1965 Movie Zine Write-ups Part 4

Hello all! After keeping all of my writing for the 1965 movie zine exclusively to those who purchased a copy, I’ve decided to also make it available here for everyone or anyone that is interested. If you like what you read, please buy a copy of the zine where you’ll also find lots of cool collage work exclusively centered on the films of that year. I wrote about thirty-one films from 1965. This third post will cover The Nanny through Rat Fink.

The Nanny (UK / US / Holt)

The Nanny, my favorite film from the height of the psycho-biddy cycle, gets lost in the shuffle compared to iconic films like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? or front-facing schlock like Strait-Jacket. It’s not surprising given that it doesn’t operate with the garishness you expect. It is dominated by excellent camerawork courtesy of Harry Waxman and future Kubrick camera operator Kelvin Pike. Bette Davis’ affectations are purposely robotic here. Her character’s unyielding loyalty and unbreakable propriety create the narrative uncertainty at the film’s center: is Davis knowingly a killer, is she delusional, or has this wilfully defiant son misunderstood something enormous? One of the things I love about The Nanny is that its mileage doesn’t live and die by the answer. Everything built out from this question is so psychologically astute and specific. It is sadder and less straightforward than you’d expect. What impresses most is the perfect alchemy of psychodrama achieved by the actors and director Seth Holt. The unseen past, which has fractured this family so completely, feels like it was actually lived. So often, even with great films, you’re dropped into relationships and families with supposed histories, told that these actors are related to one another. It’s the bit of audience buy-in required from acting, but our senses don’t often go beyond what materializes in front of us. But there’s a phantom tangibility to what was and has been between these characters and their tragedies. That’s a hell of an accomplishment.

One Naked Night (US / Viola)

A mild sexploitation flick with an endearing chemical mix of the taboo and tame. You can sandwich it directly between Who Killed Teddy Bear? and I Knew Her Well. One Naked Night shares Who Killed Teddy Bear’s preoccupation with sleaze and sin in the Big Apple. Both films also feature the of its time predilection for lesbian characters who are supportive but, because of course, predatory. Pre-Giuliani New York City footage will upgrade anything, but when it’s before the 1970s, when the often gritty NYC was a routine sight, it’s a coveted luxury. The 1960s saw a number of underground filmmakers shooting in the city, snapshotting the streets and illustrating the fact of fringe life through renegade subjects and autonomous DIY productions. Doris Wishman (Bad Girls go to Hell), Andy Milligan (Vapors), Andy Warhol (Empire), are part and parcel during this era. On the other side is I Knew Her Well, so different in both tone and respectability, but taking on the same country girl tries to make it in the big city formula that lays out countless sexploitation films to come (Bad Girls to go Hell also features a girl fleeing to NYC). They even have the exact same ending. Where I Knew Her Well purposely scrambles this familiar framework to examine issues of Italian identity, One Naked Night thrives by hitting every dimestore novel beat. Think Barbara Perkins opening narration in Valley of the Dolls carried through for seventy minutes. Barbara Morris’ voiceover has all the romanticization and elucidation of a children’s book – it is green and corny, yet also eloquent. The reliance on voiceover also allows Albert T. Viola all the mileage he can get out of shooting sans audio, often using montage that rotates between the same five or six shot set-ups while narration or Chet McIntyre’s score coat the images. Mcintyre’s jazz score is genuinely great, at-times reminiscent of Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown compositions. One Naked Night is another example of exploitation in its infancy, on the other end of the spectrum from Wishman’s far more genuinely transgressive film from the same year. Yet I just can’t help but prefer this (certainly less weighty) film a lot more.

Planet of the Vampires (Bava / Italy)

When I was a toddler, I had a Playskool flashlight with a knob on the side. When you turned it one way, a red filter would slide over the light. The other direction had a green filter. It provided some sort of essential sensory satisfaction – the same exact kind as Planet of the Vampires. It’s usually discussed as an undeniable inspiration for Ridley Scott’s Alien, but that’s not what interests me about it. It’s all about the Bava. Mario Bava was a magician, honing the penny-pinching in-camera effects wizardry of his pioneering papa to materialize anything out of scraps. Here, he brings horror into space by using recycled bare-bones sets, fog, lighting, and all of his tricks of the trade to create a B-movie Renaissance painting, an interplanetary purgatory that’s like the Aggro Crag from GUTS made real (pardon me for going full 90s). It’s got a potentially goofy stiffness and pace that isn’t for everyone (including me once upon a time). But between the negative space and an often economical shot set-up, there is a haunting futility to the way we get to know these sets so well. The whole movie looms, accompanied by a wall-to-wall sonic soundscape of electronic hums and ambient warbling and whooshing. The only other films that feel remotely like it are a few others by Bava. He’s the ideal filmmaker to put on late into the night when the lights are out you’re on the verge of fading. Of all the Bava films, Planet of the Vampires is the one best suited for this, and I mean that as the highest compliment.

Rapture (Guillerman / France/ US)

Would pair well with The Fool Killer, another dark coming-of-age story that gets you musing “curiouser and curiouser”. Patricia Gozzi is unrelenting as the troubled Agnes. Everything feels like a highly fractured fairy tale; delusional, grand, and run-down. It’s keyed into French New Wave sensibilities but isn’t led by them. The location shooting, on the coast of Brittany, creates a gorgeous open-air isolation. The camerawork is wide in scope and character-driven, able to spread its wings only to be yanked back down to the coast’s contradictory confinement. The family dynamics sit somewhere above us, slightly inexplicable but visible all the same. There are three films featured here that revolve around entrenched family dynamics: Rapture, The Nanny, and Fists in the Pocket. All three are mired in some degree of delusion. Here, Gozzi is convinced that on-the-run criminal Dean Stockwell is her scarecrow prince, and uses that childlike delusion to misguidedly be the bridge between girlhood and womanhood. A sumptuous, sad, and troubling one.

Disclaimer: It must be noted that this film features explicitly sexual scenes and contact between the then 32 year old Dean Stockwell and the then 15 year old Patricia Gozzi.

Rat Fink (US / Landis)

Rat Fink was actor Schuyler Hayden’s go-for-broke bid for Hollywood stardom. He put up $200,000 of his own money to fund the film (which he produces, stars, and sings in) and even threw himself an Oscar party in the hopes of creating buzz around his performance. He took his shot and it went nowhere. The film made squat and was eventually repackaged under the title Wild and Willing. Meanwhile, Hayden would only appear in one more film before disappearing to Hawaii in reclusivity. According to his daughter, Ursula Hayden of the real-life GLOW, he was planning to make another go of it in the industry when he became 1 of the 144 who perished in the 1978 PSA Flight 182 crash. As if that weren’t enough, the film he left behind, this flop that nakedly carried the totality of one man’s ambition, was lost for half a century. It has only very recently been discovered, restored, and released to the public.

Part of the reason Schuyler Hayden’s life (what little we know of it) is pertinent is because in Rat Fink he plays a man who does get famous. Putting aside the shocking crimes Lonnie commits, Ursula describes her father as being very much like his character. That Lonnie is a loner ‘nobody’ driven to prove he’s somebody no matter the cost makes Ursula’s observation pretty heartbreaking. For the first half of Rat Fink, Lonnie is impossible to pin down. All you’ve got is inscrutability and a disdain for mankind. His even keel steadiness and ruthless remove are sociopathic. Is he out for world domination? Is this Tom Cruise’s origin story? The mind goes many places. Then, at roughly the same time Adriana visits her farm home in I Knew Her Well (another kind of drifter character), Lonnie visits his childhood farm and the psychology clicks into place.

Rat Fink is an essential addition to one of my very favorite sub-sub genres. It sits alongside Nightmare Alley, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and What Makes Sammy Run? (to name a few); stories about men driven by self-loathing and meager origins to be somebody, using any means necessary to will themselves into places of status. The early career cinematography by the legendary Vilmos Zsigmond (then credited as William) captures abject loneliness and the emptiness of cruelty and fame in his frames. Rat Fink has a real mean-streak; it’s not quite gleeful, but it’s unapologetic. It’s part of the unmatched corner of outlier American films from this era itching and able to explore and indulge in darker impulses. They were a bit genre, a bit rogue, and more than a little bit transgressive (Something Wild, Private Property, and James Landis’ previous film The Sadist are other examples). Something I especially love about Rat Fink as part of the Rags to Riches Con Drifter canon is the one crucial way Lonnie doesn’t fit its typical protagonist mold. These characters tend to combine their id-driven aims and natural deceptive abilities with the hard work of self-taught skill-sets. Frank Abagnale Jr of Catch Me If You Can teaches himself about confidence scams. Stan of Nightmare Alley steals Pete and Zeena’s code act but also works his ass off to learn and perfect it. In contrast, Lonnie can sing a song fine, but otherwise can’t be bothered to put in any real work.

Rat Fink accurately depicts fame as a fantasy mostly created and sustained by the hard work of others whose job is to make sure the public continues to know and worship you. I’m so grateful Rat Fink is no longer lost. With the discovery of its survival and subsequent blu-ray release, hopefully others will find their way to the nihilistic manifestation of Schuyler Hayden’s hopes and dreams.

1965 Movie Zine Write-ups Part 3

Hello all! After keeping all of my writing for the 1965 movie zine exclusively to those who purchased a copy, I’ve decided to also make it available here for everyone or anyone that is interested. If you like what you read, please buy a copy of the zine where you’ll also find lots of cool collage work exclusively centered on the films of that year. I wrote about thirty-one films from 1965. This third post will cover The Hill through Kustom Kar Commadoes.

The Hill (UK / Lumet)
The Hill is an exercise in sustained suffocation and delirium. The British military prison setting (and thus the British Army as a whole) exists for the sole purpose of eradicating any remaining traces of autonomy, will, and spirit. Nobody can catch a break or a moment to breathe, and that includes us. It reminds me of what it felt like to watch mother! Every ounce of sun, sweat, and exhaustion comes through. The framing of men in extreme close-up, against the landscape or other men, has the opposite effect as For a Few Dollars More. There, the vistas seem even more sweeping while the men become mythic by association. Here, the men, both literally and figuratively, occupy and oppress the land, the frame, and each other. The Libyan desert reads as nothingness. The rat-a-tat rhythmic back-and-forth, and the intensity of the military protocol  (I’ve never heard more shouting in a film)  abstracts portions of the dialogue into a claustrophobic pitch that, again, exists to overwhelm and suffocate.

I knew of this film only fleetingly, always described as an underappreciated Sidney Lumet gem. Lumet seems perpetually out-of-fashion for film folks. The only time I ever hear anybody bring him up is when, like once a year, somebody has a “Network is bad actually” take. He had this ability to blend impeccable classical filmmaking with an elaborate, alive, and at times confrontational, camera. Gigantic faces, frantic POV, ‘how did they do that’ crane choreography, and 360 shots emphasize futility and entrapment. Every shot has an uncomfortable immediacy. As the film builds to a breaking point, it folds in and challenges the complex dynamics and beliefs of those with either all the power or a portion of it. The relationship between Harry Andrews and Ian Brennan alone is enough to fuel the entire film. Sean Connery gives maybe one of my favorite performances ever; desperately but steadfastly trying to take a stand despite being physically and emotionally obliterated. There is no score. When escapism occurs it’s only through the hysteria of fatigue and deprivation. There is a happy ending, but it takes place in the first five minutes without you realizing it. The Hill has so much to dig into that I can really only use the paragraph to list things about it. The fact that Lumet also released The Pawnbroker the same year, another unbearably bleak film . Maybe it’s time Sidney Lumet was en vogue again. 

I Knew Her Well (Italy / Pietrangeli)
By the 1960s, Italian cinema was fully projecting its desired postwar metamorphosis, one that had all eyes on Rome as the epicenter of freewheeling high-fashion cool. In I Knew Her Well, a country girl tries her hand at this kind of life. We don’t know where she comes from at the start – that would lock Adriana (Stefania Sandrelli) and the film into too much familiarity and structure. It needs to be untethered and disarming to work. We’re with Adriana as she flits around. The imaginary space between scenes could fool us into thinking months and years are passing between them. Each experience in Adriana’s life exists unto itself, as if there is nothing before or after the moment she’s currently in. At least, that’s what the film wants us to think, and it’s how Adriana convincingly pretends to be. She tries, valiantly, to attain the life of fantasy that the pop songs and glamorous images sell as desirable and attainable. But despite changing hairstyles, day jobs, outfits, and men, she’s doing her chasing in a hollow world, one that sees young beauties as someone to enjoy or use or dispose of along the way. Antonio Pietrangeli uses the seductive appeal of mid-century Italian style to show a country and a woman that are tricking themselves into flashy identities made of denial. In one scene, a professor cruelly characterizes Adriana, suggesting she’s oblivious to the humiliations foisted upon her. Little does he know that she is, and that they accumulate. 

Inside Daisy Clover (Mulligan / US)
Of all of the films here, Inside Daisy Clover is the one I want to go long on, and it has immediately come to mean a great deal to me. Letterboxd user ButtNugget is able to describe it better than I ever could, as “Mulholland Drive’s audition scene stretched out to feature length”. It flopped with critics and the public, and has remained appreciated by only a handful. I can understand why. Immediately marking it as a massive miscalculation is an initial overdose of whimsy and a 27-year old Natalie Wood playing a rambunctious 15-year old tomboy. It looks like a harmless archaic Hollywood A-picture, and yet it’s one of the most insidious movies ever made. The second Daisy gets to Hollywood her entire personhood evaporates, and I mean evaporates. Over the next ninety minutes she barely speaks. People dismantle her life – they talk to her, and talk about her in front of her, and she ceases to exist in any external way. This is because its depiction of fame is a waking nightmare. It is as if she becomes the on-land Ariel.

Meanwhile, events happen between scenes that we never learn about. There is no schmoozing, there is no industry, no dealing with the demands of shooting. Fame is simply barren, isolating, and predatory. Everything is impenetrable and the few things that aren’t are fooling you. Christopher Plummer, in the same year as The Sound of Music, manages to be more frightening here than in The Silent Partner. Robert Mulligan and Alan Pakula turn Inside Daisy Clover into a giant gambit; uncompromising, fully committed to alienating its audience, and entirely dependent on whether or not Natalie Wood can allow us ‘inside’ Daisy Clover without saying a word. Not only is it a remarkable performance on its own terms, (in another parallel from Mulholland Drive, her face often holds the intensity of that look by Naomi Watts at the dinner table) but it is impossible not to project onto the performance an artistic confrontation of her own harrowing and traumatic life, also borne out of childhood fame. This attempt at a temporary catharsis, in a film that keeps her so bottled up, gives Inside Daisy Clover the feeling of an exorcism that can’t get out. Wood knew this life, had lived it, was living it, and continued to live it. She shot this film between suicide attempts. Her exorcism finally occurs in a dubbing booth. It is a scene so raw, so disorienting, and so powerful that I felt changed by it. In fact, the entirety of Inside Daisy Clover gave me a similar feeling.

The Koumiko Mystery (France / Marker)
Chris Marker was originally set to make a documentary about the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, then seen as the symbolic reintroduction of Japan to the Western world following WWII, but ended up sidetracked by a myriad of questions regarding Japanese identity. Japan would be a central subject for Marker in both his life and work (the fresh wonder he has for it here greatly evolves by the time he makes Sans Soleil), and while his position as a Western outsider brings a natural exoticization, it is buttressed by his primarily felt work as well as leagues more subdued and well-intentioned than anything you’d associate with the 1960s. I’d also argue it is key to Koumiko’s artistic and intellectual value. Koumiko, a Manchurian-born poet Marker claims to have met at the games (not quite true), becomes the recurring focal point of transfixion. There’s an implicit throughline re: the way male artists often view those they deem enigmatic and muse-ready women. The most French New Wave thing about The Koumiko Mystery is how Marker presents and speaks with Koumiko (the subject of her specific beauty does lean more towards an exoticized datedness that tracks with its era). He describes her as guarded and private, yet she is shown to be remarkably candid. It is instantly clear why Marker is so taken with her. She is probed to represent herself as an individual and as the perfect metaphor for Japan’s postwar sense of self (her early life in Manchuria made for a very mixed-up relationship with Japan; she would move to Paris the next year).

Near the end of the film we hear Koumiko say “I am surprised every morning. I am astonished by how little I understand”. This same deference is what Marker brings to The Koumiko Mystery. It’s as if he reassembled his home movies into a philosophical stream-of-consciousness diary, full of questions and poetic observations of sight and thought. Both this and his much later Sans Soleil sit in my hundred favorite films. This write-up feels so basic, because I just can’t articulate how they resonate. They reach out and invite you to explore with it, to think with it, but most importantly to bask in it. The Koumiko Mystery and Sans Soleil are simply what I dared to hope film could be.

Kustom Kar Kommandos (US / Anger)
This three minute sequence is all that was completed for Kenneth Anger’s follow-up to Scorpio Rising. It was to be a feature length “dream-like probe” of young American men and the cars they fetishize. Unfortunately, the Ford Foundation’s grant money quickly ran out. Fortunately, what was made is already a distilled and complete thesis statement. Set to The Paris Sisters cover of “Dream Lover”, a tight-jeaned man slowly and erotically buffs his sparkling car with a powder puff. The camera slowly and erotically buffs them both. The monochromatic pink backdrop would make an MGM musical proud. Much like his earlier Puce Moment, everything is centered around consumer objects and the holy private rituals they command. The car is seen as an extension of the man – it’s got to go out there to represent him and his virility. Anger achieves a microcosm of camp by queering everything, constructing nostalgia for a barely bygone era, and using a world of pleasurable surface to interrogate and invert traditionally heteromasculine symbols. This is what Christine’s Artie would fantasize about.

1965 Movie Zine Write-ups Part 2:

Hello all! After keeping all of my writing for the 1965 movie zine exclusively to those who purchased a copy, I’ve decided to also make it available here for everyone or anyone that is interested. If you like what you read, please buy a copy of the zine where you’ll also find lots of cool collage work exclusively centered on the films of that year. I wrote about thirty-one films from 1965. This second post will cover The Coward through For a Few Dollars More.

The Coward (India / Ray)
A Satyajit Ray chamber piece that explores the unspoken weight of what is past between two people. Soumitra Chatterjee’s performance pinpoints something viscerally spineless, the physical embodiment of someone who consummately fails to rise to the occasion. Amitabha’s hesitancy, which we see play out in flashbacks, is valid (circumstances force a sudden choice). But the evasive and, yes, cowardly, way he proceeds is pathetic. Back in the present day he stares at Karuna (Madhabi Mukherjee) with a look of dumbfounded paralysis. Ray demonstrates exquisite framing (duh), thriving in the challenging task of using the camera to translate a narrative between two faces. I could never say enough about the legendary Mukherjee except to say that I hope to see everything she’s been in (she will reappear later in this zine). What I love so much about The Coward is that I was expecting the typical throughline – two former lovers navigate regret and rekindled feelings under the radar of their replacement(s). But, regardless of how she feels about the life she’s got, Karuna has moved on, and Amitabha is left to regret on his own. He no longer represents what could’ve been. He is now just an unwelcome resurgence of disappointment, left with the unenviable task of living with himself.

Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (US / Meyer)
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to violence”, and the gold standard for early exploitation. While Russ Meyer made two other films in 1965, Mudhoney (grimy hicksploitation with some real nerve) and Motor Psycho (a roughie with less appeal), this trio of violent go-go dancers are presented as a new kind of voyeuristic transaction. These are women who absorbed all the savage accosts and leers of their life and morphed into hellacious,  sadistic bombshells, only to be presented to us as an evolved form of woman to continue ogling. What makes this film the most famous of Meyer’s isn’t the salt flats and the slick cars, or even the novelty of a brutal female gang. It’s Tura Satana. To be clear, I love all three of the central women here – Haji and Lori Williams surely don’t get enough credit. But the “velvet glove cast in iron” that is Tura Satana doesn’t just own this movie; she is an auteur of it. Russ Meyer has referred to the film as one they made together. Her entire personhood is fused to the character of Varla, not to mention her critical contributions and input in so many aspects of the production. There never was and never will be anybody else like her again. That Meyer and Satana did not collaborate beyond this film is one of the great What Could’ve Beens. She appeared in a few other films, but Satana is one of those figures who led such a rocky and full life that crossing paths with moviemaking was but a small part of it. In Faster, her presence and ferocity threaten to spontaneously combust the film any second. It’s not that Tura Satana couldn’t make it in the movies – it’s that the movies couldn’t survive Tura Satana.

Fists in the Pocket (Italy / Bellocchio)
I’m always going to be partial to films that use dysfunctional family dynamics to represent allegorical rot (Italy is good at this!). Marco Bellocchio’s debut film is one of record scratch rage, very off-trend from all the European cool happening in 60s film. Behavior generally manifests as a regressive state of play (I rewatched this around the time we started “The Righteous Gemstones”; the sibling dynamics share something in common). Reality is always off in the corner. Seamless and jarring scene transitions keep everything even further askew. There is an emphasis on hands and how the body expresses itself. Lou Cassell is explosive, a melting pot of combative and misguided emotions. He and Michael Parks in The Wild Seed are two performances from this year that feel like direct descendants from Brando and Dean. I’m particularly fond of Paola Pitagora here, an actress who appears in two all-time favorites (Revolver and Psychout for Murder). The snowy mountainous landscape (shot on Bellocchio family property) is gorgeous and isolated. Ennio Morricone’s dirge-like score sounds like a siren calling from the deep. It is echoing and mocking. Yet, amidst all of this, Bellocchio sees these characters and empathizes with their struggle to recognize and reconcile the only way they know how to be.

The Fool Killer (US / Gonzalez)
The Fool Killer, based on a 1953 novel by Helen Eustis, feels a bit like one of those “Twilight Zone” episodes that hangs around the outer rings of the supernatural. It’s an odd duck that defies easy categorization, even though reference points like Tom Sawyer, Flannery O’Connor, and The Night of the Hunter are readily and rightfully deployed when writing about it. The opening credits play over images of a boy on a farm. The score switches gears between wholesome and ominous several times. You’re already questioning what kind of movie this will be. Then the boy is getting whipped. We see heavy shadows and hear narration that is direct in thought but sounds like it’s coming from inside an isolation tank. He packs up and runs away. From there, it’s a Reconstruction-set fairy tale of a runaway afflicted with fears of sin and the legend of the Fool Killer.

Mexican filmmaker Servando González has a devilish and periodically unhinged approach to camerawork here. There are other disparate things making The Fool Killer sinister and altogether like a dream that could turn nightmare any second. The boy continues to narrate, with occasional direct-to-camera addresses, and every encounter has a palpable threat of sexual violence to it. And then there’s Anthony Perkins playing a disturbed Civil War vet with amnesia who may or may not be, you guessed it, an axe-wielding killer. The film feels even more like a dream when he’s around. He is nebulous walking. He is unknowable. The way he is in direct communication with the role he couldn’t escape adds yet another perplexing layer to his presence, a crude one. Of all the films I’ve written about here, this is the one most in need of discovery, restoration, and exposure.

