1959 poll

[Lencho of the Apes]

Choose your favorite films from 1597 (according to IMDb).

– Each person votes for up to 20 movies. Do not feel compelled to fill the maximum allowable number, if you're enthusiastic about fewer than twenty.
– Do not rank the films except the number 1, it gets two points..

Users are urged to post their provisional lists as soon as possible so that others may use them for recommendations. You may, of course, revise your lists at any point prior to the deadline.

Ballots posted by new members who have not participated in other parts of the forum will not be counted.

Deadline for 1959 lists will be Wednesnday, July 1st at approximately 1 PM Pacific Time. Assuming we've survived.

[Lencho of the Apes]

My preliminary list is so boring and canonical I'm not even going to post it. Quick shout-out for El Hombre Del Alazan by Rogelio Gonzalez. And Verboten! by Fuller, I guess that's not-quite-canonical.

Watchlist in the usual place.

[pabs]

Floating Weeds (Ozu)
Shadows (Cassavetes)
Time Stood Still (Olmi)
Day of the Outlaw (De Toth)
Plan 9 From Outer Space (Wood)
Imitation of Life (Sirk)


To see/seen:

Time Stood Still
Shadows
Floating Weeds


Adam Wants to Be a Man
Rio Bravo
The World of Apu

[MrCarmady]

1597 is my favourite year in cinema!

Super-exciting times, I did terribly on catching up with 1927 stuff but here we go:

Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger)
The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut)*
North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock)
Fires on the Plain (Kon Ichikawa)
Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk)
Roses for the Prosecutor (Wolfgang Staudte)
Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder)
The Bridge (Bernhard Wicki)
Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks)
Ballad of a Soldier (Grigory Chukhray)
All the Boys Are Called Patrick (Jean-Luc Godard)
Shadows (John Cassavetes)
Window Water Baby Moving (Stan Brakhage)
The Tiger of Eschnapur (Fritz Lang)
Pickpocket (Robert Bresson)*
Odds & Ends (Jane Conger Belson Shimané)*
The Fellowship of the Frog (Harald Reinl)
The Indian Tomb (Fritz Lang)
Sleeping Beauty (Clyde Geronimi)
Hiroshima mon amour (Alain Resnais)

* - would like to re-watch

To see:

The World of Apu
The Human Condition
Floating Weeds
The Day of the Outlaw
Ride Lonesome
Nazarin
Night Train
Odds Against Tomorrow
Porgy and Bess
On the Beach

[greennui]

1. Violent Summer (Valerio Zurlini)

Room at the Top (Jack Clayton)
The Tiger of Eschnapur (Fritz Lang)
The Indian Tomb (Fritz Lang)
India: Matri Bhumi (Roberto Rossellini)
Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks)
Ride Lonesome (Budd Boetticher)
No Name on the Bullet (Jack Arnold)
North by Northwest (Alfred Hithcock)
Sapphire (Basil Dearden)
Warlock (Edward Dmytryk)
Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk)
Window Water Baby Moving (Stan Brakhage)
Floating Weeds (Yasujirō Ozu)
Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais)
Night Train (Jerzy Kawalerowicz)
Suddenly, Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Ballad of a Soldier (Grigoriy Chukhray)
The Bridge (Bernhard Wicki)
Stars (Konrad Wolf)

wtchlst:

Blessings of the Land
The Crimson Kimono
The Nightingale’s Prayer
Picnic on the Grass
The Wonderful Country
Our Man in Havana

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

An unusually important year to film history, I believe, with several late statements by major auteurs of various 'classical' studio-era cinemas alongside the emergence of several New Waves and indie-avantgarde movements across various regions of the globe. Also, the year of the first Krimi film, and probably the pinnacle crescendo year for fifties sci-fi horror flicks. Lots to enjoy.

Expressive esoterica recommendations:
- the first Krimi The Fellowship of the Frog
- the Grace Chang vehicle Air Hostess
- The Mouse That Jack Built, Warner Bros. Cartoons tribute to The Jack Benny Show
- the neat horror-western mashup Curse of the Undead

Fifties sci-fi/horror recs:
- Castle's The Tingler and House on Haunted Hill
- Corman's The Wasp Woman and A Bucket of Blood
- Roy Del Ruth's The Alligator People!
- Ray Kellogg's amusing cheapie The Killer Shrews, featuring killer shrews played by dogs!

