Category: 1950s

Fred MacMurray is a married toymaker whose family, despite his best efforts has little need for him. When he feels sparks with a former co-worker who has suddenly reappeared in his life, he is hard-pressed to not see where they land. It’s a typical Sirk melodrama, interestingly told from the male perspective. The co-worker is played smartly by Barbara Stanwyck and the chemistry between the two leads makes you want to root for them despite what it might do to his undeserving family. 

Ralph Richardson is the parson of a remote village whose extended family comes to his home for Christmas. Unbeknownst to him, all three of his adult children are harboring deep secrets that they feel unable to share with their religious and conventional father. The film is very quaint and British. I appreciate most that there is no big flare-ups or fights as if the characters are trying to respect the family Christmas setting. But the tension is palpable and the characters act in less than desirable ways toward each other until the secrets can be revealed and addressed. 

Jesse James, his brother Frank, the Younger brothers, and Kit Dalton travel to Kansas to join up with the Confederate guerilla raiders lead by William Quantrill. Somehow Quantrill’s methods are too savage even for the likes of Jesse James and he wants to leave the group, but not before committing a couple more war crime atrocities. Despite all that, it still portrays these men in a relatively heroic light, similar to The Lawless Breed, with Brian Donlevy’s Quantrill and Audie Murphy’s Jesse forming somewhat of a father-son relationship. It’s always weird reading the real life history of such characters where Donlevy is almost 50 playing someone who died at the age of 27. I enjoyed seeing Audie Murphy’s performance. He has quite the baby-faced star quality. It’s unfortunate that he starred in mostly middle level Westerns, but I’ll probably seek out some of them regardless. 

With this movie, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the episode of The Brady Bunch where Bobby sees Jesse James as a hero so his parents bring in the offspring of two of James’s victims to set him right. “A mean, dirty killer” is how I feel John Wesley Hardin probably should be remembered as, but here we have Rock Hudson playing him heroically, someone who only killed a couple of men because he had to. I guess we’re supposed to ignore the fact that Hardin himself claimed to have killed at least 42 men. It’s an okay western that’s made better by having Hudson as its lead.  

Any good heist film has to have a good heist and this has the granddaddy heist of them all, a heist that supposedly has inspired real life heists across the globe. An entire half hour is devoted to the theft with the only sound provided is the shuffling of feet or the movement of tools, every sound that is being made by or around the thieves but not a word is spoken. The story itself is about a past his prime criminal, played by Jean Servais, who has been worn down by a recent stint in prison. A friend lures him into joining two others in the robbery of an upscale Parisian jeweler for the theft of a lifetime. Unfortunately Jean’s former girlfriend has become involved with a local gangster and nightclub owner who is more than happy to get in the group’s way. It’s a rough and ruthless film with rough and ruthless men filmed meticulously and deliberately by Jules Dassin. 

This is a great little noir where detective Cornel Wilde has fallen in love with Jean Wallace, the girlfriend of the gangster he is trying to bring down. The gangster, Richard Conte, has quickly moved up the ranks of his organization through clever and merciless means. The plot revolves around the various activities that got Conte to the top of the heap and has kept him there. It’s a bit like Scarface told from the side of the police. Wilde is an obsessed man, skirting the lines of what is proper while being menaced by Conte’s ruthless and conniving mob boss. Among the cast of characters, there’s a second in command who used to be on top and wants to get back there, a pair of close-knit goons, an adult entertainer girlfriend, and a missing wife. The black and white cinematography is played to perfect effect here with shadows used throughout to create tension, add emphasis, and just fill the film with atmosphere. 

I’m a sucker for 1950s sci-fi horror films, but this is an all-time classic that elevates the genre. Kevin McCarthy is a doctor in a small town in California who is beginning to see many patients exhibiting Capgras syndrome. Unfortunately for the good doctor, this turns out not to be a mass hysteria delusion as much as he wishes it were. For the most part, these pod people look the same as their original counterparts. The horror lies in not knowing who you can trust or where to run when the danger comes from your neighbors and friends. I’ve already watched the 1978 version and I honestly can’t say which one I like better. Their stories don’t really differ very much yet they’re both enthralling bits of story telling.