For A Few Dollars More (Italy / Leone)
As much as I love some of Sergio Leone’s other work, For a Few Dollars More, the middle child of the Man with No Name trilogy is my favorite by a mile. The satisfaction and joy that comes with watching it is a high water mark. Lee Van Cleef’s Colonel Mortimer, with his persistent weariness and endearing conviction, would be in consideration for favorite film character period. His relationship with Clint Eastwood is transcendent. When they first meet, communication comes in boot-crunching, silent assessments, and, in a patient bit of comedy with matching pay-off, hat shooting. Gradually the two men come to love and trust each other and they team up to take down El Indio (the great Gian Maria Volonté with his Oliver Reed level intensity). Leone continues his perfect frame-filling studies of the masculine face against the vastness around them. It’s no news that Ennio Morricone’s music becomes a tent under which Leone’s entire production gathers. In For a Few Dollars More and Once Upon a Time in the West, non-diegetic and diegetic music merge and inform each other through one common item of profound significance. In the latter it’s the harmonica; in the former it’s the timepiece. This situates the music as a direct outgrowth of story, a core that goes on to envelop and develop in grand operatic directions. It all wraps around to deliver a film full of unmatched pleasures and pay-offs.

1965 Movie Zine Write-ups Part 1:

Hello all! After keeping all of my writing for the 1965 movie zine exclusively to those who purchased a copy, I’ve decided to also make it available here for everyone or anyone that is interested. If you like what you read, please buy a copy of the zine where you’ll also find lots of cool collage work exclusively centered on the films of that year. I wrote about thirty-one films from 1965. This first post will cover The 10th Victim through Color Me Blood Red.

The 10th Victim (Italy / Petri)
Elio Petri’s compromised but overwhelmingly stylish dystopian production has had a pop-culture impact in the years and decades following its release. It laid the groundwork for an era of Op Art and retro-futurism in film, an outlandish visual template that would most often appear in various sci-fi, erotica, giallo, and/or spy films of the next ten years. Decades later, when Austin Powers took the retro spy revival of the 1990s that began with Mission Impossible/Goldeneye and resettled it into a land of groovy goofiness, The 10th Victim was a central reference point (yes, this is where the metallic gun bikini comes from). And while Robert Shackley’s original short story of humans hunting humans was inspired by Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game”, Petri’s adaptation folds in ideas of corporate exploitation and televised death that would be prevalent well beyond future incarnations of this premise, let alone central to our very lives. There’s a lot about The 10th Victim that doesn’t get off the ground. However, like Planet of the Vampires or Red Line 7000 (both also written about here), it personifies a heightened aesthetic that A. could only authentically exist then and B. that I happen to completely vibe with. It is totally organic to the modish space age design of its time, yet highly artificial and deliberate in application. This sentiment goes a long way in describing the outsized appeal I find in many cycles of older films. There’s so much to glean from what was in the moments before it can only exist as self-conscious callback, variation, or homage. The 10th Victim’s modernism combined with its cheeky remove and a litany of absurd details make it a uniquely rewarding cult item, a movie at once both extremely cool and extremely uncool, an unapologetic combination that is – yes –extremely cool.

Le Bonheur (France / Varda)
You keep waiting for Agnes Varda to show her hand, for Le Bonheur’s pastoral cottagecore and unnaturally vibrant synchronized colors to cave in. Yet, it just continues smiling at you. We know it’s winking, but there isn’t a wink in sight because Varda rattles us by becoming one with what she’s interrogating. Francois is happy. Francois loves his wife. Francois assumes his life, including the people in it, are his birthright. Take a guess why! A stagnant lack of variety and dimension accompany this idyllic Happily Ever After, suggesting that Francois has a distant appreciation from the life he’s living – as if its existence was a foregone conclusion. It turns out that his wife and children are acquisitions, window dressing that he can swap if things just happen to shake out that way. So, he meets Emilie and simply thinks “I also want that, so I will also have that”. He’s a cad who doesn’t realize he is one. And Emilie? She looks just like the wife he already loves and adores. There is no dissatisfaction shown or expressed within the marriage. He isn’t experiencing a mid-life crisis. He isn’t a regular cheater. There is no palpable passion or lust Francois has towards Emilie – he’s just casually drawn to her. Varda’s approach to Le Bonheur necessitates her loyalty to Francois’ callous and matter-of-fact compartmentalization. Therese fulfills the same purpose as the beautiful flowers populating the film. It’s not just that her inner life is invisible to us; it does not exist. The extent of what we can observe is that there is intimacy, warmth, and contentment there. And so, Le Bonheur finds its own horror in its deliberate refusal to acknowledge. Here, you are loved but not remembered, and loved but not considered. You’d rather he loathed her. 

Brick and Mirror (Iran / Golestan)
A remarkable film from pre-revolution Iran’s all but forgotten first New Wave, an unexpected blend of realism and haunted talky affectation (a blend of the “real” and unreal that reminds me, just a bit, of Bitter Rice). Shot in the midst of the 1963 demonstrations against the Pahlavi regime with an unfinished script and a crew of five, Ebrahim Golestan’s film uses the rare sight of a neon-drenched Tehran to represent a maelstrom of forced and corrupt modernization with a failing and hostile infrastructure that leaves the human element, literally, abandoned. Its roughly triptych structure charts the exhaustive ups and downs of a 24-hour period of moral conundrum. Whether in the intimacy of an apartment room or on the crowded streets of Tehran, sprawling one-act stretches unfold peppered with put-upon soliloquies (a man goes long on the beauty of crosswords) or digressions into the uncanny (documentary footage of an orphanage becomes something deeply sad but carnivalesque). Along with The House is Black and other Iranian cinematic milestones of the 60s, film had begun to stake a claim alongside poetry and literature as Iran’s foremost modes of political and cultural expression.

Bunny Lake is Missing (UK / Preminger)
The gaslighting trope, with its beginnings dating back to Gothic literary traditions, emerged in films at the crossroads of noir and women’s pictures of the 40s and 50s. But something about Bunny Lake is Missing feels different. One reason is that it comes out of a post-Psycho landscape of twists, don’t-get-spoiled marketing gimmicks, and the increasing sense of possibility that the taboo could show itself. But it’s the objective framing and lack of subjective alignment with Anne (Carol Lynley) combined with a comprehensive sleight-of-hand that feels newly discomfiting and off-putting. The widescreen long shots of late career Otto Preminger are perfectly at home in something like Anatomy of a Murder, his meticulous procedural from just a few years earlier, but not here. You expect something subjective, that conventionally and expressively represents Anne’s experience and emotional state. Instead, he uses busy framing and complex camera movements to feel like an intricate maze of the mind – but whose mind and how do we find out? There are other things that feel off too, both purposely and misguidedly. An out-of-place tie-in song by The Zombies is used twice; first in a brief but clumsy digression to a pub TV, and then, foreshadowing the use of music in visual media, as an effective backing track for Anne’s hospital escape. To make up for the huge gaps in what we don’t know, we journey to and fro between a supporting cast of singular British eccentrics who are also, intentionally, off-putting. Once we’re let in on the reality and the delusion, the film is set free with a gloves-come-off formalism to match. The brief bursts of derangement we glimpse in Psycho get overdrawn for an effectively tense climax that teeters on camp. This third act tonal shift is just one of the many puzzle pieces that makes Bunny Lake is Missing feel like its coordinates are in the uncanny valley.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (US / Melendez)
I don’t remember ever not knowing A Charlie Brown Christmas. I suspect the same goes for many. A TV special lamenting about the commercialism of Christmas commissioned by…..the Coca-Cola company?!? As the perennially relatable Charlie Brown would say, good grief (yes, I understand it’s all a business)! Regardless, there is something miraculous about this special. Every holiday season, I can briefly tap into some sense of innocence that is forever gone. The slightly cloddish animation couldn’t be more beautiful, bringing just as much idiosyncratic life to Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts characters as the everyday kids lending their voices. It is these kids, and Vince Guaraldi’s gentle yet indelible jazz soundtrack, that make this so everlasting.

Color Me Blood Red (US / Lewis)
As of this writing I’ve only seen two films by Godfather of Gore Herschell Gordon Lewis, but his distinct brand of stark cash-grab trash is already immensely appealing. Shooting on Eastman Color stock (a much cheaper and more accessible alternative to Technicolor introduced in 1950) gives his work an ultra sun-saturated look, blindingly vibrant in a way that puts the low production value in even further relief. Here, he essentially makes a companion piece to Roger Corman’s 1959 film A Bucket of Blood, both low-budget horror flicks about male loser artists only capable of successful work through murder. Lewis leans into the cheapo quality by playing the tin can on-set audio and stage play framing against overly animated jazz that becomes hare to the film’s tortoise. He’s also self-aware, as illustrated by the ‘Daddio’ teens who say things like “dig that crazy driftwood” when discovering a corpse. Exploitation cinema & its adjacents really got going in the 60s due to censorship lenience and various industry factors. This means that Lewis, Russ Meyer, and all the rest were in some degree of uncharted territory. Everyone thereafter (even these very filmmakers later on in their careers) had reference points for subversion, homage, and inspiration. Now, the value of that territory will vary depending on who you are and what you’re into. But a film doesn’t need to be our narrow & often dull conception of Good to be Good. Those bright blue water bikes in full frame Eastman color, moving at the same sluggish pace of the film, sticks with me more than so much else with aims & respectability.

What I’ll Remember About the Films of 1952: A Love Letter

Previous What I’ll Remember Posts:
1925, 1930, 1943, 1949, 1958, 1965, 1969, 1978, 1982, 1990, 1992

1952 posts:
100 (or so) Favorite Images from the Films of 1952
Top Ten By Year: 1952 Poll Results

My Top 10 (but actually 25) Films of 1952

1. Singin’ in the Rain (US / Kelly & Donen)
2. The Lusty Men (US / Ray)
3. Wait Til the Sun Shines, Nellie (US / King)
4. Bend of the River (US / Mann)
5. Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (US / Sirk) / “Feed the Kitty” (US / Jones) (yes, I’m tacking a short on as a tie for my own workaround)
6. Rancho Notorious (US / Lang)
7. Ruby Gentry (US / Vidor)
8. Si muero antes de despertar (If I Should Die Before I Wake) (Argentina / Christensen)
9. Ikiru (Japan / Kurosawa)
10. The Narrow Margin (US / Fleischer)

Here are 15 more films I really wish could have made the 10 and could easily have been swapped in. Some of these I also consider all-time favorites or simply love a lot or am very fond of:

“Abstract in Concrete” (US / Arvonio), The Bad and the Beautiful (US / Minnelli), Carrie (US / Wyler), , The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (Japan / Ozu), Hans Christian Andersen (US / Vidor), Lightning (Japan / Naruse), The Marrying Kind (US / Cukor), Million Dollar Mermaid (US / LeRoy), “A Portrait of Ga” (UK / Tait), The Quiet Man (US / Ford), “Rabbit Seasoning” (US / Jones), Rome ore 11 (Italy / De Santis), The Scarlet Flower (Soviet Union / Atanamov), Sudden Fear (US / Miller), “Water Water Every Hare” (US / Jones)

Full List of 1952 Films Watched and/or Rewatched:
“Abstract in Concrete” (US / Arvonio), “Abstronic” (US / Bute & Nemeth), Affair in Trinidad (US / Sherman), Alraune (West Germany / Rabanalt), April in Paris (US / Butler), The Bad and the Beautiful (US / Minnelli), Beauties of the Night (France / Clair), “Beep Beep” (US / Jones), Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (US / Beaudine), Bells of Atlantis (US / Hugo), Bend of the River (US / Mann), Carmen’s Innocent Love (Japan / Kinoshita), Carrie (US / Wyler), Casque d’or (France / Becker), Children of Hiroshima (Japan / Shindo), Clash by Night (US / Lang), “Color Cry” (UK / Lye), Come Back, Little Sheba (1952, Mann), The Crimson Pirate (US / Siodmak), Deadline U.S.A (US / Brooks), Don’t Bother to Knock (US / Ward Baker), Eight Iron Men (US / Dmytryk), Europa ’51 (Italy / Rossellini), Fan-fan the Tulip (France / Jaque), The First Time (US / Tashlin), Flamenco (Spain / Neville), The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (Japan / Ozu), “Fool Coverage” (US / McKimson), “Going, Going, Gosh!” (US / Jones), The Golden Coach (France/Italy / Renoir), The Greatest Show on Earth (US / DeMille), Hans Christian Andersen (US / Vidor), Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (US / Sirk), “The Hasty Hare” (US / Jones), High Noon (US / Zinneman), The Holly and the Ivy (UK / O’Ferrall), Ikiru (Japan / Kurosawa), Ivanhoe (US / Thrope), Just This Once (US / Weis), Kansas City Confidential (US / Karlson), “Kujira” (Japan / Ofuji), The Life of Oharu (Japan / Mizoguchi), Lightning (Japan / Naruse), Limelight (US / Chaplin), “The Little House” (US / Jackson), Love is Better than Ever (US / Donen), Lovely to Look At (US / LeRoy/Minnelli), The Lusty Men (US / Ray), Macao (US / Ray / Von Sternberg), The Machine that Kills Bad People (Italy / Rossellini), The Marrying Kind (US / Cukor), The Member of the Wedding (US / Zinneman), Million Dollar Mermaid (US / LeRoy), Mother (Japan / Naruse), Moulin Rouge (US / Huston), My Cousin Rachel (US / Koster), My Son John (US / McCarey), Neighbours (Canada / McLaren), La Noche avanza (Night Falls) (Mexico / Gavaldón), No Room for the Groom (US / Sirk), O Henry’s Full House (US / various), “Operation Rabbit” (US / Jones), Othello (Italy / Morocco / Welles), Park Row (US / Fuller), Pat and Mike (US / Cukor), Phone Call from a Stranger (US / Negulesco), Le Plaisir (France / Ophüls), “A Portrait of Ga” (UK / Tait), The Proud Princess (Czechoslovakia / Zeman), The Quiet Man (US / Ford), “Rabbit Seasoning” (US / Jones), Rancho Notorious (US / Lang), Rome ore 11 (Italy / De Santis), Room for One More (US / Taurog), Rosen blühen auf dem Heidegrab (West Germany / König), Ruby Gentry (US / Vidor), Scandal Sheet (US / Karlson), Scaramouche (US / Sidney), The Scarlet Flower (Soviet Union / Atanamov), Si muero antes de despertar (If I Should Die Before I Wake) (Argentina / Christensen), Singin’ in the Rain (US / Kelly & Donen), The Skin of the South (Japan / Honda), Something to Live For (US / Stevens), Son of Paleface (US / Tashlin), The Sniper (US / Dmytryk), The Snow Maiden (Soviet Union / Ivanov-Vano & Snezhko-Blotskaya), The Star (US / Heisler), Stolen Face (UK / Fisher), The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (US / Annakin), Sudden Fear (US / Miller), “The Super Snooper” (US / McKimson), Talk About a Stranger (US / Bradley), The Thief (US / Rouse), This is Cinerama (US / Cooper & von Fritsch), Three Girls from Rome (Italy / Emmer), “Tree for Two” (US / Freleng), “Trick or Treat” (US / Hannah), Umberto D (Italy / De Sica), Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie (US / King), Waiting Women (Sweden / Bergman), “Wakefield Express” (UK / Anderson), “Water Water Every Hare” (US / Jones), Way of a Gaucho (US / Tourneur), The White Reindeer (Finland / Blomberg), The White Sheik (Italy / Fellini), The Witch (Finland / Hällström), The World in His Arms (US / Walsh)

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The Queen and King of 1952 are, respectively, forever fav Gloria Grahame and the great Arthur Kennedy. Grahame won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work in The Bad and the Beautiful, was in the Best Picture winner (The Greatest Show on Earth), and appeared in four films (Sudden Fear and Macao are the other two). My favorite performances of hers are from other years, but from an accolades and output standpoint, this marks her peak in Hollywood. Meanwhile, Arthur Kennedy starred in three all-timers (Bend of the River, Rancho Notorious, and The Lusty Men), lending a shiftiness and latent instability to the genuine male bonds of each, and offering different depictions of off-putting, and barely suppressed, bitterness & greed. His presence consistently makes films more engagingly ambivalent

Before Godzilla, Ishiro Honda made The Skin of the South, a lovely film centered around many of the same issues he’d explore two years later: the intersection of societal progress, science, land, and the people who inhabit it

Ikiru, one of the greatest (the greatest?) bureaucracy prevents anyone from ever being helped and anything from ever being done movies

♫ Do not forsake me oh my darlin ♫ (High Noon)

There was a lot of room made for child actors in 1952 (& its surrounding years obviously!): The Marrying Kind, Room for One More, The First Time, Love is Better than Ever, Has Anybody Seen My Gal?, No Room for the Groom, Talk About a Stranger, If I Should Die Before I Wake, The Narrow Margin, Don’t Bother to Knock, Park Row, Hans Christian Andersen, O. Henry’s Full House, Member of the Wedding, Forbidden Games, Europa ’51, Children of Hiroshima, etc)

Ray Bolger dancing with himself dressed as two imaginary hanging portrait presidents in April in Paris (don’t ask!)

The inconsistent and totally unrelated Rita Hayworth lookalike dream sequences in the stage play adaptation of Eight Iron Men (most especially the “Nothing but Dames” scene). It’s a (good!) hangout movie about infantrymen waiting the day out in a rain-soaked bombed-out town. But the studio clearly felt they needed to spice things up with some awkwardly inserted cheesecake

The dynamic between Jimmy Stewart and Arthur Kennedy in Bend of the River, one of the richest and most fraught relationships in any Western

The way Jennifer Jones speaks from the back of her jaw in Ruby Gentry

The way both Manda and Marie of Casque d’Or feel indefinable in the way humans often are, and the way Jacques Becker and the actors reflect that we know them enough to want to know a lot more while understanding that we won’t

All of the narrative twists and window reflections in The Narrow Margin

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The exquisite ornate combination of Rotoscope animation, luminescent paints, and two-strip Technicolor palettes in Soviet animation from this year (and that era)
(The Scarlet Flower and The Snow Maiden)

The distance of Mizoguchi’s camera taking Oharu’s bottomless plight out of the individual and into a much broader historical commentary re: women’s place in Japan (and, guess what? everywhere!) as the fated bearer of restriction, and absorber of all male foibles (so, basically, it’s a Mizoguchi film!) (The Life of Oharu)

Robert Mitchum blowing in with the wind and the litter at the start of The Lusty Men

“Dignity. Always dignity” (Singin’ in the Rain)

The masterful first 40 minutes of Rome ore 11, which tracks a steadily growing queue of girls desperate to interview for one available secretary position. Following around a dozen characters from their arrival on (who largely don’t interact with one another), while establishing a variety of predicaments/personalities and the steadily escalating and increasingly untenable situation, it is one of my favorite sections of any film I’ve seen in recent years

The “Zelda! Ohhhhhhh Zelda!!!!!” gentleman in Singin’ in the Rain

“What are the train wheels sayin’, Nellie?” (Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie)

Kaneto Shindo making a harrowing docudrama on the long-term aftermath and devastation in his hometown of Hiroshima (Children of Hiroshima)

I really should have read Member of the Wedding before watching it because there is virtually no chance I’ll read it now, not with Julie Harris as Frankie in my head. One of the worst characters and most grating performances I’ve ever had the misfortune to sit through. Poor Ethel Waters

Only Marlene Dietrich would ever have an entrance where she’s riding a man like a horse through a saloon’s drunken obstacle course (Rancho Notorious)

The contagious power and momentum of Park Row, bolstered from every angle by Sam Fuller. Movement and action linked

Olivia de Havilland in her first role since 1949’s The Heiress, and they’ve got her sporting that same hair! (My Cousin Rachel)

Charlie Chaplin finding direct face-front pathways to the audience whenever he can (Limelight)

Othello: starts at a crazy pitch and just about stays there

Two of the best movies about making movies (Singin’ in the Rain and The Bad and the Beautiful)

The way the Irish countryside’s beauty and comforts nestle alongside a mandatory submission to the “your business is everyone’s business” way of life in The Quiet Man

The poignant and melancholy “Inchworm” song in Hans Christian Andersen. A big influence on David Bowie, most intensely re: “Ashes to Ashes” (which happens to be my favorite Bowie song!) but he’s also said it has been an instrumental inspiration for him throughout his career

Just look at these three, what a team! At least for now (Bend of the River)

A trail of buttons, colored chalk, and enticements of lollipops in If I Should Die Before I Wake

There was nobody better than Joan Crawford. She and her collaborators trust in her ability to carry emotionally fraught silence, allowing Sudden Fear two unconventionally lengthy sequences that rest entirely on her ability to convey conflict and tension through her face. Watching her listen to the bombshell recording between Jack Palance and Gloria Grahame is a document of the range of human emotion and how to utilize the camera as communicator

Rediscovering Ikiru‘s bold structural choices, and other idiosyncratic qualities that its baseline canon 101 status make you (or at least me) easily forget about

The worst movies I watched for 1952: The Member of the Wedding, Ivanhoe

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The lovable pouty childishness and delusional naivete of Carmen in Carmen’s Innocent Love. Hideko Takemine does something really special here, and I wish that a. film incorporated her more and b. that the third planned Carmen adventure had been made. The shots of her attempting to learn ballet, as the only adult in a sea of little kids, are so perfect

Cut to an empty audience in the first dream sequence of Limelight

The ending of The Bad & the Beautiful: a light note masking a really multifaceted one about forgiveness and success, but also how badly those in the industry need or will kowtow to others in if the opportunity is promising . But this time they’d know what they’re getting into and have the upper hand and it’d be a win-win for everyone! Still some cynicism mixed in

Sweet flirtatious moments between a girl waiting in line for a job and a boy across the street with a handful of tchotchkes waiting for a bus (Rome ore 11)

The San Francisco location work in The Sniper. Utilizes a wobbliness that emphasizes the disorientation of modern life and women’s place within it

The luminous backlit Simone Signoret in Casque d’Or

The repellent discomfort of Othello. All jagged cuts and angles. All abrasion. An Escher world of deceit, paranoia, and cobbled together bits

Toyo playing devil’s advocate with Kanji as they talk parents and children in Ikiru

The everyday routine of boyfriends or hopeful boyfriends waiting for the girls to get out of work in Three Girls from Rome

Ray Milland’s exhausted and remorseful burst of cry laughter in the entirely dialogue free The Thief

The wind-up dog toy in Sudden Fear

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The deep periwinkle blues and seaweed streamers in the Little Mermaid ballet sequence of Hans Christian Andersen

Shooing away ants with newspaper fire in Umberto D

I want just a whole movie about the Helen Ramirez character from High Noon: she’s the best part!

My two favorite scores of 1952: Europa ’51 (Renzo Rossellini) and Children of Hiroshima (Akira Ikufube)

Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly both tend to be pretty Dullsville, which definitely contributes to my being lukewarm about High Noon

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The extremely gay The Crimson Pirate!

The extremely gay vibes in Way of a Gaucho!

Robert Mitchum crawling underneath his broken down childhood home, into the past, to find his tin toys and keepsakes in their hiding place, intact, rusty, and cobwebbed (The Lusty Men)

The girls of Rome ore 11 listening with hushed intensity to the tortuously slow typing of one applicant, and the machine gun rat-a-tat of another

The way Fritz Lang makes Arthur Kennedy’s quest for revenge in Rancho Notorious a deeply ugly one, subtly but unmistakably revealing the cruelty & transparency of his infiltration. This is the type of throughline you could imagine being nowhere in the script and entirely from Lang’s filmmaking choices and performance direction (pure conjecture!). More nuanced and more surprising than most “revenge ain’t all it’s cracked up to be” angles

Chills from Jimmy Stewart’s “you’ll be seein’ me” in Bend of the River. He fucking means it; a career-high moment and an all-timer shot

The way that kid goes from protagonist to antagonist in Talk About a Stranger

Was not prepared for Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie. I had really only heard of it before in reference to David Lynch. It’s the first film he recalls seeing, and it frightened him a lot (specifically the choking scene). The parallels to his own work are very clear (the darkness underneath small-town Americana)! Someone get this masterpiece in watchable condition and freely available!

