One question people always ask is what are the greatest films of all-time. There is a lot of different criteria that goes into coming up with a list and it all depends on your taste mainly due to all film being subjective and everyone liking or disliking the same/different things. I've decided to do a new series in which I try to decide what I think are the greatest films of all-time. One way to help do that is by deciding what the best films of each decade are. Each month until October I will choose what I think are the best films from each decade and in November I will take the number one films in each decade and put them into a top 10 greatest films of all-time list. Now the list will bot be based on scores or my own personal lists, but based off the popularity of each film and how much of an effect it has had or is having on film today. For example my favorite film of all-time is The Dark Knight, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I think it is the greatest film of its decade. For this month I'm going to bring you the top 10 films of the 1950's. So without further ado...
10. The Ten Commandments
The 1950's was a period of revolution for the film industry at a time where everyone was being be black-listed due to the possible and suspected rise of communism within the United States. One of the actors not black-listed was Charlton Heston who's career skyrocketed after this film. It's an iconic role that made one of the greatest movies stars a legend. The film itself has no lack of achievements as at the time it had the largest set piece ever to bee seen on the big screen. Another magnificent aspect was the visual effects and the parting of the Red Sea scene is one of the most recognizable and most iconic scenes in film history. It's the film that really brought biblical stories the forefront and it was a genre that boomed for awhile mainly do to this film.
9. On the Waterfront
The 50's was known as the decade of stars breaking out and one of those stars was Marlon Brando. Brandon is widely considered the greatest actor of all-time and his resume backs it up as he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar in 4 out his first 6 films while walking away the award once. The film that won him the award was On the Waterfront. This film next to The Maltese Falcon is the poster-child for Film Noir films and the way Budd Schulberg was able to write this film is just amazing and the great Elia Kazlan directed this film to perfection. There is a lot of emotion in this film and you can feel it in every scene.
8. North by Northwest
This is an intense and a very influential film. It has a lot of the signature trademarks of a Hitchcock film and it might be his most influential. If you've ever seen the film Enemy of the State, then it basically follows this plotline with a few changes. The suspense is built throughout the film wondering if Cary Grant's character will be caught or be proven innocent. It's the first film that used Kinetic typography which is basically an animation where the text is moving and while you don't often see it as much in the opening credits of film, you do sometimes see it in promotional advertisements for films today.
7. Seven Samurai
Thsi film has to be the most borrowed from film of all-time. Literally in every film you watch there is some sort of reference to this film. It's easily the greatest foreign film ever made and it even has an American remake titled The Magnificent Seven. It's directed by Akira Kurosawa who is a phenomenal director that most have never heard of and it's a shame because he is a great director who should get more recognition.The way he was able to place cameras made him one of the best editors and his film are crisply edited to perfection. If this film had not worked, then The Avengers films may never have been made because this film proved you could bring a massive group of heroes together to fight for one common cause. It's narrative structure and technical achievement is used a lot of films today and it just makes it one of the best films of the decade.
6. Rebel Without a Cause
James Dean amazingly only did three films in his career and to this day he is considered a legend. This is the film that really launched stardom coming off of his Oscar nomination for East of Eden. The film deals with a lot issues that some teenagers deal with today. It's a refelection through one's eyes of how others look at him and it's just a really heartbrekaing story. Had James Dean lived longer, he may have been the greatest actor to have ever live and it's inpart due to this film.
5. Vertigo
When you can develop a new style of camera movement that in turn creates a new effect, then you have an iconic film. This film used dolly zoom to create a spinning sensation which in turn creates "the vertigo effect". It was a film that took Hitchcock away from his usual romantic style of films and it showed that he is a versatile director. James Stewart is also tremendous in portraying the character and really just giving a sense of reality to the film. As with most Hitchcock films, this film has lot of suspense that just builds and builds until you almost can't take it anymore. It also makes you question whether or not you might have the phobia and it could very well make you sick.
4. Singin' in the Rain
This might be the only musical besides Sound of Music that could end up on a top 10 list for best of the decade. The film has a lot of amazing and memorable songs, especially the title song itself and the rain scene has been parodied in a few other films and the song itself has been used in a lot of films, mainly A Clockwork Orange and it's infamous rape scene. Gene Kelly is phenomenal in the film and he's also great behind the camera as he directs the film as well. The film really does a great job of portraying movie stars and how they went about adapting from Silent films to talkies how the transition was a major one form them to adapt to keep their careers going for a long period of time.
3. 12 Angry Men
Out of all the ensemble films that come out today all have to give credit to this film for really being the catapult for creating these types of films. It has an all-star line-up of Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley and Jack Warden just to name a few. The was the story is constructed and the way it's shot is revolutionary. The ability to be able to film an entire film in one room and to develop not only the story, but the characters as well is something we haven't seen in long time. The film really just points out that things aren't always what they seem and no matter the evidence you have to look at the facts.
2. Roman Holiday
This film is historic for so many things. First, you have the pairing of Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn which are two of the greatest actors to eve live. It's also one of the films wrote by the magnificent Dalton Trumbo after he was blacklisted in Hollywood for his alleged role in Communism and he even won and Oscar while writing under a fake name. The story was one of a kind at the time and it has since been borrowed from in the future films. The film came out at the height of Hepburn's career and it really elevated her to her star and legendary status. It's also the film where she received her first and only Oscar win.
1. Ben-Hur
This is the number 1 film for so many reasons. Once again Charlton Heston appears on the list in his second big film of the decade. The chariot race in this film alone makes it the best film of the 1950's. The score that goes along with the scene is one of the most influential scores and the longest composed score for once at the time. Also it is one of the most expensive scenes and it's mainly due to the long hours and the amount of cast and crew present just for this scene. It was the essential blockbuster of the time and it's influence on films today is easily recognizable and it is the best film of the 1950's. It also helps that this decade isn't really one of the strongest when it comes to film.
