1950s Film

Movie musings about the stars and films of the 1950s. A time whe women knew how to meet the proper man with the proper position, how to make a proper wife and run a proper home and raise proper children. Because when you’re proper you’re safe!

Old Hollywood: Sidney Poitier and the Civil Rights Era

by Linsey Satterthwaite 20 February 2015

Cinema has always been seen as a mirror to society, the changes, the fears, the angers and the themes of a nation are often represented and reflected on the big screen as a window to political and cultural shifts. Selma, a film based on the 1965 voting march led by Martin Luther King, recently landed in […]

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In Review: I’m Alright Jack (1959) on Blu-ray

by Ann Jackson 28 January 2015

I’m Alright Jack (1959) is a sequel to an earlier film from the Boulting twins named Privates Progress (1956). The inept Stanley Windrush staggers through humorous job try-outs in industry, expecting a cushy management role. He fails and is persuaded to take a blue collar job. Windrush is clearly being used by the company directors to […]

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The New Empress Magazine Video Blog: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

by Maryann O'Connor 30 October 2014

Give in to your paranoia. Mark Searby dissects the fear quotient of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) ahead of its theatrical re-release.

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New Empress Magazine Video Blog: Animal Farm (1954)

by Maryann O'Connor 23 October 2014

Mark Searby takes a look at Animal Farm, the film adapted from George Orwell’s wave making book by Europe’s groundbreaking animation studio Halas and Batchelor in 1954. More New Empress Magazine Video blog action

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In Review: The Essential Jacques Tati Collection on Blu-ray

by Ben Nicholson 22 July 2014

It is lamentable that the intricately choreographed joy of Jacques Tati’s cinematic directorial career only extended for a total of six features and a handful of shorts. It is equally unfortunate that many modern audience members are as likely to have heard of his onscreen persona, M. Hulot, than the towering genius behind him. In […]

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In Review: Garden of Evil (1954) on DVD

by Mark Searby 5 June 2014

20th Century Fox used this western as one of their first forays into the studios new process of Cinemascope and Stereophonic sound. Three fortune hunters find themselves stranded in rural Mexico. They are recruited by a beautiful female who offers up a reward to rescue her husband from a cave located in Apache territory. Henry […]

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In Review: The Left Hand of God (1955) on DVD

by Daniel Goodwin 8 May 2014

There’s something about the grand 50s Cinemascope/ Vistavision films that are so synonymous with that time; their essence and character have never totally transcended into other eras of cinema. This was a time when 3D was first widely employed and the medium became embellished with epics of a grander scale. Spawning several classics and stars, […]

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Rendez-vous 2014: Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

by Ann Jackson 30 April 2014

Hiroshima Mon Amour caused a mighty stir when it was first seen in 1959 at Cannes. Written by a woman (Marguerite Duras), it was also narrated by a woman (Emmanuelle Riva) who was the main character, it included flashbacks to clarify the story and had a non-linear storyline. There was also a significant change in the […]

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5th Annual Rendez-vous with French Cinema 2014

by Maryann O'Connor 3 April 2014

This year’s Rendez-vous with French Cinema pays tribute to a legend of French Cinema, Alain Resnais, bringing a restored version of his 1959 New Wave classic Hiroshima mon amour (starring Emmanuelle Riva) and many other delights to a whole bunch of lovely cinemas in the UK between 23 and 30 April.

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In Review: Il Bidone (1955) on Blu-ray

by Mark Searby 17 January 2014

Legendary Italian director Federico Fellini released Il Bidone a year after his masterpiece La Strada, the former still in keeping with his neo-realist filmmaking but focused on a more political standpoint.

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In Review: Bonjour Tristesse (1958) Re-released

by Pamela Hutchinson 30 August 2013

Too much beauty, like too much champagne, will make you sick. And Otto Preminger’s sumptuous, intoxicating Bonjour Tristesse (1958) is as toxic as it is lustrous.

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