Your Favourite Performances from 1929 to present are...

[Bogie56]

I'm away for a few days so I am clocking in early with my haven't seen list.  I believe we are still waiting on regular poster to put in their 1956 list.

Here are the films from 1956 that were mentioned that I have not seen as yet. 

 

Anastasia - The Czar’s Daughter with Lili Palmer

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt with Austin Spencer

Bob le Flambeur with Roger Duchesne and Daniel Cauchy

Bundle of Joy with Debbie Reynolds

The Burmese Harp with Shoji Yasui and Renato Mikini

A Cat, Two Women and One Man with Isuzu Yamada

The Catered Affair with Ernest Borgnine, Bette Davis and Debbie Reynolds

The Crossing of Paris with Jean Gabin and Bourvil

Deadlier Than the Male/Voici le Temps les Assassins with Jean Gabin, Daniel Delorme, Lucienne Bogaert and Gabrielle Fontan

Death of a Scoundrel with George Sanders and Zsa Zsa Gabor

Diane with Marsia Pavan

Donatella with Elsa Martinelli

Early Spring with Ryo Ikebe, Keiko Kishi and Chikage Awashima

The Eddy Duchin Story with Tyrone Power

Elena and Her Men with Ingrid Bergman

Farewell to Dream with Yoshiko Kuga and Eijiro Tono

Gervaise with Maria Schell

The Great Man with Ed Wynn

I Will Buy You with Keiji Sada and Jan Tatara

Jubal with Rod Steiger

The Killer Is Loose with Wendell Corey

The Last Hunt with Robert Taylor

The Long Arm/The Third Key with Jack Hawkins

Miracle In the Rain with Jane Wyman

River of the Night with Eijiro Tono

The Rose on His Arm with Yoshiko Kuga and Sadaka Sawamura

Sailor Beware/Panic In the Parlor with Peggy Mount

Samurai 3: Duel at Ganryu Island with Koji Tsurta

Street of Shame with Sadaka Sawamura

Tea and Sympathy with Deborah Kerr

Typhoon with Keiji Sada and Jan Tatara

Valley of Peace with Jon Kitzmiller

A Wife’s Heart with Sadaka Sawamura

Women In Prison with Yoshiko Kuga

 

And I would like to see this again …

 

Notre Dame de Paris/The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Gina Lollobrigida

 

[LawrenceA]

 

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt with Austin Spencer

Bob le Flambeur with Roger Duchesne and Daniel Cauchy

The Burmese Harp with Shoji Yasui and Renato Mikini

The Eddy Duchin Story with Tyrone Power

Jubal with Rod Steiger

The Killer Is Loose with Wendell Corey

Samurai 3: Duel at Ganryu Island with Koji Tsurta

 

I've seen these from your list, Bogie. I've already discussed Samurai 3 when I talked about the first film in 1954. The Eddy Duchin Story and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt were enjoyable. The Killer Is Loose was also a good noir, with Corey a real stand-out.

 

Jubal I saw recently for the first time. I wasn't expecting a lot, but was very impressed by this Western remake of Othello. Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine, Valerie Ford, and Charles Bronson are all excellent.

 

I'm surprised you've missed Bob le flambeur, a really good French crime/noir that shows the early signs of the impending French New Wave.

 

But my pick would be The Burmese Harp, Kon Ichikawa's anti-war tale. It's one of the strongest films of its type that I've ever seen.

[Bogie56]

Thanks Lawrence.  I love Kon Ichikawa.  I bought a copy of The Burmese Harp on ebay quite a while ago and it is still waiting for me.  And Bob Le Flambeur I have in a box set.  So many moves, so little time.

[Bogie56]

Here are the 1956 films I haven't seen:

 

 

Run for the Sun

 

 

Run For the Sun is basically a remake of The Most Dangerous Game.  But both Richard Widmark and Trevor Howard are in top form and it is good fun.  This is a film that I enjoyed as a young boy and it stood up quite well when I revisited it as an adult.

[kingrat]

 I love Kon Ichikawa.  I bought a copy of The Burmese Harp on ebay quite a while ago and it is still waiting for me. 

I also love Kon Ichikawa and wish that more of his films were readily available. The Burmese Harp is wonderful, as Lawrence says.

 

The Red Balloon also gets the highest recommendation. One of the greatest short films ever.

 

Death of a Scoundrel is one of those surprisingly good films with a really obscure director. Charles Martin: who?? George Sanders is always well cast as a scoundrel. His brother Tom Conway is in this one, too, and Zsa Zsa Gabor. If you like noir or George Sanders, check it out. TCM does show it from time to time.

 

Patterns is another entry in the 1950s genre of films about big business--Executive Suite, The Power and the Prize, Woman's World, etc. Script by Rod Serling, good cast.

 

There's Always Tomorrow is another strong film from Douglas Sirk. Barbara Stanwyck, now a powerful businesswoman, looks up her old love, Fred MacMurray, who has a wife (Joan Bennett) and two adolescent children. Fred's wife is clearly not interested in sex any more, and he's tempted to ignite an affair with Stanwyck. The story moves along familiar lines, but Sirk and his three stars make something more of it than you would expect.