So ladies and gentlemen what do you think of the list, what films should be added or deleted and what do you think is the greatest film of the 1950's? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
10. The Ten Commandments
The 1950's was a period of revolution for the film industry at a time where everyone was being be black-listed due to the possible and suspected rise of communism within the United States. One of the actors not black-listed was Charlton Heston who's career skyrocketed after this film. It's an iconic role that made one of the greatest movies stars a legend. The film itself has no lack of achievements as at the time it had the largest set piece ever to bee seen on the big screen. Another magnificent aspect was the visual effects and the parting of the Red Sea scene is one of the most recognizable and most iconic scenes in film history. It's the film that really brought biblical stories the forefront and it was a genre that boomed for awhile mainly do to this film.
9. On the Waterfront
The 50's was known as the decade of stars breaking out and one of those stars was Marlon Brando. Brandon is widely considered the greatest actor of all-time and his resume backs it up as he was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar in 4 out his first 6 films while walking away the award once. The film that won him the award was On the Waterfront. This film next to The Maltese Falcon is the poster-child for Film Noir films and the way Budd Schulberg was able to write this film is just amazing and the great Elia Kazlan directed this film to perfection. There is a lot of emotion in this film and you can feel it in every scene.
8. North by Northwest
This is an intense and a very influential film. It has a lot of the signature trademarks of a Hitchcock film and it might be his most influential. If you've ever seen the film Enemy of the State, then it basically follows this plotline with a few changes. The suspense is built throughout the film wondering if Cary Grant's character will be caught or be proven innocent. It's the first film that used Kinetic typography which is basically an animation where the text is moving and while you don't often see it as much in the opening credits of film, you do sometimes see it in promotional advertisements for films today.
7. Seven Samurai
Thsi film has to be the most borrowed from film of all-time. Literally in every film you watch there is some sort of reference to this film. It's easily the greatest foreign film ever made and it even has an American remake titled The Magnificent Seven. It's directed by Akira Kurosawa who is a phenomenal director that most have never heard of and it's a shame because he is a great director who should get more recognition.The way he was able to place cameras made him one of the best editors and his film are crisply edited to perfection. If this film had not worked, then The Avengers films may never have been made because this film proved you could bring a massive group of heroes together to fight for one common cause. It's narrative structure and technical achievement is used a lot of films today and it just makes it one of the best films of the decade.
6. Rebel Without a Cause
James Dean amazingly only did three films in his career and to this day he is considered a legend. This is the film that really launched stardom coming off of his Oscar nomination for East of Eden. The film deals with a lot issues that some teenagers deal with today. It's a refelection through one's eyes of how others look at him and it's just a really heartbrekaing story. Had James Dean lived longer, he may have been the greatest actor to have ever live and it's inpart due to this film.
5. Vertigo
When you can develop a new style of camera movement that in turn creates a new effect, then you have an iconic film. This film used dolly zoom to create a spinning sensation which in turn creates "the vertigo effect". It was a film that took Hitchcock away from his usual romantic style of films and it showed that he is a versatile director. James Stewart is also tremendous in portraying the character and really just giving a sense of reality to the film. As with most Hitchcock films, this film has lot of suspense that just builds and builds until you almost can't take it anymore. It also makes you question whether or not you might have the phobia and it could very well make you sick.
4. Singin' in the Rain
This might be the only musical besides Sound of Music that could end up on a top 10 list for best of the decade. The film has a lot of amazing and memorable songs, especially the title song itself and the rain scene has been parodied in a few other films and the song itself has been used in a lot of films, mainly A Clockwork Orange and it's infamous rape scene. Gene Kelly is phenomenal in the film and he's also great behind the camera as he directs the film as well. The film really does a great job of portraying movie stars and how they went about adapting from Silent films to talkies how the transition was a major one form them to adapt to keep their careers going for a long period of time.
3. 12 Angry Men
Out of all the ensemble films that come out today all have to give credit to this film for really being the catapult for creating these types of films. It has an all-star line-up of Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley and Jack Warden just to name a few. The was the story is constructed and the way it's shot is revolutionary. The ability to be able to film an entire film in one room and to develop not only the story, but the characters as well is something we haven't seen in long time. The film really just points out that things aren't always what they seem and no matter the evidence you have to look at the facts.
2. Roman Holiday
This film is historic for so many things. First, you have the pairing of Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn which are two of the greatest actors to eve live. It's also one of the films wrote by the magnificent Dalton Trumbo after he was blacklisted in Hollywood for his alleged role in Communism and he even won and Oscar while writing under a fake name. The story was one of a kind at the time and it has since been borrowed from in the future films. The film came out at the height of Hepburn's career and it really elevated her to her star and legendary status. It's also the film where she received her first and only Oscar win.
1. Ben-Hur
This is the number 1 film for so many reasons. Once again Charlton Heston appears on the list in his second big film of the decade. The chariot race in this film alone makes it the best film of the 1950's. The score that goes along with the scene is one of the most influential scores and the longest composed score for once at the time. Also it is one of the most expensive scenes and it's mainly due to the long hours and the amount of cast and crew present just for this scene. It was the essential blockbuster of the time and it's influence on films today is easily recognizable and it is the best film of the 1950's. It also helps that this decade isn't really one of the strongest when it comes to film.
So ladies and gentlemen what do you think of the list, what films should be added or deleted and what do you think is the greatest film of the 1950's? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
