Your Favourite Performances from 1929 to present are...

[Bogie56]

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

 

Best Actor of 1957

 

1.  ALEC GUINNESS (Lieutenant Colonel L. Nicholson, D.S.O.), The Bridge on the River Kwai

2.  KIRK DOUGLAS (Colonel Dax, Commanding Officer, 701st Infantry Regiment), Paths of Glory

3.  WILLIAM HOLDEN ("Commander" Shears/Major), The Bridge on the River Kwai

4.  ANDY GRIFFITH (Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes), A Face In the Crowd

5.  CHARLES LAUGHTON (Sir Wilfrid Robarts, Q.C.), Witness For the Prosecution

 

6.  JAMES CAGNEY (Lon Chaney), Man of a Thousand Faces

7.  TONY CURTIS (Sidney Falco), Sweet Smell of Success

8.  MAX VON SYDOW (Antonious Block), The Seventh Seal

9.  DON MURRAY (Johnny Pope), A Hatful of Rain

10. ANTHONY PERKINS (Jimmy Piersall), Fear Strikes Out

 

and ...

 

HENRY FONDA (Mr. Davis, Juror No. 8), 12 Angry Men

SIDNEY POITIER (Tommy Tyler), Edge of the City

NIKOLAI CHERKASOV (“Don Quixote de la Mancha”/Alonso Quixano), Don Quixote

ANTHONY FRANCIOSA (Polo Pope), A Hatful of Rain

VICTOR SJOSTROM (Professor of Medicine, Eberhard Isak Borg), Wild Strawberries

BURT LANCASTER (J.J. Hunsecker), Sweet Smell of Success

TYRONE POWER (Leonard Stephen Vole), Witness For the Prosecution

JOHN CASSEVETES (Axel Nordmann), Edge of the City

CURD JURGENS (U-boat Kapitan Von Stolberg), The Enemy Below

STEVE COCHRAN (Aldo), Il Grido

VAN HEFLIN (Dan Evans), 3:10 to Yuma

MARCELLO MASTROIANNI (Mario), White Nights

TOMMY KIRK (Travis Coates), Old Yeller

[CoraSmith]

 

------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.

Tony Curtis is the King of Co-leads. It's bound to happen again in the next two years. In the TV series The Persuaders! he also played second fiddle to Roger Moore. It's even whispered that in his first marriage it was Janet Leigh who wore the pants.

[Bogie56]

The BAFTA winners for 1957 were ….

 

Best Actor (British)

Alec Guinness, The Bridge on the River Kwai*

Trevor Howard, Manuela/The Stowaway Girl

Laurence Oliver, The Prince and the Showgirl

Michael Redgrave, Time Without Pity

Peter Finch, Windom’s Way

 

Best Actor (Foreign)

Henry Fonda, 12 Angry Men*

Ed Wynn, The Great Man (56)

Sidney Poitier, Edge of the City

Jean Gabin, The Crossing of Paris (56)

Pierre Brasseur, Portes des Lilas/The Gates of Paris

Tony Curtis, Sweet Smell of Success 

Richard Basehart, Time Limit

Robert Mitchum, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison

 

Best Actress (British)

Heather Sears, The Story of Esther Costello*

Deborah Kerr, Tea and Sympathy (56)

Sylvia Sims, Woman In a Dressing Gown

 

Best Actress (Foreign)

Simone Signoret, The Crucible/Les Sorcieres de Salem*

Eva Marie Saint, A Hatful of Rain

Lili Palmer, Anastasia - The Czar’s Last Daughter (56)

Marilyn Monroe, The Prince and the Showgirl

Katharine Hepburn, The Rainmaker (56)

Augusta Dabney, That Night!

Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve

[kingrat]

Emerging briefly from computer crash hell, here are some thoughts about 1957. Little depth in the best actress race, and a really weak supporting actress field.

