1950s

  • Ishirô Honda – Bijo to Ekitainingen aka The H-Man (1958)

    1951-1960AsianIshirô HondaJapanSci-Fi

    When a narcotics deal goes sour and a suspect disappears, leaving only his clothes, Tokyo police question his wife and stake out the nightclub where she works. His disappearance stumps the police – until a young scientist appears who claims that H-Bomb tests in the Pacific, evidenced by a “ghost ship” that has turned up in the harbor, have created radioactive creatures – “H-Men” – who ooze like slime and dissolve anyone they touch.Read More »

  • Robert Vas – Refuge England (1959)

    1951-1960Robert VasShort FilmUnited Kingdom

    The films follows a Hungarian refugee arriving in London, speaking no English and with little money…

    IMDB:
    Hungarian refugee Tibor Molnar has arrived in England, picking London as his new place of residence. The film follows him as he wanders the centre of his new home and tries to find his lodgings at 25 Love Lane – but with no other information than this and the name of his landlord, he finds himself with a long day of travelling to find which Love Lane it is.Read More »

  • Christian-Jaque – Si tous les gars du monde AKA If All the Guys in the World… (1956)

    Drama1951-1960AdventureChristian-JaqueFrance

    Synopsis
    Si Tous Les Gars du Monde is an entertaining tribute to the ham radio operators of the world. The story begins when a French shipping boat takes on an Arab passenger. While on the high seas, the Arab becomes seriously ill with a communicable disease that threatens the lives of everyone on board. Unable to reach the proper medical authorities, the boat sends out a desperate S.O.S., whereupon several amateur-radio enthusiasts of different nationalities spring into action…Read More »

  • Nicholas Ray & Ida Lupino – On Dangerous Ground (1951)

    USA1951-1960Film NoirIda LupinoNicholas Ray

    Quote:
    A superb noir thriller with a difference. Ray’s second film with producer John Houseman (the first being They Live By Night) starts off in the sinister urban jungle, with Ryan’s cop increasingly brutalised by the ‘garbage’ he is forced to deal with. Finally, his methods become so violent that he is sent to cool off in snowy upstate New York, where his search for a sex killer brings him into contact with Lupino’s blind woman and her mentally retarded brother (Williams). It’s a film about the violence within us all, about the effects of environment and family upon character (Lupino, peaceful and a healing force, even has a tree in her living room), and about the spiritual redemption of a fallen man.Read More »

  • Julio García Espinosa – Sexto aniversario (1959)

    1951-1960CubaJulio García EspinosaPoliticsShort Film

    A commemoration of the 6th anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban revolution. 500,000 campesinos invited to celebrate the occasion pour into Havana.Read More »

  • Ken Annakin – The Planter’s Wife (1952)

    1951-1960AdventureDramaKen AnnakinUnited Kingdom

    IMDB Review
    Sweet, docile little Claudette Colbert – firing a machine gun? Anything’s possible in the movies!

    Colbert and her husband live on their rubber plantation in Malaysia (back when it was Malaya) with their small son. Her husband is too absorbed in the plantation to notice her very much, and she decides that when it’s time to take their son to school in England, she will go with him and never return. But then she is unable to leave when bandits kill one of their neighbours, then tries to kill Colbert, and the whole plantation is set up in a murderous game of cat and mouse.Read More »

  • Roman Polanski – Gdy spadaja anioly AKA When Angels Fall (1959)

    Arthouse1951-1960PolandRoman PolanskiShort Film

    Quote:
    A woman working in the municipal toilet recalls her youth. Colourful images of life in the countryside, first love, lancers intertwine with a gloomy image of reality. The film is the diploma work by Roman Polański.Read More »

  • Charles Walters – Torch Song (1953)

    1951-1960CampCharles WaltersClassicsUSA

    Otis L. Guernsey, Jr., in the New York Herald Tribune (1952):

    Joan Crawford has another of her star-sized roles….Playing a musical comedy actress in the throes of rehearsal and in love with a blind pianist, she is vivid and irritable, volcanic and feminine. She dances; she pretends to sing; she graciously permits her wide mouth and snappish eyes to be photographed in Technicolor….Here is Joan Crawford all over the screen, in command, in love and in color, a real movie star in what amounts to a carefully produced one-woman show. Miss Crawford’s acting is sheer and colorful as a painted arrow, aimed straight at the sensibilities of her particular fans.Read More »

  • Kaljo Kiisk, Yuli Kun – Vallatud kurvid AKA Venturous Curves (1959)

    Comedy1951-1960CultKaljo KiiskUSSRYuli Kun

    Quote:
    The first Estonian wide-screen feature film directed by Juli Kun and Kaljo Kiisk is a pure situation comedy where twin sisters (both roles played by Terje Luik) are in the middle of passionate adventures during a motorbike competition.

    Vaike, a student and a motorbike racer, arrives at the racetrack where the bikes are already racing at full speed. She gets involved in adventures while getting acquainted with Raivo, successful biker and womanizer, and Heino, another big league biker who offers Vaike his help in preparing for the competition. Vaike finds it hard to face all that alone. Her twin sister Maret will helped her with this complicated situation. Only that this time Maret’s new husband Ants will join the game. He is convinced that he can make the difference between Maret and Vaike.Read More »

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