1950s

Quote:
Shot on location with a cast of nonprofessional actors, Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist masterpiece follows Umberto D., an elderly pensioner, as he struggles to make ends meet during Italy’s postwar economic boom. Alone except for his dog, Flike, Umberto strives to maintain his dignity while trying to survive in a city where traditional human kindness seems to have lost out to the forces of modernization. Umberto’s simple quest to fulfill the most fundamental human needs—food, shelter, companionship—is one of the most heartbreaking stories ever filmed and an essential classic of world cinema.Read More »

Plot Synopsis:
This drama by Hungarian New Cinema director Zoltan Fabri is about class exploitation and murder, and is set in 1919. Anna (Mari Torocsik) is a shy and plain young woman who works as a maid in a privileged household. She is essentially a slave without any rights to speak of, and while she is being driven to the extremity of murder because of her brutal and uncaring treatment, the Hungarian communist revolution is building up steam in the background. The microcosm, in this case, is clearly meant to illustrate the impersonal and much larger picture.

This film was nominated to Golden Palm.Read More »

Storyline
An honest union official named Blane is framed for the murder of another union official. Thus off the hook, the crime syndicate actually responsible for the crime is free to continue its activities. However, State’s Attorney Jim Fremont begins to suspect that Blane has been set up. Fremont launches a new investigation.Read More »

Synopsis
Spoiler –

After deserting his command, cavalry trooper Bart Laish comes upon the remnants of a wagon train bound for Oregon and discovers that its inhabitants have been massacred by Indians. The only survivor is Major Andy Pepperis, a distant cousin of Laish’s who served with him at West Point. With his dying breath, Pepperis appeals to Laish’s sense of honor and decency and begs him to find the main train up ahead and lead it to safety at Fort Laramie. Having fled the rigors of army life, Laish remains ambivalent to Pepperis’ pleas until he reaches Fort Taylor and finds the men annihilated, the victims of another Indian raid.Read More »

Synopsis:
The year is 1947, the British are on the verge of finally leaving India. Amongst the few who are sorry to see the British leave are the Anglo-Indians, half British and half Indian, for they are going to miss the patronage of their white cousins, the job reservations, and the important status and positions they currently hold. The British, quite frankly, do not think well of Anglo-Indians, nor do the Indians. Victoria Jones is one such Anglo-Indian, a WAC in the British Army, her father a railway engine driver, and her mom a housewife. She is close to another Anglo-Indian, Patrick Taylor, but changes her mind about him as he harbors deep hatred for the Indians. She witnesses Col. Rodney Savage instruct his soldiers to pour filthy water and garbage at the hands of untouchables on high-caste men and women who are protesting by laying down on the railway tracks to prevent trains from moving. Repulsed and shocked at this, she turns to Ranjit Singh Kassi, a Sikh, and longs to be Indian […]Read More »

Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
A young woman (Jean Simmons) manages a remote California sheep ranch with her father (Brian Aherne). A plane carrying a sheriff (Stephen McNally) and a convicted murderer (Rory Calhoun) crashes nearby. Both men are cared for by the girl, who doesn’t know at first which is the cop and which is the criminal. She falls in love with the convicted man and believes protestations of innocence, but the vindictive sheriff tries to dissuade her of these feelings. Given several chances to finish each other off, both sheriff and convict relent. Under the influence of the girl, they agree to return to Utah together, where (it is implied) the criminal will be given a bias-free trial.Read More »

Quote:
Vatroslav Mimica (born 25 June 1923 in Omiš) is an award-winning Croatian film director and screenwriter. He had his directorial and screenwriting debut in the 1952 Yugoslav film In the Storm (Croatian: U oluji) which starred Veljko Bulajic, Mia Oremovic and Antun Nalis. This crime melodrama takes place in Dalmatian region and follows the fate of widow Rose who tries to commit suicide.Read More »

Quote:
Poignant and poetic, The Fugitive Kind is a challenging film that works more often than it doesn’t. Based on Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending—a play that had been critically panned and did little business in its original Broadway run—this adaptation boasts terrific performances, atmospheric direction by Sidney Lumet (The Verdict), and excellent cinematography by Boris Kaufman (On the Waterfront).Read More »

Quote:
Shortly after Stanley Kubrick had completed his first film for RKO – the short subject Day of the Fight (1951) – the studio offered him a follow-up project for their Screenliner series which specialized in short human-interest documentaries. The subject of their proposal was the Reverend Fred Stadmueller, a priest at Saint Joseph’s Church in Mosquero, New Mexico. Known to his parishioners as the “Flying Padre” because he owned a small, single-engine plane that allowed him to visit his church members who were spread out over a four thousand mile area, Stadmueller was an inspiration to the mostly Spanish-American farmers and ranchers who made up his congregation.Read More »