Category Archives: 1958

Equinox Flower (Higanbana)
Directed by Yasujiro Ozu
Written by Yasujiro Ozu and Kogo Noda from an original story by Ton Satomi
1958/Japan
Shochiku Eiga
Repeat viewing/Hulu

[box] “It was against all scientific reason for two people who hardly knew each other, with no ties at all between them, with different characters, different upbringings, and even different genders, to suddenly find themselves committed to living together, to sleeping in the same bed, to sharing two destinies that perhaps were fated to go in opposite directions.” ― Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera[/box]

Here is an Ozu film in which the father does not want his daughter to marry – at least not  the man she has chosen.  It goes without saying that it is a slow burn that moved me to tears but I laughed more than usual as well.

Mr. Hirayama is a successful business man who likes to give relationship advice.  He had a traditional arranged marriage to a traditional and subservient wife (Kinuyo Tanaka).  He proclaims that he envies modern love matches.  But when his daughter’s boyfriend shows up and asks to marry her, he is adamantly opposed.

Hirayama is so upset that he orders his wife to lock up his daughter.  This works about as well as might be expected.

My husband and I watched this together and our verdict was “almost great”.  Its only fault might be the slow pace but that just gives one the time to appreciate the composition and Ozu’s palette in his first color film.  It’s fun spotting the pop of red in almost every frame.

This film is full of gentle humor.  The part where Hirayama’s subordinate tries to keep his boss from finding out he is a regular at a bar the two stop at made me laugh out loud.  The story builds to Ozu’s usual moving and satisfying conclusion.  Highly recommended.

Clip (click the cc icon if you don’t see the subtitles)

TCM Intro

Fiend Without a Face
Directed by Arthur Crabtree
Written by Herbert J. Leder from an original story “The Thought Monster” by Amelia Reynolds Long
1958/UK
Producers Associates/Amalgamated Productions
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Maj. Cummings: It’s as if some mental vampire were at work.[/box]

The best part of this one are the creatures.

The setting is an American military base on the border with Canada.  Nuclear power fuels its radar experiments.  The local cows are off their feed and the populace is not a fan of the base.  Then various folks are found mysteriously murdered.  Base personnel are blamed.

The audience knows better.  Invisible forces are at work.  These are the result of a professor’s research into mind control.  The forces are mortal and need to be materialized before they can be destroyed.

The creatures turn out to resemble brains with attached spinal cords.  What makes them creepy is the way they move and the sounds they make.  They are like disgusting marauding insects.  They also die in a gruesome manner.  It’s all pretty tame now but at the time this was thought to be so graphic that the filmmakers had to be concerned about the censors.  The plot is standard 50’s fare.  Worth a watch for fans of the genre.

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The Bravados
Directed by Henry King
Written by Philip Yordan from a novel by Frank O’Rourke
1958/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/Amazon Instant

Sheriff Sanchez: Ladies and gentlemen, there’s no need for me to tell you – the emergency arose and the man appeared. Mr Douglass, it’s not often a man gets to do so much for his neighbors and do it like you did. We want you to know we’ll always be grateful… and in our hearts always.
Jim Douglass: Thank you… and in your prayers, please.

There is a certain sameness in all the 1958 Westerns so far.

Jim Douglass (Gregory Peck) rides into town hoping he is in time for a hanging.  There is an aura of mystery about the man.  He asks to see the condemned men and appears to be satisfied.  The “hangman” visits later and soon the sheriff has been stabbed and the men have escaped taking a local girl hostage.

It turns out Douglass believes these are the men that raped and murdered his wife.  He takes charge of the posse that spends the rest of the film chasing them.  With Joan Collins as a peripheral love interest and Steven Boyd, Albert Salmi, Lee Van Cleef and Henry Silva as the bad guys.

This is at least the third 1958 movie I have seen with Lee Van Cleef and/or Henry Silva as villains.  Their presence is always welcome of course.  Also we get the standard tortured hero. There is little that makes this movie special.  The church here is a grand Roman Catholic mission, though.  The moral is that vengence is a very bad thing.

Trailer

Damn Yankees!
Directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen
Written by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop
1958/USA
Warner Bros. presents a George Abbott and Stanley Donen Production
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Joe Boyd: One long ball hitter, that’s what we need! I’d sell my soul for one long ball hitter.[/box]

Here is another movie I remember in black-and-white.  I could still sing along with all the songs.  Love it!

Joe Boyd is a rabid fan of the Washington Senators baseball team, an affection about as fruitless as being a Chicago Cubs fan most years.  The middle-aged realtor is glued to the tube during baseball season but otherwise enjoys a loving relationship with his wife Meg. As the Senators lose yet another game, Joe offers to sell his soul for their success.