[MrCarmady]

In terms of recommendations, I think most of my list is widely seen and Evelyn already mentioned The Fellowship of the Frog, so please check out Staudte's Roses for the Prosecutor if you get a chance.

[brian d]

hanoun is tops, the others i'll get into order later

a simple story (hanoun)
fever rises in el pao (buñuel)
la cucaracha (rodríguez)
picnic on the grass (renoir)
shadows (cassavettes) nm
bread (oliveira)
chikamatsu's love in osaka (uchida)
araya (benacerraf)
the first lad (parajanov)
day of the outlaw (de toth)
the horse soldiers (ford)
the world of apu (ray)
imitation of life (sirk)
the indian tomb (lang)
ride lonesome (boetticher)
kaagaz ke phool (dutt)
the tiger of eschnapur (lang)
the house under the rocks (mákk) nm
nazarín (buñuel)

to see:
almost scared to mention anything, since i don't know that i'll have a chance to watch any

[flip]

seems to me like 1959 was a great year for westerns that haven't found their way into the western canon for whatever reason (that reason perhaps being that other people don't like them very much ), deep year too, had to leave out some strong films, erred on the side of favouring the less-seen stuff:

The Wonderful Country (Robert Parrish)

No Name on the Bullet (Jack Arnold)
Perchance to Dream (The Twilight Zone) (Robert Florey)
Day of the Outlaw (Andre de Toth)
Violent Summer (Valerio Zurlini)
Pickpocket (Robert Bresson)
Fires on the Plain (Kon Ichikawa)
Face of a Fugitive (Paul Wendkos)
The Hanging Tree (Delmer Daves)
Eyewash (Robert Breer)
Les Astronautes (Walerian Borowczyk/Chris Marker)
Apur Sansar (Satyajit Ray)
Odds Against Tomorrow (Robert Wise)
Warlock (Edward Dmytryk)
Last Train from Gun Hill (John Sturges)
Jet Storm (Cy Endfield)
Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk)
Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais)
Dom (Walerian Borowczyk/Jan Lenica)
Verboten! (Samuel Fuller)

[Umbugbene]

Night Train
Pickpocket
Violent Summer
Fires on the Plain
Fever Mounts in El Pao
Á double tour
Head Against the Walls
Wreck of the Mary Deare
Our Man in Havana
Maledetto imbroglio
Scapegoat
North by Northwest
Hiroshima mon amour
Nazarín
Floating Weeds
Ohayo
Room at the Top
Kaagaz Ke Phool
Liaisons dangereuses
Ballad of a Soldier

Hard to know where to stop. I think I'll want to revisit a few of the above. I hadn't thought of 1959 as a great year for film, but looking at this list I'm kind of excited about this poll.

[Roscoe]

THE 400 BLOWS (Truffaut)
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (Hitchcock)
RUNNING JUMPING AND STANDING STILL FILM (Lester)
MOONBIRD (Hubley)
SHORT AND SUITE (McLaren)
WORLD OF APU (Ray)
BEN-HUR (Wyler)
SOME LIKE IT HOT (Wilder)

Uhm, well, I'm not feeling all that inspired by the films I'm seeing from 1959. I like SOME LIKE IT HOT but the slow beginning and rather uninspired return of the gangsters (featuring the lamely named "Little Bonaparte" for pete's sake) keep me from including it on a list of BEST. But there's BEN-HUR which is more than an excuse for a chariot race but I can't blame anybody for tuning out after it. SAPPHIRE's pretty good, an honest attempt to deal seriously with a serious subject, but BEST? I dunno.

Edit -- okay, yeah, BEN-HUR for being overall a sensible slice of Hollywood Studio Production, done with wit and intelligence mainly, the only Bible Epic that doesn't entirely sink under De Millean nonsense.

Edit again -- oh all right SOME LIKE IT HOT already.