 

Diane stars Lana Turner as the famous courtesan Diane de Poitiers. The real star of the movie, however, is Walter Plunkett, who designed Lana's costumes. Lana wears a different gown in each scene, each one gorgeous, and each one flattering to Lana. The final black and silver stunner is the greatest of all. Watching Marisa Pavan as Catherine de Medici, I can't imagine that she wouldn't become a big star. There's also the young and hunkalicious Roger Moore as the man who truly loves Lana.

 

Miracle in the Rain is not for all tastes, but if you like 1940s romantic dramas, this is the last of them, set appropriately during WWII in New York City. Jane Wyman works as a secretary and looks after her demanding mother (Josephine Hutchinson) when she isn't working. Van Johnson is the GI she meets by accident; he falls for her and pursues her. The fantasy or supernatural element of the ending is left open to interpretation; I can accept it because of the unflinching realism of Wyman's workplace and the difficulty of her life at home. To see Jane Wyman in films like The Yearling, Johnny Belinda, The Blue Veil, All That Heaven Allows, and Miracle in the Rain is to understand what a fine actress she was.

[TomJH]

I've always had a strong admiration for Bogart's last film. THE HARDER THEY FALL is a searing indictment of the corruption in boxing, based on a novel by Budd Schulberg which, in turn, was based on the real life story of Italian Primo Carnera, a Mob supported fighter of questionable talent, who was heavily promoted, fighting a number of stiffs as competitors, until becoming heavyweight champion.

 

The Italian Carnera is transformed here into Argentinian giant Toro Moreno, as played by Mike Lane. Bogart is cast as a sports columnist fallen on hard times who "sells his soul" by agreeing to work with hoodlum Rod Steiger to promote Toro as something he is not, a great "killer" fighter.

 

Since it is Bogart in that role there is no surprise that he will later have a change of heart because of his sell out. Still, Bogie is excellent in his final role, as is Steiger, quietly manipulating one moment, ready to explode in another. The crisp black and white photography admirably captures the seediness of run down boxing gymnasiums, as well as the brutality of the matches in the ring.

 

Interestingly, this film has the participation in it of two former heavyweight champions in acting roles, Jersey Joe Walcott as a trainer of Toro's, and Max Baer as vicious Buddy Brannen, the sadistic heavyweight champion who gets it in for "fraud" Toro (portrayed as a simple minded, okay, make that dumb, naive man who doesn't realize he isn't a great fighter) and wants to butcher him in the ring.

 

 

The Baer casting is particularly interesting since he is playing a fictional role based his own life story. Baer was the man who knocked out Carnera for the heavyweight crown. A major difference, though: Baer did get the reputation as a "killer" because of a tragic ring death associated with him. But the real Baer was a clowning playboyish sweetheart as a person, a good natured guy, in fact, with a strong sense of humour, far from the nasty that he plays in this film.

 

Boxing doesn't get much discussion in the media these days but it is a sport that has always had a strong whiff of corruption around it, and would continue to do so long after this film was made. Anybody remember Don King, born with a gift for gab but as exploitive an individual as sports would ever see, who burst on the boxing scene big time when he promoted Ali's rumble in the jungle with big George Foreman.

 

Regarding Max Baer's sense of humour, he once said, "I define fear as standing across the ring from Joe Louis and knowing he wants to go home early." Baer would die of a heart attack in a hotel three years after filming The Harder They Fall. Even at the end he was joking, though. When he phoned the hotel clerk to tell him of his chest pains, the clerk replied that he would send up the hotel doctor. "No, dummy," Baer replied, "I want a people doctor."

[kingrat]

Tom, I have always thought that those who expect boxing to be honest are like Charlie Brown believing that this time Lucy won't pull away the football.

 

Thank you for supplying the background to The Harder They Fall. That makes me want to see this movie. Primo Carnera appears as a wrestler called The Python in A Kid for Two Farthings.

 

 

[TomJH]

 

Primo Carnera appears as a wrestler called The Python in A Kid for Two Farthings.

 

And Primo wasn't a nice guy in that film either. Carnera had also appeared as one of the strongmen who lost a tug-of-war with the title character in Mighty Joe Young.

 

Most interestingly, though, Carnera and Max Baer had appeared as boxing opponents in a 1933 MGM melodrama called The Prizefighter and the Lady, with Myrna Loy and Walter Huston. Baer was Myrna's leading man in the film.

 

The film climaxes with Baer and Carnera squaring off against one another in the ring. What makes it particularly fascinating, though, is that when they staged this fake fight on an MGM sound stage Carnera was the real heavyweight champ of the world, with Baer the number one contender. Both men knew at the time that they would soon be meeting in the ring for real (which, indeed, would happen the following year). Obviously both boxers would have been studying the other on the Hollywood set, and it's difficult to believe that a few punches weren't deliberately landed for real on that sound stage.

[CoraSmith]

In Beyond a Reasonable Doubt the son-in-law of a newspaper publisher pretends to be a murderer in order to prove how circumstantial evidence can lead to the conviction of an innocent man. Not everything goes according to plan. If you like a courtroom drama with a plot twist you should see this one, starring Dana Andrews and Joan Fontaine.

