Updates on the following posts

New Download and DVD links were added - 

A star is born 1937
Nothing sacred 1937
Stella Dallas 1937
Make way for tomorrow 1937
The prisoner of Zenda 1937
Easy living 1937
Humanity and paper balloons 1937
It's love I'm after 1937
Dead end 1937
A day at the races 1937
You only live once 1937
The life of Emile Zola 1937
The man who was Sherlock Holmes 1937
Topper 1937
The hurricane 1937
The edge of the world 1937
Night must fall 1937
In old Chicago 1937
On the avenue 1937
Knight without armour 1937
Hit the saddle 1937
King Solomon's mines 1937
Bringing up baby 1937
The adventures of Robin Hood 1937
You can't take it with you 1937

Updates on the following posts

New Download and DVD links were added - 

The prisoner of Shark Island 1936
Our relations 1936
Theodora goes wild 1936
The story of Louis Pasteur 1936
San Francisco 1936
The man who could work miracles 1936
Rembrandt 1936
The charge of the light brigade 1936
Poppy 1936
The trail of the lonesome pine 1936
The great Ziegfeld 1936
Three smart girls 1936
Intermezzo 1936
The milky way 1936
Romeo and Juliet 1936
Things to come 1936
Anthony Adverse 1936
Grand illusion 1937
Captains courageous 1937
Snow White and the seven dwarfs 1937
Pepe le moko 1937
Lost horizon 1937
The good Earth 1937
Stage door 1937

Discussion

1952 (the nominees and the winner in alphabetical order):

Shirley Booth – Come back, little Sheba (Lola Delaney) - WINNER
Joan Crawford – Sudden fear (Myra Hudson)
Bette Davis – The star (Margaret Elliott)
Julie Harris – The member of the wedding (Frances ‘Frankie’ Addams)
Susan Hayward – With a song in my heart (Jane Froman)

1952 – My rankings:

1. Shirley Booth – Come back, little Sheba

Well, this was the most enchanting and cutest performance I’ve ever seen! Booth says the most ordinary sentences and yet they have some incomprehensible charm, simplicity and honesty. The American happy family living in the suburbs in the 50’s is only an illusion as the lost dog, Lola is waiting for to come back! And this allegory is so sad. The character of Lola was presented here in a poignant and touching manner – all through the first half of the movie you just can’t stop smiling at her. The high-pitched voice, the clumsy movements of the aging woman who had long lost her juvenile appeal and the tender sentimentalism of the wife whose love for her husband is so strong, that no matter what comes in their lives, she will hang on, were all great and refreshing to watch. And when her husband starts drinking again, the character is able to descend into dramatic depths as well. At the end – instead of leaving the man – she is waiting for him as a completely changed woman. It is always a rewarding challenge to play a dramatic role on the screen that was originally written for the stage and this proved to be an extraordinary performance from beginning to end! I completely agree with the Academy's choice. Bravo!

Download links:

http://uploaded.net/file/su0dxd8a/Come_Back_Little_Sheba_1952.avi

1.       

2. Bette Davis – The star

The forgotten movie actress who doesn’t get roles anymore and doesn’t know what to do with her life. Cluster of clichés and yet without Davis, this portrait would not have been so impressive. Though this characterization was not as captivating as Margo Channing (played by her) or Norma Desmond (played by Gloria Swanson), Davis was not a disappointment here at all. Probably the weakness of the screenplay is to blame for the weakness of her character, so it was not her fault entirely. Her outburst scene in connection with her character’s parasitical, blood-sucking relatives or when she gives the customers a good dressing down in the store, were genuine, powerful, almost cathartic. She was gentle as a mother and pitiable as the ‘star’ finding solace in self-pity and self-deception. I was not satisfied with her voice and manner of speech – she was not able to change this, or show something new in this field. I put her in front of Crawford, because there wasn’t that much diversity and color in Crawford’s performance.

Download links (my own upload):

http://www.filefactory.com/file/3twyu6x5pdrj/The%20star%201952%20Bette%20Davis.avi

3. Joan Crawford – Sudden fear

Miss Crawford plays a playwright here, but her difficult love affair stands in the middle of the story. Though this story is full of unrealistic coincidences; Crawford is very believable in the character of a defenseless, cornered woman (that would culminate later in What ever happened to Baby Jane). The story and the performance start to get interesting from where the rich playwright, Myra learns what his fortune-hunter husband and his recently turned up old lover are contemplating against her. Crawford’s performance is mesmerizing in this particular scene (as she listens to the accidentally recorded conversation of the lovers) – she doesn’t say a single word, only her facial expressions speak for themselves: surprise, confusion, fear, desperation, helplessness. After this, she goes on playing the loving wife for her husband, while she is plotting a perfect revenge. During the execution of the plan, her character managed to create tension: her forehead is beaded with sweat, she is trembling with fear; arousing sympathy in the audience. The reason I place Crawford in this position is that there was nothing original in her performance, there was no flavor and thus giving the impression of old-fashioned acting (after those performances that could add some extra to screen acting in the previous years: Bette Davis, Vivien Leigh, Shirley Booth). This performance was good, but it could not reach perfection and catharsis.  

