Your Favourite Performances from 1929 to present are...

[TomJH]

There's no question that my favourite film of 1954 is Rear Window. It's such a tribute to Hitchcock's greatness as a director that he could make such a marvellously entertaining suspense thriller in such confined settings (then, again, there was Lifeboat, which was even more confined) and to have the daring challenge of having a Peeping Tom hero. Of course, the casting of Jimmy Stewart in that role as a bored, listless individual goes a long way to secure audience sympathy with the character).

 

SPOILER ALERT:

 

One of my favourite moments of the film is its highly suspenseful climax with the final confrontation between Stewart, physically immobilized in a wheel chair with a broken leg, and the hulking wife murderer (Raymond Burr).

 

Along with Stewart the audience hears the slow methodical sounds of the murderer's heavy footsteps as he slowly climbs the stairs outside his apartment. The apartment door slowly opens to a darkened room and we see the grim visage of Burr, almost Frankensteinian at that moment in his appearance.

 

But then Hitchcock plays a surprise on the audience. We hear Burr's voice, "What do you want of me?" No answer. He asks other questions, "Do you want money? I haven't very much."

 

The voice is pleading because it's that of a frightened man. Hitchcock always made his villains more memorable by the ambiguity or, at times, even charm, that many of them had. And even here, for a brief moment, the murderer, so ominous in appearance, is a human, like the rest of us, scared of the unknown, perhaps scared of the very dark of the apartment.

 

As he starts to advance forward Stewart stalls for time by blinding him with some camera flash bulbs and, once again, Burr's character has resumed monster form as he will try to overpower the film's hero and throw him off his apartment balcony.

 

 

But, for a brief moment, Hitchcock had let us see that the villain could be afraid, just like the rest of us.

 

By the way, why Stewart doesn't wheel his chair forward to lock his apartment door when he hears Burr's footsteps mounting the stairs is something I don't quite understand.

 

The again, maybe I do.

 

"If we did that then what would be our climax, you silly boy?" I can almost hear Hitchcock chastising me.

[CoraSmith]

Rear Window is my favorite as well. It's the ultimate frame story with the most passive hero of all time. We, the viewers, are turned into voyeurs as well. It's a bit like switching channels on cable television, but with live images. We usually see James Stewart's point of view, except once, when he falls asleep.

 

The contrast between the war photos on the wall and the designer clothes of Grace Kelly illustrates the contrast between the two leading characters. 

 

Edith Head designed the costumes. She has won eight Oscars, which is eight more than Hitchcock. It's no coincidence that the lamp in this shot looks like Grace Kelly's twin sister, with the same colors and a comparable shape. I like this kind of visual detail.

[Bogie56]

The BAFTA winners for 1954 were ….

 

Best Actor (British)

Kenneth More, Doctor In the House*

David Niven, Carrington, V.C.

John Mills, Hobson’s Choice

Robert Donat, Lease of Life

Donald Wolfit, Svengali

Maurice Denham, The Purple Plain

 

Best Actor (Foreign)

Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront*

Jose Ferrer, The Caine Mutiny

Fredric March, Executive Suite

James Stewart, The Glenn Miller Story

Neville Brand, Riot In Cell Block 11

 

Best Actress (British)

Yvonne Mitchell, The Divided Heart*

Margaret Leighton, Carrington, V.C.

Noelle Middleton, Carrington, V.C.

Brenda de Banzie, Hobson’s Choice

Audrey Hepburn, Sabrina

 

Best Actress (Foreign)

Cornell Borchers, The Divided Heart*

Shirley Booth, About Mrs. Leslie

Gina Lollabrigida, Bread Love and Dreams (53)

Grace Kelly, Dial M For Murder

Judy Holliday, Phffft

[Swithin]

Rear Window is my favorite as well. It's the ultimate frame story with the most passive hero of all time. We, the viewers, are turned into voyeurs as well. It's a bit like switching channels on cable television, but with live images. We usually see James Stewart's point of view, except once, when he falls asleep.