 

Tea and Sympathy is Vincente Minnelli's adaptation of a play by Robert Anderson. A prep school student (John Kerr) struggles with his sexual orientation. It's toned down because of the Hays Code, but still worth seeing, with a nice role for Deborah Kerr - not related.

 

Death of a Scoundrel starts with the death of a Czech refugee (George Sanders). The story of his life and his many con tricks is told in a long flashback. Hungarian beauty Zsa Zsa Gabor, better known as a socialite than as an actress, plays one of her better roles.

 

The Red Balloon (Le Ballon Rouge) was my choice for Juvenile Performance. This French short film is the magical tale of a little boy (Pascal Lamorisse) and his balloon. It doesn't have much dialogue, but wonderful visuals.

[skimpole]

I want to say more about my choice for best actor this year, David Niven in Around the World in Eighty Days.  It's certainly not an obvious choice, since Niven wasn't even nominated that year, while the movie itself is one of the most unpopular of best picture winners.  Generally, it's seen as an overblown crowd pleaser.  However, this is one of my favorite Best Pictures.  This may partly be due to the fact that this was my favorite book when I was ten years old, but it has a great script filled with dry wit, it has many interesting and exciting incidents, and one of the best Saul Bass title sequences.  And it also has David Niven.  Niven himself in turn is not one of the most admired actors to actually win Best Actor.  And understandably so, since Separate Tables is by no means a particularly good movie.  Niven is in retrospect seen as a charming, somewhat lightweight actor, not really in the first class.

 

 

 

Charm, and a sense of humour, are underrated qualities among Oscar voters, who often prefer the portentous and pompous to the genuinely witty.  It's interesting to compare Niven with John Wayne, who I thought would be doing slightly better this year.  Niven's screen career had him representing a certain kind of Englishness, while Wayne, of course, presented a certain idea of America.  Niven's Englishness was usually higher class, often explicitly aristocratic (A Matter of Life and Death being an important exception.) And Phileas Fogg is a French caricature of a time obsessed Englishman.  This makes my preference for Niven in contrast to The Searchers, now one of the most admired films of all time, appears more eccentric, if not genuinely weird.  

 

 

 

I would argue that while Wayne's performance is certainly rich and complex, it can't ultimately be considered one of the great acting performances, and ultimately The Searchers can't be considered one of the greatest of all movies.  Much of its complexity ultimately seems like a trick.  More intelligent viewers can see Ethan Edwards darkness foretold from the beginning of the film, while Wayne's less intelligent fans can see a more conventional hero who is forced to go a little too far because of the shock of the murder of his family.  Nor do I think the climax works, because I never believed that Edwards would murder his niece.  Other actors could have pulled it off:  Stewart, Cooper, Widmark (well duh obviously).  Nor, ultimately is the obsession in miscegenation quite correct.  Julius Streicher and Robert Ley worked themselves into a frenzy at the thought that Ginger Rogers or Diane Keaton had been touched by a Jew.  But they're not the reason the Holocaust happened.  Rage at black and Indian men is one thing, but it doesn't explain the cruelty to black and Indian women. 

 

So with that in mind, let's go back to Niven.  His character is supremely calm and competent, dealing with a number of remarkable, often alarming situations, with perfect sang-froid.  Nor does he ever feel the need to remind people of his this.  There is nothing ostentatious in his manner, as there often isn't with true virtue.  When the balloon gently passes by a mountain so his valet can get some snow to cool the champagne, he is perfectly charming.  One can believe that he would master ballooning in a few minutes, despite having never been near one in his life.  He need not be perfect, but he is far stronger than a superficial look would suggest.

 

[Bogie56]

It’s time for 1957.  We will be on 1957 for one week so plenty of time for everyone to respond.

 

Here are Oscar’s choices for 1957.  Winners in bold. 

 

Best Actor

 

Alec Guinness, The Bridge on the River Kwai*

Marlon Brando, Sayonara

Anthony Franciosa, A Hatful of Rain

Charles Laughton, Witness For the Prosecution

Anthony Quinn, Wild Is the Wind

 

Best Actress

 

Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve*

Deborah Kerr, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison

Anna Magnani, Wild Is the Wind

Elizabeth Taylor, Raintree County

Lana Turner, Peyton Place

 

Best Supporting Actor

 

Red Buttons, Sayonara*

Vittorio De Sica, A Farewell to Arms

Sessue Hayakawa, The Bridge on the River Kwai

Arthur Kennedy, Peyton Place

Russ Tamblyn, Peyton Place

 

Best Supporting Actress

 

Miyoshi Umeki, Sayonara*  

Carolyn Jones, The Bachelor Party

Elsa Lanchester, Witness For the Prosectuion

Hope Lange, Peyton Place

Diane Varsi, Peyton Place +

 

IMO Diane Varsi belongs in the leading actress category for Peyton Place.

[Bogie56]

My choice for the Juvenile Acting award for 1957 is…

 

Tommy Kirk (Travis Coates), Old Yeller. 

