50s

Twelve Angry Men

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12 Angry Men. Orion-Nova Productions 1957.

Before watching the movie:

I’m often going into these movies wishing I knew more, but I never really felt like I needed to know more than “heated jury debate”. Everyone is frustrated because they’re locked in the room until they’re unanimous and they can’t come to an agreement.

This doesn’t seem like the kind of idea that came to life as a movie script, but much more like a play. The characters are literally locked in one room and have to talk until they come to a resolution. So I’m a little surprised to find that it was not based on a stageplay, but on a television play. That’s a format that doesn’t really exist anymore, and I’m sure if this movie didn’t already cast a long shadow, it wouldn’t gain traction today.

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The Blob (1958)

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The Blob. Fairview Productions 1958.

Before watching the movie:

This is one of the most iconic 50s sci-fi monster movies, from what I understand. Alien jelly from space lands on a meteorite and threatens to eat a small town. It’s both a very typical 50s b-movie plot and also has the unique element of the monster being completely unlike any animal entity we’re familiar with, more of a force of nature than anything we usually have to reckon with in this genre.

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The King and I

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The King and I. 20th Century Fox 1956.

Before watching the movie:

This is one of the most enduring musicals of classic Hollywood (an era I’m sure some would argue I’m stretching). I always had the sense it was something of a modern fairy tale, a common woman swept into the royal court and falling in love. It didn’t seem that interesting except for how popular it is. I think I’ve come across before that she’s there to teach the king’s children, but I keep forgetting it. I also don’t always remember that the king is Siamese until I remember that another title in its orbit is “Anna and the King of Siam”, which explains why his fashion doesn’t look much like the Western perception of kings.

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The Court Jester

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The Court Jester. Paramount Pictures 1956.

Before watching the movie:

I may have encountered this in some dusty streaming back catalogs or cheap collection of classic movies, but it didn’t appeal much to me on the face of it. Much more recently, I learned that it’s the source of the tongue-twister scene I think I saw in an AFI special about “the pellet with the poison is in the vessel with the pestle”, which I always wanted to find. The climactic swordfight is also highly praised by fight choreographers, I believe coming behind few other than the famous Princess Bride duel.

I’ve seen a few other Danny Kaye movies, but I only just now realized I might have been confusing him with Dennis Day occasionally. Kaye seems to be someone who used to be much more appreciated, but has been forgotten since the New Hollywood revolution.

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The Conqueror

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The Conqueror. RKO Radio Pictures 1956.

Before watching the movie:

This movie was probably forgotten for a while except as a strange footnote in John Wayne’s career. However, it’s been seized on due to the fact that it was filmed downwind from nuclear bomb testing, which leads more and more people to discover the bafflingly bad idea of casting Hollywood’s most famous Cowboy to lead in an epic on the origins of Genghis Khan.

On paper, it sounds bad, but hardly any movie deserves to have this much ridicule heaped on it. Most of the people mocking it haven’t even seen it. One thing I like to do with this blog is give movies a chance at the minor redemption of pleasantly surprising one hobbyist critic on the internet, so this was an irresistible pick.

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The Night the World Exploded

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The Night the World Exploded. Clover Productions 1957.

Before watching the movie:

Another one I stumbled upon that I know pretty much nothing about. It has something to do with an unknown mineral that’s been present in the Earth all this time igniting and bad stuff happens. I don’t know how the plot is going to set up that this thing can happen and is going to destroy the world if it isn’t stopped if it sounds like setting it off in one place will set it off all over the world, but that’s what I’ll find out.

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The Wasp Woman

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The Wasp Woman. Santa Cruz Productions 1959.

Before watching the movie:

Here’s another cold watch of an old B-movie. I could try to do some quick research to get more early impressions, but sometimes it’s more interesting to know as little as possible.

Woman turns into a wasp-monster. I saw something about royal jelly, so I assume it’s an experiment gone wrong. Sounds interesting, and hopefully the fun kind of bad.

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The Magnetic Monster

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The Magnetic Monster. United Artists 1953.

Before watching the movie:

I’d never heard of this movie before I stumbled across it in back catalogs looking for B-movies. The title didn’t sound particularly interesting, but the blurb threw a lot of sincere sounding superlatives around for a movie I’d never heard of.

Supposedly this has one of the most accurate portrayals of nuclear radiation, but the combination of most movies treating radiation as “field of evil chaotic magic” and the plot apparently having something to do with a monster with magnetic abilities, I’m not expecting much scientific accuracy.

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Guys and Dolls

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Guys And Dolls. MGM 1955.

Before watching the movie:

I always had the impression this was a story about mafiosos and their molls, but the closest I ever came to any glimpse of the actual contents of the musical was… highly adulterated, and I’m pretty sure bears no relationship to the actual musical.

The summaries I’m seeing now seem to revolve around illegal gambling, which probably means organized crime, but it doesn’t really seem to be the focus. Obviously the real focus is probably “That Frank Sinatra is having a swell time singing”, more than likely with a dash of “and that nun is going to break her vows for him.”

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The Caddy

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The Caddy. Paramount Pictures 1953.

Before watching the movie:

I don’t really know much beyond that this is a Martin and Lewis movie. I guess Jerry Lewis is the good golfer posing as his friend’s caddy because he can’t handle the attention of the crowd. But he’s hopeless as a caddy. Laughs ensue.

Looks like they both have love interests? I guess there’s room for some subplot around the slapstick and friend arguments.

I’m not sure I’ve seen enough of Dean Martin to know what to expect from him. He’s clearly the straight man of the duo though.

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