Yes -- voyeurism is a feature of many Hitchcock films (Psycho for example).  As movie fans watching other people, we are all voyeurs. Do you agree that James Stewart's broken leg is not just a broken leg, in other words impotence = voyeurism? Great movie. I forgot to list, among my favorite music scenes of 1954, the use of the song "Mona Lisa" in Rear Window.

[TomJH]

Yes -- voyeurism is a feature of many Hitchcock films (Psycho for example).  As movie fans watching other people, we are all voyeurs. Do you agree that James Stewart's broken leg is not just a broken leg, in other words impotence = voyeurism? Great movie. I forgot to list, among my favorite music scenes of 1954, the use of the song "Mona Lisa" in Rear Window.

 

The scene in which James Stewart's impotence as a character is most brilliantly on display in that in which he watches with complete helplessness as Raymond Burr catches Grace Kelly in his apartment, starts to manhandle her, with she crying out Stewart's name for help. Burr then turns out the lights in his apartment as the struggle continues. Hitchcock and his editor cut back and forth between the struggle in the apartment and closeups of Stewart's face depicting his anxiety as he can do nothing but watch.

 

The police, which Stewart had called as soon as he saw Burr arriving back home again as Kelly investigates inside his room, arrive in time to save Kelly, but the film's hero could do nothing but watch and sweat. We're used to a movie world (at least in 1954) in which the hero would come to the heroine's rescue. Hitchcock gave us the brief, agonizing experience of identifying with an impotent hero who could do nothing.

 

It's an extraordinary sequence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Swithin]

The scene in which James Stewart's impotence as a character is most brilliantly on display in that in which he watches with complete helplessness as Raymond Burr catches Grace Kelly in his apartment, starts to manhandle her, with she crying out Stewart's name for help. Burr then turns out the lights in his apartment as the struggle continues. Hitchcock cuts back and forth between the struggle in the apartment and closeups of Stewart's face depicting his anxiety that he can do nothing.

 

The police, which Stewart had called as soon as he saw Burr arriving back home again as Kelly investigates inside his room, arrive in time to save Kelly, but the film's hero could do nothing but watch and sweat. We're used to a movie world (at least in 1954) in which the hero would come to the heroine's rescue. Hitchcock gave us the brief, agonizing experience of watching an impotent hero who could do nothing.

 

There's a scene in which Stewart sort of sticks his tongue out of his mouth, in a very lurid way, while he's using the rod he uses as an aide to scratch himself under his cast, that also points up his sexual proclivities, although more in a masterbatory sense accompanying the voyeurism.

[kingrat]

Tom and Cora, thanks for the great stills from Rear Window.

[Bogie56]

Here are my choices of the 85 films I've seen from 1954 for…

 

Best Supporting Actor of 1954

 

1.  HUMPHREY BOGART (Lt. Comm. Philip Francis Queeg), The Caine Mutiny

2.  LEE J. COBB (Michael J. Skelly/”Johnny Friendly”), On the Waterfront

3.  ROD STEIGER (Charley ‘the gent’ Malloy), On the Waterfront

4.  VITTORIO DE SICA (Count Prospero B.), The Gold of Naples

5.  KARL MALDEN (Father Barry), On the Waterfront

 

6.  FRED MACMURRAY (Lt. Tom Keefer), The Caine Mutiny

7.  EDUARDO CIANELLI  (Dr. Vivaldi), The Stranger's Hand

8.  EDMOND O'BRIEN (Oscar Muldoon), The Barefoot Contessa

9.  SEBASTIAN CABOT (Lord Capulet), Romeo and Juliet

10. RICHARD BASEHART ("Il Matto"/"the Fool"), La Strada

 

and ...

