▶

The Bad Seed (1956, USA)

And then gradually you begin to suspect that your daughter has no soul. Watched it all. It’s the movie birth of the psychopatic child – and the child-like psychopath. Patty McCormack does an amazing job portraying pure evil with a moderately plausible outer layer of innocence. The only thing wrong with this movie is the absurd happy ending, where an Act of God solves all problems, but even so, this is one of the most disturbing movies Hollywood had made up to that point – another nail in the coffin of the Production Code.

The Killing (1956, USA, Kubrick)

The classic caper formula: First the crew gathers, then they execute, and then they fail tragically. Watched it before, and I think I liked it, but this time I find myself too annoyed with the voiceover. The director being Kubrick, this movie invites pretentious over-analysis, but come on, it’s just a well-made throwback to film noir with some inspired touches, nothing truly new.

▶

Rock Around the Clock (1956, USA)

This is the second ’56 rock’n roll movie about two middle-aged has-beens who try to wrap their heads around this new music the teenagers are listening to, so that they can make lots and lots of money off of it. I guess it’s a story producers could relate to. Watched it all.

Alexander the Great (1956, UK)

This epic movie about the epic leader Alexander the Epic is so epic that I’m already falling asleep. Watched: 7 minutes.