Tag Archives: 1950s

Le château de verre / The Glass Castle (1950) René Clément, Michèle Morgan, Jean Marais, Jean Servais, Drama

Le chateau de verre (1950)
Laurent Bertal is a successful attorney who lives in Berne with his beautiful and adoring wife Evelyne. Theirs appears to be the perfect marriage, but while on holiday in Italy Evelyne falls in love with a young Frenchman, Rémy. While Evelyne is profoundly unsettled by this romantic entanglement, Rémy regards it as a mere distraction and soon heads back to Paris where he lives with his mistress, Marion. One day, Evelyne is overjoyed when she receives an invitation from Rémy to spend a weekend with him in Paris. The morning after their first night together in Rémy’s apartment, Evelyne accidentally breaks a glass ornament in the shape of a castle. The incident proves to be an omen of bad luck.
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Crime in the Streets (1956) Don Siegel, John Cassavetes, Sal Mineo, James Whitmore, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Crime in the Streets (1956)
On a city’s mean streets, the boys join gangs at 15. Frankie leads the Hornets: he’s 18, seething, coiled. When a neighbor goes to the cops after seeing one of the Hornets with a zip gun, Frankie vows to kill the old guy, hatching a plan using Lou, who smiles and smokes, and “Baby,” the 15-year-old son of an immigrant shopkeeper. Ben Wagner, the social worker at a neighborhood settlement house, gets wind of the plan and tries to break through to Frankie. Frankie’s brother Richie, who’s about 12, worships and fears Frankie; he also figures out what his brother is up to. Is Frankie doomed to crash and burn at 18?
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Screaming Mimi (1958) Gerd Oswald, Anita Ekberg, Philip Carey, Gypsy Rose Lee, Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller

Screaming Mimi (1958)
Exotic dancer Virginia Wilson sees a man get shot moments after he tries to knife her in a shower, so she goes to Dr. Greenwood a psychiatrist for therapy. He falls in love with her and takes over her life, although she insists on continuing her career at the El Madhouse nightclub. The club’s tough owner is none other than Gypsy Rose Lee who plays ‘Gypsy’ and sings an incredibly bad song (“Put the Blame on Mame”) when Virginia is late one night. The traumatized Virginia is suspected of a series of murders. Each victim had purchased a contorted sculpture of a woman called the Screaming Mimi, which was created by her step-brother Charlie who was also responsible for shooting her attacker. It’s up to a handsome columnist Bill Sweeny to figure it all out.
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Knights of the Round Table (1953) Richard Thorpe, Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer, Action, Adventure, Drama

Knights of the Round Table (1953)
King Arthur establishes the greatest reign England has ever seen, and along for the ride are his indispensable Knights of the Round Table, particularly Sir Lancelot. Then, Arthur finds himself a bride, the beautiful Guenivere. While she loves Arthur, she also loves Lancelot and though Lancelot repeatedly fights it, he loves her, too. Treachery is brewing as the evil Morgan le Fay and her knight Sir Modred work to trap them. So begins the decline and eventual fall of Arthur and Camelot.
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Bhowani Junction (1956) George Cukor, Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger, Bill Travers, Adventure, Drama, History

Bhowani Junction (1956)
The year is 1947, the British are on the verge of finally leaving India. Amongst the few who are sorry to see the British leave are the Anglo-Indians, half British and half Indian, for they are going to miss the patronage of their white cousins, the job reservations, and the important status and positions they currently hold. The British, quite frankly, do not think well of Anglo-Indians, nor do the Indians. Victoria Jones is one such Anglo-Indian, a WAC in the British Army, her father a railway engine driver, and her mom a housewife. She is close to another Anglo-Indian, Patrick Taylor, but changes her mind about him as he harbors deep hatred for the Indians. She witnesses Col. Rodney Savage instruct his soldiers to pour filthy water and garbage at the hands of untouchables on high-caste men and women who are protesting by laying down on the railway tracks to prevent trains from moving. Repulsed and shocked at this, she turns to Ranjit Singh Kassi, a Sikh, and longs to be Indian.
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Ten Tall Men (1951) Willis Goldbeck, Burt Lancaster, Jody Lawrance, Gilbert Roland, Action, Adventure, War

Ten Tall Men (1951)
Sgt. Mike Kincaid of the French Foreign Legion learns, from a Riff prisoner, that an attack will soon be made by the villainous Hussin on the Legion’s outpost of Tarfa. Kincaid volunteers to lead nine other Legionnaires on a mission to delay Hussin’s attack till reinforcements arrive. When he discovers that Hussin plans to marry Mahla, a girl from a rival tribe, in order to build a coalition against the French, Kincaid kidnaps Mahla. Hussin forcefully takes her back, but by now his planned attack on Tarfa is crumbling and Mahla has begun to fall in love with Kincaid.
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Giovani mariti / Young Husbands (1958) Mauro Bolognini, Isabelle Corey, Antonio Cifariello, Franco Interlenghi, Comedy

Giovani mariti (1958)
The husbands in question rather casually enter into marriage, never intending true fidelity to their spouses. When they realize that they’re committed for life, our immature heroes return to their home town for one last fling. In the course of their final hours of bachelorhood, they come to the sobering conclusion that their carefree youth is not only past, it’s already long past. Somewhat reminiscent of Fellini’s I Vitelloni, Giovani Mariti boasts excellent performances from all concerned.
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