Category Archives: 1954

Senso (1954)

Posted on November 19, 2015 | 2 comments

Senso (The Wanton Contessa)
Directed by Lucino Visconti
Written by Suso Cecci D’Amico, Lucino Visconti from a novella by Camillo Boito
1954/Italy
Lux Film
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] “When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince[/box]

This film is almost as lushly beautiful as Visconti’s later classic The Leopard.  I was a bit distracted by my irritation with both of the lead characters, however.

The story takes place in Venice, Italy in 1866.  Venice is still ruled by the Hapsburg Empire but rebellion is running high and the Italian War of Unification was on the horizon.  We begin at the La Fenice opera house where Verdi’s patriotic opera Il Trovatore is playing. The audience uses the occasion to shout revolutionary slogans at the Austrian officers attending the show.  Lt. Franz Mahler (Farley Granger) insults patriot Roberto Ussoni, who challenges the Austrian to a duel.

Ussoni’s cousin is fellow patriot Countess Livia Serpieri (Alida Valli), whose husband has made peace with the Austrians.  She takes it on herself to see Mahler privately and beg him to not accept the challenge.  Mahler says the cousin will be arrested before any duel can take place.  The meeting makes Mahler bold and soon the two are having a passionate affair. This is evidently represents Livia’s sexual awakening.

But after a while Mahler stops showing up for their trysts.  She humiliates herself by calling at the quarters he shares with other Austrian officers but she has no success in learning his whereabouts.  Finally, with war openly declared, the Count moves his household to the countryside.

Just as mysteriously as he disappeared from Livia’s life, Mahler shows up at the estate. Then Livia’s real troubles begin.

This is one of Farley Granger’s better performances, actually, as he certainly inspired some emotion in me.  I disliked his character heartily almost from his very first appearance on screen.  I don’t want to give too much away here but I just could not understand why Valli’s character would be moved to any sacrifice for this louse.  I suppose every heart has its reasons.

The film is absolutely stunning both visually and aurally from the first moments.  Worth seeing.

Clip

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1954

Them! (1954)

Posted on November 19, 2015 | 4 comments

Them!them-1954-everett
Directed by Gordon Douglas
Written by Ted Sherdeman and Russell S. Hughes from a story by George Worthing Yates
1954/USA
Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

The Ellinson Girl: [screaming hysterically] AHHH! THEM! THEM! THEM!.

This started the trend in giant creature movies that would dominate the sci-fi genre over the next two or three years.  It is probably the best of them all.

The story begins in a Southwestern desert near an atom bomb test site as a little girl walks down a road clutching her dolly with a blank expression on her face.  A couple of policemen pick her up.  Officer Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) tries to bond with her but she appears to be catatonic.  On the way to the hospital, the policemen pass a uninhabited trailer.  The trailer has been torn to pieces but no money has been taken. Later, they stop by a similarly uninhabited general store and find the body of its owner.  All the money is in the till.  Some sacks of sugar are spilled out on the floor.  They take a cast of a track nearby and send this to Washington for identification.

The owner of the trailer was an FBI agent and soon agent Robert Graham (James Arness) joins the investigation.  Finally, the detectives are surprised to see that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has become involved.  The USDA send out scientist Dr. Harold Medford (Edmund Gwenn) and his scientist daughter arrive to assist in the investigation.

them-1954-4

The good doctor is reticent about what could be causing the damage until he is more sure.  He wants to keep the news from the public to avoid panic.  Finally, the giant ants are sighted.  The rest of the film follows the efforts to destroy the creatures and keep them from reproducing.

them 1

They played this on TV a lot when I was a kid and I thought it was pretty darn scary.  I think I was more scared of the actual ants than the film’s apocalyptic warnings about nuclear testing.  The movie is still pretty effective and tautly paced with some good dialogue.  You learn a lot about the habits of your garden ants.  It’s a nice example of what a studio could do with the stuff of which many poverty-row flicks were made.

Them! was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Effects, Special Effects.