 

TOM TULLY (Lt. Comm. William H. De Vriess), The Caine Mutiny

LOUIS CALHERN (George Nyle Caswell), Executive Suite

FREDRIC MARCH (Loren Phineas Shaw), Executive Suite

GEORGE COLE ("Flash" Harry), The Belles of St. Trinian's

JACK CARSON (Matt Libby), A Star Is Born

WALTER PIDGEON (Frederick Y. Alderson), Executive Suite

EITARO SHINDO (Ishun, the printer), The Crucified Lovers

MINORU CHIAKI (Heihachi Hayashida), Seven Samurai

YOSHIO TSUCHIYA (Farmer Rikichi), Seven Samurai

[Bogie56]

Last summer, the Toronto Cinematheque, or TIFF had a Vittorio De Sica retrospective and I was finally able to catch up with The Gold of Naples (1954) which is an anthology picture.

Down in my supporting actress runner ups is Sophia Loren who is very comical in the 'Pizza di credito' segment.  She assists her husband in a hole-in-the-wall pizzeria.  When he isn't looking she is fending off enamoured suitors who naturally are entranced by the blouse that keeps dropping off her shoulder.  Loren had only really been the star of films for a couple of years at this point.

 

 

The real stand out career performance in The Gold of Naples belongs to De Sica himself who plays a Count that lives in a posh tenement with his mother.  His butler frisks him for pawnable stolen items before he leaves for the day for the Count has a serious gambling addiction and debts.  Instead of leaving the building altogether the Count has his doorman bring his boy home from the playground so that he may play cards with him.  The Count's competitiveness is humorously countered by the boy's boredom.  You can guess who is the master card shark and who gets further and further in debt.  

[skimpole]

Paul Thomas for the Criterion Collection on Journey to Italy:

 

 

Roberto Rossellini, for his part, was more explicit. He insisted that “neorealist reality is incomplete, official, and entirely reasonable; but the poetry, the mystery, everything that completes and enlarges tangible reality, is completely missing.” This is a lack he consciously, self-consciously, attempted to make good in the celebrated series of films he made with Ingrid Bergman, a series that culminated in the extraordinary Journey to Italy (1954), which has come down to us as a test case in how to really watch a film, where “the poetry, the mystery, everything that completes and enlarges tangible reality” is emphasized, foregrounded as never before.

 

 

Rossellini’s leitmotif all along had been the flash of dramatic interruption. His way of breaking out of the contemplative stance, the director’s posture as unmoved mover, that neorealism implies had been to shatter “reality” into fragments, shards that would pierce the spectator’s awareness and make complacency impossible—impossible for spectator, actor, and director alike. He pulled no punches. The momentary, the break in con­struc­tion, the abrupt interruption of process and expectation—these stay with us. The shooting (double entendre intended) of Pina (Anna Magnani) from the back of the truck in Rome Open City (1945), the drowning of the partisans in the Po sequence of Paisan (1946)—to see these charged episodes is to remember them. They don’t let go. They become inscribed in our memory—inscribed because Rossellini had an almost uncanny way of lodging them there.

 

And this is where Ingrid Bergman comes in, for Rossellini’s films with her are organized around such episodes and sequences. Flashes of dramatic interruption are now refracted with remarkable consistency and power through the reactions on-screen of a single actress. Rossellini alone among directors of Bergman educed and drew upon her preternatural capacity to show what it felt like to be shaken up and pried loose from her expectations, to be so visibly affected by something she never imagined she could experience. A hint of what is to come is at hand in the first collaboration, Stromboli (1950). What Rossellini saw in and about Bergman as an actor, when applied not to the overwrought volcanic climax of the film but to the earlier, emblematic tuna-fishing sequence, sets its seal upon Stromboli in a way that could scarcely be more memorable. Rossellini deliberately avoided conventional cutaway reaction shots to those gelatinous, monstrous tuna, thrashing about in their death throes inside the huge trap the fishermen have spent eight laborious days in the sun setting for them. We know how seeing this registers with Bergman, and with Rossellini too, because we know—how, given the sheer power of the sequence, could we not know?—how seeing it registers with us. Rossellini, like Renoir before him, at moments like this oversteps limits that for most directors are built-in and taken for granted.

