MC Yearly Consensus - 1955

[Spinal]

Submit your five favorite films from this year and in a week I will give you a top ten. IMDb dates will be used.

The point system is as follows

1st Place-5 points
2nd Place-4 points
3rd Place-3.5 points
4th Place-3 points
5th Place-2.5 points

There will be no restrictions on short films. A minimum of three films must be listed. You may edit your post freely up until the time that the voting is closed, which will be in about a week. I will give at least 24 hours warning before tallying votes.

You may begin now.

IMDB Power Search (http://www.imdb.com/list)

[Spinal]

1. The Night of the Hunter
2. I Live in Fear
3. Night and Fog
4. Richard III
5. The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz

[soitgoes...]

1. One Froggy Evening (Chuck Jones)
2. Rififi (Jules Dassin)
3. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray)
4. Smiles of a Summer Night (Ingmar Bergman)
5. The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (Luis Buñuel)
----------------------------------------------------------
6. Floating Clouds (Mikio Naruse)
7. The Legend of Rockabye Point (Tex Avery)
8. Night and Fog (Alain Resnais)
9. Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich)
10. To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock)
11. Diabolique (Henri-Georges Clouzot)
12. Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer)
13. All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk)
14. Death of a Cyclist (Juan Antonio Bardem)
15. Bad Day at Black Rock (John Sturges)
16. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)
-------------------------------------------------
17. Bob le flambeur (Jean-Pierre Melville)
18. The Ladykillers (Alexander Mackendrick)
19. The Desperate Hours (William Wyler)
20. I Live in Fear (Akira Kurosawa)
21. Dreams (Ingmar Bergman)

Another ridiculously strong year in the 50's.

[Yxklyx]

1. Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich)
2. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray)
3. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)
4. Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray)
5. The Man with the Golden Arm (Otto Preminger)

6. Les Diaboliques (Henri-Georges Clouzot)
7. All That Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk)
8. Rififi (Jules Dassin)
9. Smiles of a Summer Night (Ingmar Bergman)
10. Le Amiche (Michelangelo Antonioni)

[Philosophe_rouge]

1. The Night of the Hunter
2. Les Diaboliques
3. The Desperate Hours
4. Rebel Without a Cause
5. All that Heaven Allows

-------
6. To Catch a Thief
7. The Seven Year Itch
8. The Ladykillers
9. The Trouble with Harry
10. East of Eden

[Mysterious Dude]

1. The Night of the Hunter
2. Pather Panchali
3. Smiles of a Summer Night
4. Les Diaboliques
5. The Desperate Hours

6. Bad Day at Black Rock
7. Blackboard Jungle
8. The Man With the Golden Arm
9. The Ladykillers
10. Killer's Kiss

[Russ]

1. Ordet
2. One Froggy Evening
3. Pather Panchali
4. Rififi
5. Marty

[Derek]

1. Floating Clouds (Mikio Naruse)
2. Night and Fog (Alain Resnais)
3. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray)
4. Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer)
5. Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray)
****************************** *
6. Les Diaboliques (Henri-Georges Clouzot)
7. The Man from Laramie (Anthony Mann)
8. French Cancan (Jean Renoir)
9. Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich)
10. Rififi (Jules Dassin)

HMs:
Lola Montes (Max Ophuls)
All that Heaven Allows (Douglas Sirk)
To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock)
Bob le Flambeur (Jean-Pierre Melville)
The Indian Fighter (Andre De Toth)
The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)
Princess Yang Kwei Fei (Kenji Mizoguchi)
East of Eden (Elia Kazan)

[koji]

1. Rififi (Jules Dassin)
2. Les Diaboliques (Henri-Georges Clouzot)
3. Samurai Trilogy 2: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (Hiroshi Inagaki)
4. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)
5. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray)
****************************** **********
6. East of Eden (Kazan)
7. Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray)
8. Mr. Arkadin (Welles)
9. Man with the Golden Arm (Preminger)
10. Kiss Me Deadly (Aldrich)

[Boner M]

1. Ordet (Dreyer)
2. Les Diaboliques (Clouzot)
3. Night of the Hunter (Laughton)
4. Rififi (Dassin)
5. Il Bidone (Fellini)

6. Night and Fog (Resnais)
7. The Phenix City Story (Karlson)
8. All That Heaven Allows (Sirk)
9. Kiss Me Deadly (Aldrich)
10. Artists and Models (Tashlin)

[origami_mustache]

wow, a lot of movies on my queue from this year that I haven't gotten to yet.

