
A blonde actress is murdered across from a bar. An off-duty cop has been getting pleasantly sloshed, but becomes worried about his innocence when he finds out he was seen leaving the establishment with a blonde, but doesn’t remember. As he investigates, he interviews a columnist who was going with the actress, a caricaturist who drew the victim, the caricaturist’s wife who works at the bar, and the caricaturist’s lover, and slowly begins to put the pieces of the deadly puzzle together.
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Tag Archives: 1950s
La sfida / The Challenge (1958) Francesco Rosi, Rosanna Schiaffino, José Suárez, Nino Vingelli

Vito Polara is a young ambitious man from the slums of Naples, who wants to get as much power and money as possible. He decides to quit smuggling cigarettes and tries to take over the local fruit and vegetable distribution, which is considered more profitable. After challenging the rural crime boss of the local Camorra, Vito becomes part of his gang and soon his life changes. He moves to a new luxurious seaside apartment and plans to start a family with the beautiful Assunta. At their wedding party, however, and later on, he’s about to see who the real boss is.
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The Sound of Fury (1950) Cy Endfield, Frank Lovejoy, Kathleen Ryan, Richard Carlson

A family man -desperate for a job- latches onto a friend that encourages him into being a criminal.
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Tous peuvent me tuer / Everybody Wants to Kill Me (1957) Henri Decoin, François Périer, Peter van Eyck, Anouk Aimée

The holdup of the bank is a success. All happened according to plan. Now, Cyril Gad and his four accomplices must secure an alibi. What better place than a prison cell? As a result the five gangsters have themselves arrested on minor charges and start waiting until they are released. Unfortunately three of them die mysteriously, another one is openly murdered. The only man still alive, Tony, is scared.
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Gli innamorati / Wild Love (1955) Mauro Bolognini, Antonella Lualdi, Franco Interlenghi, Sergio Raimondi

The film is about some youths’ love stories: Franco and his hairdresser girlfriend Adriana, Otello another hairdresser who is hopelessly in love with Adriana. The youths usually meet in a restaurant whose owner, Ines, seduces Franco making Adriana very jealous. In turn the girl decides to accept Otello’s courting.
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Thérèse Raquin / The Adultress (1953) Marcel Carné, Simone Signoret, Raf Vallone, Jacques Duby

Therese has a boring life. She married Camille, her cousin, a sickly haberdasher, fully dominated by his mother (who lives with them). She dreams about passion. One day comes a truckdriver, Laurent… and of course they fall in love. But they will be pursued by fate.
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Skola otcu / School for Fathers (1957) Ladislav Helge, Karel Höger, Blazena Holisová, Josef Mixa

A new teacher with high standards and a strong sense of duty replaces an easy grader. Once bad grades begin to pile up, a product of his predecessor’s subservience to the system, the new teacher has to stand up for himself and his students.
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Fair Wind to Java (1953) Joseph Kane, Fred MacMurray, Vera Ralston, Robert Douglas

The Dutch East Indies, at the end of the nineteenth century. An adventurous captain of an American merchant vessel is looking for a sunken Dutch vessel containing 10,000 precious diamonds. Unfortunately, he’s not the only one and then there’s also that volcano on the nearby island of Krakatau, waiting to explode in its historical, disastrous eruption…
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The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Robert Wise, Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe

An alien (Klaatu) with his mighty robot (Gort) land their spacecraft on Cold War-era Earth just after the end of World War II. They bring an important message to the planet that Klaatu wishes to tell to representatives of all nations. However, communication turns out to be difficult, so, after learning something about the natives, Klaatu decides on an alternative approach.
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The Last of the Fast Guns (1958) George Sherman, Jock Mahoney, Gilbert Roland, Linda Cristal

A rich, dying Easterner hires gunfighter Brad Ellison to find his brother and heir in Mexico. En route, it becomes clear to Ellison that his is a dying profession. At a remote rancho, Ellison enlists ranch foreman Miles Lang to help him search the hills where the missing man is rumored to have lived. They find nothing …except that someone wants to kill them; and Ellison becomes wrapped in a maze of double crosses.
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