 

Rossellini is, of course, showing us what the fishermen of Stromboli do as well as Bergman’s reaction to it. Which is to say that Rossellini, who eschewed Marxism, was nevertheless concerned, in his own way, to proceed from the point of production. Stromboli ignores l’espèce ouvrière, the workers’ milieu, as such, yet gets there despite itself—can there be any doubt that Rossellini’s grumpy, oppressed, and resentful fishermen have a great deal to be resentful about? As in Journey to Italy, and as in Europe ’51 too, Rossellini is concerned to avoid the obvious, the one-off, cheap-shot explanation...

 

 

In Journey to Italy, the battle lines are domestic. Rossellini’s producers insisted on George Sanders as a “name” counterweight to Bergman. Sanders throughout disparaged Rossellini’s improvisatory methods on the set; his grumpiness finds expression in Alex Joyce, the character he plays in the film. Rossellini harnesses the real alienation of his players to the story of a couple—he disillusioned, sour, and cynical (as Sanders was in real life), she in a state of not-always-quiet desperation about their marriage.

 

The Joyces’ is a journey in Italy as well as to it, the original journey to Italy having been made by the late Uncle Homer, who settled there, stayed during a war that is otherwise scarcely mentioned, and is still fondly missed by his Neapolitan friends, friends who are unlikely to miss the Joyces, his heirs, in anything like the same way. For that matter, the Joyces themselves, as we encounter them, wouldn’t miss each other much if their marriage were to do what it threatens to do and fall apart. Journey to Italy, in Leo Braudy’s words, “contains some of the most abrasive scenes between a man and a woman that have ever been filmed . . . It is an abrasion of boredoms spawned by the inconsequential space-filling dialogue that will be echoed in Antonioni’s L’avventura.” But for all this—we can freely grant that Antonioni’s various couples would have been impossible without Rossellini’s—Journey to Italy’s ending is quite unlike L’avventura’s. Rossellini’s camera cranes away from Katherine and Alex and fixes not on the couple themselves but beyond them—there is, with Rossellini, always a beyond, a Jenseits—on the religious procession in which their carapace of a car is engulfed.

 

Journey to Italy, similarly, opens “as if it had begun a lot earlier,” as José Guarner has pointed out. “We are not present at the opening of a story, merely coming in on something that was already going on”—what Rossellini described as “a couple’s relationship under the influence of a third person: the exterior world.” This exterior world, or what we see of it—that is, the extraordinary world of Naples and Pompeii—is not just a setting but a character in the film, much as Wessex is in Thomas Hardy’s novels, and much as the isle of Stromboli and the city of Rome feature—geographically, topologically—in Stromboli and Europe ’51. The word that suggests itself here is psychotopography, a term used by Laurie Johnson to characterize Werner Herzog’s films, where aspects of a protagonist’s, or the director’s, innermost concerns are made visible in external nature or landscape. In addition, Rossellini uses social settings, or milieus, in much the same way. The provocation in which he specializes throws self-provocation (as well as the provocation of Bergman) into the mix.

 

 

These incitements are apparent in all three of the Bergman films, but it is in Journey to Italy that geography, that psychotopography, really comes to a head as never before. This time it encompasses not just an island or a city but an eon: we watch Bergman as she is cast back—elementally—into the depths of time. At the end of the film, just when the exterior world seems bent upon sealing Katherine and Alex’s separation, it wheels around and effects a reconciliation. In a dialectical twist, they finally become present to each other under its impress; consciousness and self-consciousness finally imply each other; timelessness and timeliness at last interpenetrate. All along, their studied imperviousness to what surrounds them—Alex, in particular, complains about Italy as though it were intruding upon him, rather than he traversing it with Katherine—has complemented their imperviousness to each other. This combined uneasily with a fixation—Katherine’s nerve-racking waiting up for Alex in the villa is an instance—they don’t know how to interpret or explore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But Katherine ultimately does wish to explore Naples and its environs. Each of the visits she makes to various sites—to the National Archaeological Museum, to Cumae, to the cave of the Sibyl, to the igneous lava fields near Vesuvius, and to the Fontanelle catacombs—emphasizes what Jacques Rivette called “all those shots of eyes looking.” At the museum, the camera focuses on the statues before moving to an angle from which we can see Katherine looking at them. Rossellini’s camera declines any interpretive advantage, registering instead the outward particularity of what it observes, and does so with the same kind of “astonishing reticence” (the phrase is Gilberto Perez’s) that Katherine (sometimes despite herself) brings to bear. Life is taken as if by surprise. The camera tracks, pans, and cranes, always beginning with what is being looked at and always ending—without a cut—on Katherine’s facial expression. Rossellini, eschewing the traditional shot–reaction shot formula, creates meaning in, by, and through the way Katherine reacts to what she sees. In so doing, he is giving the spectator work to do. We look, just as Rossellini’s camera looks, at Katherine and with Katherine, at one and the same time. “Naples as filtered through the consciousness of the heroine” is, in André Bazin’s words, “a mental landscape at once as objective as a . . . photograph and as subjective as pure personal consciousness.” Once again, Rossellini is transgressing boundaries others had long taken for granted—which is why Jacques Rivette insisted in the 1950s, and why Laura Mulvey was later to reiterate, that “if there is a modern cinema, this is it . . . With the appearance of Viaggio in Italia, all films have suddenly aged ten years.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bogie56]

