In 1959:
The term “New Wave” (La Nouvelle Vague) was coined. These inexpensive French films of the late 50s were typified by the use of the jump cut, the hand-held camera, natural lighting, non-linear storytelling, on-location shooting, and loose, improvised direction and editing. French “New Wave” releases in 1959 included Francois Truffaut’s Les Quatre Cents Coups, Jean-Luc Godard’s A Bout de Souffle, Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus, Claude Chabrol’s Les Cousins and Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima Mon Amour.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences modified its bylaws to abandon its practice of denying eligibility for Oscar nominations or consideration to blacklisted artists.
Two giants of the Golden Age of Hollywood were lost when Errol Flynn died at age 50 and Preston Sturges died at age 60. Both succumbed to heart attacks.
A chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper with pilot Roger Peterson went down in foggy conditions near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all four on board. Barry Gordy, Jr. founded Motown Records. “The Battle of New Orleans” by Johnny Horton spent nine weeks atop the Billboard charts.
Alaska and Hawaii were admitted as the 49th and 50th states of the USA. The Boeing 707 airliner went into service. The Barbie doll debuted. The Xerox 914, the first plain paper copier, was introduced to the public.
At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile was accomplished. Two monkeys, Able and Miss Baker were the first living beings to successfully return to Earth from space aboard the flight Jupiter AM-18. NASA introduced the first group of astronauts, known as the Mercury Seven. They were Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Walter Schirra, Donald Slayton, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, L. Gordon Cooper, and M. Scott Carpenter.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower was Time Magazine’s Man of the Year. The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. J.B. by Archibald McLeish won for drama.
The United States recognized the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The Dalai Lama was forced to flee Tibet and was granted asylum in India. The first skull of Australopithecus was discovered by Louis Leakey and his wife Mary Leakey in the Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania.
Twelve countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, signed a landmark treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent. This is considered the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War. Philip Noel-Baker was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his lifelong work on arms control and disarmament.
*************************************
You can find the films I will choose from for 1959 here. I have previously reviewed the following 1959 releases on this site: ; ; and .
I am hoping to finish my viewing for 1959 by the end of the year. Then I plan to take a brief breather to catch up on some earlier films that I missed the first time around.
Montage of stills from the Oscar winners
Montage of still of Oscar nominees in major categories
