1950:
All About Eve (USA: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950: 138 mins)
Naremore, James. "Film Acting and the Arts of Imitation." Cyncos 27.2 (2011) ["Louise Brooks once said that in order to become a star, an actor needs to combine a natural-looking behavior with personal “eccentricity.” My presentation will explore some of the analytical problems raised by this phenomenon: What constitutes eccentricity and how is it balanced by naturalness in specific cases? What happens when a movie star acts in a film in which he or she impersonates the eccentricities of another star (Larry Parks as Al Jolson, Clint Eastwood as John Huston, Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan, Meryl Streep as Julia Child, etc.)? How can we distinguish between impersonation as caricature and impersonation as dramatic illusion? What is the difference, if any, between impersonation and stylistic influence?"]
Anthony, West, David Blakeslee and Robert Nishimura. "The First Films of Samuel Fuller." The Eclipse Viewer #4 (October 24, 2012)
Devil's Doorway (USA: Anthony Mann, 1950: 84 mins)
Collier, Stuart and Tom Sutpen. "The Unedited Commentary Track: Devil's Doorway (Anthony Mann, 1950)." Illusion Travels by Streetcar #135 (March 6, 2017)
Handzo, Stephen. "Going Through the Devil’s Doorway: The Early Westerns Of Anthony Mann." Bright Lights Film Journal #4 (Summer 1976)
Gun Crazy (USA: Joseph H. Lewis. 1950: 86 mins)
Muller, Eddie. "Gun Crazy." The Cinephiliacs #73 (January 21, 2016)
The Kid (Hong Kong: Fung Fung, 1950: 80 mins)
Lee, Kevin B. "Bruce Lee, Before and After the Dragon." Keyframe (July 18, 2013) ["From orphan child star to kung fu clones: on the 40th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s death, a look at the bizarre bookends of his legendary career."]
La Ronde (France: Max Ophüls, 1950: 97 mins)
LoBrutto, Vincent. "Camera Movement as Metaphor: La Ronde." Becoming Film Literate: The Art and Craft of Motion Pictures. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005: 255-260. [BCTC Library: PN1994 L595 2005]
Les Enfants Terribles (France: Jean-Pierre Melville, 1950: 105 mins)
Lane, Anthony. "Jean-Pierre Melville's Cinema of Resistance." The New Yorker (May 1, 2017) ["His films are illuminated by what he saw when France was ruled by oppression and ordinary people had to decide what, or whom, they would obey."]
Eves, Dave and Aaron West. "Night and the City, Jules Dassein, 1950." Short Cuts (November 10, 2015)
Orpheus (France: Jean Cocteau, 1950: 95 mins)
Bradley, S.A. "Killed by Death." Hellbent for Horror #33 (February 27, 2017)
Freedman, Carl. "Post-Hetrosexuality: John Wayne and the Construction of American Masculinity." Film International 5.1 (2007) [Professor has a copy]
Stromboli (Italy/USA: Roberto Rossellini, 1950: 81 mins)
Gerke, Greg. "Three Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman: The Criterion Edition of Stromboli, Europe ’51 and Journey to Italy." Senses of Cinema #69 (December 2013)
Hudson, David. "Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini." Keyframe (May 6, 2014)
Winchester 73 (USA: Anthony Mann, 1950: 92 mins)
Handzo, Stephen. "Going Through the Devil’s Doorway: The Early Westerns Of Anthony Mann." Bright Lights Film Journal #4 (Summer 1976)
Woman on the Run (USA: Norman Foster, 1950: 77 mins)
Saunders, D.J.M. "Without Permission: Three Contemporary Feminist Films and One Classic (Suffragette, Mustang, Under the Shadow, Woman on the Run)." Bright Lights Film Journal (JUne 2, 2017)
1951:
Ace in the Hole (USA: Billy Wilder, 1951: 111 mins)
Eggert, Brian. "Ace in the Hole (1951)." Deep Focus Review (July 17, 2007)
Lee, Spike. "On Ace in the Hole." The Current (May 7, 2014)
An American in Paris (USA: Vincente Minelli, 1951: 113 mins)
Heldt, Guido. Music and Levels of Narration in Film. Intellect, 2013. ["This is the first book-length study of the narratology of film music, and an indispensable resource for anyone researching or studying film music or film narratology. It surveys the so far piecemeal discussion of narratological concepts in film music studies, and tries to (cautiously) systematize them, and to expand and refine them with reference to ideas from general narratology and film narratology (including contributions from German-language literature less widely known in Anglophone scholarship). The book goes beyond the current focus of film music studies on the distinction between diegetic and nondiegetic music (music understood to be or not to be part of the storyworld of a film), and takes into account different levels of narration: from the extrafictional to ‘focalizations’ of subjectivity, and music’s many and complex movements between them."]
Bell, James and Foster Hirsch. "Birth of the Method: The Revolution in American Acting." Sight and Sound (October 31, 2014)
The Lost One (West Germany: Peter Lorre, 1951: 98 mins)
Bird, Daniel, et al. "The Lost One (1951)." The Projection Booth #324 (May 24, 2017) ["In The Lost One (AKA Der Verlorene) (1951) we find Peter Lorre as Dr. Karl Rothe (AKA Dr. Karl Neumeister), working at a displaced persons camp after World War II. When a figure from his past, Hösch (AKA Nowak) (Karl John), appears at the camp the two men reminisce about their shared history during the war. The film is a tense film noir by way of the German trümmerfilm (rubble film) and the only feature directed by Peter Lorre."]
The Man in the White Suit (UK: Alexander Mackendrick, 1951: 85 mins)
Hancock, James and Steven Saunders. "The Cinema of Alexander Mackendrick." Wrong Reel #314 (September 2017)
Kuersten, Erich. "CinemArchetype #2: The Anima." Acidemic (January 29, 2012)
The Steel Helmet (USA: Samuel Fuller, 1951: 85 mins)
Anthony, West, David Blakeslee and Robert Nishimura. "The First Films of Samuel Fuller." The Eclipse Viewer #4 (October 24, 2012)
Gordon, Marsha. "The Steel Helmet." The Cinephiliacs #91 (April 9, 2017) ["You can learn a lot about the person behind a camera by watching what he saw in front. But you can learn so much more when you explore the short stories he wrote, the ideas he scribbled down, the cartoon drawings he made, the FBI memos investigating him, and the amateur footage of death he shot while serving in World War II. Film scholar Marsha Gordon has done exactly that in her extraordinary new work, Film is Like A Battleground: Sam Fuller's War Movies. In this podcast, Marsha discusses her impulses to explore both the center of Hollywood and the very margins of filmmaking practices with her research on orphan films. They dissect the role that these seemingly forgotten films have shown a diversity of cultural practices throughout the 20th century. And then they dive head onto the cigar-chomping auteur, examining what it meant to be a political filmmaker as opposed to making films that feature politics statements. They end their conversation by looking at Fuller's The Steel Helmet, a complex Korean war portrayal of men not as heroes but as flawed individuals, fighting for dignity in a situation that provides none."]