My Son John should be the poster child for why talking or writing about movies on a scale of good and bad is often silly and uninteresting. An incredible and bizarre historical document i.e an anti-communist propaganda narrative feature. Gets ridiculous, and morally heinous (as expected), but the first hour plays as a wonderfully shaded drama about how invisible-to-us changes in family dynamics are actually substantively volcanic. The “red” flags would have been universally understood to American audiences of 1952, but to us Robert Walker just seems to display intelligence, albeit in a snobby and condescending way, towards his old values patriotic family. And so the confusion that the coded and implicit “Red Scare” creates (in the 1st hour before it’s all made explicit) in that chasm between past and present, unintentionally results in a film about family dynamic driven minutiae in the way you’d only ever find in literary fiction because it’s too internalized a dilemma for film to depict. Yet My Son John, through its hateful fearmongering, stumbles onto it!

Roscoe Dexter’s increasingly frayed nerves while dealing with Lina and sound equipment malfunction in Singin’ in the Rain

This incredible tracking shot from the opening minutes of Moulin Rouge, where the top-down mirror reflects all along the bar’s surface. There is light and life everywhere

Bouncing pearls reveal a killer at the bottom of the stairs in The Narrow Margin

The young Toyo sitting with Kanji while surrounded by other young people having a birthday party in Ikiru

Susan Hayward spending time in the rodeo lady trick-shooter’s fancy trailer as she observes the daily ins and outs of the new life she’s been unwittingly dragged into (The Lusty Men)

The fluid transition into a POV shot that takes us up and out the window in Le Plaisir

The abject pain of having to see 19 year old Elizabeth Taylor actively pursuing the 38 year old Larry Parks, a walking Phil Hartman character without any of the Phil Hartman je ne sais quoi (Love is Better than Ever)

Speaking of Larry Parks: The Downfall of Larry Parks. An in-demand leading actor for a brief time, the one film of his released in 1952, Love is Better than Ever, was shot 2 years earlier. It had been shelved because he testified for HUAC, after begging in tears not to, and ended up blacklisted anyways. His movie career was over. He was supposed to have played the Robert Cummings role in The First Time but he subsequently lost the part. Both films came out in 1952

Douglas Sirk coming in for back-to-back films about the various ways family can become splintered and priorities become grotesque under capitalism and mid-century American living with No Room for the Groom and Has Anybody Seen My Gal?

The uncompromising way the child killer subject matter is handled in If I Should Die Before I Wake, and how real the threat of violence feels. A kid stumbles into a potential fate that he’s too young to fathom

The entire section with the novelist in Ikiru. I love that character so much, both how immediately and intensely invested he is in Kanji’s predicament, and that his solution is to take him on a bender

The red and blue puddle reflections of city lights in Abstract in Concrete

Being taken aback at how much I loved an Esther Williams movie (I hadn’t seen any!) (Million Dollar Mermaid)

The last piece of fruitcake in Eight Iron Men

The consistent eye-popping joys of watching the Hollywood musicals of 1952, a peak of Technicolor fantasias. I loved almost every one, and even the one I was very mixed on (Lovely to Look At) contains some of the most gorgeous images from anything I watched from this or any year! (April in Paris, Hans Christian Andersen, Singin’ in the Rain, Million Dollar Mermaid, Lovely to Look At)

Million Dollar Mermaid is definitely the better circus movie than The Greatest Show on Earth!

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The way Bells of Atlantis brings these words by Anais Nin to visual life: “I am of the race of men and women who see all things through this curtain of sea, and my eyes are the color of water”

I love Pacific Northwest Westerns! (Bend of the River)

Describing Flike as a “mutt with intelligent eyes” in Umberto D

A drunk Georgia comes home to see Jonathan waiting for her in The Bad and the Beautiful

The one take fight down the street in Park Row. Its dynamism reminded me a lot of the quick raucous energy pumping through similar scenes and thematic concerns in Gangs of New York (absolutely not a coincidence)

Speaking of fights, the three-man brawl in The Narrow Margin between two men and a handheld camera acting as third participant!

Ann Miller’s one number in Lovely to Look At. She has (comparatively) thicker legs, is allowed to have thicker legs and to shake them. It absolutely rules. What a powerhouse.

The tense recognition and loaded glances that accompany the names Glyn McLyntock and Emerson Cole in Bend of the River

Harry’s infuriating “wow, he sure ruined you” routine to Georgia, James, and Fred throughout The Bad and the Beautiful

The fascinating tension between both the celebration and critique of the small-town American way in Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie. Gives way to a brutal character study and then occupies this strange space of espousing Ben’s outlook while acknowledging the permanent semi-hardening of his soul is his own doing

The way The Thief‘s ambitious no-dialogue experiment heightens the secrecy and invisibility of spy work

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Let’s check in on what Busby Berkley’s up ton in 1952: oh, OK, he’s just completely out of his gourd, only able to achieve geometric shapes to his satisfaction via death-defying stunts with absolutely zero oversight or safety precautions! (Million Dollar Mermaid)

A hand reaches out in pitch-black darkness in Waiting Women

Match strikes on the wall in Umberto D

The way Akira Kurosawa and Takeshi Shimura seemingly understand that the actor’s exaggerated just-saw-his-dog-get-run-over face as Kanji brushes up against pantomime without that awareness getting in the way of sincerity

A husband pushes his invalid wife in her wheelchair along a wintry beach; stray chairs are scattered along either side. We’ve just learned who they are and how they came to be (Le Plaisir)

The dazzling 8-minute sword fight at the end of Scaramouche. Entirely executed by Stewart Granger (one couch leap aside) and Mel Ferrer, who trained for 8 weeks learning stunts and sword passes before shooting

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The full frame Technicolor Western spaces in Rancho Notorious. Between that and the presence of Marlene Dietrich in pants and a position of business, it feels very much like a proto Johnny Guitar

The carousel of the old stories in Si Muero Antes de Despertar

Gene Kelly’s, in the immortal words of Al Pacino in Heat, “great ass!!!” is the source of much enjoyment and discussion, but I also spend an unhealthy amount of time thinking about his arms, specifically when he rests one along the wall Kathy’s leaning back on during their stroll on the Hollywood lot (Singin’ in the Rain)

The haunting presence of Robert Walker, who died during the filming of My Son John. At one point he encourages his mom to take pills because the doctor said so. Walker passed away when the pills his psychiatrist prescribed to him (at his home during an episode) mixed with all the alcohol in his system. Leo McCarey &/or the studio made the awkward choice of inserting dialogue free shots of him on a telephone and elsewhere lifted straight from Strangers on a Train. Then there’s the end, in which his character gives a postmortem commencement speech from beyond the grave, all because Walker himself was dead. As if My Son John needed assistance in infamy and oddity

No Room for the Groom, a domestic horror movie if I’ve ever seen one. Think the anxiety of the escalating crowded house/sink sequences in mother! but stretched out for most of a movie in the guise of a comedy. Douglas Sirk keeps things keyed up from scene-to-scene with cluttered framing and constant invasive blocking. It triggered enough palpable claustrophobia in me that I’m not sure I’d ever watch it again! But that also means it contains some of Sirk’s best and most underseen filmmaking

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This stunning dreamlike two-part dissolve in Something to Live For, a really thoughtful alcoholism drama George Stevens made between A Place in the Sun and Giant. The characters are allowed flaws and murky situations without moralism or judgment seeping in. Underseen solid stuff

Contagious church tears in Le Plaisir

Back and forth “laughs” with the landlady in Umberto D

The third story in Waiting Women. A long-time married couple now defined by convenience and no fire get trapped in an elevator. The night slowly, and amusingly, allows for a rare temporary honesty and lust

The trees falling montage in The Skin of the South

The Narrow Margin’s 70 minute live-wire b-movie energy and the fun shapes of its narrative patterns. As the train moves forward, we get a cast of rotating players that pop up in circular or zig-zag fashion as misunderstandings are had, dangers are dodged, and twists are revealed

The preternaturally off-kilter This is Cinerama, stemming from a combination of 50s kitsch and the Fantasia-like presentation of ultramodern technology containing sci-fi promises of a new world. This feeling is most present in the sepia toned church choir scene. We start close by the organ and slowly dolly back. We hear chimes and singing as the choir flanks forward from both sides into the frame, moving through the warps of the triptych. It’s like something out of a Ken Russell movie

Undercutting expected with humor in The Bad and the Beautiful (It Stinks card and dropping Lana in the pool)

The gradual sloppy and insistent drunkenness, theorizing, and recollecting in Ikiru‘s last third

Trying to get up the will to beg (Umberto D)

The several times Bob Hope makes sounds just like Daffy Duck when he’s losing his mind in Son of Paleface

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A staircase overflowing with hundreds of girls to fill one typist position collapses causing catastrophic injury. A reporter asks the father of one of the injured to say something. This is what he says. Later, he’s excited to hear his moment in the interview on the radio broadcast. Of course, they edited his remark out (the staircase collapse actually happened in Rome the year before) (Rome ore 11)

Ben Halper narrates about finding his place in town life, telling us all the groups he joins, flatly oblivious that Nellie isn’t even allowed in the barbershop connected to their home and also wanted precisely none of this life (Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie)

Every time Phineas looks down he looks just like Robert Shaw…and he looks down a lot in Park Row

The ever-infectious Doris Day gets out of the stuffy dining room and charms the pants off an entire kitchen staff in April in Paris. Table dancing, chefs hats, conjugated verbs. Such fun!

Two films from: Frank Tashlin, Douglas Sirk, Roberto Rossellini, John Ford, Carlos Hugo Christensen, Roberto Gavaldon, Mikio Naruse, George Cukor, Budd Boetticher, Fred Zinnemann, Henry King, Hugo Fregonese, Norman Taurog, Jean Negulusco, Harry Horner, Richard Thorpe, Vincent Sherman, and more!

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Douglas Sirk going in for that lush small-town autumn imagery in Has Anybody Seen My Gal? years before All That Heaven Allows

A showcase scene for Ethel Waters in Member at the Wedding: the story of Ludie

The gorgeously arid and hazy Argentinian location shooting in Way of a Gaucho. This and Moulin Rouge have a similar unforgettable gauziness to their photography. I think about the looks of both quite often

Jimmy Stewart and Arthur Kennedy’s river brawl in Bend of the River. Nowhere near as long as The Quiet Man‘s climactic multi-location fistfight (& they have very different purposes!), but it is vicious

Jane Russell’s very elaborate secret hideout in Son of Paleface!

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Ishiro Honda coming in, as always, with scenarios and concerns that have only become more prevalent. Here, businessmen don’t trust or care to listen to scientists in the face of alarming and dangerous environmental evidence! (The Skin of the South)

The way Hideko Takemine observes the squabbles, losses, and pressures of her family in Lightning, and starting to figure out the tricky balance between being your own person but not having to live through inherited dysfunction

Rouge swapping in Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie

The extreme 90s Nickelodeon commercial break short energy of Neighbours and I mean that as the highest compliment

The wildly risque exchange in The First Time when Robert Cummings picks up a sex worker, thinking she’s a babysitter, & says “you’re a sitter, right?” and she goes “just between you & me, two scotches & I’ll sit anywhere”. Old Hollywood innuendos were definitely a thing but this is on a whole other explicit level. Still half convinced my ears misheard

Everything about Gloria Grahame’s look here in Sudden Fear. The PJs, cigarette, position, phone and coffee by the bed, all the scheming. Icon!

Son of Paleface is slammed with quintessentially Tashlin gags, but this keyhole bit might take the cake.

Nellie discovers the documents in Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie

The way Way of a Gaucho interrogates the cowboy mythos and recognizes there is a cost to a renegade freedom, a cost that pertains to the people around you

I’ve never read Sister Carrie, and I didn’t know the basic story, so I was pretty unprepared for the trajectory of Laurence Olivier’s character and the excruciating way it all slowly unfolds. I was also unprepared for how taken I’d be with this movie (Carrie)

A great moment from The White Sheik

Jane Russell looking back two more times and deciding two more times to add one more sleeping pill to Bob Hope’s drink in Son of Paleface

The noise noise noise of a Hollywood party in The Bad and the Beautiful; we pick up various conversations as the camera scopes out the ritz

Carmen’s Innocent Love being shot in canted angles by Keisuke Kinoshita and Hiroshi Kusuda. Makes for a distinctly quirky experience, especially the scenes that rock back and forth like you’re out to sea (because apparently a film made with canted angles wasn’t enough?!?!)

The loose and eccentric screen presence of both Judy Holliday and Aldo Ray in The Marrying Kind. There’s something really unique here, in the performances, the space they are given, and in the somehow relaxed pace (even more strange given the flashback structure)

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The face Marc Anthony the bulldog makes when he quickly succumbs to love for the kitty is one of the best moments in any cartoon (“Feed the Kitty“)

Maria in the kitchen by herself in Umberto D

Relishing the act of being annoyed with R.F Simpson in Singin’ in the Rain

Women making a fool of men with “I Love Lucy” style schemes in Just This Once, The First Time, Love is Better than Ever

The psychological “sex criminal” case study as character study, combined with the then on-trend police procedural noir in The Sniper

May you approach literally anything in life with the enthusiasm and carefree gleam of Burt Lancaster in The Crimson Pirate. Not sure I could tell the difference between him and just a pair of pearly whites

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That time Marge and Gower Champion danced across the sky in Lovely to Look At

Terence Fisher’s loony proto-Vertigo b-noir Stolen Face. Sadly, part of what makes it loony is the way it completely demonizes the molded former convict as a pox on the lives of the people responsible for the entire scenario!

The boxing flashback in The Quiet Man: the shock of the modern and the harsh disruption of flash bulbs

A drunk girl’s legs dangle from the rafters of an abandoned home (The Bad and the Beautiful)

Simone Signoret’s locked eyes on Serge Reggiani as she waltz’s with another (Casque d’Or)

Federico Fellini’s debut film & already the focus on procession (The White Sheik)

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So much great cat content in Lightning!

Chase through the fishing nets in Macao

Abstract/modern art jabs in Carmen’s Innocent Love, Has Anybody Seen My Gal?, and O. Henry’s Full House

The fact that Mel Ferrer is supposed to be considerably older than Arthur Kennedy in Rancho Notorious (he is 3 years younger, with artificially grayed hair)

Opening one-time narration: this is Macao, The First Time, Room for One More, Love is Better than Ever, Affair in Trinidad, and more!

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The house of Carmen’s unrequited artist crush in Carmen’s Innocent Love (he makes his family wear clothes with his designs on them too). Every time we’re near his work there are Willy Wonka factory sounds in the audio

Cyd Charisse’s leggy sex bomb completely dominating Gene Kelly’s dumbstruck “character” during their initial “Broadway Melody” dance in Singin’ in the Rain

The father-son relationship in Si Muero Antes de Despertar

The resources it takes to have a voice, and the power that comes with it in Park Row

Marc Anthony the bulldog careening between squishy protective love and helpless panic in “Feed the Kitty“

The gift that is this diabolical queen. A performance for the ages, I could not love her more (Jean Hagen as Lina Lamont in Singin’ in the Rain)

The abundant full body nudity of Mirja Mane in The Witch

The streaks of beer fizz that appear across the bar as the barmaid sloshes everyone’s drinks over to them in Park Row

That oh-so-brief flash of tongue that Hideko Takemine playfully shows in Lightning. A precious performance beat

The murders in The Sniper. We watch the victim and hear the shot. A web of broken glass materializes out of thin air, and a body that was just going about its life is now mercilessly jerked into death

Winton C. Hoch’s Irish countryside photography in The Quiet Man, some of the most beautiful Technicolor images ever shot

Sudden Fear taking a gamble on the fact that we spend about 30 minutes of the movie having no idea what Joan Crawford is up to. And then it’s revealed in the masterful Schedule as Planned sequence

The consistency of bare walls and phone trills in The Thief

Burt Lancaster’s onscreen stunt work tends to be overlooked in the Buster Keaton/Jackie Chan scheme of things, but he’s a key figure in this regard. In The Crimson Pirate, he (along with acrobatic buddy) makes a spectacle of showing off those skills

Swordplay, the high seas, and/or pirate adventure films are in full swing! (Scaramouche, The Crimson Pirate, The Brigand, The Sword’s Point, Fanfan the Tulip, The Prisoner of Zenda, Son of Ali Baba, The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men, Captain Pirate, The Golden Hawk, Plymouth Adventure, Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd, Caribbean, Blackbird the Pirate, Yankee Buccaneer, Against All Flags)

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The painterly way that grey fog wraps around Janet Leigh and her white hair in Scaramouche 

Moviehouse seduction from a black screen by our unseen narrator in Le Plaisir: “I’m delighted to speak to you in the dark, as if seated right beside you…and perhaps I am”. I rewatched this at home (obviously), but I can only imagine what being folded into a film this way right at the top would be in a theater

Eddie Albert giving one of the best grade-A slimy sweet-talker performances in Carrie

A silent crackle of lightning signifies those rare moments of turbulent clarity that can pave the way for acknowledgment and understanding (Lightning)

The look Manda gives Raymond before walking out the door in Casque d’Or

Kathleen Freeman popping up in just about everything
(Singin’ in the Rain, Talk About a A Stranger, Love is Better than Ever, Wait Till the Sun Shines Nellie, O Henry’s Full House, The Prisoner of Zenda, Monkey Business, The Bad and the Beautiful)

The breathtaking cinematography in Moulin Rouge. Using Toulouse Lautrec specific color palettes as well as what must be diffusion filters (so says the guesses of others), the film has an exquisite softness that evokes the past through the slightest of fogs, where each pool of color is both immediate & intimate and evokes The Past (a film from the past that evokes The Past, a double dreamlike remove).

Love old movies about terrible dudes where you’re just waiting to get their comeuppance (Scandal Sheet, Night Falls)

The cartoonishly surreal moment in Son of Paleface when, get this: Bob Hope drives his old car through the desert while two vultures perch on the back because they want to eat him and then they drive through a mirage of snow and the vultures become penguins

A movie about newspapers written and directed by Sam Fuller and a movie about newspapers adapted from a novel by Sam Fuller (he used to work in newspapers!)
(Park Row and Scandal Sheet)

Uncle “POW” teaching mother how to iron (Mother)

Stay or Leave? The Jimmy John vote in Room for One More

The striking visual illusion shot in Talk About a Stranger, where a pair of car headlights careening towards a child in the road reveals itself, at the last second, to actually be two motorcycles that splinter off

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This gorgeous Klimt-like mural in Alraune

One of the best comedy bits in any film: the way the sex workers being away for one night disrupts the entire rhythm of a town, immediately sending the men into childish petty fighting the second they actually are forced to spend time with each other (Le Plaisir)

Lana in the car in The Bad and the Beautiful. Show stopping cinematic moment. There is no music. All you hear are horns, all you feel is a bumpy and unstable ride, and all you see are a starlet’s tears and where’s-it-coming-from flashes of light. Genuinely nothing else quite like it

The best part of Member at the Wedding is easily the kid from Shane walking around in high heels because he’s into them

That time Katharine Hepburn beat up some gangsters including Charles Bronson! (Pat and Mike)

Tony Curtis saying “Don’t scraaaatch” in No Room for the Groom

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The loneliness and longing of Danny Kaye in Hans Christian Andersen. There’s a solemn Robin Williams quality to the character and performance

Arguably no actress better than Barbara Stanwyck at playing characters that truly know themselves (Clash by Night)

The politically risque and very atypical screwball comedy elements of Carmen’s Innocent Love. There’s a housemaid convinced that everyone is an atomic bomb, and a major subplot involving a terrifying woman’s quest for election and the militant pro-rearmament rants she goes on every chance she gets!

Rosemary DeCamp’s aching one-scene performance in Scandal Sheet

Sudden Fear‘s use of shadow and ceiling courtesy of Charles Lang and David Miller. There is something particularly cruel and solitary that comes across in both the story and look of this film. I think about Joan Crawford edging towards the sides of the frame when she discovers her husband’s intentions — unable to escape, closed in by a ceiling the bares down on her as the framing becomes a prison

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Really missing when cross dissolves were seen as a go-to filmmaking technique for communicating ideas, narrative, and/or aesthetics in mainstream filmmaking. Just one of many things I miss in filmmaking that seems to have been largely tossed out the window (this is a small sample from 1952 and obviously not specific to just 1952!)

Marveling at the blank space ballet set in Singin’ in the Rain every time. Trying to get a feel for where it ends and begins, where the steps are and how big or small, and the angelic movement and flight of Cyd Charisse’s costume

Judy Holliday’s reaction to Aldo Ray hocking some phlegm in The Marrying Kind, so cute and natural. The kind of small acting moment that takes you by surprise in the best way

1952: the peak of Stewart Granger’s bid for Hollywood stardom (it would not last, thank goodness) (Scaramouche, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Wild North)

“The Ballad of Chuck-a-Luck” song heard throughout Rancho Notorious, a new stylistic choice for the time

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That time Spencer Tracy imagined Katharine Hepburn’s face on a horse in Pat and Mike

The heyday of husband-and-wife dance team Marge & Gower Champion (Lovely to Look At and the autobiographical Everything I Have is Yours)

Long overdue cathartic communication and mutual understanding between father and daughter in The Holly & the Ivy

Battle for the sheets with Trigger (Son of Paleface)

All the sweat and men slapping each other in Kansas City Confidential

Clash by Night‘s about to burst mid-century tension re: male/female relationships: what are they for, what to expect, how to be, and the frivolous pact made with misogyny by both men and women because nobody knows better

This very brief moment when Katharine Hepburn has the kind of Lucille Ball energy that made up my favorite random comedic beats of her on “I Love Lucy” (Pat and Mike)

Mexican cinema continuing to thrive!

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These two eerily similar shots of daughters and staircases in Has Anybody Seen My Gal? and The Star

The perceptive way The Sniper depicts how individual misogyny arises from embedded societal misogyny, which seems likely unintentional and may just come from its own misogyny!

The intimate familiarity a grandmother is preserved on film by Margaret Tait in A Portrait of Ga. A person recalled in how they did everyday things, and what those who love you observe and remember of you (the sticky candy, the way she holds her teacup)

The way the sea and port city are a dead end instead of typically freeing in Clash by Night

Peter Lawford and Janet Leigh stare at each other silently as another couple speaks lovingly to one another, saying what the two of them are not yet ready to in Just This Once

Developing a crush on Chikage Awashima from seeing her in The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice and Carmen’s Innocent Love

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The perpetual and garish opulence of the Vincente Minnelli directed Adrian costumed fashion show spectacle that ends Lovely to Look At. A Pandora’s Box of decor and color

Jimmy Stewart as a clown named Buttons wanted for murder in The Greatest Show on Earth!

Universal continues its efforts to make Piper Laurie their Debbie Reynolds (Has Anybody Seen My Gal, No Room for the Groom, Son of Ali Baba)

A daughter tells us her favorite sound, one of comfort and love, and a sign that everything is OK: her dad chewing on toasted beans ❤ (Mother)

The emotional pay-off of “thank you” in Bend of the River

Barbara Hale screaming Hitler! at her husband in The First Time

The nightclub and gambling outfit in Macao called “The Quick Reward”

The Calorie House

“The Calorie House” in The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice

Swanky nightclub/piano accompanied performances in non-musicals Macao, Affair in Trinidad, Don’t Bother to Knock, Rancho Notorious

The out-of-sync “Dueling Cavalier” in Singin’ in the Rain (“No! No! No!” “Yes. Yes. Yes.”)