 

runner-up in a supporting role …

 

Ronaldo Bonacchi (Bore), The Wide Blue Road

 

[TomJH]

My performance picks for 1957, as strong a year as the decade would have, particularly in the category of best actor.

 

BEST ACTOR

 

Charles Laughton, WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION

Alec Guinness, BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI

Tony Curtis, SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS

Henry Fonda, TWELVE ANGRY MEN

Andy Griffith, A FACE IN THE CROWD

 

Honourable Mention: Kirk Douglas in Paths of Glory, William Holden in Bridge on the River Kwai, Tyrone Power in Abandon Ship, Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success, Dan Duryea in The Burglar, Marlon Brando in Sayonara, Victor Mature in The Long Haul.

 

BEST ACTRESS

 

Joanne Woodward, THREE FACES OF EVE

Audrey Hepburn, LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON

Deborah Kerr, HEAVEN KNOWS MR. ALLISON

Marlene Dietrich, WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION

Mai Zetterling, ABANDON SHIP

 

Honourable Mention: Patricia Neal in A Face in the Crowd.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

 

Errol Flynn, THE SUN ALSO RISES

Sessue Hayakawa, BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI

Lee J. Cobb, TWELVE ANGRY MEN

Adolphe Menjou, PATHS OF GLORY

Timothy Carey, PATHS OF GLORY

 

Honourable Mention: Sidney Poitier in Edge of the City, George Macready in Paths of Glory, Maurice Chevalier in Love in the Afternoon.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

 

Elsa Lanchester, WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION

Moira Lister, ABANDON SHIP

Dolores Gray, DESIGNING WOMAN

Joan Blondell, DESK SET

 

Most Wooden Performance of the Year

 

Tabanga in From Hell It Came

 

"Thank You, Italy, For This Gift To The World" Award

 

Sophia Loren in Boy on a Dolphin

 

[LawrenceA]

1957

 

BEST ACTOR

Alec Guinness  The Bridge On the River Kwai****

Henry Fonda  12 Angry Men

Toshiro Mifune  Throne of Blood

Charles Laughton  Witness for the Prosecution

Kirk Douglas  Paths of Glory

Victor Sjostrom  Wild Strawberries

Glenn Ford  3:10 to Yuma

Peter Cushing  The Curse of Frankenstein

Andy Griffith  A Face In the Crowd

Burt Lancaster  Sweet Smell of Success

Anthony Perkins  Fear Strikes Out

Robert Mitchum  Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison

Toshiro Mifune  The Lower Depths

Van Heflin  3:10 to Yuma

William Holden  The Bridge On the River Kwai

Tony Curtis  Sweet Smell of Success

 

BEST ACTRESS

Giulietta Masina  Nights of Cabiria****

Tatiana Samoilova  The Cranes Are Flying

Joanne Woodward  The Three Faces of Eve

Isuzu Yamada  Throne of Blood

Ingrid Thulin  Wild Strawberries

Isuzu Yamada  The Lower Depths

Deborah Kerr  Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison

Deborah Kerr  An Affair to Remember

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Sessue Hayakawa  The Bridge On the River Kwai****

Patrick McGoohan  Hell Drivers

Niall MacGinnis  Night of the Demon

Ralph Meeker  Paths of Glory

Lee J. Cobb  12 Angry Men

Arthur Kennedy  Peyton Place

Timothy Carey  Paths of Glory

James Donald  The Bridge On the River Kwai

Charles Bronson  Run of the Arrow

George Macready  Paths of Glory

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Elsa Lanchester  Witness for the Prosecution****

Miyoshi Umecki  Sayonara

Jo Van Fleet  Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Carolyn Jones  The Bachelor Party

Joan Blondell  Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

 

BEST JUVENILE PERFORMANCE

Tommy Kirk  Old Yeller****

[Bogie56]

Here are my choices of the 102 films I've seen from 1957 for…

 

Best Supporting Actress of 1957

 

1.  MIYOSHI UMEKI (Katsumi Kelly), Sayonara

2.  ISUZU YAMADA (Osugi, the landlady), The Lower Depths

3.  RUBY DEE (Lucy Tyler), Edge of the City

4.  EVA MARIE SAINT (Nell Gaither), Raintree County

5.  ISUZU YAMADA (Kisako Soma), Tokyo Twilight

 

6.  HOPE LANGE (Selena Cross), Peyton Place

7.  UNA O'CONNOR (Janet MacKenzie), Witness For the Prosecution

8.  CAROLYN JONES (‘the existentialist’), The Bachelor Party

9.  ELSA LANCHESTER (Miss Plimsoll), Witness For the Prosecution

10. MARSIA PAVAN (Anna Malatesta), The Midnight Story

 

and...

