The Films Of The Fifties by Douglas Brode
These are the films complied by Douglas Brode for his book The Films Of The Fifties
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- DirectorBilly WilderStarsWilliam HoldenGloria SwansonErich von StroheimA screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsBette DavisAnne BaxterGeorge SandersA seemingly timid but secretly ruthless ingénue insinuates herself into the lives of an aging Broadway star and her circle of theater friends.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsSpencer TracyJoan BennettElizabeth TaylorThe father of a young woman deals with the emotional pain of her getting married, along with the financial and organizational trouble of arranging the wedding.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsHumphrey BogartGloria GrahameFrank LovejoyA potentially violent screenwriter is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. However, she soon starts to have her doubts.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsJames StewartJeff ChandlerDebra PagetTom Jeffords tries to make peace between settlers and Apaches in Arizona territory.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsGregory PeckHelen WestcottMillard MitchellNotorious gunfighter Jimmy Ringo rides into town to find his true love, who doesn't want to see him. He hasn't come looking for trouble, but trouble finds him around every corner.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsSterling HaydenLouis CalhernJean HagenA major heist goes off as planned, but then double crosses, bad luck and solid police work cause everything to unravel.
- DirectorChristian NybyHoward HawksStarsKenneth TobeyMargaret SheridanJames ArnessScientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsGene EvansRobert HuttonSteve BrodieA ragtag group of American stragglers battles against superior Communist troops in an abandoned Buddhist temple during the Korean War.
- DirectorMelvin FrankNorman PanamaStarsFred MacMurrayDorothy McGuireHoward KeelTwo marketing professionals hire a lookalike of classic Western actor Smoky Callaway to impersonate the actor and make new films, but things go awry when the real Callaway, thought long missing, returns.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsMichael RenniePatricia NealHugh MarloweAn alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.
- DirectorJohn BerryStarsJohn GarfieldShelley WintersWallace FordNick and his partner Al stage a payroll holdup. Al is shot, and Nick kills a policeman. Nick hides out at a public pool, where he meets Peg Dobbs. They go back to her apartment, and he forces her family to hide him from the police manhunt.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsMontgomery CliftElizabeth TaylorShelley WintersA poor boy gets a job working for his rich uncle and ends up falling in love with two women.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartKatharine HepburnRobert MorleyIn WWI East Africa, a gin-swilling Canadian riverboat captain is persuaded by a strait-laced English missionary to undertake a trip up a treacherous river and use his boat to attack a German gunship.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsFrank LovejoyDorothy HartPhilip CareyIn Pittsburgh, PA, an F.B.I. agent works to undermine the Communist party, but his brothers and his teenage son think he's a real Red.
- DirectorLeo McCareyStarsRobert WalkerHelen HayesVan HeflinThe Jeffersons are the ideal picture-perfect all-American family in a small town, but their eldest son John returns home after a long absence spouting views that cause them to worry he may be a Communist.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsGary CooperGrace KellyThomas MitchellA town Marshal, despite the disagreements of his newlywed bride and the townspeople around him, must face a gang of deadly killers alone at "high noon" when the gang leader, an outlaw he "sent up" years ago, arrives on the noon train.
- DirectorStanley DonenGene KellyStarsGene KellyDonald O'ConnorDebbie ReynoldsA silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsLana TurnerKirk DouglasWalter PidgeonAn unscrupulous movie producer uses an actress, a director and a writer to achieve success.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsJames StewartCharlton HestonBetty HuttonThe dramatic lives of trapeze artists, a clown, and an elephant trainer are told against a background of circus spectacle.
- DirectorMerian C. CooperGunther von FritschErnest B. SchoedsackStarsLowell ThomasKathy DarlynToni ValkOn the evening of September 30, 1952, the shape and sound of movies changed forever with the introduction of Cinerama.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsBurt LancasterNick CravatEva BartokDuring the 1700s, pirate Captain Vallo seizes a British warship and gets involved in various money-making schemes involving Caribbean rebels led by El Libre, British envoy Baron Jose Gruda, and a beautiful courtesan named Consuelo.
- DirectorLaslo BenedekStarsMarlon BrandoMary MurphyRobert KeithTwo rival motorcycle gangs terrorize a small town after one of their leaders is thrown in jail.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsGlenn FordGloria GrahameJocelyn BrandoTough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsRichard BurtonJean SimmonsVictor MatureIn the Roman province of Judea during the 1st century, Roman tribune Marcellus Gallio is ordered to crucify Jesus of Nazareth but is tormented by his guilty conscience afterwards.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsVincent PriceFrank LovejoyPhyllis KirkAn associate burns down a wax museum with the owner inside, but he survives only to become vengeful and murderous.