The Toni “narrative” in This is Cinerama

The camp-tastic jubilee that is Bette Davis’s “Come on Oscar, let’s you and me get drunk” sequence in The Star. She (playing a washed up actress) takes her Oscar on a drunken joy ride while slur-talking to it, which includes giving it an impromptu Hollywood homes tour!

The ending of Moulin Rouge, a quieter precursor to the ending of All That Jazz. Bye bye life.

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Two more beautiful people at the start of their careers: Lee van Cleef and Lucia Bose

Shelley Winters as a stripper who can read people and their troubles in Phone Call from a Stranger

The wind! That kiss! (The Quiet Man)

The irritated (but still trying to put on a face for her public) way Lina blows kisses while exiting the stage after being interrupted by Don in Singin’ in the Rain

Being totally OK that a third of Pat and Mike is watching Katharine Hepburn show off her tennis and golfing skills. In one shot we just watch her tee off ball after ball after ball

Just how many times does Shirley Booth call Burt Lancaster ‘Daddy’ in Come Back, Little Sheba? 512? 789? 330? I lost count very early on, but all of these numbers seem feasible

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This explicit exchange in The Greatest Show on Earth!

Mo Money, Mo Problems (Just This Once, The First Time, No Room for the Groom, Has Anybody Seen My Gal?)

James Dean’s bit part in Has Anybody Seen My Gal? as a soda fountain customer that rattles off a very elaborate order

The barefooted Trinidad Lady number performed by Rita Hayworth in Affair in Trinidad

The world of wholesome and fixable mid-century family problems in Room for One More. So warm, cozy, and moving (hell, I cried). Very episodic in that first half of Little Women way. A very underappreciated film that wins you over to the possibilities of family

The colored dogs moment in April in Paris! (Yes, I know this was probably not good for the dogs)

The post office nightmare sequence in The Marrying Kind. All those ball bearings! And an all Judy Holliday firing squad!

Marie Windsor in The Narrow Margin, one of my favorite noir performances, and the dame I’d want in my corner, acidic quips at the ready

Arthur Franz (he looks like the James Badge Dale of his day) in three Stanley Kramer productions from 1952 (The Sniper, Eight Iron Men, Member at the Wedding)

The daydream sequence in Pat & Mike where Katharine Hepburn’s tennis match turns exaggeratedly disproportionate. Both The Marrying Kind and Pat & Mike were written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, both with surreal dream sequences!

Poor “Mr. Bonehead”
(The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice)

The Cinecolor photography of Flamenco

The blinding whites of snowy Lapland in The White Reindeer

Realizing that Judy Holliday and Brittney Murphy were kindred cinematic spirits

Barbara Hale’s delivery of “Poor little fella. He’s hungry. He can’t read the schedule!”
in The First Time

The White Reindeer, eerily constructed in the silent film form

The big Kay Nielsen energy from this shot in The Snow Maiden

A tracking shot in Carrie: inside the restaurant, Jennifer Jones walks to reception while Laurence Olivier gazes at her and follows parallel along the other side of the partition

Kathy’s riotious slightly raspy crack-up when Don rips his jacket in Singin’ in the Rain. It’s a sound that comes to my head extremely often!

In Le Plaisir, presenting the women, their brothel, and its clockwork routines with labyrinthine uniformity from the literal outside looking in (a showstopper), only to extract them from the place that defines them (to others and audiences) for an overnight sojourn to the countryside. That’s the joke, but it’s a sweet-natured and human one, as close to a positive and carefree depiction of sex workers as you’re likely to find in this or any time!

As a rule, I will always love any movie that features Charles Coburn as an eccentric old millionaire (Has Anybody Seen My Gal?)

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Leopoldo Trieste’s one face during The White Sheik: dumbstruck stress

Bebe and Louis Barron’s pioneering early electronic music, used in Bells of Atlantis to intensify the dreamlike pre-shoegaze aesthetic

Following a stranger back to his story in Le Plaisir

The same thing happens in Europa ’51, in which Ingrid Bergman helps out a sex worker in need but instead of following her to place and story, she ends up seeing the woman through her final hours

Gene Kelly’s line reading of “I will not mol-est you” in Singin’ in the Rain

The last year before Cinemascope started, the regularity of the Technicolor in 1.37 aspect ratio has its swan song in 1952

Entry into the Thankless Parts Hall of Fame: Gloria Grahame in Macao. This is what happens when your role probably sucked to begin with, and then your soon-to-be ex-husband replaces the director who was making everyone miserable, and then you ask them to basically get you out of this picture as he cobbles together enough usable footage for a finished film. Could’ve watched her indifferent dice-shaking in long dazzle-ridden gloves for hours though

Memories of air raids evoke a nostalgia of better times between a mother and son (Europa ’51)

The power of pets! (Umberto D)

The sheer exhaustion and desperate limitless energy of Donald O’Connor in the justly legendary “Make ‘Em Laugh” number (Singin’ in the Rain)

That look that Robert Mitchum and Arthur Kennedy exchange before the former goes out for the last time (The Lusty Men)

Gliding through Cypress Gardens in This is Cinerama

Tweeting about how hot Laurence Olivier is as a broken man at the start of Carrie and then having the movie eat my words as it progressed. Yikes, I take it all back

The grace of Mizoguchi’s camera following a sword to beheading in The Life of Oharu

Ingrid Bergman’s walk around the sanitarium in Europa ’51. The camera acts as her POV while young women stare at the camera’s slowly searching gaze with suspicion and guardedness

Being very emotionally caught off-guard by the reveal in “The Last Leaf” segment of O. Henry’s Full House. Went from nowhere near crying to full-on sobbing within about five seconds

The uncomfortable unfamiliarity of the countryside’s night silence in Le Plaisir

Life is a stage in The Golden Coach

Paul Henreid resting on Lizbeth Scott’s nightdress-clad breasts as he listens to her heartbeat. Erotic! (Stolen Face)

Speaking of erotic, few things match the raw and violent sexual tension between Jennifer Jones and Charlton Heston in Ruby Gentry, hot damn

Also speaking of erotic! Nighttime shadows and desire and the what-could-be in Way of a Gaucho

A son seeks attention in Europa ’51

The way Susan Hayward sits back and observes her husband’s new friendship, ambition, and hubris, all while tolerating radical change that runs against he own hopes and dreams. She clocks what Robert Mitchum’s presence will bring to her marriage right from the start (The Lusty Men)

Richard Burton………..hello (major fellow Welshman Matthew Rhys vibes)
(My Cousin Rachel)

Two Charlotte Armstrong adaptations (Don’t Bother to Knock based on her short novel Mischief, and Talk About a Stranger based on her story “The Enemy”)

Digging both female leads in Scaramouche: Eleanor Parker in shocking red as the feisty hellcat, and Janet Leigh in shocking white as the pure but resourceful ward

The shade of lilac purple lighting the warehouse in the “You Were Meant for Me” scene in Singin’ in the Rain, a color I associate first and foremost with that number

The way Charlton Heston barely mouths the words “I love you” at the end of Ruby Gentry, something I don’t think I even caught the first time. Completely breaks out of the Hollywood template of what moments like that tend to look and feel like. Incredible blink-and-you’ll-miss-it intimacy

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The eye-popping almost hallucinatory Studios Convert to Talkies montage in Singin’ in the Rain

Speaking of mouthing declarations of love right before death, how about that cutaway to the young daughter at the end of The Lusty Men? One of those moments that reduced me to tears in a few seconds, so caught off-guard I was by the attention paid to her one-way heartbreak

Burt Lancaster’s very modern and blunt line reading of “alright then, shut up!” in The Crimson Pirate

The unsettling and compelling radical empathy The Sniper has for its serial killer

Guilietta Masina getting completely distracted by the fire-eater in the middle of the night in The White Sheik

Banana sandwiches in The First Time

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The block of swimming and underwater spectacles in Million Dollar Mermaid are, obviously, something out of this world. Ethereal spectacle, and also a reference point for the saying “Beauty is pain”

“And THIS is Cinerama” (This is Cinerama)

The romantic farce that delightfully plays out in The Golden Coach (one of the men waiting in the kitchen looking completely over it while being bugged my one of the kids is a particularly amusing moment)

The leaves already falling around Daniel Gélin and Simone Simon in Le Plaisir; fate signaling the end of their relationship’s brief honeymoon period

The lengthy pelota scenes in Night Falls, so much more entertaining to watch than the lengthy tennis scenes in Strangers on a Train from the year before!

Did not expect to see an image this psychedelic in a 1952 movie, and from Hans Christian Andersen no less!

The prevalence of the Pachinko parlor in The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, the first commercial one having opened in Japan only a few years before

Ingrid Bergman and Guilietta Masina onscreen together!!! (Europa ’51)

Judy Holliday playing the ukelele during a weekend family picnic, moments before life-changing tragedy (The Marrying Kind)

Self-harm wrist scars in Don’t Bother to Knock and Scandal Sheet

Robert Taylor, reliably the worst dude you can put in your movie (Ivanhoe)

Holy hell Burt, tell us how you really feel! (Come Back, Little Sheba)

Cary Grant’s eternal struggle to just get laid by his wife in Room for One More

Theater actress Mary Welch’s one movie role, as Charity Hackett in Park Row. Such a memorable and startling presence, the kind where you immediately look up what else she was in

Newspaper films! (Deadline — U.S.A, Park Row, Scandal Sheet)

The way Jennifer Jones in jeans sets every man’s loins on fire in Ruby Gentry

I’m sorry, but Wile E. Coyote does not sound like that, I refuse to accept it! (“Operation: Rabbit”)

The preposterous image of Gloria Grahame having an elephant foot inches from crushing her head in The Greatest Show on Earth

A long contemplative moment at the window after Ruth’s brother tells her she’s going to Hell for the millionth time (Ruby Gentry)

Fashion shows within a movie: my favorite thing! And there’s two major ones in 1952 (Singin’ in the Rain and Lovely to Look At)

Dinner table candle flames used for comedic symbolism during the dinner table argument in The First Time. This was Frank Tashlin’s first feature length film, and just one of many instances where you can already see the influence of his background in animation and Looney Tunes

All of the great dog content, before, you know, in Talk About a Stranger

Oharu quietly gets her revenge with the balding woman in The Life of Oharu

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Eleanor Parker’s brow-to-lid single shade eye make-up in Scaramouche

The postwar hotel purgatory of Don’t Bother to Knock. The Charlotte Armstrong book’s Nell was a far too vague troublemaker. Here, she’s a broken and unwell young woman lost in an increasingly delusional fugue state

“Ta tay tee toe too” (Singin’ in the Rain)

A Lord’s absurdly specific list of requirements in The Life of Oharu

One of the best character names ever: Boake Tackman (Ruby Gentry)

Appearances by both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in Moulin Rouge!

The one thing I remembered from seeing Le Plaisir was the mysterious man in the mask, dancing as if death was taking him, but only if he stopped moving. There’s a reason it stays with you. Ophüls famously creates dense and busy interior spaces for his camera to weave through. Usually he’s navigating and photographing the architectural obstacle course of his own making, but here he’s met his match; the challenge of keeping up with a man without a face and the frenzy of his aged desire

The “Moses Supposes” number in Singin’ in the Rain, my actual favorite number in film full of favorite numbers. Kelly and O’Connor going tow-to-tow like that, in sync all the way, is exhilarating every single time. And it’s a song I enjoy getting stuck in my head

That time Jennifer Jones scratches Charlton Heston’s face in Ruby Gentry

The newfound familiarity and discovery when husband and wife gather for a late night makeshift meal in The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice

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A selection (not exhaustive!) of favorite title cards from 1952

The line delivery of “He broke me pipe!” in Bend of the River

Charles Laughton tries to get arrested in O. Henry’s Full House

Maybe it’s because I’ve known the song “Singin’ in the Rain” for as long as I can remember but the number conjures up a very specific feeling of warmth akin to a bedtime lullaby. It always seems like a state of being to strive for (Singin’ in the Rain)

Sammy Petrillo, the Jerry Lewis knock-off in Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, and the human embodiment of Dumb & Dumber‘s “wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?”. I admittedly had a slight and inexplicable Stockholm Syndrome reaction towards him by the film’s end though

The slow-motion ether dash in “Water Water Every Hare“!

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Kathryn Grayson daydreaming about Howard Keel appearing in various mirrors to sing his love to her in that trademark baritone (Lovely to Look At)

Limelight being so full of phrases you’d find on home decor plaques like “Time is the great author. Always writes the perfect ending.” or “Life can be wonderful, if you’re not afraid of it”. Contagious because it’s incredibly emphatic

The deeply uncomfortable “imitate Chinese” scene in Clash by Night. The cuts to Barbara Stanwyck’s face illustrate that, at least for once in classic Hollywood, the racism is knowingly placed and has a function

The feeling when you recognize you’re too self-involved, delusional, and out-of-touch to be good anymore in The Star (Bette watches her screen test)

The joys of watching Cary Grant in Dad mode in Room for One More: theatrically making pancakes, sleeves rolled up, holding kittens, everyone calling him Poppy, unable to get a word in with his own family

It was all a dream! (Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla)

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This Martin Denny album cover! Oh wait, it’s actually a shot from Ivanhoe!

The whiplash of seeing Burt Lancaster giving two performances in 1952 that could not be more different in character or personality. Come Back, Little Sheba was his first transformative “I’m a serious actor” role (the other film is The Crimson Pirate)

Young Billy Gray’s rage as he beats up the oil tank lock in Talk About a Stranger, severely and memorably lit by the great John Alton

The lovable and naive newlywed fangirl Brunello Bovo aka “Passionate Dolly” in The White Sheik. She impressively registers the determination of her character as aloof, supporting the film’s feeling of wandering misadventure

Marilyn Monroe in Don’t Bother to Knock. She seems truly elsewhere. Every so often these expressions will break across her face that contain palpable human pain

I always think of the 1950s as the decade of play adaptations. This being the first year after A Streetcar Named Desire, there were definitely quite a few stage-based films being released in Hollywood (Clash By Night, Come Back, Little Sheba, The Member of the Wedding (from 1950 play adaptation of the novel), Beware My Lovely, The Happy Time, Eight Iron Men, The Four-Poster, Stop You’re Killing Me, What Price Glory). This would only increase throughout the decade. For now, play adaptations continued to be much more common in the UK than the US

Hildegard Knef and Karl Böhm looking like a doppelganger Ginger Rogers and Orson Welles in Alraune

Favorite Performances: Judy Holliday and Aldo Ray in The Marrying Kind, Hideko Takemine in Carmen’s Innocent Love, Laurence Olivier in Carrie, Joan Crawford in Sudden Fear, Danny Kaye in Hans Christian Andersen, Marilyn Monroe in Don’t Bother to Knock, Jean Hagen in Singin’ in the Rain, Mel Ferrer in Scaramouche, Chishū Ryū in The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, Néstor Zavarce in If I Should Die Before I Wake, Marie Windsor, The Narrow Margin, Ingrid Bergman in Europa ’51, Mary Welch in Park Row, Lana Turner in The Bad and the Beautiful, Brunella Bovo in The White Sheik, Bonor Colleano and Lee Marvin in Eight Iron Men, Maria Pia-Casilio in Umberto D

Favorite Characters: Carmen (Hideko Takemine, Carmen’s Innocent Love), Aya (Chikage Awashima, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice), Cosmo (Donald O’Connor, Singin’ in the Rain), Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen, Singin’ in the Rain), Maria (Maria-Pia Casilio, Umberto D), Frenchy (Mel Ferrer, Rancho Notorious), Mrs. Frankie Neall (Marie Windsor, The Narrow Margin), Louise Merritt (Susan Hayward, The Lusty Men), Phineas Mitchell (Gene Evans, Park Row), Kiyoko (Hideko Takemine, Lightning), Julie Allison (Donna Reed, Scandal Sheet), Angel (Gloria Grahame, The Greatest Show on Earth), Charity Hackett (Mary Welch, Park Row), Binky Gay (Shelley Winters, Phone Call from a Stranger), Henny Carey (Joan Fontaine, Something to Live For), Ethel (Doris Day, April in Paris), Sgt. Joe Mooney (Lee Marvin, Eight Iron Men), Wanda (Brunello Bovo, The White Sheik), Manda (Serge Reggiani, Casque d’Or) , Helen Ramirez (Katy Jurado, High Noon)

Least Favorite Characters: Frankie (Julie Harris, Member of the Wedding), Dan Jefferson (Dan Jagger, My Son John), the entire family in No Room for the Groom, Kumako Satake (Eiko Miyoshi, Carmen’s Innocent Love), Nonaka (Yoshio Kosugi), Sammy Petrillo, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, Ivanhoe in Ivanhoe, Larry Parks, Love is Better than Ever, Arthur Kennedy, mom in Has Anybody Seen My Gal?, Marcus Arizimendi in Night Falls, RF Simpson, Johnny Kernan (Richard Widmark, O. Henry’s Full House), Tony Naylor (Howard Keel, Lovely to Look At), Eddie Hoke (Keenan Wynn, Phone Call from a Stranger), Antonia (Lina Gennari, Umberto D)

QUOTES:

“The press is good or evil according to the character of those that direct it”
(Park Row)

“When you’re poor it all gets mixed up. You like the people who are good to you”
(Carrie)

“Men — I’d like to try ’em all: in deep fat!”
(The Lusty Men)

“I don’t want to fall down with you. This is not a farce”
(The Bad and the Beautiful)

“You make me sick to my stomach”
“Yeah, well use your own sink”
(The Narrow Margin)

“In Spring, a young man’s fancy turns…pretty fancy”
(Come Back, Little Sheba)

“Don’t be so eager to make a mistake”
(Clash by Night)

“What a sad business being funny”
(Limelight)

“There’s a difference between apples and men”
(Bend of the River)

“My love for others springs from the hate I feel for myself”
(Europa 51)

“Everybody frazzles everybody. Then they turn around and tell them ‘don’t be'”
(Pat and Mike)

“Your daddy and his surprises. He’s one to learn slowly”
(Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie)

“You’re real little with your shoes off”
“You’re real little with your shoes on”
(The Lusty Men)

“This train’s headed straight for the cemetery. But there’s another one coming along, a gravy train. Let’s get on it.”
(The Narrow Margin)

“On your way, dust!”
(Clash by Night)

“You love him. He loves you. What’s left?”
“But he hasn’t suffered enough!”
(April in Paris)

“What is it that makes you incompatible?”
“Being married to each other”
(The Marrying Kind)

“You make me sick to my stomach.”
“Well, use your own sink.”
(Don’t Bother to Knock)

“There’s only one way of doing it and that’s doing it”
(Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie)

“See, you get married and you become a statistic.”
“Yeah. Stay single and you wind up talking to bartenders”
(Don’t Bother to Knock)

“I don’t want my wife supporting herself. What am I, a peculiar?”
(The Marrying Kind)

“Women are poison”
“But it’s a wonderful death”
(The Greatest Show on Earth)

“You’re not a mouse, you’re a man”
“You peeked”
(Son of Paleface)

“Well, we get there just as fast, talkin’. What about this dame, Mr. Crystal Ball?”
“A dish.”
“What kind of a dish?”
“Sixty-cent special. Cheap, flashy. Strictly poison under the gravy.”
(The Narrow Margin)

“You’re crude Earl.”
“I never claimed a polish”
(Clash by Night)

“One should never meet a person whose work one admires. What they do is always so much better than what they are”
(Moulin Rouge)

“It gave me goose flesh and notions”
(Don’t Bother to Knock)

“It’s getting so nowadays you can’t trust men anymore”
“It’s getting so you can’t trust women either”
(The Sniper)

“You’re off your stick — way off”
(The Narrow Margin)

“Talking pictures, that means I’m out of a job. At last I can start suffering and write that symphony.”
“You’re not out of a job, we’re putting you in as head of our new music department.”
“Oh, thanks, R.F.! At last I can stop suffering and write that symphony.”
Singin’ in the Rain

“Too bad. He seemed like a real nice fella.”
“He was…til they found gold”
(Bend of the River)

“You’re just like me. You’re born and you’d like to get unborn”
(Clash by Night)

100 (or so) Favorite Images from the Films of 1952

Favorite Shots from the Films of 1925
100 Images from the Films of 1930
100 (or so) Images from the Films of 1949
100 (or so) Favorite Images from the Films of 1990
What I’ll Remember About the Films of 1969 (contains some favorite shots at the end)
What I’ll Remember About the Films of 1982 (contains some favorite shots at the end)

Top Ten By Year: 1952 Poll Results

I’m always collecting screengrabs as I make my way through a watchlist. Most often, I’ll go back through the film sometime in the days afterward, and use my timestamp notes to capture images that jumped out at me (I should note that about 25% of the images below were not captured by me). I spend time organizing and placing them in folders with other like-minded images, putting favorites aside for this post. I refer back to them as I very gradually compile my What I’ll Remember post, in the hope that images jog some observation or memory I may be forgetting. So, by the time I post this, I’ve seen these images a lot. And grown attached to them. They, and many more that aren’t on here, have been rattling around in my head, in tandem with one another, for many months.

I’ve curated and ordered them in the hopes that there is an always evolving ~vibe as you scroll through. I like when images from one film enhance or compliment images from another, so I’ve attempted to do that here. I have my reasons for each of these, but I’ll mostly leave the bulk of the post text free, save for some short asides. Sometimes it’s the movement of the shot that matters (which obviously can’t be captured here) or the narrative context. Sometimes it’s the expression on the actor or just pure aesthetics. Sometimes it’s just some combination of the texture of older film images, the past, cinematography, and film stocks. A film from now with the same blocking and framing (although probably a different aspect ratio) likely won’t mean much, if anything, because aesthetics, standards, technology, and production have transformed so completely, that the 21st century image, for a whole host of reasons, very often feels impermanent.

To wrap up, I’ve finally finished working through the year 1952!!! I won’t be writing about my favorites now. I’ll cross that bridge whenever I do a zine for that year. I’m taking a bit of a hiatus from this project. I’ve been doing it for ten years, and with my other hobbies/interests, the people in my life, and all the non-project films I’ve been itching to see across film history, it just feels like the right time to pause.

I’ll still be working on zines! There are several years from this project that still don’t have one, and I’d like them to (1965, 1930, 1949, 1952). I’m hoping to have a zine for 1965 out by the end of the year. That was only the second year I chose for this, so it was a very long time ago and will involve a lot of rewatching and catching up with a ton I didn’t see the first time through (seems like I still find a way to always have a year watchlist going).

This means that this is one of only two more 1952 related posts I’ll be making. The other is my What I’ll Remember About the Films of 1952: A Love Letter post, which will go up later this month!

The “or so” of this title has come to mean about 160 images from 71 different films. I’ve credited the director and cinematographer of each, and, in a few cases, the performer. I hope you enjoy!

Ikiru (director: Akira Kurosawa cinematographer: Asakazu Nakai)
Starting with an iconic image. There is no still of this shot that can capture the effect of the falling snow as it twinkles.

Hans Christian Andersen (director: Charles Vidor / cinematographer: Harry Stradling)

The Golden Coach (director: Jean Renoir / cinematographer: Claude Renoir)
*one of my ten favorites

Rancho Notorious (director: Fritz Lang / cinematographer: Hal Mohr / performer: Marlene Dietrich)
*one of my ten favorites. Big spoiler image, but I got chills when I saw this, and still when I look at it.

