Category Archives: 1950’s movies

Visitors: “It Came From Outer Space” (1953)

           “It Came From Outer Space”  (1953)     A meteor that could easily be mistaken for a Christmas ornament crashes into the Arizona desert  and mysterious galactic visitors descend upon an altogether peaceful Southwestern hamlet … Continue reading

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Chandler’s Trailers: “Istanbul” (1957)

     Joseph Pevney’s “romantic” “adventure” starring a prematurely haggard Errol Flynn takes little time in revealing its immediate dramatic problems when an early cabaret scene featuring the dynamically engaging Nat King Cole is clearly going to be the highlight of … Continue reading

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It’s Not the Size That Counts: “The Amazing Colossal Man” (1957) & “War of the Colossal Beast” (1958)

         “The Amazing Colossal Man”    (1957)     Throughout the 1950’s, atomic energy was responsible for all manner of species succumbing to cinema gigantism from ants to tarantulas, scorpions, grasshoppers and a fellow named Gojira, but it … Continue reading

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Soapy Skies: “The High and the Mighty” (1954)

    Buoyed by the extremely hummable (and certainly whistle worthy) theme music of Dmitri Tiomkin and a particularly sympathetic performance by John Wayne (though in role he is far too young to be sensibly cast), William A. Wellman’s film of … Continue reading

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Chandler’s Trailers: “The Deadly Mantis” (1957)

        Nathan Juran’s giant insect film is a monumentally foolish piece of work even compared to the low standards set by science fiction films of the 1950’s. Not only that, it’s a cheat. The entire first ten … Continue reading

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Across the Ages: “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms” (1953)

“THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS”     (1953)_     The first in director Eugene Lourié’s “giant beast wreaks havoc on a major city” trilogy (followed in 1959 by the rather redundantly titled “The Giant Behemoth” and in 1961 with “Gorgo”), this 1953 … Continue reading

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Portrait of Anxiety as a Child: “Invaders From Mars” (1953)

******* Jimmy Hunt sees the landing of a flying saucer from his bedroom window.******      Not to be confused with the atrocious Tobe Hooper retread, William Cameron Menzies’ “Invaders From Mars” is a small gem of a film; the kind … Continue reading

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What’s the Buzz?: “The Fly” (1958)

      Kurt Neumann’s “The Fly” is a film that may unreasonably fall victim to the over familiarity of its finale which is the stuff of Hollywood legend: so outrageously over-the-top in concept that it may lead to an … Continue reading

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Loneliness of the Long Distance Swimmer: “Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954)

     With the discovery of traces of a previously unknown species on the banks of an Amazonian lagoon, a team of scientists embarks upon the usual expedition armed with a beautiful and shapely woman who serves no apparent function … Continue reading

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Better Dead Than Red: “BLOOD ALLEY” (1955)

              There is no mistaking on which side of the political coin the 1955 William Wellman  film “Blood Alley” was stamped, as it is a right-wing, anti-Communist diatribe of the most unabashedly jingoistic variety, highlighting … Continue reading

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Piece of Mind: “The Brain From Planet Arous” (1957)

       It’s a sub grade-B 1950’s science fiction movie. It takes place in a remote desert location. It features a ludicrous monster, ludicrous science and alien concepts that might embarrass all but the hardiest of actor’s constitutions, resistant to easy … Continue reading

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Raging Hormones: “I Was a Teenage Werewolf” (1957)

     To listen to the hysterical moralists of the day, American teens in the 1950’s were living in a whirling vortex of insatiable savage impulses marked by juvenile delinquency, alcoholism (or at least the fatal sip of the same … Continue reading

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Ladies in Waiting: “Return to Glennascaul” (1953)

WARNING: The following review contains plot revealing spoilers, and so it is advised that you first watch the film (available to view at: http://youtu.be/59yMEgjY-1w) before proceeding further. It is a mere twenty three minutes in length and well worth the … Continue reading

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Poe in the Cinema: “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1953)

