THE 1950’S
THE 1950’S
The 50s decade was known for many things: post-war affluence and increased
choice of leisure time activities, conformity, the Korean War, middle-class values,
the rise of modern jazz, the rise of 'fast food' restaurants and drive-ins a baby
boom, the all-electric home as the ideal, white racist terrorism in the South, the
advent of television and TV dinners, abstract art, the first credit card, the rise of
drive-in theaters to a peak number in the late 50s with over 4,000 outdoor screens,
and a youth reaction to middle-aged cinema. Older viewers were prone to stay at
home and watch television (about 10.5 million US homes had a TV set in 1950).
Marilyn Monroe in the period following WWII when most of the films were
idealized with conventional portrayals of men and women, young people wanted
new and exciting symbols of rebellion. Hollywood responded to audience
demands - the late 1940s and 1950s saw the rise of the anti-hero - with stars like
newcomers James Dean, Paul Newman, and Marlon Brando, replacing more
proper actors like Tyrone Power, Van Johnson, and Robert Taylor.
MARLON BRANDO
Marlon Brando: A Symbol of Adolescent, Anti-Authoritarian Rebellion
A young Marlon Brando (1924-2004) was trained by Lee Strasberg's Actors' Studio
in New York in raw and realistic 'method acting,' and influenced by Stella Adler.
He starred in A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway in 1947, and would later
repeat his work on film in “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951) and receive an
Oscar nomination.
He also contributed a memorable role as a self-absorbed teen character. He played
Johnny - an arrogant, rebellious, tough yet sensitive leader of a roving motorcyclebiking gang (wearing a T-shirt and leather jacket) that invaded and terrorized a
small-town in Laslo Benedek's controversial “The Wild One” (1954). The film was
noted for one line of dialogue, typifying his attitude: "What are you rebelling
against?" Brando's reply: "Whadda ya got?" A nasty Lee Marvin led a rival gang of
bikers named The Beetles.
JAMES DEAN
James Dean: The 'First American Teenager'
James Dean (1932-1955) was the epitome of adolescent pain. Dean appeared in only three
films before his untimely death in the fall of 1955. His first starring role was in Elia Kazan's
adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel “East of Eden” (1955) as a Cain-like son named Cal
vying for his father's (Raymond Massey) love against his brother Aron.
It was followed by Nicholas Ray's best-known melodramatic, color-drenched film about
juvenile delinquency and alienation, Warner Bros.' “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955). This
was the film with Dean's most-remembered role as mixed-up, sensitive, and defiant teenager
Jim Stark involved in various delinquent behaviors (drunkenness, a switchblade fight, and a
deadly drag race called a Chicken Run), and his archetypal scream to his parents: "You're
tearing me apart!"
Dean also starred in his third (and final) feature, George Stevens' epic saga Giant (1956) set
in Texas, (The 24 year-old actor was killed in a tragic car crash on September 30th 1955)
ELVIS PRESLEY
Elvis 'The Pelvis' Presley: The King of Rock 'N Roll
Elvis Presley’s first record was “That's All Right Mama”, cut in July, 1954 in Memphis and
released on the Sun Records label. At the time of his first hit song Heartbreak Hotel, singer
Elvis Presley made his first national TV appearance in January 1956 on CBS' Tommy (and
Jimmy) Dorsey's Stage Show, although he is best remembered for his controversial, sexy,
mid-1956 performance of Hound Dog on the Milton Berle Show, and for three rock 'n roll
performances on the Ed Sullivan Show from September 1956 to January 1957 - his last
show was censored by being filmed from the 'waist-up'.
He was also featured as an actor in many money-making films after signing his first film
deal in 1956. His screen debut was in Paramount's Civil War drama Love Me Tender (1956),
with a #1 single hit song ballad. Jailhouse Rock (1957) is generally acknowledged as his
most famous and popular film, but he also appeared in Loving You (1957) (noted for his
first screen kiss.) By the 70s, his film roles had deteriorated, and although he returned to
stage performances and revived his singing career, he was physically on the decline until his
death in August, 1977 of heart disease and drug abuse.