Othello (director Orson Welles / cinematographer: many people at various times! / cinematographer: Suzanne Cloutier)

The White Sheik (director: Federico Fellini / cinematographer: Arturo Gallea)

Europa ’51 (director: Roberto Rossellini / cinematographer: Aldo Tonti)

The Snow Maiden (director: Ivan Petrovich Ivanov & Alexandra Snezhko-Blotskaya / cinematographer: Nikolay Voinov)
Major Kay Nielsen energy

Don’t Bother to Knock (director: Roy Ward Baker / cinematographer: Lucien Ballard / performer: Marilyn Monroe)
*one of my ten favorites. Unwell, trying to look well, the man is put off. She is incredible here. This movie is the only time you’ll catch anyone looking at Monroe this way.

Waiting Women (director: Ingmar Bergman / cinematographer: Lucien Ballard)

Singin’ in the Rain (directors: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen / cinematographer: Harold Rosson)

Rancho Notorious (director: Fritz Lang / cinematographer: Hal Mohr)

• 

• 

A Portrait of Ga (director & cinematographer: Margaret Tait)

Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie (director Henry King / cinematographer: Leon Shamroy)

Ruby Gentry (director: King Vidor / cinematographer: Russell Harlan)

Macao (director: Josef von Sternberg / Nicholas Ray / cinematographer: Harry J. Wild)

The Bad and the Beautiful (director: Vincente Minnelli / cinematographer: Robert Surtees)
If you know this shot, you *know*. Nothing can capture it in stills. One of the most live-wire moments in cinema.

Umberto D (director: Vittorio De Sica / cinematographer: G.R Aldo)

Rome 11:00 (director: Giuseppe De Santis / cinematographer: Otello Martelli)

Othello (director Orson Welles / cinematographer: many people at various

Sudden Fear (director: David Miller / cinematographer: Charles Lang / performers: Gloria Grahame & Joan Crawford)
*one of my ten favorites. The way Grahame & Crawford’s right eyes intersect with each other, it looks like Gloria is melting. The more I look at this image, the more it frightens me. I love it.

The Witch (director: Roland af Hällström / cinematographer: Esko Töyri)

Othello (director Orson Welles / cinematographer: many people at various times!)

• 

• 

Something to Live For (director: George Stevens / cinematographer: George Barnes)
*one of my ten favorites

Waiting Women (director: Ingmar Bergman / cinematographer: Lucien Ballard)

My Son John (director: Leo McCarey / cinematographer: Harry Stradling)
I’ll go more into this for my What I’ll Remember post, but this image is borne out of Robert Walker’s death and the filmmakers having to improvise.

Limelight (director: Charlie Chaplin / cinematographer: Karl Struss)

Singin’ in the Rain (directors: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen / cinematographer: Harold Rosson)

The Lusty Men (director: Nicholas Ray / cinematographer: Lee Garmes)

Europa ’51 (director: Roberto Rossellini / cinematographer: Aldo Tonti)
*one of my ten favorites

Hans Christian Andersen (director: Charles Vidor / cinematographer: Harry Stradling)

Waiting Women (director: Ingmar Bergman / cinematographer: Lucien Ballard)

Ruby Gentry (director: King Vidor / cinematographer: Russell Harlan)

Bells of Atlantis (director: Ian Hugo)

Abstract in Concrete (director: John Arvonio)

Singin’ in the Rain (directors: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen / cinematographer: Harold Rosson)

Million Dollar Mermaid (director: Mervyn LeRoy / cinematographer: George J. Folsey)

Bells of Atlantis (director: Ian Hugo)

This is Cinerama (director: Merian C. Cooper / cinematographer: Harry Squire)

Million Dollar Mermaid (director: Mervyn LeRoy / cinematographer: George J. Folsey)
*one of my ten favorites

Lovely to Look At (director: Mervyn LeRoy / cinematographer: George J. Folsey)

Limelight (director: Charlie Chaplin / cinematographer: Karl Struss)

Million Dollar Mermaid (director: Mervyn LeRoy / cinematographer: George J. Folsey)

Scaramouche (director: George Sidney / cinematographer: Charles Rosher)

Singin’ in the Rain (directors: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen / cinematographer: Harold Rosson)

Hans Christian Andersen (director: Charles Vidor / cinematographer: Harry Stradling)

Carmen’s Innocent Love (director: Keisuke Kinoshita / cinematographer: Hiroshi Kusuda / performer: Hideko Takemine)
Putting Carmen’s pouty face during kid ballet surrounded by beautiful professional productions seemed apt!

Hans Christian Andersen (director: Charles Vidor / cinematographer: Harry Stradling)

April in Paris (director: David Butler / cinematographer: Wilfred M. Cline)

Flamenco (director: Edgar Neville / cinematographer: Heinrich Gärtner)

Son of Paleface (director: Frank Tashlin / cinematographer: Harry J. Wild)

Lovely to Look At (director: Mervyn LeRoy / cinematographer: George J. Folsey)

Singin’ in the Rain (directors: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen / cinematographer: Harold Rosson)

The Golden Coach (director: Jean Renoir / cinematographer: Claude Renoir)

The Scarlet Flower (director: Lev Atanamov / cinematographer: Mikhail Druyan)

Three Girls from Rome (director: Luciano Emmer / cinematographer: Rodolfo Lombardi)

Rome 11:00 (director: Giuseppe De Santis / cinematographer: Otello Martelli)

Europa ’51 (director: Roberto Rossellini / cinematographer: Aldo Tonti)

Singin’ in the Rain (directors: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen / cinematographer: Harold Rosson)

Singin’ in the Rain (directors: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen / cinematographer: Harold Rosson)

Ruby Gentry (director: King Vidor / cinematographer: Russell Harlan)

The Quiet Man (director: John Ford / cinematographer: Winton C. Hoch)

Moulin Rouge (director: John Huston / cinematographer: Oswald Morris)

Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (director: Douglas Sirk / cinematographer: Clifford Stine)

High Noon (director: Fred Zinnemann / cinematographer: Floyd Crosby)

Europa ’51 (director: Roberto Rossellini / cinematographer: Aldo Tonti)
One of several times Ingrid Bergman sneaks back into her house after doing charity work.

Alraune (director: Arthur Maria Rabenalt / cinematographer: Friedl Behn-Grund)

The Life of Oharu (director: Kenji Mizoguchi / cinematographer: Yoshimi Hirano)

Night Falls (director: Roberto Gavaldón / cinematographer: Jack Draper)

Operation: Rabbit (director: Chuck Jones)

April in Paris (director: David Butler / cinematographer: Wilfred M. Cline)

Lovely to Look At (director: Mervyn LeRoy / cinematographer: George J. Folsey)
*one of my ten favorites

Beauties of the Night (director: Rene Clair / cinematographer: Armand Thirard)

Waiting Women (director: Ingmar Bergman / cinematographer: Lucien Ballard)

Rome 11:00 (director: Giuseppe De Santis / cinematographer: Otello Martelli)

Singin’ in the Rain (directors: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen / cinematographer: Harold Rosson)

Abstronic (directors: Mary Ellen Bute & Ted Nemeth)

Hans Christian Andersen (director: Charles Vidor / cinematographer: Harry Stradling)
Some Willy Wonka boat ride energy way before the fact!

Beep, Beep (director: Chuck Jones)

The Hasty Hare (director: Chuck Jones)

The Life of Oharu (director: Kenji Mizoguchi / cinematographer: Yoshimi Hirano)

If I Should Die Before I Wake (director: Carlos Hugo Christensen / cinematographer: Pablo Tabernero)

Way of a Gaucho (director: Jacques Tourneur / cinematographer: Harry Jackson)

Sudden Fear (director: David Miller / cinematographer: Charles Lang)

The Life of Oharu (director: Kenji Mizoguchi / cinematographer: Yoshimi Hirano)

The Bad and the Beautiful (director: Vincente Minnelli / cinematographer: Robert Surtees)

Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie (director Henry King / cinematographer: Leon Shamroy / performer: David Wayne)
After seeing this character in a completely different light for an hour, this scene and expression are shocking.

Rome 11:00 (director: Giuseppe De Santis / cinematographer: Otello Martelli / performer: Carla del Poggio)

Bend of the River (director: Anthony Mann / cinematographer: Irving Glassberg / performer: Jimmy Stewart)
*one of my ten favorites. Another took me aback performance beat.

Way of a Gaucho (director: Jacques Tourneur / cinematographer: Harry Jackson)
I’ll go into it a little more in my What I’ll Remember post, but the way both this and Moulin Rouge look are so distinct and special. Hazy and dreamlike exteriors.

A Portrait of Ga (director & cinematographer: Margaret Tait)

The Witch (director: Roland af Hällström / cinematographer: Esko Töyri)

The White Reindeer (director & cinematographer: Erik Blomberg)

Flamenco (director: Edgar Neville / cinematographer: Heinrich Gärtner)

Othello (director Orson Welles / cinematographer: many people at various times!)

Rancho Notorious (director: Fritz Lang / cinematographer: Hal Mohr)

The Quiet Man (director: John Ford / cinematographer: Winton C. Hoch)

Singin’ in the Rain (directors: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen / cinematographer: Harold Rosson)

The Proud Princess (director: Borivoj Zeman / cinematographer: Jan Roth)

The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (director: Ken Annakin / cinematographer: Guy Green)

Scaramouche (director: George Sidney / cinematographer: Charles Rosher)
I wish a still could better capture the particular effect of Janet Leigh shrouded in fog and billowy head scarf, but you start to get the idea here.

Ivanhoe (director: Richard Thorpe / cinematographer: Freddie Young)

The Proud Princess (director: Borivoj Zeman / cinematographer: Jan Roth)

The Bad and the Beautiful (director: Vincente Minnelli / cinematographer: Robert Surtees)

Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie (director Henry King / cinematographer: Leon Shamroy)

Othello (director Orson Welles / cinematographer: many people at various times!)

Sudden Fear (director: David Miller / cinematographer: Charles Lang)
So much excellent use of negative space in this film, all emphasizing the whiplash of entrapment (or, you might say, sudden fear?) Crawford finds herself in.

Moulin Rouge (director: John Huston / cinematographer: Oswald Morris)

Hans Christian Andersen (director: Charles Vidor / cinematographer: Harry Stradling / performer: Danny Kaye)

The Marrying Kind (director: George Cukor / cinematographer: Joseph Walker / performer: Aldo Ray)

Million Dollar Mermaid (director: Mervyn LeRoy / cinematographer: George J. Folsey)

The Thief (director: Russell Rouse / cinematographer: Sam Leavitt)

Don’t Bother to Knock (director: Roy Ward Baker / cinematographer: Lucien Ballard / performer: Marilyn Monroe)

Le Plaisir (director: Max Ophüls / cinematographer: Philippe Agostini & Christian Matras)

The Narrow Margin (director: Richard Fleischer / cinematographer: George E. Diskant)

Carmen’s Innocent Love (director: Keisuke Kinoshita / cinematographer: Hiroshi Kusuda)

Three Girls from Rome (director: Luciano Emmer / cinematographer: Rodolfo Lombardi)

Come Back, Little Sheba (director: Daniel Mann / cinematographer: James Wong Howe / performer: Shirley Booth)

The Quiet Man (director: John Ford / cinematographer: Winton C. Hoch / performer: John Wayne)
*one of my ten favorites

Limelight (director: Charlie Chaplin / cinematographer: Karl Struss / performer: Charlie Chaplin)

Feed the Kitty (director: Chuck Jones)

Talk About a Stranger (director: David Bradley / cinematographer: John Alton / performer: Billy Gray)

Umberto D (director: Vittorio De Sica / cinematographer: G.R Aldo / performer: Maria Pia-Casilio)

Moulin Rouge (director: John Huston / cinematographer: Oswald Morris)

Le Plaisir (director: Max Ophüls / cinematographer: Philippe Agostini & Christian Matras)

This is Cinerama (director: Merian C. Cooper / cinematographer: Harry Squire)

The Scarlet Flower (director: Lev Atanamov / cinematographer: Mikhail Druyan)

Bend of the River (director: Anthony Mann / cinematographer: Irving Glassberg)

The Skin of the South (director: Ishirō Honda / cinematographer: So Kawamura)

The World in His Arms (director: Raoul Walsh / cinematographer: Russell Metty)

Singin’ in the Rain (directors: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen / cinematographer: Harold Rosson)

April in Paris (director: David Butler / cinematographer: Wilfred M. Cline)
This shot is meant to illustrate that Doris Day doesn’t know what to do with these forks or eat fancy food, but I have a love for old garish food photography, so this kind of image is right up my alley.

Sudden Fear (director: David Miller / cinematographer: Charles Lang)

Ikiru (director: Akira Kurosawa cinematographer: Asakazu Nakai)

Stolen Face (director: Terence Fisher / cinematographer: Walter J. Harvey)

Lovely to Look At (director: Mervyn LeRoy / cinematographer: George J. Folsey)

Scaramouche (director: George Sidney / cinematographer: Charles Rosher)

Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (director: Douglas Sirk / cinematographer: Clifford Stine)

This is Cinerama (director: Merian C. Cooper / cinematographer: Harry Squire)
What I love about this is that it spends hours showing off new technology with epic outdoor vistas and sights we’ve never seen in a way we’ve never seen them; what we’d expect from a film like this. But there’s something particularly novel about using that technology to photograph the entirerty of a mid-century living room.

Moulin Rouge (director: John Huston / cinematographer: Oswald Morris)
*one of my ten favorites

Come Back, Little Sheba (director: Daniel Mann / cinematographer: James Wong Howe)

Ruby Gentry (director: King Vidor / cinematographer: Russell Harlan)

The Quiet Man (director: John Ford / cinematographer: Winton C. Hoch)

Europa ’51 (director: Roberto Rossellini / cinematographer: Aldo Tonti)

The White Reindeer (director & cinematographer: Erik Blomberg)

The Golden Coach (director: Jean Renoir / cinematographer: Claude Renoir)

The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (director: Yasujirō Ozu / cinematographer: Yuuharu Atsuta)

The Sniper (director: Edward Dmytryk / cinematographer: Burnett Guffey)

The Thief (director: Russell Rouse / cinematographer: Sam Leavitt)

Lovely to Look At (director: Mervyn LeRoy / cinematographer: George J. Folsey)

Umberto D (director: Vittorio De Sica / cinematographer: G.R Aldo)

My Son John (director: Leo McCarey / cinematographer: Harry Stradling)

The Narrow Margin (director: Richard Fleischer / cinematographer: George E. Diskant)

The Lusty Men (director: Nicholas Ray / cinematographer: Lee Garmes)

Room for One More (director: Norman Taurog / cinematographer: Robert Burks)

Park Row (director: Samuel Fuller / cinematographer: John L. Russell)

Abstract in Concrete (director: John Arvonio)

Carmen’s Innocent Love (director: Keisuke Kinoshita / cinematographer: Hiroshi Kusuda)

Children of Hiroshima (director: Kaneto Shindo / cinematographer:
Takeo Itō)

Son of Paleface (director: Frank Tashlin / cinematographer: Harry J. Wild)

The Narrow Margin (director: Richard Fleischer / cinematographer: George E. Diskant)

My Cousin Rachel (director: Henry Koster / cinematographer: Joseph LaShelle)

The White Reindeer (director & cinematographer: Erik Blomberg)

This is Cinerama (director: Merian C. Cooper / cinematographer: Harry Squire)

Top Ten By Year: 1952 – Poll Results

Previous Top Ten By Year Polls: 1925, 1949, 1958, 1969, 1978, 1992, 1930, 1982, 1990

Poll Rule Reminders: Participants could vote for up to 10 films; no more, but certainly less. Order was not required since it had no bearing on the results.

First off, thank you so much to everyone who voted! 283 people voted for 175 different films!

Taking into account the oversaturation of lists/listicles, I hope it’s clear that this project is anything but tossed off. The Top Ten By Year Project is an effort to reclaim what I love about lists in the first place. Seeing what makes the collective top ten is a lot of fun, but may I direct your attention to the full breakdown of votes and the individual ballots? My hope with these polls is that, in addition to (hopefully) planting seeds of anticipation for the related posts to come (What I’ll Remember About the Films of 1952: A Love Letter, A Selection of Favorite Shots, and the Top Ten), they mainly serve as a resource for anyone looking for new older films to watch, whether it’s from seeing:

a. what ‘Film Twitter’, in so far as such a thing exists, collectively loves
b. the films towards the bottom of the list, the ones you’ve never heard of that are begging for (re)discovery
c. the individual ballots from people whose taste and knowledge you value

A few films that did not count for this but kept coming up: Angel Face and On Dangerous Ground. They are both iffy, and I’m sure cases for them counting as 1952 could easily be made, but in order to avoid as little confusion as possible I like to go with the year the film is most often associated with. Anyone who voted for these films still have them on their ballot, but these films were not considered for this poll.

Go take a look at the results below and then come back up here for a few reactions!

As is usual with the cumulative top ten, a lot of the key players you’d expect are here. Singin’ in the Rain was always going to be the far-and-away winner. Ikiru at #2 is also what I expected, as well as several other widely canonized works that typically have high visibility on these kinds of lists. I was interested in seeing where High Noon placed, as it seems to have lost some film circle footing in recent years. But, apparently not as much as I thought! While The Bad and the Beautiful was expected to make the cut, seeing it eke out a #3 placement was a pleasant surprise. But the real pleasant surprise about this group is that Nicholas Ray’s rodeo drama The Lusty Men and the compact train-set b-noir The Narrow Margin managed to place, pushing out more predictable choices like Le Plaisir, Forbidden Games (which I assumed was a lock for this), or Europa ’51. I expected all of these numbers to be swapped, with the aforementioned films fighting for those spots while The Lusty Men and The Narrow Margin hung with other strong show-but-no-cigar placements like Kansas City Confidential or Park Row. I always hope for a couple of twists in the top ten, as it is typically the least interesting component of these posts, so I was happy to see that happen here. While I still have to watch The Lusty Men, The Narrow Margin is one of my favorite noirs. To see that people know it and love it on that scale is fantastic.

Other pleasant surprises included people really showing up for Anthony Mann’s excellent Bend of the River. I thought it would be in the low 30s/high 20s, but it got 48 votes and an honorable mention spot. There was also a strong showing for Finland’s folk horror curio The White Reindeer. If this poll had been conducted five years ago, I suspect the film would’ve been in single digit territory. But thanks to a restoration, a Masters of Cinema blu-ray release (circa 2017), and a very recent Twitch stream courtesy of Spectacle Theater, it is, as evidenced here, building on its initial cult rep.

Othello gets credited as both 1951 and 1952 in equal measure, but I counted it here. Would it have received more votes if it was on everyone’s radar as an eligible choice? Probably!

Instances where my little film bubble misled me: I thought more people had seen & loved Ruby Gentry, The Marrying Kind, Scandal Sheet, and both Mikio Naruse’s Lightning and Mother. I assumed a couple of the Chuck Jones Looney Tunes shorts would make a stronger showing. Feed the Kitty and Rabbit Seasoning were the tops out of those. Being that this was a golden age for animated studio shorts, plenty of Disney shorts received votes as well, including two holiday classics: Trick or Treat (Donald) and Pluto’s Christmas Tree (Pluto). Million Dollar Mermaid and Moulin Rouge had less votes than I would have expected, not even getting close to double digits. Lastly, I thought more people had seen/and or kind of liked O. Henry’s Full House, but only one person vouched for it.

Films that received more votes than I was expecting include the UK Christmas drama The Holly and the Ivy and the Communist spy family drama My Son John.

Only five people voted for The Greatest Show on Earth, both the highest grossing film and Best Picture Winner of 1952, and only one person voted for the second highest grossing film, The Snows of Kilimanjaro. Two other films from the top ten biggest monkeymakers of the year, Sailors Beware and Jumping Jacks (both Martin/Lewis comedies), received zero votes!

Regarding undervalued national cinemas, we can see strong representation from Brazil (five films), Mexico (four films), and Argentina (three films). Most of these films only received a few votes, but they hint at the breadth of non-Hollywood fare just waiting to be made more accessible and available, as well as more sought out by movie lovers in general. I watched the Argentinian If I Should Die Before I Wake (Si muero antes de despertar) last month, and it’s easily one of the best things I’ve watched for this year so far. That one received two votes.

A few more I’ve watched for 1952 (so far) which both a. got very little love and b. I’d highly recommend: Douglas Sirk’s colorful 1920s set get-rich-quick cautionary comedy Has Anybody Seen My Gal?, the Cary Grant led episodic lots-of-kids drama Room for One More, Frank Tashlin’s feature length debut The First Time, and the very different Carmen Comes Home sequel Carmen’s Innocent Love.

Through this poll, I learned that these are three separate 1952 films: The First Time (which I’ve watched and just mentioned), The Happy Time, and The Happy Family. I still cannot keep these straight.

As always, this poll throws a wrench into my watchlist because I end up adding stuff. I’ve got the higher profile ones covered, but several one and two vote films will end up being late additions. On the flip side of that, there are a ton of films in my 1952 watchlist that received zero votes!!! They are: Just This Once, Abstract in Concrete (a really great short, available to watch on youtube), Love is Better than Ever, Kujira (short), Alraune, The Stranger Left No Card, April in Paris, Lovely to Look At, Flamenco, Manon of the Spring, The Proud Princess, The Scarlet Flower, Something to Live For, The Skin of the South, Invitation, Eight Iron Men, The Queen of Sheba, I Believe in You, and The Snow Maiden. Between this, and the sheer number of films that people voted for, it shows (once again!) that there will always be an overflow of older works to watch and discover, both individually and within film culture as a whole, and that we’ll never catch up with all of it! And, honestly? Instead of being overwhelmed, I’m just grateful.

Be sure to leave me your thoughts, either on here or twitter. I’d love to hear about any individual thoughts or takeways!

