MOVIES OF THE 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s

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On this page:
1921   1926   1927   1929
1930   1931   1932   1933   1934   1935   1936   1937   1938   1939
1940   1941   1942   1943   1944   1945   1946   1947   1948   1949
1950   1951   1952   1953   1954   1955   1956   1957   1958   1959

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Movies of 1959

"Ben Hur" - Charlton Heston
"North by Northwest" - Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint; directed by Alfred Hitchcock
"Some Like It Hot" - Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, Joe E. Brown; written and directed by Billy Wilder

"Gigi" - Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, Hermione Gingold, Maurice Chevalier, Zsa Zsa Gabor
"Touch of Evil" - Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Marlene Dietrich, Janet Leigh

"Bridge on the River Kwai" - Alec Guinness, Richard Widmark
"Sweet Smell of Success" - Burt Lancaster
"Throne of Blood" - Toshiro Mifune; written and directed by Akira Kurosawa
"12 Angry Men" - Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman

"Anastasia" - Ingrid Bergman
"Dial M For Murder" - Alfred Hitchcock
"Friendly Persuasion" - Gary Cooper, Anthony Perkins, Dorothy McGuire; a real delight, highly recommended
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" - classic 50s horror
"The Man Who Knew Too Much" - Jimmy Stewart, Doris Day; directed by Alfred Hitchcock
"Richard III" - Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson
"The Ten Commandments" - Charlton Heston

"Bad Day at Black Rock" - Spencer Tracy get physical
"The Court Jester" - Danny Kaye; the vessel with the pestle
"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" - classic Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell
"The Ladykillers" - Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers and their cohorts are no match for a little old lady
"Marty" - Ernest Borgnine; everyone is pushing a man to get married later in life, but when he starts planning to marry he runs into problems
"The Red Balloon" - French film
"To Hell and Back" - Audie Murphy was the most decorated American soldier in World War II. This is his story. He plays himself

"On the Waterfront" - Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint
"Rear Window" - James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Raymond Burr; directed by Alfred Hitchcock
"The Seven Samurai" - Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura; directed by Akira Kurosawa; worth seeing widescreen on DVD

"How to Marry a Millionaire" - classic Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, and Betty Grable
"Roman Holiday" - Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn
"Stalag 17" - William Holden, Peter Graves, Otto Preminger
"Shane" - Alan Ladd and Jack Palance
"Wages of Fear" - foreign film; a truck filled with explosives going down and losing its breaks
"War of the Worlds" - classic sci-fi

"High Noon" - Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly
"Singin' in the Rain" - Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor; classic musical; can't watch this as often as some of the Astaire-Rogers musicals, but it is still entertaining once in a while

"An American in Paris" - Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron
"Lavender Hill Mob" - Alec Guinness
"A Place in the Sun" - Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift; Taylor may be at her most beautiful
"Rashamon" - Toshiro Mifune; directed by Akira Kurosawa; an attack in the woods is described by different witnesses and participants
"A Streetcar Named Desire" - Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden, Marlon Brando
"Strangers on a Train" - Alfred Hitchcock; later remade as "Throw Mama From The Train"

"All About Eve" - Bette Davis; an older actress meets a scheming understudy
"The Asphalt Jungle" - Marilyn Monroe has a small part; a
"Born Yesterday" - Judy Holliday's best film
"Cinderella" - animated classic
"Father of the Bride" - Spencer Tracy, Elizabeth Taylor
"Harvey" - James Stewart and his invisible 6 foot 3.5 inch rabbit friend; one of my all time favorites; can't count how many times I've watched it
"Sunset Boulevard" - William Holden, Gloria Swanson; written and directed by Billy Wilder

"All the King's Men"
"The Third Man" - Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten in Vienna after World War II

"I Remember Mama" - Irene Dunne; great film
"I Was A Male War Bride" - Cary Grant in drag
"Red River" - John Wayne and the Indians (er - Native Americans)
"Portrait of Jenny" - Joseph Cotten, Jennifer Jones; an artist is inspired to paint a girl he meets in a park; a fantasy
"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" - Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston; great film
"Whisky Galore" - British comedy; aka "Tight Little Island"

"Farmer's Daughter" - Loretta Young
"Miracle on 34th Street"

"The Big Sleep" - Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall; one of the best of all time
"The Best Years of Our Lives" - soldiers coming home from the war
"Great Expectations" - Dickens story
"It's a Wonderful Life" - James Stewart, Donna Reed; classic
"A Night in Casablanca" - Marx Brothers

"And Then There Were None" - Agatha Christie story
"The Lost Weekend" - the problems of an alcoholic

"They Were Expendable" - With John Wayne, Robert Montgomery, Donna Reed, Ward Bond. Directed by John Ford.
Plot Intro: A man struggles to handle his responsibilities when World War 2 breaks out.
Review: A dramatization of the PT Boat crews' attempts to defend the Philippines when World War 2 breaks out. Pretty good.
Rating:

"Film Title" at Amazon.com.

