The Usual Choices
The African Queen (John Huston)
An American in Paris (Vincente Minnelli)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise)
Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock)
A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan)
But how about...
The Well (Clarence Greene; Russell Rouse)
A low-budget production which punches way above its weight. This is a film of three parts: #1 = a stranger in town is falsely accused of a heinous crime + #2 = a frightening smalltown-outbreak of that popular American pastime, the race riot + #3 = the nailbiting rescue of a trapped child. While I'm not convinced that all parts adequately gel together, and some of the acting is a little on the wooden side (except for Harry Morgan who makes an impression), these are my only two reservations. Effectively staged (especially the rescue) with a social message for the ages, this really is a well-made example of celluloid storytelling. Watch this after viewing the cynicism of Billy Wilder's similarly trapped-underground Ace in the Hole for a breath of fresh air.
...and what about...
The Tall Target (Anthony Mann)
An intriguing and extremely-well constructed movie about the possible assassination attempt that was made on Abraham Lincoln's life during his inauguration (Baltimore Plot). Set aboard a fast-moving train (therefore guaranteed suspense, like The Lady Vanishes, with which it shares a number of features), it is filled with clever bits of business and cuts from one sticky situation to another. Dick Powell is surprisingly effective as the cop who knows what's really going on (nobody believes him though of course) and historic details are sprinkled throughout without ever drooping down into costume-drama dreariness...did you know that trains were pulled through towns by horses to prevent the soot from the smokestacks settling on the day's laundry? A vastly underrated and unjustly neglected film.
...not to mention...
The Prowler (Joseph Losey)
A film noir made in the heat of the Hollywood Blacklist days (directed by Losey; written by Dalton Trumbo), this is an interesting variation on Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice. Van Heflin plays one of the all-time great movie scumbags (Australianism def. total lowlife in the guise of a man)...as a cop, he seduces Evelyn Keyes, disposes of her husband and gets everything he has always dreamed of...and, of course, that's when his problems really begin. The plot takes many unexpected turns, so it refreshingly refuses to be familiar. Exciting and clever in the telling (creative camerawork and editing choices), this is, in some ways, as good as its more-loftily-regarded predecessors...even if Evelyn must be film history's least pregnant pregnant woman.
...and one personal unmentionable...
An American in Paris (Vincente Minnelli)
I could watch Gene Kelly do his upbeat comedic tap-dancing until the cows come home, but when he slips into the artistic ballet stuff, I slip into snooze mode, Row M of the Festival Theatre, 1982. AAiP is unfortunately loaded with balletic showcases of the slow romantic kind, and I just can't stand 'em. Throw in the elusive dour-faced charms of Oscar Levant (complete with serious classical piano spotlight), some French singing guy who looks as smarmy as an eel in oil and Leslie Caron who apparently still needs to grow into her teeth, and you have one of the most overrated musicals and undeserving Oscar-for-Best-Picture winners of all time.
My Top 10 Films of 1951
 |
| "Avon calling." |
#02 A Outcast of the Islands (Reed)
#03 A Strangers on a Train (Hitchcock)
#04 A The Tall Target (Mann)
#05 A The Browning Version (Asquith)
#06 A- A Streetcar Named Desire (Kazan)
#07 A- The Well (Greene; Rouse)
#08 A- The African Queen (Huston)
#09 A- The Lavender Hill Mob (Crichton)
#10 A- The Prowler (Losey)
Overflow: More A-/B+ Films
#11 A- The Man in the White Suit (Mackendrick)
#12 A- The Mob (Parrish)
#13 A- Ace in the Hole / The Big Carnival (Wilder)
#14 A- Cry, the Beloved Country (Korda)
#15 A- Storm Warning (Heisler)
#16 B+ The Steel Helmet (Fuller)
#17 B+ The Strange Door (Pevney)
#18 B+ The Desert Fox (Hathaway)
#19 B+ Encore (Jackson; Pelissier; French)
#20 B+ The Enforcer / Murder, Inc. (Windust)
#21 B+ The Day the Earth Stood Still (Wise)
#22 B+ The Mating Season (Leisen)
#23 B+ Tom Brown's Schooldays (Parry)
#24 B+ Scrooge / A Christmas Carol (Hurst)
#25 B+ A Place in the Sun (Stevens)
#26 B+ The Wonder Kid / The Wonder Boy (Hartl)
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> B On Dangerous Ground [first half good 'n' tough; second half okay 'n' sappy]
> B Detective Story [aka Hill Street Blues: The Pilot]
> B His Kind of Woman [slow-moving comic-noir which suddenly springs to life in the last third]
> B Bullfighter and the Lady [while I enjoy a good steak, I have little interest in men who fight them]
> B Hollywood Story [if you know who William Desmond Taylor was, this will intrigue you]
> B Sealed Cargo [a WWII fishermen movie which would've been improved by a more animated leading man]
> B The Magic Box [okay biopic about a movie pioneer you've never heard of]
> B Red Badge of Courage [cruelly deformed; would love to see the original 120 minute print]
> B Circle of Danger [a postwar mystery which gets bogged down with too much polite British chatting]
> B The People Against O'Hara [routine courtroom drama with Spencer Tracy as Superlawyer who wants a drink]
> B- Angels in the Outfield [saccharine fantasy complete with orphan, but Paul Douglas is a little bit terrific]
> B- Royal Wedding [I love watching Fred dance...solo; I love hearing Fred sing...alone]
> B- Abbott & Costello Meet the Invisible Man [at least it's better than when they met Jekyll & Hyde]
> B- The Model and the Marriage Broker [a fluffy nothing, but Thelma Ritter is in it]
> B- As Young as You Feel [a fluffy nothing, but Monty Woolley & Thelma Ritter are in it, so that's something]
> B- Ma & Pa Kettle Back on the Farm [#4 in the series and a pretty standard entry]
> B- When Worlds Collide [the world ends, and looks good doing it...if only the humans were worth saving]
> B- The Man With a Cloak [costume-conspiracy-drama which is a little drab and a little dull]
> B- The Strip [Louis Armstrong! Earl Hines! Jack Teagarden!...and some story about love and gangsters...]