The film print that I saw of the Rossellini film was translated Journey In Italy, Viaggio In Italia which is probably more appropriate than 'to Italy.'  Instead of going to a place we are on a personal journey while in Italy.

[CoraSmith]

The film print that I saw of the Rossellini film was translated Journey In Italy, Viaggio In Italia which is probably more appropriate than 'to Italy.'  Instead of going to a place we are on a personal journey while in Italy.

According to the dictionary "to a country" in Italian is "in ...". It's about a British couple that travelled to Italy. They're already in Italy when the film starts, so there are arguments for both translations.

[Bogie56]

Here are Danny Peary’s Alternate Oscar choices for 1954.  Winners in bold.  

 

Best Actor

Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront*

Charles Laughton, Hobson’s Choice

James Mason, A Star Is Born

 

Best Actress

Judy Garland, A Star Is Born*

Dorothy Dandridge, Carmen Jones

Judy Holliday, It Should Happen to You

Jennifer Jones, Beat the Devil (53)

Grace Kelly, Rear Window

Eva Marie Saint, On the Waterfront

 

 

And here are Michael Gerbert’s Golden Armchair choices for 1954:

 

Best Actor

Toshiro Mifune, Seven Samurai*

 

Best Actress

Judy Garland, A Star Is Born*

[Bogie56]

Here are my choices of the 85 films I've seen from 1954 for…

 

Best Actress of 1954

 

1.  GIULIETTA MASINA (Gelsomina Costanzo), La Strada

2.  AUDREY HEPBURN (Sabrina Fairchild), Sabrina

3.  GRACE KELLY (Georgie Elgin), The Country Girl

4.  JUDY GARLAND (Esther Blodgett/“Vicki Lester”), A Star Is Born

5.  BRENDA DE BANZIE (Maggie Hobson), Hobson's Choice

 

6.  SUSAN SHENTALL (Juliet Capulet), Romeo and Juliet

7.  GRACE KELLY (Lisa Carol Fremont), Rear Window

8.  ROSAURA REVUELTAS (Esperanza Quintero), Salt of the Earth

9.  GRACE KELLY (Margot Wendice), Dial M For Murder

10. JOAN CRAWFORD (Vienna), Johnny Guitar

 

and ...

 

JANE WYMAN (Helen Phillips), Magnificent Obsession

INGRID BERGMAN (Katherine Joyce), Voyage to Italy

DOROTHY DANDRIDGE (Carmen Jones), Carmen Jones

GLORIA GRAHAME (Vicki Buckley), Human Desire

AVA GARDNER (Maria Vargas/"Maria Donato"/"Countess Maria Torlato-Favrini"), The Barefoot Contessa

ALIDA VALLI  (Roberta Gleukovitch), The Stranger's Hand

[kingrat]

Notes on a few less familiar films from this year:

 

If you like Merchant/Ivory films, you'll probably like The Red and the Black, a good adaptation of Stendhal's great novel, capably directed by Claude Autant-Lara and starring Gerard Philipe, Danielle Darrieux, and Antonella Lualdi. Gerard Philipe was one of the heartthrobs of the 1950s, an incredibly good-looking man who could also act. He died much too young. Philipe plays Julien Sorel, an ambitious young man from the lower classes who can only rise in the world by wearing either the red of an army uniform or the black of a priest. The sets and costumes are first-rate.