Download links (my own upload):

http://www.filefactory.com/file/74oo9uymkkx9/Sudden%20Fear%20(1952)%20%20Joan%20Crawford%2C%20Jack%20Palance.avi

4. Susan Hayward – With a song in my heart

It is always difficult, but at the same time rewarding task to play an existing person on the big screen; and Miss Hayward can cope with it very well, though – let’s add – there was not much here to play. The movie showing Jane Froman’s life was like an endless record of her best hits instead of being concentrated on Froman’s war wounds and how she managed to struggle with it afterwards. With these scenes Miss Hayward would have been wonderful – I’m sure, knowing that she’s not short of any acting abilities – but without them, Hayward had nothing left to do but lip-synching to the playbacks. There were one or two delicate scenes (the one when Jane confesses to her nurse that she’s in love with the officer, two scenes when she sings for the same young soldier and the medley at the end of the movie), but these are not enough to rank Hayward into a better position.

Download links (my own upload):

http://www.filefactory.com/file/2hqq91be7z8p/With%20A%20Song%20In%20My%20Heart%20(1952)%20%20Susan%20Hayward.avi

5. Julie Harris – The member of the wedding

This was a very powerful and – in comparison with the spirit of the age – a very modern performance, but neither the role nor the performance was believable to me. I think it was a great mistake to choose a 25 year old young woman to play a 12! year old kiddo. Though Harris didn’t look like a woman at all (she was quite ugly and undeveloped) – wasn’t there a gifted child actor around?! Moreover this role is the most stupidly, the most wretchedly written one I’ve ever seen in a movie or on stage – not believable, not lifelike, just bad as it could be. It was a waste of money making this movie and a waste of time watching it! (I can’t help my brusqueness, sorry!)

Download links (my own upload):

http://www.filefactory.com/file/29qdnw4sgl4d/Member%20of%20the%20Wedding%201952%20Julie%20Harris.avi

Updates on the following posts

New Download and DVD links were added - 

David Copperfield 1935
Ruggles of red gap 1935
The man on the flying trapeze 1935
The lives of a Bengal lancer 1935
Gold diggers of 1935
Mad love 1935
G-men 1935
Alice Adams 1935
A Midsummer Night's dream 1935
Mississippi 1935
The clairvoyant 1935
She 1935
Modern times 1936
My man Godfrey 1936
Mr. Deeds goes to town 1936
Camille 1936
Fury 1936
Cesar 1936
Swing time 1936
Sisters of Gion 1936
Confessions/Story of a cheat 1936

Updates on the following posts

New Download and DVD links were added - 

Tarzan and his mate 1934
The merry widow 1934
You're telling me 1934
El compadre Mendoza 1934
The black cat 1934
Of human bondage 1934
The Barretts of Wimpole Street 1934
The lost patrol 1934
Bulldog Drummond strikes back 1934
The man who knew too much 1934
Little Miss Marker 1934
Judge Priest 1934
The house of Rothschild 1934
A night at the opera 1935
The bride of Frankenstein 1935
The 39 steps 1935
Mutiny on the Bounty 1935
A tale of two cities 1935
Top hat 1935
Les miserables 1935
Captain Blood 1935
The informer 1935

Updates on the following posts

New Download and DVD links added -

The thin man 1934
L'Atalante 1934
Twentieeth century 1934
It's a gift 1934
The gay divorcee 1934
The Scarlet Pimpernel 1934
The Scarlet Empress 1934
A story of floating weeds 1934
The count of Monte Cristo 1934

Discussion

1951 (the nominees and the winner in alphabetical order):

Katharine Hepburn - The African Queen (Rose Sayer)
Vivien Leigh - A streetcar named Desire (Blanche DuBois) - WINNER
Eleanor Parker - Detective story (Mary McLeod)
Shelley Winters - A place in the sun (Alice Tripp)
Jane Wyman - The blue veil (Louise Mason)

1951 - my rankings:

1. Vivien Leigh - A streetcar named Desire

For me, this performance is equivalent to the other great one, Elizabeth Taylor's in Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf. The first thing that comes to my mind about this one is vulnerable. Vivien Leigh vas mesmerizing all the time with overwhelming dynamics, captivating sensitivity and perfect timing (for instance when she may cry or when it was unsuitable). Her character is well-built from the beginning: all mysteries are thrown off gradually, while her character is loosing her footing, becoming the prisoner of her fantasies forever. This is not acting performance any longer - Leigh was able to step out of herself and become one with her character. Very few actors are able to do so, making us forget that what we see is only acting. But this role was the reality for poor Vivien who kept repeating Blanche's monologue even in her later years before her stage performances (no matter what role she played that night). What she had done here brings about the most elementary catharsis in the audience, just like a Greek tragedy can. And the conception shown here is still relevant today: men and women with principles and ideas do not have a place in society; where only brutality, indifference, nonchalance and contempt are in fashion. So the weak Blanche DuBois must fall and fortunately we can watch it in the faultless performance of Vivien Leigh. This time I really think, she deserved that Oscar!