 

Best Actor for 1957:

 

Alec Guinness, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI****

Max von Sydow, THE SEVENTH SEAL

Cary Grant, AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER

Victor Sjostrom, WILD STRAWBERRIES

Sidney Poitier, SOMETHING OF VALUE

Gerard Philipe, POT-BOUILLE

 

Honorable mention: Stanley Baker, HELL DRIVERS; Henry Fonda, 12 ANGRY MEN; Anthony Franciosa, A HATFUL OF RAIN; Ben Gazzara, THE STRANGE ONE; Toshiro Mifune, THRONE OF BLOOD; Robert Mitchum, HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON; Tyrone Power, ABANDON SHIP

 

Best Actress for 1957:

 

Patricia Neal, A FACE IN THE CROWD****

Giulietta Masina, NIGHTS OF CABIRIA

Deborah Kerr, AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER

Deborah Kerr, HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON

Joanne Woodward, THE THREE FACES OF EVE

Tatiana Samoilova, THE CRANES ARE FLYING

 

Best Supporting Actor for 1957:

 

David Wayne, THE THREE FACES OF EVE****

Sessue Hayakawa, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI

Timothy Carey, PATHS OF GLORY

Sidney Poitier, BAND OF ANGELS

Lee J. Cobb, 12 ANGRY MEN

 

Honorable mention: Gunnar Bjornstrand, THE SEVENTH SEAL; Red Buttons, SAYONARA; E.G. Marshall, 12 ANGRY MEN

 

Best Supporting Actress for 1957:

 

Ruth Attaway, THE YOUNG DON'T CRY****

Gunnel Lindblom, THE SEVENTH SEAL

Kay Thompson, FUNNY FACE

Cathleen Nesbitt, AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER

Carolyn Jones, THE BACHELOR PARTY

 

Honorable mention: Martita Hunt, THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON; Miyoshi Umeki, SAYONARA

 

[Bogie56]

Isuzu Yamada (1917-2012) appeared in my 1957 favourites three times.  She rose to fame in 1936 in two Kenji Mizoguchi films of 1936; Sisters of the Gion and Osaka Elegy.

As Lady Asijo in Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood Yamada was the consummate chilling and ruthless Lady MacBeth.

In Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Twilight, Yamada plays Kisako Soma a woman who had abandoned her family many years ago to run off with another man.  Her two adult daughters discover her running a mahjong parlour but the reconciliation is bitter sweet.  Here Yamada plays a very sympathetic tragic figure.

In Akira Kurosawa's The Lower Depths, Yamada plays Osugi the wife of the sleazy landlord who has everyone under his thumb.  Osugi beats her sister in fits of jealousy and tries to convince Toshiro Mifune to kill her husband for her.

Three great roles in one year.  And I haven't even seen Yamada's fourth film of 1957, Black River by Masaki Kobayashi.  This film features Tatsuya Nakadai in his first major film role.

The imdb lists 3 more 1957 films!  Dai Chushingura/The 47 Ronin; Hikage no Musume; and Onna Dake no Machi/A Bridge Just For Women.

[Bogie56]

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

 

Best Actor

Andy Griffith, A Face In the Crowd*

Tony Curtis, Sweet Smell of Success

William Holden, The Bridge on the River Kwai

Charles Laughton, Witness For the Prosecution

 

Best Actress

Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve*

Deborah Kerr, Heaven Knows, Mrs. Allison

Patricia Neal, A Face In the Crowd

 

 

And here are Michael Gerbert’s Golden Armchair choices for 1957:

 

Best Actor

Tony Curtis, Sweet Smell of Success*

 

Best Actress

Giulietta Masina, Nights of Cabiria*

[kingrat]

Some random thoughts:

 

I want to second Tom's recommendation for Abandon Ship. Solid script, a fine cast, excellent performance by Tyrone Power. Philip Leacock is an all but unknown director, but Abandon Ship, Innocent Sinners, and The War Lover are all quite good.

 

In retrospect, weirdest trailer for 1957: A Face in the Crowd, where Andy Griffith is touted as Kazan's latest discovery, following in the footsteps of Marlon Brando and James Dean.

 

Most homoerotic image of 1957: The opening of Something of Value, with a barechested Rock Hudson and Sidney Poitier playing soccer.

