50s/60s Film

Harvey (1950) IMDb

Directed by: Henry Koster

(James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Victoria Horne, Peggy Dow, Cecil Kellaway, Charles Drake, Jesse White, Nana Bryant, Wallace Ford)

A film with much to say about people, how they act in certain situations, and how it might be if they acted like Elwood P Dowd. Elwood P Dowd? A 42-year old alcoholic with an invisible 6'3 1/2" rabbit as his best friend... Ah.

Stewart and Hull, as his struggling sister, act magnificently. Having both been in the stage version in London previously they know and live these characters. A wonderful, warm film.

Ikiru (1952) IMDb

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

(Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Kyoko Seki)

Ever feel that you can't face another day at work? Stuck in a rut?? Watch this...

Singin' In the Rain (1952) IMDb

Directed by: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen

(Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, Millard Mitchell, Jean Hagen, Rita Moreno, Cyd Charisse, Douglas Fowley)

Jean Hagen, whose career was halted by recurring illnesses, was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as the naive silent movie star perplexed as to why she cannot switch to 'talkies' as easily as others. It really is a great performance, and maybe the thing that is overlooked most about this film is its fantastic storyline. Of course, the singing, dancing and choreography are exceptional, but this film really is funny and that's what really makes it. The Oscar went to another actress. Watch this and you'll wonder why.

Roman Holiday (1953) IMDb

Directed by: William Wyler

(Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert, Hartley Power, Harcourt Williams)

The best 'chick flick' made? I think 'woman's picture' was the term then. In any case this is certainly a very satisfying love story, leaving you with that sigh that the best chick flicks do.

Gregory Peck is wonderful, with his deep booming voice and Connery brow, mesmerised by Hepburn, who here makes her first major film appearance - and absolutely steals the show. Fantastic characters, romantic setting and beautiful ending.

Rear Window (1954) IMDb

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

(James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Raymond Burr, Thelma Ritter, Wendell Corey, Judith Evelyn)

East of Eden (1955) IMDb

Directed by: Elia Kazan

(Julie Harris, James Dean, Raymond Massey, Jo Van Fleet, Timothy Carey, Richard Davalos, Burl Ives, Albert Dekker, Lois Smith, Harold Gordon)

Atmospheric sets and direction, a tight screenplay where characters are expertly developed without too much dialogue, and James Dean's marvellous brooding acting make this a film not to be missed.

This film was made the year Dean died: 1955 at the age of 24. I'm sure I'm not the first to compare him with the young Brando; if his life hadn't been cut short I'm sure he would have far surpassed Brando too.

The Ladykillers (1955) IMDb

Directed by: Alexander Mackendrick

(Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Katie Johnson, Danny Green, Jack Warner, Frankie Howerd, Kenneth Connor)

Paths of Glory (1957) IMDb

Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

(Kirk Douglas, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, Wayne Morris, Richard Anderson, Ralph Meeker, Timothy Carey)

Should be compulsory viewing for those who want to learn anything about WWI, both the humanity and inhumanity of life in the trenches and those controlling those lives.

Very poignant.

It seems Blackadder Goes Forth was quite spot on.

The Big Country (1958) IMDb

Directed by: William Wyler

(Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Charlton Heston, Burl Ives, Carroll Baker, Charles Bickford, Chuck Connors, Alfonso Bedoya)

Two hours and forty minutes is a long film, especially for one made in the 1950s. Yet the character development in that time, the satisfaction of the outcome of the story and the director's full, glorious exploitation of the stunning landscape, 'the big country' itself, makes the slog well worthwhile.

The Big Country is far superior to many American westerns I have seen. Maybe because there isn't so many shoot 'em ups or so many predictable characters. The issue of the story, quarrels over land, may well be your standard western plot. But it's the exploration of the characters' ways that makes it interesting.

Jean Simmons is compelling to watch. Maybe I draw the comparison because of the other Wyler-made Gregory Peck picture, Roman Holiday, but she certainly has all of the qualities Audrey Hepburn possessed at the beginning of her career.

When you come away from an epic western admiring the leading man, charmed by the leading lady, with the landscape images stuck in your mind, and praising the writers and director for wrapping it up so well at the end...then, you know you've seen a good movie.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) IMDb

Directed by: Richard Brooks

(Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Judith Anderson, Jack Carson, Madeleine Sherwood, Larry Gates)

Tennessee Williams' famous play. And it is very much filmed theatre, rather 'stagey', that is until Judith Anderson makes her character transformation. Judith Anderson? Name ring a bell? She was none other than the forbidding Mrs Danvers in Hitchcock's Rebecca.

When her character goes from fussing to feeling then the film begins to really grip you, and certainly doesn't let off until the very end. Powerful and engrossing.

Pillow Talk (1959) IMDb

Directed by: Michael Gordon

(Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter, Nick Adams, Julia Meade, Allen Jenkins, Marcel Dalio, Lee Patrick)

Start with Pillow Talk and go from there; all three of the Doris Day/Rock Hudson films are magnificent, not least because of the comic talents, not just of both leads but also Tony Randall. Watch Randall and you think of Frasier's Niles Crane, an observation not missed as the recent Down With Love, a tribute to the Day/Hudson pictures with Ewan McGregor and Reneé Zelwegger as the leads did indeed cast the Frasier actor in the Randall role...with Randall himself also making his final film appearance in support.

Come September (1961) IMDb

Directed by: Robert Mulligan

(Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Sandra Dee, Bobby Darin, Walter Slezak, Brenda de Banzie, Joel Grey, Rosanna Rory, Ronald Howard)

The Rock Hudson-Doris Day films are fantastic, and these are always marketed with the other Day hits of that era and genre. These include her pairings with the likes of James Garner and Frank Sinatra. I have seen both of these and they don't have the magic of the 'Rock and Doris' flicks. I put this maybe down to a poor script. Well, hang on, does Lover Come Back win on its script?? Ok, maybe down to lack of chemistry between the leads.

But, on seeing Come September, the answer is quite simple: it's all down to Rock. True, the Rock and Doris chemistry is something else, but Rock Hudson can carry a film of this genre on his own. He has mastered all the body language, the charming grottiness. This film is, somewhat surprisingly, laugh-out-loud funny.

Rock Hudson is as good as his best moments in Pillow Talk throughout. The rest of the cast are wonderful, and Gina Lollobrigida is more than at home as the lead female.

As documented in Beyond the Sea, this is the film where the two co-stars, Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee met; they would later wed. Both are wonderful in support and add to this movie's overall charm.

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) IMDb

Directed by: John Frankenheimer

(Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury, James Gregory, Henry Silver, John McGiver)

An exceptional film. Don't be put off by Frank Sinatra topping the cast list if he's not your cup of tea. There's no crooning here (and no Murder-She-Wrote-ing by Lansbury either), just first class thriller material and excellent acting. Given the plot the actors would have found it hard to go wrong. Don't be seduced by the Denzel Washington remake (and even if you don't like Frank, I mean, he has to beat Denzel, surely); this original version is beyond all superlatives. An extremely intelligent picture, full credit going to the director.