Look, James Dean’s movies don’t wow me. This is his big year, with his 2 releases showing off his talents. He is as good as advertised, but his movies leave something to be desired, making 1955 one of the weaker offerings of movies from an American perspective. Internationally, France and India came in to pick up the slack though!
And we’re already here! Dean is the best part of this film, which suffers from dated classic syndrome. The envelope pushing this movie does is pretty commonplace today, and the weird third act just leaves you confused at what the hell is going on, but not on a Hitchcock awesome way, in a nonsense way.
Continuing with the weird, pretty sure no one was clamoring for Marlon Brando to take up singing and dancing, but Brando throws himself into anything head first, so enjoy that for what it’s worth. Plus, at least you get the great Frank Sinatra singing a few ballads, showing off that million dollar voice of his.
Elia Kazan adapts John Steinbeck’s great novel. Here the young Brando thing is really evident, as James Dean slides into the role of the passed over brother with relish. It’s not perfect, but again, Dean is magnetic enough to keep you interested, and sad his career was cut short.
Based on the Broadway comedy, Tom Ewell is a 7 year married man who’s wife is on vacation for the summer with the kids. Feeling a little trapped, he wants a chance to basically play the field while alone, and just like that, in saunters Marilyn Monroe’s bombshell of a model next door. Every minute Monroe isn’t onscreen is wasted because she mines all sorts of laughs and sexiness out of the role, including an iconic shot walking above a sewer grate.
Not based on a classic tale, Disney’s tale is as old as storytelling itself anyways: poor meets rich, and two learn to connect and fall in love. In this case, the two falling in love are dogs, who connect with one another over one magical beautiful night, culminating in a spaghetti dinner for the ages.
What’s that you say? Lesser Hitchcock? That just means it’s a top 5 movie of that year, not the best film. Cary Grant plays a former jewel thief, accused of stealing diamonds from the rich on the French Riviera. Trying to clear his name he stumbles across Grace Kelly’s heiress, entranced by Grant’s proximity to danger and thrills. This movie is for those who love beautiful locales, spectacle, and a little romance between a hot pair of actors. So…it’s for everyone!
In a year of the Big James Dean performances, Ernest Borgnine, yes that affable man, gives one of the best of the year, playing a butcher content to live life without love as an aging man…that is, until he gets a chance at it with Betsy Blair’s schoolteacher, in a similar boat to him. Paddy Chayefsky’s writing stands tall here, capturing the day to day life of normal people who struggle at risking for love, especially the ugly ducklings, those who feel love has passed them by, or those burdened by family commitments and harsh judgment from those they care about.
Actor Charles Laughton actually directed this thriller. It features a game of wills for bank robbery money that kids Billy Chapin and Lillian Gish know about, and their terrifying Preacher misogynist father-in-low, a terrific Robert Mitchum, tries to extract through brilliant charisma and false trust. This movie’s bound to scare the hell out of you, using shadow and lighting to great effect, as well as painting an intriguing picture of what good and evil look like in the real world (at the time).
Satyajit Ray brings India to the world, showcasing day to day life of poor Bengalese citizens. In this story dad’s off to write in the city while Karuna Bannerjee’s mom takes care of Subir Banerji, their young son Apu and older daughter Durga (Umas Das Gupta). Ray plants us firmly in the seemingly mundane Indian life, so it can be a little slow, but each little experience builds into a showcase of fable like proportions, give an international voice to a vibrant, fascinating culture.
Henri Georges Cluzot channels his inner Alfred Hitchcock to craft this noir thriller, which means it ends up as as one of the top films of the year. Cluzot’s film is about a school headmaster/lothario who pisses off his wife and mistress so much they conspire to murder him. Cluzot turns the movie halfway into a study of psychological torture as things start to go wrong, building into a terrifying brilliant climax with an all timer of a twist.
