Tag Archives: 1950s

Odongo (1956) John Gilling, Rhonda Fleming, Macdonald Carey, Juma, Adventure, Drama

Odongo (1956)
Pamela Muir is a lovely veterinarian, who thinks the animals should run free. Steve Stratton is a hunter, who hires natives to assist with the capture and care of the animals. One day Stratton fires one of the locals. To get revenge, the former employee frees the animals just before a wealthy buyer is to arrive. Unfortunately, Stratton blames Odongo, an innocent young boy, for the crime. Heretofore, Odongo believed Stratton cared for him. The distraught Odongo runs off into the dangerous wilds. Muir and Stratton are forced to put aside their differences and search for him.
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Houdini (1953) George Marshall, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, Torin Thatcher, Biography, Drama

Houdini (1953)
The amazing career of master magician Harry Houdini is presented from his beginnings with a carnival “wild man” act to his emergence as an internationally-acclaimed illusionist, From his dramatic escape from a locked safe under the frozen Detroit River to an even more improbable one from a locked cell in Scotland Yard, he never failed to please and astound his audiences. Although Houdini’s tricks are achieved through his marvelous physical dexterity and innate sleight-of-hand, he courted death with the hazardous illusions he performed and his compulsive quest to make contact with the spirit world.
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Pickup on South Street (1953) Samuel Fuller, Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter, Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller

Pickup on South Street (1953)
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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Prelude to Fame (1950) Fergus McDonell, Guy Rolfe, Kathleen Byron, Kathleen Ryan, Drama

Prelude to Fame (1950)
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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The Swan (1956) Charles Vidor, Grace Kelly, Alec Guinness, Louis Jourdan, Comedy, Romance, Drama

The Swan (1956)
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

Mamma mia, che impressione! (1951)
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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Untamed (1955) Henry King, Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, Richard Egan, Adventure, Drama, Romance

Untamed (1955)
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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