 

The suspenseful A Bullet Is Waiting is a chamber western like The Naked Spur, with only four human characters and a dog. It's directed by John Farrow, and like his films Five Came Back and Back from Eternity it concerns the aftermath of a plane crash. The only survivors are a sheriff (Stephen McNally) and his prisoner (Rory Calhoun), and they find themselves on a sheep ranch on a remote section of the California coast. The rancher (Brian Aherne) is away getting supplies, leaving his daughter (Jean Simmons, unusually sexy in a short haircut and blue jeans) with only the faithful dog for protection. Simmons and Calhoun have good romantic chemistry.

 

Jean Simmons fans also might want to check out the romantic comedy She Couldn't Say No, with Robert Mitchum playing a doctor in a small Arkansas town. Simmons and Mitchum also have good romantic chemistry, and (not exactly a spoiler) it ends more happily than their previous film together, Angel Face.

 

Crime Wave is a superbly directed film noir; with Day of the Outlaw, the best Andre De Toth film I've seen. You can never been sure if Timothy Carey is acting crazy or just being himself, but he's certainly memorable as one of the thugs. John Alton as cinematographer works some of his noir magic.

 

Vera Cruz is my favorite Robert Aldrich film. Location shooting in Mexico is a big plus.

[Kay]

1954 - I'm running late again. I shouldn't be, though, because things are starting to pick up for me somewhat in these years that I've seen more foreign films. Kingrat mentioned Rififi here, which I was thinking was a 1955 film, is it not?

 

Actor

Toshiro Mifune - Seven Samurai***
Humphrey Bogart - The Caine Mutiny
James Stewart - Rear Window
Anthony Quinn - La Strada

Takashi Shimura - Seven Samurai

Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront

John Mills - Hobson's Choice
Gunnar Bjornstrand - A Lesson in Love
Sterling Hayden - Crime Wave

 

Actress

Giulietta Masina - La Strada***
Judy Holliday - It Should Happen to You
Eva Dahlbeck - A Lesson in Love

 

Supporting Actor

Lee J. Cobb - On the Waterfront***
Edmund Gwenn - Them!

Seiji Miyaguchi - Seven Samurai
Ake Gronberg - A Lesson in Love

Jay Novello - Crime Wave

Timothy Carey - Crime Wave

Fred MacMurray - The Caine Mutiny

 

Supporting Actress
 

Thelma Ritter - Rear Window***

Mercedes McCambridge - Johnny Guitar

Sandy Desche - Them! (juvenile) [a small part, yes, but she's the dramatic apex of the film]

[kingrat]

Kay, I just looked Rififi up again on imdb and Wikipedia and everything seems to say 1955. Not sure where I got 1954. Thanks.

[Bogie56]

The 1954 Venice Film Festival winner was:

 

Best Actor

Jean Gabin, Air of Paris and Touchez Pas au Grisbi 

 

The Cannes Film Festival did not give any acting awards in 1954.

 

[Bogie56]

Here are my choices of the 85 films I've seen from 1954 for…

 

Best Actor of 1954

 

1.  MARLON BRANDO (Terry Malloy), On the Waterfront

2.  ANTHONY QUINN (Zampano), La Strada

3.  TOSHIRO MIFUNE (Kikuchiyo), Seven Samurai

4.  BING CROSBY (Frank Elgin), The Country Girl

5.  SPENCER TRACY (Matt Devereaux), Broken Lance

 

6.  TAKASHI SHIMURA (Kambei Shimada), Seven Samurai

7.  ALASTAIR SIM (Millicent "Millie" Fritton/Clarence Fritton), The Belles of St. Trinian's

8.  JAMES MASON (“Norman Maine”/Ernest Sidney Govers), A Star Is Born

9.  JAMES STEWART (L.B. "Jeff" Jefferies), Rear Window

10. JOHN MILLS (William “Willie” Mossop), Hobson's Choice

 

and ...

