
In the fall of 1939, the German heavy cruiser (referred to as a pocket battleship) Graf Spee seems to have command of the Atlantic. Read More »
Tag Archives: 1950s
A Stranger in My Arms (1959) Helmut Käutner, June Allyson, Jeff Chandler, Sandra Dee, Drama

Air Force test pilot Pike Yarnell reluctantly attends the memorial service for long-dead Donald Beasley, his navigator during the Korean War; recalling, in flashbacks, their painful days together on a life raft. In Beasley’s home town, Pike is repelled at Donald’s wealthy mother’s enshrinement of her dead son; bemused at his frankly amorous pursuit by Donald’s younger sister Pat; and increasingly charmed by his attractive widow Christina. What will the final flashback reveal?
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Cattle Empire (1958) Charles Marquis Warren, Joel McCrea, Gloria Talbott, Don Haggerty, Western

After serving a five year prison sentence for allowing his men to destroy a town in a drunken spree, a trail boss is hired by the same town’s leading citizen to drive their cattle to Fort Clemson. Complicating matters, a rival cattle baron also hires the cattle driver to lead his herd.
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Crime of Passion (1957) Gerd Oswald, Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Kathy is a smart and tough 1950’s advice columnist at a San Francisco newspaper, with her name plastered on billboards all over the city. One day, Bill Doyle, a Los Angeles detective, walks into her office – it is instant attraction. After marrying Bill, Kathy gives up her career and becomes a homemaker. However, she is not your typical 1950’s homemaker. After hosting several cocktail parties in their San Fernando Valley home, she realizes that Bill is content with his position, and shows no ambition in furthering himself. Kathy will not sit idly by while everyone around her is “moving up in the world”. She personally takes upon herself the task of pushing Bill’s career along, even if it comes down to murder.
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The Big Heat (1953) Fritz Lang, Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller

Dave Bannion is an upright cop on the trail of a vicious gang he suspects holds power over the police force. Bannion is tipped off after a colleague’s suicide and his fellow officers’ suspicious silence lead him to believe that they are on the gangsters’ payroll. When a bomb meant for him kills his wife instead, Bannion becomes a furious force of vengeance and justice, aided along the way by the gangster’s spurned girlfriend Debbie. As Bannion and Debbie fall further and further into the Gangland’s insidious and brutal trap, they must use any means necessary (including murder) to get to the truth.
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Le château de verre / The Glass Castle (1950) René Clément, Michèle Morgan, Jean Marais, Jean Servais, Drama

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

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

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

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

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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