
An attractive reporter investigating the mysterious destruction of an Illinois town stumbles upon a secret government laboratory conducting radiation experiments on vegetables. The lead scientist is eager to help find out what happened. Together they discover that giant grasshoppers are behind the devastation. Worse yet, thousands of them are headed toward Chicago! Can they be stopped… or is this the BEGINNING OF THE END?
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Tag Archives: 1950s
Fear Strikes Out (1957) Robert Mulligan, Anthony Perkins, Karl Malden, Norma Moore, Biography, Drama, Sport

Jim Piersall is groomed by his loving but hard-driving father (living vicariously through his son) to play major league baseball. His desire to succeed to please his father leads to mental illness and a nervous breakdown. Can he overcome those difficulties and return to the major leagues?
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Cien (1956) Shadow – Jerzy Kawalerowicz

The plot consists of a Rashomon-like investigation into the life of a man found dead after having been hurled from a train. Read More »
The Steel Helmet (1951) Samuel Fuller, Gene Evans, Robert Hutton, Steve Brodie, Action, Drama, War

During the Korean War, strong but worn and cantankerous Sergeant Zack is aided by a young, orphaned Korean boy. Together they encounter and join a small group of American soldiers. The group stumbles upon a Buddhist temple where they decide to hold up, believing it to be empty…
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Sanshô dayû / Sansho the Bailiff (1954) Kenji Mizoguchi, Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyôko Kagawa, Drama

In mediaeval Japan a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.
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Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) Curtis Bernhardt, Rita Hayworth, José Ferrer, Aldo Ray, Drama, Musical, Romance

At a lonely military outpost on American Samoa, sticky heat alternates with torrential rain. A ship quarantine strands here Sadie Thompson, a “breezy dame” who sets the Marines afire… and self-righteous Mr. Davidson, powerful head of the Mission Board, who suspects Sadie is a fugitive from the notorious Emerald Club of Honolulu. Meanwhile, Sadie is courted by crude but good-hearted Marine Sgt. Phil O’Hara.
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The Big Knife (1955) Robert Aldrich, Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Drama, Film-Noir

Charles Castle is a successful Hollywood actor who has opted for screen success over art. He must make critical decisions regarding his career, his marriage, his art & morality. In this screen adaptation of a Clifford Odets play, Castle is pressured by his studio boss and manipulated into a potentially murderous cover-up to protect his career. An indictment of the amoral world of 50’s Hollywood and its corrosive effect upon the artist.
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The Horse Soldiers (1959) John Ford, John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers, Adventure, War, Western

A Union Cavalry outfit is sent behind confederate lines in strength to destroy a rail/supply center. Along with them is sent a doctor who causes instant antipathy between him and the commander. The secret plan for the mission is overheard by a southern belle who must be taken along to assure her silence. The Union officers each have different reasons for wanting to be on the mission.
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Return to Paradise (1953) Mark Robson, Gary Cooper, Barry Jones, Roberta Haynes, Adventure, Drama, Romance

Based on the short story “Mr. Morgan” from “Return To Paradise” (James Michener’s sequel to “Tales of the South Pacific”). Morgan (Gary Cooper), a drifter and soldier-of-fortune washes up on a Pacific island that is a small dictatorial state under the puritanic rule of Pastor Corbett (Barry Jones), a missionary. They conflict but Morgan stays on and carves out a cozy life. He has a child out of wedlock with island native Maeva (Roberta Haynes), but departs the island after her death, leaving the young daughter behind. He returns years later in search of his daughter. It is circa the early years of WW II, and he finds that his daughter has fallen in love with an American pilot who has crash-landed on the island. It appears that the pilot will do for the girl what Morgan did for her mother, and then depart.
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Attack! (1956) Robert Aldrich, Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, Eddie Albert, Drama, War, Action

During the closing days of WWII, a National Guard Infantry Company is assigned the task of setting up artillery observation posts in a strategic area. Lieutenant Costa knows that Cooney is in command only because of ‘connections’ he had made state-side. Costa has serious doubts concerning Cooneys’ ability to lead the group. When Cooney sends Costa and his men out, and refuses to re-enforce them, Costa swears revenge.
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