Enter Mr. Applegate (Ray Walston) who takes Joe up on his offer.  He knows Joe not only loves the Senators but has fantasized about being a baseball hero his whole life.  Joe cannot help but agree.  He is cautious enough to negotiate an escape clause and promises he will return to his wife.  He then morphs into the 22-year-old Joe Hardy (Tab Hunter).

Joe is such an outstanding hitter that he is hired directly onto the Senators despite his lack of previous experience.  He still is drawn to his wife, even renting a vacant room in their house.  Mr. Applegate retaliates by sending his acolyte Lola (Gwen Verdon) to seduce him. We follow the Senators winning season and Lola’s efforts in various directions.  With Jean Stapleton as a baseball fan and Meg’s friend.

As far as I am concerned this movie is perfect in every way.  Most of these people are reprising their Broadway performances, which had been honed to a vey fine edge.  Verdon is fantastic as is her chemistry with Walston.  I wish she had done more film work.  It may be her slightly goofy appearance that held her back, but I find even that totally endearing. Bob Fosse did the choreography and we get the joy of seeing him dance with Verdon. The staging comes off as a filmed play but I don’t mind in the least.

Damn Yankees! was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.

Trailer

Clip – “Those Were the Good Old Days”

The Last Hurrah
Directed by John Ford
Written by Frank S. Nugent from the novel by Edwin O’Connor
1958/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Mayor Frank Skeffington: One more regret at my age won’t make much difference.[/box]

For me, the best thing about this old-fashioned homage to all things Irish-American was the chance to see so many great character actors from the 30’s and 40’s.  Not that Spencer Tracy is bad.

Mayor Frank Skeffington (Tracy) is running for his fifth term as mayor.  He seems like a shoe-in.  The old fox knows how to play his largely Irish-American constituency like a violin.  Rabid opposition from a newspaper editor (John Carradine) and others who trace their ancestry to the Mayflower is only a minor thorn in his side.

Skeffington’s nephew Adam Caufield (Jeffrey Hunter) works as a sports columnist for the opposition newspaper.  Skeffington invites Adam to tag along during the campaign.  Thus we see the politicking through an outsider’s eyes.  With many familiar faces including Donald Crisp, Jane Darwell, James Gleason, Pat O’Brien, and Basil Rathbone.

If I had not read the credits, I would have sworn that this was directed by Frank Capra only with less bite than his films ordinarily had.  Instead, of course, it is John Ford in humorous mode. This is a very highly rated film but for some reason I was not impressed.  All the acting is excellent though.

Trailer

Home Before Dark
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Written by Eileen Bassing and Richard Bassing
1958/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Amazon Instant

What is the natural reaction when told you have a hopeless mental illness? That diagnosis does you in; that, and the humiliation of being there. I mean, the indignity you’re subjected to. My God. — Kate Millett 

Jean Simmons shines as a woman who returns home from a mental institution only to find the same people that helped send her there waiting for her.

Arnold Bronn (Dan O’Herlihy) goes to fetch his wife Charlotte (Simmons) home from the state mental hospital.  He is clearly uncomfortable and very nervous.  She also is nervous and jittery, wanting so badly to get off on the right foot and reunite with Arnold.  She finds out right away that her step-mother and step-sister Joan (Rhonda Fleming) still share the house.  Bronn announces that he intends to continue to occupy a separate bedroom on the advice of Joan’s doctor (who said no such thing).

The step-mother is super controlling, all for Charlotte’s own good of course.  Joan seems more sympathetic.  Arnold has remained a stuffy, slightly pedantic, academic who is absorbed in his professional advancement.  People stare at Charlotte in the street.  The only person that Charlotte can really relate to is Jake Diamond (Efrim Zimbalist Jr.) , the family’s boarder.  But Charlotte wants to concentrate on reestablishing intimacy with her husband.  This is much, much easier said than done.

As we know from Gaslight, nothing is more crazy-making than being told one is imaging things.  This story shows that it is just as bad when the persons doing the telling mean well.  There were definite points when I thought this was straying into cliche territory but it never really did.  I loved the ending.  Recommended if the plot appeals.

Movie trivia from Robert Osborne

The Rickshaw Man (Muhomatsu no issho)
Directed by Hiroshi Inagaki
Written by Hiroshi Inagaki and Mansako Itami; story by Shunsaku Iwashita
1958/Japan
Toho Company
First viewing/Hulu

[box] I still ride horses and do a lot of laughing. But I was born this way. I can’t help it. When I was young, I played old men’s roles. But now I’m a little boy!- Toshiro Mifune[/box]

This story of the the impact of a simple man on a fatherless boy features Toshiro Mifune at his warmest and most lovable.