[Pop Trash]

1. Rebel Without a Cause
2. The Night of the Hunter
3. The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz
4. The Trouble With Harry
5. Davy Crockett

Clearly I need to see some more films from this year.

[soitgoes...]

One Froggy Evening (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4793636459738709669&q=one+froggy+evening&ei=N_deSJSNCoSIqgOU0Ii5DA)

[Raiders]

1. Diabolique (Clouzot)
2. Kiss Me Deadly (Aldrich)
3. Smiles of a Summer Night (Bergman)
4. Ordet (Dreyer)
5. Night of the Hunter (Laughton)

-----------------------------------------

6. All That Heaven Allows (Sirk)
7. The Man from Laramie (Mann)
8. Pather Panchali (S. Ray)
9. Il Bidone (Fellini)
10. Rebel Without a Cause (N. Ray)

[Grouchy]

1. Rebel Without A Cause
2. Night of the Hunter
3. RififÃ*
4. Diabolique
5. Kiss Me Deadly

[Ezee E]

A damn good year. It's tough not putting some of these movies in the five:

1. Night and Fog
2. Rebel Without a Cause
3. Pather Panchali
4. Night of the Hunter
5. Man with the Golden Arm

[Lazlo]

1. Rebel Without a Cause
2. The Night of the Hunter
3. Lady and the Tramp
4. Kiss Me Deadly

[Qrazy]

1. Rififi
2. Smiles of a Summer Night
3. Ordet
4. The Ladykillers
5. Duel at Ichijoji Temple

6. Pather Panchali
7. Les Diaboliques
8. Night of the Hunter
9. Blinkity Blank
10. Rebel without a Cause

4 through 7 are interchangeable.

HMS: The Lady and the Tramp, Night and Fog, Il Bidone, East of Eden, Seven year Itch, Trouble with Harry

Rewatch wasn't too kind to East of Eden.

Want to see: I Live in Fear, Man with the Golden Arm, All that Heaven Allows, Floating Clouds

Worth watching but didn't care much for: Kiss me Deadly, Bad Day at Black Rock, To Catch a Thief

[monolith94]

1. The Big Combo
2. The Night of the Hunter
3. Lady and the Tramp
4. To Catch a Thief
5. The Trouble with Harry

honorable mentions: One Froggy Evening, Picnic

[Yxklyx]

Well, I thought The Big Combo was thoroughly mediocre.

[MadMan]

1. The Trouble With Harry
2. To Catch a Thief
3. Bad Day At Black Rock
4. The Man From Laramie
5. Lady and the Tramp

[Grouchy]

People, PLEASE vote for Kiss Me Deadly. I know I only put it on the #5 spot, but I'll be left very sad if it misses the Top10. Those of you who haven't seen it should.

[Ezee E]

Kiss Me Deadly is on the top of my netflix queue. We'll see if I get it in time.

[soitgoes...]

I'll probably close this one and begin tallying on Monday.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

1. Ordet
2. Night of the Hunter
3. Smiles of a Summer Night
4. Floating Clouds
5. Diabolique

HM: Kiss Me Deadly, Rififi

[dreamdead]

Well, that's it. Once I finish Buffy, Ordet is first on my list. I need to get to Dreyer anyway...

1. Diabolique
2. Smiles of a Summer Night
3. Night of the Hunter
4. The Lady and the Tramp
5. Kiss me Deadly

[origami_mustache]

The Night of the Hunter
Rebel without a Cause
Lady and the Tramp
Le Amiche

[Kurosawa Fan]

1. Rififi
2. Diabolique
3. The Desperate Hours
4. The Ladykillers
5. Rebel Without a Cause

[soitgoes...]

This is closed. I'll post results soon.

[soitgoes...]

#10

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/night-1.jpg

Night and Fog

Director: Alain Resnais

Country: France

One of the most vivid depictions of the horrors of Nazi Concentration Camps. Filmed in 1955 at several concentration camps in Poland, the film combines new color and black and white footage with black and white newsreels, footage shot by the victorious allies, and stills, to tell the story not only of the camps, but to portray the horror of man's brutal inhumanity.

