1950s movies marathon – Best of 1951

From someone who has mostly watched movies from the 1920′s, 30′s and 40′s for the last two years, it may come as a surprise to hear that I don’t particularly like old movies.  I just don’t like them less than new movies, and when you’re trying to uncover All the Good Movies Ever Made, you have to start somewhere.  But even the best of the good Golden Age Hollywood movies can be a bit unimaginative and soft around the edges.

That’s why I love the two new kinds of movies of the early 50′s: Intelligent, even angry, “message” movies, and science fiction movies.  I’ve mostly heard bad things about 1950′s science fiction, but the only thing that is cheesy about the 1951 sci-fi movies are the effects.  Otherwise they’re everything I missed in the 40′s.

So here they are, the best (or at least pretty good) movies of 1951:

Best of the best

Ace in the  Hole

Five

Hey everyone let’s invent the science fiction movie!

Five

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Man in the White Suit

The Thing From Another World

When Worlds Collide

Aspiring towards theater

Fourteen Hours

The Scarf

Aspiring towards cinema

Ace in the  Hole

The Tall Target

Aspiring towards opera

The Tales of Hoffmann

Italian movies that don’t suck

Four Ways Out / La Citta si diffende

Satirical Japanese color movies

Carmen Comes Home

The ‘other’ bin

Desert Fox

The Lavender Hill Mob

Kranes konditori

People Will Talk

Mr Belvedere Rings the Bell

The Whip Hand

The Kaiser’s Lackey / Der Untertan