Berrett, Trevor, et al. "Ingmar Bergman's Summer Interlude." CriterionCast #173 (June 25, 2016) ["Touching on many of the themes that would define the rest of his legendary career—isolation, performance, the inescapability of the past—Ingmar Bergman’s tenth film was a gentle drift toward true mastery. In one of the director’s great early female roles, Maj-Britt Nilsson beguiles as an accomplished ballet dancer haunted by her tragic youthful affair with a shy, handsome student (Birger Malmsten). Her memories of the sunny, rocky shores of Stockholm’s outer archipelago mingle with scenes from her gloomy present, most of them set in the dark backstage environs of the theater where she works. A film that the director considered a creative turning point, Summer Interlude (Sommarlek) is a reverie about life and death that unites Bergman’s love of theater and cinema."]
The Thing From Another World (USA: Howard Hawks and Christian Newby, 1951: 87 mins)
You only need catch a glimpse of the group compositions to know that The Thing from Another World is a Howard Hawks picture in all but name. Directed by the great filmmaker’s editor Christian Nyby (with Hawks serving as supervising producer), it centres on the discovery of a malevolent alien in the tundra beneath an Arctic research station. Hawks and co swiftly establish the structures of their isolated, makeshift society, before expounding the film’s central tensions: not between man and monster, but between the frictional value systems within the group itself. John Carpenter’s 1982 remake would add a bonanza of squelching body horror, but it can’t touch its superior ancestor for the existential anxieties of a battle waged between emotion and reason. – Matthew Thrift
Hancock, James and Martin Kessler. "Getting Assimilated by The Thing." Wrong Reel #271 (May 2017) ["... the history of The Thing including ‘Who Goes There?’ (1938), ‘The Thing from Another World’ (1951) and John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ (1982)."]
1952:
Children of Hiroshima (Japan: Kaneto Shindô, 1952: 97 mins)
Watanabe, Kazu. "A Tale of Two Hiroshimas." Current (May 3, 2018)
Devil's Doorway (USA: Anthony Mann, 1952: 84 mins)
Handzo, Stephen. "Going Through the Devil’s Doorway: The Early Westerns Of Anthony Mann." Bright Lights Film Journal #4 (Summer 1976)
Europe '51 (Italy: Roberto Rossellini, 1952: 113 mins)
Gerke, Greg. "Three Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman: The Criterion Edition of Stromboli, Europe ’51 and Journey to Italy." Senses of Cinema #69 (December 2013)
Hudson, David. "Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini." Keyframe (May 6, 2014)
High Noon (USA: Fred Zinneman, 1952: 85 mins)
McGee, Patrick. From Shane to Kill Bill: Rethinking the Western. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007.[Professor has copy]
The Life of Oharu (Japan: Kenji Mizoguchi, 1952: 148 mins)
Fromme, Jonathan. "Melodrama, Tears, and Life of Oharu." 16:9 (April 2004)
Kansas City Confidential (USA: Phil Karlson, 1952: 99 mins)
Sweeney, R. Emmet. "Just the Facts: Directed by Phil Karlson." Filmstruck (March 2018)
Singin' In the Rain (USA: Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952: 103 mins)
Char, Jessie and Arik Devens. "Singin' In the Rain." Cinema Gadfly #6 (ND)
Heldt, Guido. Music and Levels of Narration in Film. Intellect, 2013. ["This is the first book-length study of the narratology of film music, and an indispensable resource for anyone researching or studying film music or film narratology. It surveys the so far piecemeal discussion of narratological concepts in film music studies, and tries to (cautiously) systematize them, and to expand and refine them with reference to ideas from general narratology and film narratology (including contributions from German-language literature less widely known in Anglophone scholarship). The book goes beyond the current focus of film music studies on the distinction between diegetic and nondiegetic music (music understood to be or not to be part of the storyworld of a film), and takes into account different levels of narration: from the extrafictional to ‘focalizations’ of subjectivity, and music’s many and complex movements between them."]
The White Sheik (Italy: Federico Fellini, 1952: 86 mins)
Knapp, Chris. "Growing Up Together: Love Through the Eyes of Fellini." The Paris Review (March 11, 2014)
Rosenbaum, Jonathan. "The White Sheik." The Current (April 28, 2003)
1953:
99 River Street (USA: Phil Karlson, 1953: 83 mins)
Sweeney, R. Emmet. "Just the Facts: Directed by Phil Karlson." Filmstruck (March 2018)
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (USA: Roy Rowland, 1953: 89 mins)
Smalley, G. "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953)." 366 Weird Movies (January 29, 2014)
Stoehr, Andreas. "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T The Cinnephiliacs #20 (June 16, 2013)
All I Desire (USA: Douglas Sirk, 1953: 80 mins)
Lukas, Blake. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 1: The Studio." Notebook (April 2, 2018) ["How the merger of Universal with International studios in 1946 set the stage for Douglas Sirk, two decades into his career, to flourish."]
---. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 2: The Films." Notebook (April 9, 2018) ["How a great director engaged with the aesthetics, talents and desires of a Hollywood studio to produce his best work."]
The Bigamist (USA: Ida Lupino, 1953: 80 mins)
Hathaway, Andrew and Courtney Small. "The Bigamist." Changing Reels (May 24, 2018) ["Ida Lupino was the first woman to direct a film noir, but her work behind the camera is not as well-known as her acting career in front of it. In this episode we talk post-war America, classic cinema and why a happily married man gets the itch for something more as we take in Lupino’s 1953 film The Bigamist. We also discuss our short film pick of the week Vows by Tal Zagreba."]
Fear and Desire (USA: Stanley Kubrick, 1953: 62 mins)
Beyl, Cameron. "The Directors Series: Stanley Kubrick, Pts. 1-5." The Film Stage (February 11, 2015)
From Here to Eternity (USA: Fred Zinnemann, 1953: 118 mins)
Biesen, Sheri Chinen. "Flags à la Noir: Reframing Patriotism in the Post-War Films of Fred Zinnemann." Film Criticism 44.3 (2019)
Hiroshima (Japan: Hideo Sekigawa, 1953: 85 mins)
Watanabe, Kazu. "A Tale of Two Hiroshimas." Current (May 3, 2018)
The Hitch-Hiker (USA: Ida Lupino, 1953: 71 mins)
Greven, David. "Ida Lupino’s American Psycho: The Hitch-Hiker (1953)." Bright Lights After Dark (February 27, 2014)
Ogundare, Tope. "Male Love Through Female Eyes - Five films about men, each directed by a woman. What do we learn?" Keyframe (March 24, 2016)
Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (France: Jacques Tati, 1953: 83 mins)
Eves, Dave and James Hancock. "The Cinema of Jacques Tati." The Wrong Reel #159 (July 9, 2016)
Ross, Kristin. "Jacques Tati, Historian." Current (October 30, 2014)
Saladino, Andrew. "Jacques Tati: Where to Find Visual Comedy." (Posted on Vimeo: December 2016)
Pickup on South Street (USA: Samuel Fuller, 1953: 80 mins)
Jennings, Tom and Mike White. "Pickup on South Street." Masters of Cinema Cast #56 (December 28, 2016) ["Samuel Fuller's sensational film noir casts a steely eye at America in the dawn of the Cold War, and brings 1950s New York City alive on the screen in a manner rarely equaled in the annals of film. In one of his greatest roles, Richard Widmark plays Skip McCoy, a seasoned pickpocket who unknowingly filches some radioactive loot: microfilm of top-secret government documents. Soon after, Skip finds himself mixed up with federal agents, Commie agents, and a professional stool pigeon by the name of Moe (played by Thelma Ritter in her finest role this side of Rear Window). With its complex ideology, outrageous dialogue, and electric action sequences, Pickup on South Street crackles in a way that only a Sam Fuller movie can, and is widely considered one of the director's finest achievements."]