While it was thought that Resnais was reluctant to take on a Holocaust documentary, when interviewed in 1992 he said that the film is supposed to serve as an allegory for the French intervention in Algeria which occurred at the time of the film's release. Therefore, it make sense that he would use the word "deporte" instead of "jew" he was trying to make an anti-genocide statement in general and to use the word 'Jew' would have taken away from his larger message. That is also why he chose to use the figure of 9 million killed; including not only the 6 million Jews but also the 3 million others that were killed under the Nazi regime.

"This is the greatest film ever made about the concentration camps... Claude Lanzmann's 1985 Shoah is so indebted to this film that it never could have been conceived, much less made, without Resnais' example, and Schindler's List is a cartoon alongside it." - Jonathan Rosenbaum

[soitgoes...]

#9

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/latt.jpg

Lady and the Tramp

Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske

Country: USA

Lady, a golden cocker spaniel, meets up with a mongrel dog who calls himself the Tramp. He is obviously from the wrong side of town, but happenings at Lady's home make her decide to travel with him for a while. This turns out to be a bad move, as no dog is above the law.

In the climax of the picture, Jock and Trusty bring down the dog catcher's wagon, with Tramp inside. After this, Jock discovers that Trusty has been injured and pinned under the wagon. Jock is very sad because Trusty was originally supposed to die in this scene. That is why Jock nudges him and he does not rouse. When Walt Disney viewed this scene, he was shocked. Walt did not want a repeat of the traumatic scene in Bambi (1942). He thought it was too intense. Walt then made the animators put Trusty into the end Christmas scene to reassure the audience that Trusty was simply knocked out and injured in the previous scene.

"Befitting its middle-ish chronological position, it's not surprising that the serviceably cute but mundane Lady—a turn-of-the-century ditty about two love struck dogs from opposite sides of the gated community—might be the most ignorable, least assertive production of their golden era." - Eric Henderson

[soitgoes...]

#8

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/Kiss_Me_Deadly_09-1.jpg

Kiss Me Deadly

Director: Robert Aldrich

Country: USA

A doomed female hitchhiker pulls Mike Hammer into a deadly whirlpool of intrigue, revolving around a mysterious "great whatsit."

The Kefauver Commission, a federal unit dedicated to investigating corrupting influences in the 1950s, singled this out as 1955's number one menace to American youth. Because of this, Robert Aldrich felt compelled to conduct a writing campaign for the free speech rights of independent film-makers.

"Robert Aldrich's blisteringly nihilistic noir in which star Ralph Meeker embodies Mickey Spillane's legendary P.I. with brute force savagery. Sneering, scowling and dishing out ruthless justice almost as often as he takes cruel thrashings, Meeker's Hammer is a heartless, narcissistic, amoral beast with nothing but contempt for society, a worldview that Aldrich also assumes in every one of his bluntly beautiful staircase-punctuated compositions and stinging close-ups." - Nick Scahger

[Spinal]

"This is the greatest film ever made about the concentration camps... Claude Lanzmann's 1985 Shoah is so indebted to this film that it never could have been conceived, much less made, without Resnais' example, and Schindler's List is a cartoon alongside it." - Jonathan Rosenbaum

Provocation!

[soitgoes...]

#7

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/smiles_us1-1.jpg

Smiles of a Summer Night

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Country: Sweden

In the lat 19th-century, a slightly-aging and totally amoral actress invites to her country-house party two married men---a lawyer and a count---who have both been her lovers in the past. She also asks them to bring along their wives. She has plans on taking one of them away from his present wife, but also ensure that all her guests leave paired up. The math doesn't work out until an uninvited guest also shows up.

This light, frothy piece (in terms of Ingmar Bergman's general oeuvre) was made whilst the director was undergoing financial troubles, stomach pains (he weighed only 125 pounds at the time) and a romance with Harriet Andersson that was on the rocks. Bergman later said that if he hadn't made this film when he did, he probably would have attempted suicide.

"Spicy, indeed, is the label to put on this charming, film, which logically ran away with comedy honors at the 1956 festival in Cannes. Its amorous incidents are spicy, in a thoroughly tasteful and elegant way, and its philosophical conclusions are made attractive with the most redolent of intellectual herbs. What is more, its involved situations are invariably comical and deft." - Bosley Crowther

[soitgoes...]