Download links:

http://uploaded.net/file/93o1s3dh/A_Streetcar_Named_Desire_1951_DvDRip_DivX_NoGroup.rar

2. Katharine Hepburn - The African Queen

My first impression of Miss Hepburn's performance was challenging: she was exposed to many physical aspects and impacts. The whole thing was very naturalistic - she had to be dirty, muddy, sweaty; her hairdo and clothes were not always perfect, because they were swept away by the water, the mud or the swarm of mosquitos. There were fine nuances in the performance that could be called remarkable; but I think the popularity of this movie was due to its well-written screenplay, the dialogues and the two lovable characters. Here I have to mention Humphrey Bogart, who was much better than Kate - he was hardly recognizable in this role. Hepburn was in full form here - no question about it - but this time she was not able to do more (that would have made this performance special). Nevertheless I put her in second place; because when Kate does less, it is even more than many others are capable of (no wonder she won 4 Oscars!)

Download links:

http://uploaded.net/file/6hk5un6z/The_African_Queen_1951_DVDRip_XViD_iNTERNAL_TDF.rar

3. Jane Wyman - The blue veil

This is a very sentimental (but in the good sense) movie with Miss Wyman's clarified, fine performance. The story itself about a mother who loses her child then she dedicates her whole life to raise the children of others is extremely touching. This was not a loud, dynamic or powerful performance, but rather as light as a feather, cute and moving; working with nuances. I could emphasize three scenes as my favorites - the one when Louise tells Stephanie (played by a young Natalie Wood) that she cannot stay any longer and when the girl starts crying, she breaks down as well. The other one is her monologue at the end of the movie when she rightfully asks the question: who is the real mother of this child? The woman who gave it life or the woman who gave it love? And the last scene when she meets all of "her children". Maybe the theme of the film was more touching than the performance itself - which is hard to disregard - that's why I put her behind Hepburn.

Download links:

http://www.filefactory.com/file/76yf6iurggqf/The%20Blue%20Veil%20%281951%29.avi

4. Eleanor Parker - Detective story

We can see a woman with a dark past here. When her secret comes to light, she is forced to tell everything to her beloved husband with mixed emotions of shame, confusion and repentance. These are very well-acted by Miss Parker - we know from the previous year that she was a terrific actress - but this role was a supporting one, no matter how hard it determined the main character (played by Kirk Douglas with aplomb). If Parker's character had been more emphasized, I would have put her even in front of Hepburn, but since this is the case I just couldn't. This was a bit part with a very small room for manoeuvre and not much chance to display a wide range of acting tools. She must have been nominated in the Supporting Role category; however in this case she wouldn't have been a match for Kim Hunter; moreover Lee Grant - nominated in the Supporting Role category, playing in the same movie - was much better than her.

Download links:

http://www.netload.in/dateilQB8gOkGzO/Detective.Story.1951.DVDRip.x264-NoRBiT.mkv.htm

5. Shelley Winters - A place in the sun

The same as in Parker's case - this was a supporting role, destined for hindering the tender love affair of the two real main characters. It was an important role, because the character ruins every single pipe dream of the Eastman boy for a better future; but Winters also must have been nominated in the Supporting Role category or not been nominated at all. Winters played glamour roles before this one, so her change into a mouse of a woman was excellent, but this also prevented her to show diversified acting skills. However she has two extraordinary scenes - the one when she's begging for the doctor to help her getting rid of the unexpected child, but the doctor rejects her request. The other one is when she sits in the boat with Eastman and she continually soliloquize about their future together. The reason I put her behind Parker is while Parker was able to wheedle some emotions out of me, unfortunately Winter's character was irritating and wasn't able to arouse even the littlest of compassion.

Download link:

http://www.filefactory.com/file/73phx8o92w15/

Updates on the following posts

New Download and DVD links added - 

The blue light 1932
A farewell to arms 1932
Gold diggers of 1933
Duck soup 1933
King Kong 1933
The invisible man 1933
Dinner at eight 1933
42nd Street 1933
Little women 1933
The testament of Dr. Mabuse 1933
Queen Christina 1933
Counsellor at law 1933
Sons of the desert 1933
Design for living 1933
Footlight parade 1933
Lady for a day 1933
Man's castle 1933
Wild boys of the road 1933
The private life of Henry VIII. 1933
Outskirts 1933
The water agician 1933
State fair 1933
I'm no angel 1933
The Kennel murder case 1933
Don Quixote 1933
Mystery of the wax museum 1933
Ecstasy 1933 - I hope many of You have waited for this for a long time
Berkeley Square 1933
Turn back the clock 1933
She done him wrong 1933
Deluge 1933
The song of songs 1933
It happened one night 1934

Updates on the following posts

New download or DVD links were added -

The Blue Angel 1930
Westfront 1918 1930
Beauty prize 1930
Journey's end 1930
Age of gold 1930
M 1931
Freedom for us 1931
The bitch 1931
Marius 1931
Comradeship 1931
Girls in uniform 1931
Private lives 1931
The blood of a poet 1932
Scarface 1932
Island of lost souls 1932
Boudu saved from drowning 1932
Vampire 1932
One way passage 1932
Love me tonight 1932
I was born, but... 1932
Wooden crosses 1932
Fanny 1932
Horse feathers 1932
Shanghai Express 1932
The old dark house 1932
The mummy 1932
The red head 1932
Smilin' through 1932
Once in a lifetime 1932
The beast of the city 1932
Rain 1932

More updates will come soon!!

