Navy test pilot Lieut. Dan Prescott, in experimental rocket plane Y-13, disobeys orders and becomes the first man to fly outside the ionosphere. Unable to turn, he ejects…and is plastered with metallic meteor dust. The pilot compartment lands with no trace of the pilot… but first cattle, then people, are found with their throats cut as if with an axe, by something that seems to have a craving for blood…
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Tag Archives: 1950s
Yield to the Night (1956) J. Lee Thompson, Diana Dors, Yvonne Mitchell, Michael Craig, Drama
A young woman who has been abused and taken advantage of by all the men in her life, finally finds a man she believes truly loves her, but she snaps when she finds out that he, too, is cheating on her, and she kills her boyfriend’s mistress.
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Odette (1950) Herbert Wilcox, Anna Neagle, Trevor Howard, Marius Goring, Drama, History, War
This is the story of a brave woman who volunteered to join SOE (Special Operations Executive) during WWII. She was flown into occupied France where she fought with the French resistance. Captured and tortured by the Gestapo, she refused to identify her accomplices.
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Un maledetto imbroglio / The Facts of Murder (1959) Pietro Germi, Claudia Cardinale, Franco Fabrizi, Crime, Drama
A masked bandit steals valuables from Commendatore Anzaloni’s apartment and flees, leaving Anzaloni unharmed. Inspector Ingravallo is called in. The robbery is suspicious; the thief found the jewellery too quickly. The neighbour, Liliana Banducci, employs a servant girl, Assuntina. Her fiancé, Diomede, tries to flee when he sees police tailing Assuntina. But Diomede has an alibi, a rich American woman… Liliana’s cousin, Dr. Valdarena, pays her a visit, only to find her body on the floor. But before calling police, Valdarena removes an envelope addressed to him from the sideboard… Liliana’s husband Remo was away from Rome at the time of the murder, but he is surprised to hear that Liliana had changed her will only the week before…
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Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951) Felix E. Feist, Ruth Roman, Steve Cochran, Lurene Tuttle, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A man who spent his formative years in prison for murder is released, and struggles to adjust to the outside world and escape his lurid past. He gets involved with a cheap dancehall girl, and when her protector is accidentally killed, they go on the lam together, getting jobs as farm labourers. But some fellow workers get wise to them.
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The Man from Planet X (1951) Edgar G. Ulmer, Robert Clarke, Margaret Field, Raymond Bond
To study a rogue planet heading for a near-miss with Earth, Prof. Elliot sets up an observatory on the foggy moors of a remote Scottish island, with his pretty daughter and Dr. Mears, a former student with a shady past. Soon after arrival of reporter John Lawrence, a ship from Planet X just happens to land near the observatory. Is the visitor (who actually looks alien) benevolent? What are Mears’ real motives for trying to communicate with it?
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The Fearmakers (1958) Jacques Tourneur, Dana Andrews, Dick Foran, Marilee Earle
A Korean War veteran discovers his Washington-based PR firm has been taken over by Communist infiltrators.
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Funny Face (1957) Stanley Donen, Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson
Fashion photographer Dick Avery, in search for an intellectual backdrop for an air-headed model, expropriates a Greenwich Village bookstore. When the photo session is over the store is left in a shambles, much to salesgirl Jo Stockton’s dismay. Avery stays behind to help her clean up. Later, he examines the photos taken there and sees Jo in the background of one shot. He is intrigued by her unique appearance, as is Maggie Prescott, the editor of a leading fashion magazine. They offer Jo a modeling contract, which she reluctantly accepts only because it includes a trip to Paris. Eventually, her snobbish attitude toward the job softens, and Jo begins to enjoy the work and the company of her handsome photographer.
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The Cry Baby Killer (1958) Jus Addiss, Carolyn Mitchell, Harry Lauter, Jack Nicholson
17-year-old Jimmy Walker is brutally beaten by Manny Cole and two of his teen-age punk friends, Joey and Al, because Manny wants to move in on Jimmy’s girl, Carole Fields. Later, Jimmy shows up at the hangout of the teenage crowd to take Carole away, and challenges Manny to a fight. Manny’s two buddies move in with brass knuckles, and one of them pulls a pistol, which falls to the ground in the scuffle. Jimmy picks it up and shoots Manny and Al. A police officer orders Jimmy to surrender, but he panics, thinking he killed the pair, and dives into a small storeroom, and holds Sam and Mrs. Maxton and her small infant baby hostages. Police Lieutenant Porter and others plead with Jimmy to surrender and release the hostages, but the terrified Jimmy threatens Sam and Mrs. Maxton with death if they break out. A large crowd gathers and almost breaks through the police lines to storm the storeroom. Porter decides to use tear gas, with a rescue unit standing by to help Mrs. Maxton and her baby….
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Hells Island (1955) Phil Karlson, John Payne, Mary Murphy, Francis L. Sullivan
Down-on-his-luck Mike Cormack is hired to fly to a Caribbean island to retrieve a missing ruby. On the island, possibly involved with the ruby’s disappearance, is his ex-girlfriend.
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