 

Film that should have been added to my top ten for 1957: Pot-Bouille, adapted from an Emile Zola novel, but looking more like a French version of a Billy Wilder comedy, with more adultery and some female nudity. Julien Duvivier is a master of tone, and Gerard Philipe is a handsome leading man who can act. The best comedy of a year with fabulous dramas.

 

Cy Endfield update: the blacklisted director who made the excellent Try and Get Me does it again with the Brit noir Hell Drivers. Endfield will go on to make Zulu and Sands of the Kalahari.

 

I must rearrange my choices for supporting actors in 1956 now that I've seen The Bad Seed again. Henry Jones and Eileen Heckart are off-the-charts great. If I were giving SAG-style awards to the best cast, it's The Bad Seed edging out The Killing for 1956. 1957 would probably be 12 Angry Men nosing out The Seventh Seal.
 

[Bogie56]

The Golden Globe Awards for 1957 were …

 

Best Actor in a Drama

Alec Guinness, The Bridge on the River Kwai*

Henry Fonda, 12 Angry Men

Anthony Franciosa, A Hatful of Rain

Marlon Brando, Sayonara

Charles Laughton, Witness For the Prosecution

 

Best Actress in a Drama

Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve*

Eva Marie Saint, A Hatful of Rain

Deborah Kerr, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison

Anna Magnani, Wild Is the Wind

Marlene Dietrich, Witness For the Prosecution

 

Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical

Frank Sinatra, Pal Joey*

Glenn Ford, Don’t Go Near the Water

Maurice Chevalier, Love In the Afternoon

David Niven, My Man Godfrey

Tony Randall, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

 

Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical

Kay Kendall and Tania Elg, Les Girls*

Audrey Hepburn, Love In the Afternoon

Cyd Charisse, Silk Stockings

Jean Simmons, This Could Be the Night

 

Best Supporting Actor

Red Buttons, Sayonara*

Lee J. Cobb, 12 Angry Men

Sessue Hayakawa, The Bridge on the River Kwai

Ed Wynn, The Great Man (56)

Nigel Patrick, Raintree County

 

Best Supporting Actress

Elsa Lanchester, Witness For the Prosecution*

Mildred Dunnock, Peyton Place

Hope Lange, Peyton Place

Miyoshi Umeki, Sayonara

Heather Sears, The Story of Esther Costello

[Kay]

1957 - This is when I get mad. This year has my favorite performance from one of my favorite actors, Toshiro Mifune, who has already won some in the past, but this also just so happens to be the year A Face in the Crowd came out, and... well, that's the end of that. It just doesn't seem fair.
 

Actor
 

Andy Griffith - A Face in the Crowd***
Toshiro Mifune - Throne of Blood 

Sterling Hayden - Zero Hour! [always funny]

Charles Laughton - Witness for the Prosecution 
Tyrone Power - Witness for the Prosecution 

Lee J. Cobb - 12 Angry Men 

Grant Williams - The Incredible Shrinking Man

 

Actress

Giulietta Masina - Nights of Cabiria***** [five stars means this is my favorite in any category]   

Joanne Woodward - The Three Faces of Eve    

Marlene Dietrich - Witness for the Prosecution

 

Supporting Actor
 

Vladek Sheybal - Kanal***

Gunnar Bjornstrand - Wild Strawberries
David Wayne - The Three Faces of Eve

Jack Warden - Edge of the City
Timothy Carey - Bayou [sure, why not]

 

Supporting Actress
 

Isuzu Yamada - Throne of Blood***

Bibi Andersson - Wild Strawberries
Elsa Lanchester - Witness for the Prosecution

Franca Marzi - Nights of Cabiria

Ruby Dee - Edge of the City

[Bogie56]

The 1957 Berlin International Film Festival winners were…

 

Best Actor

Pedro Infante, Tizoc

 

Best Actress

Yvonne Mitchell, Woman In a Dressing Gown

 

——————————————————————————————

 

The 1957 Cannes Film Festival winner were…

 

Best Actress

John Kitzmiller, Valley of Peace (56)

 

Best Actor

Giulietta Masina, Nights of Cabiria

 

—————————————————————————————

 

The 1957 Venice Film Festival winners were:

 

Best Actors

Anthony Franciosa, A Hatful of Rain

 

Best Actress

Dzidra Ritenberga, Maiva

[TomJH]

 

Actor

 

Sterling Hayden - Zero Hour! [always funny]

 

I'll say he is, providing an inspiration for another actor later.