[...]

seems to me like 1959 was a great year for westerns that haven't found their way into the western canon for whatever reason (that reason perhaps being that other people don't like them very much )

The double edged sword of auteurism makes it more difficult to sell movies that aren't made by properly acclaimed directors, so westerns directed by guys like Jack Arnold, Delmer Daves, Andre De Toth or Edward Dmytryck don't get the attention those directed by someone like Hawks might, or they get slated as anomalies, good by accident of casting or something, unless or until one can talk up the Arnolds, Daves, de Toths or Dmytrycks bodies of work to the point they are also seen as auteurs and their body of work then becomes worthy of investment, keeping the auteurist categorization safe from questioning and "serious" cinephiles separate from the rank and file movielover who doesn't share their discerning sense of artistic merit.

'59 was an interesting year, all sorts of different stuff going on. My starting list of possible choices:

Lin Family Shop
Darby O'Gill and the Little People
Pickpocket
A Summer Place
Imitation of Life
The Hanging Tree
Apursansar
Our Man in Havana
The Ghost of Yotsuya
Middle of the Night
Day of the Outlaw
The Mummy
The Tingler
The Overcoat
Verboten!
Sleeping Beauty
Ride Lonesome
A Hole in the Head
Shadows
Kaagaz Ke Phool
Floating Weeds
Good Morning
Journey to the Center of the Earth
No Name on the Bullet
The Gene Krupa Story
Araya
The Beat Generation
Odds Against Tomorrow
L'il Abner
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Black Orpheus
The Wreck of the Mary Deare
The Giant Gila Monster
Some Like it Hot
Tiger Bay
Compulsion
Human Condition II & I
I'm Alright Jack
La Cucaracha
The Best of Everything
The Devil's Disciple
The Law
The Five Pennies
On the Beach
The House on Haunted Hill
Cat's Cradle
Violent Summer
Warlock
They Came to Cordura
The Crimson Kimono
Solomon and Sheba
Battle in Outer Space
The Scavengers
Alias Jesse James
Odd Obsession
The Horse Soldiers
Ben Hur
North by Northwest
General Della Rovere
The Mouse That Roared!
Timbuktu
Pork Chop Hill
Indian Tomb
Tigers of Eschnapur
Up Periscope
It Happened to Jane
Look Back in Anger
Dangerous Liaisons
Expresso Bongo
Gidget
Pillow Talk
Hannibal
The Giant of Marathon
The Wasp Woman
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Rio Bravo

[rischka]

day of the outlaw


nazarín
pickpocket
ballad of a soldier
on the beach
picnic on the grass
the crimson kimono
night train
ghost of yotsuya
india: matri bhumi
a simple story
verboten!
ride lonesome
no name on the bullet
some like it hot
la cucaracha
fate of a man
anatomy of a murder
north by northwest
kaagaz ke phool

TO WATCH:
THE GIANT GILA MONSTER (TY GREG)
the indian tomb
house under the rocks
ohayo
annushka
Die Nackte und der Satan
time stood still
floating weeds

[Holymanm]

Choose your favorite films from 1597

First filmed version of Midsummer Night's Dream?

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

IMO The Giant Gila Monster is one of the worst fifties sci-fi/horror movies - so bad it's bad. (The other Kellogg from '59, Killer Shrews was more to my taste.) Hope you enjoy it more than I did

[Curtis, baby]

what a year. 25 films get 4/5 or higher. some tough cuts had to be madae

1. Good Morning (Yasujirô Ozu, 1959)

Violent Summer (Valerio Zurlini, 1959)
Ride Lonesome (Budd Boetticher, 1959)
The Atomic Submarine (Spencer Gordon Bennet, 1959)
A Summer Place (Delmer Daves, 1959)
The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (Masaki Kobayashi, 1959)
The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)
Apur Sansar (Satyajit Ray, 1959)
Middle of the Night (Delbert Mann, 1959)
Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959)
Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959)
Fires on the Plain (Kon Ichikawa, 1959)
"Green Street" (Věra Chytilová, 1959)
"Moonbird" (John Hubley, 1959)
Two Men in Manhattan (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1959)
Last Train from Gun Hill (John Sturges, 1959)
Day of the Outlaw (André De Toth, 1959)
Night Train (Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1959)
Come Back Africa (Lionel Rogosin, 1959)
Pillow Talk (Michael Gordon, 1959)

[karl]

Huge year.

