Top 10 Films of the 1950s

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Geez, check out the lists from Holden. Gonna have to go through and check each film I haven't seen.

Holden, any chance you'll ever post a top 100 of all-time?
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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."



Holden, any chance you'll ever post a top 100 of all-time?
No.
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra



Y'know, I've thought for a great number of years now that I don't really like 50's cinema. Then Holden presents 200 films and.... I know I don't. I envy you, Holden, I really do.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
OK. Come clean hk. How many of those films on Holden's list have you seen all the way through, how many did you turn off, how many have you never watched, and how many have you never heard of?
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will.15's Avatar
Semper Fooey
I had a feeling we did this before right after I posted. My second list is better.



OK. Come clean hk. How many of those films on Holden's list have you seen all the way through, how many did you turn off, how many have you never watched, and how many have you never heard of?
I've not seen most of them, mark, I don't deny that at all. But then, of the ones I do know of (which is most of them TBH) I've little to no interest in seeing them either. Also, I've gone back through them and I can tell you there are 23 films there that I hadn't heard of and 5 films that I've turned off before they finished (but three of them were Limelight, Shane and Ben Hur so, frankly, I should get a medal for even giving them a go. I've tried a few times with Ben Hur, but it's just rot.)



will.15's Avatar
Semper Fooey
I've not seen most of them, mark, I don't deny that at all. But then, of the ones I do know of (which is most of them TBH) I've little to no interest in seeing them either. Also, I've gone back through them and I can tell you there are 23 films there that I hadn't heard of and 5 films that I've turned off before they finished (but three of them were Limelight, Shane and Ben Hur so, frankly, I should get a medal for even giving them a go. I've tried a few times with Ben Hur, but it's just rot.)
I don't like Limelight, Ben Hur, or Shane either.



will.15's Avatar
Semper Fooey
OK. Come clean hk. How many of those films on Holden's list have you seen all the way through, how many did you turn off, how many have you never watched, and how many have you never heard of?
I counted 109 I've seen and very few on that list I haven't at least heard of. He made room for Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, but not for Born Yesterday or The Seven Year Itch?



I counted 109 I've seen and very few on that list I haven't at least heard of. He made room for Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, but not for Born Yesterday or The Seven Year Itch?
He did. And your lists are where...?

If you look at your top ten against all of my lists, with the exception of Some Like it Hot which is the most overrated of Billy Wilder's comedies for me, all of your favorites match up very well with the top five or so on all of my year-by-year lists. You go ahead and list twenty for each year and we'll see how wildly different we are.



I agree that Some Like It Hot is overrated. I made it through that, but only due to Marilyn looking so good and, even then, it wasn't easy. I even prefer The Seven Year Itch to it and that's not good either.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
I don't like Limelight, Ben Hur, or Shane either.
Well, I like all of them, and by some strange coincidence, I watched Ben-Hur yesterday for the first time in about ten years on TCM. My wife came in after about 15 minutes and watched the rest of the entire thing with me afterwards. I realize that it's cool to hate Ben-Hur nowadays, and I'll admit that Wyler holds far too many pregnant pauses, but it certainly gets better as it goes along, at least if you enjoy rot.

And since I referenced honey, I'm starting to have a to bite my tongue when people feel they can compartmentalize everything. For example:

1. I don't like certain genres, so I won't watch them.
2. I don't like certain personalities, so I won't watch their films.
3. I know what I like, so I won't watch something I think I won't like. (In other words, I know every movie I will ever like in the entire world whether I've seen it or not, so don't make me try to open up to things I hated when I was younger because I was so very wise back then... or, whatever).
4. I know it's a good film but I don't like it. (How do you know it's good then?)
5. I know it's bad, but I like it and I'm proud of it. (How do you know it's bad then?)
6. I never said I liked movies, but I like to make quips telling others that they're wrong about liking certain movies.


Now, I'll admit that you could probably rewrite all these statements into their inverses of a conditional and it would probably describe a film buff. So go ahead and shoot me for being a film buff and teaching geometry.



will.15's Avatar
Semper Fooey

I love this movie.

I first saw Ben Hur when I went with my parents to a theater first run and I didn't like it then and never liked it after seeing it when I was much older. Not a fan of William Wyler except for The Letter. Everything else has been no better than a little better than average. Saw The Children's Hour for the first time last week. It was terrible.



And since I referenced honey, I'm starting to have a to bite my tongue when people feel they can compartmentalize everything. For example:

1. I don't like certain genres, so I won't watch them.
2. I don't like certain personalities, so I won't watch their films.
3. I know what I like, so I won't watch something I think I won't like. (In other words, I know every movie I will ever like in the entire world whether I've seen it or not, so don't make me try to open up to things I hated when I was younger because I was so very wise back then... or, whatever).
4. I know it's a good film but I don't like it. (How do you know it's good then?)
5. I know it's bad, but I like it and I'm proud of it. (How do you know it's bad then?)
6. I never said I liked movies, but I like to make quips telling others that they're wrong about liking certain movies.

Well, I don't know any lepers, but I'm not going to run out and join one of their ****ing clubs.



will.15's Avatar
Semper Fooey
Remember that SCTV parody of Ben Hur with John Candy playing Hur as Curly of the Three Stooges?



The Seventh Seal
Rear Window
The Seven Samurai
Sunset Blvd.
Singin' in the Rain
Floating Weeds
Mr. Arkadin
12 Angry Men
Kiss Me Deadly
The Girl Can't Help It