> B- Cloudburst [a British action film that should have been made by the Americans]
> B- The Lady With a Lamp [Florence Nightingale as courteous shit-stirrer with the superpower of piety]
> C Superman and the Mole Men [the villains look like roll-on deodorants with Electrolux rayguns]
> C Five [it's the end of the world; only 5 people are left alive and they don't get along...bloody neighbours...]
> C An American in Paris [A Personal Unmentionable]
> D Peking Express [Shanghai Express remake where the atmospherics are replaced by The American Way]
"Ah!..Sweet Mystery of Life...": 1951 Films I Apparently Still Need to See
Appointment With Venus (Thomas); Bright Victory (Robson); Cause for Alarm (Garnett); Chicago Calling (Reinhardt); Close to My Heart (Keighley); Come Fill the Cup (Douglas); Cry Danger (Parrish); Death of a Salesman (Benedek); Decision Before Dawn (Litvak); The First Legion (Sirk); Fourteen Hours (Hathaway); The Franchise Affair (Huntington); Green Grow the Rushes (Twist); High Treason (Boulting); I Can Get It for You Wholesale (Gordon); Kind Lady (Sturges); The Late Edwina Black / The Obsessed (Elvey); Laughter in Paradise (Zampi); The Long Dark Hall (Beck; Bushell); A Millionaire for Christy (Marshall); Mr Denning Drives North (Kimmins); Mr Drake’s Duck (Guest); No Highway in the Sky (Koster); Pandora & the Flying Dutchman (Lewin); People Will Talk (Mankiewicz); Quo Vadis (LeRoy); The Racket (Cromwell); Rawhide (Hathaway); Rhubarb (Lubin); The River (Renoir); Showboat (Sidney); The Strip (Kardos); Teresa (Zinnemann); The 13th Letter (Preminger); Thunder on the Hill (Sirk); Two of a Kind (Levin); When I Grow Up (Kanin); Where No Vultures Fly (Watt); The Whistle at Eaton Falls (Siodmak); White Corridors (Jackson)
Best Performances of 1951
Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen
Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire
Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun
Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen
Kim Hunter in A Streetcar Named Desire
Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire
Karl Malden in A Streetcar Named Desire
Alastair Sim in Scrooge / A Christmas Carol
But how about...
Gilbert Roland in Bullfighter and the Lady
I don't understand bullfighting just like I don't understand scrotal piercings or people who knowingly order and eat fugu. However, the men who fight a lot of bull (sorry... unavoidable) are indisputably brave. Gilbert portrays one of the great matadors and helps me to appreciate the sheer force of will it must take to stare needless death in the face over and over and over. His character is the epitome of strength...so strong, that he doesn't need to engage in regular displays of proof; he is openly emotional, generous and loving...because he knows that these are the actual qualities of a good life. For an actor to persuade me to feel admiration for an active participant in animal cruelty is quite an achievement.
...and what about...
Thelma Ritter in The Mating Season & The Model and the Marriage Broker & As Young as You Feel
1951 was clearly a bumper year for Thelma, with three topnotch performances in three okay films. It can be argued that, really, she gave one performance three times (Noo Yawk sassy & savvy, no-nonsense but humorous with it, a spouter of homespun common sense and always needing to know what is going on...with the requisite heart of gold, of course), but so what...that's like saying John Wayne just rode a horse and drawled for 100 westerns. One of the greatest of all character actresses, Thelma created a supporting persona that seemed to fit into dramatic, suspenseful and light comedic productions. In these three films, she outshone the leading women (Gene Tierney; Constance Bennett; Jeanne Crain) just by being (we would like to think) herself.
...not to mention...
