Re: LISTS
Posted: April 14th, 2014, 5:07 pm
Yes, indeed, 1955 was a stellar year. One of the events with the greatest impact happened in December - RKO became the first movie studio to sell its film library for TV distribution.
1955
1. KISS ME DEADLY (Robert Aldrich) - What was left of Hollywood after THE BIG KNIFE (Robert Aldrich 1955) was destroyed by Greek mythology and the Great Whatzit (which may have been the code name for Aldrich & A.I. Bezzerides).
2. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (Nicholas Ray) - You're tearing me apart! Just because a movie is - excuse the use of an overused word - iconic doesn't mean it isn't great.
3. ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (Douglas Sirk) - Perhaps the greatest - or, at least, my favorite - of Sirk's false Happy Endings.
4. THE BIG COMBO (Joseph H. Lewis) - The remainder of the fatalism and transgressive sexuality that Lewis had left from GUN CRAZY (1949).
5. KILLER'S KISS (Stanley Kubrick) - A photographer's movie. He made a couple of movies I like more, but none that I like to look at more.
6. DEMENTIA (John Parker or, maybe, Bruno VeSota) - A silent nightmare.
7. THE PHENIX CITY STORY (Phil Karlson) - Noir reality.
8. MR. ARKADIN (Orson Welles) - I know, replied the scorpion, but I cannot help it - it is my nature.
9. THE MAN FROM LARAMIE (Anthony Mann) - Greek Tragedy in the West.
10. HOLD BACK TOMORROW (Hugo Haas) - More Survivor's Guilt.
Honorable Mentions (that were real contenders): BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (John Sturges); EAST OF EDEN (Elia Kazan); THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (Otto Preminger); NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Charles Laughton); WICHITA (Jacques Tourneur); THE BIG KNIFE (Robert Aldrich); HOUSE OF BAMBOO (Samuel Fuller).
Favorite Non-English Language Films: ORDET (Carl Th. Dreyer); LOLA MONTES (Max Ophuls); NUIT ET BROUILLARD (Alain Resnais); BOB LE FLAMBEUR (Jean-Pierre Melville); DIABOLIQUE (Henri-Georges Clouzot); UMBERTO D. (Vittorio de Sica); PATHER PANCHALI (Satyajit Ray).
Best Performance in a Timothy Carey Role: (tie) Timothy Carey in EAST OF EDEN (Elia Kazan) and Timothy Carey in THE FINGER MAN (Harold Schuster).
1955
1. KISS ME DEADLY (Robert Aldrich) - What was left of Hollywood after THE BIG KNIFE (Robert Aldrich 1955) was destroyed by Greek mythology and the Great Whatzit (which may have been the code name for Aldrich & A.I. Bezzerides).
2. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (Nicholas Ray) - You're tearing me apart! Just because a movie is - excuse the use of an overused word - iconic doesn't mean it isn't great.
3. ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (Douglas Sirk) - Perhaps the greatest - or, at least, my favorite - of Sirk's false Happy Endings.
4. THE BIG COMBO (Joseph H. Lewis) - The remainder of the fatalism and transgressive sexuality that Lewis had left from GUN CRAZY (1949).
5. KILLER'S KISS (Stanley Kubrick) - A photographer's movie. He made a couple of movies I like more, but none that I like to look at more.
6. DEMENTIA (John Parker or, maybe, Bruno VeSota) - A silent nightmare.
7. THE PHENIX CITY STORY (Phil Karlson) - Noir reality.
8. MR. ARKADIN (Orson Welles) - I know, replied the scorpion, but I cannot help it - it is my nature.
9. THE MAN FROM LARAMIE (Anthony Mann) - Greek Tragedy in the West.
10. HOLD BACK TOMORROW (Hugo Haas) - More Survivor's Guilt.
Honorable Mentions (that were real contenders): BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (John Sturges); EAST OF EDEN (Elia Kazan); THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (Otto Preminger); NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Charles Laughton); WICHITA (Jacques Tourneur); THE BIG KNIFE (Robert Aldrich); HOUSE OF BAMBOO (Samuel Fuller).
Favorite Non-English Language Films: ORDET (Carl Th. Dreyer); LOLA MONTES (Max Ophuls); NUIT ET BROUILLARD (Alain Resnais); BOB LE FLAMBEUR (Jean-Pierre Melville); DIABOLIQUE (Henri-Georges Clouzot); UMBERTO D. (Vittorio de Sica); PATHER PANCHALI (Satyajit Ray).
Best Performance in a Timothy Carey Role: (tie) Timothy Carey in EAST OF EDEN (Elia Kazan) and Timothy Carey in THE FINGER MAN (Harold Schuster).