POLL RESULTS: TOP TEN BY YEAR: 1952

1. Singin’ in the Rain (US / Donen/Kelly) – 222 votes
2. Ikiru (Japan / Kurosawa) – 147 votes
3. The Bad and the Beautiful (US / Minnelli) – 103 votes
4. Umberto D. (Italy / De Sica) – 100 votes (tie)
5. High Noon (US / Zinnemann) – 100 votes (tie)
6. The Quiet Man (US / Ford) – 97 votes
7. The Life of Oharu (Japan / Mizoguchi) – 80 votes
8. Limelight (US / Chaplin) – 73 votes
9. The Lusty Men (US / Ray) – 66 votes
10. The Narrow Margin (US / Fleischer) – 58 votes
    
    48 votes: Bend of the River (US / Mann), Le Plaisir (France / Ophüls), Forbidden Games (France / Clément)
    46 votes: The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (Japan / Ozu)
    44 votes: Park Row (US / Fuller)
    43 votes: Kansas City Confidential (US / Karlson)
    40 votes: Rancho Notorious (US / Lang), Monkey Business (US / Hawks)
    39 votes: Casque d’Or (France / Becker), The Golden Coach (France / Renoir)
    36 votes: Europa ’51 (Italy / Rossellini)
    33 votes: Sudden Fear (US / Miller)
    31 votes: Othello (Italy/Morocco/US / Welles)
    29 votes: Clash by Night (US / Lang)
    23 votes: The Importance of Being Earnest (UK / Asquith), The Big Sky (US / Hawks)
    18 votes: Lightning (Japan / Naruse)
    17 votes: The White Reindeer (Finland / Blomberg), Don’t Bother to Knock (US / Ward)
    14 votes: 5 Fingers (US / Mankiewicz), The Holly and the Ivy (UK / O’Ferrell), Mother (Japan / Naruse), Neighbours (Canada / McLaren) (short), Scaramouche (US / Sidney)
    13 votes: Son of Paleface (US / Tashlin), Scandal Sheet (US / Karlson), Rabbit Seasoning (US / Jones)
    12 votes: Feed the Kitty (US / Jones) (short), The Marrying Kind (US / Cukor), Ruby Gentry (US / Vidor)
    
    10 votes: The Sniper (US / Dmytryk), Pat and Mike (US / Cukor), Way of a Gaucho (US / Tourneur), The White Sheik (Italy / Fellini)
    
    8 votes: A Portrait of Ga (UK / Tait) (short), Deadline U.S.A. (US / Brooks), The Crimson Pirate (US / Siodmak), The Member of the Wedding (US / Zinnemann), Mexican Bus Ride (Mexico / Buñuel), My Son John (US / McCarey), Viva Zapata! (US / Kazan)
    
    7 votes: Come Back, Little Sheba (US / Mann), Macao (US / von Sternberg / Ray)
    
    6 votes: Affair in Trinidad (US / Sherman), Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (US / Sirk), Night Falls (La noche avanza) (Mexico / Gavaldón)
    
    5 votes: The Greatest Show on Earth (US / DeMille), My Cousin Rachel (US / Koster), The Sound Barrier (UK / Lean)
    
    4 votes: Carrie (US / Wyler), Children of Hiroshima (Japan / Shindo), Mandy (UK / Mackendrick), Million Dollar Mermaid (US / LeRoy), Moulin Rouge (US / Huston), Operation: Rabbit (US / Jones) (short), Outcast of the Islands (UK / Reed), Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie (US / King), Waiting Women (Sweden / Bergman)
    
    3 votes: Abstronic (US / Bute) (short), Against All Flags (US / Sherman / Sirk), Carmen’s Innocent Love (Japan / Kinoshita), Hans Christian Andersen (US / Vidor), The Happy Time (US / Fleischer), Horizons West (US / Boetticher), Hurlements en faveur de Sade (France / Debord) (short), The Little House (US / Jackson) (short), The Prisoner of Zenda (US / Thorpe), Road to Bali (US / Walker), Roses Bloom on the Moorland (West Germany / König), The Thief (US / Rouse), Trick or Treat (US / Hannah) (short)
    
    2 votes: Beep Beep (US / Jones) (short), Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (US / Beaudine), Bells of Atlantis (US / Hugo) (short), Beware, My Lovely (US / Horner), Canto da Saudade (Brazil / Mauro), The Card (UK / Neame), Carnaval Atlântida (Brazil / Burle/Manga), Don’t Ever Open that Door (No abras nunca esa puerta) (Argentina / Christensen), Fanfan la Tulipe (France / Jaque), Fool Coverage (US / McKimson) (short), Holiday for Henrietta (France / Duvivier), If I Should Die Before I Wake (Si muero antes de despertar) (Argentina / Christensen), Ivanhoe (US / Thorpe), Lambert the Sheepish Lion (US / Hannah) (short), Lone Star (US /Sherman), The Machine that Kills Bad People (La macchina ammazzacattivi) (Italy / Rossellini) , The Magical Maestro (US / Avery) (short), Nagarik (India / Ghatak), No Room for the Groom (US / Sirk), Red Planet Mars (US / Horner), Room for One More (US / Taurog), This is Cinerama (US / Cooper), The Witch (Finland / Hällström), A Woman without Love (Una mujer sin amo) (Mexico / Buñuel)
    
    1 vote: Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (US / Lamont), Adventure in Berlin (West Germany / Cap), Amei um Bicheiro (Brazil / Ileli/Wanderley), Appointment in London (UK / Leacock), At Sword’s Point (US /Allen), Babes in Baghdad (UK/Spain/US / Ulmer), The Beast Must Die (La bestia debe morir) (Argentina / Barreto), Beauties of the Night (France / Clair), The Black Castle (US / Jurran), Blacktop: The Story of the Washing of a School Yard Playground (US / Eames) (short), Bop Scotch (US / Belson) (short), Bwana Devil (US / Oboler/Clampett), The Cimarron Kid (US / Boetticher), Color Cry (UK / Lye) (short), Det kunne vært deg (Norway / Bergstrom/Kolstad), Down Among the Z Men (UK / Rogers), Duck and Cover (US / Rizzo) (short), Duel at Silver Creek (US / Siegel), Everything I Have is Yours (US / Leonard), The First Time (US / Tashlin), The Happy Family (UK / Box), Home at Seven (UK / Richardson), Hotel des Invalides (France / Franju) (short), Interim (US / Brakhage) (short), In the Storm (U Oluji) (Yugoslavia / Mimica), Invasion USA (US / Green), Jack and the Beanstalk (US / Yarbrough), The Lady Says No (US / Ross), Lost in Alaska (US / Yarbrough), Lure of the Wilderness (US / Negulesco), The Men who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (Japan / Kurosawa) (filmed in 1945), My Six Convicts (US / Fregonese), O Canada (Canada / Lambert) (short), O Henry’s Full House (US / various), Okuni and Gohei (Japan / Naruse), The Overcoat (Italy / Lattuada), Phone Call from a Stranger (US / Negulesco), Pluto’s Christmas Tree (US / Hannah) (short), Radar Men from the Moon (US / Brannon), Return of the Texan (US / Daves), Reverón (Venezuela / Benacerraf) (short), The Ring (US / Neumann), Rock-a-Bye Bear (US / Avery) (short), Rome 11:00 (Italy / De Santis), Secret People (UK / Dickinson), Simão, o Caolho (Brazil / Cavalcanti), The Snows of Kiminajaro (US / King), Soledad’s Shawl (Mexico / Gavaldon), The Star (US / Heisler), The Steel Trap (US / Stone), The Stooge (US / Taurog), The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (US / Annakin), Stranger on the Prowl (Italy / Losey), Talk About a Stranger (US / Bradley), This Woman is Dangerous (US / Feist), 3 Girls from Rome (Italy / Emmer), Tico-Tico no Fubá (Brazil / Celi), Tropical Heat Wave (US / Springsteen), The Truth About Bebe Donge (France / Decoin), Una donna ha ucciso (A Woman has Killed) (Italy / Cottafati), Untamed Frontier (US / Fregonese), Vendetta of a Samurai (Japan / Mori), Wakefield Express (UK / Anderson) (short, also credited for 1957), Walk East on Beacon! (US / Werker), Water, Water, Every Hare (US / Jones) (short), What Price Glory? (US / Ford), With a Song in My Heart (US / Lang), The World in His Arms (US / Walsh), Young Chopin (Poland / Ford)

!!All the Ballots!!

@austinlandry
1. Ikiru 2. The Life of Oharu 3. Singin’ in the Rain 4. The Lusty Men 5. Limelight 6. Forbidden Games 7. The Golden Coach 8. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice

@chesterstreet
Limelight, Umberto D., Singin’ in the Rain, The Lusty Men, Park Row

@ireglint
The Lusty Men, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, High Noon, Rancho Notorious, The Life of Oharu, Monkey Business, Ikiru, Ruby Gentry

@LoganKenny1 (Logan Kenny)
The Quiet Men, Singin’ in the Rain, The Lusty Men, Ikiru, Umberto D., Bend of the River, Monkey Business, The Bad and the Beautiful, Has Anybody Seen My Gal?, Deadline – U.S.A

@panickypictures
The Quiet Men, Singin’ in the Rain, The White Reindeer

@Urfavbandsux
The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, The Member of the Wedding, High Noon, Le Plaisir, Othello

@MrAllegretti
Breaking the Sound Barrier, Duck and Cover, High Noon, Ikiru, Limelight, Neighbours, O Canada, The Quiet Man, Singin’ in the Rain, Walk East on Beacon!

@stankbrakhage
Singin’ in the Rain, The White Reindeer, Umberto D., Le Plaisir, The Sniper, Abstronic

@dallasshaldune
Ikiru, Singin’ in the Rain, High Noon, Othello, Limelight, The Life of Oharu, Europa ‘51

@edillades
The Bad and the Beautiful, Limelight, Othello, Monkey Business, The Stooge, The Cimarron Kid, Pat and Mike, The Marrying Kind, Kansas City Confidential, Duel at Silver Creek, Invasion USA

@HouseofSparrows
The Beast Must Die, Ikiru, Limelight, Macao, Othello, Park Row, Le Plaisir, The Quiet Man, Rancho Notorious, Singin’ in the Rain

@_Noel_23
The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, Come Back, Little Sheba, Night Falls, Has Anybody Seen my Gal?, The White Reindeer, Ruby Gentry, Le Plaisir, Nagarik, The Bad and the Beautiful

@apdraper2000
Ikiru, The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, The Holly and the Ivy, Casque d’Or, Room for One More, Singin’ in the Rain, 5 Fingers

@Ewan_M
Singin’ in the Rain, The Life of Oharu, Lightning, The Lusty Men, Ikiru, Million Dollar Mermaid, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, Casque d’Or, The Golden Coach, Rancho Notorious

@LazlosGhost
Singin’ in the Rain, Ikiru, High Noon, The Bad and the Beautiful, Umberto D., The Quiet Man, The Narrow Margin, The Big Sky, Kansas City Confidential, Pat and Mike

@kennethrtan
Clash by Night, The Crimson Pirate, Forbidden Games, The Golden Coach, Ikiru, Pat and Mike, Le Plaisir, Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D

@lovedog7
Singin’ in the Rain, High Noon, The Life of Oharu, Ikiru, The Importance of Being Earnest, Clash by Night, Kansas City Confidential

@coppolafan
Singin’ in the Rain, My Son John, The Narrow Margin, The Lusty Men, Clash by Night, Kansas City Confidential, Scandal Sheet, Park Row, The Big Sky, Sudden Fear

@CaftanWoman (Patricia Nolan-Hall)
5 Fingers, Bend of the River, Carrie, The Happy Time, High Noon, The Holly and the Ivy, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Narrow Margin, The Quiet Man, Singin’ in the Rain 

@angelameganm
Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie, Carrie, Casque d’Or, Europa ‘51, Forbidden Games, Lightning, The Lusty Men, Rancho Notorious, Ruby Gentry, Singin’ in the Rain

@lschibi
High Noon, Kansas City Confidential, Ikiru

@NostalghiaFilm
Singin’ in the Rain, The Big Sky, The Bad and the Beautiful, Monkey Business, The First Time, Umberto D., Ikiru, Kansas City Confidential, Bend of the River

@panickypictures
The Quiet Man, Singin’ in the Rain, The White Reindeer

@Cocophone
Singin’ in the Rain, Kansas City Confidential, High Noon, Europa ‘51

@matthew_lucas
1. Ikiru 2. High Noon 3. Singin’ in the Rain 4. Forbidden Games 5. Umberto D. 6. Limelight 7. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 8. The Life of Oharu 9. Don’t Bother to Knock 10. Million Dollar Mermaid

@thepwrofgod
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. The Bad and the Beautiful 3. The Narrow Margin 4. The Lusty Men 5. Ikiru 6. Rancho Notorious 7. Umberto D. 8. Bend of the River

@londonYLWL
Casque d’Or, The Lusty Men, Mandy, The Quiet Man, Singin’ in the Rain, 5 Fingers, Son of Paleface, The Big Sky, Lure of the Wilderness, Against All Flags

@SchmanthonyP (Brian Schmid)
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. The Lusty Men 3. Ikiru 4. Othello 5. Forbidden Games 6. Lightning 7. The Life of Oharu 8. Limelight 9. High Noon 10. Mother

@ChrisLejarzar
High Noon, Ikiru, The Quiet Man, Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D.

@BadPostsLLC
The Bad and the Beautiful, Ikiru, The Quiet Man, High Noon, The Life of Oharu, Singin’ in the Rain, Bend of the River

@sleepyaza124
Ikiru, Mother, The Life of Oharu, Singin’ in the Rain, The Quiet Man, The Lusty Men, The Golden Coach, Umberto D., Casque d’Or, Le Plaisir

@cofi0806
Kansas City Confidential, Pat and Mike, The Importance of Being Earnest, Umberto D., Scaramouche, The Narrow Margin, The Quiet Man, The Life of Oharu, Ikiru, Singin’ in the Rain

@AwardsConnect (Andrew Carden)
The Bad and the Beautiful, Come Back, Little Sheba, Don’t Bother to Knock, The Member of the Wedding, Phone Call from a Stranger, The Quiet Man, Singin’ in the Rain, Sudden Fear, The Thief, With a Song in my Heart

@mrcarmady
Operation: Rabbit, Monkey Business, Bend of the River, Neighbours, Ikiru

@MichaelKPrice
High Noon, Bend of the River, Othello, Outcast of the Islands, Secret People, Casque d’Or, Rancho Notorious, The Bad and the Beautiful, Park Row, Le Plaisir

@Cinematic_Life
Ikiru, Singin’ in the Rain, Detective Story (does not count), Europa ‘51

@BuyDVDsandGive
1. Umberto D. 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. Ikiru 4. The Member of the Wedding 5. The Quiet Man 6. Clash by Night 7. High Noon 8. The Golden Coach 9. Bend of the River 10. The Holly and the Ivy

@narwalker
1. Scaramouche 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. The Importance of Being Earnest 4. The Narrow Margin 5. Bend of the River 6. Against All Flags 7. The Crimson Pirate 8. The Bad and the Beautiful 9. Othello 10. Ikiru

@IKnewThemWell
The Bad and the Beautiful, Casque d’Or, Forbidden Games, Ikiru, The Marrying Kind, The Quiet Man, The Star, Sudden Fear, Umberto D.

@MrKA_LA
Singin’ in the Rain, Affair in Trinidad, Sudden Fear

@dougrdickinson
Ikiru, High Noon, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Quiet Man, The Lusty Men, The Life of Oharu, Singin’ in the Rain 

@Jason_C_Wilson
1. High Noon 2. Umberto D. 3. Ikiru 4. Singin’ in the Rain 

@faithx5 (Jandy Hardesty)
Singin’ in the Rain, The Quiet Man, The Narrow Margin, Europa ‘51, The Importance of Being Earnest, Limelight, Hans Christian Andersen, The Bad and the Beautiful, Scaramouche, Rancho Notorious

@citizenkeith
Singin’ in the Rain, The Quiet Man, Limelight, Ikiru, My Son John, Othello, The Lusty Men, The Bad and the Beautiful, Europa ‘51, The Importance of Being Earnest

@corpsewizard
Umberto D., High Noon, Ikiru, Limelight, Europa ’51, The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, The Machine that Kills Bad People

@alwaysforpleasure (Instagram)
Limelight, Rancho Notorious, The Golden Coach, Neighbours

@beckett_ef
Casque d’Or, 5 Fingers, The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, The Golden Coach, Ikiru, Kansas City Confidential, The Lusty Men, Mother, Rancho Notorious, Umberto D.

@gustavo_menezes
1. O Canto da Saudade 2. Limelight 3. The Quiet Man 4. Carnaval Atlântida 5. The Big Sky 6. Tico-Tico no Fubá 7. Ikiru 8. Simão, o Caolho 9. Amei um Bicheiro 10. Moulin Rouge

@ohrachelleigh
Singin’ in the Rain, The Quiet Man, Forbidden Games, Limelight, High Noon, The Greatest Show on Earth, Come Back, Little Sheba

@GregTheRipper
1. Ikiru 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. Othello 4. The Quiet Man 5. Umberto D. 6. On Dangerous Ground (does not count) 7. The Narrow Margin 8. Bend of the River 9. Le Plaisir 10. Son of Paleface

@vanityrex
Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D., Sudden Fear, Don’t Bother to Knock, The Narrow Margin, Trick or Treat, Feed the Kitty, Rabbit Seasoning

@sly_wit
Kansas City Confidential, The Narrow Margin, Sudden Fear, High Noon, The Lavender Hill Mob (does not count), Singin’ in the Rain, Viva Zapata!, Rancho Notorious, Clash by Night, The Holly and the Ivy

@mailyard
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. Ikiru 3. Sudden Fear 4. The Bad and the Beautiful 5. The Lusty Men 6. The Sniper

@tedschaefer (Ted Schaefer)
Ikiru, The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, Europa ’51, The Life of Oharu, Umberto D., Le Plaisir, Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie, Singin’ in the Rain, The Bad and the Beautiful, Affair in Trinidad

@ryguyperez (Ryan Perez)
1. Le Plaisir 2. Park Row 3. Ikiru 4. The Golden Coach 5. Singin’ in the Rain 6. The Life of Oharu 7. The Quiet Man

@dnavarro_ace (Darrin Navarro, editor)
Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D., Ikiru, Forbidden Games

@Jacobunny
Ikiru, Kansas City Confidential, Singin’ in the Rain

@Silberwhatever (Ryan Silberstein)
Singin’ in the Rain, High Noon, Limelight

@JimLNeibaur
Bend of the River, Deadline — U.S.A., High Noon, Forbidden Games, Limelight, The Quiet Man, Road to Bali, Singin’ in the Rain, Son of Paleface, Umberto D.

@mxy_mabuse
Singin’ in the Rain, The Quiet Man, Europa ’51, The Marrying Kind, Kansas City Confidential, Mother, Park Row, Nagarik, The Crimson Pirate, Bend of the River

@wolfmanwalter13
Singin’ in the Rain, High Noon

@TheBrooksening
Umberto D., Singin’ in the Rain, Limelight, Ikiru, Othello, The Importance of Being Earnest, High Noon, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, Forbidden Games, The Lusty Men

@CarmanTse
The Life of Oharu

Sri_7_ (Instagram)
1. Ikiru 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. The Quiet Man 4. High Noon 5. Umberto D.

@seanpbeck
Singin’ in the Rain, High Noon, The Quiet Man

@toro913
1. Ikiru 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. Umberto D. 4. High Noon 5. Forbidden Games 6. The Bad and the Beautiful 7. Sudden Fear 8. Casque d’Or 9. The Lusty Men 10. My Cousin Rachel

@wehriskat
5 Fingers, The Bad and the Beautiful, High Noon, The Quiet Man, Singin’ in the Rain, Rashomon (does not count), Casque d’Or, Umberto D., The Holly and the Ivy, Ikiru

@AmateurCinefile
Singin’ in the Rain, High Noon, Ikiru, The Bad and the Beautiful, Umberto D., Limelight

@TalkinLooseMeat
Sudden Fear, Casque d’Or, Umberto D., Ikiru, Pat and Mike, Singin’ in the Rain, On Dangerous Ground (does not count), Tales of Hoffman (does not count), Kansas City Confidential, The Big Sky

@The3rdFrame
Viva Zapata!, The Quiet Man, Bend of the River, High Noon, The Card, Singin’ in the Rain, Limelight, The Magic Box (does not count), Don’t Bother to Knock, The Bad and the Beautiful

@EdirinOputu
Singin’ in the Rain, Scaramouche, The Importance of Being Earnest, Pat and Mike, The African Queen (does not count), The Narrow Margin, My Cousin Rachel, Angel Face (does not count), High Noon

@marcus_gorman
Singin’ in the Rain, Everything I Have is Yours, The Bad and the Beautiful, Monkey Business, Room for One More, Don’t Bother to Knock

@BobCurtin61
1. The Quiet Man 2. High Noon 3. The Narrow Margin 4. Angel Face (does not count) 5. Kansas City Confidential 6. Bend of the River 7. Othello

@doctor_morbius (Christianne Benedict)
Bend of the River, Children of Hiroshima, Forbidden Games, Ikiru, Kansas City Confidential, Scandal Sheet, Singin’ in the Rain, The Narrow Margin, The White Reindeer

@biscuitkitten (Jill Blake)
The Bad and the Beautiful, Kansas City Confidential, Singin’ in the Rain, The Marrying Kind, The Steel Trap, The African Queen (does not count), The Snows of Kilimanjaro, The Holly and the Ivy, Ikiru, The Narrow Margin

@Chaakles
Ikiru, Casque d’Or, The Narrow Margin, High Noon, Kansas City Confidential, Scandal Sheet, Rancho Notorious, Umberto D., Deadline – U.S.A., Singin’ in the Rain

@paul_monticone
The Bad and the Beautiful, The Lusty Men, Le Plaisir, Lightning, Bend of the River, The Quiet Man, The Life of Oharu, Angel Face (does not count), Outcast of the Islands, My Son John

@Fredzipfel
Ikiru, High Noon, Umberto D., Le Plaisir, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, Kansas City Confidential, The Life of Oharu, The Narrow Margin, Bend of the River, Casque d’Or

@LauraJacoves
Feed the Kitty, Umberto D., Singin’ in the Rain, Ikiru, Rabbit Seasoning, The Lusty Men, The Life of Oharu

@thasceles
The Bad and the Beautiful, Singin’ in the Rain, Down among the Z Men, Limelight, Beep Beep

@thefilmviews
1. Limelight 2. The Quiet Man 3. Umberto D. 4. Singin’ in the Rain 5. Sudden Fear 6. High Noon 7. The Sniper 8. Rancho Notorious 9. Bend of the River 10. The Lusty Men

@Kathy_Gee (Kathleen Geier)
Ikiru, The Life of Oharu, Lightning, The Lusty Men, The Narrow Margin, On Dangerous Ground (does not count), Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D., The White Sheik, Wife (does not count)

@MickBrooks666
Sudden Fear, Kansas City Confidential, The Bad and the Beautiful, Children of Hiroshima, The White Reindeer, Don’t Bother to Knock, Park Row, The Witch, Scandal Sheet, The Thief

@mousterpiece
Singin’ in the Rain

@david_cornelius
Singin’ in the Rain, Bend of the River, The Narrow Margin

@masoo
Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D., Ikiru, The Golden Coach, Forbidden Games, The Importance of Being Earnest

@pollyprissypant (Emma Badame)
High Noon, Singin’ in the Rain, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Lavender Hill Mob (does not count), The Holly and the Ivy, Monkey Business, My Cousin Rachel, 5 Fingers

@guycustis
Singin’ in the Rain, Ikiru, The Life of Oharu, Umberto D., Casque d’Or, Europa ’51, Le Plaisir, The Golden Coach, The Marrying Kind, The Importance of Being Earnest

@darrenmjones (Darren Jones)
Casque d’Or, Bend of the River, Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D., The Narrow Margin, 3 Girls from Rome, The Big Sky, The Crimson Pirate

@CalmonTiago
High Noon

@pedrosazevedo (Pedro Strazza)
The Lusty Men, Singin’ in the Rain, Ikiru, The Quiet Man, High Noon, The Sniper

@peachfish42
Singin’ in the Rain, The Quiet Man, Ikiru, High Noon

@oneflyride1
Way of a Gaucho, Europa ’51, Monkey Business, The Lusty Men, Casque d’Or

@sarahnwondrland
Singin’ in the Rain, The Bad and the Beautiful, Don’t Bother to Knock

@jgoresy
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. Park Row 3. The Lusty Men 4. Lightning 5. Ikiru 6. Bend of the River 7. The Life of Oharu 8. Limelight 9. Umberto D. 10. The Bad and the Beautiful

@SeanDuschane
Singin’ in the Rain, Forbidden Games, High Noon, Sudden Fear, The White Reindeer

@peronto907 (Anthony Peronto)
Singin’ in the Rain, Ikiru, Limelight, The Bad and the Beautiful, Rabbit Seasoning, The Little House, Kansas City Confidential, Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla

@deHavillanche
1. Forbidden Games 2. Casque d’Or 3. Singin’ in the Rain 4. Mother 5. High Noon 6. Ikiru 7. The Narrow Margin 8. Europa ’51 9. 5 Fingers 10. Sudden Fear

@butcherjpn
The Big Sky, Carmen’s Innocent Love, Europa ’51, The Golden Coach, Ikiru, The Life of Oharu, Monkey Business, The Narrow Margin, Rancho Notorious, Singin’ in the Rain

@mattcornell
The Lusty Men, Clash by Night

@JFGinDigital3D
Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D., Monkey Business, Limelight, The Importance of Being Earnest, Rabbit Seasoning, Trick or Treat

@bjanquetbjurger
1. High Noon 2. The Bad and the Beautiful 3. The Narrow Margin 4. Kansas City Confidential 5. Clash by Night 6. Singin’ in the Rain 7. Angel Face (does not count) 8. Park Row 9. Forbidden Games 10. Monkey Business

@ecgreenb
1. High Noon 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. Viva Zapata!