Thanks for your patience!

Discussion

First of all:

Academy Award Winners and Nominees - Actress in a Leading Role!

Have you always agreed with the decision of the Academy?
Have you ever asked yourself or other film enthusiasts why that particular actress went home with the Oscar statuette that year?
Have you ever wondered who were the runners-up and in what order?

I have established my own rankings, starting from 1950 (the whole work is still in progress, though). What authorizes me to do this? Nothing; this is just my opinion as long as I have two eyes to see, two ears to hear and my devotion to classic movies and acting. I have three important viewpoints to decide which performance is the best: character development, peculiarity/uniqueness and great emotional appeal.
My judgment is objective. Though I have favorite actresses; I judge every one of the nominees by their performances and nothing else.

I want to share it with all of You - the debate is open; everybody can agree or disagree with me.

1950 (the nominees and the winner in alphabetical order):

Anne Baxter - All about Eve (Eve Harrington)
Bette Davis - All about Eve (Margot Channing)
Judy Holliday - Born yesterday (Emma 'Billie' Dawn) - WINNER
Eleanor Parker - Caged (Marie Allen)
Gloria Swanson - Sunset Boulevard (Norma Desmond)

1950 - my rankings:

1. Eleanor Parker - Caged

A very serious issue is at the heart of this movie and Miss Parker really lived up to the requierements of her role. She shows an extraordinary character development through her acting - the awkward, defenceless, young girl (who only gets involved in a crime by accident) changes into a strong woman, hardened by her circumstances by the end of the movie. She gets stuck in the LIFE and peremptorily becomes a criminal. Parker had the chance to show many different faces in the role: helplessness in the beginning when she's put behind bars; fear from the new environment; the "excitement" of having a baby in prison; tenderness when she first holds the boy in her arms or as she treats and shields the kitten; immense anger when her mother cannot undertake the raising of the child or when the cruel jailer takes the kitten away; refrainment from criminal life in the beginning; despair when they shave her hair; suffering in the solitary and finally a completely changed, hardened herself when she leaves the jail. Though the performance as an overall could not always reach the point of catharsis for me; I think she would have deserved the Academy Award this year!

Download link:

http://www.firedrive.com/file/E9D06FEB3978BAC4

2. Judy Holliday - Born yesterday

Miss Holliday deploys a wide range of acting skills here from sheer comedy to serious drama. Her character is a fastidiously elaborated one with fine characteristics (for example: the constant adjusting of her hair, unique walking, strange almost shrilling speaking voice), and flawless interpretation. And yet it is not overacted at all; moreover her performance thus give a lot more sense to the dialogs of the movie. Her character has developed as well (the dumb blonde who is unable to have independent thoughts, outsmarts her corrupt, ambitious and rich fiancé who is a bastard and leaves with her gentle and solid teacher).
I put her behind Parker, because for me, sense of drama was too little.

Download link:

http://uploaded.net/file/uyj245m0/Born.Yesterday.1950.480p.WEB-DL.x264-mSD.mkv

3. Bette Davis - All about Eve

In the person of Margo Channing we can see a detailed, very memorable character. The fine stage actress who are frightened of getting old and her private life is just as difficult as her professional one, comes to life in the sure body of Miss Davis. She knows every trick to make this character working and be grand. Her every scene is unique, her tone is multi-dimensional, she has style and her character develops on some level (towards the end of the movie she understands that her acting career is not that important anymore, but rather to find happiness on the side of the beloved man). In much lesser hands this role would have hammed, but Miss Davis is much more better than that.
I put her in the third place, because the victim of the surprising twist in the end was not her character.

Download link:

http://rapidgator.net/file/2349ba90724f0ebe331f7b7645f93f5c 
http://rapidgator.net/file/6af09f25cdd56c4e5aa24382ae6ba99f

Or:

(720p Blu-Ray):
http://rapidgator.net/file/1b892accdbdc82c54c25e125f25933c3

3. Gloria Swanson - Sunset Boulevard

(tied with Davis for the third place)

This is a very theatrical performance, typical of silent movies; but its grandiosity and uniqueness just lie in it. The character of Norma Desmond is complex and memorable. Swanson is looking great; she was a perfect choice for the role - one of my favorite parts was when she imitated Chaplin (good job). There are many elements in her portrayal of character that we now call clichés (for example: being lit up, suicide attempts with the purpose of blackmailing, scenes of jealousy), but she manages to evoke emotion in the audience even if it's nothing more than compassion. Her last scene is poignant; perhaps the most impressive closing scene of a movie from the point of acting. The reason I put her in tie with Davis is that both actresses played similar characters.

Download link:

http://uploaded.net/file/yr68pk3n/Sunset_Boulevard_1950_DVDRip_DivX_MDX.rar

Or:

(720p Blu-Ray rip)
http://www.firedrive.com/file/11E6300E4366D443

5. Anne Baxter - All about Eve

Miss Baxter had the chance to play a fantastic titular role, but unfortunately she could not always make the best of her opportunities. Her performance is too one-dimensional, her speaking is monotonous, her voice is veiled and without any emotion. Naturally her character required such mystery, to be so enigmatic; but she should have performed these with greater feelings. Apart from this, her sentences and overall portrayal were good and true (maybe the director asked her to be low-key), but this time - for me - it was not enough.

The tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice 1952 - The low-budget masterpiece from the master that worth watching

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 7,8

Director: Orson Welles
Main Cast: Orson Welles, Micheal MacLiammoir, Robert Coote, Suzanne Cloutier

"Anyone interested in making a low-budget movie ought to see Orson Welles' screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello, a striking example of how much can be achieved with very little money. For years, stories about this singularly troubled movie circulated more widely than the film itself; Welles began shooting Othello without securing full financing, so he would gather his cast, assemble a crew, and shoot until his money ran out. He would then take an acting assignment to raise some cash, reassemble his cast, and start filming again until the latest batch of money was gone. For the sequence featuring the murder of Cassio, Welles (depending on who tells the story) either couldn't pay the bill for the costumes or they just didn't arrive in time, so he reset the scene in a Turkish bath with his players wrapped in towels borrowed from their hotel. This process went on for four years; by the time Welles was done, the film was on its third Desdemona, and the director, himself, had to dub several voices, since most of the dialogue was recorded after the fact. Remarkably, the finished film not only isn't a disaster, it's a triumph, that rare example of a movie based on a Shakespeare play that's as exciting to look at as it is to listen to. While Welles pared the Bard's story of jealousy, betrayal, and murder to the bone (this version clocks in at a mere 92 minutes), the film's striking compositions and energetic quick-cutting allow the camera to tell more of the story than almost any other Shakespeare adaptation. Repeat viewers will see that Welles picked many of his camera angles to obscure the fact that Othello's mighty army was merely a handful of extras, but the unexpected bonus is a lean, muscular look that's the perfect match for the film's brisk narrative style. The spare, but powerful, visuals feel like a product of Expressionism, not a low budget, and the images have atmosphere to spare. In addition, it's truly a pleasure to hear Welles' rich baritone wrap itself around Shakespeare's dialogue; his con brio performance as the noble Moor undone by jealousy and betrayal has the impact of a fine stage rendition without overplaying its hand. Michael MacLiammoir is his equal as the conniving (and lustful) Iago, and Michael Laurence is fine in an often witty turn as Cassio (with a verbal assistance from Welles). Only Suzanne Cloutier as the virtuous but wronged Desdemona lacks the forceful presence of the rest of the cast (though given how much of the role was edited away, it may not be entirely her fault)." - www.allmovie.com

DVD links:

The quiet man 1952 - A delightful romantic comedy made with love

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 8,0

Director: John Ford
Main Cast: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond, Victor McLaglen, Mildred Natwick

"The last of four films for which John Ford would win Best Director, The Quiet Man is a charming romantic comedy from a man best known for his somber Westerns. Many consider it his best-loved film; it was certainly one of Ford's favorites, and he considered it some of his most personal work. The director had trouble funding the production, and the notoriously cheap Republic Pictures eventually financed the film. Even with a relatively small budget, however, Ford was able to shoot on location in Ireland and produce a fabulous-looking color film. John Wayne turns in an amiable performance, exhibiting a diversity often overlooked in considerations of the actor's work. The supporting cast, including Maureen O'Hara, Victor McLaglen, and Barry Fitzgerald, is equally good. Quiet Man was the first high-profile film made in Ireland, and some viewers today may consider the portrayal of the Irish stereotypical. In addition to Ford's win, the cinematography by Winton Hoch and Archie J. Stout was recognized with an Academy Award." - www.allmovie.com

DVD links:

High noon 1952 - The Western classic shot in real time

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 8,1

Director: Fred Zinnemann
Main Cast: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado, Otto Kruger, Lon Chaney Jr.

"This Western classic stars Gary Cooper as Hadleyville marshal Will Kane, about to retire from office and go on his honeymoon with his new Quaker bride, Amy (Grace Kelly). But his happiness is short-lived when he is informed that the Miller gang, whose leader (Ian McDonald) Will had arrested, is due on the 12:00 train. Pacifist Amy urges Will to leave town and forget about the Millers, but this isn't his style; protecting Hadleyburg has always been his duty, and it remains so now. But when he asks for deputies to fend off the Millers, virtually nobody will stand by him. Chief Deputy Harvey Pell (Lloyd Bridges) covets Will's job and ex-mistress (Katy Jurado); his mentor, former lawman Martin Howe (Lon Chaney Jr.) is now arthritic and unable to wield a gun. Even Amy, who doesn't want to be around for her husband's apparently certain demise, deserts him. Meanwhile, the clocks tick off the minutes to High Noon - the film is shot in 'real time', so that its 85-minute length corresponds to the story's actual timeframe. Utterly alone, Kane walks into the center of town, steeling himself for his showdown with the murderous Millers. Considered a landmark of the 'adult western', High Noon won four Academy Awards (including Best Actor for Cooper) and Best Song for the hit, 'Do Not Forsake Me, O My Darling' sung by Tex Ritter. The screenplay was written by Carl Foreman, whose blacklisting was temporarily prevented by star Cooper, one of Hollywood's most virulent anti-Communists." - www.allmovie.com

