1950’s Cinema

My Favorite Frank Borzage Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *) 

1.   No Greater Glory (1934)  

2.   Man’s Castle (1933)

3.   China Doll (1958)

4.   Moonrise (1948)

5.   Seventh Heaven (1927)

6.   Little Man, What Now? (1934)

7.   Street Angel (1928)

8.   Bad Girl (1931)

9.   Lucky Star (1929)

10. I’ve Always Loved You (1946)

11. Three Comrades (1938)

12. History Is Made at Night (1937)

13. A Farewell to Arms (1931)

14. Desire (1936)

15. After Tomorrow (1932)

16. The Mortal Storm (1940)

17. Liliom (1930)

18. Lazybones (1925)

19. The River (1929)

20. Humoresque (1920)

21. Young America (1932)

22. Song o’ My Heart (1930)

23. They Had to See Paris (1929)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)

1.   Mannequin (1937)
(No relation to the 1987 film)

2.   That’s My Man (1947)

3.   Stranded (1935)

4.   Big City (1937)

5.   Strange Cargo (1940)

6.   Green Light (1937)

7.   Disputed Passage (1939)

8.   Living on Velvet (1935)

9.   The Shining Hour (1938)

10. Flirtation Walk (1934)

11. The Spanish Main (1945)

12. Shipmates Forever (1935) 

My Favorite Budd Boetticher Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Ride Lonesome (1959)

2.   The Tall T (1957)

3.   Seven Men from Now (1956)

4.   Comanche Station (1960)

5.   Bullfighter and the Lady (1951)

6.   A Time for Dying (1969)

7.   The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960)

8.   The Killer Is Loose (1956)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)

1.   Decision at Sundown (1957)

2.   Buchanan Rides Alone (1958)

3.   Westbound (1959)

My Favorite Ingmar Bergman Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *) 

1.   Persona (1966)

2.   The Seventh Seal (1957)    

3.   Cries and Whispers (1972)

4.   Wild Strawberries (1957)

5.   The Silence (1963)

6.   Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

7.   Winter Light (1962)

8.   Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

9.   The Virgin Spring (1960)

10. Hour of the Wolf (1968)

11. Shame (1968)

12. The Magic Flute (1975)
(Swedish TV Film)

13. Fanny and Alexander (1982)

14. Autumn Sonata (1978)

15. Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
(Swedish TV Mini-Series)

16. Saraband (2003)
(Swedish TV Film)

17. From the Life of the Marionettes (1980)

18. The Touch (1971)

19. The Passion of Anna (1969)

20. Face to Face (1976)

21. The Magician (1958)

22. Sawdust and Tinsel (1953)

23. Summer Interlude (1951)

24. Summer with Monika (1953)

25. The Rite (1969)
(Swedish TV Film)

26. After the Rehearsal (1984)
(Swedish TV Film)

My Favorite Michelangelo Antonioni Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   L’Eclisse (1962)

2.   Le Amiche (1955)

3.   La Notte (1961)

4.   Zabriskie Point (1970)

5.   L’Avventura (1960)   

6.   The Passenger (1975)

7.   Red Desert (1965)

8.   Blowup (1966)

9.   Il Grido (1957)

10. Identification of a Woman (1982)

11. Beyond the Clouds (1995)
(co-directed with Wim Wenders)

12. The Mystery of Oberwald (1981)

13. Story of a Love Affair (1950)

14. I Vinti (1952)

15. The Lady Without Camelias (1953)
(I saw it on an old VHS Tape)

My Favorite Kenneth Anger Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *) (Short Cinema)

1.   Fireworks (1947)

2.   Scorpio Rising (1960)

3.   Eaux d’Artifice (1953)

4.   Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954)

5.   Rabbit’s Moon (1950)

6.   Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969)

7.   Lucifer Rising (1972)

8.   Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965)

9.   Puce Moment (1949)

My Favorite Robert Altman Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Nashville (1975)

2.   McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

3.   Short Cuts (1993)

4.   The Long Goodbye (1973)

5.   Tanner ’88 (1988)
(Miniseries)
(Cable/Television)

6.   3 Women (1977)

