[7] Lauren Bacall finds herself in a love triangle with two best friends played by Rock Hudson and Robert Stack. She marries Stack, the rich playboy, while Hudson continues pining for her. After moving into the family home, Stack’s sister (Dorothy Malone), the town slut, tries to drive a wedge between them and blackmail Hudson into marrying her. Add to this storyline a heap of …
[7] Walter Pidgeon and Leslie Nielsen star in this glossy MGM production about a starship crew investigating a planet where a colony of humans has gone mysteriously quiet. Once there, they discover most of the colonists were killed by a mysterious force. But a scientist (Pidgeon) and his daughter (Anne Francis) appear to be immune to the dangerous entity. Pidgeon shares with the team’s captain …
[5] Real life wife and husband Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz star in this comedy about a married couple who begin drifting apart. When Ball’s guardian angel (James Mason) appears and coaches her on how to strengthen the relationship, she decides to go with Arnaz on a work-related trip to Yosemite National Park to test a new insecticide on mosquitoes. Forever, Darling is as disjointed …
[3] Victor Mature (Samson and Delilah) leads an ensemble cast in this underwhelming adventure about Navy scientists in Cuba trying to invent an effective shark repellent for downed pilots. With a title like The Sharkfighters, you might expect to see people fighting sharks. But apart from one character being bitten and dying, there’s precious little shark action in this movie. To fill the void, the …
[7] When a small plane goes down in a South American jungle, the passengers and pilots must work together to repair the vehicle and get it back in the air before native headhunters attack. Back from Eternity is a remake of 1939’s Five Came Back, both films directed by John Farrow. The cast this time around includes Anita Ekberg (La Dolce Vita), Robert Ryan (The …
[5] Gregory Peck is Captain Ahab in John Huston’s adaptation of Melville’s classic novel. Peck is reliably charismatic in the role, and the movie is at its best when it stays with him. Huston’s style is not an overly romantic one — which I think would have suited the movie better. I enjoyed the first thirty minutes the most, up through Ahab’s introduction and his …
[4] Aliens in flying saucers contact a scientist about their plan to enslave all the humans of Earth! This atomic age flick is slow going until the last ten minutes, when effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen gets to destroy Washington D.C. Aside from the big finish, this movie suffers from the usual pitfalls of the era, including bad acting, over reliance on stock footage, and silly …
[7] The residents of a small California town are slowly being replaced by otherworldly “pod people” and it’s up to Kevin McCarthy and Carolyn Jones to warn the rest of the world about the invasion. This original film version is a modestly-budgeted but effective sci-fi/horror flick. It’s emblematic of the ’50s for its allegorical use of the Red Scare, but it also suffers from some …
[6] Vincente Minnelli sheds a bright light on gender politics in this story of a bullied teenager who finds solace with his college housemaster’s wife. It is fascinating to watch a film deal with mysogyny and homophobia at a time when these words were barely in our collective vocabulary. It’s even more remarkable that this film, made during the height of rigid gender codes, asks …
[7] John Ford reteams with frequent leading man John Wayne in what is often considered one of the best Hollywood westerns ever made. Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a loner returning home from the Civil War. After his brother’s family is murdered by Camanches, Ethan begins a five-year search for his kidnapped niece (Natalie Wood). Wayne plays more than a charicature of himself for once, bringing …
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