Midpoint Movies

Jesse Walker has put up his top ten list for the films of 1950.  It's five years since the war, and while Europe is trying to pick itself up, Hollywood is falling apart--the Supreme Court has broken up the studio system and TV is a clear threat.  They responded with a lot of film noir:

1. Rashomon
2. Harvey
3. Sunset Blvd.
4. Where the Sidewalk Ends
5. Gone to Earth
6. In a Lonely Place
7. Night and the City
8 House by the River
9. Stromboli
10. The Asphalt Jungle

I don't have too much trouble with this list.  If nothing else, I like these films.  Some are overrated, particularly Rashomon, but at least it's not one of those classics that's not a classic.  Some are from directors who have done considerably better work elsewhere (such as Gone To Earth and Sunset Boulevard, the latter being Wilder's most overrated film, along with Jesse's favorite from 1960, The Apartment.)

I'm a little surprised to see Harvey.  It's a nice comedy, but most of its modest charm comes from capturing what was already available on stage, not from adding anything.

Here are the honorable mentions:

11. Los Olvidados
12. Rabbit of Seville 
13. Winchester '73 
14. All About Eve 
15. D.O.A. 
16. Story of a Love Affair 
17. Eaten Horizons 
18. The Hypo-Chondri-Cat 
19. Cyrano de Bergerac 
20. Devil's Doorway 

Another collection of decent films, though Winchester '73 is the beginning of the overrated (I'm using that word way too much) Anthony Mann/Jimmy Stewart Westerns. It's also important in that it kicked off the power of agents and stars to get profit participation.

Los Olvidados would easily have made my top ten, but I guess number 11 is pretty close.

Jesse includes cartoons, and since Warner Brothers is operating at full power in 1950, he could have easily included more.

There are films I like from that year that Jesse didn't mention, of course.

For instance, just as 1960 features Jerry Lewis truly emerging as a solo act, so does 1950 feature the emerging superstars Martin and Lewis.  Their earliest films are pretty cheap, but they occasionally break out in the spirit that made the two the top act of the day.

Then there are musicals, which don't seem to be much on Jesse's mind.  For instance, 1950 saw two Fred Astaire musicals.  Weaker than usual, but even his worst is worth a look:  Let's Dance (very weak, indeed) and Three Little Words (a decent biopic that features very little dancing).  Then there's the second-greatest song and dance man, Gene Kelly, doing a great job with Judy Garland in Summer Stock. And when Judy couldn't finish Annie Get Your Gun that year, Betty Hutton stepped in with a rip-roaring performance.

Other films I liked:

Les Enfants Terribles, Fancy Pants, Born Yesterday (like Harvey, a decent adaptation of a long-running Broadway comedy), Cinderella (not as good as Disney's golden age, but still pretty special), Gerald McBoing-Boing (as long as you're including cartoons), Gun Crazy, The Gunfighter, Panic in the Streets, La Ronde, You Man With A Horn, Variety Lights

Here are films that are at least of note for one reason or another:

The Baron of Arizona, Broken Arrow (as long as you're including Jimmy Stewart Westerns), Caged, Captain Carey, U.S.A., Cheaper by the Dozen, Crisis, Dark City, Destination Moon, Father of the Bride,  The File on Thelma Jordon, Francis, The Fuller Brush Girl, The Glass Menagerie, The Jackie Robinson Story, Kim, King Solomon's Mines, Kon-Tiki, The Last Days of Pompeii. The Magnificent Yankee, The Men (Brando's debut), Never a Dull Moment, The Next Voice You Hear..., No Way Out, Riding High, Rio Grande, Stage Fright, Tea for Two, Treasure Island, Triple Trouble, Union Station, Wagon Master, The Yellow Cab Man