Eisenhower Power

1967 was a turning point in film.  1977 was a turning point in film. 1927 was a turning point in film.  1957...no big deal.  Movies were dying from the onslaught of television, but that was already an old story.

So let's see what Jesse Walker has to say about this relatively unimportant year;

1. What's Opera, Doc?
2. Paths of Glory
3. Wild Strawberries
4. The Seventh Seal
5. Sweet Smell of Success
5. Throne of Blood.
7. Witness for the Prosecution
8. The Bridge on the River Kwai
9. Night of the Demon
10. Decision at Sundown

"What's Opera, Doc?" is a classic, but a short, so shouldn't be here.

Paths Of Glory is one of Kubrick's best.  I wonder if he would have had a better legacy if he didn't take forever to make his later films.

Wild Strawberries and The Seventh Seal are ground zero of classic Bergman.  They're pretty good, but have been parodied so often it's sometimes hard to take them seriously.

Sweet Smell Of Success has amazing dialogue.  If only it had a third act. (Would still make my list.)

Throne Of Blood (ranked 5th--did Jesse mean 6th, or is it a tie?) gives us Shakespeare by way of Japan. (Of course, we see Kurosawa as quintessentially Japanese, whereas his own country saw him as too western.)

Witness For The Prosecution is decent but not top tier Billy Wilder (and the best of his three films this year).

The Bridge On The River Kwai is half a good movie, and everyone knows which half.

I've never gotten around to Night Of The Demon.

Decision At Sundown is a solid Boetticher Western, which makes it okay.

11. An Affair to Remember
12. N.Y., N.Y.: A Day in New York
13. Three Little Bops
14. Bitter Victory
15. The Transposed Heads
16. The Bachelor Party
17. The Curse of Frankenstein
18. The Sound of Jazz
19. 3:10 to Yuma
20. Rhythm

11 is a so-so remake by McCarey of better McCarey.  12 and 13 are shorts.  14 is not Ray at his best. 15 is a short.  I caught part of 16 on TV--looked like another overwritten Paddy Chayefsky movie.  17 is classic Hammer horror.  18 is a TV episode.  19 is an average Western (and I've never quite understood how Glenn Ford was such a big star). 20 is a short.

Other films that would make my top ten:

Funny Face (approaching 60, Astaire was just about done with musicals, but he still pulled this one off)

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter (probably Tashlin's best)

Other films I liked:

Forty Guns

The Golden Age Of Comedy

Jailhouse Rock

Love In The Afternoon (okay, it's kind of curdled Lubitsch, but it'll do)

Run Of The Arrow

Silk Stockings (no Funny Face, but fun)

Other films of note:

12 Angry Men, 20 Million Miles To Earth, The Admirable Crichton, The Amazing Colossal Man, April Love, Baby Face Nelson, Beau James, Boy On A Dolphin, The Brothers Karamazov, The Buster Keaton Story, Carry On Admiral, The Cyclops, The D.I., The Delicate Delinquent, Desk Set, A Face In The Crowd, A Farewell To Arms, Fear Strikes Out, Fire Down Below, The Girl In The Picture, The Girl Most Likely, Gunfight At O.K. Corral, A Hatful Of Rain, Heaven Knows Mr. Allison, The Helen Morgan Story, Hellcats Of The Navy, I Was A Teenage Werewolf, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Jeanne Eagels, Johnny Tremain, The Joker Is Wild, A King In New York (Chaplin at his most bizarre), Kiss Them For Me, Man Of A Thousand Faces, Mistory Cory, Mister Rock And Roll, My Man Godfrey, Nights Of Cabiria, On Men! Oh Women!,

Old Yeller, Operation Mad Ball, The Pajama Game, Pal Joey, Peyton Place, The Pride And The Passion, The Prince And The Showgirl, Raintree Country, The Sad Sack, Saint Join, Sayonara, Seven Hills Of Rome, The She-Creatures, The Spirit Of St. Louis, The Steel Bayonet, The Story Of Esther Costello, The Story Of Mankind (last film appearance of the Marx Brothers, though in separate scenes), The Sun Also Rises, The Tall T, Tammy And The Bachelor, The Tarnished Angels, Ten Thousand Bedrooms, The Three Faces Of Eve, The Tijuana Story, The Tin Star, Wild Is The Wind, The Wings Of Eagles, Young And Dangerous, Zero Hour! (not bad, and the inspiration for Airplane!)