Tag Archives: 1950s

Female Jungle (1956) Bruno VeSota, Lawrence Tierney, Jayne Mansfield, John Carradine

Female Jungle (1956)
A blonde actress is murdered across from a bar. An off-duty cop has been getting pleasantly sloshed, but becomes worried about his innocence when he finds out he was seen leaving the establishment with a blonde, but doesn’t remember. As he investigates, he interviews a columnist who was going with the actress, a caricaturist who drew the victim, the caricaturist’s wife who works at the bar, and the caricaturist’s lover, and slowly begins to put the pieces of the deadly puzzle together.
Read More »

La sfida / The Challenge (1958) Francesco Rosi, Rosanna Schiaffino, José Suárez, Nino Vingelli

La sfida (1957)
Vito Polara is a young ambitious man from the slums of Naples, who wants to get as much power and money as possible. He decides to quit smuggling cigarettes and tries to take over the local fruit and vegetable distribution, which is considered more profitable. After challenging the rural crime boss of the local Camorra, Vito becomes part of his gang and soon his life changes. He moves to a new luxurious seaside apartment and plans to start a family with the beautiful Assunta. At their wedding party, however, and later on, he’s about to see who the real boss is.
Read More »

Tous peuvent me tuer / Everybody Wants to Kill Me (1957) Henri Decoin, François Périer, Peter van Eyck, Anouk Aimée

Tous peuvent me tuer (1957)
The holdup of the bank is a success. All happened according to plan. Now, Cyril Gad and his four accomplices must secure an alibi. What better place than a prison cell? As a result the five gangsters have themselves arrested on minor charges and start waiting until they are released. Unfortunately three of them die mysteriously, another one is openly murdered. The only man still alive, Tony, is scared.
Read More »

The Man with a Cloak (1951) Fletcher Markle, Joseph Cotten, Barbara Stanwyck, Louis Calhern

The Man with a Cloak (1951)
In 1848, a young Frenchwoman, Madeline Minot, goes to New York City to see Thevenet, the grandfather of her fiance. Thevenet had been with Napoleon and may be sympathetic to the political aims of his grandson. She finds the old man in very bad spirits, living in a large house with a housekeeper and a butler who are just waiting for him to die (and perhaps helping him along a bit) so they can inherit his fortune. They see Madeline as a threat to their plans. She is aided in her dealings with these strange people by a mysterious man in a cloak.
Read More »

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Robert Wise, Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
An alien (Klaatu) with his mighty robot (Gort) land their spacecraft on Cold War-era Earth just after the end of World War II. They bring an important message to the planet that Klaatu wishes to tell to representatives of all nations. However, communication turns out to be difficult, so, after learning something about the natives, Klaatu decides on an alternative approach.
Read More »

The Last of the Fast Guns (1958) George Sherman, Jock Mahoney, Gilbert Roland, Linda Cristal

The Last of the Fast Guns (1958)
A rich, dying Easterner hires gunfighter Brad Ellison to find his brother and heir in Mexico. En route, it becomes clear to Ellison that his is a dying profession. At a remote rancho, Ellison enlists ranch foreman Miles Lang to help him search the hills where the missing man is rumored to have lived. They find nothing …except that someone wants to kill them; and Ellison becomes wrapped in a maze of double crosses.
Read More »

Room for One More (1952) Norman Taurog, Cary Grant, Betsy Drake, Lurene Tuttle

Room for One More (1952)
Anne and “Poppy” Rose are the average American family, with three quirky kids. Anne has a good heart and gives lost cats and dogs a home – and one day also the orphan Jane, a problem child who already tried to kill herself once. At first Poppy is worried and wants to get rid of her, but with love and patience they finally manage to integrate her into the family. Just then Anne invites another orphan, the aggressive handicapped Jimmy-John, to their summer vacation.
Read More »