Nights of Cabiria

Federico Fellini, Italy, 1957, bw (8.5*)
Cabiria is a wide-eyed, waifish street walker from a poor section of Rome, wonderfully played by Guilietta Masina. We can pretty much surmise her life from the few scenes shown to us by Fellini.

She only seeks true love, but is instead nearly drowned by her boyfriend, who also steals money from her. A movie star takes her home. An accountant says he saw her on the stage once, fate brought them together again. and so on.. In spite of all this, she still inhabits a sad and lonely world - after all, this is Italian realism. No "pretty woman", this is more like real life - the hookers in Hollywood (Klute, Pretty Woman, L.A. Confidential, with Oscars for those 3 actresses by the way) all seem to be only the high-class escort variety, not real streetwalkers.

This is a simple film, carried totally by the performance of Masina, who snares the audience early and then you're caught. To me, this is the best performance in all of Fellini's films. She seems resigned to her life, yet is also childishly hopeful. She still possesses a vitality that life should have drained by now. The fact that Fellini is her husband makes this perhaps the finest collaboration of spouses in Italian cinema. Thankfully, Fellini didn't fill this story with surrealism, it's more like La Strada than 8 ½.

Oscar winner for foreign language film, and a total of 15 awards, 4 for Giulietta Masina for best actress. No. 223 on the IMDB 250, No. 136 on our compendium of all net polls.

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Witness For the Prosecution

Billy Wilder, 1957, bw (8.3*)  bw

This is my second favorite film of an Agatha Christie story (this was a short story, not a novel), after And Then There Were None from French director René Clair. I believe this story is unique for her, as it's a legal film, with the entire story unfolding in a courtroom, but it still has the Christie touch, meaning an unexpected plot twist that most can't see coming.

An excellent cast makes this film better than it would have been from the story alone. The impeccable Charles Laughton, a two-time best actor winner, here an aging attorney recovering from a near fatal heart attack, agrees to defend Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power) in a murder case, in spite of the fact that his wife, Marlene Dietrich, is going to be a witness for the prosecution. Dietrich turns in one of her best dramatic performances, relying on acting in this film, not her beauty nor her sultry singing.

Though not one of Wilder's best (perhaps a little too 'Hollywood'), such as Sunset Boulevard, Stalag 17, Some Like It Hot (perhaps if it had started with an 's'), or The Apartment, it's still a very good mystery, and a good courtroom drama, and Wilder's only work with Laughton or Dietrich. Fans of Christie, or Laughton, who was one of the best actors ever on film, will not be disappointed.

Nominated for 6 Oscars® (Picture, director, actor for Laughton, supporting for Elsa Lanchester, who won the Golden Globe), 5 Golden Globes, and 5 other awards, and ranked #129 on the IMDB top 250, with a rating of 8.4, the same as I gave it - not quite as high for me as And Then There Were None.

Wilder is one of the great directors, here's a small list of his best films:
The Front Page, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, 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, The Fortune Cookie.

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The Seventh Seal

[This is our 700th film reviewed]
Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1957, bw (9.2*)
Though not particularly pleasant viewing as it deals with a dying world amid a plague, this is probably Bergman's masterpiece, and a film that generally goes beyond cinema and into the realm of mythic art. Max Von Sydow plays a medieval knight returning home, who is trying to escape the bubonic plague with his family.

He is constantly shadowed by death, the Grim Reaper (Bengt Ekerot, as the most compelling character in the film) who tells him its time - a pale faced figure in a black cloak with whom he plays an ongoing game of chess for his life [see photo below], with whom he discusses life and death and God. Full of moody, gothic, yet beautiful black and white images, the film almost seems to be medieval paintings in motion. The overfall effect of this film is hypnotic; Bergman was at the height of his directing eye in composing these frames. I'm not usually a Bergman fan (his films are sometimes more painful than a trip to the dentist, and often longer, without the same positive result), but this film is easy to recommend. I'm just rating it down a notch from perfect because it's just so grim a story.