Trailer

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Posted in 1954

Seven Samurai (1954)

Posted on November 18, 2015 | 10 comments

Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai)seven samurai poster
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Written by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Hideo Oguni
1954/USA
Toho Company
Repeat viewing/My DVD collection
#278 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Gisaku: Find hungry samurai.[/box]

Yes, there is a 3/12-hour film in which not one minute is wasted.

A simple farming village has been repeatedly attacked by bandits.  The bandits are simply waiting for the barley harvest to strike again.  Some of the villagers believe there must be a way to fight back and the village elder recommends samurai.  Since the villagers can offer their saviors nothing more than room and board, they have a very hard time finding takers.

One day, the villagers spot a samurai who selflessly cuts off his symbolic top-knot in order to pose as a monk and rescue a child who has been held hostage.  This is Kambei (Takashi Shimura) and he helps to recruit five other samurai who care more about adventure and camaraderie than money.  The roster is filled out with Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune), a wanna-be samurai who more or less cannot be shaken off.

Seven_Samurai-10

The samurai do not receive a warm welcome in the village.  One villager, Manzo, forces his daughter to dress as a boy as protection.  But the ice is broken by Kikuchiyo who has a special bond with farmers.  The remainder of the first half is devoted to the training of the villagers and detailed planning of strategy for the eventual battle.  Certain villagers will be required to abandon three outlying houses for the good of the twenty houses in the main village.

The second half of the film is devoted to the long battle with the bandits.  We see both the samurai and the villagers in moments of waiting and moments of action.  Because of the long build-up, we know enough about the characters to fully appreciate their heroism and their sacrifice.

seven-samurai-1954-005-archer-and-fighters-in-the-rain

I simply love this film and seem to watch it about once a year.  By now, all the principal characters seem like old friends.  The plot sounds sort of simple but is packed full of telling incidents and great dialogue.  The skill in film-making is astonishing and reveals Kurosawa’s prodigious talent as an editor.  One of my favorite parts of the film is the fantastic score by Fumio Hayasaka.  Most highly recommended.

Seven Samurai was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White.

Trailer

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1954

Rear Window (1954)

Posted on November 17, 2015 | 7 comments

Rear Window
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by John Michael Hayes based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich
1954/USA
Paramount Pictures/Patron, Inc.
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#274 of 100 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Lisa: I’m not much on rear window ethics.[/box]

It seems this movie is endlessly re-watchable.  It is one of my very favorite Hitchcock films.

Jeff Jeffries (James Stewart) is in a hip-high cast and wheelchair, having broken a leg while photographing a car race.  To fill the hours, he gazes into the apartments across the way from his and makes up little stories about the inhabitants in his head.  The monotony is occasionally broken by visits from insurance nurse (what happened to those?) Stella (Thelma Ritter) and girlfriend Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly).

Lisa is angling hard for a marriage proposal but Jeff is able to resist her considerable charms.  He believes the fashion model could not share the life of an active photo-journalist who is sent to hot spots all over the world.  The lives of the married couples across from him are also discouraging.

Over time, Jeff begins to suspect that a salesman (Raymond Burr) has murdered his invalid wife.  He pieces together a mountain of circumstantial evidence but has no actual proof. His detective buddy Tom Doyle (Wendell Corey) thinks he is making things up.  But, to his surprise, Lisa proves to be a brave and enthusiastic investigator.

How anyone could possibly resist Grace Kelly is beyond me.  This is surely her sexiest performance and Hitchcock caressingly photographs every ounce of her appeal.  But Stewart’s cold feet are key to the movie, which is as much about commitment phobia as anything else.  We also have the very ingenious sets to enjoy and some questions about voyeurism, Stewart’s and our own, to ask ourselves.  This time I actually almost felt sorry for Raymond Burr.  Anyway, I cannot think of a single thing I would change about this movie.  Very highly recommended.

Rear Window was nominated for Academy Awards in the following categories:  Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Cinematography, Color; and Best Sound, Recording.