Provocation!

:lol:

[soitgoes...]

#6

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/pather-1.jpg

Pather Panchali

Director: Satyajit Ray

Country: India

Sometime in the early years of the century, a boy, Apu, is born to a poor Brahmin family in a village in Bengal.

Legend has it that on the first day of shooting, Satyajit Ray had never directed a scene, his cameraman Subrata Mitra had never photographed one and none of his child actors had even been screentested for their roles. Made on a shoestring budget, even to the extent that Satyajit Ray sold some of his beloved LPs as well as his life insurance policy. His Production Manager 'Anil Chowdhury' was reduced to sleeping in a taxi at one point, while lead actress Bijoya was convinced to pawn her jewels.

"I don't want to see a film about Indian peasants." - Francois Truffaut

[soitgoes...]

#5

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/Ordet01-1.jpg

Ordet

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer

Country: Denmark

The film centres around a family of farmers, who are part of a God-fearing community. There are three brothers: Mikkel, who has no faith; Anders, who wants to marry the daughter of Peter, a tailor who refuses the marriage because of Anders' religious beliefs; the third brother is Johannes, who has seemingly lost his mind and believes himself to be Jesus.

The set for the final scene in Carl Th. Dreyer's 1943 film Day of Wrath was recreated twelve years later for the final scene of his film of this film. As well, actress Birgitte Federspiel was cast as Inger in this version of Ordet because of her facial resemblance to actress Lisbeth Movin as Anne in Day of Wrath, allowing Dreyer to create somewhat of a reversal of the final scene in this picture.

"I have books about Dreyer on the shelf. I did not take them down. I taught a class based on the Schrader book, although I did not include Ordet. I did not open it to see what he had to say. Rosenbaum has written often about Dreyer, but when I quote him here, it is only things he has said to me. I did not want secondary information, analysis, context. The film stands utterly and fearlessly alone. Many viewers will turn away from it. Persevere. Go to it. It will not come to you." - Roger Ebert

[soitgoes...]

#4

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/rififi_0405-1.jpg

Rififi

Director: Jules Dassin

Country: France

Tony Stephanois, just out of prison and angry at his girl Mado's infidelity, decides to join his pals Jo and Mario in an ambitious crime. With Italian safe expert Cesar, they meticulously plan the burglary of a large jewelry establishment. Not a word is spoken as the crime is carried out. And then things begin to go wrong...

The argot French slang word, "Rififi" is defined loosely as trouble/violent conflict/a brutal show of force, usually in reference to chest puffing and macho tough guy posturing by thugs and criminal element of Paris.

"DO you want to see a tough gangster picture? Do you want to see a crime film that makes the characters of Mickey Spillane seem like sissies and, at the same time, gives you the thrill of being an inside participant in a terrific Parisian robbery? Then go to see Rififi... This is perhaps the keenest crime film that ever came from France, including Pepe le Moko and some of the best of Louis Jouvet and Jean Gabin." - Bosley Crowther

[soitgoes...]

#3

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/rebel_without_a_cause-1.jpg

Rebel Without a Cause

Director: Nicholas Ray

Country: USA

Jim Stark is the new kid in town. He has been in trouble elsewhere; that's why his family has had to move before. Here he hopes to find the love he doesn't get from his middle-class family. Though he finds some of this in his relation with Judy, and a form of it in both Plato's adulation and Ray's real concern for him, Jim must still prove himself to his peers in switchblade knife fights and "chickie" games in which cars race toward a seaside cliff.

All three lead actors, (James Dean, Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood) died under tragic circumstances. Dean died in a car accident, Mineo was shot and Wood drowned. All three died young.

"Like its hero, "Rebel Without a Cause" desperately wants to say something and doesn't know what it is. If it did know, it would lose its fascination. More perhaps than it realized, it is a subversive document of its time." - Roger Ebert

[soitgoes...]

#2

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/les_diaboliques5-1.jpg

Les Diaboliques

Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

Country: France

The wife of a cruel headmaster and his mistress conspire to kill him, but after the murder is committed, his body disappears, and strange events begin to plague the two women.