DVD links:

Singin' in the rain 1952 - One of the greatest Hollywood musicals ever made

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 8,4

Director: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
Main Cast: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Cyd Charisse

"Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly's Singin' In The Rain is usually lumped together with the other MGM "songbook" musicals of its era, An American In Paris and The Band Wagon. In contrast to those two outstanding works of music and motion, however, Singin' In The Rain had an additional layer of importance and appeal as one of Hollywood's relatively rare feature films about itself. The Arthur Freed/Nacio Herb Brown songbook is on one level the center of the movie, but it's also a backdrop for a humorous and delightfully stylized look back at the crisis that engulfed the movie mecca and its inhabitants once synchronized sound came to films. The musical was made in 1952, only 25 years after the beginning of the series of events depicted and satirized in the script, so recent in time that there were still plenty of old studio hands (including sound department head Douglas Shearer) who had firsthand memories of the actual events.The film is full of delightful in-jokes about its subject and the people who lived through the era: Jean Hagen's Lina Lamont is a burlesque of silent-movie sex symbol Clara Bow, whose decidedly urban style of diction never really fit her image or what the public wanted, while Millard Mitchell's R.F. Simpson was a gently jocular satire of Freed himself, who could never quite visualize the elaborate musical numbers whose scripts and budgets he was approving as producer. Donald O'Connor's Cosmo Brown was an onscreen stand-in for men like Franz Waxman and dozens of other musicians, who moved from writing arrangements or conducting the major theater orchestras to heading the music departments of the studios. The resulting musical, in addition to offering a brace of memorable songs and performances (with a startlingly sultry featured spot for Cyd Charisse in the "Broadway Melody" sequence, as a bonus), gave audiences a short-course pop-history lesson about how the movies learned to talk, sing, and dance." - www.allmovie.com

DVD links:

Journal d'un curé de campagne (Diary of a country priest) 1951 - Isolation of the soul

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 7,8

Director: Robert Bresson
Main Cast: Claude Laydu, Jean Riveyre, Nicole Ladmiral, Adrien Borel, Rachel Berendt

"An austere look at the experiences of a young priest in a small French parish, Robert Bresson's masterly Le Journal d'un curé de campagne (Diary of a Country Priest) presents a powerful, complex exploration of faith underneath a deceptively simple exterior. Drawn from a novel by Georges Bernanos, the film centers on the priest of Ambricourt (Claude Laydu), a withdrawn, devout young man whose social awkwardness leaves him isolated from the community he is meant to serve. Further problems derive from the priest's ill health, which limits him to a diet of bread and wine and hinders his ability to perform his duties. Growing sicker and increasingly uncertain about his purpose in life, the priest undergoes a crisis of faith that threatens to drive him away from his village and from God. Bresson presents his spiritual tale in a minimalist, unadorned style, relying on a rigorous series of stripped-down shots and utilizing non-actors in many of the supporting roles. The approach may initially seem distancing or ponderous to a contemporary audience, but the cumulative impact of the brilliant visuals and Laydu's powerful, restrained performance is unquestionable. Almost universally acclaimed, this searching drama is generally considered one of Bresson's finest works and a crucial classic of world cinema." - www.allmovie.com

DVD links:

Bakushu (Early summer) 1951 - Post-war concerns with modernity, tradition and the freedom of women

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IMDB rating: 8,0

Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Main Cast: Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, Chikage Awashima, Kuniko Miyake

"Writer/director Yasujiro Ozu combines two of his favorite themes - the culture clashes in modern Japan and the emergence of the independent Japanese woman - in Early Summer (Bakushu). Setsuko Hara plays a young woman of the post-war era who is promised in an arranged marriage. But too much has happened in the world and in the girl's own life to allow her to agree to this union without protest.
Character types are as easily recognizable in Japan as in any country, and this commonality enhances the universal appeal of this austere film.
Though composed with Ozu's customary low, fixed camera and straight cuts, Early Summer is stylistically tied to his earlier work, which features a more mobile camera than his later films: fluidly evocative tracking shots become scene transitions, and a perpendicular crane shot following Noriko and her sister-in-law as they walk through dunes equates them visually as the world literally turns." - www.allmovie.com

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Orphée (Orpheus) 1950 - Cocteau's poetic rendition of the physical world and the afterlife

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IMDB rating: 8,1

Director: Jean Cocteau
Main Cast: Jean Marais, Francois Perier, Maria Casares, Maria Dea