Re-Release Trailer

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1954

Sabrina (1954)

Posted on November 17, 2015 | 4 comments

Sabrina
Directed by Billy Wilder
Written by Billy Wilder, Samuel A. Taylor and Ernest Lehman from a play by Taylor
1954/USA
Paramount Pictures
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Baron St. Fontanel: A woman happily in love, she burns the soufflé. A woman unhappily in love, she forgets to turn on the oven.[/box]

Audrey Hepburn turns every film she is in into a romance.  The audience falls in love with her.

Sabrina (Hepburn) lives on the enormous Larrabee estate with her father who is the family’s chauffeur.  She has an intense crush on the younger son of the family, David (William Holden).  Although he is an oft-married playboy and a slacker, she believes herself to be in love with him to the extent she contemplates suicide when she cannot have him.  Instead, her father sends her off to Paris to learn cooking and forget him.  One of her fellow students at the academy takes her in hand and grooms her into a sophisticated and beautiful woman.

When she returns home after a couple of years, David does not recognize her and promptly begins wooing her.  But David is engaged to the daughter of a sugar tycoon whose company is necessary to the family’s plastics venture.  Then David suffers a mishap and must be confined to bed for several days.  Serious older brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) is enlisted to entertain Sabrina and secretly cooks up a plan to get her out of the picture.  He should have known he was playing with fire.

This is totally charming, thanks largely to Hepburn.  I also love the romantic music.  William Holden looks funny as a blonde.  It’s nice to see Bogart in a romantic role again. Recommended.

Sabrina won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White.  It was nominated in the following categories:  Best Actress; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White.

Trailer

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Posted in 1954

The Caine Mutiny (1954)

Posted on November 16, 2015 | 2 comments

The Caine Mutiny
Directed by Edward Dmytryck
Written by Stanley Roberts based on a novel by Herman Wouk
1954/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Repeat viewing/Netflix Rental

 

[box] Barney Greenwald: I’m going to be frank with you two. I’ve read the preliminary investigation very carefully and I think that what you’ve done stinks.[/box]

This is a thought-provoking movie with a terrific cast.  I didn’t even mind the extraneous romantic sub-plot quite as much as I did on previous occasions.

The story takes place in the Pacific during WWII.  It is more or less seen through the eyes of Ens. Willie Keith, who has recently graduated from officer school and is off on his first voyage.  He is a rich kid with an over-protective mother who is in love with May Winn (played by May Winn!), a nightclub singer.  We spend too much time in the first part of the movie focusing on Willie’s conflict between choosing May or his mother and taking a field trip to Yosemite National Park.

Things get better when we board the U.S.S. Caine with Willie.  The Caine is a decrepit old ship, whose main function is to tow targets for other ships to practice on.  The captain is Cmdr. De Vrees (Tom Tully) a crusty but fair old-timer with a realistic view of his ship and its mission.  Unfortunately, he has allowed discipline to lapse a bit.  The first officer is Lt. Steve Maryk (Van Johnson), a career navy man.  The communications officer is Lt. Tom Keefer (Fred MacMurray).  Keefer is a self-styled novelist with a very cynical view of the navy.

Cmdr. De Vrees is promoted and replaced by Lt. Cmdr. Queeg (Humphrey Bogart).  Queeg is a very strict disciplinarian.  Keefer immediately takes a dislike to him and suggests to Maryk that he has a paranoid personality.  Queeg reveals though a number of incidents that he is very insecure, overreacts, and must always be right.  Keefer starts pumping Maryk with ideas about a Navy provision that allows the first officer to take over when the captain is incapable of command.  Queeg has made several questionable judgement calls in the past.  When the ship is caught up in a typhoon and Queeg will not listen to Maryk’s advice about the course the ship should take, Maryk relieves him of command.

Maryk is court-martialed when the ship returns Stateside.  He is defended by attorney Lt. Barney Greenwald (Jose Ferrer), who isn’t exactly in love with his client.  The prosecutor is played by E.G. Marshall.