Michael Redgrave in The Browning Version
As a retired (after nearly 40 years of continuous service) schoolteacher, my reverence for this performance is probably inevitable. However, it goes beyond mere parochialism...this is one of the greatest performances ever put onto film. Michael was always the supreme master of cinematic neurosis; like the ventriloquist in Dead of Night and the cynical journalist in The Quiet American, he has allowed events and people open access to his spirit and has been hollowed out from within as a result. Desperately trying to remain in emotional control, his need for kindness and attention eventually overwhelms him. I blub uncontrollably every time I see the scene where the old teacher blubs uncontrollably, as if decades of pain suddenly sprint free. He wanted to make a contribution to the future but has been fed upon instead. Powerful and human stuff.
...and one personal unmentionable...
Shelley Winters in A Place in the Sun
Okay...confession time...I've never been a Shelley fan. Her broad, whining persona has always pathologically annoyed me. In the original 1931 version of this film, Shelley's character was played sweetly and perfectly by Sylvia Sidney, so when she met her tragic end, you were moved and grieved throughout the rest of the movie. In this version, when Monty accidentally does Shelley in, it is like he is doing us all a favour...like a mercy killing...euthanasia for the sake of the audience. She is not missed, and all of our sympathy goes to Monty...how could he have become involved with such a grating whinger in the first place? And she was deliberately trying to trap him into domestic eternity with her? Die, damn you...die.
My 10 Favourite Performances of 1951
 |
| "Darling...breath mint..." |
#02 Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire
#03 Montgomery Clift & Elizabeth Taylor in A Place in the Sun
#04 Kirk Douglas in Ace in the Hole / The Big Carnival
#05 Paul Douglas in Angels in the Outfield
#06 James Mason in The Desert Fox
#07 Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire
#08 Thelma Ritter in The Mating Season
#09 Trevor Howard in Outcast of the Islands
#10 Alec Guinness & Stanley Holloway in The Lavender Hill Mob
Overflow: More List-Worthy Performances
#11 Kay Walsh in Encore
#12 Ginger Rogers in Storm Warning
#13 Humphrey Bogart & Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen
#14 Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train
#15 Cecil Parker in The Man in the White Suit
#16 Charles Carson in Cry, the Beloved Country
#17 Gilbert Roland in Bullfighter and the Lady
#18 Thelma Ritter in The Model and the Marriage Broker
#19 Monty Woolley in As Young as You Feel
#20 Vincent Price in His Kind of Woman
#21 Canada Lee in Cry, the Beloved Country
#22 Robert Donat in The Magic Box
#23 John Howard Davies in Tom Brown's Schooldays
#24 Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding
#25 Marion Lorne in Strangers on a Train
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> Alastair Sim in Scrooge / A Christmas Carol [not as good as Michael Caine in A Muppet Christmas Carol]
> Karl Malden in A Streetcar Named Desire [I just can't take that nose seriously]
> Kim Hunter in A Streetcar Named Desire [I just can't see the bedroom-beast in her]
> Jan Sterling in Ace in the Hole / The Big Carnival [why did a tough dame like her stay there so long?]
> Lee Grant in Detective Story [all method...zero believability]
And so...onto the annual awards (with a nod of appreciation to Danny Peary)...
The Alternate Oscars for 1951 are:
FILM of the YEAR
GOLD: The Thing from Another World (Christian Nyby)
SILVER: Outcast of the Islands (Carol Reed)
BRONZE: Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock)
LEAD ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Michael Redgrave (The Browning Version)
SILVER: Kirk Douglas (Ace in the Hole / The Big Carnival)
BRONZE: Paul Douglas (Angels in the Outfield)
LEAD ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Vivien Leigh (A Streetcar Named Desire)
SILVER: Ginger Rogers (Storm Warning)
BRONZE: Thelma Ritter (The Model and the Marriage Broker)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Cecil Parker (The Man in the White Suit)
SILVER: Charles Carson (Cry, the Beloved Country)
BRONZE: Gilbert Roland (Bullfighter and the Lady)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Thelma Ritter (The Mating Season)
SILVER: Kay Walsh (Encore)
BRONZE: Marion Lorne (Strangers on a Train)
ENSEMBLE or PARTNERSHIP: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Montgomery Clift & Elizabeth Taylor (A Place in the Sun)
SILVER: Alec Guinness & Stanley Holloway (The Lavender Hill Mob)
BRONZE: Humphrey Bogart & Katharine Hepburn (The African Queen)
JUVENILE: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: John Howard Davies (Tom Brown's Schooldays)
SILVER: Tamine (Outcast of the Islands)
BRONZE: Bobby Henrey (The Wonder Kid / The Wonder Boy)
The Alternate Razzies for 1951 are:
CRAP FILM of the YEAR
Peking Express (William Dieterle)
CRAP MALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Joseph Wiseman (Detective Story)
CRAP FEMALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Shelley Winters (A Place in the Sun)