"Cinematic poet Jean Cocteau explored the myth of Orpheus on no fewer than three occasions: Le Sang d'Un Poete (Blood of a Poet, 1930), Orphee (Orpheus, 1950) and Le Testament d'Orphee (1960). This second of his 'Orpheus' trilogy stars Jean Marais in the title role. Updated to contemporary Paris (albeit a Paris never seen before or since), the story concerns a sensitive young poet named Orpheus, who is married to the lovely Eurydice (Marie Dea). Orpheus' friend Cegeste (Edouard Dermit) is killed in a traffic accident. In the hospital morgue, Cegeste's patroness, The Princess of Death (Maria Casares), revives the young man; then, both Cegeste and Princess pass into the Underworld. Back on earth, Orpheus receives cryptic messages from Cegeste's spirit, as well as nocturnal visitations from the Princess. Meanwhile, Orpheus' wife enters into an affair with Heurtebise (Francois Perier). After seeking advice on her mixed-up love life, Eurydice is herself struck down and killed by the same cyclist who snuffed out Cegeste's life. It appears to Heurtebise that the ghostly Princess has claimed Eurydice so that she, the Princess, can be free to love Orpheus. Heurtebise persuades Orpheus to accompany him into the Underworld in hopes of returning Eurydice to life. By now, however, Orpheus cares little for his wife; he is completely under the Princess' spell. Offered her own liberation from the Underworld by the powers-that-be, the Princess dolefullly agrees to restore Eurydice to life, and to never have anything to do with Orpheus again." - www.allmovie.com

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(French Blu-Ray Rip, avi, 1,37 GB):

http://turbobit.net/pib3h3cniffb.html?ps=9371

Los olvidados (The young and the damned) 1950 - Gritty realism in the world of juvenile delinquents

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IMDB rating: 8,1

Director: Luis Bunuel
Main Cast: Estela Inda, Miguel Inclan, Alfonso Mejia, Roberto Cobo, Alma Delia Fuentes

"The winner of two Cannes Film Festival awards, Luis Buñuel's Los Olvidados (aka The Forgotten Ones and The Young and the Damned) was the director's first international box-office success. Yet Buñuel showed no signs of curbing the outrageous iconoclasm that made him famous in Europe and South America; one of the more lasting images of the film is the clash-of-cultures shot of a glistening new skyscraper rising above the squalid slums of Mexico City. The story concerns a gang of juvenile delinquents, whose sole redeeming quality is their apparent devotion to one another. Part of the film's perverse fascination is watching Buñuel's street punks cause misery to those less fortunate. The audience immediately identifies with Pedro (Alfonso Mejía), the youngest gang member, who evinces a spark of decency; yet Pedro, like the others, remains a victim of circumstances far beyond his control.Throughout, Buñuel maintains an objective tone; it is our responsibility, not his, to judge the gang members. In Buñuel's universe, mothers turn their backs on their sons and sleep with their friends, blind beggars play sexual games with young girls, wealthy men proposition young boys, and cripples are so venomous that one feels little or no sympathy for them when they're attacked. The film's sole compassionate adult, the warden of a juvenile home, is decent and caring but ineffectual, an easily surmounted obstacle to the corruption of the outside world.
Seasoned with haunting dream sequences, Los Olvidados was the opening volley in what would turn out to be Buñuel's most creative period." - www.allmovie.com

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Rashomon 1950 - A highly influential world-cinema masterpiece

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IMDB rating: 8,4

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Main Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura

"Rashomon's winning the Golden Lion in the 1951 Venice Film Festival is one of the key events of world cinema. Not only did it establish director Akira Kurosawa as one of the masters of the medium, but it compelled European and American audiences to look seriously at non-Western cinemas. Without Rashomon, the international critical successes of Kenji Mizoguchi, Satyajit Ray, and others are difficult to imagine. The film's structure, which replays the same event though different characters' eyes, layers ambiguity atop ambiguity. The film comes precariously close to nihilism - the denial of all objective truth and the utter senselessness of existence. Yet Kurosawa pulls back from the abyss in the film's final moments. Though most of Rashomon is adapted from two short stories by famously misanthropic Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Kurosawa himself penned the final sequence, an elegant summation of his signature humanism. The truth may be inscrutable, even unknowable, Kurosawa argues, but hope and compassion remain. This vision struck a chord in European audiences for whom the horrors of war were still fresh and the existentialist philosophies of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus were gaining popularity. Kurosawa's dynamic editing and swaggering camerawork seemed vibrant and sophisticated for a national cinema thought at the time to be second-rate, and the film proved influential to several generations of filmmakers. Ingmar Bergman included a sequence in The Virgin Spring (1960) strongly reminiscent of the film's most memorable sequences - the woodcutter's walk through the forest - and Alain Resnais acknowledged Rashomon's influence on the bold plot structure and existential content of his art-house classic Last Year at Marienbad (1961). In both artistic achievement and historical importance, Rashomon remains one of the masterpieces of cinema." - www.allmovie.com

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A place in the sun 1951 - With two of cinema's most beautiful faces

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IMDB rating: 7,9

Director: George Stevens
Main Cast: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, Raymond Burr