When director Henri-Georges Clouzot bought the film rights to the original novel, he reportedly beat Alfred Hitchcock by only a matter of hours.

"The most disturbing elements of the movie are implied, not seen, in the seedy air of the teachers, all of whom have seen better days and at least one of whom should probably be in jail." - Roger Ebert

[soitgoes...]

#1

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/night_of_the_hunter-089-1.jpg

The Night of the Hunter

Director: Charles Laughton

Country: USA

A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.

So disappointed was he by the poor reception of this film on its initial release both critically and commercially, Charles Laughton vowed never to direct a film again, and he never did. The film he was planning to direct next was going to be a screen adaptation of "The Naked and the Dead." Charles Laughton had no great love for children and so despised directing them in this film that Robert Mitchum found himself directing the children in several scenes.

"Night of the Hunter remains one of the most twisted evocations of godliness gone awry. Charles Laughton's shadowy compositions and omniscient perspective (see the film's transfixing point-of-view shots) suggest that the film's characters are in the presence of God himself." - Ed Gonzalez

[soitgoes...]

1. The Night of the Hunter - 59
2. Les Diaboliques - 34.5
3. Rebel Without a Cause - 33
4. Rififi - 28.5
5. Ordet - 24.5
6. Pather Panchali - 24
7. Smiles of a Summer Night - 21.5
8. Kiss Me Deadly - 17
9. Lady and the Tramp - 16
10. Night and Fog - 12.5

Close: The Trouble with Harry - 10.5, The Desperate Hours - 9.5

5 films were within shot of #10

[Sycophant]

"Befitting its middle-ish chronological position, it's not surprising that the serviceably cute but mundane Lady—a turn-of-the-century ditty about two love struck dogs from opposite sides of the gated community—might be the most ignorable, least assertive production of their golden era." - Eric Henderson :|

I need to see more from this year. Or the fifties in general.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

#1

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/night_of_the_hunter-089-1.jpg

The Night of the Hunter

Director: Charles Laughton

Country: USA

A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.

So disappointed was he by the poor reception of this film on its initial release both critically and commercially, Charles Laughton vowed never to direct a film again, and he never did. The film he was planning to direct next was going to be a screen adaptation of "The Naked and the Dead." Charles Laughton had no great love for children and so despised directing them in this film that Robert Mitchum found himself directing the children in several scenes.

"Night of the Hunter remains one of the most twisted evocations of godliness gone awry. Charles Laughton's shadowy compositions and omniscient perspective (see the film's transfixing point-of-view shots) suggest that the film's characters are in the presence of God himself." - Ed Gonzalez


Special Edition double disc DVD coming out early next year, rejoice! :pritch:

[Qrazy]

:|

I need to see more from this year. Or the fifties in general.

Yeah that quote sucks dick. I grew up on that film.

[Pop Trash]

Anyone know of any other great one-offs from directors? I'm tempted to say The Blair Witch Project but apparently one of those guys has made some other stuff.

[Qrazy]

Anyone know of any other great one-offs from directors? I'm tempted to say The Blair Witch Project but apparently one of those guys has made some other stuff.

Chetyre perhaps.

[Russ]

Anyone know of any other great one-offs from directors? I'm tempted to say The Blair Witch Project but apparently one of those guys has made some other stuff.
Dementia, also from this year (just missed my list) is John Parker's sole effort. Weird, hybrid arty, silent no-budget b&w thriller is worth checking out.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Anyone know of any other great one-offs from directors?

Limtie - Mario Peixote (Brazil - 1931)
The Forbidden Christ - Curzio Malaparte (Italy - 1951)
Ballet Mecanique - Fernand Leger (France - 1924)
Anemic Cinema - Marcel Duchamp (France - 1926)

[Grouchy]

Carnival of Souls by Herk Harvey.

[Boner M]

Wanda by Barbara Loden... the second time in a row that I've used it as an example of a certain kind of film, hmm.

[Yxklyx]

One-Eyed Jacks - Marlon Brando
Sonny - Nicholas Cage

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

One-Eyed Jacks - Marlon Brando
Sonny - Nicholas Cage

you would call those great?

[Yxklyx]

you would call those great?

No, I missed the word "great" in the original post. Never mind.

[origami_mustache]

A shame James Agee died so young and didn't write many scripts. :(