7.   Great Performances (1996)
7a. Episode: “Robert Altman’s Jazz ’34”
(Documentary)
(Television)

8.   The Player (1992)

9.   Secret Honor (1984)

10. California Split (1974)

11. Streamers (1983)

12. Gosford Park (2001)

13. Cookie’s Fortune (1999)

14. A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

15. Tanner on Tanner (2004)
(Miniseries)
(Cable/Television)

16. The Company (2003)

17. Vincent & Theo (1990)

18. A Wedding (1978)

19. Images (1972)

20. Brewster McCloud (1970)

21. MASH (1970)

22. That Cold Day in the Park (1969)

23. Kansas City (1996)

24. Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976)

25. Thieves Like Us (1974)

26. Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)

27. Gun (1997)
27a. Episode: “All the President’s Women”
(Television)

28. Fool for Love (1985)

29. The Gingerbread Man (1998)

30. The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (1988)
(Television)

31. Health (1980)
(I watched it online)

32. A Perfect Couple (1979)

33. Ready to Wear (1994)
(a.k.a. Pret-a-Porter)

34. Dr. T & the Women (2000)

35. O.C. & Stiggs (1985)
(theatrically released in 1987)

36. Beyond Therapy (1987)

37. Popeye (1980)

38. Quintet (1979)

39. Countdown (1968)

40. Basements (1987)
40a. “The Dumb Waiter”
40b. “The Room”
(Cable/Television)
(I watched the former on an old VHS tape and the latter online)

41. Nightmare in Chicago (1964)
(Television)
(I watched it online)

42. The Delinquents (1957)

43. The James Dean Story (1957)
(Co-directed with George W. George)
(Documentary)

* * * * (Out of * * * *) (Short Cinema)

1.   Aria (1987)
(Segment: “Les Boreades”)

* * * * (Out of * * * *) (TV Episodes)

1.   Combat (1962-1967)
(Episodes from 1962: “Forgotten Front”, “Rear Echelon Commandos”, “Any Second Now”, “Escape to Nowhere”, “Cat and Mouse”, “I Swear by Apollo” and “The Prisoner”)
(Episodes from 1963: “The Volunteer”, “Off Limits” and “Survival”)

2.   The Gallant Men (1962-1963)
(Pilot Episode from 1962: “Battle Zone”)

3.   Route 66 (1960-1964)
(Episode from 1961: “Some of the People, Some of the Time”)   

4.   Peter Gunn (1958-1961)
(Episode from 1961: “The Murder Bond”)

5.   Lawman (1958-1962)
(Episode from 1961: “The Robbery”)

6.   Bonanza (1959-1973)
(Episodes from 1960: “Silent Thunder”)
(Episodes from 1961: “Bank Run”, “The Duke”, “The Rival”, “The Secret”, “The Dream Riders”, “Sam Hill” and “The Many Faces of Gideon Finch”)

7.   Maverick (1957-1962)
(Episode from 1960: “Bolt from the Blue”)

8.   Bronco (1958-1962)
(Episode from 1960: “The Mustangers”)

9.   Sugarfoot (1957-1961)
(Episode from 1959: “Apollo with a Gun”)
(Episode from 1960: “The Highbinder”)

10. M Squad (1957-1960)
(Episode from 1958: “Lover’s Lane Killing”)

11. Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1965)
(Episode from 1957: “The Young One”)
(Episode from 1958: “Together”)

My Favorite Robert Aldrich Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

2.   What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

3.   Ulzana’s Raid (1972)

4.   Autumn Leaves (1956)

5.   The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968)

6.   Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)

7.   The Big Knife (1955)

8.   The Killing of Sister George (1968)

9.   Attack (1956)

10. Vera Cruz (1954)

11. The Dirty Dozen (1967)

12. The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)

13. Twilight’s Last Gleaming (1977)

14. Hustle (1975)

15. The Longest Yard (1974)

16. The Grissom Gang (1971)

17. Emperor of the North Pole (1973)

18. Too Late the Hero (1970)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)

1.   Ten Seconds to Hell (1959)

2.   …All the Marbles (1981)
(sometimes known as “The California Dolls”)

 

My Favorite Sidney Lumet Films (New)

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *) 

1.   Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1962)

2.   Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

3.   The Fugitive Kind (1960)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)

1.   12 Angry Men (1957)

2.   Last of the Mobile Hot Shots (1970)

3.   The Verdict (1982)

My Favorite Andre De Toth Films (New)

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Day of the Outlaw (1959)

2.   Crime Wave (1954)

3.   House of Wax (1953)

4.   Pitfall (1948)

5.   Ramrod (1947)

6.   Dark Waters (1944)

7.   Man in the Saddle (1951)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)

1.   Carson City (1952)

2.   Springfield Rifle (1952)