REVEALED-THE ILX TOP 75 FILMS OF THE 1950s

xxpost We'll be ashamed for you, Gukbe.

j/k j/k much love!!! (although ask whoever buys you gifts for the Boetticher box for whatever holiday you celebrate...I know I'm doing that!)

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45. The Day The Earth Stood Still
Robert Wise, 1951
POINTS: 82
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“really enjoyed The Day the Earth Stood Still at the Paramount the other night. It was a double feature with Forbidden Planet, but I didn't stay for that. The actual Earth standing still part was pointless, but the main alien guy was captivating.”

― Kenan Hebert

BONUS FEATURE

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44. Shadows
John Cassavetes, 1959
POINTS: 83
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“And thus began a life of sin - Hollywood's not Cassavetes'.”

- Kevin John Bozelka

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42 A. Diary of A Country Priest
Robert Bresson, 1951
POINTS: 87
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“actually, I just found a reference where Pauline is quoted as saying "Diary of a Country Priest is one of the most profound emotional experiences in the history of the cinema."
if that's correct, I say she nailed it, and proves she was capable of real insight occasionally when she wasn't being lazy and switched on auto-schtick”

― timmy tannin

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42 B. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Howard Hawks, 1953
POINTS: 87
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

“I do (predictably) think Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is one of the greatest films ever made.”

― Eric H.

“Rosenbaum called this a “capitalist Potemkin” and he's right! Where Eisenstein's editing offered a filmic correlation to dialectical materialism, the remarkable final track in to the Dorothy-Lorelei coalition exemplifies capitalism's repetition compulsion. And give it up for George Winslow who should have won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as lecherous piggy in the making Henry Spofford III.”

- Kevin John Bozelka

BONUS FEATURE

Now that's a tie if I've ever seen one!

Cassavetes did (a little) better later.
I went for different Hawks & Bresson. (those 2 films tying is amusing, haha xpost)

at least Day the Earth Stood Still finished ahead of Plan 9.

It was a double feature with Forbidden Planet, but I didn't stay for that.

KENAN = DEAD TO ME

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40 A. Madame de.../The Earrings of Madame de…
Max Ophüls, 1953
POINTS: 94
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“The peak of Max's dolly. As knowing and sad as it gets.”

-Dr. Morbius

“The dance sequence pretty much defines cinematic magic.”

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

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40 B. On The Beach
Stanley Kramer, 1959
POINTS: 94
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Kinda corny at times, but (sadly) still not out of date.”

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

BONUS FEATURE

we will have to screen the Bresson-Hawks double feature at the ILX Cinematheque.

OK, that last one is a really WTF tie.

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39. On The Waterfront
Elia Kazan, 1954
POINTS: 96
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“I don't care if it's too heavyhanded and politically suspect, it's the fulcrum of American film acting, and to diminish its importance is churlish. "You turned out very nice."”

--Dr. Morbius

“Nothing great about On the Waterfront excuses its director's naming names before HUAC, any more than his actions condemn the movie, which feeds on the experience without becoming an allegory for it. Those who would compare gangsters to the Communist Party USA imperil their own credibility rather than the movie's (and many argue Elia Kazan did both). For me, On the Waterfront is about what it's about: gangsters and dockworkers. Terry Malloy's painfully birthed realization that informing isn't betrayal if what you're informing on betrayed you a long time ago could use a re-airing in the "stop snitching" era, as corporations and governments behave like street-corner muscle and vice versa. His final walk is heroic no matter what haters say: It's about owning your place in a community even when power and peers have turned on you.”

― Pete Scholtes

BONUS FEATURE

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37 A. Bob le Flambeur
Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956
POINTS: 99
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Yay for Melville. A very nice print of Bob le flambeur played last year at a local rep--what a pleasure to see on the big screen.”

― slutsky

“Bob le flambeur - Nouvelle Vague before Nouvelle Vague (and a charming crime story, to boot!); still distinctly French (of course), but also has a tiny bit of Italian sensibility to it. Not perfect, but very close.”

― Girolamo Savonarola

“The first time I saw this, I stood up and cheered at the ending. I was at home at the time.”