       Notoriously unlucky in the myriad of film translations of his work, Edgar Allan Poe finds an unlikely ally with the techniques of a minimalist animation style from U.P.A. Studios, a happy meeting of the literary and the graphic … Continue reading

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35 Lb. Monkey Business: “The Man With the Golden Arm” (1955)

    One of the characteristics of the movies of the “Golden Age” studio era of filmmaking was the anesthetizing comfort they were intended to provide the audience, explaining the essential homogenized blandness in which innovation and true artistry- always enemies … Continue reading

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Wood Floats: “Jail Bait” (1954)

    “Jail Bait” is the most accomplished film from the fertile mind of Edward D. Wood, Jr., which is like saying the maiden voyage of Titanic is the most famous of sea disasters: it may technically be true, but it’s … Continue reading

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DVD WATCH: TCM GREATEST CLASSIC FILMS COLLECTION: SCI-FI ADVENTURE

Includes: “Them!” (1954) Starring James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, James Arness, Joan Weldon, Onslow Stevens, Sean McClory, Fess Parker. Directed by Gordon Douglas. B/W. 92 minutes, full frame, Language: english, Subtitles: english, french, spanish, portugese, japanese. “The Beast from 20.000 Fathoms” (1953) Starring Paul … Continue reading

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DVD WATCH: “House of Wax” / “Mystery of the Wax Museum” (1953/1933)

  Includes: “HOUSE OF WAX” (1953) starring Vincent Price, Phyllis Kirk, Frank Lovejoy, Carolyn Jones, Dabbs Greer, Roy Roberts, Paul Picerni. Directed by Andre de Toth. Color, standard frame, 88 minutes. English language- surround stereo, French mono, Spanish mono. Subtitles: … Continue reading

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DVD WATCH: RAY HARRYHAUSEN GIFT SET

Set includes the following films: “It Came From Beneath the Sea” (1955) starring Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue; Directed by Robert Gordon; b/w; aspect ratio 1:85 anamorphic widescreen; english language w/english,french,chinese, thai, spanish, portugese subtitles; running time: 78 minutes; no rating. … Continue reading

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Lights Out: “KRONOS” (1957)

Jeff Morrow and Barbara Lawrence stare agog at the mammoth piece of interstellar IKEA furniture that threatens to destroy the world in “Kronos”.     The proliferation of Sf films in the 1950′s saw a redundancy of Mankind menaced by atom … Continue reading

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Scrambled Eggheads: “This Island Earth” (1955)

    “This Island Earth” may be the first American SF film to be firmly grounded in the not-so-scientific concept of hubris. If there is a central theme to the film, it is that the scientific mind might be regarded as … Continue reading

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The Colour Out of Place: “South Pacific” (1958)

    The 1958 Joshua Logan film of “South Pacific” is a perfect demonstration of the value of the movie soundtrack album as a preferable experience over a film. In the former, there is much pleasure to be gained aurally … Continue reading

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The Look of Love: “Stolen Face” (1952)

    Given the fixation the studios had in manipulating audiences, is it any wonder that the “Golden Age” age cinema is awash in overly produced symphonic assaults on the soundtrack, designed to emphasize to the audience the desired way in … Continue reading

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Shapeless: “The Blob” (1958)

    Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr.’s “The Blob” is a film with an impressive cult legacy, but one that yields few actual rewards upon viewing. This small-town teen versus space monster picture does distinguish itself from many of the grade-B (or … Continue reading

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TUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE: “MOGAMBO” (1953)

     What is a women’s picture? In recent years this has been a more difficult concept to distinguish, being that the increased crudity of all American (in particular) cinema  has led to a blurring of cinematic behavioral gender lines. … Continue reading

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A Report on the Desert and Its Guests: “Tarantula” (1955)

   The film opens intriguingly with a mutated figure painfully wandering the desert until fatally collapsing; buzzards ominously circling overhead. Already before the opening credits, director Jack Arnold has established the seeds of a mystery which will lay the foundation … Continue reading

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