This is part of my continuing series looking back on films from the years before I began this blog. The ten films below are unranked and listed in no particular order. Enjoy.
The Band Wagon - For years I thought that the title of the film was "That's Entertainment!" because this was where the song made its debut. Fred Astaire stars, but this is the film that I remember best as the one that made Cyd Charisse a real headliner at last. The plot is standard show business stuff, with the requisite romantic farce, but the song and dance sequences are some of the best to be found in any of the MGM musicals. The highlight is clearly the "Girl Hunt Ballet," which puts Astaire and Charisse in '20s mobster threads and lets them set the screen on fire.
Stalag 17 - Billy Wilder's comedy/drama set in a WWII German POW camp nicely balances the humor with the thrills and pathos. The film successfully mashes up several plots - the prison camp escape, a mole hunt, and military hijinks - to very good effect. The ensemble is the film's biggest asset, lead by William Holden and an array of great character actors. As much as I enjoy Otto Preminger's work as a director, I wish he'd acted more, because his smug bastard Colonel von Scherbach is my favorite character in the film, and a big reason why it works as well as it does.
Do Bigha Zamin (Two Acres of Land) - Directly inspired by "Bicycle Thieves," this is considered India's first real foray into Neorealism. Following the struggles of a poor family to save their home from a rich developer, the story is full of big emotions and pointed social commentary. The melodrama can be a little much at times, but it manages to be very engaging and powerful. The film is at its most effective when it's following the young son, Kanhaiya, who experiences the most dramatic changes in his worldview, and faces the most important moral tests.
Little Fugitive - A little independent picture that tells a small, but very memorable story seen from the point of view of a seven year-old boy who runs away to visit Coney Island. Filmed using a newly invented hand-held 35 mm camera, and greatly influenced by the French New Wave, "Little Fugitive" beautifully captures a child's-eye-view of the world. Long stretches of the film have little dialogue, and the actors were non-professionals. Full of little moments of joyous kid mischief and loving shots of Coney Island, it's a perfect snapshot of childhood in New York in the 1950s.
Roman Holiday - Audrey Hepburn's arrival in Hollywood was such a fairy tale, it seems perfectly appropriate that her big screen debut should be playing a modern day princess. "Roman Holiday" is a breezy romp through a picture-perfect European city, full of romance and fun and excitement. It's the perfect romantic comedy and hugely influential on so many imitators. Can it be possible to have a love story set in Rome anymore without a breathless scooter ride? I also appreciate "Roman Holiday" for giving Peck and Hepburn a chance to be really, really funny.
Summer With Monika - Considered shocking at the time of its release due to the nude scenes, "Summer With Monika" was treated almost as an exploitation film by many exhibitors. In hindsight, however, Ingmar Bergman's film is a pretty stark, intense story of a summer love affair between two difficult people that eventually - perhaps inevitably - turns sour. The sensuality is certainly present, but treated maturely and serves the story. The psychological states of the main characters turn out to be far more interesting that their carnality, and are well served by Bergman's efforts.
Tokyo Story - This is one of Yasujiro Ozu's best loved masterpieces, a film about an old couple slowly coming to terms with the fact that their children's lives have moved on without them. As the film examines the various relationships between parents and children, it reveals the awkwardness of the generational divide. However, the power of the film comes from its acceptance of this situation as a bittersweet inevitability. Setsuko Hara has one of her most lovable roles here as the sweet daughter-in-law who is the most considerate of the younger characters.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - This is one of my favorite Marilyn Monroe films, and one of my favorite musicals period. Structurally, it's a buddy movie, but with showgirls instead of cowboys or sailors. The musical numbers are iconic and sometimes surprisingly subversive. Witness the use of the female gaze in Jane Russell's "Ain't Anyone Here for Love?" number with the male Olympians. However, what we all remember the film for is Monroe's iconic Lorelei, the perfect encapsulation of her innocent bombshell screen persona. As the ill-fated sequel would discover, there was no replacing her.
Ugetsu - Kenji Mizoguchi's period ghost story is one of the most beautiful films he ever made, full of fantastical events and dreamy imagery. War and strife drive two different sets of characters apart, and they have to undergo harrowing journeys and transformations to reunite, both physically and spiritually. Ghosts and spirits frequently appear as living beings, and trick foolish victims with lies and illusions. Mizoguchi took inspiration from Chinese scroll paintings to showcase the beauty of the natural world, contrasting with the war torn lives inhabited by his tragic characters.
The Wages of Fear - My favorite Henri-Georges Clouzot film is one of the most nail-biting action thrillers ever made. A group of men are hired to transport nitroglycerine over rough terrain, a dangerous job that gets more and more dangerous as the film goes on. The scenes of tension are often unbearable, and the ironic ending is one of the most fitting of all time. There's a simplicity and a brutality to the filmmaking that is riveting. While I like William Friedkin's 1977 remake, Sorcerer, it doesn't have quite the rawness and the biting satirical verve of the French original.
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