This is one of just three films that Woody Allen said went "beyond cinema and became art" - the other two being Antonioni's L'avventura (1960) and Renoir's La Grande Illusion (1937).

The famous chess match with the Grim Reaper

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The Cranes Are Flying

Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957, USSR, bw (8.4*)
Palm d'Or (Cannes)
This was one of the first post-Stalin films from the USSR that got distribution in the west, becoming a critical and commercial success in the US as well as winning the Palm d'Or at Cannes. It's a beautifully photographed black and white anti-war film that dealt with the effects of war on civilians in a realistic manner without sentimentality, similar to way Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives showed the effect of war on Americans.

The story involves a beautiful young woman named Veronika, played by Tatyana Samojlova, who has decided that Boris will be her fiance (not Mark), just as he gets sent off to WW2, along with best friend Stefan. His cousin Mark (Aleksandr Shvorin) receives a deferrment and remains behind, and is also in love with Veronika, who now must decide between remaining faithful or being practical. We first see the effect of the war on those who remain at home, and later for those who go off to war, as many return wounded, reminding Veronika the nurse of the absence of her love.

This is a heroic story about the struggle of the common man, and even manages to poke some good-natured fun at "the workers maintaining their work quota at the factory in spite of war". This is not a war story about heroism in battle, as we never see the war directly, but about courage and cowardice among the civilians.

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Throne of Blood

aka Spider's Web Castle
Akira Kurosawa, 1957, Japan, bw (7.9*)
In spite of the lurid title, this is another of the great Japanese director's early masterworks, it's not really a horror film. Based on Shakespeare's Macbeth, Kurosawa made it entirely Japanese, building his castle on Mt. Fuji, and mixing elements of Japanese theater into the film. Kurosawa even trucked in the black volcanic soil of Fuji into the studio lot to film the castle interiors.

The story involves the castle of the title, surrounded by a maze-like forest that adds to its protection. One day while lost in this forest, two military leaders who are lifetime friends receive a prophecy from a ghost that leads them into their own web of power seeking and mistrust, as they are each to become castle lords themselves. No medieval Japanese film can avoid war, and this has some beautifully filmed battle sequences, once again using stark black-and-white cinematography to show the power of horses and soldiers in battle, much like his earlier classic The Seven Samurai.

His new favorite actor Toshiro Mifune is featured in this one as well, though this film is not quite as artistic as Seven Samurai, it adheres to the Shakespearean story, so it's a bit more melodramatic and staged looking in comparison, though that's an honest cinematic interpretation of the play. With some haunting and huge-scale images, it's still a great example of the early Kurosawa style, and a worthy entry into the pantheon of Shakespeare transformed to film.

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Paths of Glory

Stanley Kubrick, 1957, bw (8.8*)
This early film from master director Stanley Kubrick is one of the few classics of the anti-war war film genre. The story is about World War I, when the armies were locked in trench warfare. This was really a stalemate, as neither line could advance in the face of heavy machine gun emplacements and the defensive positions of the other side. This didn’t prevent the commanders from trying, wanting to show some progress or at least an effort.

Kirk Douglas, in one of his career-defining roles as a French captain, is to lead a charge up and out of the trenches, into no man’s land. He does so but his batallion is driven back by heavy fire and massive losses, eventually retreating back to their trench. This is seen as cowardice by the higher command, so they decide to pick three men at random from the unit and try them for cowardice. Adophe Menjou is superb as one of the superiors battling with Douglas. This is a gut-wrenching examination of the motivations and reactions of career officers in the face of the reality of war. The battle sequence is brilliantly shot, putting the viewer into the action and moving along with the soldiers. This film put Kubrick on the radar as a serious director of important and artistic works that make a statement about mankind.