- DirectorRay AshleyMorris EngelRuth OrkinStarsRichard BrewsterWinifred CushingJay WilliamsA young boy fears that he shot his older brother, who is only faking. He then runs away to Coney Island, a crowded beach area, and gets money by returning soda bottles for their deposits.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsBurt LancasterMontgomery CliftDeborah KerrAt a U.S. Army base in 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his commanding officer's wife and top aide begin a tentative affair.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsAlan LaddJean ArthurVan HeflinA weary gunfighter in 1880s Wyoming begins to envision a quieter life after befriending a homestead family with a young son who idolizes him, but a smoldering range war forces him to act.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsJames WhitmoreEdmund GwennJoan WeldonThe earliest atomic tests in New Mexico cause common ants to mutate into giant man-eating monsters that threaten civilization.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsRichard CarlsonJulie AdamsRichard DenningA strange prehistoric beast lurks in the depths of the Amazonian jungle. A group of scientists try to capture the animal and bring it back to civilization for study.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsRichard WidmarkBella DarviVictor FrancenDuring the Cold War, a scientific team refits a Japanese submarine and hires an ex-Navy officer to find a secret Chinese atomic island base and prevent a Communist plot against America that could trigger WW3.
- DirectorJames Wong HoweStarsDane ClarkPatricia BreslinSidney PoitierThe story of Abe Saperstein and the creation of the Harlem Globetrotters.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsMarlon BrandoKarl MaldenLee J. CobbAn ex-prize fighter turned New Jersey longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses, including his older brother, as he starts to connect with the grieving sister of one of the syndicate's victims.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsJudy GarlandJames MasonJack CarsonA film star helps a young singer and actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career on a downward spiral.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsWilliam HoldenBarbara StanwyckJune AllysonWhen the head of a large manufacturing firm dies suddenly from a stroke, his vice presidents vie to see who will replace him.
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsVan HeflinLauren BacallCornel WildeAn executive plans to fill a high-ranking position by interviewing the candidates' wives.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsJoan CrawfordSterling HaydenMercedes McCambridgeAfter helping a wounded gang member, a strong-willed female saloon owner is wrongly suspected of murder and bank robbery by a lynch mob.
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsClifton WebbDorothy McGuireJean PetersThree American women working in Rome, Italy share a spacious apartment and the desire to find love and marriage. Each one experiences a few bumps in her journey to romance.
- DirectorNorman FosterStarsFess ParkerBuddy EbsenBasil RuysdaelAmerican frontiersman Davy Crockett fights in the Creek Indian War, is elected to the U.S. Congress and fights for Texas at the Alamo.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsMarilyn MonroeTom EwellEvelyn KeyesWhen his family goes away for the summer, a hitherto faithful husband with an overactive imagination is tempted by a beautiful neighbor.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsCary GrantGrace KellyJessie Royce LandisA retired jewel thief sets out to prove his innocence after being suspected of returning to his former occupation.
- DirectorFrank TashlinStarsDean MartinJerry LewisShirley MacLaineRick Todd uses the dreams of his roommate Eugene as the basis for a successful comic book.
- DirectorCharles LaughtonStarsRobert MitchumShelley WintersLillian GishA self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
- DirectorJesse HibbsStarsAudie MurphyMarshall ThompsonCharles DrakeThe true WWII story of Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in U.S. history. Based on the autobiography of Audie Murphy who stars as himself in the film.
- DirectorJohn FordMervyn LeRoyJoshua LoganStarsHenry FondaJames CagneyWilliam PowellIn the waning days of World War II, the cargo officer of a Navy supply ship chafes at its role far from the action in the Pacific's backwater areas, his frustration rising when its captain denies the crew liberty over petty irritations.
- DirectorStanley DonenGene KellyStarsGene KellyDan DaileyCyd CharisseThree soldiers meet ten years after their last meeting in New York, and find out that they have little in common now.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsSpencer TracyRobert RyanAnne FrancisA one-armed stranger comes to a tiny town possessing a terrible past they want to keep secret, by violent means if necessary.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsVictor MatureRichard EganStephen McNallyThree hoodlums carefully case a small town while planning to rob the bank on the upcoming Saturday. On Saturday, things turn violent and deadly.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsWilliam HoldenGrace KellyFredric MarchSet during the Korean War, a Navy fighter pilot must come to terms with with his own ambivalence towards the war and the fear of having to bomb a set of highly defended bridges. The ending of this grim war drama is all tension.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsGlenn FordAnne FrancisLouis CalhernA new English teacher at a violent, unruly inner-city school is determined to do his job, despite resistance from both students and faculty.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsJames DeanNatalie WoodSal MineoA rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.