 

JULLAN KINDAHL (Miss Agda, “the housekeeper”), Wild Strawberries

TERRY MOORE (Betty Anderson), Peyton Place

KATHLEEN MCGUIRE  (Ellen Wilson), Edge of the City

INGRID THULIN (Marianne Borg), Wild Strawberries

NORMA VARDEN (Emily Jane French), Witness For the Prosecution

PEGGY MOUNT (Flora Ransom), The Naked Truth/Your Past Is Showing

NORMA MOORE (Mary Teevan Piersall), Fear Strikes Out

JOAN SIMS (Ethel Mount), The Naked Truth/Your Past Is Showing

CHIEKO NANIWA (Oei), The Men of Tohoku

JOAN BLONDELL (Violet), Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter

BIBI ANDERSSON (‘Cousin’ Sara/Sara, the hitchhiker), Wild Strawberries

DORIAN GRAY (Virginia), Il Grido - Monica Vitti dubbed her voice

MILDRED DUNNOCK (Miss Elsie Thornton), Peyton Place

[Bogie56]

Here are my choices of the 102 films I've seen from 1957 for…

 

Best Supporting Actor of 1957

 

1.  SESSUE HAYAKAWA (Colonel Saito), The Bridge on the River Kwai

2.  ADOLPHE MENJOU (Major General George Broulard, Corps Commander), Paths of Glory

3.  JACK HAWKINS (Major Warden, Force 316), The Bridge on the River Kwai

4.  GEORGE MACREADY (Brigadier General Paul Mireau, Divisional Commander), Paths of Glory

5.  RALPH MEEKER (Corporal Philippe Paris, 701st Infantry Regiment), Paths of Glory

 

6.  RED BUTTONS (Sgt. Joe Kelly, USAF), Sayonara

7.  JEAN SERVAIS (Father Photis), He Who Must Die

8.  GUNNAR BJORNSTRAND (Squire Jons), The Seventh Seal

9.  ERROL FLYNN (Mike Campbell), The Sun Also Rises

10. GILBERT ROLAND (Sylvio Malatesta), The Midnight Story

 

and ...

 

YURI TOLUBEYEV (Sancho Panza), Don Quixote

NIGEL PATRICK (Prof. Jerusalem Webster Stiles), Raintree County

TIMOTHY CAREY (Private Maurice Ferol, 701st Infantry Regiment), Paths of Glory

WAYNE MORRIS (Lieutenant Roget, Company Commander, 701st Infantry Regiment), Paths of Glory

KARL MALDEN (John Piersall), Fear Strikes Out

LLOYD NOLAN (John Pope, Sr.), A Hatful of Rain

E.G. MARSHALL (“Juror No. 4”), 12 Angry Men

VASILIY MERKURYEV (Dr. Fyodor Ivanovich), The Cranes Are Flying

JAMES DONALD (Major Clipton), The Bridge on the River Kwai

JACK WARDEN (“Juror No. 7”), 12 Angry Men

ROGER HANIN (Pannagotaros/”Saint Peter”), He Who Must Die

ED BEGLEY (“Juror No. 10”), 12 Angry Men

PETER SELLERS (Percy Quill), The Smallest Show on Earth

KAMATARI FUJIWARA (“the Actor”), The Lower Depths

GERT FROBE (Patriarcheos), He Who Must Die

JACK CARSON (Jiggs), The Tarnished Angels

JOSEPH TURKELL (Private Pierre Arnaud, 701st Infantry Regiment), Paths of Glory

RICHARD MONDA (Pietro Malatesta/”Peanuts”), The Midnight Story

ROBERT EMHARDT (Mr. Butterfield), 3:10 to Yuma

LEE MARVIN (Orvile “Flash” Perkins), Raintree County

BERNARD MILES (“Old” Tom), The Smallest Show on Earth

[Swithin]

1957 Favorites

 

Although there were many great mainstream films in 1957, I have to give a shout out to that great film lovers' film, The Smallest Show on Earth, featuring Margaret Rutherford as Mrs. Fazackalee. 

 

However, in honor of The Tabanga and Sputnik, I am devoting my favorites list for 1957 to the incredible wealth of horror and science fiction films that were made that year. My choices for “bests” highlight only a few of those gems, which are so numerous that I have to break my rule and feature slightly more than five in each category. 

 

 

Best Actor

 

Peter Cushing (The Curse of Frankenstein)

Glenn Langan (The Amazing Colossal Man)

Michael Landon (I Was a Teenage Werewolf)

Niall MacGinnis (Night of the Demon)

German Robles (El Vampiro)

Grant Williams (The Incredible Shrinking Man)

 

Best Actress

 

Mari Blanchard (She Devil)

Gianna Maria Canale (I Vampiri aka Lust of a Vampire)

Pamela Duncan (The Undead)

Marla English (Voodoo Woman)

Joyce Meadows (The Brain from Planet Arous)

Barbara Shelley (Cat Girl)

Gloria Talbott (Daughter of Dr. Jekyll)

 

Best Supporting Actor

 

Tom Conway (Voodoo Woman)

Angel Di Stefani (The Aztec Mummy)

Chester Hayes (From Hell It Came)

Sidney James (Quatermass 2)

George O’Hanlon (Kronos)

Mel Welles (The Undead)

 

Best Supporting Actress

 

Ann Doran (The Man Who Turned to Stone)

Marjorie Eaton (Zombies of Mora Tau)

Beverly Garland (Not of This Earth)

Allison Hayes (Zombies of Mora Tau, The Unearthly, The Undead)

Dorothy Neumann (The Undead)

Athene Seyler (Night of the Demon)

 

Best Screams

 

Phyllis Coates (I Was a Teenage Frankenstein)

 

Most Annoying Bits

 

Dana Andrews’ scepticism in Night of the Demon

Forrest Tucker’s cliched ugly American in The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas

 

Best Musical Scene

 

“Cherry Ripe” sung by Athene Seyler and Rosamund Greenwood (Night of the Demon)

 

Best Monster that looks most like a cross between Flubadub, Groucho Marx’s secret word duck, and Ollie

 

The Giant Claw

 

[LawrenceA]

Swithin, that just may be the best list anyone has written so far.

