1950s

  • George Marshall – A Millionaire for Christy (1951)

    1951-1960ComedyGeorge MarshallRomanceScrewball ComedyUSA

    This hilarious screwball comedy gave Fred MacMurray a chance to show his brilliant comedic chops as Peter, a radio personality who is told he’s just inherited two million dollars by a gold-digging secretary (Eleanor Parker as Christy) who is determined to snag him for herself. Though he never quite believes she’s telling the truth about his inheritance, circumstances continue to bring Peter together with Christy, infuriating both his fiancée, June (Kay Buckley), and his pal, Dr. Cook (Richard Carlson), who secretly loves June himself. It’s not long before Christy and Dr. Cook join forces and cook up some shenanigans to help them win the lovers they want.Read More »

  • Hugo Fregonese – The Raid (1954)

    1951-1960Hugo FregoneseUSAWestern

    A group of confederate prisoners escape to Canada and plan to rob the banks and set fire to the small town of Saint Albans in Vermont. To get the lie of the land, their leader spends a few days in the town and finds he is getting drawn into its life and especially into that of an attractive widow and her son.Read More »

  • Lew Landers – The Magic Carpet (1951)

    1951-1960AdventureFantasyLew LandersUSA

    Reviewers on IMDB wrote:
    Okay, this movie is a cheap Saturday matinée type film from the 1950’s, but heck, that is all it is meant to be. It is one of those silly Arabian nights movies that is fun to watch. I wish it were released on DVD, as I would gladly buy it. As a child, I liked this movie when I saw in on television, and just recently saw it again and still like it. Runs in the family as those 1950 Universal Studio Tony Curtis “Son Of Ali Baba” type films and “Son Of Sinbad” with Vincent Price. These movies may not be great in any sense of the word, but they sure are fun to watch one right after the other when there is nothing else to do!! And besides, like my summary said, where else can you find a film that has Lucy Ricardo, Perry Mason and Abner Kravitz in it??Read More »

  • Roberto Rossellini – L’India vista da Rossellini (1959)

    1951-1960DocumentaryIndiaRoberto RosselliniTV

    Quote:

    Series of programs broadcast on RAI TV in Italy showing footage shot by Roberto Rossellini in India. The series was also broadcast on ORTF TV in France under the title ‘J’AI FAIT UN BEAU VOYAGE PAR ROBERTO ROSSELLINI’. The footage shown in the individual episodes seems to have been the same in the Italian and French series.

    Rossellini stayed in India for almost 9 months, refusing to look at famous monuments and rather preferring to take a non-exotic view of India, by looking at lives of common persons.Read More »

  • Ida Lupino – The Bigamist (1953)

    1951-1960DramaIda LupinoUSA

    Quote:
    Harry and Eve Graham are trying to adopt a baby. The head of the agency senses Harry is keeping a secret and does some investigating. He soon discovers Harry has done an unusual amount of traveling from his home in San Francisco to Los Angeles. Harry gets tracked down in LA where he has a second wife and a baby. Via flashbacks, Harry tells the adoption agent how he ended up in two marriages.Read More »

  • Ida Lupino – Never Fear (1950)

    1941-1950DramaIda LupinoUSA

    Quote:
    A dancer who has just gotten engaged to her partner and choreographer and is about to embark on a major career is devastated to learn that she has contracted polio.Read More »

  • André Cayatte – Le dossier noir AKA Black Dossier (1955)

    1951-1960André CayatteFilm NoirFranceMystery

    Synopsis:
    ‘Recently appointed a magistrate, Jacques Arnaud arrives in Lancourt, a small provincial town which is under the control of Boussard, an scrupulous businessman. Arnaud’s first client is Dutoit, who rears German sheep dogs for a living. Dutoit reports that someone has been poisoning his dogs. Could it be the same person who has recently broken into his house to steal a black file drawn up by his friend Le Guen just before he died, a file that implicates Boussard in fraudulent speculation? Suspicious, Arnaud begins by exhuming le Guen’s body; the autopsy reveals the presence of arsenic…
    -James Travers’Read More »

  • Raffaello Matarazzo – La risaia (1956)

    1951-1960DramaItalyRaffaello Matarazzo

    In this heartwarming drama, the life of an Italian rice farmer involved in an unhappy marriage is chronicled. One day, he notices a familiar looking migrant in his field. Upon following the girl, he discovers that she is his illegitimate daughter. To quietly make up for his past indiscretion, he begins giving the girl many gifts, but he does not tell her who he is. Later the girl falls for an auto mechanic who gets jealous of her secret father’s attention to her. This causes the father to tell the mechanic the truth; the fix it man then decides to engineer a reunion. He then goes on to save the girl from getting raped by her father’s deadbeat nephew.

    (Allmovie)Read More »

  • Henri Decoin – Les intrigantes (1954)

    1951-1960CrimeFranceHenri Decoin

    Quote:
    In the forties and the fifties,Henry Decoin’s forte was the film noir:”non coupable” which remains ignored today might be his masterpiece,but there are other interesting works such as “la vérité sur Bébé Donge”or “les inconnus dans la maison” .The almost documentary approach of “Razzia sur la chnouff” (about drugs) seems modern even today.And some works which are difficult to see (“Maléfices” “Bonnes à tuer” and “tous peuvent me tuer” probably deserve to be watched).Read More »

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