 

LAURENCE HARVEY (Romeo Montagu), Romeo and Juliet

RAY MILLAND (Tony Wendice) Dial M For Murder

MICHAEL REDGRAVE (Doctor B.N. “Barnes” Wallace, C.B.E., F.R.S.), The Dam Busters

VAN JOHNSON (Lt. Steve Maryk), The Caine Mutiny

WILLIAM HOLDEN (McDonald Walling), Executive Suite

WILLIAM HOLDEN (Bernie Dodd), The Country Girl

ROBERT NEWTON (Edward Wilson/”honorable Ted”), The Beachcomber

ROBERT NEWTON (Long John Silver), Long John Silver

CHARLES LAUGHTON (Henry Horatio Hobson), Hobson’s Choice

RICHARD TODD (Wing Commander Guy Gibson, V.C.,D.S.O.,D.F.C.), The Dam Busters

DAN O’HERLIHY (Robinson Crusoe), Robinson Crusoe

[LawrenceA]

MICHAEL REDGRAVE (Doctor B.N. “Barnes” Wallace, C.B.E., F.R.S.), The Dam Busters

 

I forgot about this one. He was really good here. I'd add him to my list, as well.

[Bogie56]

I forgot about this one. He was really good here. I'd add him to my list, as well.

 

I was just thinking of the The Dam Busters March.  When I was in London they played it at a New Year's party and men in their forties jumped onto the dance floor and stretched out their arms and began to 'fly' around the room.  It was just about the stupidest thing I've seen.  And no, I didn't join in.  I think there was a rock version of the March but I couldn't find it.  Here is the original ...

[kingrat]

If you can get past the casual racial slurs (and some might not be able to), The Dam Busters is a very entertaining film.

[Bogie56]

The Golden Globe Awards for 1954 were …

 

Best Actor in a Drama

Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront*

 

Best Actress in a Drama

Grace Kelly, The Country Girl*

 

Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical

James Mason, A Star Is Born*

 

Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical

Judy Garland, A Star Is Born*

 

Best Supporting Actor

Edmond O’Brien, The Barefoot Contessa*

 

Best Supporting Actress

Jan Sterling, The High and the Mighty*

[kingrat]

Sometime I'd like to see the English-language version of Journey to Italy, rather than the Italian version with subtitles which has been commonly shown. I believe a restored version with George Sanders and Ingrid Bergman speaking English was shown at the TCM festival a couple of years ago. Sanders is such a master of verbal nuance that this could only help the film.

 

As it is, both husband and wife seem undercharacterized. The ending of the film doesn't work for me; I would feel sorry for any baby that has these two for parents, although its material needs would certainly be taken care of. The scene with the childless Italian couple who takes care of the villa, two people who would have been warm and loving parents, points up the difference between the couples sharply, too sharply for the film's own good. As is not uncommon with the Rossellini films I've seen, I know how the director wants me to feel, but I actually feel another way.

[Bogie56]

Japan’s Blue Ribbon Awards for 1954 were …

 

Best Actress

Hideko Takamine, Twenty Four Eyes, The Garden of Women and Somewhere Beneath the Broad Sky

 

Best Supporting Actor

Eijiro Tono, Black Tide

 

Best Supporting Actress

Yuko Mochizuki, Late Chrysanthemums

 

—————————————————————————————

 

Japan’s Mainichi Awards for 1954 were …

 

Best Actor

So Yamamura, Black Tide and Sound of the Mountain

 

Best Actress

Hideko Takamine, Twenty Four Eyes, The Garden of Women and Somewhere Beneath the Broad Sky

 

Best Supporting Actor

Seiji Miyaguchi, Seven Samurai

 

Best Supporting Actress

Yoshiko Kuga, The Garden of Women, A Billionaire and Somewhere Beneath the Broad Sky