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

BONUS FEATURE

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37 B. What’s Opera Doc?
Chuck Jones, 1957
POINTS: 99
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Do people dare to diss "What's Opera Doc"? Especially here, where we spend way too much time trying to obliterate the line between high and low culture, a line which Chuck Jones erased in the Fifties? And that's not even considering the editing or the light effects.”

― B:Rad

“I actually had no idea What's Opera, Doc and Rabbit of Seville were different cartoons, they blur together as one classic.”

― Pete Scholtes

BONUS FEATURE

I can only assume everyone hedged their bets on "Duck Amuck."

After watching What's Opera, Doc? again:

There's obviously something profoundly American about a Bronx Brer
Rabbit in drag reclining on a galloping fat horse to seduce a hunter
with a speech impediment, but I'm laughing too hard to parse it.

Bugs is BROOKLYN imho

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36. Forbidden Planet
Fred M. Wilcox, 1956
POINTS: 100
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Forbidden Planet, best movie of the '50s.”

― DavidM

“I love Forbidden Planet and its crypto Lovecraftianism.”

― The Real Dirty Vicar

BONUS FEATURE

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35. Throne of Blood
Akira Kurosawa, 1957
POINTS: 101
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“re: Throne of Blood, I don't think I've seen a better Shakespeare film.”

― poortheatre

“I love Throne of Blood. Not as much as Ran, maybe, but the austerity -- severity, even -- of the filmmaking perfectly suits the story.”

― gypsy mothra

“i finally saw throne of blood recently and it is indeed pretty damn incredible. parts of it (the witch scene, the ending) actually improve on the original. #2 on my shakespeare fillum list (after chimes), easily.”

― J.D.

BONUS FEATURE

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34. Nights of Cabiria
Federico Fellini, 1957
POINTS: 102
VOTES: 5
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

“the scene at the end of nights of cabiria where masina is walking down the street while the kids are playing music and she gradually cheers up. that scene kills me.”

― dave k

“Still my favorite. Giulietta Masina was an angel. That’s all I have to say about this.”

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

BONUS FEATURE

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33. Ordet
Carl Theodor Dreyer (uncredited), 1955
POINTS: 105
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“i just would like to say that "ordet" is such a stone-cold masterpiece and its brilliant. its slow, but so worth it.”

― todd swiss

“I'm perplexed as to why anyone would view Ordet as filmed theater. Just the scene where Johannes enters and lights candles early in the film is so steeped in camera movement and off-screen presence.”

― Eric H.

“I agree that Ordet (1955) is a stone-cold masterpiece. It does exactly what you expect but totally defies all expectations. I don't think any other film comes as close to wearing the label "miraculous".”

― The Narwhal

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32. Wages of Fear
Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953
POINTS: 107
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS?

A fine gay film.

OK, who voted for On the Beach (which isn't even a good Chris Rea song)?

LOL. I'm sooooo not attending its double feature with Earrings.

French gangster flicks is an area where I still have so much to see!

I dislike The Day The Earth Stood Still Great robot, nice ship, but the thurst of the movie is so juvenile. Forbbiden Planet much better - clever and sometimes scary plot, impeccable set design, AMAZING soundtrack, Dr.Morbius is the perfect conflicted villain of the piece and it pretty much invented Star Trek too.

Much love for Shadows, Madame De... and Throne Of Blood.

OK, who voted for On the Beach (which isn't even a good Chris Rea song)?

I voted for it and Madame de...

So screw you and yr mother.

OK, who voted for On the Beach (which isn't even a good Chris Rea song)?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, November 13, 2008 5:36 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

I did (had it down on #5), and with no regrets whatsoever. The nuclear apocalypse is a theme I thoroughly enjoy in both books and movies. I don't care if it's corny - because yeah, it kinda is - I still think it's a beautiful and disturbing movie you can get thoroughly lost in, even today. (which can most definitely not be said about Chris Rea.)

It's just difficult to believe anything's at stake when Stanley Kramer is directing Gregory Peck.