@jade230
Singin’ in the Rain

@erikgregersen (Erik Gregersen)
Ikiru, Othello, El (does not count), Outcast of the Islands, Singin’ in the Rain, Limelight, The Golden Coach, Waiting Women, Gods of Bali (does not count), Neighbours

@beer_movie
Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D., A Portrait of Ga

@JEffinghamBellw
Casque d’Or, The Narrow Margin, Othello, Forbidden Games, Beep Beep, Rabbit Seasoning, Moulin Rouge, Bend of the River, The Ring, The Life of Oharu

@jvcalbear
The Quiet Man, High Noon, Singin’ in the Rain, The Member of the Wedding

@leggoet
Singin’ in the Rain, The Life of Oharu, Limelight, Ikiru, The Quiet Man, Umberto D., The Narrow Margin, Forbidden Games, Europa ’51, High Noon

@ydavey
Ikiru, The Crimson Pirate, Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D., The Golden Coach, Scaramouche, The Happy Time, Forbidden Games, 5 Fingers, Casque d’Or

@jamie_uhler
Casque d’Or, Europa ’51, Ikiru, La Plaisir, My Son John, Pat and Mike, Rancho Notorious, Sudden Fear, The Thief, Singin’ in the Rain

@Jeffpk23
The Bad and the Beautiful, Clash by Night, High Noon, Ikiru, Macao, Monkey Business, The Narrow Margin, The Quiet Man, Singin’ in the Rain, Sudden Fear

@filmguru99
Singin’ in the Rain, Rancho Notorious, Kansas City Confidential

@48ONIRAM (Bri!!!)
The Quiet Man, Singin’ in the Rain, Bend of the River, Ikiru, High Noon, Limelight, Le Plaisir

@BrianFormo (Brian Formo)
1. Los Olividados (does not count) 2. The Life of Oharu 3. Forbidden Games 4. Singin’ in the Rain 5. Limelight 6. The Narrow Margin 7. Ikiru 8. The Lusty Men 9. The Quiet Man 10. High Noon

@BabosAnna1
Hurlements en faveur de Sade, Singin’ in the Rain, Neighbours, Color Cry, The State Department Store (does not count), A Portrait of Ga, Rancho Notorious

@toomuchistrue
Hurlements en faveur de Sade, Son of Paleface, The Life of Oharu, The Lusty Men, Hotel des Invalides, Monkey Business, Le Plaisir, The Big Sky, Limelight, Bend of the River

@vixticator
Umberto D., Ikiru, High Noon, Don’t Bother to Knock, Clash by Night, Sudden Fear, The Bad and the Beautiful, Le Plaisir, The Narrow Margin, Othello

@lchadbou
Europa ’51, La Plaisir, The Life of Oharu, 5 Fingers, Umberto D., Park Row, Forbidden Games, Ikiru, Kansas City Confidential, My Son John

@notpynchon
The Life of Oharu, The Golden Coach, Canto da Saudade, The Quiet Man, Monkey Business, Casque d’Or, Limelight, Singin’ in the Rain, The Bad and the Beautiful

@heyquinntweets
Singin’ in the Rain, The Bad and the Beautiful, Sudden Fear, The Golden Coach, Waiting Women, Come Back, Little Sheba, The Holly & the Ivy, No Room for the Groom, If I Should Die Before I Wake, The Card

@selfstyledsiren (Farran Nehme)
My Cousin Rachel, Scaramouche, The Member of the Wedding, Night Falls, 5 Fingers, Ruby Gentry, Roses Bloom on the Moorland, Casque d’Or, Don’t Ever Open that Door, Le Plaisir

@BigTallDrew (Drew Choiniere)
Singin’ in the Rain, The Quiet Man, Breaking the Sound Barrier, Othello, High Noon, Forbidden Games, Ikiru, Sudden Fear, The Bad and the Beautiful

@alexxkittle
Singin’ in the Rain, Sudden Fear, The Life of Oharu, Kansas City Confidential, The White Reindeer, Hans Christian Andersen, Monkey Business, High Noon, Affair in Trinidad

@fifthterrace
Way of a Gaucho, Lightning, La Plaisir, Park Row, Night Falls, Forbidden Games, Fool Coverage

@twitersean (Sean Andre)
The Big Sky, Casque d’Or, Clash by Night, Fanfan la Tulipe, Forbidden Games, The Golden Coach, Ikiru, Madame De… (does not count), The Quiet Men, Singin’ in the Rain, The White Sheik

@bvertov (Brandon Kaufman)
1. On Dangerous Ground (does not count) 2. Rancho Notorious 3. Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie 4. Singin’ in the Rain 5. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 6. Le Plaisir 7. Singin’ in the Rain 8. Neighbours 9. Park Row 10. Kansas City Confidential

@FilmFan1971 (Matthew Turner)
Angel Face (does not count), The Bad and the Beautiful, Don’t Bother to Knock, High Noon, The Narrow Margin, Rancho Notorious, Singin’ in the Rain, Son of Paleface, Sons of the Musketeers, Talk About a Stranger

@helioflores (Helio Flores)
Singin’ in the Rain, The Life of Oharu, Limelight, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Quiet Man, Europa ’51,

@paolocase
Ikiru, Umberto D., Singin’ in the Rain, High Noon, The Quiet Men, The Bad and the Beautiful, Clash by Night, Pat and Mike, Lone Star, The Greatest Show on Earth

@krankor1 (Paul Harrington)
A Member of the Wedding, Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (does not count), The Importance of Being Earnest

@CineFileBlog
Singin’ in the Rain, Ikiru, Umberto D., Bend of the River, The Bad and the Beautiful, Clash by Night, Limelight

@EvilDonald13
The Golden Coach, Singin’ in the Rain, Rancho Notorious, The Bad and the Beautiful, Kansas City Confidential, The Narrow Margin, On Dangerous Ground (does not count), Monkey Business

@slstalter
Sudden Fear, Million Dollar Mermaid, The I Don’t Care Girl (does not count), Park Row, Singin’ in the Rain

@Matt_Sibley
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. The Lusty Men 3. Has Anybody Seen My Gal? 4. High Noon 5. The Big Sky

@mildperil
Singin’ in the Rain, Limelight, The Bad and the Beautiful, Kansas City Confidential, Deadline – U.S.A., Park Row

@tosacinephile
1. Umberto D. 2. Ikiru 3. The Life of Oharu 4. The Bad and the Beautiful 5. The Lusty Men 6. Sudden Fear

@SchmuckForALife
Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D., Ikiru

@spetri95 (Petri Simon)
Mother, Limelight, The Narrow Margin, Park Row, Bend of the River, Roses Bloom on the Moorland, Umberto D., The Quiet Man, Adventure in Berlin, The Golden Coach

@Sean_Fallon (Sean Fallon)
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. Park Row 3. The Quiet Man 4. The Bad and the Beautiful 5. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 6. Ikiru 7. Limelight

@ABurnstine (Adam Burnstine)
The Lusty Men, The Golden Coach, The Bad and the Beautiful, What Price Glory?, Singin’ in the Rain, Rancho Notorious, The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, Le Plaisir, The Life of Oharu

@itistamara
The Quiet Man, Singin’ in the Rain, Kansas City Confidential, Ikiru, The Bad and the Beautiful, My Cousin Rachel

@AntonSirius
Angel Face (does not count), The Bad and the Beautiful, High Noon, Ikiru, Kansas City Confidential, Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D.

@IanHendriie (Ian Hendrie)
The Bad and the Beautiful, Bend of the River, Clash by Night, Horizons West, Ikiru, The Lusty Men, Rancho Notorious, Singin’ in the Rain, Son of Paleface, Umberto D.

@meowmays (Wendy Mays)
Singin’ in the Rain, Beware My Lovely, Don’t Bother to Knock, Sudden Fear, Umberto D., Feed the Kitty

@AnneBillson (Anne Billson)
Bend of the River, Ikiru, Monkey Business, The Narrow Margin, The Prisoner of Zenda, Rome ore 11, Scaramouche, Son of Paleface, Umberto D., The White Reindeer

@DeusExCinema (David Neary)
Singin’ in the Rain, The Golden Coach, Ikiru, The Life of Oharu, The Importance of Being Earnest, High Noon

@ambauer (Alex Bauer)
Casque d’Or, High Noon, Affair in Trinidad, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice

@afterglow2046
1. The Lusty Men 2. A Portrait of Ga 3. Park Row 4. Mexican Bus Ride 5. A Portrait of Ga (accidental double vote) 6. Monkey Business 7. Ikiru 8. Wakefield Express 9. Son of Paleface 10. Singin’ in the Rain

@KajvanZoelen (Kaj van Zoelen)
1. Ikiru 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. The Life of Oharu 4. Angel Face (does not count) 5. Bend of the River 6. Park Row 7. The Bad and the Beautiful 8. Kansas City Confidential 9. Monkey Business 10. High Noon

@geminicollison (Ian W. Hill)
1. Feed the Kitty 2. Ikiru 3. The Life of Oharu 4. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 5. Umberto D. 6. Sudden Fear 7. The Lusty Men 8. Rabbit Seasoning 9. Magical Maestro 10. Horizons West

@boomerknight
High Noon, Affair in Trinidad, Rancho Notorious

@nathanielr (Nathaniel Rogers)
The Bad and the Beautiful, Forbidden Games, High Noon, The Quiet Man, Monkey Business, Singin’ in the Rain, Sudden Fear

@ic_greg
Umberto D., Forbidden Games, Bend of the River, High Noon, Mexican Bus Ride, Singin’ in the Rain

@maxyj_p
Le Plaisir, Ikiru, The Life of Oharu, Park Row, The Big Sky, The Quiet Man, Singin’ in the Rain, Limelight, The Golden Coach, The Bad and the Beautiful

@nwchap
High Noon, Monkey Business, The Importance of Being Earnest, Singin’ in the Rain, Ikiru, The Life of Oharu

@opalfilms
Neighbours, Singin’ in the Rain, Ikiru, Forbidden Games, The Life of Oharu, Park Row, Umberto D., Othello, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Quiet Man

@NoirLamps
The Narrow Margin, High Noon, Kansas City Confidential, Singin’ in the Rain, Scandal Sheet, Rancho Notorious, The Quiet Man

@BeaudineTwin2 (John Beaudine)
Ikiru, High Noon, Umberto D., Singin’ in the Rain, Forbidden Games, Limelight, The Quiet Man, The Bad and the Beautiful, Children of Hiroshima, Feed the Kitty

@citizenhorton (Robert Horton)
1. Othello 2. The Life of Oharu 3. The Quiet Man 4. Singin’ in the Rain 5. Limelight 6. Bend of the River 7. Ikiru 8. Rancho Notorious 9. Forbidden Games 6. Breaking the Sound Barrier

@gnureview
1. High Noon 2. The Narrow Margin 3. Othello 4. Rancho Notorious

@EastmanFade
Don’t Bother to Knock, Ikiru, The Bad and the Beautiful, Clash by Night, The Narrow Margin, High Noon, Angel Face (does not count), Kansas City Confidential, This Woman is Dangerous, The Black Castle

@BillCurranBC (Bill Curran)
Singin’ in the Rain, The Life of Oharu, The Golden Coach, The Lusty Men, The Quiet Man, Ikiru, Le Plaisir, Clash by Night, The Narrow Margin, Limelight

@daveyjenkins (David Jenkins)
The Lusty Men, Lightning, Europa ’51, The Big Sky, Horizons West, Casque d’Or, Park Row, The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, The Golden Coach

@_sillyilly
Singin’ in the Rain, The Life of Oharu, The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, Ikiru, Othello

@LudwigVonDrake8
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. Trick or Treat 3. High Noon 4. Scaramouche 5. Monkey Business 6. Pluto’s Christmas Tree 8. The Little House 9. The Quiet Man 10. The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men

@mrbeaks (Jeremy Smith)
The Bad and the Beautiful, The Golden Coach, High Noon, Ikiru, Kansas City Confidential, The Narrow Margin, Othello, The Quiet Man, Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D

@Sarah_On_Social
Singin’ in the Rain, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Greatest Show on Earth

@pacospecial
1. Park Row 2. The Bad and the Beautiful 3. Rancho Notorious 4. The Lusty Men 5. The Sniper 6. Singin’ in the Rain 7. Clash by Night

@darrenlynch100
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. Sudden Fear 3. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 4. Mother 5. Bend of the River 6. The Bad and the Beautiful 7. Clash by Night

@TheJimeister
1. Ikiru 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. Umberto D. 4. Forbidden Games 5. The Life of Oharu 6. The Bad and the Beautiful 7. High Noon 8. Limelight 9. The Quiet Man 10. Europa ‘51

@chaddwithtwoDs (Chadd Harbold)
The Quiet Man, The Lusty Men, Limelight, Park Row, The Bad and the Beautiful, Umberto D., Singin’ in the Rain

@TallBoyReckless
Singin’ in the Rain, Ikiru, The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, The Life of Oharu

@tphedge
Umberto D., Singin’ in the Rain, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Importance of Being Earnest

@jaredmobarak
Singin’ in the Rain

@CinemaVsDave (Dave Eves)
1. Ikiru 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. High Noon 4. The Life of Oharu 5. Limelight 6. Umberto D. 7. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 8. The White Reindeer 9. Waiting Women 10. Europa ‘51

@PattyLee3
Scandal Sheet

@TaylorsMovies
Singin’ in the Rain, Monkey Business, Angel Face (does not count), Rancho Notorious

@ArteBarrato (Dale Edwin Wittig)
The Bad and the Beautiful, The Crimson Pirate, Ikiru, The Life of Oharu, Limelight, Macao, Monkey Business, Babes in Baghdad, Singin’ in the Rain, Mexican Bus Ride

@unreceived
Umberto D., Singin’ in the Rain, Le Plaisir, High Noon, The Bad the the Beautiful, Ikiru, The Life of Oharu, The Golden Coach

@mindomelet
The Narrow Margin, Limelight, The Bad and the Beautiful, Don’t Bother to Knock, Singin’ in the Rain, Monkey Business

@Wombat849
Umberto D., A Portrait of Ga, Ikiru, Sudden Fear, Kansas City Confidential, Come Back, Little Sheba, The Bad and the Beautiful

@TheVideoVacuum (Mitch Lovell)
1. High Noon 2. The Quiet Man 3. Singin’ in the Rain 4. Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla 5. Radar Men from the Moon 6. Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd 7. Lost in Alaska 8. Jack and the Beanstalk 9. Bwana Devil 10. Road to Bali

@efreddy88 (Ethan Frederick)
1. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 2. Park Row 3. Singin’ in the Rain 4. Ikiru 5. Umberto D. 6. The Lusty Men 7. Scandal Sheet 8. The Quiet Man 9. Forbidden Games 10. This is Cinerama

@StephenFurda
Singin’ in the Rain, Ruby Gentry, The Lusty Men, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, The Quiet Man, Son of Paleface, The Bad and the Beautiful, Limelight, Monkey Business, Macao

@blankemon (Matt Blankman)
The Bad and the Beautiful, The Quiet Man, Bend of the River, Monkey Business, Kansas City Confidential, Ikiru, The Lusty Men, Singin’ in the Rain, The Holly and the Ivy, Othello

@craigary
Ikiru, Singin’ in the Rain, Bend of the River, 5 Fingers, Forbidden Games, The Life of Oharu, The Narrow Margin, Rancho Notorious, Scaramouche, Umberto D

@FCardamenis (Forrest Cardamenis)
The Lusty Men, If I Should Die Before I Wake (Si Muero antes de Despertar, The Life of Oharu, Le Plaisir, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice

@AmbroseCoghill
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. Forbidden Games 3. Ikiru 4. Mandy 5. High Noon 6. Limelight 7. The Holly and the Ivy 8. The Bad and the Beautiful 9. The Quiet Man 10. Rancho Notorious

@meliorism
1. Ikiru 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. The Lusty Men 4. Angel Face (does not count) 5. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 6. Neighbours

@FKAyids
Singin’ in the Rain, The Narrow Margin, Monkey Business, Night Falls, The Bad and the Beautiful

@JackKea63584677
Limelight, Singin’ in the Rain, The Life of Oharu, Ikiru, The Quiet Man

@thinman_2001
The Quiet Man, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Greatest Show on Earth, Lone Star, Pat and Mike, High Noon, Deadline – U.S.A., Scaramouche, Singin’ in the Rain, The Prisoner of Zenda

@sistercelluloid
Beware My Lovely, Clash by Night, Don’t Bother to Knock, High Noon, Home at Seven, The Holly and the Ivy, The Narrow Margin, O. Henry’s Full House, The Quiet Man, Singin’ in the Rain

@ChrisWoodOliver
Scandal Sheet

@twodeadmagpies
The Life of Oharu, The Golden Coach, Mexican Bus Ride, Way of a Gaucho, Rancho Notorious, The White Reindeer, The Overcoat, The Quiet Man, Una donna ha ucciso (A Woman has Killed), In the Storm

@jksjokeoftheday (James Koch)
Limelight, Singin’ in the Rain, The Crimson Pirate, Monkey Business, The Quiet Man, 5 Fingers, Bend of the River, Macao, Viva Zapata!, Carrie

@jackadraper
Ikiru

@pigsbattleships (Ryan Wu)
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. Clash by Night 3. The Golden Coach 4. The Lusty Men 5. Rancho Notorious 6. The Bad and the Beautiful 7. The Narrow Margin 8. Angel Face (does not count) 9. Umberto D. 10. The Big Sky

@TSMaddocks
1. Umberto D. 2. Scandal Sheet 3. The Quiet Man 4. Sudden Fear 5. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 6. Come Back, Little Sheba 7. Singin’ in the Rain 8. Scaramouche 9. Europa ’51 10. Ikiru

@SilverEmulsion (Will Kouf)
Ikiru, Umberto D., Singin’ in the Rain, Park Row, High Noon

@thegoatmajestic
Limelight, Son of Paleface, Neighbours, The Bad and the Beautiful, This is Cinerama

@TheSickness85
Singin’ in the Rain, Ikiru, The Bad and the Beautiful, Umberto D., The Crimson Pirate, The Quiet Man, Rancho Notorious

@fivepoisonskid
The Bad and the Beautiful, The Big Sky, Casque d’Or, The Golden Coach, Lightning, The Quiet Man, Rancho Notorious, Rabbit Seasoning, Singin’ in the Rain, Way of a Gaucho

@Honors_Zombie
Park Row, The Narrow Margin, Red Planet Mars, My Six Convicts, Untamed Frontier

@Glenn_Kenny (Glenn Kenny)
The Bad and the Beautiful, Ikiru, The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, The Lusty Men, Bend of the River, Kansas City Confidential, The Life of Oharu, Mexican Bus Ride, Casque d’Or, Macao

@dvanhouw
1. Ikiru 2. Umberto D. 3. Forbidden Games 4. Singin’ in the Rain 5. The Life of Oharu 6. High Noon 7. The Bad and the Beautiful 8. Park Row 9. Limelight 10. Le Plaisir

@jeremytwocities (Jeremy Robinso)
The Life of Oharu, Singin’ in the Rain, Ikiru, The Quiet Man, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, Bend of the River, Othello, Clash by Night, Monkey Business, Don’t Bother to Knock

@douglenox
Mexican Bus Ride, The Bad and the Beautiful, Sudden Fear, The Narrow Margin, Clash by Night, Portrait of Ga, Park Row

@MoviefreakSara (Sara M. Fetters)
1. Ikiru 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. The Life of Oharu 4. High Noon 5. The Narrow Margin 6. The Bad and the Beautiful 7. Bend of the River 8. Forbidden Games 9. Kansas City Confidential 10. Monkey Business

@gemko (Mike D’Angelo)
Umberto D., Singin’ in the Rain, Forbidden Games, Angel Face (does not count), Scandal Sheet, The Narrow Margin, Othello, The Big Sky, The Marrying Kind, Park Row

@mindtheoctopus
Limelight, The White Sheik, Abstronic, The Quiet Man, Europa ’51, The Narrow Margin, My Son John, Rancho Notorious, Holiday for Henrietta, Othello

@PatrickPreziosi
The Lusty Men, Lightning, Europa ’51, The Sniper, Casque d’Or, Singin’ in the Rain, Rancho Notorious, Le Plaisir, The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, The Greatest Show on Earth

@codfarlo
The Golden Coach, Othello, Europa ’51, The Life of Oharu, Le Plaisir, The Quiet Man, The Big Sky, The Lusty Men, Casque d’Or, The Marrying Kind

@inessentials
Singin’ in the Rain, The Quiet Man, High Noon, The Lady Says No, The Holly and the Ivy, Neighbours, Lambert the Sheepish Lion, Umberto D., Monkey Business, Park Row

@DCOIReviews
Singin’ in the Rain, The Lusty Men, Lightning, The Big Sky, The Bad and the Beautiful, Ikiru, Carmen’s Innocent Love, Way of a Gaucho, The Life of Oharu, Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie

@HellOnFriscoBay (Brian Darr)
Bend of the River, The Big Sky, Blacktop, Bop Scotch, Feed the Kitty, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, The Lusty Men, Don’t Ever Open that Door (No abras nunca esa puerta), Reverón, The White Sheik

@ozu_ray (Floyd Rock)
Ikiru, Singin’ in the Rain, The Life of Oharu, The Bad and the Beautiful, Lightning, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, Casque d’Or, Umberto D., Othello, Forbidden Games

@matthew_lucas (Matthew Lucas)
1. Ikiru 2. High Noon 3. Singin’ in the Rain 4. Forbidden Games 5. Umberto D., 6. Limelight 7. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 8. The Life of Oharu 9. Don’t Bother to Knock 10. Million Dollar Mermaid

@notinbeantown
Umberto D., Singin’ in the Rain, High Noon, Don’t Bother to Knock

@amosjlevin
Singin’ in the Rain, Ikiru, Wait ‘Til the Sun Shines, Nellie, Neighbours

@willow_catelyn (Willow Catelyn Maclay)
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. Limelight 3. Le Plaisir 4. Ikiru 5. Feed the Kitty 6. Othello 7. Way of a Gaucho 8. Rabbit Seasoning 9. Bend of the River 10. The Sniper

@ed_sheertwin
Singin’ in the Rain, Ikiru

@McQueenTim (Tim McQueen)
1. The Quiet Man 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. Ruby Gentry 4. The Golden Coach 5. Monkey Business 6. The Big Sky 7. Son of Paleface 8. Limelight 9. The Lusty Men 10. Le Plaisir

@theogohome
1. The Golden Coach 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. Ikiru 4. High Noon 5. The Life of Oharu 5. Othello

@kipjmooney (Kip Mooney)
Singin’ in the Rain, High Noon

@alamofilmguy2 (Alejandro Villarreal)
Ikiru, Umberto D., The Bad and the Beautiful, Viva Zapata!, Rabbit Seasoning, The Narrow Margin, The Lavender Hill Mob (does not count), Outcast of the Islands, The White Sheik, The Road to Bali

@swen_ryan (Ryan Swen)
1. The Golden Coach 2. The Quiet Man 3. Singin’ in the Rain 4. The Lusty Men 5. Rabbit Seasoning 6. Operation: Rabbit 7. Feed the Kitty

@cvalladare0896 (Carlos Valladares)
Ikiru, Soledad’s Shawl, Rabbit Seasoning, Singin’ in the Rain, Limelight, The Quiet Man, Son of Paleface, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Life of Oharu, Sudden Fear

@gondo_mili
Europa ’51, The Quiet Man, The Golden Coach, Lightning, Mother, Okuni and Gohei, Way of a Gaucho, Ruby Gentry

@matthew_e_g
Ikiru, Singin’ in the Rain, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, Forbidden Games, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Life of Oharu, Le Plaisir, The Quiet Man, The Importance of Being Earnest

@emiliosanhueza (Emilio Sanhueza)
Umberto D., Singin’ in the Rain, Det kunne vært deg, High Noon, Limelight, Ikiru, The Bad and the Beautiful, The Quiet Man, The Life of Oharu, Forbidden Games

@edgarVelRey1 (Edgar Velázquez Reynald)
The Bad and the Beautiful, The Life of Oharu, Mexican Bus Ride, Lightning, Sudden Fear, Singin’ in the Rain, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, Le Plaisir, Europa ’51, Moulin Rouge

@AltonMann
The Life of Oharu, Ikiru, Singin’ in the Rain, Scandal Sheet, Bend of the River, The Lusty Men, The Narrow Margin, Kansas City Confidential, On Dangerous Ground (does not count), High Noon

@BohemiaStable
The Importance of Being Earnest, The Quiet Man, La Noche Avanza (Night Falls), The Happy Family, Singin’ in the Rain

@dlmEnSiOn_TiDe
Park Row, Bend of the River, Umberto D., The Bad and the Beautiful, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, The White Reindeer, Rancho Notorious, Stranger on the Prowl, Una mujer sin amor (A Woman without Love), The Lusty Men

@Crabin (Chris Cabin)
Singin’ in the Rain, The Bad and the Beautiful, Limelight, My Son John, Ikiru, Europa ’51, Monkey Business, Umberto D., 5 Fingers, Wait ‘Till the Sun Shines, Nellie

@dandudeus
Affair in Trinidad

@filipefurtado (Filipe Furtado)
Europa ’51, Park Row, Singin’ in the Rain, The Bad and the Beautiful, Ruby Gentry, The Golden Coach, The Quiet Man, Othello (does not count), Return of the Texan, Carnaval Atlântida

@MikeThornWrites (Mike Thorn)
Ruby Gentry, The Quiet Man, Ikiru, Limelight, The Narrow Margin, The Bad and the Beautiful, Viva Zapata!