This is three-quarters of a practically perfect film.  Why the filmmakers found it necessary to spend so much time with the ensign and his love affair is beyond me.  It does not help that the actors concerned are fairly weak.

But once we get to sea the story is riveting.  Humphrey Bogart is really great as the neurotic captain, a role quite different than his usual fare.  Fred MacMurray makes an excellent stinker and Jose Ferrer is perfect for his part.  This is the kind of movie that asks the viewer to contemplate the bigger ethical questions involved.  Recommended.

The Caine Mutiny was nominated for Academy Awards in the following categories:  Best Picture; Best Actor (Bogart); Best Supporting Actor (Tully); Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Sound Recording, Best Film Editing and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

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Posted in 1954

Gojira (1954)

Posted on November 15, 2015 | 5 comments

Gojira (Godzilla)Gojira_1954_Japanese_poster
Directed by Ishirô Honda
Written by Takeo Murata and Ishirô Honda; story by Shigera Kayama
1954/Japan
Toho Film (Eiga) Co. Ltd.
Repeat viewing/my DVD collection

 

[box] [last lines] Kyohei Yamane-hakase: I can’t believe that Godzilla was the only surviving member of its species… But if we continue conducting nuclear tests, it’s possible that another Godzilla might appear somewhere in the world again.[/box]

I needed something special to counteract countless hours of carnage in Paris and this fit the bill exactly.  It also probably served a similar purpose with regard to H bomb anxieties in post-war Japan.

Gojira evolved from a marine creature to a land creature 2 million years ago then lay dormant in a deep sea cave. H-bomb testing has awakened the monster. The first clue is the mysterious sinking of several fishing boats.  Paleantologist Professor Yamane (the great Takashi Shimura!) finally encounters the creature on an island whose traditions include an underwater monster that devours all the fish, then the people.  He wants to study the monster to see how it survived the H-bomb.

gojira-production-photo_1-1954

Soon Gojira is heading toward Tokyo and it becomes absolutely clear he must be destroyed.  As Yamane predicts, all Japan’s weaponry cannot slay a monster that withstood an H bomb.  Yamane’s daughter’s fiance, a scientist, has invented an “Oxygen Destroyer” that has potential to slay the beast but he is reluctant to use it for fear it will be exploited as a weapon of mass destruction.  How can he ensure the device will never be used for evil?

Godzilla_'54_design

This film is as much an expression of the Japanese nuclear experience and fears as anything else. In facts, parts of the film are almost poetic in their sad looks at destruction and loss.  This aspect lifts the original above the American adaptation with Raymond Burr released two years later.

Of course, the monster action is what made this a hit and it is fun despite the somewhat clunky special effects. It helps that most of Godzilla’s rampages are at night and so obscure a lot of the “man in a rubber suit” effect. The print looks beautiful and the  score is fantastic!  If you have any interest in the genre, this is a must-see.

Trailer – Criterion print of actual movie is not nearly so dark

5 Comments

Posted in 1954, Movie Reviews

Hobson’s Choice (1954)

Posted on November 14, 2015 | 2 comments

Hobson’s Choice
Directed by David Lean
Written by David Lean, Norman Spencer, and Wynyard Brown from a play by Harold Brighouse
1954/UK
London Film Productions/British Lion Film Corporation
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

 

[box] Maggie Hobson: I’ve been watching you for a long time and everything I’ve seen I’ve liked. I think you’ll do for me.[/box]

This is an excellent feel-good film with a fine comic performance from Charles Laughton.

The setting is the North of England in the 19th Century.  Henry Hobson (Laughton) must have been good for something at one time because he has a thriving boot shop.  Now, however, the widower spends his time terrorizing his three daughters and drinking at the local pub.  In fact,he is in the end stages of alcoholism (comic edition).

Maggie (Brenda De Banzie) is the eldest of the girls and takes care of the business end of the shop and most of the housekeeping.  She is around 30.  Her younger sisters both have beaus.  However, Hobson resolutely refuses to pay the traditional marriage settlement.