[TomJH]

 

1957 Favorites

 

Although there were many great mainstream films in 1957, I have to give a shout out to that great film lovers' film, The Smallest Show on Earth, featuring Margaret Rutherford as Mrs. Fazackalee. 

 

However, in honor of The Tabanga and Sputnik, I am devoting my favorites list for 1957 to the incredible wealth of horror and science fiction films that were made that year. My choices for “bests” highlight only a few of those gems, which are so numerous that I have to break my rule and feature slightly more than five in each category. 

 

 

 

 

The Tabanga would be pleased.

[skimpole]

Actor

Henry Fonda, 12 Angry Men
Victor Sjostrom, Wild Strawberries
Burt Lancaster, The Sweet Smell of Success
Toshiro Mifune, Throne of Blood
Max von Sydow, The Seventh Seal

Runner-ups:  Tony Curtis (The Sweet Smell of Success), Charles Chaplin (A King in New York), Marcello Mastroianni (White Nights), Cary Grant (An Affair to Remember), Charles Laughton (Witness for the Prosecution), Richard Burton (Bitter Victory), Alec Guinness (The Bridge on the River Kwai), Curt Jurgens (Bitter Victory), Andy Griffith (A Face in the Crowd), Kirk Douglas (Paths of Glory), Fred Astaire (Silk Stockings), William Holden (The Bridge on the River Kwai), Fred Astaire (Funny Face), Elvis Presley (Jailhouse Rock),

Actress

Giulietta Masina, Nights of Cabiria
Deborah Kerr, An Affair to Remember
Maria Schell, White Nights
Cyd Charisse, Silk Stockings
Audrey Hepburn, Funny Face
 

Runner-ups:   Patricia Neal (A Face in the Crowd), Barbara Stanwyck (Forty Guns), Nargis (Mother India), Mala Sinha (Pyassa)

,

Supporting Actor

Gunnar Bjornstrand, The Seventh Seal
Lee J. Cobb, 12 Angry Men
Adolphe Menjou, Paths of Glory
Bengt Ekerot, The Seventh Seal
Robert Stack, The Tarnished Angels

Runner-ups:   E.G. Marshall, Joseph Sweeney, Ed Begley, Martin Balsam (12 Angry Men), George Macready, Timothy Carey (Paths of Glory), Nils Poppe, Ake Fridell (The Seventh Seal), Red Buttons (Sayonara)

Supporting Actress

Isuzu Yamada, Throne of Blood
Bibi Andersson, The Seventh Seal
Ingrid Thulin, Wild Strawberries
Elsa Lanchester, Witness for the Prosecution
Isuzu Yamada, Tokyo Twilight

 

Runner-ups:  Bibi Andersson (Wild Strawberries), Inga Gill (The Seventh Seal), Marlene Dietrich (Witness for the Prosecution) Janis Paige (Silk Stockings)


Not seen:  Peyton Place, Wild is the Wind, Heaven Knows Mr. Allison, Raintree Country, A Farewell to Arms, The Bachelor Party

 

 

------There are many actors who won't win a nomination.  Tony Curtis is in the dubious position of being one who is twice overshadowed by his own co-star.

 

------On the other hand, after five runner-ups Burt Lancaster finally gets a nomination.  We'll see more of him in the future.

[speedracer5]

1957

 

Winners are in BOLD

 

BEST PICTURE

 

12 Angry Men

An Affair to Remember

Designing Woman

Desk Set

A Face in the Crowd

Funny Face

Les Girls

The Helen Morgan Story

Jeanne Eagles

The Joker is Wild

Pal Joey

The Pajama Game

Sweet Smell of Success

The Sun Also Rises

The Three Faces of Eve

Three Little Bops (cartoon)

 

BEST ACTOR

 

Henry Fonda, 12 Angry Men

Cary Grant, An Affair to Remember

Gregory Peck, Designing Woman

Spencer Tracy, Desk Set

Andy Griffith, A Face in the Crowd

Fred Astaire, Funny Face

Gene Kelly, Les Girls

Frank Sinatra, The Joker is Wild

Frank Sinatra, Pal Joey

Burt Lancaster, Sweet Smell of Success

Tony Curtis, Sweet Smell of Success

The Big Bad Wolf, Three Little Bops (cartoon)

 

BEST ACTRESS

 

