On a crowded subway, Skip McCoy picks the purse of Candy. Among his take, although he does not know it at the time, is a piece of top-secret microfilm that was being passed by Candy’s consort, a Communist agent. Candy discovers the whereabouts of the film through Moe Williams, a police informer. She attempts to seduce McCoy to recover the film. She fails to get back the film and falls in love with him. The desperate agent exterminates Moe and savagely beats Candy. McCoy, now goaded into action, confronts the agent in a particularly brutal fight in a subway.
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Tag Archives: 1950s
Vertigo (1958) Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Hitchcock’s romantic story of obsession, manipulation and fear. A detective is forced to retire after his fear of heights causes the death of a fellow officer and the girl he was hired to follow. He sees a double of the girl, causing him to transform her image onto the dead girl’s body. This leads into a cycle of madness and lies.
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Prelude to Fame (1950) Fergus McDonell, Guy Rolfe, Kathleen Byron, Kathleen Ryan, Drama
While vacationing in Italy, Nick Morell, son of John Morell, a famous English philosopher and amateur musician and his wife Catherine, becomes friendly with young Guido, and Morell discovers the boy has an extraordinary instinct for orchestration and a phenomenal music memory. A neighboring couple, Signor and Signora Boudini become aware of the boy’s talents, and she appeals to his parents to let her educate him musically. Torn by their love for their son and, they feel,the duty to let the world hear his talent, they consent. The boy is tutored by Dr. Lorenzo. Signora Bondini denies the boy all contact with his parents and everyone else except her. She also has neither sent his letters to his family, nor let him see the ones they’ve sent to him. He becomes phenomenally successful and makes the grand tour of Europe as Signora Bondini is enraptured by the acclaim given her through her “discovery” of the boy. She prepares to take him to America and also prepares adoption papers.
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My Teenage Daughter (1956) Herbert Wilcox, Anna Neagle, Sylvia Syms, Norman Wooland, Drama
Anna Neagle, Sylvia Syms. Poor Anna just can’t seem to ‘straighten out’ her delinquent daughter. Her path eventually leads to crime, rebellion, death, and redemption. Her sleazy boryfriend leads her down a path of moral ineptitude. Good performance by Syms.
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The Breaking Point (1950) Michael Curtiz, John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Fishing boat captain Harry Morgan charters his boat. Due to strained finances, he is none too careful as to whom he does business with. Real trouble erupts when Harry hires out his boat to transport four men who turn out to be criminals on the lam from a racetrack heist.
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The Swan (1956) Charles Vidor, Grace Kelly, Alec Guinness, Louis Jourdan, Comedy, Romance, Drama
Princess Beatrice’s days of enjoying the regal life are numbered unless her only daughter, Princess Alexandra, makes a good impression on a distant cousin when he pays a surprise visit to their palace. Prince Albert has searched all over Europe for a bride and he’s bored by the whole courtship routine. He is more interested in the estate’s dairy than Alexandra’s rose garden. And then he starts playing football with the tutor and Alexandra’s brothers. Invite the tutor to the ball that night and watch how gracefully Alexandra dances with him.
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Mamma mia, che impressione! (1951) Roberto Savarese, Alberto Sordi, Giovanna Pala, Carlo Giustini, Comedy
Timido, goffo e petulante, Alberto cerca in ogni modo di fare colpo su Margherita. Con la speranza di vincere il primo premio, partecipa a una corsa. Da un soggetto di Sordi sceneggiato dall’attore con Cesare Zavattini e Vittorio De Sica (che si dice abbia diretto gran parte del film), un filmetto un po’ melenso ma interessante come specchio della Roma postbellica. Nel suo primo film da protagonista Sordi ha voluto portare sullo schermo i temi, i modi e l’umorismo di un suo popolare programma radiofonico.
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Storm Center (1956) Daniel Taradash, Bette Davis, Brian Keith, Kim Hunter, Drama
A small-town librarian is branded as a Communist by local politicians when she refuses to withdraw a controversial book from the library’s shelves.
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Untamed (1955) Henry King, Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, Richard Egan, Adventure, Drama, Romance
When the great potato famine hits Ireland, the diaspora begins as thousands emigrate. Among those leaving the Emerald Isle is Katie O’Neill and her husband, who decide that the promised land is South Africa and make their way there. Once there, they discover the hardships that are the reality of the homesteader experience. To complicate matters, Katie meets up with the love of her life, Paul van Riebeck. Will there be betrayal on the veldt?
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The Female Animal (1958) Harry Keller, Hedy Lamarr, Jane Powell, Jan Sterling, Drama
Jaded movie star Vanessa Windsor, saved from a studio accident by handsome extra Chris Farley, pursues him, and soon he’s the ‘caretaker’ of her beach house. Vanessa’s sexy, alcoholic adult daughter Penny accidentally meets Chris, who rescues her from an ‘octopus’ boyfriend. Before you know it, Chris is involved with both mother and daughter, and his only way out is to take a job in a Mexican picture about man-eating orchids…
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West Of Zanzibar (1954) Harry Watt, Anthony Steel, Sheila Sim, William Simons, Adventure
The story of native tribesmen who move towards Mombasa, getting drawn info the world of ivory smuggling.
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Le amiche (1955) Michelangelo Antonioni, Eleonora Rossi Drago, Gabriele Ferzetti, Franco Fabrizi
Clelia comes from Rome to her native Turin, to set up a new fashion salon. On her first night, the woman in the next room of her hotel takes an overdose of pills. Clelia becomes involved with this woman, Rosetta, and three of her rich women friends, Momina, Nene, and Mariella. Momina is older than the others, and lives apart from her husband. Her current lover is Cesare, the architect of Clelia’s salon. Nene is a talented ceramics artist, and lives with her fiance, the painter Lorenzo. Mariella is a flighty woman only interested in having a good time. Clelia becomes attached to Carlo, the architect’s assistant, but the other women look down on him as he comes from a working class background. Momina, with the help of Clelia, discovers that Rosetta fell in love with Lorenzo as he was painting her portrait. Momina then encourages Rosetta to go after Lorenzo, even though he and Nene were supposed to marry soon.
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Ride, Vaquero! (1953) John Farrow, Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel, Western
Esqueda, an outlaw, attempts to force settlers King and Cordelia Cameron out of his territory. Esqueda’s mother raised Rio as her own. Rio has loyalty to Esqueda but also feels the settlers should be able to stay. A showdown between the two raised as brothers is unavoidable.
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Man in the Shadow (1957) Jack Arnold, Jeff Chandler, Orson Welles, Colleen Miller, Crime, Drama, Thriller
In effect, modern cow town Spurline is run by Virgil Renchler, owner of the Golden Empire Ranch. One night, two of Virgil’s henchmen go a little too far and beat a “bracero” ranch hand to death. Faced with an obvious cover-up and opposition on every hand, sheriff Ben Sadler is goaded into investigating. His unlikely ally: Renchler’s lovely, self-willed and overprotected daughter. Will Ben survive Renchler’s wrath?
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Checkpoint (1956) Ralph Thomas, Anthony Steel, Odile Versois, Stanley Baker, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Stanley Baker’s character is sent to steal the plans from another company of their racing car designs, to ensure his employers win the competition. However when opening a safe containing the plans, he triggers an alarm leading to a gun battle where he kills a number of people. James Robertson Justice alarmed by the scandal surrounding the killings orders his agent be killed surreptitiously to hide his involvement with the plot.
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