One day, a wealthy customer comes in to ask who made the boots she is wearing, because she likes them so much.  It turns out to be rabbit-like boot hand William Mossop (John Mills).  Thereafter, Maggie makes it her mission to marry him.

The rest of the story chronicles how Maggie outsmarts everyone to solve all romantic, domestic, and financial crises.  In the process, we get to witness William transform from a mouse to a man.

This is really well-done with typical Lean flourishes in the camera work.  The acting is uniformly excellent.  I generally detest comic drunks but this is the exception.  Laughton is genuinely funny while at the same time being believable.  Highly recommended.

This was the last black-and-white film made by Lean.

No trailer or clip so here’s some music

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Posted in 1954

Devil Girl from Mars (1954)

Posted on November 14, 2015 | 7 comments

Devil Girl from Mars
Directed by David MacDonald
Written by James Eastwood from a play by Eastwood and John C. Mather
1954/UK
Danziger Film Productions
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] Nyah: Today it is you who learns the power of Mars.[/box]

The two best things about this movie are the title and the poster.

Robert Justin alias Albert Simpson (or is it the other way around) staggers into a remote Scottish inn after escaping from prison.  He was there on a murder charge but it wasn’t really his fault, the woman was “bad”.  The girl he should have been with works as a barmaid at the inn.  Meanwhile, a scientist and a reporter are en route to investigate something or other when the reporter feels a deep desire to drink heavily.  They ask to stay the night.  The only other guest is a reclusive fashion model.  The other inhabitants are the couple who own the inn and the wife’s little nephew Tommy.

After awhile, a spaceship lands and the company receives the first of many visits from Nyah.  She really on her way to London but she drops by here first.  Her mission is to bring back suitable specimens to Mars, which is suffering from a shortage of males.

Nyah keeps going back and forth between her space ship and the inn (there are only two sets), making assorted threats.  She takes most of the males, including Tommy, to the ship for visits.  Can this band of oddballs defeat her evil plan?

It is hard to decide what is worse in this movie, the actors or the dialogue.  I’m guessing that it’s a combo of both because veteran actor John Laurie who plays the inn owner does better with the same hackneyed lines.  This is really a melodrama with various romantic subplots with an alien thrown in to add a little spice.  It is very bad.  It held my attention and gave me a few smiles.

The complete film is available on YouTube but the best parts are in the two minute clip below (spoiler).

Clip

I’m guessing I’m not the only one who needs a smile after the worst Friday the 13th on record.  So far I’ve only seen two of these, so I have a lot to look forward to.

7 Comments

Posted in 1954

Dial M for Murder (1954)

Posted on November 13, 2015 | 8 comments

Dial M for Murder
Directed by Albert Hitchcock
Written by Frederick Knott from his own play
1954/USA
Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

 

[box] Tony Wendice: [to Mark] People don’t commit murder on credit.[/box]

This may be the only Hitchcock movie with a smart cop in it.  I wish the script was a bit stronger.

The setting is London.  Margot Wendice (Grace Kelly) is independently wealthy.  Her husband Tony (Ray Milland) is an ex-tennis pro with no funds of his own.  A year ago, Margot had an affair with mystery writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings).  She broke it off and he returned to the States.  He kept writing to her and she destroyed all the letters but one, a “special” letter that she carried in her purse wherever she went.

Recently, the purse was stolen.  Margot got the purse back, minus the letter and the money.  Then the blackmail threats began.  As the story begins, Mark has returned to London.  This is making Tony very nervous, not because he particularly cares about infidelity but because he is afraid he will be cut out of Margot’s will.

So Tony embarks on an ingenious plan to solve his problem before Margot can leave him. The plan is almost too clever and it will take the combined efforts of Mark and Scotland Yard to untangle Tony’s web of deceit.

There are many things to like about this film but I think the script is too stagy and doesn’t hold together all that well.  Kelly looks luscious and Milland makes a truly detestable villain. Nevertheless, I can’t believe that Kelly would prefer Robert Cummings to him in a million years.  I’d like to see this in 3D someday.

Trailer

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Posted in 1954