 

[TomJH]

Sweet Smell of Success has an effectively jazzy musical score by Elmer Bernstein. I was surprised, though, a few years ago when I turned the film on TCM to hear a different score on the film's soundtrack. Would anybody know anything about this film being available with different scores?

[kingrat]

One of the most difficult to find films of 1957 is This Angry Age (Barrage contre le Pacifique), which I have seen online (YouTube), but panned and scanned and mostly in black and white, although it is a color film. I forgot to add the six leading performances to my lists; all six are outstanding. Jo Van Fleet plays a Frenchwoman who has spent her life savings for a rice paddy in Vietnam (the movie was shot in Thailand). It's a scam because the land is so low-lying and easily flooded. She tries to build a sea wall to protect her property; this is symbolic as well as actual.

 

Van Fleet doesn't want to let go of either of her children, Anthony Perkins and Silvana Mangano, who have a twinlike or quasi-incestuous relationship. Perkins manages to have an affair with a married woman (Alida Valli). Mangano is torn between a man she's attracted to (Richard Conte) and one who has the money to save her mother's property (Nehemiah Persoff, who can always be counted on to be convincingly creepy).

 

Rene Clement's direction looks great, though one would really like to see this in color and widescreen. Silvana Mangano really looks gorgeous.

 

Skimpole, I also love your advocacy for Around the World in 80 Days and David Niven's performance. Niven's style of acting and his screen persona do present something very attractive about the British national character. (Just as the modesty and diffidence of the contestants on The Great British Baking Show seems so appealing compared with the arrogance and bragging of many contestants on American reality shows.)

[Bogie56]

Here are some performances from 1957 that will be recognized in subsequent years …

 

Charles Laughton will be nominated for the BAFTA Best Foreign Actor Award in 1958 for Witness For the Prosectuion (1957).  Yes Foreign Actor!

 

Curd Jurgens will be nominated for the BAFTA Best Foreign Actor Award in 1958 for The Enemy Below (1957).

 

Victor Sjostrom will be nominated for the BAFTA Best Foreign Actor Award in 1958 for Wild Strawberries (1957).  He will win the National Board of Review Best Actor Award in 1959 for Wild Strawberries (1957).

 

Giulietta Masina will be nominated for the BAFTA Best Foreign Actress Award in 1958 for Nights of Cabiria (1957).

 

Tatyana Samoylova will be nominated for the BAFTA Best Foreign Actress Award in 1958 for The Cranes Are Flying (1957).

 

Joanne Woodward will be nominated for the BAFTA Best Foreign Actress Award in 1958 for No Down Payment (1957).

 

Anna Magnani will be nominated for the BAFTA Best Foreign Actress Award in 1958 for Wild Is the Wind (1957).  She will win the Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award in 1958 for Wild Is the Wind (1957).

[TomJH]

I did the followup writeup here a couple of years ago:

 

I wonder if you've managed to see a very little known 1957 British crime drama in which Victor Mature starred, THE LONG HAUL. As soon as you hear that it's British you probably suspect that he made it there because his Hollywood career was in a bit of trouble. Britain and Europe, in general, is where a lot of the former big Hollywood studio names headed when things started getting rough for them in America.

 

But this one, of which I had absolutely never heard, caught my attention. It's a beautifully photographed black-and-white British film noir drama, with Mature cast as an honest Yank truck driver, with a wife and kid, who has a hard time making a living, and finds himself caught up, entirely against his will, with mobsters in the business in England. He also encounters British bombshell Diana Dors, whom he at first resists, before having a brief one night stand with her. It just happens, and it's still his wife that he's crazy about, but there will be ramifications for him for tumbling to the lady's charms (of course).