The Robe (USA: Henry Koster, 1953: 135 mins)
Walter, Brian. "Love In The Time of Calvary: Romance and Family Values in Crucifixion Films." Cineaction #88 (2012)
Sawdust and Tinsel (Sweden: Ingmar Bergman, 1953: 93 mins)
Harper, Dan. "The Taste of Greasepaint: On Bergman’s Sawdust and Tinsel and Ozu’s Floating Weeds." Bright Lights Film Journal (April 24, 2014) ["The Bergman film is much darker, and examines – with sadistic, Strindbergian zeal – the cruelties that men and women inflict on one other when love is distorted by power. The Ozu film is deceptively comic, and looks at how utterly lost men and women become when their families disintegrate. But the odd resemblance between the films remains intriguing."]
Shane (USA: George Stevens, 1953: 118 mins)
McGee, Patrick. From Shane to Kill Bill: Rethinking the Western. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007.
"Shane and Community." Pop Culture Case Study (March 2, 2017)
Stalag 17 (USA: Billy Wilder, 1953: 120 mins)
Weisman, Brad. "Stalag 17 (Billy Wilder, 1953)." Senses of Cinema #94 (Spring 2020)
Summer With Monica (Sweden: Ingmar Bergman, 1953: 96 mins)
Blakeslee, David, et al. "Ingmar Bergman's Summer with Monica." CriterionCast #174 (July 25, 2016) ["Inspired by the earthy eroticism of Harriet Andersson, in the first of her many roles for him, Ingmar Bergman had a major international breakthrough with this sensual and ultimately ravaging tale of young love. A girl (Andersson) and boy (Lars Ekborg) from working-class families in Stockholm run away from home to spend a secluded, romantic summer at the beach, far from parents and responsibilities. Inevitably, it is not long before the pair are forced to return to reality. The version initially released in the U.S. was reedited by its distributor into something more salacious, but the originalSummer with Monika (Sommaren med Monika), presented here, is a work of stunning maturity and one of Bergman’s most important films."]
Ugetsu (Japan: Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953: 96 mins)
Blakeslee, David, Martin Kessler and Lady P. "Ugetsu and Cinema's Greatest Ghost Stories." Flixwise (August 23, 2016)
Hancock, James and Tony Stella. "Talking Japanese Ghost Stories." Wrong Reel #335 (November 2017) ["Illustrator Tony Stella returns to discuss some of his favorite Japanese ghost stories on film: ‘Ugetsu’ (1953), ‘Onibaba’ (1964) & ‘Kuroneko’ (1968)."]
The Wages of Fear (France/Italy: Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953: 131 mins)
Hancock, James and Mikhail Karadimov. "Exploring the Dark Side with Henri-Georges Clouzot." The Wrong Reel #274 (June 1, 2017)
1954:
La Strada (Italy: Federico Fellini, 1954: 108 mins)
Knapp, Chris. "Growing Up Together: Love Through the Eyes of Fellini." The Paris Review (March 11, 2014)
Magnificent Obsession (USA: Douglas Sirk, 1954: 108 mins)
Lukas, Blake. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 1: The Studio." Notebook (April 2, 2018) ["How the merger of Universal with International studios in 1946 set the stage for Douglas Sirk, two decades into his career, to flourish."]
---. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 2: The Films." Notebook (April 9, 2018) ["How a great director engaged with the aesthetics, talents and desires of a Hollywood studio to produce his best work."]
Rear Window (USA: Alfred Hitchcock, 1954: 112 mins)
Ebert, Roger. Rear Window. Chicago Sun-Times (February 20, 2000)
Riot in Cell Block 11 (USA: Don Siegel, 1954: 80 mins)
Kenny, Glenn. "There's a Riot Goin' On." The Current (May 1, 2014)
Robinson Crusoe (Mexico: Luis Buñuel, 1954: 90 mins)
Axemaker, Sean. "The Wilderness Years: Buñuel in the Fifties." Keyframe (January 7, 2014)
Salt of the Earth (USA: Herbert J. Biberman, 1954: 94 mins)
"Salt of the Earth libcom (March 28, 2014) ["This drama film is one of the first pictures to advance the feminist social and political point of view. Its plot centres on a long and difficult strike, based on the 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Company in Grant County, New Mexico. In the film, the company is identified as "Delaware Zinc," and the setting is "Zinctown, New Mexico." The film shows how the miners, the company, and the police react during the strike. In neorealist style, the producers and director used actual miners and their families as actors in the film."]
1955:
The Big Combo (USA: Joseph Lewis, 1955: 84 mins)
López, Cristina Álvarez and Adrian Martin. "The Big Combo: The Maze of Susan Lowell." Keyframe (February 2016)
Death of a Cyclist (Spain/Italy: Juan Antonio Bardem, 1955: 88 mins)
Melville, David. "Bonfire of the Painted Dolls – Bardem and Death of a Cyclist." Senses of Cinema #59 (2011)
Diabolique (France: Henri Georges-Clouzot, 1955: 116 mins)
Derham, Rufus, Ryan Gallagher and James McCormick. "Henri Georges-Clouzot's Diabolique." Criterion Cast (June 6, 2012)
Hancock, James and Mikhail Karadimov. "Exploring the Dark Side with Henri-Georges Clouzot." The Wrong Reel #274 (June 1, 2017)
Dreams (Sweden: Ingmar Bergman, 1955: 87 mins)
Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra. "Dreams and Visions: Ingmar Bergman’s Kvinnodröm (Dreams) (1955)." Bright Lights Film Journal (February 3, 2015)
East of Eden (USA: Elia Kazan, 1955: 115 mins)
Merrick, Amy. "Living In: East of Eden." Design Sponge (July 12, 2011)
Wakefield, Thirza. "James Dean, teenager: In the early rock ‘n’ roll era, James Dean’s bright flash of three films before his tragic death spoke to an adolescent audience like never before." BFI (February 2, 2015)
The Eternal Breasts (Japan: Kinuyo Tanaka, 1955: 106 mins)
Kumar, Arun. "The Eternal Breasts [1955] – A Portrayal of Female Desires and Creativity That is Daring for Its Time." High on Films (September 28, 2020)
I Live in Fear (Japan: Akira Kurosawa, 1955: 103 mins)
Hedges, Inez. "Amnesiac memory: Hiroshima/Nagasaki in Japanese film." Jump Cut #55 (Fall 2013)
Killer's Kiss (USA: Stanley Kubrick, 1955: 67 mins)
Beyl, Cameron. "The Directors Series: Stanley Kubrick, Pts. 1-5." The Film Stage (February 11, 2015)
Lady and the Tramp (USA: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske, 1955: 76 mins)
Dowd, James J. "Understanding Social Mobility Through the Movies." Cinematic Sociology: Social Life in Film. Los Angeles, CA: Sage, 2013: 60-69. [In BCTC Library PN1995.9 S6 C543 2013]
The Ladykillers (UK: Alexander Mackendrick, 1955: 91 mins)
Hancock, James and Steven Saunders. "The Cinema of Alexander Mackendrick." Wrong Reel #314 (September 2017)
Naremore, James. "Film Acting and the Arts of Imitation." Cyncos 27.2 (2011) ["Louise Brooks once said that in order to become a star, an actor needs to combine a natural-looking behavior with personal “eccentricity.” My presentation will explore some of the analytical problems raised by this phenomenon: What constitutes eccentricity and how is it balanced by naturalness in specific cases? What happens when a movie star acts in a film in which he or she impersonates the eccentricities of another star (Larry Parks as Al Jolson, Clint Eastwood as John Huston, Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan, Meryl Streep as Julia Child, etc.)? How can we distinguish between impersonation as caricature and impersonation as dramatic illusion? What is the difference, if any, between impersonation and stylistic influence?"]
