affair with McCambridge's husband. McCambridge,
herself a heavy drinker, also disliked the fact that Crawford was conducting an affair with Nicholas Ray during filming.
This entire movie is an excuse for songs and dance numbers. I guess the real question is whether the tunes are catchy or not. Are they? Indeed they are. I'll probably be humming that song about sailors getting tattoos on my deathbed.
And then Marilyn Monroe shows up. It's funny how she's both the best thing about this film and also the thing that undermines it. She'll pop up with a bit of dialogue or a musical number, and the minute she does you stop caring about "The Five Donahues."
Although I must say, Ethel Merman's attire is strictly on point. Generations of drag queens have probably drawn inspiration from her wardrobe in this movie, and her character's attempts at "living room casual" are unintentionally hilarious.
Fun Fact: Johnnie Ray, who appears in this movie as Steve Donahue, has been referred to as one of the pioneers of rock n' roll. There's No Business Like Show Business was, however, both a critical and financial failure, and it pretty much killed his movie career.
9. A Lawless Street (1955)
Western in which two prominent citizens conspire against the local marshal. I liked the sense of dread pervading the first half, but this movie doesn't manage to build up to its own conclusion. The star, Randolph Scott, was a name in Westerns going all the way back to the late 20s.
Fun Fact 1: The face in the Las Vegas Raiders logo was modeled after Randolph Scott.
Fun Fact 2: Randolph Scott and Cary Grant lived together for an extended period of time. It's widely assumed that Scott and Grant were in a romantic relationship.
Yul Brynner with a full head of hair!
As someone who's read several of Faulkner's novels, I was interested to see how they brought his most famous book to life. The results are decidedly mixed. On the one hand Faulkner's knack for characterization shines through, but on the other one gets the feeling that the person doing the casting for this movie should have been fired. Brynner isn't convincing in the lead, and Joanne Woodward looks WAY too old to be in high school.
I could be wrong, but I think switching Brynner's and Jack Warden's roles would have worked wonders.
A newly famous model is murdered and her agent stands accused of the crime. A lot of this movie seemed very arbitrary to me, especially the ending. A critic dismissed it as "contrived and farfetched," and I agree with him.
Fun Fact: Jean Peters, who appears in this as the short-lived Vicki, was Howard Hughes second wife.
Joan Fontaine falls in love with a married man in Italy. I'm really not sure how the two lovers' plan was ever going to work, and when the past inevitably catches up to them they deal with it in the most ridiculous way possible. "I'm going to Brazil!" Uh... OK?
Anthony Quinn leads a contingent of New Spaniards to California. Certain social justice aspects of this movie have aged like wine, other aspects of it haven't. Overall it feels like a cowboy movie, and it really shouldn't feel like a cowboy movie.
14. Dream Wife (1953)
Comedy of manners in which Cary Grant attempts to marry a princess from a fictional central Asian nation. Deborah Kerr, who's usually the best thing about whatever she's in, plays Grant's ex-fiancée. Kerr's character is completely over the top in her feminism, the "King of Bukistan's" reasons for accepting Grant's proposal are a total mystery, and after a certain point this movie just doesn't make a lot of sense.
And you thought Dream Wife was bad? Check out Monkey Business, a strangely hyper, often awkward comedy which also features Cary Grant. Marilyn Monroe is in it for a few minutes, but she's playing second fiddle to Ginger Rogers.
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