Category Archives: 1959

Third Man on the Mountain
Directed by Ken Annakin
Written by Eleanore Griffin from a book by James Ramsey Ullman
1959/USA/UK
Walt Disney Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Frau Matt: Would you want to be the wife of a guide?

Lizbeth Hempel: Yes. Or of a dishwasher, or a hotel proprietor. But never the wife of a hotel proprietor who wanted to climb mountains! Because a man must do what he feels he must do; or he isn’t a man. And no one, wife mother or sweetheart, has the right to make him into something that he wasn’t meant to be.[/box]

Here is a good family adventure film with an excellent cast of mostly British actors.

The setting is 19th Century Switzerland.  Rudi Matt (James MacArthur) is the son of a famed Alpine guide.  His father lost his life attempting to scale the Citadel and his mother and uncle (James Donald), also a guide, are doing everything in their power to prevent Rudi from climbing. He is currently washing dishes in a climber’s hotel.  But nothing can keep Rudi out of the mountains and he spends much of his time dreaming about scaling the Citadel one day himself.  His biggest fans are the hotel cook, a former guide, and the hotel owner’s daughter Lizbeth (Janet Munro)

One day, Rudi plays hooky and happens upon famed climber Captain John Winter (Michael Rennie), who has fallen into a cravass.  He saves Winter’s life and Winter rewards him in various ways, including asking for the boy as a porter.  Rudi has a lot to learn before he becomes selfless enough to be the guide his father was.  With Herbert Lom as a guide from a rival village.

The closest I have gotten to real life peaks is to gaze at them.  Yet, mountain climbing is one of my favorite topics.  The number of books I have read about Everest may be in the double digits.  This film scratches that itch in a wholesome Disneyfied way and I really enjoyed it.

The Matterhorn stands in for the fictional Citadel in this movie, which was the inspiration for the famous attraction at Disneyland.

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

DVD promo

The Manster
Directed by George P. Breakston and Kenneth G. Crane
Written by William J. Sheldon; story by George P. Breakston
1959/USA/Japan
Lopert Pictures Corporation/Shaw-Breakston Enterprises/United Artists of Japan/William Shelton
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] I love fools’ experiments. I am always making them. Charles Darwin [/box]

Something about the ultra-creepy creatures in this really got under my skin.

Dr. Robert Suzuki is experimenting on creating a new species using some kind of chemicals.  Unfortunately, his idea of the next generation of homo sapiens seems to be a murderous two-headed monster/man.  Or maybe he hasn’t worked out all the kinks in his plans …

At any rate, when foreign correspondent Larry Stanford comes to interview the good doctor, Suzuki spots his perfect experimental subject.  He overpowers Larry with a combination of spiked liquor and femme fatale Tara, his assistant.  The rest of the movie follows Larry as he goes completely off the rails.

The whole concept grabbed me and kept my attention throughout the short running time. I wouldn’t even call it a bad movie for the genre.  There is action all the way through, evil Orientals, and decent special effects.  Recommended for fans of cheesy sci-fi and horror.  The complete film is currently available on YouTube.

Trailer

Clip – Larry sprouts a third eye

Last Train from Gun Hill
Directed by John Sturges
Written by James Poe; story by James Poe
1959/USA
Bryna Productions/Hal Wallis Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Marshal Matt Morgan: You’ve already got me dead. How’d I die? The only way I could die today is for you to kill me and that’s a problem… Your problem.[/box]

This superior Western boasts an outstanding cast.

As the film begins, a couple of young hoodlum types harass a Cherokee woman and her young son.  Then one of them rapes and kills the woman, but not before she has scarred him.  The boy nabs the rapist’s horse to run for help.  Rapist Rick Belden (Earl Holliman) now has three problems.  First, the woman was the wife of the Marshall Matt Morgan (Kirk Douglas).  Second, the saddle of the horse bears the initials of his father Craig Belden (Anthony Quinn).  Third, his scar is a sure giveaway.  Matt naturally swears vengence. Conveniently, the father is his old friend.

