Daily Archives: January 1, 2017

I watched 108 films released in 1959.  A complete list can be found here.  I consider this to be one of the great years in both US and foreign cinema,  This is true both at the very top end and for a number of films that straddled the border between very good and excellent. The bottom end was crammed with memorable bad movie classics!

The list is unranked.  The top four films were all rated 10/10 by me.  Films I rated 9/10 that did not make the cut were:  Compulsion; Odds Against Tomorrow; and Good Morning.  Le Trou is considered to be a 1960 release by IMDb.

10.  Ballad of a Soldier – directed by Girgoriy Chukhray

9.  Anatomy of a Murder – directed by Otto Preminger

8.  Suddenly, Last Summer – directed by Joseph L. Manciewicz

7.  Hiroshima Mon Amour – directed by Alain Resnais

6.  Room at the Top – directed by Jack Clayton

5.  Floating Weeds – directed by Yasujiro Ozu

4.  North by Northwest – directed by Alfred Hitchcock

3.  The World of Apu – directed by Satyajit Ray

2.  The 400 Blows – directed by Francois Truffaut

1. Some Like It Hot – directed by Billy Wilder

My viewing for 2016 spanned from 1954 to 1959.  I watched 490 films, a few of which were reviewed only here.  I have finished with the 1950s (1959 Recap coming soon).  I had thought about reaching back to the ’30s to catch up on some films I missed the first time around in January.  1960  looks to be such an outstanding year, however, that I think I’ll just keep on going.

I saw too many great films to count.  Since I’ve been seeking out classic movies for a long time many of the best were re-watches.  Still there were many gems that were new to me.  Films that I rated 9/10 that did not make this list are:Twenty-Four Eyes (1954); Secrets of Life (1956); Le mystere Picasso (1956); Patterns (1956); Attack! (1956); Street of Shame (1956); and The Ballad of Narayama (1958).

Here’s 10 of the favorite films I saw for the first time in 2016.   They are not ranked but in chronological order.

The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955) – directed by Luis Buñuel

Baby Doll (1956) – directed by Elia Kazan

Bigger Than Life (1956) – Directed by Nicholas Ray

Kanal (1957) – directed by Andrzej Wajda

The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) – directed by Jack Arnold

The Music Room (1958) – directed by Sayajit Ray

Room at the Top (1959) – directed by Jack Clayton

Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) – directed by Robert Wise

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) – directed by Alain Resnais

Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) – directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Montage of clips celebrating the career of Debbie Reynolds