1951

In 1951:

Legendary film critic and theorist Andre Bazin established the French film journal “Cahiers du Cinéma”. Its ideas and writing gave rise to the French New Wave (Nouvelle Vague) and brought respectability to the idea of film as a legitimate field of study.

The Motion Pictures Production Code specifically prohibited films dealing with abortion or narcotics.  Marking the decline of the old Hollywood studio system, this was the first year in which the Best Picture Oscar was given to the film’s producers rather than to the studio that released the film.  Motion picture mogul-executive Louis B. Mayer was forced to resign in 1951 after 27 years as the head of MGM Studios that he had founded. Mayer’s resignation followed continued disagreements with his eventual successor Dore Schary over cost-cutting and the issue of creating socially-relevant pictures.

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg

In U.S. news, the Twenty-second Amendment Constitution was ratified, limiting Presidents to two terms.

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage for passing atom bomb secrets to the Soviet Union. On April 5 they are sentenced to receive the death penalty.  The couple was executed in 1953.

U.S. President Harry S. Truman relieved General Douglas MacArthur of his Far Eastern commands for insubordination.   MacArthur made his last official appearance in a farewell address to the U.S. Congress. During his speech, he famously said: “I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty.”

Remington Rand delivered the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau. The first thermonuclear weapon was tested on Enewetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Direct dial coast-to-coast telephone service began. The world’s first (experimental) nuclear power plant opened. The United States became malaria-free,

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger was published.   Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats recorded “Rocket 88”, currently observed by most as the first rock and roll song ever made.  The Town by Conrad Richter won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature.  No drama prize was awarded.  “Too Young” by Nat King Cole was number 1 on the Billboard Charts.

Korean War Veterans Memorial, Washington DC

The Treaty of Paris (1951) was adopted, establishing the European Coal and Steel Community.  This was the first step toward the establishment of the European Union.

In early 1951, the territory around Seoul and central Korea changed hands several times as the UN and Communist forces advanced and retreated.  By July 1951, the conflict had reached a stalemate, with the two sides fighting limited engagements, but with neither side in a position to force the other’s surrender. Both the United States and China had, at this point, achieved the short-term goal of maintaining the demarcation line at the 38th parallel, while the North and South Koreans had failed in the larger goal of uniting the country under their preferred political systems. Representatives of all the parties began to discuss peace.  For the next two years, small-scale skirmishes continued to break out, while the various representatives argued over the peace terms.

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The list of films I will select from is here.  I have already reviewed the following 1951 films on this site.  ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and .

 

Montage of stills from the Academy Award winners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0mhgyTgxtw

Bonus – “Rocket 88” – that’s Ike Turner’s backup band.