Deborah Kerr, An Affair to Remember

Lauren Bacall, Designing Woman

Katharine Hepburn, Desk Set

Patricia Neal, A Face in the Crowd

Audrey Hepburn, Funny Face

Kay Kendall, Les Girls

Mitzi Gaynor, Les Girls

Ann Blyth, The Helen Morgan Story

Kim Novak, Jeanne Eagles

Rita Hayworth, Pal Joey

Kim Novak, Pal Joey

Doris Day, The Pajama Game

Joanne Woodward, Three Faces of Eve

Ava Gardner, The Sun Also Rises

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

 

Lee J. Cobb, 12 Angry Men

E.G. Marshall, 12 Angry Men

Jack Klugman, 12 Angry Men

Walter Matthau, A Face in the Crowd

Eddie Albert, The Joker is Wild

Errol Flynn, The Sun Also Rises

Eddie Albert, The Sun Also Rises

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

 

Dolores Gray, Designing Woman

Joan Blondell, Desk Set

Lee Remick, A Face in the Crowd

Kay Thompson, Funny Face

Mitzi Gaynor, The Joker is Wild

 

BEST ENSEMBLE

 

The jurors in 12 Angry Men

 

BEST WARDROBE

 

Lauren Bacall's clothes in Designing Woman.  I suppose it makes sense, her character is a clothing designer after all.

 

FUNNIEST SCENE

 

The big fight at the end of Designing Woman

 

SADDEST SCENE

 

Travis having to shoot Old Yeller. Hands down one of the saddest scenes in the history of film.

 

FUNNIEST DOG

 

Dolores Grey's dog that keeps jumping up into their visitor's arms in Designing Woman

 

SADDEST DOG

 

Bears repeating... Old Yeller.  I can't handle tragic animal movies.

 

FUNNIEST COMPUTER

 

EMERAC in Desk Set

 

SADDEST COMPUTER

 

EMERAC in Desk Set when he/she breaks.

 

JOB I WISH I COULD HAVE

 

Even though I hate answering the phone and customer service oriented positions, the idea that I could spend my day researching random things and attend wild all day Christmas parties, like in Desk Set, sounds like it'd be really fun.

 

BEST DESCENT INTO MADNESS

 

Andy Griffith's rise to fame in A Face in the Crowd

 

BEST DRESS

 

Audrey Hepburn's gorgeous strapless red column gown during the photography sequence in Funny Face.

 

BEST SONG

 

"Clap Yo' Hands" performed by Fred Astaire and Kay Thompson in Funny Face.  

 

CRAZIEST CASTING

 

Silk Stockings. Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, okay, that makes sense.  But Peter Lorre? in a musical? 

 

BEST VILLAIN

 

Burt Lancaster's JJ Hunsecker in Sweet Smell of Success.  Man, his character was ruthless! 

 

BEST MUSIC

 

The hot jazz music in Three Little Bops.  

 

MOST ANNOYING CHARACTER

 

Jayne Mansfield in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Her character single-handedly ruined the film for me. 

 

MOST DISAPPOINTING FILM

 

Love in the Afternoon.  Ugh. I hated this film. 

 

BIGGEST FUDDY DUDDY

 

Laurence Olivier in The Prince and the Showgirl.  I think this could have been a good film, but Olivier is so serious and seems to be such a stick in the mud, he has zero chemistry with Marilyn Monroe.  I think had someone else other than Olivier been cast, this film could have been better.

 

SPEEDRACER'S TAKEAWAY FROM "THE SUN ALSO RISES"

 

"Errol Flynn doesn't look that bad.  He's still got some pizzazz." 

[CoraSmith]

The period 1957-1965 must be the best period in terms of number of great films a year. These were the last years of the Hollywood Golden Age, Hitchcock made his best thrillers and some classic epics, comedies and musicals were produced. It was also a great period for foreign film, with directors like Fellini and Bergman reaching their peak. All that gives an abundancy of choice for the coming years.

 

ACTOR:

1. Max von Sydow - The Seventh Seal

2. Charles Laughton - Witness for the Prosecution

3. Henry Fonda - 12 Angry Men
4. Alec Guinness - The Bridge on the River Kwai

5. Victor Sjöström - Wild Strawberries

6. Fred Astaire - Funny Face

7. Kirk Douglas - Paths of Glory

8. William Holden - The Bridge on the River Kwai

9. Kirk Douglas - Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

10. Burt Lancaster - Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

 

ACTRESS:

1. Giulietta Masina - Nights of Cabiria

2. Marlene Dietrich - Witness for the Prosecution

3. Lana Turner - Peyton Place

4. Audrey Hepburn - Funny Face

5. Marilyn Monroe - The Prince and the Showgirl

6. Jennifer Jones - A Farewell to Arms

7. Deborah Kerr - An Affair to Remember

8. Joanne Woodward - The Three Faces of Eve
9. Rita Hayworth - Fire Down Below

10. Maria Schell - White Nights

 

