I love the fifties more than Greg does, but that doubling thing is keeping me busy
Whoa there buddy! I don't know about that! Maybe the fifties as a whole if you are only comparing it to other decades, since I love me some thirties, but on a year to year basis I've got some real fondness for some years of the fifties that I'm not gonna easily concede to appreciating less than anyone. I can't deny though that your range of sources may be broader than mine, so maybe, just maybe, there's an argument to be made. Heh.
I loved your "on the periphery" speech. I have yet to see The Snorkel and a couple more films that you mention.
I Married a Monster from Outer Space was awesome&fascinating and will definitely make my list!
Definitely agree with Greg's take that
greg x wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:42 am
I Married a Monster from Outer Space can be seen as having a gay panic theme as one reading, which obviously in itself is not great, but the manner in which it presents itself to seeing subtext is fascinating.
so no surprise that this particular queer genre film intellectualizer loved it for the pleasures of reading its subtext irrespective of its ultimate message. And, indeed, I'd argue that the film solicits more sympathy for its implicitly gay character hounded by his wife and the US army than it does for the predicament of the titular 'I'. In fact, the title can be read two ways; from the perspective of our tortured and body-dysphoric homosexual Tom Tyron, Gloria Talbott is the monster from outer space he found himself married to, and therein lies its heartwrenching resonance for yours truly. A real gem from the strange planet of the '58 periphery!
Speaking of queer resonance, as far as I can see no one has thus far mentioned my sure-to-be #1 of 1958: Bell, Book, and Candle, a kind of rom-com Vertigo that pairs Novak-Stewart and is worth seeing if for no other reason that its status as an accidentally-in-dialogue-with companion to the Hitch version. But the bigger attraction for me is the way the film encourages us to read its witchcraft as an allegory for queer community, and all the tugs upon my heart that that implies. Imperfect, but beautiful and makes tears stream down me. There's also cats, for those so inclined.
A Matter of Dignity (Kakogiannis)
Summer Clouds (Naruse)
Mon Oncle
Farewells (Wojciech Has)
The House under the Rocks (Karoly Makk)
Giants and Toys
Gunman's Walk
Ajantrik
Night Drum aka The Adulteress (Tadashi Imai)
The Big Country
The Lovers (Malle)
Anzukko (Naruse again)
Equinox Flower
Eroica
Rosauria at 10:00
Fireflies (Gosho)
Cairo Station
The Vikings
The Eighth Day of the Week (Ford)
A year of masterpieces, like every year in the '50s. I had to shave too many excellent flicks off the end: From Hell to Texas, The Restless Years, The Rickshaw Man, Stakeout, Man of Straw, Ballad of Narayama, A Time to Love and a Time to Die, Bonjour Tristesse, Three Men and a Wardrobe, Big Deal on Madonna Street, Enjo (probably would've made it, only it's been too long since I've seen it), The Bravados, Terror in a Texas Town, The Music Room, Man of the West, The Magician, Some Came Running, Anna Edes, St. Peter's Umbrella, The Noose (Wojciech Has's other great '58), The Philosopher's Stone...
And Vertigo and Touch of Evil - well, everyone's gonna vote for those.
There is no tyrant like a thoroughpaced reformer. I drink to his own reformation. - Mr. MacBorrowdale, Gryll Grange
A Time to Love and a Time to Die
Ajantrik
Elevator to the Gallows
Equinox Flower
Eroica
Firefly Light
Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars’ Plot
Man of the West
Mon Oncle
Montparnasse 19
Summer Clouds
The Ballad of Narayama
The Music Room
Touch of Evil
ajantrik (ghatak)
moi, un noir (rouch)
the life ahead (fernán gómez)
terror in a texas town (lewis)
vengeance (bardem)
village by the river (rademakers)
shepherds of orgosolo (de seta)
ivan the terrible part ii (eisenstein)
the warrior and the slave girl (cottafavi)*
sweet anna (fábri)
buchanan rides alone (boetticher)
tire dié (birri)
wind across the everglades (ray)
madhumati (roy)
the magician (bergman)
cairo station (chahine)
a day in barbagia (de seta)
el pisito (ferreri)
rosaura at 10 o'clock (soffici)
haven’t yet seen:
the philosopher's stone (ray)
also watched:
underworld beauty (suzuki)
"Most esteemed biographer of Peter Barrington Hutton"
uh oh this snuck up on me. still want to watch the gosho and imai: 50s japan double feature :ugeek: but i'll add them tmrw if i decide to
ajantrik (ghatak)
equinox flower (ozu)
murder by contract (lerner)
summer clouds (naruse)
the lineup (seigel)
the magician (bergman)
firefly light (gosho)
big deal on madonna street (monicelli)
eroica (munk)
a time to love and a time to die (sirk)
some came running (minnelli)
giants and toys (masumura)
touch of evil (welles)
the vikings (fleischer)
une vie (astruc)
ballad of narayama (kinoshita)
a deadly invention (zeman)
terror in a texas town (lewis) -- iron-hooked fury!
gunman's walk (karlson)
madhumati (roy)
Last edited by rischka on Mon Apr 22, 2019 1:57 am, edited 2 times in total.
so no surprise that this particular queer genre film intellectualizer loved it for the pleasures of reading its subtext irrespective of its ultimate message
Oh, sure, and where were you when I was trying to get some appreciation for the awesome Garden of Allah in one of our earlier polls? (Also try and watch Capra's '29 movie Flight if you want to have some real fun with early queer cinema where the subtext is only scarcely concealed, if even that.)