- DirectorDelbert MannStarsErnest BorgnineBetsy BlairEsther MinciottiA middle-aged butcher and a school teacher who have given up on the idea of love meet at a dance and fall for each other.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsLiberaceJoanne DruDorothy MaloneTony Warrin has it all: a popular pianist who plays any style, he has money, great clothes, a penthouse overlooking Central Park, a rich blond fiancée, a loyal brunette secretary secretly in love with him, and a date at Carnegie Hall. On concert night, disease deafens him. While medical science works on a cure, he must find other ventures. He learns lip reading and, using high-powered binoculars, eavesdrops on conversations in the park. When he finds people in need, he plays God, interceding with help. Meanwhile, his fiancée is falling in love with another man, his secretary quits, and his doctors give him new hope. Carnegie Hall and true love may be within reach.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsKevin McCarthyDana WynterLarry GatesA small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
- DirectorJoshua LoganStarsWilliam HoldenKim NovakBetty FieldEmotions are ignited among the complacent townsfolk when a handsome drifter arrives in a small Kansas community on the morning of the Labor Day picnic.
- DirectorNunnally JohnsonStarsGregory PeckJennifer JonesFredric MarchAn ex-soldier faces ethical questions as he tries to earn enough to support his wife and children well.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneJeffrey HunterVera MilesAn American Civil War veteran embarks on a years-long journey to rescue his niece from the Comanches after the rest of his brother's family is massacred in a raid on their Texas farm.
- DirectorFred M. WilcoxStarsWalter PidgeonAnne FrancisLeslie NielsenA starship crew in the 23rd century goes to investigate the silence of a distant planet's colony, only to find just two survivors, a powerful robot, and the deadly secret of a lost civilization.
- DirectorArnold LavenStarsPaul NewmanWendell CoreyWalter PidgeonA decorated Korean War hero inexplicably collaborates with the enemy while interred in a POW camp and is court-martialed.
- DirectorMichael AndersonJohn FarrowStarsDavid NivenCantinflasFinlay CurrieA Victorian Englishman bets that with the new steamships and railways he can circumnavigate the globe in eighty days.
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsCharlton HestonYul BrynnerAnne BaxterMoses, raised as a prince of Egypt in the Pharaoh's household, learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people from slavery.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsElizabeth TaylorRock HudsonJames DeanSprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsAnthony QuinnGiulietta MasinaRichard BasehartA care-free girl is sold to a traveling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsBurt LancasterTony CurtisGina LollobrigidaA crippled circus acrobat is torn emotionally between two ambitious young trapeze artists, one a talented young American and a less-gifted but beautiful Italian.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsKarl MaldenCarroll BakerEli WallachAn immature, naive teenage bride holds her anxious husband at bay while flirting with an amorous Sicilian farmer.
- DirectorJoseph PevneyStarsDebbie ReynoldsWalter BrennanLeslie NielsenAn unsophisticated young woman from the Mississippi swamps falls in love with an unconventional southern gentleman.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsGrant WilliamsRandy StuartApril KentAfter Scott Carey begins to shrink because of exposure to a combination of radiation and insecticide, medical science is powerless to help him.
- DirectorDon McGuireStarsJerry LewisMartha HyerDarren McGavinSidney Pythias is a bumbling janitor picked up by cop Mike Damon as a teenage gang member worth saving from delinquency. With Damon's help, Sidney works his way through the Police Academy to become a cop too.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKirk DouglasRalph MeekerAdolphe MenjouAfter a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsLana TurnerLee PhilipsLloyd NolanA peaceful New England town hides secrets and scandals.
- DirectorMartin RittStarsJoanne WoodwardSheree NorthTony RandallIn California, four couples who have bought houses near one another face problems, alcoholism, racism, promiscuity, and discrimination against lack of education, until a tragic event forces them to reassess their lives.