 

I won't bother with any more of the plot (it's been a little too long since I saw the film to recall much more of it anyway) but I was surprised at how much this gritty, punchy little drama seized my attention. Mature's character is a classic film noir victim - caught up in a web against his wishes, unable to get out of a bad situation that gets him entangled with hoods within the trucking business.

 

And the reason why I think this little film works so well is because of Mature's performance. This is a very straight forward, serious performance by him (none of the smirking and ego of a lot of his Hollywood work from his early days here). Mature is totally convincing as a decent, likable guy with a code of honour (in spite of that one nighter with Dors which only makes him human). I found myself really rooting for Mature in this film, and was caught up in it right to the finish because of that.

 

Surprisingly, Dors does NOT play a tramp. Her character is actually quite sympathetic because she cares about Mature, as well, and doesn't want any harm to come to him (which, believe me, with the thugs in this film, is far from guaranteed). She, unfortunately, though, has a major creep for a boyfriend.

 

Finally, THE LONG HAUL has a terrific musical score which really helps to carry us along with the action.

 

[Bogie56]

Italy’s David di Donatello Awards for 1957 were …

 

Best Foreign Actors

Charles Laughton, Witness For the Prosecution*

Marlon Brando, Sayonara*

 

Best Actress

Anna Magnani, Wild Is the Wind*

[Bogie56]

Japan’s Blue Ribbon Awards for 1957 were …

 

Best Actor

Furanki Sakai, The Sun In the Last Days of the Shogunate

 

Best Actress

Yoku Mochizuki, The Rice People

 

Best Supporting Actor

Koji Mitsui, The Unbalanced Wheel and The Lower Depths

 

Best Supporting Actress

Keiko Awagi, A Geisha In the Old City and Downtown

 

—————————————————————————————

 

Japan’s Mainichi Awards for 1957 were …

 

Best Actor

Toshiro Mifune, Throne of Blood, Downtown and The Lower Depths

 

Best Actress

Hideko Takamine, Times of Joy and Sorrow and Untamed Woman

 

Best Supporting Actor

Koji Mitsui, The Unbalanced Wheel and The Lower Depths

 

Best Supporting Actress

Kinuyo Tanaka, Stepbrothers, On This Earth and A Geisha In the Old City

[Bogie56]

This may be one of my longest 'to see' lists yet.  Here are the films from 1957 that were mentioned that I have not seen as yet. 

 

Abandon Ship with Tyrone Power, Mai Zetterling and Moira Lister

The Admirable Crichton with Martita Hunt

The Aztec Mummy with Angel Di Stefani

Band of Angels with Sidney Poitier

Bayou with Timothy Carey

The Brain From Planet Arous with Joyce Meadows

The Burglar with Dan Duryea

Cat Girl with Barbara Shelley

The Crucible/Les Sorcieres de Salem with Simone Signoret

Daughter of Dr. Jekyll with Gloria Talbott

Don’t Go Near the Water with Glenn Ford

Downtown with Toshiro Mifune and Keiko Awagi

Fire Down Below with Rita Hayworth

Forty Guns with Barbara Stanwyck

From Hell It Came with Chester Hayes

A Geisha In the Old City with Keiko Awagi and Kinuyo Tanaka

The Helen Morgan Story with Ann Blyth

Jeanne Eagles with Kim Novak

The Joker Is Wild with Frank Sinatra, Eddie Albert, Mitzi Gaynor

Kronos with George O’Hanlon

The Long Haul with Victor Mature

Love In the Afternoon with Audrey Hepburn and Maurice Chevalier

Lovers of Paris/Pot-Bouille with Gerard Philipe

Malva with Dzidra Ritenberga

The Man Who Turned to Stone with Ann Doran

Manuela/Stowaway Girl with Trevor Howard

Mother India with Nargis

My Man Godfrey with David Niven

No Down Payment with Joanne Woodward

Not of This Earth with Beverly Garland

On This Earth with Kinuyo Tanaka

The Pajama Game with Doris Day

Portes des Lilas/The Gates of Paris with Pierre Brasseur

Pyaase/Thirsty with Mala Sinha

Quartermass 2/Enemy From Space with Sidney James

The Rice People with Yuko Mochizuki

She Devil with Mari Blanchard

Stepbrothers with Kinuyo Tanaka

The Story of Esther Costello with Heather Sears

The Strange One with Ben Gazarra

The Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate with Furanki Sakai

Tea and Sympathy with Deborah Kerr

That Night! with Augusta Dabney

This Angry Age with Jo Van Fleet, Anthony Perkins, Silvana Mangano and Richard Conte