Bell Book and Candle is fascinating, it looks great for one thing and the subtext is clearly there at least on one layer, but Stewart just doesn't quite fit with the rest of the package for me. I still like the movie a lot, but ultimately find it refuses to cohere in sufficient fashion to make it really click as one of my favorites for the year. It's almost like two different stories being told, which goes back to the layered subtext I guess, Novak's and Stewart's, but it doesn't quite add up to something more than its divide. It's a movie that Lemmon might have been the better choice as star for better embodying a sense of ambivalence in his manner. In a normal year it'd still easily my my top favorites, but '58 is tough with so many compelling choices. It might sneak in, but I think it might just miss the cut. Your take on I Married a Monster works for me though and might be the better way to look at it. I just haven't seen the movie for over a decade now, so my take is from memory that could use refreshing.
There's also the fun bit of irony that the big should be queer themed movie of the year, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, is most interesting for how it far it goes out of it's way to avoid the obvious. The absence becomes kinda compelling for leaving the story without a center.
Last edited by ... on Sun Apr 21, 2019 2:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
I love the fifties more than Greg does, but that doubling thing is keeping me busy
I have to admit, I just couldn't figure out how the doubling the canon thing worked otherwise I would have joined in, at least in the ratings, probably not the suggestions.
I love the fifties more than Greg does, but that doubling thing is keeping me busy
I have to admit, I just couldn't figure out how the doubling the canon thing worked otherwise I would have joined in, at least in the ratings, probably not the suggestions.
Oh, please, make a try. Just take the ballot and fill it out with your personal ratings (from 0-turkey to 6-masterpiece).
spooky. and i remember watching bell book and candle on tv at my grandma's house when i was a kid. mainly because of cat called pyewacket virtually nothing else
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
A Time to Love and a Time to Die (Douglas Sirk, 1958)
Equinox Flower (Yasujirō Ozu, 1958)
Summer Clouds (Mikio Naruse, 1958)
Ajantrik (Ritwik Ghatak, 1958)
The Lineup (Don Siegel, 1958)
The Magician (Ingmar Bergman, 1958)
Moi, un Noir (Jean Rouch, 1958)
Mon Oncle (Jacques Tati, 1958)
Corridors of Blood (Robert Day, 1958)
Murder by Contract (Irving Lerner, 1958)
Man of the West (Anthony Mann, 1958)
Terror in a Texas Town (Joseph H. Lewis, 1958)
Ivan the Terrible, Part II (Sergei Eisenstein, 1958)
Little Peach (Mikio Naruse, 1958)
The Music Room (Satyajit Ray, 1958)
Rock-a-Bye Baby (Frank Tashlin, 1958)
The Magician (Bergman)
Anticipation of the Night (Brakhage)
Cairo Station (Chahine)
A Day in Barbagia (De Seta)
Ivan the Terrible, Part II (Eisenstein)
Vertigo (Hitchcock)
Conflagration (Ichikawa)
Murder by Contract (Lerner)
Elevator to the Gallows (Malle)
Man of the West (Mann)
Equinox Flower (Ozu)
The Music Room (Ray)
Moi, un Noir (Rouch)
Madhumati (Roy)
Mon Oncle (Tati)
Diary of a Pregnant Woman (Varda)
Ashes and Diamonds (Wajda)
Touch of Evil (Welles)
The Big Country (Wyler)
Adventures of the Runaway Kid (Ghatak)
Ashes and Diamonds (Wajda)
Big Deal on Madonna Street (Monicelli)
The Bravados (King)
Darby's Rangers (Wellman)
The Fly (Neumann)
From Hell to Texas (Hathaway)
Gunman's Walk (Karlson)
The Last Hurrah (Ford)
A Man of Straw (Germi)
Man of the West (Mann)
Party Girl (Ray)
Poem of the Sea (Solntseva)
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (Juran)
Some Came Running (Minnelli)
Summer Clouds (Naruse)
Touch of Evil (Welles)
Vertigo (Hitchcock)
The Vikings (Fleischer)
bell book and candle is also up there with my sister eileen as one of the all time great greenwitch village fantasies....
This is true, and I'm assuming Greenwitch was intentional? If not it's a great typo! The 1944 Walter Lang musical Greenwich Village is also kinda fun, not as good as the other two, but it does make some sly reference to queer lifestyle, as well as, from today's perspective, some really overt takes as well which I"d be curious to know how widely they were understood as such at the time.