"Previously filmed in 1931 under its original title, Theodore Dreiser's bulky but brilliant novel An American Tragedy was remade in 1951 by George Stevens as A Place in the Sun. Montgomery Clift stars as George Eastman, a handsome and charming but basically aimless young man who goes to work in a factory run by a distant, wealthy relative. Feeling lonely one evening, he has a brief rendezvous with assembly-line worker Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters), but he forgets all about her when he falls for dazzling socialite Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor). Alice can't forget about him, though: she is pregnant with his child. Just when George's personal and professional futures seem assured, Alice demands that he marry her or she'll expose him to his society friends. This predicament sets in motion a chain of events that will ultimately include George's arrest and numerous other tragedies, including a vicious cross-examination by a D.A. played by future Perry Mason, Raymond Burr.
A huge improvement over the 1931 An American Tragedy, directed by Josef von Sternberg, A Place in the Sun softens some of the rough edges of Dreiser's naturalism, most notably in the passages pertaining to George's and Angela's romance. Even those 1951 bobbysoxers who wouldn't have been caught dead poring through the Dreiser original were mesmerized by the loving, near-erotic full facial closeups of Clift and Taylor as they pledge eternal devotion. A Place in the Sun won six Oscars, including Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Cinematography, although it lost Best Picture to An American in Paris." - www.allmovie.com

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An American in Paris 1951 - The musical that set new standards

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IMDB rating: 7,3

Director: Vincente Minnelli
Main Cast: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Nina Foch, Georges Guetary

"Vincente Minnelli's An American in Paris set a new standard for the subgenre known as the 'songbook' musical. Since the dawn of sound, producers had been attracted to films built around the published output of composers as different as Johann Strauss (The Great Waltz, Waltzes From Vienna), Jerome Kern (Till the Clouds Roll By), Cole Porter (Night and Day), and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (Words and Music). Mostly, the material was strung together, sometimes hooked around a fanciful pseudo-biography of the composer in question, and audiences grinned and bore the plot elements while delighting to the music. An American in Paris was freed of any need to embrace composer George Gershwin as an onscreen figure by virtue of the 1945 screen biography Rhapsody in Blue, in which Robert Alda had portrayed the composer. Rather, Minnelli, Gene Kelly, and screenwriter Alan Jay Lerner simply used the title and the substance of the title work as a jumping-off point for a screen fantasy that happened to utilize much of the major Gershwin song catalog. Some of the inspiration for the film's 16-minute ballet finale came from the Red Shoes ballet sequence from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 1948 The Red Shoes. Whatever its inspirations and imitations, An American in Paris won seven Academy Awards and box-office success. The overall film (especially the non-musical elements) hasn't worn quite so well over the years, but it was a vital piece of cinema in its time, stretching the envelope of the level of sophistication that a major studio would pursue, and ripping that envelope to shreds with the climactic ballet sequence, which became the model for still more daring sequences in such Hollywood films as Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon and such European imitators as Black Tights and Kelly's own dance extravaganza, Invitation to the Dance." - www.allmovie.com

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The thing from another world 1951 - Low-budget sci-fi classic

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IMDB rating: 7,3

Director: Christian Nyby (Howard Hawks - uncredited)
Main Cast: Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, James Young, James Arness

"The scene is a distant Arctic research station, where a UFO has crashed. The investigating scientists discover that the circular craft has melted its way into the ice, which has frozen up again. While attempting to recover the ship, Captain Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) accidentally explodes the vessel, but the pilot - at least, what seems to be the pilot - remains frozen in a block of ice. The body is taken to base headquarters, where it is inadvertently thawed out by an electric blanket. The alien attacks the soldier guarding him and escapes into the snowy wastes. An attack dog rips off the alien's arm, whereupon Dr. Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite) discerns that "The Thing" (played by future Gunsmoke star James Arness!) is not animal but a member of the carrot family, subsisting on blood. While the misguided Carrington attempts to spawn baby 'Things' with the severed arm, the parent creature wreaks murderous havoc all over the base. Female scientist Nikki (Margaret Sheridan) suggests that the best way to destroy a vegetable is to cook it. Over the protests of Carrington, who wants to reason with the 'visitor' (a very foolhardy notion, as it turns out), the soldiers devise a devious method for stopping The Thing once and for all." - www.allmovie.com

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The day the Earth stood still 1951 - An intelligent sci-fi classic in the shadows of Cold War

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IMDB rating: 7,9

Director: Robert Wise
Main Cast: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe

"At a time when science fiction on film had yet to work itself out of its bug-eyed monsters period, The Day the Earth Stood Still was a dramatic step forward for the genre. Intelligently written and directed, well-crafted, and boasting a top-notch cast in good form, it was a class act all the way, as well as one of the first Hollywood films to take the idea of extraterrestrial visitors seriously (if not as a practical reality, at least as an interesting metaphor). Klaatu, as played by Michael Rennie, was that rare alien invader who wanted to save us from ourselves, and Rennie gives the character an intelligence, compassion, and strength that make him seem a lot more human than many of the earthlings he encounters, while Sam Jaffe, Patricia Neal, and Billy Gray manage to prove that not all the Earth people are violent, brain-dead slobs. Director Robert Wise and his crew create an admirable sense of tension and awestruck wonder in the wake of Klaatu's arrival (many later films with higher budgets failed to capture the magic of the spaceship landing in Washington, D.C., or the towering mystery of Klaatu's robot assistant Gort), and, at a time when Cold War paranoia was at its height, The Day the Earth Stood Still carried a strong pro-disarmament message that was quite brave for its day. The film's message remains pertinent today, and, as entertainment, its intelligence, warmth, and solid filmcraft make it an enduring classic of its kind." - www.allmovie.com

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