MONUMENTAL EPICS
Three Monumental Epics in 1956:
(1) DeMille remade his own 1923 silent film “The Ten Commandments” (1956) for his final
powerful film, re-creating the solemn Biblical epic with special effects such as the
miraculous parting of the Red Sea (with 300,000 gallons of water), Charlton Heston played
the Old Testament prophet Moses
(2) George Stevens' Giant (1956) was a sprawling epic about a wealthy Texas family of
cattle ranchers spanning a twenty-five year period, with big name stars James Dean (in his
final film release), Rock Hudson, and Elizabeth Taylor.
(3) And Mike Todd's epic travelogue film version of Jules Verne's “Around the World in 80
Days” (1956), the second Todd-AO production, was reportedly one of the largest film
projects ever made in Hollywood. It employed every means of transportation for wagering
Phileas Fogg (David Niven) to circle the globe in 80 days to win a bet, including trains,
boats, and a balloon.
FILMS ABOUT HOLLYWOOD
ITSELF AND THE STAGE
Sunset Boulevard (1950), with an unforgettable come-back performance by once-great, aging silent film star
Gloria Swanson, her young, opportunistic hack screen-writer lover (portrayed by William Holden) who
narrated the flashbacked film as a dead man, her butler (former director Erich von Stroheim), and director
Cecil B. DeMille as himself. It remains the best movie ever made about Hollywood -- years later, it was made
into a Broadway musical by Andrew Lloyd-Webber.
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) with Kirk Douglas in a strong performance as a ruthless, maverick
Hollywood producer/studio head, who summoned a writer (Dick Powell), a director (Barry Sullivan), and an
actress (Lana Turner) - all with careers he launched - to help save his studio. In the same year, the musical
Singin' in the Rain (1952) reflected the difficulties experienced by the Hollywood film industry during the
transition from silents to sound.
Robert Aldrich's The Big Knife (1955), a screen adaptation of Clifford Odets' stage play, presented a
devastating look at Hollywood's ruthless search for fame and power in its tale of actor Charles Castle (Jack
Palance), struggling with his personal life and estranged wife Marion (Ida Lupino). He was forced by his
domineering, tyrannical, blackmailing studio boss Stanley Hoff (Rod Steiger) (and his slimy assistant Smiley
Coy (Wendell Corey)) to resign a 7-year contract. The dark film ended with tortured Castle's extra-marital
affair, the studio's silencing-murder of starlet Dixie Evans (Shelley Winters), and his own suicide (off -screen).
COMBAT-WAR FILMS AND ANTICOMMUNIST FILMS IN THE 50S
At the dawn of the decade, several dramatic World War II films made a comeback: Twelve O'Clock High (1949),
Battleground (1949) an action film about American infantryman fighting during the Battle of the Bulge, and John
Wayne as a tough, stereotypical Marine Sergeant in The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). The Desert Fox (1951) starred
James Mason as German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel ("The Desert Fox"), the famed tank commander in war-torn
North Africa who was ultimately defeated by Montgomery.
By the time the Korean War was over by mid-decade and the peaceful Cold War period continued, more combat and
war-related films were box-office hits:
Battle Cry (1954) - based on Leon Uris' novel about Marines on their way to war in the Pacific
Mister Roberts - 1955The High and the Mighty (1954), a gripping, airplane-in-flight-disaster film starring John Wayne
(who whistled the theme song) as the copilot and Robert Stack as the Captain; it prophetically invented the disaster
film genre and foreshadowed its craze in the 1970s
Herman Wouk's novel was adapted as The Caine Mutiny (1954), with Humphrey Bogart on trial as an incompetent Lt.
Comm. Queeg, defended by attorney Jose Ferrer
The fear of the Communists continued to appear on-screen, mostly in blatantly anti-Communist, propagandistic films
that are mostly fascinating from a social-historical point of view: R. C. Springsteen's The Red Menace (1949), Leo
McCarey's My Son John (1952), Jerry Hopper's The Atomic City (1952) - a thriller set in Los Alamos, and Lewis
Allen's A Bullet for Joey (1955). At the end of the decade, the story of a young girl in hiding before being discovered
with her family and sent to a concentration camp was filmed in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959).
