Released: 1957 Dir.: Andrzej Wajda First time viewing reaction. A few days ago, I had never heard of the Polish film Kanał, and now I can’t forget it. Which is a good thing. The film is about a nightmare, but not the nightmare of our dreams. This nightmare is real, it’s a nightmare about war. It is also, in a way, a horror film. In late September 1944 the Warsaw Uprising is in its final days, as German…
Released: 1958 Dir.: Roy Ward Baker Of the many movies about the sinking of the Titanic, 1958’s A Night to Remember is the best. Mostly because it is one of very few Titanic movies that doesn’t rely on fictional characters to tell the story. Opting instead to keep it real, and dramatize the story of the real people involved, using 2nd Officer Lightoller (Kenneth More) as our eyes and ears for much of the story without diminishing the scope of…
Released: 1956 Dir.: Cecil B. DeMille Dathan (Edward G. Robinson) was a small-time punk from Goshen who dreamed of being a big shot. As Hebrew overseer of the slaves of Goshen, he’d rat out his own mother to get in good with Pharaoh. Baka, the Master Builder (Vincent Price) was his steppingstone to the top of the pyramid of success and power, where the air was always balmy. Dathan was a snitch and a toady. But, not for long. Baka…
Released: 1950 Dir.: Nicholas Ray First time viewing reaction. I received a DVD copy of In a Lonely Place the other day for my birthday and completes my collection of essential Humphrey Bogart films. It’s also a film that has eluded me for years, often overshadowed by Bogart’s many other great films. It’s also a film I’ve read very little about, so it came as a great surprise to me what I saw and felt. Bogart plays Dixon Steele, a…
Released: 1959 Dir. Bernhard Wicki Impressions from First-time Viewing Movies come and go, and sometimes there are movies that stay with us for a while. Perhaps longer. This is the case with the West German film The Bridge. Made in 1959, The Bridge tells the story of a small group of teenage boys who are left to defend a small bridge from the advancing American army at the very end of World War 2. When I was much…
Released: 1959 Dir.: Robert Wise Growing up I’d been led to believe that Touch of Evil (1958) was the end of the film noir era. Then I saw Odds Against Tomorrow. Directed by noir legend Robert Wise, Odds Against Tomorrow is the story of three desperate men, from three distinctively different backgrounds, who all have the same goal. To make some quick money, and just maybe a fresh start. Johnny Ingram (Harry Belafonte) is a jazz musician with a gambling…
Released: 1958 Dir.: Louis Malle First time viewing. Deep in my gut, which can be a dark and foreboding place, I knew Elevator to the Gallows was going to be good. What I didn’t realize was how good it was going to be. It’s not just good, it’s great, especially if you like seeing Hollywood formulas turned on their head. Elevator to the Gallows is a French film noir/new wave crime story that reimagines the classic story of…
