1950s

The Ladykillers

January 31, 2015

Alec Guinness’s Professor Marcus really meets his match with Katie Johnson’s Mrs. Wilberforce in Alexander Mackendrick’s 1955 Ealing Studios comedy “The Ladykillers,” what some call the last great comedy from the studio. Where he plots and schemes to rob a bank truck, she makes tea and makes sure her guests act like gentlemen – even when those men are thieves. It’s a great premise for this film, and one that makes at least half of us on the show laugh. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our Sir Alec Guinness series with “The Ladykillers.”

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The Man in the White Suit

January 23, 2015

Ealing Studios comedies, particularly the ones we’ve been talking about, have all had a bit of an anti-establishment feel to them but “The Man in the White Suit” feels like they were trying to something a bit more with it. The film is fascinating satirical comedy looking at the relationship between the factory owners and the union laborers in England back in the 50s that doesn’t just focus on their differences but also finds a way to bring the two groups together. The reason for their coming together is, of course, the titular character, played wonderfully by Sir Alec Guinness. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we talk about this great Alexander Mackendrick film from 1951 as the next in our Guinness series.

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The Lavender Hill Mob

January 16, 2015

Sir Alec Guinness had already proven both his comedic and dramatic prowess by the time he came to Ealing Studios’ “The Lavender Hill Mob” in 1951, a point in his career when he was making two films a year. He’d continue working in both comedy and drama throughout his career, but we’re lucky to still be talking about his comedies because “The Lavender Hill Mob” is an absolute delight. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we continue our Sir Alec Guinness series with a conversation about his seventh film, directed by Charles Crichton.

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The Blob

September 27, 2013

It was the genius mind of producer Jack Harris who saw potential in combining two popular 50s genres — the horror sci-fi films and the teen delinquency films — when he got Irvin Yeaworth to direct 1958s “The Blob.” There were plenty of low budget midnight movies being churned out then, but somehow this one ended up hitting the winning streak by getting picked up by Paramount and distributed across the country, making a name for its star, Steve McQueen, in the process. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we talk about this 50s sci-fi/horror/teen drive-in classic this week. We talk about the nature of looking at films like this and how they work — or don’t work — through modern eyes.

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The Night of the Hunter

August 2, 2013

Charles Laughton is most known for his larger than life performances in films from the 30s through the 60s, but he did have one chance to direct which came in the form of 1955’s The Night of the Hunter, a film he also co-wrote with James Agee based on the novel by Davis Grubb. Unfortunately for him, the film was a huge flop. Luckily for us, this quirky anomaly of a film has not only survived but has thrived — it is now critically praised and generally considered to be a classic film.

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The Killing

July 5, 2013

Stanley Kubrick’s 3rd film, “The Killing,” was a box office bomb due to a poor release plan from United Artists and virtually no marketing. Luckily, the film was critically praised and has grown in stature since its release in 1956. It’s a film noir about a race track heist gone wrong with the fantastic Sterling Hayden leading the charge, and the last film in our Heist series. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we finish this series with Kubrick’s early classic.

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Marty

May 17, 2013

After writing his teleplay for “Marty,” it wasn’t long before Hollywood asked Paddy Chayefsky to adapt his script for a feature film. And it’s a good thing he did too — he won his first Oscar for his screenplay. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we finish our Paddy Chayefsky series with Delbert Mann’s 1955 film “Marty.”

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The Asphalt Jungle

February 8, 2013

When people list off caper films, it’s a long list that comes to mind – Ocean’s Eleven, Rififi, The Killing, The Ladykillers, Kelly’s Heroes, The Italian Job, The Usual Suspects, even more recently Inception – but the film that really kicked it all off was 1950s masterpiece, The Asphalt Jungle. John Huston co-adapted W. R. Burnett’s novel and turned it into one of his greatest directorial achievements, a story of a group of criminals working hard to pull off the perfect heist only to have everything fall apart in the end.

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Compulsion

August 17, 2012

It’s the start of our Richard D. Zanuck tribute series, ladies and gentlemen, and what better way to begin than with the first film he produced for his father, Darryl F. Zanuck, 1959’s “Compulsion.” Based on the book of the same name by Meyer Levin about the Leopold/Loeb murder from 1924, Richard D. Zanuck puts together a top notch team of cast and crew, headed up by director Richard Fleischer, to create a film that comes in under budget and ahead of schedule.

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The African Queen

July 13, 2012

John Huston co-wrote and directed it, choosing to shoot as much as he possibly could in Africa. While many said it couldn’t be done—shooting a story on location about two characters typically considered much too old for a love story—John Huston proved them wrong.

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