CENSORSHIP
Censorship Challenges: Otto Preminger
Since the mid 1930s, films exhibited a seal and number, showing that they were in compliance with the Motion
Picture Production Code Administration (better known as the Breen Office because of the PCA's head Joseph
Breen). The Hays Production Code was amended in 1951 (its first major revision since 1934!) with content
restrictions for the film subjects of drugs, abortion, prostitution, and kidnapping. The constraints of the
system were increasingly criticized by the mid-1950s, because filmmakers were forced to make changes in their
films in order to qualify for a seal of approval, but some filmmakers were willing to take risks.
The Moon is Blue – 1953 The first studio-produced film from Hollywood that was released without the seal,
deliberately, was producer/director Otto Preminger's daring The Moon is Blue (1953), a dated sex comedy
about seduction and chastity that was also condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, in part because of
its offensive use of prohibited words such as "virgin," "seduce," "pregnant," and "mistress" in the dialogue.
Nonetheless, the film received three Academy Award nominations (Best Actress, Best Song, and Best Film
Editing) and great viewer curiosity and box-office publicity due to the controversy.
The Man With the Golden Arm (1955), under director/producer Otto Preminger's direction and starring
Frank Sinatra, was also denied a production seal by the Motion Picture Association of America because the
film dealt with the forbidden subject of drug (heroin) addiction. It was a test of the 'morals code' ruling on
drugs. UA Studios resigned from the MPPDA and submitted the film to state censorship boards instead.
50’S WESTERNS
Low-budget Westerns turned brooding, intelligent, widescreen and psychological in the 1950s, emphasizing well drawn, complex and ambiguous characters rather than blazing action. Three new directors replaced traditional
Westerns with creative, dramatic, "adult" Westerns:
Delmer Daves
Budd Boetticher
Anthony Mann
Writer/director Delmer Daves filmed Broken Arrow (1950) - one of the first Westerns to show the Indian perspective
(although white actor Jeff Chandler played the role of Cochise), the first-rate 3:10 To Yuma (1957) (the best of the
High Noon imitations), Cowboy (1958), and The Hanging Tree (1959).
Budd Boetticher made some of the best Westerns in the late 50s starring actor Randolph Scott, including Decision at
Sundown (1957), the little known classic The Tall T (1957), Ride Lonesome (1959), and Comanche Station (1960).
The third new director was Anthony Mann who typically teamed up with James Stewart in films such as the episodic,
'psychological' Winchester '73 (1950) (the film that helped popularize Westerns for the entire decade), Bend of the
River (1952), The Naked Spur (1953), The Far Country (1955), and The Man From Laramie (1955). Other excellent
Mann westerns included The Tin Star (1957) and The Man of the West (1958), with Gary Cooper as a former outlaw
plagued by his past.
DISNEY
Disney Studios returned to feature-length 'story' animations this decade with its production of the charming,
fairy-tale Cinderella (1950), one of their best examples of the genre. The rags -to-riches story told of evil and
jealous sibling step-sisters, a Fairy Godmother, a glass slipper, a cat named Lucifer, and a pumpkin that turned
into a riding carriage. Disney's Alice in Wonderland (1951) was a nightmarish interpretation of Lewis Carroll's
storybook. Another popular animated feature, Peter Pan (1953), was based on Sir J. M. Barrie's fantasy book,
with trademark pixie fairie Tinkerbell (legendarily based on Marilyn Monroe's figure) and villainous Captain
Hook. Disney's first 3-D cartoon was Melody (1953). In 1954, Disney began to distribute its films through its
own new company, Buena Vista Film Distributing. The Lady and the Tramp (1955) was the studio's first
animated feature in CinemaScope, and featured a spaniel and mongrel who romantically shared a spaghetti
strand in an alleyway. To conclude the decade, Disney released another animated feature Sleeping Beauty
(1959), with music by Tchaikovsky.
Disney Studios' first all-live action feature film was Treasure Island (1950) - an adventure tale of gold and
pirates based on Robert Louis Stevenson's novel. They also produced the exciting Jules Verne fantasy with
Captain Nemo (James Mason) and innovative, Academy Award-winning special effects in Richard Fleischer's
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). Its live-action, family film hit, Old Yeller (1957) was a popular,
sentimental boy-and-dog tale with Tommy Kirk. Their final live-action fantasy of the decade was the hit
family comedy The Shaggy Dog (1959) with Fred MacMurray.