Strangers on a Train

Title: Strangers on a Train
Year: 1951
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: Raymond Chandler, Czenzi Ormonde & Whitfield Cook, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith
Starring: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker
Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Distinctions: currently #111 on IMDb’s Top 250
Length: 101 minutes
Synopsis: a crazy person murders a stranger’s wife as a favor, and expects a murder in return
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 7/10
Objective Rating: 10/10

Such a rare thing: an Alfred Hitchcock movie that I liked. Suspenseful. A well-crafted script. A couple of the characters are fun. The ending is a bit disappointing; it turns into an action movie about 10 minutes from the end, which makes an exciting and memorable scene but it’s not what the story needed.

The African Queen

Title: The African Queen
Year: 1951
Director: John Huston
Writers: James Agee & John Huston, based on the novel by C.S. Forester
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn
Music: Allan Gray
Distinctions: Oscar for best actor (Bogart); currently #193 on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: a Canadian river-boat captain and English missionary trapped in German Africa in WWI try to do something about it
Length: 105 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented on VHS from the library), December 2008
Subjective Rating: 6/10
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for story, cinematography and special effects/design)

If I didn’t know better, I would swear this was a Disney cartoon – especially since Bogart is playing a goofy chipmunk. It would have been a great movie if they hadn’t twisted it into an absurd love story. Supposedly it was shot on location in Africa, which is sad because it looks unmistakably like rear projection.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Title: The Day the Earth Stood Still
Year: 1951
Director: Robert Wise
Writer: Edmund H. North, based on a story by Harry Bates
Starring: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray
Music: Bernard Herrmann
Distinctions: currently #222 on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: an alien visitor wants humans to live in peace
Length: 92 minutes
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), October 2008
Subjective Rating: 6/10
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for cinematography)

It’s about as dated as a movie can get, but very well done overall. Klaatu (the lead character) is interesting and surprisingly subtle. I thought the special effects looked pretty good, although maybe I would feel otherwise if I hadn’t spent all those hours watching classic Doctor Who. The music is the quintessential 50’s sci-fi score – probably groundbreaking, too. The plot is roughly the same as half the sci-fi short stories ever written, but it’s one of the only movies I know of that treats that plot the way the stories do. So, even though I wasn’t crazy about the movie, as a fan of classic science fiction, I have a sort of reverence for it.

Ace in the Hole

Title: Ace in the Hole
Year: 1951
Director: Billy Wilder
Writers: Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels & Walter Newman
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Robert Arthur, Porter Hall, Frank Cady, Richard Benedict, Ray Teal
Music: Hugo Friedhofer
Distinctions: formerly on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: a formerly successful newspaper writer arranges for a disaster to be prolonged so he can have the exclusive story
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), June 2008
Subjective Rating: 8/10
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for dialog, cinematography and music)

Good movie. Probably one of the earliest (at least the earliest I’ve seen) dramedy movies. The synopsis doesn’t sound like a great concept in writing, but trust me, it is.

A Streetcar Named Desire

Title: A Streetcar Named Desire
Year: 1951
Director: Elia Kazan
Writer: Oscar Saul & Tennessee Williams, based on Williams’ play
Starring: Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden
Music: Alex North
Distinctions: Oscars for best actress (Leigh), supporting actor (Malden), supporting actress (Hunter) and art direction/set decoration (black-and-white); currently #209 on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: a crazy lady moves in with her sister and brother-in-law
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), April 2008
Subjective Rating: 4/10
Objective Rating: 5/10 (gets points for story, characters, pacing, special effects/design and music)

I was very disappointed. I expected to like it. The acting other than Leigh’s is great. She is unclear, melodramatic and irritating (granted, the character is supposed to be melodramatic and irritating, but that’s no excuse). Somebody shut that woman up. Brando: slap her!