"Arsenic and Old Lace" - Cary Grant; one of my favorites
"Laura" - Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb
"Double Indemnity" - Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray
"Henry V" - Laurence Olivier
"Hail the Conquering Hero" - great film by Preston Sturges; one of my favorites
"Miracle of Morgan's Creek" - Great film by Preston Sturges; one of my favorites

"Five Graves in Cairo"
"The More the Merrier" - Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, Charles Coburn have to share an apartment during an apartment shortage
"The Ox-bow Incident" - Henry Fonda; the story of a lynch mob
"Sanshiro Sugata" - directed by Akira Kurosawa
"Watch on the Rhine" - Bette Davis

"Bambi"
"Casablanca" - Humphrey Bogart, Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Claude Rains, Ingrid Bergman; one of the greatest of all time
"The Palm Beach Story" - Joel McCrea, Claudette Colbert, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee; written and directed by Preston Sturges
"To Be or Not to Be" - Jack Benny, Carole Lombard; very funny; remade by Mel Brooks

"Citizen Kane" - Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten; considered by many to be the best of all time
"Dumbo"
"Here Comes Mr. Jordan" - a boxer who plays sax on the side dies sooner than he should; remade as "Heaven Can Wait" with Warren Beatty
"How Green Was My Valley" - Maureen O'Hara in Wales
"The Lady Eve" - Great Preston Sturges movie with Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck
"The Maltese Falcon" - Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre; written by Dashiell Hammett; one of the greatest of all time
"Sergeant York" - Gary Cooper; based on the true story of the most decorated soldier of World War I; one of Cooper's best
"Sullivan's Travels" - Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake; written and directed by Preston Sturges

"The Bank Dick" - W.C. Fields; one of his best
"Christmas in July" - early Preston Sturges movie
"Foreign Correspondent" - Joel McCrea; directed by Alfred Hitchcock
"Go West" - Marx Brothers losing steam
"The Grapes of Wrath" - Henry Fonda; one of the greatest pictures of all time
"His Girl Friday" - Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell; machine delivery of great dialogue; must see

"The Long Voyage Home" - With John Wayne, Barry Fitzgerald, Thomas Mitchell, Ward Bond, Mildred Natwick. Directed by John Ford.
Plot Intro: A crew on a merchant marine ship is trying to get home at the dangerous time when U-Boats may be somewhere nearby.
Review: Not one of the better John Ford films. Has many of the people from "The Quiet Man" and "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon".
Rating:

"The Long Voyage Home" at Amazon.com.

"The Philadelphia Story" - Cary Grant, Kathryn Hepburn, James Stewart
"Pinocchio"

"At the Circus" - Marx Brothers
"Destry Rides Again" - James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich; a great film; Stewart maybe at his skinniest; very funny; one of my favorites; if you can stand Marlene Dietrich's singing, it will be one of your favorites, too.
"The Four Feathers" - a man must prove he's not a coward during the Sudan uprising
"Gone With the Wind" - Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" - Lon Chaney, Maureen O'Hara
"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" - James Stewart, Jean Arthur; one of the greatest films of all time.
"Stagecoach" - John Wayne

"The Adventures of Robin Hood" - Erroll Flynn, Olivia DeHavilland, Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone; great film
"The Lady Vanishes" - Alfred Hitchcock

"A Day at the Races" - Marx Brothers
"Prisoner of Zenda"
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"
"Tovarich" - Claudette Colbert, Charles Boyer, Basil Rathbone; one of my favorites

"Charge of the Light Brigade" - Erroll Flynn
"Follow the Fleet" - Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
"The Great Ziegfeld" - William Powell
"Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" - Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur; directed by Frank Capra
"My Man Godfrey" - William Powell and Carole Lombard; one of the best films ever

"A Night at the Opera" - Marx Brothers; one of their best
"Top Hat" - Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; easy to watch

"David Copperfield" - Freddie Bartholemew
"It Happened One Night" - Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert; includes instructions on how to hitchhike; Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Screenplay Oscars - a first
"It's a Gift" - W.C. Fields; one of his best
"The Thin Man" - William Powell and Myrna Loy at their best; written by Dashiell Hammett
"Twentieth Century" - Carole Lombard; great comedy

"Duck Soup" - Marx Brothers; some think this is the best Marx Brothers film
"The Invisible Man" - Claude Rains
"King Kong" - classic horror

"Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde" - classic horror with Spencer Tracy
"Horse Feathers" - Marx Brothers, Thelma Todd

"The Mummy" - Boris Karloff
"Tarzan, the Ape Man" - Johnny Weismuller

"Frankenstein" - classic horror; recently restored
"Little Caesar" - E.G. Robinson
"Monkey Business" - Marx Brothers

"All Quiet on the Western Front" - pacifist World War I movie about German soldiers
"Animal Crackers" - Marx Brothers; hooray for Captain Spalding.
"Hell's Angels" - Film by Howard Hughes with Jean Harlow; the way the film ended was surprisingly modern. I had the feeling that it was way ahead of its time. Very impressive.

"The Cocoanuts" - the first Marx Brothers film

"Wings" - World War I fighter plane action with Gary Cooper

"The Son of Sheik" - a Rudolph Valentino classic

"The Sheik" - a Rudolph Valentino classic