This Could Be the Night with Jean Simmons

Times of Joy and Sorrow with Hideko Takamine

Tizoc with Pedro Infante

The Unbalanced Wheel with Koji Mitsui

The Undead with Pamela Duncan, Mel welled, Allison Hayes and Dorothy Neumann

The Unearthly with Allison Hayes

Untamed Woman with Hideko Takamine

Voodoo Woman with Maria English and Tom Conway

Wild Is the Wind with Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani

Windom’s Way with Peter Finch

The Young Don’t Cry with Ruth Attaway

Zero Hour with Sterling Hayden

 

And I would like to see these again …

 

The Amazing Colossal Man with Glenn Langan

I Was a Teenage Werewolf with Michael Langdon

[LawrenceA]

Band of Angels with Sidney Poitier

The Brain From Planet Arous with Joyce Meadows

Daughter of Dr. Jekyll with Gloria Talbott

Fire Down Below with Rita Hayworth

From Hell It Came with Chester Hayes

The Helen Morgan Story with Ann Blyth

The Joker Is Wild with Frank Sinatra, Eddie Albert, Mitzi Gaynor

Kronos with George O’Hanlon

Love In the Afternoon with Audrey Hepburn and Maurice Chevalier

Not of This Earth with Beverly Garland

Quartermass 2/Enemy From Space with Sidney James

The Unearthly with Allison Hayes

Wild Is the Wind with Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani

 

I've seen these from your list. A few are awful. Some are okay. I don't know that I'm overly excited about any of them. There's the dubious charms of From Hell It Came. The bad-movie side of me recommends that one. The more reputable side recommends Enemy from Space.

[LawrenceA]

Here are the movies from 1957 I have not seen:

 

Abandon Ship

The Admirable Crichton

The Aztec Mummy

Bayou

Boy On a Dolphin

The Burglar

Cat Girl

The Crucible

Don Quixote

Don't Go Near the Water

Downtown

Edge of the City

Forty Guns

Funny Face

The Gates of Paris

A Geisha In the Old City

He Who Must Die

Il Grido

Jeanne Eagels

A King In New York

Les Girls

The Long Haul

Maiva

The Man Who Turned to Stone

Manuela

The Men of Tohoku

The Midnight Story

Mother India

My Man Godfrey

No Down Payment

On This Earth

The Pajama Game

Pot-Bouille

Pyassa

The Rice People

Something of Value

Stepbrothers

The Story of Esther Costello

The Strange One

The Sun Also Rises

The Sun In the Last Days of the Shogunate

The Tarnished Angels

That Night!

This Could Be the Night

Time Without Pity

Times of Joy and Sorrow

Tizoc

Tokyo Twilight

The Unbalanced Wheel

The Undead

Untamed Woman

Voodoo Woman

White Nights

The Wide Blue Road

Windom's Way

Woman In a Dressing Gown

The Young Don't Cry

Zero Hour

[Bogie56]

*Announcement*

In just two weeks it will be time for the Best of the 1950's.  I will post a tally of all of our first choices in the five acting categories at the end of 1959.  After which, everyone (newcomers too!) will be invited to pick their best of the decade choices in the lead, supporting and juvenile categories.  No ties.  So, put your thinking caps on.

[CoraSmith]

My favorite of 1957 is Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal. It's a philosophical drama that takes more than one watch. The most memorable scene is when the knight (Max Von Sydow) plays chess with the allegorical figure of Death (Bengt Ekerot) - a game he can't possibly win. This was inspired by medieval paintings by Albertus Pictor, who appears as a minor character himself (Gunnar Olson).