The film spans the period from 1898 to around 1920.  Matsugoro (Mifune) is a flamboyant rickshaw driver better known locally as “Wild Matsu”.  He delights in brawling and stirring up trouble when he isn’t carrying passengers in his rickshaw.  He is smart, big-hearted and honest despite his humble origins and lack of education.

One day Matsu sees an accident involving a young boy and carries him home.  The boy’s father is grateful and invites him to share sake with the family.  He immediately admires Matsu’s spirit.  Shortly thereafter, the father dies and Matsu adopts the widowed mother (Hideko Takamine) and her son.  The rest of the film follows Matsu as he serves as the rather timid boy’s surrogate father, teaching him his own courage and resourcefulness.

There are various moments of Mifune and children in other films – Seven Samurai comes immediately to mind – and he clearly had a way with them.  Here we get a whole film of his playful, humorous side.  We also get beautiful color views of traditional Japanese life.  I enjoyed this a lot.

Montage of clips – no subtitles

No Time for Sergeants
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Written by John Lee Mahin from a play by Ira Levin and a novel by Mac Hyman
1958/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Sergeant King: Why ain’t you dead?

Will Stockdale: No excuse, sir![/box]

Andy Griffith comes off a bit more like Gomer Pyle in this one.  There are some genuinely funny moments among some over-broad comedy.

Will Stockdale (Griffith) is a backwoods country bumpkin whose daddy has been tearing up all the letters directed to him by the draft board.  Finally, the local rep comes out to fetch him in person.  Stockdale has no objection to serving but he is taken away in handcuffs anyway.

He is sent to the Air Force for classification along with some real characters.  He adopts Ben Whitledge (Nick Adams) as his best buddy and sticks to him like glue.  The gung-ho but hapless Be, has always dreamed of being in the infantry and desperately wants a transfer.  Irving S. Blanchard, a blowhard who lords his year of ROTC over the other men, will be a major thorn in Will’s side.

When they get to camp, Will unknowingly does everything possible to drive Sgt. Orville King crazy.  He finally thinks he has gotten rid of this buffoon by naming the proud Will Permanent Latrine Orderly – PLO.  His ruse backfires on him and he is finally given only a short time to get Will through all his various examinations in time to move on with the rest of his cohorts.

The Ben and Will are sent on to gunnery school.  The film then follows their misadventures in the Air Force.

This film has a really strong first half through Will’s time as a raw recruit.  It’s all pretty funny and would probably be even funnier to anyone who had gone through the experience. This is not basic training and Sgt. King is not a drill sergeant but more a tired babysitter who would basically prefer to be left alone.  The bit that made me laugh out loud was Don Knotts as a manual dexterity examiner — hilarious.  I thought the time in the regular Air Force was too silly to be really funny and overstayed its welcome.

Trailer

The Blob
Directed by Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr.
Written by Theodore Simonson and Kay Linaker from an original idea by Irvine H. Millgate
1958/USA
Tonylyn Productions Inc./Valley Forge Films/Fairview Productions
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Lieutenant Dave: Just because some kid smacks into your wife on the turnpike doesn’t make it a crime to be 17 years old.[/box]

A ton of campy fun featuring a star-making performance for the world’s oldest, and coolest, teenager – Steve McQueen.

During a make-out session with girlfriend Jane, earnest Steve Andrews (McQueen) spots a star falling close by.  They go to investigate but fail to find it.  An old hermit, does, however and is promptly attacked by the molten center of the rock.  The teenagers hear his screams and take him to the doctor.

Soon hermit, doctor, and nurse are no more.  It turns out the alien being feeds on warm-blooded creatures and grows exponentially.

[box] Beware of the blob, it creeps/ And leaps and glides and slides/ Across the floor/ Right through the door/ And all around the wall/ A splotch, a blotch/ Be careful of the blob — Lyrics by Mac David[/box]

Steve goes for the police, but they think this is a prank.  He does manage to convince his fellow teenagers though.  They try to protect their small town from certain destruction.

This has everything one could possibly ask for in one of these things.  It is tame by today’s standards perhaps but I think this is one of its charms.

The production history is as interesting as the film itself.  The Criterion Collection DVD contains two commentaries, one by the producer and a film historian and the other by the director and one of the actors.  The producer was a local distributor of B films who believed he could do better.  He thought sci-fi and juvenile deliquent films did best and found a religious and educational film studio to help him realize his vision.  It succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams when Paramount picked it up as part of a double feature with I Married a Monster from Outer Space.  The theme song cracked the Billboard Top 40.

Trailer

Burt Bacharach theme song