Though it's not even considered one of Ozu's best films, I can't think of many movies I enjoy more. Hot lazy days in a Japanese coastal town, Wakao Ayako at her loveliest, and some of the most beautiful color photography ever. So it's just slightly going to nudge out Pickpocket.

Floating Weeds (Ozu)
Pickpocket (Bresson)

and the other contenders, in no order:

Foma Gordeev (Donskoy) - just saw this, it's great!
Fires on the Plain (Ichikawa)
The Key (Ichikawa)
The Three Annas (Bauer)
Stranger in the Village (Neretniece)
When Angels Fall (Polanski)
Cross of Valor (Kutz)
Stars (Wolf)
Snow Flurry (Kinoshita)
Lucky Dragon #5 (Shindo)
Rio Bravo (Hawks)
The Hanging Tree (Daves)
The Wonderful Country (Parrish)
Ballad of a Soldier (Chukhray)
Odds against Tomorrow (Wise)
House under the Rocks (Makk)
Last Train from Gun Hill (Sturges)
North by Northwest (Hitchcock)
General Della Rovere (Rossellini)
Blind Date (Losey)
Night Train (Kawalerowicz)
Time Stood Still (Olmi)
Annushka (Barnet)
The Nun's Story (Zimmermann)
The Hangman (Curtiz)
Nazarin (Bunuel)
Apur Sansar (Ray)
400 Blows (Truffaut)
Good Morning (Ozu)
A Simple Story (Hanoun)
Hiroshima mon amour (Resnais)
Imitation of Life (Sirk)
Ride Lonesome (Boetticher)
The Human Conditions (Kobayashi)

"Watchlust" - Lots. We'll see.

[rischka]

i missed yr lists karl and i haven't seen either ozu. maybe i'll spend the whole day with him tmrw

[Holymanm]

Pretty decent year! And for maybe the first time ever... not one single movie from this year that I disliked, let alone hated. How boring... 0__0



Black Orpheus (Marcel Camus, 1959)
The Human Condition: The Road to Eternity (Masaki Kobayashi, 1959)
Araya (Margot Benacerraf, 1959)
The Destiny of a Man (Sergey Bondarchuk, 1959)
The Human Condition: No Greater Love (Masaki Kobayashi, 1959)

Come Back Africa (Lionel Rogosin, 1959)
Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959)
A Street of Love and Hope (Nagisa Ôshima, 1959)
Good Morning (Yasujirô Ozu, 1959)
Tomorrow's Sun (Nagisa Ōshima, 1959)

A Female Boss (Hyeong-mo Han, 1959)
The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)
North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
The Magliari (Francesco Rosi, 1959)
Fires on the Plain (Kon Ichikawa, 1959)

Compulsion (Richard Fleischer, 1959)
Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959)
Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)


Hated:

NADA



(Is Black Orpheus cancelled these days? I wonder...)

[ofrene]

Imitation of Life
Rio Bravo
Floating Weeds
Good Morning
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Pickpocket
The 400 Blows
North by Northwest
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity
Ride Lonesome
Paper Flower
Window Water Baby Moving
Some Like It Hot

and there are so many things to watch (maybe start with Apu trilogy)

The House Under the Rocks and Shadows are 1958, according to IMDB..

[rischka]

ok no house under rocks. i found air hostess with grace chang

[liquidnature]

Can only really endorse or remember:

Anatomy of a Murder (Preminger)
Pickpocket (Bresson)
North by Northwest (Hitchcock)
Moonbird (Hubley) (short)
The 400 Blows (Truffaut)

[wba]

...

[wba]

Also, the year of the first Krimi film, and probably the pinnacle crescendo year for fifties sci-fi horror flicks. Lots to enjoy.


- the first Krimi The Fellowship of the Frog

I think you're speaking about the first Edgar Wallace film from the West German "Edgar Wallace film series" which was shot in the late 50s/60s/early 70s. Krimis (which basically means films about criminals/detectives/police, etc.) had been made in Germany since at least the 1910s (and were one of the most popular genres in of the 1910s and 1920s in Germany). The first German Edgar Wallace movies were made in the early 30s, as far as I know.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

I think you're speaking about the first Edgar Wallace film from the West German "Edgar Wallace film series" which was shot in the late 50s/60s/early 70s. Krimis (which basically means films about criminals/detectives/police, etc.) had been made in Germany since at least the 1910s (and were one of the most popular genres in of the 1910s and 1920s in Germany). The first German Edgar Wallace movies were made in the early 30s, as far as I know.