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30 A. A Man Escaped/ Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut
Robert Bresson, 1956
POINTS: 110
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“ Bresson does his usual thing and 'something else' just as well here, which is what makes a masterpiece.”

― Dr Morbius

BONUS FEATURE

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30 B. Ace In The Hole/The Big Carnival
Billy Wilder, 1951
POINTS: 110
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“I will admit that it's got the most eloquent shot of Wilder's career: that great slow dolly of the open train disgorging all these scurrying curiosity seekrs.”

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn

“it's a great movie, seems to be one of his greatest, more consistently dark than his other films, which sometimes have a saggy middle ground, a soft white underbelly. It always seems to me that he went out of his way to disown his flops, instead of waiting for them to be rediscovered.”

― k/l (Ken L)

“Ace in the Hole is the bleakest movie I've ever seen. Not a single likeable character. Even the trapped miner was a spineless buffoon.
Loved it”.

― Dan Selzer

BONUS FEATURE

Peck is a case study for the effects of exposure to nuclear radiation.

That's it for today. I'll try to do 29-16 tomorrow.

The Day The Earth Stood Still is admittedly a kids' film; just a better one than Shane.

Waaaaaaaay better results today.

“I do (predictably) think Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is one of the greatest films ever made.”

― Eric H.

Eric H. bringing the science! I bow to you, sir.

if GORT had starred in Shane instead of Alan Ladd...

Pete, as a disliker of On The Waterfront, I was moved by your powerful piece of writing. Maybe I'd be 100% convinced if Abe Polonsky had won a lifetime achievement Oscar. And Wanda hadn't cast even more doubt on Kazan.

And in the "ouch" category:

On the Beach
Capsule by Dave Kehr
From the Chicago Reader

Stanley Kramer issues the final warning to Mankind, in a tiresome, talky 1959 film set in the shrunken aftermath of World War III. Nineteen fifty-nine was also the year of North by Northwest, Imitation of Life, Rio Bravo, Some Came Running, Anatomy of a Murder, and The Horse Soldiers--so guess which picture topped all the ten-best lists? You'd have to see it to believe it, but I'm not sure I'd put anybody through that.

How'd Horse Soldiers slide in there? (Full disclosure: haven seen said Ford film.)

Some Ford freaks swear by it; others (e.g., myself) do not.

I saw it recently; it's good, esp the interplay of Wayne and Holden.

Speaking of Some Came Running, there better be a Minnelli or two coming up on this list.

Oh shit! I totally forgot to vote for The Cobweb! But I voted for another Minnelli.

none of the melos, but one musical & one comedy here.

Me-One musical, one weeper.

“ Bresson does his usual thing and 'something else' just as well here, which is what makes a masterpiece.”

― Dr Morbius

I'm not sure I want to know what this means.

What it means is I haven't seen the film in about 6 years.

ie, it isn't as dull as Pickpocket.

Just don't go kicking the ass and I'll refrain from bringing up the Dardennes.

Tabulator ocupado?

I was going to say ...

so did The Big Knife get any votes?

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29. Sweet Smell of Success
Alexander Mackendrick, 1957
POINTS: 113
VOTES: 4
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

“"Sweet Smell of Success" is indeed magnificent; abrasive Scot (Mackendrick) meets abrasive New Yorker and the partnership is incendiary. Best role I know of for Tony Curtis, and one amongst many for the great Burt Lancaster.”

― Tom May

“because more than probably ANY other variety of "journalism," celeb gossip depends on maintaining a relationship with publicists, watch one sweet smell of success”

― say it with blood diamonds (a_p)

“Sweet Smell of Success (gritty bleak film noir about a Winchell-esque columnist, but the real star is the late-50s NYC night life of shady jazz clubs and criminal underworlds. unusual for the time, this was filmed on-location in NYC and not in a Hollywood soundstage)”

― Gator Magoon (Chris Barrus)

Been busy.

I'd hate to take a bite out of you. You're a cookie full of arsenic.

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28. In A Lonely Place
Nicholas Ray, 1950
POINTS: 113
VOTES: 7
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“My friend said: "Like Bogart always is, only a real person."”

--Dr. Morbius

BONUS FEATURE