"Movies Of The 50s" By Jurgen Muller

Movies Of The 50s by Jurgen Muller

Movies of the 50s by Jurgen Muller is a 384 page year by year retrospect of the films that graced the silver screen. Starting with 1951 and ending with a look at 1960, the book gives movie fans a featured look at a number of films throughout the decade via black and white stills, color photos as well as a synopsis and other information on the film. What can you expect to find between the pages of Movies of the 50s?

The book takes an inside look at some of the classic 1950s films including:

- “The African Queen” (1951) starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn

- “An American In Paris” (1951) starring Gene Kelly

- “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951) starring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh

- “High Noon” (1952) starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly

- “Singin’ In The Rain” (1952) starring Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor

- “From Here To Eternity” (1952) starring Burt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra

- “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1953) starring Marilyn Monroe

- “On The Waterfront” (1954) starring Marlon Brando

- “Rear Window” (1954) starring Grace Kelly and James Stewart

- “East of Eden” (1955) starring James Dean

- “Rebel Without A Cause” (1955) starring James Dean and Natalie Wood

- “The Seven Year Itch” (1955) starring Marilyn Monroe

- “Giant” (1956) starring James Dean, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor

- The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston

- “The Bridge On The River Kwai” (1957) starring Alec Guinness and William Holden

- “Jailhouse Rock” (1957) starring Elvis Presley

- “Vertigo” (1958) starring James Stewart

- “Ben Hur” (1959) starring Charlton Heston

- “Some Like It Hot” (1959) starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe

- “The Apartment” (1960) starring Jack Lemmon

- “Psycho” (1960) starring Anthony Perkins

- “Spartacus” (1960) starring Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier

My Thoughts:

Movies of the 50s by Jurgen Muller was a great look back at the films and stars of the decade. I found myself dividing the films into three categories: popular classics, movies that may have been forgotten and others that peak your interest. The popular classics, like the ones mentioned above, are the movies that not only stand the test of time, but we can remember still remember the story and/or stars of the films. Some of the movies may not come to mind when we’re thinking about movies from the 1950s. But, just because they don’t “jump out at us”, doesn’t mean they’re completely forgotten. Usually when they’re mentioned, we can remember some things about the film. For me, these included the sections in the book about such films as “The Thing From Another World” (1951) with James Arness, “Ivanhoe’ (1952) with Elizabeth Taylor, “Creature From the Black Lagoon” (1954), “Godzilla” (1954), “The Night of the Hunter” (1955) with Robert Mitchum, “All That Heaven Allows” (1955), “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956), “Moby Dick” (1956), “12 Angry Men” (1957), “The Incredible Shrinking Woman” (1957), “Touch of Evil” (1958), “Dracula” (1958) with Christopher Lee and “The Misfits” (1960) with Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. The last category is the movies that we might not have heard about, but the book’s description peaks your interest in them. These include “Quo Vadis” (1951) starring Peter Ustinov, “Limelight” (1952) starring Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, “Lola Montes” (1955), “Rififi” (1955), “The Seventh Seal” (1956), “Peeping Tom” (1960) and “The Horror Chamber of Faustas” a.k.a. “Eyes Without a Face” (1960). It was fun to take a look back at some of the movies and actors/actresses that helped to shape the world of cinema. The only thing that would have made the book better would have been a look at the movies from the year 1950. Perhaps that’s included in the book Movies of the 40s!

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