@moominclature
Lightning, Scaramouche, The Big Sky, Fanfan la Tulippe

@crc1939
The Bad and the Beautiful, Singin’ the Rain, High Noon, Ikiru, The White Sheik, Limelight

@TomasJMurray
5 Fingers, Deadline – U.S.A., Europa ’51, The Holly and the Ivy, The Importance of Being Earnest, High Noon, Umberto D.

@r_emmet (R. Emmet Sweeney)
The Golden Coach, The Lusty Men, The World in His Arms, The Quiet Man, La Noche Avanza (Night Falls), Singin’ in the Rain, The Narrow Margin, Monkey Business, The Life of Oharu, Rancho Notorious

@AstonMoffat (Alan Jeffrey)
1. Way of a Gaucho 2. Carmen’s Innocent Love 3. The Big Sky 4. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 5. Breaking the Sound Barrier 6. Rancho Notorious 7. Monkey Business 8. The White Sheik 9. Moulin Rouge 10. Park Row

@ElisaSDavis (Elisa Davis)
Come Back, Little Sheba, Singin’ in the Rain, The Lavender Hill Mob (does not count), The Bad and the Beautiful, Pat and Mike

@TheEndofCinema (Sean Gilman)
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. The Quiet Man 3. Ikiru 4. Park Row 5. Limelight 6. Bend of the River 7. Europa ’51 8. The Golden Coach 9. Ruby Gentry 10. The Lusty Men

@talkin_art
Ikiru, Angel Face (does not count), The Quiet Men, The Bad and the Beautiful, High Noon

@redroomrantings (Justine Peres Smith)
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. Umberto D. 3. The Lusty Men 4. The Bad and the Beautiful 5. Don’t Bother to Knock 6. Ruby Gentry 7. Neighbours 8. Le Plaisir 9. Clash by Night 10. The Holly & the Ivy

@WhitlockandPope
1. Ikiru 2. The Lusty Men 3. Water, Water, Every Hare 4. High Noon 5. Sudden Fear

@cinema_strikes
Ikiru, Forbidden Games, High Noon, The Narrow Margin, Singin’ in the Rain, The Life of Oharu, Casque d’Or, Umberto D., The Bad and the Beautiful, Clash by Night

@GrimsChild
Roses Bloom on the Moorland, Bells of Atlantis, The Truth About Bebe Donge

@scifiagenda
Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D., The White Sheik

@ateliertovar (covet coven)
Lightning, Mother, A Portrait of Ga, Ikiru, Life of Oharu, Le plaisir, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, The White Reindeer, Bells of Atlantis, The Witch

@armenioja
1. Ikiru 2. Le Plaisir 3. The Lusty Men 4. Mother 5. Limelight 6. Singin’ in the Rain 7. Sudden Fear 8. The White Sheik 9. Umberto D. 10. Europa ‘51

@anotherKyleL
1. The Bad and the Beautiful 2. The Lusty Men 3. The Importance of Being Earnest 4. Singin’ in the Rain

@jakeadampitre
The Machine that Kills Bad People (La macchina ammazzacattivi)

@dashielldavies (Andrew Davies)
Singin’ in the Rain, The Quiet Man, Europa ’51, Clash by Night

@railoftomorrow (Scott Nye)
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. The Importance of Being Earnest 3. Umberto D. 4. Europa ’51 5. Park Row 6. The Quiet Man 7. Mother 8. Casque d’Or 9. Clash by Night 10. Macao

@sachinfilms (Sachin Bhargava Dharwadker)
The Life of Oharu, Umberto D., The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, Singin’ in the Rain, Limelight, Le Plaisir, On Dangerous Ground (does not count)

@FeinDream
The Lusty Men

@Ruby_Stevens (Jessica Ritchey)
Has Anybody Seen My Gal?, The White Reindeer, Feed the Kitty, Red Planet Mars, Monkey Business, Singin’ in the Rain

@lund_carson (Carson Lund)
Life of Oharu, Clash by Night, The Quiet Man, The Big Sky, The Bad and the Beautiful

@surlaroute
Mandy

@jlalibs (Justin LaLiberty)
Umberto D., Forbidden Games, Limelight, Singin’ in the Rain, The Bad and the Beautiful

@Cinedaze (Paul Anthony Johnson)
1. The Golden Coach 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. Waiting Women 4. The Life of Oharu 5. Limelight 6. The Narrow Margin 7. The Bad and the Beautiful 8. Ikiru 9. Umberto D., 10. My Son John

@elisabetvogler
Umberto D., Singin’ in the Rain, The Life of Oharu, Ikiru, Limelight, Lightning, High Noon, Forbidden Games

@MrGlinis
Has Anybody Seen My Gal?, The Quiet Man, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, Way of a Gaucho, Bend of the River

@magadizer
Singin’ in the Rain, The Quiet Man, Rabbit Seasoning, Feed the Kitty, The Bad and the Beautiful, Limelight, Vendetta of a Samurai, Ikiru, High Noon, Operation: Rabbit

@audonamission (Audrey Fox)
Singin’ in the Rain, Forbidden Games, Neighbours

@marshlands
Kansas City Confidential, Clash by Night, Limelight, The Narrow Margin, The Lusty Men, The Life of Oharu, Way of a Gaucho, The Quiet Man, Park Row, Scandal Sheet

@jvorndam (Jeff Vorndam)
Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D., The Bad and the Beautiful, The Golden Coach, The Life of Oharu, The Importance of Being Earnest, Park Row, Le Plaisir, Kansas City Confidential, Scaramouche

@NonsenseIsland (Vincent Alexander)
Limelight, Singin’ in the Rain, Son of Paleface, Feed the Kitty, The Little House, Magical Maestro, Neighbours, Operation: Rabbit, Rabbit Seasoning, Rock-a-bye Bear

@PlurabelleG
1. Ikiru 2. The Quiet Man 3. The Life of Oharu 4. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 5. Singin’ in the Rain 6. The Member of the Wedding 7. The Marrying Kind 8. Umberto D., Le Plaisir 10. Rancho Notorious

@stefifofum
Bend of the River, Deadline – U.S.A., The Marrying Kind, The Member of the Wedding, Singin’ in the Rain

@ThePinkSmoke (The Pink Smoke)
Feed the Kitty, Scaramouche, Bend of the River, Mexican Bus Ride, Casque d’Or, Le Plaisir, A Portrait of Ga, Against All Flags, Beauties of the Night, Singin’ in the Rain

@PaulBoyne
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. Othello 3. The Bad and the Beautiful 4. The Quiet Man 5. Una mujer sin amor (A Woman without Love) 6. High Noon

@ExperimentoFilm
Children of Hiroshima, Forbidden Games, High Noon, The White Reindeer, Deadline – U.S.A.

@labuzamovies (Peter Labuza)
1. The Quiet Man 2. The Narrow Margin 3. The Bad and the Beautiful 4. The Lusty Men 5. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 6. The Marrying Kind 7. Ruby Gentry 8. Scandal Sheet 9. Tropical Heat Wave 10. Abstronic

@jfhovind (Jacob Hovind)
Forbidden Games, Europa 51’, Limelight, Umberto D., The Narrow Margin, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice, Park Row, The White Reindeer, The Lusty Men, Le Plaisir

@decoyrobot
1. Ikiru 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. The Life of Oharu 4. The Quiet Man 5. The Lusty Men 6. Umberto D. 7. Angel Face (does not count) 8. Bend of the River 9. Clash by Night 10. Monkey Business

@danpullenbooks (Dan Pullen)
Ivanhoe, Hans Christian Andersen, Umberto D., Limelight, Singin’ in the Rain, High Noon, Ikiru, The Quiet Man, Lambert the Sheepish Lion, Kansas City Confidential

@tnyfrontrow (Richard Brody)
Limelight, Le Plaisir, Monkey Business, The Life of Oharu, Europa ‘51, Casque d’Or, The Golden Coach, Angel Face (does not count), The Marrying Kind, Park Row, The Bad and the Beautiful

@sdcinerama
The Quiet Man, The Sniper, Limelight, Singin’ in the Rain, Ikiru, Rancho Notorious, Park Row, The Narrow Margin, Life of Oharu, Ivanhoe

@MrDude_o_o
Le Plaisir, The Life of Oharu, Ikiru, Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D., Casque d’Or, Young Chopin, High Noon, The Quiet Man, The White Sheik

@womensrites (Dana!)
Ikiru, Sudden Fear, Casque d’Or, Le Plaisir, The Narrow Margin

@SkellyJiggy (Scott Kelly)
1. Ikiru 2. Umberto D. 3. Mother 4. Singin’ in the Rain 5. Casque d’Or 6. Viva Zapata! 7. Bend of the River 8. High Noon 9. Park Row 10. The Life of Oharu

@fuchsiadyke (Sally Jane Black)
A Portrait of Ga, Hurlements en faveur de Sade, Ikiru, Singin’ in the Rain, Interim, La Plaisir, The Sniper, The Lusty Men, The Men who Tread on Tiger’s Tail

@chekovsgunnar
1. The Quiet Man 2. Forbidden Games 3. Europa ’51 4. Umberto D. 5. The Lusty Men 6. High Noon

@ViolasMoustache
1. The Quiet Man 2. Has Anybody Seen My Gal? 3. No Room for the Groom 4. Othello 5. The Sound Barrier 6. Park Row 7. Mandy 8. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 9. Singin’ in the Rain 10. Casque d’Or

@rgodfrey (Ryan Godfrey)
Singin’ in the Rain, Umberto D, The Importance of Being Earnest, High Noon, Kansas City Confidential, Monkey Business, Viva Zapata!, The Prisoner of Zenda, Ikiru

@hollowchatter
1. Ikiru 2. Singin’ in the Rain 3. The Bad and the Beautiful 4. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice 5. The Life of Oharu 6. Park Row 7. Umberto D. 8. Casque d’Or 9. Le Plaisir 10. The Quiet Man

@c0mmunicants
Le Plaisir, Life of Oharu, Mother, Lightning, The White Reindeer, Ikiru, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice

@rickburin (Rick Burin)
The Lusty Men, Forbidden Games, Singin’ in the Rain, Kansas City Confidential, Umberto D., The Happy Time, Le Plaisir, Appointment in London, The Sniper, Ikiru

@Harlegator68
1. Singin’ in the Rain 2. Ikiru 3. Umberto D. 4. The Marrying Kind 5. High Noon 6. The Life of Oharu 7. Carrie 8. Limelight 9. The Narrow Margin 10. Park Row

ON SALE NOW: The Top Ten By Year: 1990 zine!!!

For years I have been using my Top Ten By Year Project as a fun and comprehensive way to dive deep into specific years in film. The last few years I’ve been turning those deep dives into zines. This is my 5th one! It’s 24 pages, filled with collage, illustration, and lots of writing. Get yours now!!!

Top Ten By Year: 1990 #2 – Goodfellas (US / Scorsese)

Other 1990 Coverage So Far:
100 (or so) Favorite Images from the Films of 1990
What I’ll Remember About the Films of 1990: A Love Letter
Top Ten By Year: 1990 – Poll Results
#9. Spontaneous Combustion (US/Hooper)
#7. A Moment of Romance (Hong Kong/Chan)
#5. Pump Up the Volume (Canada / US / Moyle)
#4. The Match Factory Girl (Finland / Kaurismäki)
#3: Gremlins 2: The New Batch (US/Dante)

I really didn’t think Goodfellas would be here. As a teenager, Scorsese’s signature work had become a natural favorite. When you’re young and first getting into film, Marty’s shot-in-the-arm kinetics feel like the first time you see fireworks. I remember that my father would crack up along with the mob men as if he was there with them. In my head, that’s the movie it became — dorm room poster canon where Ray Liotta pals around with Pesci and De Niro and lives life on top until he bottoms out. Over the years I didn’t revisit it, and my impression looking back had shrugged itself into a Larry David “eh”: virtuosic but conventional, iconic but signature to a fault. As has proven the case from time to time with this project, rewatching was like seeing it new: “Oh, that’s why people always put this and Wolf of Wall Street together”. 

The camera makes its way down the bar and we overhear a passing exchange between Illeana Douglas and one of her girlfriends. Referring to Tommy (Joe Pesci) she says “He is so jealous. If I even look at anyone else, he will kill me.” She is beaming from ear-to-ear. Her friend congratulates her, “that is great“.  This chasm between what is being said/done and the attitude of those saying/doing it is where Goodfellas’ greatness lies. That gap is also what’s gotten Scorsese in so much asinine hot water, especially when he pushes this dichotomy past its brink in Wolf of Wall Street.

Scorsese’s approach requires a loyalty to the perspectives of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio in WOWS). What springs up in that aforementioned gap are anthropological yet distressingly entertaining studies of insular criminal subcultures that thrive on ego and exclusivity. Our discomfort arises most intensely not through the whats of what we see, but in the unfazed callousness with which we see it. Henry and Jordan only want to talk about, and show us, “the life” and how great (they think) it is. They could give two fucks about the people hurt, demeaned, degraded, or killed by their actions (Henry’s slight discomfort is something he pushes down and doesn’t address in his narration), and the films adherence and loyalty to that attitude allows us to see and feel that callousness even as, especially as, we’re also being entertained.

Goodfellas is a feature-length “let me paint this picture for you”. Henry Hill’s narrative of details, recounted with prideful precision as the filmmaking stylishly keeps up with him, proves his status. If you can describe it, you lived it: you were a somebody. Henry’s personality begins and ends with having had the privilege to observe and participate in these details. We’re bombarded with names, faces, and the ins and outs of how things worked and how things were. Scorsese and co-writer Nicholas Pileggi, adapting his book Wiseguy, forgo plot-based narrative, instead riding high off the thrill of the detail in a world of perceived Gods. How Paulie moved slow because he didn’t have to move for anybody. How Jimmy would give the bartender a hundred bucks for keeping the ice cubes cold. How Vinnie was in charge of the tomato sauce in jail but he’d put in too many onions. It’s all directed with an inviting “com’ere, let me show you somethin” energy and the resurrected glow of nostalgia and crooner tunes.

For Henry Hill, there’s nothing worse than being normal (aka: life outside the Mob). The idea of living any other way “was nuts”. Normal people are just suckers with no balls, neighborhoods “full of nobodies”. At one point, after Henry returns home late and drunk before taking off again, Karen tells him that “normal people don’t act like this”. Henry just laughs at her. This is one of the key mafia perks: the freedom to laugh. In Goodfellas, if you’re one who can’t laugh in a room with those who can, you’re in trouble — because where there’s laughter, there’s violence. A bottle gets smashed over a man’s head: laughter. One man chokes another: laughter. Someone tells a story of beating a man “to a pulp”: laughter. That gap I discussed earlier? In Goodfellas, its most important expression is the gap between laughter and violence. And it’s not just any laughter. It is, as best showcased by Ray Liotta, a desperately feverish laughter. Henry laughs with everything he’s got, as if is life depended on it: an unconscious exorcism.

Karen (Lorraine Bracco) is lured by the appeal of riches and respect. If Henry “as far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster” Hill is all-in from the word go, Karen’s portion of the film tells the story of a skeptical woman gradually seduced into “the life”. Goodfellas is, in part, about how cliches happen; how people end up going down the same paths of countless others. The Karen of the beginning is an outsider: unimpressed by Henry’s manners, impressed by Henry’s status, and repulsed by the other wives and their bad makeup, bad clothes, and shocking gossip. But Henry’s power is a major turn-on, a drug in its own right. Gradually, she ends up living the cliche: marital woes; absentee husband; the long-suffering wife; making a scene at the latest mistress’s home; drugs; complicit but not truly involved. She becomes isolated (“there were never any outsiders”) and accustomed to it (“after a while it all got to be normal”). By the time Karen is fully indoctrinated, the film loses her as a narrator. She’s become indistinguishable from all the rest.

Christina Newland recently wrote a piece for Little White Lies about how Goodfellas is her comfort movie, and I completely get it. I’m always ready put it on again. The smoke screen security and warmth of the Italian-American family provides an extra note of recognition (my mother’s side is fully Italian). And the life Henry Hill shows us is seductive — seductive and funny and horrible. I, like Karen, and like all of them, am always ready to go back.

Top Ten By Year: 1990 #4 – The Match Factory Girl (Finland / Kaurismäki)

Other 1990 Coverage So Far:
100 (or so) Favorite Images from the Films of 1990
What I’ll Remember About the Films of 1990: A Love Letter
Top Ten By Year: 1990 – Poll Results
#9. Spontaneous Combustion (US/Hooper)
#7. A Moment of Romance (Hong Kong/Chan)
#5. Pump Up the Volume (Canada / US / Moyle)
#3: Gremlins 2: The New Batch (US/Dante)

The ultimate hypnotic: watching the surreal and ungainly machinery made for one specific step in the mass production of one specific product (set me up with a collection of how-see-how-these-are-made segments from Sesame Street of Mr. Rogers and I’m set for life). Aki Kaurismäki’s The Match Factory Girl begins by showing us, step by step, how matches are made. It sets up the world of the Finnish proletariat, in which action and inaction are defined by the inanimate functionality of a machine, and the forever crawl of industrial living. It is a life defined by zombified automation and a lived-in misery so ingrained that it isn’t even experienced as misery, because how can it be when there is no emotional, environmental or experiential spectrum for misery to distinguish itself by?

The notion of a national cinema is, for many reasons, limiting. Yet even today, Finnish cinema still equals Aki Kaurismäki to most. Yet, as can often be the case with festival circuit darlings that crossover into arthouse fame, his films have little appeal or popularity with the Finnish people. This isn’t surprising; The Match Factory Girl feels made for the outsider looking in on an outsider girl in an outsider land. The director says his films are too real for his people, but what this means is that he finds real in the unreal. Kaurismäki’s, as Henry Bacon referred to them, “displacement poetics” are a reality made of unreal dullness, using formal extremes to interpret the essence and spirit (the Sisu, loosely translated as perseverance) of the Finnish working class.

Watching The Match Factory Girl is like competing in both a staring contest and a straight-face contest, and the film won’t give an inch on either front. It is a world of fixed severity where everything is tragic and comic at once, and human existence is such a state of un-being that it makes no difference to the camera whether someone is there or not. It’s as if it doesn’t even notice one way or the other, because here there is no difference between living space and dead space. You keep looking for a slight-of-hand or the tip-off, a sign that life of any other kind exists outside whatever unadorned room we inhabit from scene to scene. It’s there, but only in the distant sounds of outdated jukeboxes and news coverage concerning other countries, further gluing Finland and Iris into some permanent displaced limbo.

Iris’s thankless task is to essentially tap down loose labels and keep a watchful eye on the conveyor belt. The Match Factory Girl reminds me of another ugly duckling tragicomedy, Todd Solondz’s Welcome to the Dollhouse. In both films, the camera is the sole guardian of both Iris and Dawn, yet can only depict their hopeless degradation and loneliness with an air of removed amusement, as if their lives are one long unlucky day so pitifully sad that seeing absurdity in the nihilism is the only option. Each exist right on the cusp of mean-spiritedness.

Kaurismäki regular Kati Outinen (marvelous, her face is an immovable canvas anchoring an immovable world) is described here as impenetrable; but she’s not, not really. She’s somewhat paralyzed, unconsciously frozen from knowing she doesn’t matter, not even to her job. She is a permanent deer in headlights, extremely naive, and fully embedded in this world. I want to talk to her, to show her one shred of evidence that life can be better than this. She seems to live in an almost unacknowledged hope that it might go differently one day. When she finally breaks up the monotony of her life by attending a dance and meets a man named Aarne, it does.

You’d think The Match Factory Girl would fit alongside other films that build up to abrupt female violence, such as The Piano Teacher or Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. But Iris’s radial acts are not performed radically. She is not trying to break out of her confines into something better, and there is no burst that breaks her out of the film’s rhythm. She kills with the same unthinking automation with which she, and everyone around her, do everything. There is no sense that something free and better for her is ever remotely viable, or that it’s even something Iris has ever thought about. Not only does Iris’s inner life seem quite bare, but Kaurismäki’s Helsinki is so unyielding and insular that it is unquestionably the only available reality. So, if Finland is this distant planet where nobody ever goes in and nobody ever goes out, and space is shown as unmovable, that makes the few, and uniformly awful people, in her life the only adjustable variable. Not her life, not her environment, not even her freedom. And that’s the comic tragedy at the heart of The Match Factory Girl.