The Long Gray Line (USA: John Ford, 1955: 138 mins)
Labuza, Peter. "The Long Gray Line." The Cinephiliacs #100 (April 22, 2018) ["Every guest of The Cinephiliacs has had their chance in the hot seat to be questioned by Peter on a myriad of topics, but never the other way around. In this very special 100th episode, it is the guests who have control of the mic. Friend of the show Keith Uhlich plays host for an episode to ask Peter about his first cinematic memory, how the podcast got started, and why he turned to film history. Along the way, many other former friends call in to ask their own questions about his favorite theaters, the films he just doesn't understand, and the lessons he's learned through the course of the show. Finally, Peter finally chooses the film and goes with John Ford's enigmatic biopic The Long Gray Line, a story of the military and America in a way that neither Keith nor Peter can wrap their heads entirely around, but find themselves in tears at the end nonetheless. Is it shallow patriotism, or is Ford crafting the most mysterious anti-war film ever made?"]
Ordet (Denmark: Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955: 126 mins)
Hughes, Darren. "#3: Ordet." Arts and Faith Top 100 Films (2011)
The Phenix City Story (USA: Phil Karlson, 1955: 100 mins)
Sweeney, R. Emmet. "Just the Facts: Directed by Phil Karlson." Filmstruck (March 2018)
Smiles of a Summer Night (Sweden: Ingmar Bergman, 1955: 108 mins)
Blakeslee, David, et al. "Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night." Criterion Cast #175 (August 29, 2016) ["After fifteen films that received mostly local acclaim, the 1955 comedy Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende) at last ushered in an international audience for Ingmar Bergman. In turn-of-the-century Sweden, four men and four women attempt to navigate the laws of attraction. During a weekend in the country, the women collude to force the men’s hands in matters of the heart, exposing their pretensions and insecurities along the way. Chock-full of flirtatious propositions and sharp witticisms delivered by such Swedish screen legends as Gunnar Björnstrand and Harriet Andersson, Smiles of a Summer Night is one of cinema’s great erotic comedies."]
There's Always Tomorrow (USA: Douglas Sirk, 1955: 84 mins)
Lukas, Blake. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 1: The Studio." Notebook (April 2, 2018) ["How the merger of Universal with International studios in 1946 set the stage for Douglas Sirk, two decades into his career, to flourish."]
---. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 2: The Films." Notebook (April 9, 2018) ["How a great director engaged with the aesthetics, talents and desires of a Hollywood studio to produce his best work."]
1956:
A Man Escaped (France: Robert Bresson, 1956: 99 mins)
"A Man Escaped." Critics Round Up (Ongoing Archive)
McQuain, Christopher. "A Man Escaped: The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray)." DVD Talk (March 26, 2013)
Tupitsyn, Masha. "On Robert Bresson." Necessary Fiction (January 8, 2014)
Baby Doll (USA: Elia Cazan, 1956: 114 mins)
Kuerstein, Erich. "All Tomorrow's Playground Narratives: Stanley Kubrick's Lolita." Bright Lights Film Journal #65 (August 2009)
---. "Quilty Makes This World: 12 Tricksters (CinemArchetype #1)." Acidemic (January 23, 2012)
Bob le Flambeur (France: Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956: 98 mins)
Cribbs, John, et al. "Jean-Pierre Melville, Master of French Noir." Wrong Reel #318 (September 2017)
Lane, Anthony. "Jean-Pierre Melville's Cinema of Resistance." The New Yorker (May 1, 2017) ["His films are illuminated by what he saw when France was ruled by oppression and ordinary people had to decide what, or whom, they would obey."]
Death in the Garden (France/Mexico: Luis Buñuel, 1956: 104 mins)
Axemaker, Sean. "The Wilderness Years: Buñuel in the Fifties." Keyframe (January 7, 2014)
Early Spring (Japan: Yasujirô Ozu, 1956: 145 mins)
Blakeslee, David, Trevor Berrett and Matthew Gasteier. "Late Ozu, Part 1." The Eclipse Viewer #58 (July 1, 2017) ["In this first episode of a three-part series, David and Trevor are joined by Matthew Gasteier to discuss two films (Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight) from Eclipse Series 3: Late Ozu."]
Forbidden Planet (USA: Fred M. Wilcox, 1956: 98 mins)
"Week 1: Forbidden Planet." Future Screen (August 7, 2013)
Giant (USA: George Stevens, 1956: 201 mins)
Galán, Hector. "Children of Giant." On Film (April 25, 2015)
Wakefield, Thirza. "James Dean, teenager: In the early rock ‘n’ roll era, James Dean’s bright flash of three films before his tragic death spoke to an adolescent audience like never before." BFI (February 2, 2015)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (USA: Don Siegel, 1956: 80 mins)
Don Siegel’s the-enemy-is-among-us classic has been subject to all manner of metaphorical readings over the years. Some see its critique of America’s postwar social landscape as a symbol for McCarthyism, others the opposite, that it’s taking aim at the groupthink politics of communism. It’s why Body Snatchers’ central idea – ‘pod people’ are taking on the form of our nearest and dearest – is so enduring, and flexible enough to ensure three further adaptations would contain almost as much to chew on in their respective eras. Siegel’s Poverty Row original is still the best, a model of propulsive storytelling, psychological realism and lucid, existential horror. – Matthew Thrift
Jenkins, Jamie, Mark Mcgee and Mike White. "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." The Projection Booth #130 (September 3, 2013) ["From the deep reaches of space the pods arrive, ready to take over the human race, erasing our humanity and turning us into walking vegetables. We're looking at the four versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (and a few other films)."]
The Killing (USA: Stanley Kubrick, 1956: 85 mins)
The Directors Series- Stanley Kubrick [1.1] from Cameron Beyl on Vimeo.
Lust for Life (USA: Vincent Minnelli, 1956: 122 mins)
The Ten Commandments (USA: Cecil B. DeMille, 1956: 220 mins)
Walter, Brian. "Love In The Time of Calvary: Romance and Family Values in Crucifixion Films." Cineaction #88 (2012)
Written on the Wind (USA: Douglas Sirk, 1956: 99 mins)
Kuersten Erich. "CinemArchetype #6: The Intimidating Nymph." Acidemic (March 2, 2012)
Lukas, Blake. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 1: The Studio." Notebook (April 2, 2018) ["How the merger of Universal with International studios in 1946 set the stage for Douglas Sirk, two decades into his career, to flourish."]
---. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 2: The Films." Notebook (April 9, 2018) ["How a great director engaged with the aesthetics, talents and desires of a Hollywood studio to produce his best work."]
1957:
12 Angry Men (USA: Sydney Lumet, 1957: 96 mins)
"12 Angry Men (1957) and Single Location Films." Criterion Close-Up (September 13, 2015)
"12 Silent Men." Film Scalpel (November 17, 2015)
Fox, Neil and Dario Linares. "12 Angry Men." The Cinematologist (September 26, 2015)
A Face in the Crowd (USA: Elia Kazan, 1957: 126 mins)
"A Face in the Crowd." On the Media (May 4, 2016)
A Sun-Tribe Myth from the Bakumatsu Era (Japan: Yûzô Kawashima, 1957: 110 mins)
Saunders, D.J.M. "No Gloomy Ones: Double Suicide?" Bright Lights Film Journal #81 (July 2013)
The Cranes are Flying (Soviet Union: Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957: 97 mins)
Wexler, Haskell. "One Scene: The Cranes Are Flying." Current (August 22, 2011)
I Am Waiting (Japan: Koreyoshi Kurahara, 1957: 91 mins)
Berrett, Trevor, David Blakeslee and Pablo Knote. "Nikkatsu Noir, Part 1." The Eclipse Viewer #52 (February 1, 2017)["From the late 1950s through the sixties, wild, idiosyncratic crime movies were the brutal and boisterous business of Nikkatsu, the oldest film studio in Japan. In an effort to attract youthful audiences growing increasingly accustomed to American and French big-screen imports, Nikkatsu began producing action potboilers (mukokuseki akushun, or “borderless action”) that incorporated elements of the western, comedy, gangster, and teen-rebel genres. This bruised and bloody collection represents a standout cross section of what Nikkatsu had to offer, from such prominent, stylistically daring directors as Seijun Suzuki, Toshio Masuda, and Takashi Nomura."]
The Incredible Shrinking Man (USA: Jack Arnold, 1957: 81 mins)
Ferdinand, Marilyn. "The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)." Ferdy on Films (August 21, 2016)
Kuersten, Erich. "CinemArchetype #4: The Hanged Man." Acidemic (February 12, 2012)
Kanal (Poland: Andrzej Wajda, 1957: 91 mins)
Tafoya, Scout. "The Post-Punk Cinema Manifesto." Keyframe (September 10, 2015)
The Nights of Cabiria (Italy/France: Federico Fellini, 1957: 110 mins)
Knapp, Chris. "Growing Up Together: Love Through the Eyes of Fellini." The Paris Review (March 11, 2014)
Sweet Smell of Success (USA: Alexander Mackendrick, 1957: 96 mins)
The Tall T (USA: Budd Boetticher, 1957: 78 mins)
Schamus, James. "The Tall T." The Cinephiliacs #82 (July 25, 2016) ["How does one reconcile the ideas of artistry in cinema, the kind of magic of cinephilia that we see each time we look up at the screen, with the business practices that often painted as limiting it? James Schamus has somehow made a career of toeing this (likely constructed) dichotomy, helping produce some of the early independent films of the 1990s before becoming the co-founder of Focus Features, which made films like The Pianist,Atonement, Brokeback Mountain, and Moonrise Kingdom, as well as a collaborator of Ang Lee, writing the screenplays for The Ice Storm, Ride With The Devil, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. James discusses this work between the politics of making art for specialty audiences, as well as his interest in the very nature of art through his work as a theorist and professor at Columbia University. They then turn to his directorial debut, an adaptation of Philip Roth's Indignation, and what it means to modulate performance.Finally, the two discuss Budd Boetticher's 1957 hostage western The Tall T, and what a specialty art house producer can learn from watching Randolph Scott contemplate existence in this low budget western."]
The Tarnished Angels (USA: Douglas Sirk, 1957: 91 mins)
Lukas, Blake. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 1: The Studio." Notebook (April 2, 2018) ["How the merger of Universal with International studios in 1946 set the stage for Douglas Sirk, two decades into his career, to flourish."]
---. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 2: The Films." Notebook (April 9, 2018) ["How a great director engaged with the aesthetics, talents and desires of a Hollywood studio to produce his best work."]
The Three Faces of Eve (USA: Nunnally Johnson, 1957: 91 mins)
Bastién, Angelica Jade. "The Feminine Grotesque #4: Madness, Thy Name Is Eve." Vague Visages (March 11, 2016)
Throne of Blood (Japan: Akira Kurosawa, 1957: 110 mins)
Hogg, Trevor. "Epic Dreamer: An Akira Kurosawa Profile." Flickering Myth (March 24, 2010)
Tokyo Twilight (Japan: Yasujirô Ozu, 1957: 140 mins)
Blakeslee, David, Trevor Berrett and Matthew Gasteier. "Late Ozu, Part 1." The Eclipse Viewer #58 (July 1, 2017) ["In this first episode of a three-part series, David and Trevor are joined by Matthew Gasteier to discuss two films (Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight) from Eclipse Series 3: Late Ozu."]
1958:
Ashes and Diamonds (Poland: Andzej Wajda, 1958: 103 mins)
Outlaw, Olivia. "Visual Motifs of Fate in Andrzej Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds." Film Matters (April 5, 2019)
A Time to Live and A Time to Die (USA: Douglas Sirk, 1958: 132 mins)
Cairo Station (Egypt: Youssef Chahine, 1958: 77 mins)
Abrams, Simon. "Egypt’s Historical Tumult: Cairo Station." Keyframe (February 15, 2011)
Gordon, Joel. "Broken Heart of the City: Youssef Chahine’s Bab al-Hadid (Cairo Station)." Journal for Cultural Research 16.2/3 (April-July, 2012)
Kaufman, Anthony. "Another Stop at Cairo Station: Youssef Chahine’s scathing look at societal breakdown in Egypt feels more prescient than ever." Keyframe (April 7, 2014)
Free Radicals (UK: Len Lye, 1958: 5 mins)
"things are not what they seem," A Video Essay by Susana Aho from MGFX UConnDMD on Vimeo.
The Lovers (France: Louis Malle, 1958: 90 mins)
Vincendeau, Ginette. "The Lovers: Succès de scandale." The Current (May 12, 2008)
Man of the West (USA: Anthony Mann, 1958: 100 mins)
Wood, Robin. "Man(n) of the West(ern)." Cineaction #90 (2013) [Professor has a copy of the magazine]
Queen of Outer Space (USA: Edward Bernds, 1958: 80 mins)
Stratton, Catherine. "Lady Lands: What we all can learn from B-movie sci-fi matriarchies." Keyframe (March 23, 2017)
Rusty Knife (Japan: Toshio Masuda, 1958: 90 mins)
Berrett, Trevor, David Blakeslee and Pablo Knote. "Nikkatsu Noir, Part 1." The Eclipse Viewer #52 (February 1, 2017)["From the late 1950s through the sixties, wild, idiosyncratic crime movies were the brutal and boisterous business of Nikkatsu, the oldest film studio in Japan. In an effort to attract youthful audiences growing increasingly accustomed to American and French big-screen imports, Nikkatsu began producing action potboilers (mukokuseki akushun, or “borderless action”) that incorporated elements of the western, comedy, gangster, and teen-rebel genres. This bruised and bloody collection represents a standout cross section of what Nikkatsu had to offer, from such prominent, stylistically daring directors as Seijun Suzuki, Toshio Masuda, and Takashi Nomura."]
