Tag Archives: 1950s

Breaking the Sound Barrier (1952) David Lean, Ralph Richardson, Ann Todd, Nigel Patrick, Drama, Romance, War

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Tony successful fighter pilot during World War II marries into the family of a wealthy oil magnate who also designs airplanes. The movie traces the company’s attempt to break the sound barrier, as well as tensions between father and daughter. Lots of footage of early 50s jet aviation in Great Britain as well as shots of the Comet airliner, world’s first jet passenger plane.
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Devil’s Canyon (1953) Alfred L. Werker, Virginia Mayo, Dale Robertson, Stephen McNally, Action, Crime, Drama, Romance, Western

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Ex-marshal Billy Reynolds, sent to state prison for killing two men in self defense, learns that killer Jessie Gorman, brother of the two men Billy shot, is in the same prison and vows revenge. Complicating matters further is the incarceration of Gorman’s girlfriend Abby who helps Gorman plan an escape while at the same time is unsuccessful hiding her feelings for Reynolds.
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Hold Back Tomorrow (1955) Hugo Haas, John Agar, Cleo Moore, Frank DeKova, Drama

Hold Back Tomorrow (Hugo Haas, 1955)
Joe Cardos, a death row inmate in some unidentified country, is to face the gallows in the morning for strangling three women. Filled with bitterness at the world, and perhaps himself, Joe lashes out at the warden and guards’ attempts at making his final hours a little easier, and refuses to see either his sister or the prison chaplain. However, Joe does change his mind about being granted a last request, one the prison is obligated by law to fulfill: He asks for a woman’s company so he can have some “fun” in the time that’s left. After asking around, two police detectives show up at the prison with a down-on-her-luck former “waitress” named Dora, who earlier that night had tried to drown herself. Dora, totally broke and feeling she has nothing to lose, has agreed to spend the night with Joe in his cell. As she sees it, the money she’s being offered should be enough for “a decent funeral.”
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Great St. Louis Bank Robbery (1959) Charles Guggenheim, John Stix, Steve McQueen, Crahan Denton, David Clarke, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Great St. Louis Bank Robbery (Charles Guggenheim & John Stix, 1959)
George Fowler is drawn into a gang planning to rob a bank in St. Louis that they expect will have a $100,000 on hand on an upcoming Friday. George is drawn into the plan as the gang’s driver by Gino, an old girlfriend’s older brother. As the gang goes about its planning, George and Gino have to find a way to live for the next two weeks and they turn to Gino’s sister, Ann, for help. George is hoping to go back to college and the money he would make would go a long way to helping him do that. Not trusting George to keep his nerve, the gang’s leader John Egan moves him to the inside, but the robbery doesn’t go off as planned.
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The Rainmaker (1956) Joseph Anthony, Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn, Wendell Corey, Romance, Western

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Lizzie Curry is on the verge of becoming a hopeless old maid. Her wit and intelligence and skills as a homemaker can’t make up for the fact that she’s just plain plain! Even the town sheriff, File, for whom she harbors a secrect yen, won’t take a chance –- until the town suffers a drought and into the lives of Lizzie and her brothers and father comes one Bill Starbuck … profession: Rainmaker!
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The Private War of Major Benson (1955) Jerry Hopper, Charlton Heston, Julie Adams, William Demarest, Comedy, Family, Romance

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A Major noted for advancing with his mouth before thinking is given a choice: to be drummed out of the Army, or take command of and shape up the ROTC program at Sheridan Academy before it fails its next inspection. At Sheridan he encounters three hundred pre-teen cadets who range from rascally to adorable, and a female doctor who has just the right prescription for him.
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