Matt takes off immediately for Gun Hill, where Belden lives, via train.  On board, he meets Linda (Carolyn Jones), Belden’s mistress, who is returning from a stay in the hospital.  Belden is clearly disappointed in his son but refuses to let Matt bring him in.  The rest of the movie is devoted to Matt’s efforts to get him aboard the last train from Gun Hill.

This one moves very nicely and boasts some very good acting.  I particularly liked Quinn. It has been a while since I have seen him in a non-ethnic role.  Carolyn Jones is also unusually good as the worldly-wise ex-shady lady.  Douglas is obviously a dynamo.  The story contains no surprises but when done as well as this is it doesn’t really matter.

A Bucket of Blood
Directed by Roger Corman
Written by Charles B. Griffith
1959/USA
Alta Vista Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Maxwell H. Brock: Life is an obscure hobo, bumming a ride on the omnibus of art.[/box]

Roger Corman’s send-up of the beat generation has laughs and little blood.

Walter Paisley (Dick Miller) is the squarest bus boy Leonard de Santis could have hired for his coffee house.  The place is otherwise filled with artists, poets and folk singers, all of a fairly pretentious hyper-cool stripe.  Other frequent visitors are undercover agents looking for drug deals.  Walter is in love with an artist named Molly but is too shy to declare himself.  His life seems to be one humiliation after another.

One day, Walter accidentally kills his landlady’s cat which had somehow wedged himself behind the dry wall.  Walter was experimenting with (bad) sculpture at the time and uses the clay to cover his mistake.  The resulting object is taken for a sculpture, which he dubs “Dead Cat” and all praise it or its detail and realism.  Walter enjoys the only celebrity he has ever known and is desperate to keep it …

This is the first of Corman’s black comedies and as usual the schlockmeister’s films were superior when he directed himself.  I didn’t laugh out loud exactly but it was amusing all the way through.  He got the poetry, folk singing and pretension exactly right.

Speaking of folk singing, I can’t let another day go by without congratulating Bob Dylan on his Nobel Prize!

The Hideous Sun Demon
Directed by Robert Clarke and Tom Boutross
Written by E.S. Seeley Jr. and Doane R. Hoag from an original idea by Robert Clarke and Phil Hiner
1959/USA
Clarke-King Enterprises
Repeat viewing/YouTube

[box] Trudy Osborne: [playing the piano, and singing] Strange Pursuit, The pursuit of love, Is a strange compelling desire. Though you’re near, You’re not mine to hold, And I want the joy your lips inspire. / My heart is bare, You know I care, Will you take my love, or throw it away? Please let me know, Just “yes” or “no.” Why the great suspense in this game you play?

Strange Pursuit, The pursuit of love, Has me breathless with a burning fire. On and on, Goes the maddening chase. Never ending is love’s strange desire. / Oo-ooh oo-ooh, Strange Pursuit.[/box]

This spends too much on “singing” and fistfights and not enough on the monster.

Dr. Gil McCenna has a drinking problem despite being warned that “bourbon and Science don’t mix.” One day when he is hung over, he drops a new radioactive isotope at the lab where he works. When Gil is taken to the hospital roof top to sun himself, it starts a process of “reverse evolution” turning him into a lizard man. When Gil remains indoors and at night, he turns back into his normal studly self. However, Gil cannot lay off the sauce or resist the temptations of the buxom “singer/piano player” (and I use these terms advisedly) at the local bar, so he continues to menace society.

This was produced, directed, and starred in by monster-movie actor Robert Clarke on a tiny budget. It is kind of a cross between a film noir (with plenty of two-fisted action) and science-fiction. It is pretty bad but not bad enough to bring a smile to my face. Still, there are some unforgettable moments, mostly involving Clarke and the blonde, that made it worth watching. They must have the most schizoid relationship in movie history.  Oh, and there’s that ultra-cool rubber mask.

The movie was re-dubbed and rereleased in 1983 as What’s Up, Hideous Sun Demon. That sounds like it has potential!

Trailer

Joe Dante on the film – Trailers from Hell

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.

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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