Some Came Running (USA: Vincente Minnelli, 1958: 137 mins)
Bukatman, Scott. "Some Came Running." The Cinephiliacs #84 (August 28, 2016) ["Criticism is often described as an act of interpretation—explaining how or why a film works. But the act of cinema at its most basic level is an experience of image, sound, bodies, gestures, materiality, and everything in between. Stanford Professor Scott Bukatman has explored that experiential level of art in all of its forms from high to low. Scott and Peter cross boundaries of genre and time to discuss post-modern science fiction and its most abstract moments, performative bodies that explained our new technological moment, and even gravitational expectations in the new digital landscape. They also discuss cinema's closest (and often problematic) cousin, the comic book, alongside Scott's new exploration of Hellboy and how the act of reading itself can (and should) be reconsidered in the act of discussing a text. Finally, the two dive deep on Vincent Minnelli's Some Came Running, and truly ask what is it that makes a performance, especially in a melodrama in which the art of acting is key to everything."]
Stolen Desire (Japan: Shohei Imamura, 1958: 92 mins)
Cribbs, John, Chris Funderberg and Martin Kessler. "Shohei Imamura." Flixwise (September 19, 2017) ["Martin Kessler is joined by Chris Funderberg and John Cribbs of thepinksmoke.com to discuss the films of two-time Palme d’Or award-wining director Shohei Imamura. They talk about his dark subject matter, his bleak point of view, the phases of his career, and his wild sense of humour. They discuss how Imamura has been handled by critics, compare him to New German Cinema, Luis Buñuel, and discuss why comparing him to other Japanese filmmakers may be misleading."]
1959:
Anatomy of a Murder (USA: Otto Preminger, 1959: 160 mins)
Collier, Stuart, et al. "The Unedited Commentary Track: Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger; 1959)." Illusion Travels by Streetcar #90 (January 31, 2016)
Keathley, Christian. "Pass the Salt." (Posted on Vimeo: 2011)
The Bridge (West Germany: Bernhard Wicki, 1959: 103 mins)
Brockmann, Stephen. "Die Brücke (1959): Film and War." A Critical History of German Film Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2010: 302-313. [Professor has copy of the book]
Day of the Outlaw (USA: Andre De Toth, 1959: 92 mins)
"Day of the Outlaw." Masters of Cinema Cast #51 (April 11, 2016)
Floating Weeds (Japan: Yasujirô Ozu, 1959: 119 mins)
Blakeslee, David, et al. "Floating Weeds." Masters of Cinema (June 20, 2013)
Harper, Dan. "The Taste of Greasepaint: On Bergman’s Sawdust and Tinsel and Ozu’s Floating Weeds." Bright Lights Film Journal (April 24, 2014) ["The Bergman film is much darker, and examines – with sadistic, Strindbergian zeal – the cruelties that men and women inflict on one other when love is distorted by power. The Ozu film is deceptively comic, and looks at how utterly lost men and women become when their families disintegrate. But the odd resemblance between the films remains intriguing."]
Gidget (USA: Paul Wendkos, 1959: 95 mins)
Engle, John. "August and Everything After: A Half-Century of Surfing in Cinema." Bright Lights Film Journal #80 (May 2013)
The Human Condition 1: No Greater Love (Japan: Masaki Kobayashi, 1959: 208 mins) / The Human Condition 2: The Road to Eternity (Japan: Masaki Kobayashi, 1959: 181 mins) / The Human Condition 3: A Soldier's Prayer (Japan: Masaki Kobayashi, 1961: 190 mins)
Hancock, James and Tony Stella. "The Cinema of Masaki Kobayashi." Wrong Reel #283 (June 22, 2017)
Letter Never Sent (Soviet Union: Mikhail Kalatozov, 1959: 96 mins)
Anthony, West, et al. "Mikhail Kalatozov's Letter Never Sent." CriterionCast (July 3, 2012) ["The great Soviet director Mikhail Kalatozov, known for his virtuosic, emotionally gripping films, perhaps never made a more visually astonishing one than Letter Never Sent. This absorbing tale of exploration and survival concerns the four members of a geological expedition, who are stranded in the bleak and unforgiving Siberian wilderness while on a mission to find diamonds. Luxuriating in wide-angle beauty and featuring one daring shot after another (the brilliant cinematography is by Kalatozov’s frequent collaborator Sergei Urusevsky), Letter Never Sent is a fascinating piece of cinematic history and a universal adventure of the highest order."]
Iordanova, Dina. "Letter Never Sent: Refining Fire." The Current (March 21, 2012)
Pickpocket (France: Robert Bresson, 1959: 75 mins)
Bordwell, David. "Constructive Editing in Robert Bresson's Pickpocket." (Posted on Vimeo: 2013)
Rio Bravo (USA: Howard Hawks, 1959: 141 mins)
McBride, Joe and Lady P. "The Duke, the Dean, and the Walter Brennan." Flixwise #63 (July 4, 2017)
McGee, Patrick. From Shane to Kill Bill: Rethinking the Western. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007.[Professor has copy]
Some Like It Hot (USA: Billy Wilder, 1959: 121 mins)
Naremore, James. "Film Acting and the Arts of Imitation." Cyncos 27.2 (2011) ["Louise Brooks once said that in order to become a star, an actor needs to combine a natural-looking behavior with personal “eccentricity.” My presentation will explore some of the analytical problems raised by this phenomenon: What constitutes eccentricity and how is it balanced by naturalness in specific cases? What happens when a movie star acts in a film in which he or she impersonates the eccentricities of another star (Larry Parks as Al Jolson, Clint Eastwood as John Huston, Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan, Meryl Streep as Julia Child, etc.)? How can we distinguish between impersonation as caricature and impersonation as dramatic illusion? What is the difference, if any, between impersonation and stylistic influence?"]
Suddenly Last Summer (USA: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1959: 114 mins)
Kuersten, Erich. "CinemArchetype #5: The Human Sacrifice." Acidemic (February 28, 2012)
Two Men in Manhattan (France: Jean-Pierre Melville, 1959: 84 mins)
The Directors Series- Stanley Kubrick [1.1] from Cameron Beyl on Vimeo.
Lust for Life (USA: Vincent Minnelli, 1956: 122 mins)
Cook, Adam. "Vincent Van Gogh In Cinema: A multilayered portrait emerges." Keyframe (May 22, 2016)
The Ten Commandments (USA: Cecil B. DeMille, 1956: 220 mins)
Walter, Brian. "Love In The Time of Calvary: Romance and Family Values in Crucifixion Films." Cineaction #88 (2012)
Written on the Wind (USA: Douglas Sirk, 1956: 99 mins)
Kuersten Erich. "CinemArchetype #6: The Intimidating Nymph." Acidemic (March 2, 2012)
Lukas, Blake. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 1: The Studio." Notebook (April 2, 2018) ["How the merger of Universal with International studios in 1946 set the stage for Douglas Sirk, two decades into his career, to flourish."]
---. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 2: The Films." Notebook (April 9, 2018) ["How a great director engaged with the aesthetics, talents and desires of a Hollywood studio to produce his best work."]
1957:
12 Angry Men (USA: Sydney Lumet, 1957: 96 mins)
"12 Angry Men (1957) and Single Location Films." Criterion Close-Up (September 13, 2015)
"12 Silent Men." Film Scalpel (November 17, 2015)
Fox, Neil and Dario Linares. "12 Angry Men." The Cinematologist (September 26, 2015)
A Face in the Crowd (USA: Elia Kazan, 1957: 126 mins)
"A Face in the Crowd." On the Media (May 4, 2016)
A Sun-Tribe Myth from the Bakumatsu Era (Japan: Yûzô Kawashima, 1957: 110 mins)
Saunders, D.J.M. "No Gloomy Ones: Double Suicide?" Bright Lights Film Journal #81 (July 2013)
The Cranes are Flying (Soviet Union: Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957: 97 mins)
Wexler, Haskell. "One Scene: The Cranes Are Flying." Current (August 22, 2011)
I Am Waiting (Japan: Koreyoshi Kurahara, 1957: 91 mins)
Berrett, Trevor, David Blakeslee and Pablo Knote. "Nikkatsu Noir, Part 1." The Eclipse Viewer #52 (February 1, 2017)["From the late 1950s through the sixties, wild, idiosyncratic crime movies were the brutal and boisterous business of Nikkatsu, the oldest film studio in Japan. In an effort to attract youthful audiences growing increasingly accustomed to American and French big-screen imports, Nikkatsu began producing action potboilers (mukokuseki akushun, or “borderless action”) that incorporated elements of the western, comedy, gangster, and teen-rebel genres. This bruised and bloody collection represents a standout cross section of what Nikkatsu had to offer, from such prominent, stylistically daring directors as Seijun Suzuki, Toshio Masuda, and Takashi Nomura."]
The Incredible Shrinking Man (USA: Jack Arnold, 1957: 81 mins)
Ferdinand, Marilyn. "The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)." Ferdy on Films (August 21, 2016)
Kuersten, Erich. "CinemArchetype #4: The Hanged Man." Acidemic (February 12, 2012)
Kanal (Poland: Andrzej Wajda, 1957: 91 mins)
Tafoya, Scout. "The Post-Punk Cinema Manifesto." Keyframe (September 10, 2015)
Knapp, Chris. "Growing Up Together: Love Through the Eyes of Fellini." The Paris Review (March 11, 2014)
Sweet Smell of Success (USA: Alexander Mackendrick, 1957: 96 mins)
Hancock, James and Steven Saunders. "The Cinema of Alexander Mackendrick." Wrong Reel #314 (September 2017)
Schamus, James. "The Tall T." The Cinephiliacs #82 (July 25, 2016) ["How does one reconcile the ideas of artistry in cinema, the kind of magic of cinephilia that we see each time we look up at the screen, with the business practices that often painted as limiting it? James Schamus has somehow made a career of toeing this (likely constructed) dichotomy, helping produce some of the early independent films of the 1990s before becoming the co-founder of Focus Features, which made films like The Pianist,Atonement, Brokeback Mountain, and Moonrise Kingdom, as well as a collaborator of Ang Lee, writing the screenplays for The Ice Storm, Ride With The Devil, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. James discusses this work between the politics of making art for specialty audiences, as well as his interest in the very nature of art through his work as a theorist and professor at Columbia University. They then turn to his directorial debut, an adaptation of Philip Roth's Indignation, and what it means to modulate performance.Finally, the two discuss Budd Boetticher's 1957 hostage western The Tall T, and what a specialty art house producer can learn from watching Randolph Scott contemplate existence in this low budget western."]
The Tarnished Angels (USA: Douglas Sirk, 1957: 91 mins)
Lukas, Blake. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 1: The Studio." Notebook (April 2, 2018) ["How the merger of Universal with International studios in 1946 set the stage for Douglas Sirk, two decades into his career, to flourish."]
---. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 2: The Films." Notebook (April 9, 2018) ["How a great director engaged with the aesthetics, talents and desires of a Hollywood studio to produce his best work."]
Bastién, Angelica Jade. "The Feminine Grotesque #4: Madness, Thy Name Is Eve." Vague Visages (March 11, 2016)
Throne of Blood (Japan: Akira Kurosawa, 1957: 110 mins)
Hogg, Trevor. "Epic Dreamer: An Akira Kurosawa Profile." Flickering Myth (March 24, 2010)
Tokyo Twilight (Japan: Yasujirô Ozu, 1957: 140 mins)
Blakeslee, David, Trevor Berrett and Matthew Gasteier. "Late Ozu, Part 1." The Eclipse Viewer #58 (July 1, 2017) ["In this first episode of a three-part series, David and Trevor are joined by Matthew Gasteier to discuss two films (Early Spring and Tokyo Twilight) from Eclipse Series 3: Late Ozu."]
1958:
Ashes and Diamonds (Poland: Andzej Wajda, 1958: 103 mins)
Outlaw, Olivia. "Visual Motifs of Fate in Andrzej Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds." Film Matters (April 5, 2019)
Lukas, Blake. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 1: The Studio." Notebook (April 2, 2018) ["How the merger of Universal with International studios in 1946 set the stage for Douglas Sirk, two decades into his career, to flourish."]
---. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 2: The Films." Notebook (April 9, 2018) ["How a great director engaged with the aesthetics, talents and desires of a Hollywood studio to produce his best work."]
---. "Douglas Sirk at Universal-International, Part 2: The Films." Notebook (April 9, 2018) ["How a great director engaged with the aesthetics, talents and desires of a Hollywood studio to produce his best work."]
Cairo Station (Egypt: Youssef Chahine, 1958: 77 mins)
Abrams, Simon. "Egypt’s Historical Tumult: Cairo Station." Keyframe (February 15, 2011)
Gordon, Joel. "Broken Heart of the City: Youssef Chahine’s Bab al-Hadid (Cairo Station)." Journal for Cultural Research 16.2/3 (April-July, 2012)
Kaufman, Anthony. "Another Stop at Cairo Station: Youssef Chahine’s scathing look at societal breakdown in Egypt feels more prescient than ever." Keyframe (April 7, 2014)
Free Radicals (UK: Len Lye, 1958: 5 mins)
"things are not what they seem," A Video Essay by Susana Aho from MGFX UConnDMD on Vimeo.
The Lovers (France: Louis Malle, 1958: 90 mins)
Vincendeau, Ginette. "The Lovers: Succès de scandale." The Current (May 12, 2008)
Man of the West (USA: Anthony Mann, 1958: 100 mins)
Wood, Robin. "Man(n) of the West(ern)." Cineaction #90 (2013) [Professor has a copy of the magazine]
Queen of Outer Space (USA: Edward Bernds, 1958: 80 mins)
Stratton, Catherine. "Lady Lands: What we all can learn from B-movie sci-fi matriarchies." Keyframe (March 23, 2017)
Berrett, Trevor, David Blakeslee and Pablo Knote. "Nikkatsu Noir, Part 1." The Eclipse Viewer #52 (February 1, 2017)["From the late 1950s through the sixties, wild, idiosyncratic crime movies were the brutal and boisterous business of Nikkatsu, the oldest film studio in Japan. In an effort to attract youthful audiences growing increasingly accustomed to American and French big-screen imports, Nikkatsu began producing action potboilers (mukokuseki akushun, or “borderless action”) that incorporated elements of the western, comedy, gangster, and teen-rebel genres. This bruised and bloody collection represents a standout cross section of what Nikkatsu had to offer, from such prominent, stylistically daring directors as Seijun Suzuki, Toshio Masuda, and Takashi Nomura."]