Managed to watch three more movies for the poll. Merry Andrew, the Danny Kaye film, has some promise, in tone it starts off like it's going to be another Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen world (Hans Christian Anderson) with Kaye and kids, but it then goes into some more adult-ish, themes and goes back and forth between childish and adult attitudes to some extent. It doesn't quite work and choreographer Michael Kidd's only shot at directing likewise shows some imbalance with sets being too overly determined at the start and interesting set ups being undermined by reversion to Joshua Logan like conventional wide screen blandness. Still, the good parts are sometimes fun and a little suggestive, particularly regarding class, and there are some interesting choices made, for one example, Kaye plays his role as the son of a British school master without reference to any sort of accent while his two brothers in the film are veddy much Brits. His father in the movie starts off like an even more heightened version of upper class British sensibility and carries an accent, but in a late heart to heart talk with Kaye's character over him being the favorite son, completely drops the accent and attitude for something much more US. It's striking, odd, and doesn't quite pay off in any clear way, but still affecting.
The plot deals with the Roman God Pan, who the Kaye character has an abiding fascination with and believes he knows the location of a legendary statue of the god. Kaye's conflict starts with him being an excellent school teacher destined to take over the role of headmaster from his father and marry another teacher in the school, but his dream is to be an archaeologist and find the statue, or so it seems until he actually goes to look for it to prove his worth and instead finds a circus on the very spot the statue is buried and becomes more interested in marrying an aerialist and becoming a clown. Which would be a pretty weird direction for the story if it wasn't a Danny Kaye film. There are some nice understated gags, like Kaye dressing up in a pith helmet and cliched archaeologist wear to visit the site for his dig, which turns out to be just down the road in England and a fun little exchange between Kaye's character and an Oxford school chum who owns the land over getting permission to dig and allow the circus to remain for a week that draws on class identity and duplicity of values. It doesn't really add up to much, but it's not bad and shows Kaye's varied talents off well enough.
I Bury the Living plays a bit like a great Twilight Zone episode, low budget, serious, but with some added visual effects for punch and a plot that is suggestive of some deeper weirdness than perhaps the resolution really allows, but doesn't completely close off either. Richard Boone is an excellent choice as the star since he lends the main concept an added weight for being both very capable and genuinely interesting to watch, which helps because most of the movie takes place in a single room with Boone often alone. The idea is that he basically inherits a job running a cemetery as something like a public service he's expected to perform before moving into business full time. There's a strange map of the cemetery on the wall filled with black and white pins marking each plot. The white pins mark plots sold but not in use, and the black marks the graves claimed. Boone finds placing a black pin to mark a plot sold instead of a white seems to cause the owner of the plot to die. What makes the story interesting is that he doesn't keep the information to himself, but shares his worry over this seeming development with the police and others and the complications that arise are as much from how they all try to convince Boone his belief must be wrong and then how they react when they find it might not be. It plays much straighter than later horror films, taking its concept seriously enough to try and build tension with it instead of joking around or diverting the tension to Boone's character being in peril for the disbelief. For a low budget movie it has a lot to recommend for it including the resolution being just open enough to maintain some ambivalence about everything that happens, again in no small part because of Boone's handling of the main character. There's perhaps something of a capitalist critique struggling to find footing here as well, but doesn't quite break free.
The Colossus of New York also takes its Frankenstein-like premise seriously, which is really the strength of the movie, even as it's completely incoherent in what it might try to suggest about its themes. That makes the movie much more successfully weird than meaningful, but weird in a way that doesn't erase the various moral values the story and characters raise, often explicitly, as much as make all of them seem inadequate in a oddly disturbing fashion. That's due to the movie having enough of a visual sense and tension in its character relationships to seem like it should have some more definitive perspective behind it, some sense of "rightness" and "wrongness", but all the possibilities never amount to an even tentative answer to the various asserted beliefs. What is given, if one can invest in the story, is sets of competing values, both grand and small scale that are argued as being of great importance, the actions of the character belie all those claims and almost all of the characters are shown to be deeply flawed for even holding them or at least implicated in their actions for bad results even if unintended. This can all be chalked up to inconsistency or poor craft in some fashion, but the effect still has some force for how completely it seems to work against everyone in the movie. The mix of grandiose claims and desires set against the personal problems and weaknesses feels surprisingly apt, even as some of the most notable weaknesses read crudely and are sometimes unsavory in their suggestion.
All three are worth checking out for anyone really into the year, but the latter two are the more interesting though perhaps as much for what their limitations reveal as their intent.
Just putting this out there, don't whip me. Could we please extend 1958 to the 30th of April and start the next poll on that day, too? It would give me time to see three more films for this year and henceforth year polls could then dominate a whole calendar month from the 1st to the 31st/30th. Waddaya say Lencho/peops?
If there's support for the idea, I'll do it. Pinning the poll to each fixed calendar month might even be a good idea (though it has been helpful to me in the past to know that the polling periods always started on a Monday.)
I loved your "on the periphery" speech. I have yet to see The Snorkel and a couple more films that you mention.
brotherdeacon
virtually nothing else
(no samurai emo?)