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12 Angry Men

Dir: Sydney Lumet, 1957, bw (8.4*)
This was Sydney Lumet’s (The Verdict, Absence of Malice) first film, and forever changed legal films. Very evidently based on a play (for television, by Reginald Rose), the entire film takes place in the jury room, yet the action is riveting, thanks to a great script and terrific cast. The jury is led by foreman Martin Balsam, and all but one think a murder defendant is guilty, primarily due to bigotry, as he’s from an urban slum. The lone holdout is Henry Fonda, who gradually makes his arguments to the others, based on reasonable doubt. His staunchest opponent is Lee J. Cobb, in one of his best appearances. Other jurors include E.G. Marshall, Norman Fell, Robert Webber, Jack Warden and some unknowns who are equally good. Somehow Lumet keeps this from becoming claustrophobic, as well as using the jury room to expose our weaknesses and prejudice as a society.

This is #124 on our Top Ranked Films on the Internet survey, and was #8 on the IMDB top 250 the last time I checked..

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Seven Samurai

Akira Kurosawa, 1957, Japan, bw (10*)
This masterful samurai epic (well over 3 hrs) is really a treatise on medieval war tactics. The story is about a small farming village that annually gets invaded and robbed by a small cavalry gang, usually just after harvest, when they steal most of the food but leave the villagers just enough for survival. Eventually they’ve had enough, and send a few men into a nearby town to recruit unemployed and disgraced samurai, led by master actor Tishiro Mifune, to help them defend themselves; they find seven in all.

The first half is slow but told with lots of humor, the second half is an exciting war exercise and a primer on how action films should look. The innovative camerawork had never been seen, and influenced every action film since. Blurred action, filmed during a rainstorm with mud and water flying (see photo below), rapid edits, handheld cameras, and extreme closeups - the viewer feels thrown headlong into the middle of the action itself. Retold as western The Magnificent Seven, and the sci-fi film, Battle Beyond the Stars. Kurosawa’s masterpiece is one of the best in cinema history.

Now #2 (rising from 7th) all-time on our compendium of Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, 2011 Edition

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The Bridge on the River Kwai

Dir: David Lean, 1957 (9.1*)
Best Picture (AA,BAA,GG)
AFI Top 100
One of the giant David Lean epics, and based on a true story, this one features a Japanese POW camp in Burma forcing British prisoners, brilliantly led by Alec Guinness in his Oscar winning role as Colonel Bogey, to build a bridge across a jungle river for Japanese troop trains. Sessue Hayakawa is also terrific as the Japanese camp commander, butting wills with Bogey throughout. William Holden leads a commando team back to the bridge for the film’s plot action. Giant in conception and execution as only Lean could pull off. 7 Oscars
Quote: Madness… madness…

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Sweet Smell of Success

Alexander Mackendrick, 1957, bw (8.8*)
Burt Lancaster plays cutthroat news columnist J.J. Hunsecker who uses his powerful influence to dominate those around him, with Tony Curtis as his press agent (Sidney Falco) in what many considered to be an indictment of Walter Winchell, whose popularity ironically declined after this film and who two years later no longer had a national column. Many credit this film's incisive indictment with ending his muckraking career.

Lancaster is superb in a performance preceding his Oscar® for Elmer Gantry, as a man who dominates and subordinates all those around him, and tries to maintain a tight control over his sister at home as well, with no real regard for either the feelings nor the rights of others, only himself. Beautifully shot in black and white, one of the most searing dramas of its time.

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A Face in the Crowd

Dir: Elia Kazan, 1957 (9.5*)
This could be Elia Kazan's best film, a real masterpiece. Patricia Neal has a roving reporter show for her uncle's smalltown Arkansas radio station - she goes out hunting for the "face in the crowd" daily, and finds Andy Griffith (terrific dramatic performance that plays off his "aw shucks" country yokel persona perfectly) in a local jail, with a guitar and spontaneous blues songs and down home style of talking that strikes a chord with listeners... what follows is a "far ahead of its time" parable of media made personalitites shaping mass thought in America... brilliant stuff.

At the time (1957) Kazan was still an outcast for his HUAC testimony, so the Oscars® shunned the film and it had no box office either. Author Budd Schulberg (in a documentary on the dvd) says that he gets much more interest and acclaim for the story now than he did back then. A young Walter Matthau is a perfectly cynical tv writer, and a teen-aged Lee Remick is a baton-twirling jailbait pastry, sweet enough to tempt anyone.

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