 

[spoilerS] The knight, who's just back from a pointless crusade, finds himself surrounded by religious zeolotry: witch burnings, flagellants, prophets of doom. Although it's set in the Middle Ages it's really about Bergman's struggle with death and religion in the 20th century. The names Jof and Mia (Nils Poppe and Bibi Andersson) sound like Joseph and Maria, they also have a child. The knight wants to give them time to escape from death and the plague.

 

Fortunately it has humor too. The squire Jöns (Gunnar Björnstrandt) uses improper language and mocks the serious attitude of his master. However he does behave like a gentleman towards the mute girl (Gunnel Lindblom). She will speak one sentence just before the end, when she says the time has come and they follow Death.

 

The final scene, a dance macabre, was shot with the present crew members instead of actors, because Bergman liked the light at that moment.

[TomJH]

There's the dubious charms of From Hell It Came.

 

I just worry if Suzanne Ridgway, playing a well endowed native girl here, got any splinters from the Tabonga.

 

 

Okay, okay, I know this speculation isn't exactly Seventh Seal observation, but this is the stuff I wonder about.

[Bogie56]

Here are the movies from 1957 I have not seen:

 

Boy on a Dolphin

Don Quixote

Edge of the City

He Who Must Die

Il Grido

A King In New York

Les Girls

The Men of Tohoku

The Midnight Story

Something of Value

The Sun Also Rises

The Tarnished Angels

Time Without Pity

Tokyo Twilight

White Nights

The Wide Blue Road

Woman In a Dressing Gown

 

I'd like to mention a couple that I've seen, Lawrence.  Don Quixote/Don Kilhot features some great Soviet wide screen photography and was directed by Grigori Kozintsev.  Kozinstev arguably made the best Shakespeare film with Hamlet (1964).  I jumped through hoops to get a copy of Don Quixote and then a few weeks later saw a new dvd release on the shelf at the BFI.

The Sun Also Rises as you no doubt know features a really good Errol Flynn performance.

I saw Woman In a Dressing Gown a few years ago in London.  Sylvia Sims was in attendance.  She plays the glamorous one who threatens to steal Anthony Quayle away from his drab housewife, Yvonne Mitchell.  It's not terrific by any means but solidly directed by J. Lee Thompson and could well be the first London kitchen sink film.

[kingrat]

I recommend The Tarnished Angels. Where else in 1950s cinema can you see a husband considering prostituting his wife to earn the entry fee for an airplane race? Excellent noirish photography. One of the best Douglas Sirk films, I think.

 

Although Rock Hudson would not be my top choice to play an Englishman who's grown up in Kenya, Something of Value has a strong story. Hudson and Sidney Poitier are boyhood friends, but Poitier as an adult becomes involved with the Mau Mau movement to drive the whites out of Kenya. Not what audiences of 1957 wanted to see, but I think it's one of Richard Brooks' most interesting films.

 

The Story of Esther Costello seems like a dark parody of The Miracle Worker, which essentially it is. Nicholas Monserrat's novel is apparently suggested by certain incidents in the later life of Helen Keller. Joan Crawford is the Annie Sullivan figure, here a rich woman who takes a blind girl (Heather Sears) from an Irish village. Rossano Brazzi turns out not to be the ideal husband for Joan. One of the few 1950s films which deals openly with rape.

 

The Strange One, based on Calder Willingham's novel and Broadway play End as a Man, softens the ending, but it's still a dark film about a handsome, charismatic young sadist and sociopath in a military school. What an ideal part for Ben Gazzara, except for the Southern accent. Gazzara obviously does not look or sound Southern. George Peppard is the good guy who tries to oppose him, and this is back when Peppard worked hard at his acting. He looks like a future star. Larry Storch is the cadet who least belongs in military school, a natural victim for Gazzara. As open about homosexual sadists as any 1950s American film could be.

 

The Admirable Crichton is a fine re-telling of J.M. Barrie's famous play about a shipwrecked party of Brits. On the island, Crichton, the butler, becomes the natural leader of the community.  Would this change if the group is rescued? Martita Hunt isn't part of the shipwrecked bunch, but she steals every scene she's in, which is often the case.