Stotty's One-Line Reviews: 1953

Showing posts with label 1953. Show all posts

Summer with Monika (1953)

Sommaren med Monika

1953 | Sweden | Ingmar Bergman | ★★★★★

Ingmar Bergman's beautifully crafted Summer with Monika is a tender, sensuous story of young blue-collar love gone awry, featuring bold scripting, oft breathtaking photography, and a star-making performance from the vital, utterly bewitching Harriet Andersson.

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"Inspired by the earthy eroticism of Harriet Andersson, in the first of her many roles for him, Ingmar Bergman had a major international breakthrough with this sensual and ultimately ravaging tale of young love. A girl (Andersson) and boy (Lars Ekborg) from working-class families in Stockholm run away from home to spend a secluded, romantic summer at the beach, far from parents and responsibilities. Inevitably, it is not long before the pair are forced to return to reality. The version initially released in the U.S. was reedited by its distributor into something more salacious, but the original Summer with Monika (Sommaren med Monika), presented here, is a work of stunning maturity and one of Bergman’s most important films." Criterion

The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

1953 | USA | Ida Lupino | ★★★

Ida Lupino's The Hitch-Hiker is an entertaining but not always convincing Mexico-set thriller, buoyed by some memorable images and William Talman's wonderful face, but hamstrung (at least somewhat) by gaps in logic and its low budget.

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"The only true film noir ever directed by a woman, this tour-de-force thriller (considered by many, including Lupino herself, to be her best film) is a classic, tension-packed, three-way dance of death about two middle-class American homebodies (Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy) on vacation in Mexico on a long-awaited fishing trip. Suddenly their car and their very lives are commandeered by psychopathic serial killer Emmett Myers (William Talman)." Kino Lorber films

Laxdale Hall (1953)

1953 | UK | John Eldridge | ★★★★

John Eldridge's Laxdale Hall is a decidedly gentle yet hilariously irreverent Ealingesque David-vs-Goliath comedy based on Eric Linklater's 1951 novel, featuring amiable performances, attractive location photography, and memorable comic set-pieces.

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"The few residents of Laxdale who own cars are refusing to pay their road fund licence because of the poor state of the only road which links them to the rest of Scotland. A parliamentary delegation is dispatched to the Scottish Highlands to quell the rebellion!" Panamint Cinema

Where Chimneys Are Seen (1953)

煙突の見える場所

1953 | Japan | Gosho Heinosuke | ★★★★★

Gosho Heinosuke's masterful Where Chimneys Are Seen is a truly beautiful, profoundly moving, symbolically rich domestic drama, featuring gorgeous imagery and exquisite performances from Uehara Ken, Tanaka Kinuyo, Takamine Hideko, et al.

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"Gosho’s most celebrated film both in Japan and the West, Where Chimneys Are Seen is perhaps the most compelling example of his concern for, and insights into, the everyday lives of lower-middle-class people. Based on Rinzo Shiina’s novel of the absurd, the film depicts the lives of two couples against the backdrop of Tokyo’s growing industrialization during the 1950s." TMDb

Angel Face (1953)

1953 | USA | Otto Preminger | ★★★★

Otto Preminger's Angel Face is a gripping and well-crafted dark thriller, featuring the most inscrutable of inscrutable femmes fatales, a couple of excellent performances from Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons, and an absolute kicker of an ending.

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"Classic Otto Preminger thriller from 1952 starring Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons. Arriving at the scene of the mysterious death by gassing of Mrs Tremayne, ambulance driver Frank Jessup (Mitchum) meets her alluring stepdaughter, Diane (Simmons). Falling under her spell, he soon becomes Diane's chauffeur. but begins to suspect that he is getting into danger and attempts to free himself from her grasp. Diane, however, has other ideas." Paladium

Genevieve (1953)

1953 | UK | Henry Cornelius | ★★★★★

South African film-maker Henry Cornelius's hugely entertaining Genevieve is an absolutely lovely comic road movie, featuring charismatic performances from John Gregson et al, distinctive colour photography, and a decidedly memorable harmonica score.

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"Every year, barrister Alan McKim (John Gregson) and wife Wendy (Dinah Sheridan) compete against Alan's friend (and Wendy's former beau), Ambrose Claverhouse (Kenneth More), in the London to Brighton vintage car race. This time round, however, Alan's 1904 roadster, 'Genevieve', breaks down on route. Angered by Ambrose's jokes at the expense of his beloved car, Alan bets his rival that he can beat him on the return journey to London - and the race is on! Larry Adler's harmonica score was nominated for an Oscar." ITV