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

1. Gunnar Björnstrand - The Seventh Seal 

2. Lee J. Cobb - 12 Angry Men

3. Lloyd Nolan - Peyton Place

4. Bengt Ekerot - The Seventh Seal

5. Martin Balsam - 12 Angry Men

6. Maurice Chevalier - Love in the Afternoon

7. John Ireland - Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

8. Gunnar Björnstrand - Wild Strawberries

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

1. Bibi Andersson - The Seventh Seal

2. Bibi Andersson - Wild Strawberries

3. Hope Lange  - Peyton Place

4. Kay Thompson - Funny Face

5. Gunnel Lindblom - The Seventh Seal

6. Elsa Lanchester - Witness for the Prosecution

7. Rhonda Fleming - Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

8. Ruta Lee - Witness for the Prosecution

BEST JUVENILE PERFORMANCE: Michael Chaplin - A King in New York

BEST EXTRA: Bess Flowers - Witness for the Prosecution

BEST ANIMAL PERFORMANCE: Spike, lop-eared yellow Mastador in Old Yeller

BEST DOUBLE ROLE: Bibi Andersson - Wild Strawberries

BEST CREW MEMBERS STANDING IN FOR ACTORS: The Seventh Seal (Dance of death)

BEST PHILOSOPHY: Empathicalism - Funny Face 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Nino Rota & Bonagura - Nights of Cabiria

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: Jailhouse Rock (Elvis Presley in Jailhouse Rock)

BEST NON-ORIGINAL SONG: 'S Wonderful (Fred Astaire & Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face)

BEST QUOTE: "Doctors! They've deprived me of everything! Alcohol, tobacco, female companionship." (Witness for the Prosecution)

[Bogie56]

The New York Film Critics Circle Awards for 1957 were:

 

Best Actor

Alec Guinness, The Bridge on the River Kwai*

Marlon Brando, Sayonara

 

Best Actress

Deborah Kerr, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison*

Eva Marie Saint, A Hatful of Rain

Kay Kendall, Les Girls

 

—————————————————————————————————

 

The National Board of Review Awards for 1957 were…

 

Best Actor

Alec Guinness, The Bridge on the River Kwai*

 

Best Actress

Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve and No Down Payment*

 

Best Supporting Actor

Sessue Hayakawa, The Bridge on the River Kwai*

 

Best Supporting Actress

Sybil Thorndike, The Prince and the Showgirl*

[TomJH]

A 1957 release which failed to register at the box office and deserves to be better known today, ABANDON SHIP is a grim, stark presentation, based on a true event, of survival at sea. Tyrone Power, completely de-glamourized in appearance, plays the commanding officer of an overloaded lifeboat who makes a drastic and highly controversial decision concerning those lifeboat occupants.

 

The entire cast, most of it British, as this is a production shot at Shepperton Studios, is excellent, adding to the reality of the presentation. It's difficult at times to believe that this film was actually shot in a studio tank, particularly when the lifeboat passengers must survive a storm at sea.

 

The supporting cast includes Mai Zetterling as a nurse who is also Power's girlfriend, Lloyd Nolan and Stephen Boyd. Also worthy of mention is the intriguing performance of Moira Lister, as a beautiful upper class survivor calling Power's character "Brave Captain" whenever she refers to him. A tag name that starts as slightly sarcastic turns genuine in its sincerity as the story evolves.

 

This was Power's third last film released (the others to come this year being The Sun Also Rises and Witness for the Prosecution). This impressive portrait of the pressures of command and a man in a moral quandary in a life-and-death situation remains one of his best acting achievements, in my opinion. Power, in fact, is quite flawless here, coming at a time in his career when he was hoping to break away from his matinee idol image and do more in the way of character work. Unfortunately for the actor time was running out, as a fatal heart attack at age 44 was just around the corner for him.

 

 

Abandon Ship, a Columbia release, has been on TCM a few times. Should it comes on again, it is definitely recommended viewing.

[Bogie56]

Here are my choices of the 102 films I've seen from 1957 for…

 

Best Actress of 1957

 

1.  GIULIETTA MASINA (Maria Ceccarelli/”Cabiria”), The Nights of Cabiria

2.  JOANNE WOODWARD (Eve White/"Eve Black"/"Jane"), The Three Faces of Eve

3.  EVA MARIE SAINT (Celia Pope), A Hatful of Rain

4.  PATRICIA NEAL (Marcia Jeffries), A Face In the Crowd

5.  MARLENE DIETRICH (Christine Helm Vole), Witness For the Prosecution

 

6.  ISUZU YAMADA (Lady Asijo), Throne of Blood

7.  DEBORAH KERR (Sister Angela), Heaven Knows Mr. Allison

8.  INEKO ARIMA (Akiko Sugiyama), Tokyo Twilight

9.  ELIZABETH TAYLOR (Susanna Drake), Raintree County

10.  MIIKO TAKA (Hana-ogi), Sayonara

 

and...

 

TATYANA SAMOILOVA (Veronika), The Cranes Are Flying

YVONNE MITCHELL (Amy Preston), Woman In a Dressing Gown

JEAN SEBERG (Joan of Arc), Saint Joan

DOROTHY MALONE (Cleva Creighton Chaney), Man of a Thousand Faces

SETSUKO HARA (Takako Numata), Tokyo Twilight

LAUREN BACALL (Morilla Brown), Designing Woman

DOROTHY MALONE (LaVerne Shumann), The Tarnished Angels

LANA TURNER (Constance MacKenzie), Peyton Place

KATHARINE HEPBURN (Bunny Watson), Desk Set