- DirectorStanley DonenStarsAudrey HepburnFred AstaireKay ThompsonAn impromptu fashion shoot at a book store brings about a new fashion model discovery in the shop clerk.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsBurt LancasterKirk DouglasRhonda FlemingLawman Wyatt Earp and outlaw Doc Holliday form an unlikely alliance which culminates in their participation in the legendary Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
- DirectorJosé FerrerStarsJosé FerrerDean JaggerKeenan WynnJoe Harris, preparing a eulogy for popular radio commentator Herb Fuller, finds that nobody has a good word to say about him.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsAndy GriffithPatricia NealAnthony FranciosaA female radio reporter turns a folk-singing drifter into a powerful media star.
- DirectorDavid LeanStarsWilliam HoldenAlec GuinnessJack HawkinsBritish POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.
- DirectorAlexander MackendrickStarsBurt LancasterTony CurtisSusan HarrisonPowerful but unethical Broadway columnist J.J. Hunsecker coerces unscrupulous press agent Sidney Falco into breaking up his sister's romance with a jazz musician.
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsAlan LaddClifton WebbSophia LorenA woman who finds a treasure is torn between two men: one who wants to sell it, and one who wants to donate it to Greece.
- DirectorRoger VadimStarsBrigitte BardotCurd JürgensJean-Louis TrintignantIn sunny St. Tropez, a young woman loves one brother but marries the other.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsElvis PresleyJudy TylerMickey ShaughnessyAfter serving time for manslaughter, young Vince Everett becomes a teenage rock star.
- DirectorHenry LevinStarsPat BooneTerry MooreJanet GaynorHigh school students enter a fictional woman's name (Bernardine Mudd) in a contest. The contestant wins and hilarity ensues.
- DirectorFrank TashlinStarsTom EwellJayne MansfieldEdmond O'BrienA gangster hires a down-and-out press agent to make his airheaded girlfriend a singing star.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinMaxine AudleyJerry DesmondeA recently-deposed European monarch seeks shelter in New York City, where he becomes an accidental television celebrity and is later wrongly accused of being a Communist.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartKim NovakBarbara Bel GeddesA former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.
- DirectorStanley KramerStarsTony CurtisSidney PoitierCara WilliamsTwo chained-together escaped convicts, White and Black, must learn to get along in order to elude capture.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingChristopher LeeMichael GoughWhen Jonathan Harker rouses the ire of Count Dracula for accepting a job at the vampire's castle under false pretenses, his friend Dr. Van Helsing pursues the predatory villain.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsRuss TamblynJan SterlingJohn Drew BarrymoreA tough kid comes to a new high school and begins muscling his way into the drug scene. This is a typical morality play of the era, filled with a naive view of drugs, nihilistic beat poetry, and some incredible '50s slang.
- DirectorRanald MacDougallStarsHarry BelafonteInger StevensMel FerrerA miner trapped in a cave-in resurfaces, and upon discovering mankind has been wiped out in a nuclear holocaust, sets out to find other survivors.
- DirectorPhilip DunneStarsCarol LynleyBrandon De WildeMacdonald CareyFairly-typical 1950s teenagers Arthur Bartley and Janet Willard find their lives turned upside-down when Janet becomes pregnant. Arthur is desperate to tell his parents of the predicament he and Janet are in, but when he can't manage to, he arranges for Janet to have an abortion. The internal turmoil that this causes him finally forces him to tell his father, who races to save Janet from the back-room abortionist.
- DirectorRichard QuineStarsKirk DouglasKim NovakErnie KovacsA suburban architect loves his wife but is bored with his marriage and with his work, so he takes up with the neglected, married beauty who lives down the street.
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsSandra DeeJames DarrenCliff RobertsonA young girl discovers surfing and love (in that order) during one transitive summer.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsCharlton HestonJack HawkinsStephen BoydAfter a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.
- DirectorMichael GordonStarsRock HudsonDoris DayTony RandallAn interior decorator and a playboy songwriter share a telephone party line and size each other up.
- DirectorDelmer DavesStarsRichard EganDorothy McGuireSandra DeeA self-made businessman rekindles a romance with a former flame while their two teenage children begin a romance of their own with drastic consequences for both couples.
- DirectorPietro FrancisciStarsSteve ReevesSylva KoscinaFabrizio MioniThe muscular Hercules performs his Labors, sails with the Argonauts, and romances the fair Iole.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsFrank SinatraDean MartinShirley MacLaineA veteran returns home to deal with family secrets and small-town scandals.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsJohn WayneDean MartinRicky NelsonA small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsMarilyn MonroeTony CurtisJack LemmonAfter two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.
- DirectorStanley KramerStarsGregory PeckAva GardnerFred AstaireAfter a global nuclear war, the residents of Australia must come to terms with the fact that all life will be destroyed in a matter of months.