Hmmmm, okay might be a language issue. I knew that history but thought it was still true to use the word 'krimi' to refer only to the Rialto-and-its-imitators cycle of Edgar Wallace movies and maybe also late Mabuse movies. In English-language film criticism, that's how the word 'krimi' is used. Much as 'giallo' is a general Italian term for mystery fiction but also refers to a quite specific cycle of mystery-horror films. But I'm now checking German-language sources and there 'krimi' is indeed being used as a general term for all kinds of criminal thrillers, including novels. This is good to know, thank you!

[wba]

Yes indeed, maybe it's a language thing, similar as with the Italians. In Germany the term "Krimi" is in so called 'general use', even in film criticism and theory. All and every cime movie from Germany is a "Krimi" in German (terminology).
The Rialto-Krimis and its imitators don't have a further specific denominator in German criticism either. And the Rialto Krimis weren't the first of their kind really, as there were stylistically similar Krimis before '59 made during the 50s in (West) Germany. I guess it might also be difficult for foreign film historians to get hold of subtitled copies of any of those films that are not as famous as the Rialto stuff.
Even any crime film that's on TV (also made for TV crime series, of which there are literally hundreds on German television) are called a Krimi in the German language.
Novels are used synonymous to films and there is no general distinction between Krimi novels (which are also hugely popular and published like a few hundred a year) and Krimi films.
It's probably the most popular genre in regards to German films/Series AND novels for quite some time.
Krimi is the shortened term used for the Kriminalfilm (crime movie) or Kriminalroman (crime novel).

[ralch]

1. The 400 Blows — François Truffaut

Anatomy of a Murder — Otto Preminger
Araya — Margot Benacerraf
Les astronautes — Waleryan Borowczyk, Chris Marker
The Crimson Kimono — Samuel Fuller
La cucaracha — Ismael Rodríguez
The Diary of Anne Frank — George Stevens
Floating Weeds — Yasujiro Ozu
Imitation of Life — Douglas Sirk
Hiroshima mon amour — Alain Resnais
The Lamp — Roman Polanski
Nazarín — Luis Buñuel
The Nightingale's Prayer — Henry Barakat
Rio Bravo — Howard Hawks
Sonatas — Juan Antonio Bardem
Tiger Bay — J. Lee Thompson
The Wonderful Country — Robert Parrish

[Lencho of the Apes]

On the subject of anti-canonical "sub cinema," I see no-one has mentioned Invisible Invaders, which -- while "bad" -- has some interesting features.

I think I'm going to have a lot to say about The Wasp Woman after I finish watching it tomorrow.

And, as long as I'm here, I'll drop some words to promote La Nave De Monstruos/The Ship Of Monsters, dir: Rogelio Gonzalez and starring a favorite performer, Lalo Gonzalez. It's not a typical movie for him, but unfortunately it's the only one that's easily available with subs. It's on the youtubes.

[...]

I see no-one has mentioned Invisible Invaders, which -- while "bad" -- has some interesting features.

It does, but not quite enough to make my possible list, though it gets some extra points for being a Fiends album cover for We've Come for Your Beer.

http://youtu.be/MQXrXzj0qvQ

[oscarwerner]

The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut)-My top hit
----------------------
Other films:
North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock)
Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder)
Pickpocket (Robert Bresson)
Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks)
Hiroshima mon amour (Alain Resnais)
Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger)
On the Beach (Stanley Kramer)
The Horse Soldiers (John Ford)
Night Train (Jerzy Kawalerowicz)
Floating Weeds (Yasujirō Ozu)
The Nun's Story (Fred Zinnemann)
Violent Summer (Valerio Zurlini)
General Della Rovere (Roberto Rossellini
Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk)
The Bridge (Bernhard Wicki)
Suddenly, Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Ballad of a Soldier (Grigoriy Chukhray)
The World of Apu (Satyajit Ray)
Last Train from Gun Hill (John Sturges)