Category: 1950s

The American localized version of Godzilla has Raymond Burr forced into the story as a reporter whose Tokyo layover forces him to stay in the city right at the time of Godzilla’s rampage. Even without having seen the original Japanese film, it is quite obvious that Burr’s storyline is all added-on. Every one of his scenes come across in the same way as Jack Black’s appearance in the Investigative Journalism episode of Community where previous incidents are all shown from this stranger’s perspective. Instead of getting to experience the relationships and actions of other characters, they are all filtered and narrated through Burr’s knowledge and experiences. It’s rather tedious as a narrative and distracts from any message being portrayed.    

In this simplistic view of Kenya’s Mau Mau uprising, childhood friends Rock Hudson and Sidney Poitier are forced onto opposite sides of the conflict. While I love both of the actors and neither of them are bad here, the film does not make best usage of their talents nor do I think their chemistry comes together in ways to enhance the weak story. I respect that the film tries to present both sides of the rebellion, but it might have been a case of being made too soon as events were still unfolding when the film was made and in modern times especially, it seems to lean a little too heavily onto the side of the colonialists.

Newly arrived in New York, army deserter John Cassavetes finds work as a longshoreman where he is befriended by supervisor Sidney Poitier drawing the ire of racist bully Jack Warden. The interracial friendship between Cassavetes and Poitier is a lovely thing to behold as is the relationship between Poitier and wife Ruby Dee. It’s the only movie of Poitier’s I’ve seen where a Bahamian accent pops out on occasion.

On the same ship from Italy to Peru as a custom-ordered, gorgeous golden coach is a commedia dell’arte troupe which includes the inimitable Anna Magnani. Once she arrives in Peru, she must balance the affections of three separate suitors when she only has eyes for the splendid coach. It’s a beautiful film to watch, especially the colorful costumes and stage backdrops of the acting troupe, but I often lost my interest in some of its repetitively slow parts. Magnani is glorious though as she demands attention from her audience both on and off screen.

Despite a lack of talent, Jayne Mansfield’s gangster boyfriend Edmund O’Brien hires press agent Tom Ewell to make her a music star. Mansfield was certainly beautiful, but I wish Hollywood would have done something better for her than try to make her a Marilyn Monroe clone, all the way to platinum blonde hair that didn’t suit her. This film unfortunately didn’t even try. What does set it apart is its absolutely incredible number of musical performances from the likes of Little Richard, Abbey Lincoln, Fats Domino, and The Platters. They were more entertaining than the rest of the film. Being such a fan of Cinemascope, I did have a chuckle at the clever way they introduced the process at the beginning of the film. It actually threw me off when the film first started until I saw what they were doing. 

Mystery writer Agnes Moorehead has rented a home for the summer in a town currently being menaced by a murderer known as The Bat. During the same time period, local bank president Harvey Stevens confesses to his physician Vincent Price that he has stolen over 1 million dollars from his bank. I’m not shy about my love for Vincent Price films and he’s good here, but it’s really Moorehead’s film. As The Bat terrorizes her household, she must suss out their identity and it’s easy to see her performing such acts in a serial a la Murder She Wrote.