The Breaking Point

Michael Curtiz, 1950, bw (8.7*)
Well after To Have and Have Not (1944), which was loosely based on the Ernest Hemingway novel and which introduced Bacall to Bogart, this remake from famed director Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) attempted to remain more faithful to the novel, and the author himself thought it was the finest cinema adaptation of any of his works. This was a much more serious and cynical treatment than the Hollywoodish original.

John Garfield is the small boat captain who’s not too particular about who hires out his boat, as he’s seeing some rough economic times, and he needs to make a boat payment pronto or it could e repossessed. He takes on a charter that definitely involves clandestine, illegal activity that may find him in over his head.

Patricia Neal turns in one of her best performances as the woman who drifts into his life from the other side of tracks (or other side of the harbor in this case), and her coy, self-assured demeanor seems more real than Lauren Bacall’s in the original (and I liked Neal even more), as if she’s honed this act on many men before now, and on a classier batch then Garfield. The two had an apathetic, jaded type of chemistry onscreen, which seems more likely given most Hemingway characters; Garfield treated her like a distraction, not an attraction.

The reason the film has been forgotten is that just before it’s release Garfield was called to testify before the HUAC in Congress, and the studio dropped support for the film and the actor like a hot potato, and Garfield’s career never really recovered, ending just two years later. Though Garfield is certainly no Bogart as an actor, in a way he’s even more of an average joe type of guy, so this is the perfect role for him.

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In a Lonely Place

Nicholas Ray, 1950, bw (8.8*)
This excellent and surprising drama shows a side of Humphrey Bogart's acting skills never seen before. He plays a three-dimensional character with internal angst, loneliness, and a touching vulnerability. Bogart stars as a once-in-demand screenwriter, Dixon Steele, now trying to make a comeback. He has a girl come to his apartment to summarize a novel he has to adapt for the screen, and he ends up being the last to see her alive before she is murdered, so he's the obvious suspect.

That is, until neighbor Gloria Grahame clears him, in my favorite performances of this underrated actress (It's a Wonderful Life, Oscar® for supporting in The Bad and the Beautiful). She really gets to show her range here as she and Bogart begin both a professional and personal relationship, and establish a wonderful chemistry together onscreen. Grahame has both the beauty of an actress, yet somehow also seems accessible like the girl next door, which she literally is in this film. The film is really not about the crime as much as its effect on all the people who become involved, including a detective friend of Steele's, well played by Frank Lovejoy, but who naturally suspects his friend here. All the relationships become strained by the crime investigation, and the actors make you believe they are falling apart emotionally.

One of the best films ever made about Hollywood, for me this is the most rewarding film of director Nicholas Ray, better known for Rebel Without a Cause; this one is thankfully missing the over-acted melodrama of that film, and offers a much more honest portrayal of real characters. An oft-overlooked classic, it's #361 on our Top Ranked 1000 Films.

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Born Yesterday

George Cukor, 1950, bw (8.1*)
You’d have to look hard to find a comedic performance as funny as Judy Holliday in this film, which won her a well-deserved Oscar®. She has a perfect delivery, just the right lilt in her voice to show bored disdain. Wealthy junkman Broderick Crawford is in DC to “get the government he paid for”, renting in an expensive suite with girlfriend Holliday, his lawyer and a bodyguard-gofer. He thinks his slightly daffy escort could use an upgrade in manners and education for the DC elite, and hires William Holden, a local freelance writer hanging around for an interview, to tutor Holliday in proper conversational English, with hilarious results. Of course, with time together the pair develop a chemistry and develop some plot twists you won’t see coming. Holliday’s is one of the great performances in comedy history, one of the few to win an Oscar®.

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Sunset Boulevard

Dir: Billy Wilder, 1950, bw (9.2*)

AFI Top 100

Billy Wilder was such a great director, can you think of another film that begins with the main character floating dead in a pool, narrating his own demise? Film noir elements blend with a silver screen story of aged star Norma Desmond, well past her prime as an actress, brilliantly portrayed by Gloria Swanson. William Holden is a screenwriting gigolo who ends up with Desmond, to write her autobiography.

Her devoted butler, played by legendary director Eric von Stroheim, adds the perfect cinema connection to Desmond's life, as he obviously respects her legendary stardom. Here he makes what could be a mundane character part into that of unforgettable imagery. Holden's character is just the opportunist that one suspects populates tinseltown, especially among its not quite so successful. Of course, the story funs full circle until we find out how he came to be floating in the pool. Hollywood’s self-criticism was never handled better, a bona-fide black & white classic.

Note: Wilder revealed in an interview that the shot shown above was done with a mirror in the bottom of the pool and the camera focused on the mirrored image - this is actually the beginning of the film, as it starts with the death of the main character.

Wilder is one of the great directors, here's a small list of his best films:
The Front Page, Double Indemnity, Lost Weekend, The Spirit of St. Louis, One Two Three, Ace in the Hole, The Seven Year Itch, Sabrina, The Apartment, Some Like It Hot, Witness For the Prosecution, The Fortune Cookie.

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All About Eve

Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950 (10*)

Best Picture (AA/BAA)

This acerbic backstage drama is one of the best plays about film or theater ever put on film, deservedly won a academy award for Best Picture. Both star Bette Davis and her understudy, played by Ann Baxter, are perfect, as is the entire supporting cast, led by George Sanders, another Oscar winner. 6 Oscars total.
Quote: Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night. (Bette Davis)

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