Classics

  • Luciano Emmer – Parigi è sempre Parigi AKA Paris is Always Paris (1951)

    1951-1960ClassicsComedyItalyLuciano Emmer

    Parigi e Sempre Parigi (Paris is Always Paris) was the second feature-length effort from famed Italian documentary director Luciano Emmer. Whereas Emmer’s first feature, Domenica d’Agosto (Sunday in August) was a warm-hearted study of the Italian middle class, Parigi concentrates on a gentle cultural clash between a band of Italian sports fans and the citizenry of Paris. The hero, DeAngelis (Aldo Fabrizi), has heard so much about “naughty Paree” that he’s determined to experience that naughtiness first hand. This plot device, of course, obliges the director to introduce several delectable French mademoiselles in the proceedings. Ultimately, DeAngelis realizes that reports of French libertinism have been grossly exaggerated, but he has a high old time finding this out.Read More »

  • John Sturges – Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

    1951-1960ClassicsJohn SturgesUSAWestern

    Synopsis:
    After a long career as a lawman that made him a legend, Wyatt Earp decides to quit and join his brothers in Tombstone, Arizona. There he would see them in a feud with the Clantons, a local clan of thugs and cattle thieves. When the showdown becomes inevitable, the help will come from Doc Holliday, a terminally-ill gambler who happens to be another Wild West legend.Read More »

  • Alfred Hitchcock – North by Northwest (1959)

    1951-1960Alfred HitchcockClassicsThrillerUSA

    Synopsis:
    Madison Avenue advertising man Roger Thornhill finds himself thrust into the world of spies when he is mistaken for a man by the name of George Kaplan. Foreign spy Philip Vandamm and his henchman Leonard try to eliminate him but when Thornhill tries to make sense of the case, he is framed for murder. Now on the run from the police, he manages to board the 20th Century Limited bound for Chicago where he meets a beautiful blond, Eve Kendall, who helps him to evade the authorities. His world is turned upside down yet again when he learns that Eve isn’t the innocent bystander he thought she was. Not all is as it seems however, leading to a dramatic rescue and escape at the top of Mt. Rushmore.Read More »

  • Matti Kassila – Punainen viiva AKA The Red Line (1959)

    Drama1951-1960ClassicsFinlandMatti Kassila

    Synopsis of the film from MUBI:
    In 1906, a poor farmer in the backwoods of Finland struggles to make a living for his wife and four children. He hears about a new law that will allow equal voting rights to all citizens. He attends a Socialist meeting and starts believing that everything will get better after the upcoming election.Read More »

  • Sidney Lumet – 12 Angry Men (1957)

    1951-1960ClassicsDramaSidney LumetUSA

    Synopsis:
    A Puerto Rican youth is on trial for murder, accused of knifing his father to death. The twelve jurors retire to the jury room, having been admonished that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Eleven of the jurors vote for conviction, each for reasons of his own. The sole holdout is Juror #8, played by Henry Fonda. As Fonda persuades the weary jurors to re-examine the evidence, we learn the backstory of each man. Juror #3 (Lee J. Cobb), a bullying self-made man, has estranged himself from his own son. Juror #7 (Jack Warden) has an ingrained mistrust of foreigners; so, to a lesser extent, does Juror #6 (Edward Binns). Jurors #10 (Ed Begley) and #11 (George Voskovec), so certain of the infallibility of the Law, assume that if the boy was arrested, he must be guilty. Juror #4 (E.G. Marshall) is an advocate of dispassionate deductive reasoning. Read More »

  • Edward Dmytryk – Warlock (1959)

    1951-1960ClassicsEdward DmytrykQueer Cinema(s)USAWestern

    Synopsis:
    In the small frontier mining town of Warlock, rancher Abe McQuown’s gang of cowboy cutthroats terrorize the peaceful community, humiliating the town’s legitimate deputy Sheriff and running him out of town. Helpless and in need of protection, the townsfolk hire the renowned town tamer Clay Blaisdell, as unofficial Marshal, to bring law and order to the town. Clay arrives with his good friend and backup Tom Morgan. The two men stand up to the ranch gang and quiet the town. Johnny Gannon, a former member of the ranch gang is bothered by the gang’s actions, reforms and takes on the deputy Sherrif job while his brother remains part of the gang. The addition of the official lawman to the mix further complicate matters, leading to an inevitable clash of the cowboys, the townsfolk, the gunslingers and the law.Read More »

  • Charles Barton – The Noose Hangs High (1948)

    1941-1950Charles BartonClassicsComedyUSA

    For their first independently-produced vehicle, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello chose to appear in a remake of the 1939 Universal programmer For Love or Money. Bud and Lou are cast as Ted and Tommy, two bumbling window washers hired by gangster Mike Craig (Joseph Calleila) to collect a $50,000 gambling debt. The boys manage to pick up the money, only to deliver it to the wrong person, a pretty private secretary named Carol (Cathy Downs). Ordered to retrieve the money within 24 hours “or else,” Ted and Tommy trace the cash to Carol, who has mistakenly distributed it amongst the entries in a mailing list. Read More »

  • Sidney Gilliat – The Rake’s Progress AKA Notorious Gentleman (1945)

    1941-1950ClassicsDramaSidney GilliatUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    Rex Harrison stars in this stylish British drama that caused problems with U.S. censors, who forced the film to be trimmed due to what was considered graphically amoral and sexual content for its time. Harrison is Vivian Kenway, an unrepentant cad who embarks on a campaign of irresponsible behavior after being ejected from Oxford. Among his many sins are seducing Jill Duncan (Jean Kent), the wife of his best friend Sandy (Griffith Jones), marrying a rich Austrian Jew, Rikki Krausner (Lilli Palmer), for her money, and dallying with the secretary (Margaret Johnson) of his father, Colonel Kenway (Godfrey Tearle). Read More »

  • Anthony Asquith – The Woman in Question AKA Five Angles on Murder (1950)

    1941-1950Anthony AsquithClassicsMysteryUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    When a fairground fortune-teller, Agnes (Jean Kent), is found strangled in her apartment, the police interview the people around her, but quickly establish that everyone saw the murdered woman in a different way. … Only when the police discover the true nature of the murdered woman, and the motive for her murder, will they be able to unmask the killer?Read More »

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