Bukatman, Scott. "Some Came Running." The Cinephiliacs #84 (August 28, 2016) ["Criticism is often described as an act of interpretation—explaining how or why a film works. But the act of cinema at its most basic level is an experience of image, sound, bodies, gestures, materiality, and everything in between. Stanford Professor Scott Bukatman has explored that experiential level of art in all of its forms from high to low. Scott and Peter cross boundaries of genre and time to discuss post-modern science fiction and its most abstract moments, performative bodies that explained our new technological moment, and even gravitational expectations in the new digital landscape. They also discuss cinema's closest (and often problematic) cousin, the comic book, alongside Scott's new exploration of Hellboy and how the act of reading itself can (and should) be reconsidered in the act of discussing a text. Finally, the two dive deep on Vincent Minnelli's Some Came Running, and truly ask what is it that makes a performance, especially in a melodrama in which the art of acting is key to everything."]
Stolen Desire (Japan: Shohei Imamura, 1958: 92 mins)
Cribbs, John, Chris Funderberg and Martin Kessler. "Shohei Imamura." Flixwise (September 19, 2017) ["Martin Kessler is joined by Chris Funderberg and John Cribbs of thepinksmoke.com to discuss the films of two-time Palme d’Or award-wining director Shohei Imamura. They talk about his dark subject matter, his bleak point of view, the phases of his career, and his wild sense of humour. They discuss how Imamura has been handled by critics, compare him to New German Cinema, Luis Buñuel, and discuss why comparing him to other Japanese filmmakers may be misleading."]
1959:
Anatomy of a Murder (USA: Otto Preminger, 1959: 160 mins)
Collier, Stuart, et al. "The Unedited Commentary Track: Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger; 1959)." Illusion Travels by Streetcar #90 (January 31, 2016)
Keathley, Christian. "Pass the Salt." (Posted on Vimeo: 2011)
The Bridge (West Germany: Bernhard Wicki, 1959: 103 mins)
Brockmann, Stephen. "Die Brücke (1959): Film and War." A Critical History of German Film Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2010: 302-313. [Professor has copy of the book]
Day of the Outlaw (USA: Andre De Toth, 1959: 92 mins)
"Day of the Outlaw." Masters of Cinema Cast #51 (April 11, 2016)
Floating Weeds (Japan: Yasujirô Ozu, 1959: 119 mins)
Blakeslee, David, et al. "Floating Weeds." Masters of Cinema (June 20, 2013)
Harper, Dan. "The Taste of Greasepaint: On Bergman’s Sawdust and Tinsel and Ozu’s Floating Weeds." Bright Lights Film Journal (April 24, 2014) ["The Bergman film is much darker, and examines – with sadistic, Strindbergian zeal – the cruelties that men and women inflict on one other when love is distorted by power. The Ozu film is deceptively comic, and looks at how utterly lost men and women become when their families disintegrate. But the odd resemblance between the films remains intriguing."]
Gidget (USA: Paul Wendkos, 1959: 95 mins)
Engle, John. "August and Everything After: A Half-Century of Surfing in Cinema." Bright Lights Film Journal #80 (May 2013)
The Human Condition 1: No Greater Love (Japan: Masaki Kobayashi, 1959: 208 mins) / The Human Condition 2: The Road to Eternity (Japan: Masaki Kobayashi, 1959: 181 mins) / The Human Condition 3: A Soldier's Prayer (Japan: Masaki Kobayashi, 1961: 190 mins)
Hancock, James and Tony Stella. "The Cinema of Masaki Kobayashi." Wrong Reel #283 (June 22, 2017)
Anthony, West, et al. "Mikhail Kalatozov's Letter Never Sent." CriterionCast (July 3, 2012) ["The great Soviet director Mikhail Kalatozov, known for his virtuosic, emotionally gripping films, perhaps never made a more visually astonishing one than Letter Never Sent. This absorbing tale of exploration and survival concerns the four members of a geological expedition, who are stranded in the bleak and unforgiving Siberian wilderness while on a mission to find diamonds. Luxuriating in wide-angle beauty and featuring one daring shot after another (the brilliant cinematography is by Kalatozov’s frequent collaborator Sergei Urusevsky), Letter Never Sent is a fascinating piece of cinematic history and a universal adventure of the highest order."]
Iordanova, Dina. "Letter Never Sent: Refining Fire." The Current (March 21, 2012)
Pickpocket (France: Robert Bresson, 1959: 75 mins)
Bordwell, David. "Constructive Editing in Robert Bresson's Pickpocket." (Posted on Vimeo: 2013)
Naremore, James. "Film Acting and the Arts of Imitation." Cyncos 27.2 (2011) ["Louise Brooks once said that in order to become a star, an actor needs to combine a natural-looking behavior with personal “eccentricity.” My presentation will explore some of the analytical problems raised by this phenomenon: What constitutes eccentricity and how is it balanced by naturalness in specific cases? What happens when a movie star acts in a film in which he or she impersonates the eccentricities of another star (Larry Parks as Al Jolson, Clint Eastwood as John Huston, Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan, Meryl Streep as Julia Child, etc.)? How can we distinguish between impersonation as caricature and impersonation as dramatic illusion? What is the difference, if any, between impersonation and stylistic influence?"]
Rio Bravo (USA: Howard Hawks, 1959: 141 mins)
McBride, Joe and Lady P. "The Duke, the Dean, and the Walter Brennan." Flixwise #63 (July 4, 2017)
McGee, Patrick. From Shane to Kill Bill: Rethinking the Western. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007.[Professor has copy]
Some Like It Hot (USA: Billy Wilder, 1959: 121 mins)
Naremore, James. "Film Acting and the Arts of Imitation." Cyncos 27.2 (2011) ["Louise Brooks once said that in order to become a star, an actor needs to combine a natural-looking behavior with personal “eccentricity.” My presentation will explore some of the analytical problems raised by this phenomenon: What constitutes eccentricity and how is it balanced by naturalness in specific cases? What happens when a movie star acts in a film in which he or she impersonates the eccentricities of another star (Larry Parks as Al Jolson, Clint Eastwood as John Huston, Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan, Meryl Streep as Julia Child, etc.)? How can we distinguish between impersonation as caricature and impersonation as dramatic illusion? What is the difference, if any, between impersonation and stylistic influence?"]
Kuersten, Erich. "CinemArchetype #5: The Human Sacrifice." Acidemic (February 28, 2012)
Lane, Anthony. "Jean-Pierre Melville's Cinema of Resistance." The New Yorker (May 1, 2017) ["His films are illuminated by what he saw when France was ruled by oppression and ordinary people had to decide what, or whom, they would obey."]
Warlock (USA: Edward Dmytryk, 1959: 121 mins)
O'Brien, Geoffrey. "Law and disorder in Edward Dmytryk’s Warlock." Library of America (September 22, 2020)
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