Daily Archives: May 22, 2016

1956 Recap and 10 Favorite Films

Posted on May 22, 2016 | 9 comments

searchers poster

 

I have now watched 102 films released in 1956.  The complete list is here. My new randomized viewing schedule worked in keeping me interested.  1956 is not noted as a “great” year in film history but I ended it with too many films I rated 9/10 or above to fit on my list of personal favorites.  I had a hard time selecting among them or ranking them. Also rans were:  Attack; Patterns; Somebody Up There Likes Me; Street of Shame; Le mystere Picasso; Early Spring; A Town Like Alice; and Secrets of Life.  Note:  I am saving my review of Moby Dick for the upcoming Animals in Film blogathon.  Totals include that film.  I will revise this post if necessary.

10.  Baby Doll – directed by Elia Kazan

BABY DOLL, Carroll Baker, Karl Malden, Eli Wallach, 1956

 

9.  The King and I – directed by Walter Lang

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8.  Bigger Than Life – directed by Nicholas Ray

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7.  The Killing – directed by Stanley Kubrick

the killing

6. Invasion of the Body Snatchers – directed by Don Siegel

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)_014

5.  Aparajito – directed by Satyajit Ray

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4.  The Bad Seed – directed by Mervyn LeRoy

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3.  The Burmese Harp – directed by Kon Ichikawa

burmese harp

 

2.  The Red Balloon – directed by Albert Lamorisse

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  1.  The Searchers – directed by John Ford

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Posted in 1956, Top Ten Lists

The Wrong Man (1956)

Posted on May 22, 2016 | 5 comments

The Wrong Manwrong man poster
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Maxwell Anderson and Angus MacPhail
1956/USA
Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#326 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Lt. Bowers: An innocent man has nothing to fear, remember that.[/box]

This moving true story is surely the saddest that Hitchcock ever made.

Manny Balestrero (Henry Fonda) plays the bass fiddle in the orchestra at the Stork Club. Not the stereotypical musician, he is a quiet family man with a wife, Rose (Vera Miles), and two young sons.  He doesn’t drink and is always on time.  The family is barely scraping by so, when Rose must have expensive dental treatment, he decides to see if he can borrow on her life insurance policy.  Then the nightmare begins.

Annex - Fonda, Henry (Wrong Man, The)_NRFPT_02

When Manny goes to the insurance company, one of the workers is sure she recognizes him as the man that held up the office at gunpoint twice before.  She asks around and soon everybody agrees with her.  So the police pick Manny up, they think they have additional proof of his guilt, and soon he is under arrest for armed robbery.  Things go from bad to worse as Rose starts blaming herself for the whole mess.

Annex - Fonda, Henry (Wrong Man, The)_05

I’m a bit of a true crime buff and you rapidly learn that there is nothing quite so unreliable as eyewitness testimony.  That’s all the police really had on Manny.  Yet while you are watching the film, you can understand their point of view completely.  The tragedy of the thing is that this crime is a matter of every day routine for the cops and the prosecutor, who don’t mean badly, but it has the potential to ruin Manny’s entire life and that of his family.  Fonda is perfect in this part.  I like this one a lot. Recommended.

Trailer

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1956

Elena and Her Men (1956)

Posted on May 22, 2016 | Leave a comment

Elena and Her Men (Elena et les hommes)elena-and-her-men-ingrid-bergman-1956
Directed by Jean Renoir
Written by Jean Renoir and Jean Serge
1956/Italy/France
Franco London Films/Les Films Gibe/Electra Compagnia Cinematografica
Repeat viewing/My DVD collection

“Hegel remarks somewhere that all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He has forgotten to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.” ― Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte[/box]

One would hardly know that a great director was behind this lackluster farce.

The beautiful Polish Countess Elena Sokorowska (Ingrid Bergman) has many admirers and a talent for bestowing good luck upon her favorites through the gift of a daisy.  Her household has run out of pearls to sell though and she decides to marry an elderly munitions manufacturer.  One day she goes out to glimpse General François Rollan (Jean Marais), a war hero.  She meets Henry de Chevincourt (Mel Ferrer), who takes her to meet his friend Rollan.  She gives the General a daisy and he is named as the next Minister of War.

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Elena goes off to the country home of her intended but keeps being drawn back to the General, who falls on hard times whenever his lady throws away his daisy.  It is the clever Chevincourt who really loves her, however, and he plots to win her amid the political intrigue surrounding Rollan.

Elena and Her Men Ingrid Bergman

I forgot almost everything about this film as soon as I turned it off.  Bergman and the scenery looked very beautiful but there seemed to be no point to telling this story.  For me, it just lacked the humor and romance that could have saved it.

Clip (no subtitles)

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Posted in 1956