Movies: 2833

The American movie House of Wax (1953), directed by Andre de Toth and released by Warner Bros, is set in New York City during the early 1900s. The main character, Professor Henry Jarrod, is a talented sculptor who owns a wax museum featuring historical figures who have met gruesome ends. However, his business partner Matthew Burke is dissatisfied with Jarrod’s refusal to create more sensational exhibits that would draw larger crowds, like their competitors’. Burke decides to end their partnership and proposes burning down the museum for its twenty-five thousand dollar insurance money. When wealthy art critic ...

Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952) is an American comedy film directed by Charles Lamont and starring the comedic duo, along with Charles Laughton who reprises his role as the infamous pirate from the 1945 film. On their way to the Death’s Head Tavern where they work, Oliver ‘Puddin’ Head’ Johnson and Rocky Stonebridge run into Lady Jane. She enlists their help in delivering a love note to Bruce Martingale, the tavern singer. Inside, they come face to face with Captain Kidd himself who is dining with fellow pirate Captain Anne Bonney. ...

O. Henry’s Full House (1952), released by Twentieth Century Fox, is an American anthology film featuring five different stories. Each story is based on a work by renowned author O. Henry. Narrator John Steinbeck presents a prologue providing insight into O. Henry’s life and mentions some of his other works that were not included in the film. Notably, A Retrieved Reformation tells the tale of reformed safecracker Jimmy Valentine. 1. The Cop and the Anthem (

The American science fiction comedy film, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951), was directed by Charles Lamont. Freshly graduated from a private detective school, Lou Francis and Bud Alexander are approached by their first client, middleweight boxer Tommy Nelson. Tommy has just escaped from jail where he was being held for the murder of his manager. He enlists the duo to assist him in visiting his fiancée, Helen Gray, who is also the niece of Dr. Philip Gray. Tommy hopes that Dr. Gray will inject him with a special serum that will turn him invisible, giving him the chance to clear his name by investigating ...

The American science fiction film, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), was produced by Julian Blaustein and directed by Robert Wise for 20th Century Fox. Upon a flying saucer’s arrival in Washington, D.C., it quickly becomes surrounded by the United States Army. A humanoid emerges from the spacecraft and assures that he comes ‘in peace and with good will’. However, his unexpected opening of a small device leads to being shot and injured by a jittery soldier. Suddenly, a towering robot appears from the saucer and effortlessly destroys the ...

The Man in the White Suit (1951) is a British comedy film produced by Ealing Studios. The story follows Sidney Stratton, a talented young chemist and former Cambridge scholar, who has been fired from multiple textile mills in northern England for his extravagant requests and obsession with creating an indestructible fabric. While working as a laborer at Birnley Mills, he stumbles upon the opportunity to conduct research and successfully develops an unbreakable, dirt-resistant fiber. A suit is then made from this material, which appears brilliantly white due to its inability to absorb dye and faintly glows due to its radioactive components. Initially hailed as a ...

The British comedy film, The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), was written by T. E. B. Clarke and directed by Charles Crichton for Ealing Studios. In the movie, Henry Holland resides in luxury in Rio de Janeiro and entertains a dinner guest from Britain. As they dine, he recounts how he transformed his life through an elaborate gold bullion heist. Prior to this, Holland had worked as a dull bank clerk in London for two decades and was responsible for the delivery of gold bullion. Despite being dedicated and meticulous in his work, he hatched a plan to steal a shipment of gold but ...

The French film, The Terrible Children (1950), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and adapted from Jean Cocteau’s novel of the same name, portrays the complex bond between a brother and sister. Elisabeth takes care of their bedridden mother and is fiercely protective of her younger brother Paul. When Paul gets hurt in a snowball fight and has to drop out of school, Elisabeth becomes even more shielding towards him. This causes them to spend most of their time at home with very little visitors besides the doctor and maid. One exception is Paul’s friend Gérard, ...

The Norwegian documentary Kon-Tiki (1950) follows the journey of Thor Heyerdahl and his team of Scandinavian scientists as they embark on a 101-day expedition from South America to the Polynesian Islands. Their mission was to support Heyerdahl’s belief that the islands were populated from the east (Peru) rather than the west (Asia), which had been commonly accepted for centuries. To prepare for their voyage, Heyerdahl studied Pacific winds and tides and replicated conditions similar to those encountered by Peruvian travelers. They named their wooden raft ‘Kon-Tiki’ and set sail for their destination. ...

King Solomon’s Mines (1950) is a Technicolor adventure film based on Henry Rider Haggard’s novel of the same name. Set in ‘British East Africa’ (Kenya Colony) during 1897, experienced safari guide Allan Quatermain is convinced by Elizabeth Curtis to search for her missing husband, who disappeared while looking for King Solomon’s legendary mines in unexplored Africa. Elizabeth and her brother John Goode join the expedition. Despite Allan’s initial reservations about having women on a safari, he and Elizabeth gradually develop feelings for each other during their arduous trek. Along the ...

The film noir The Asphalt Jungle (1950), directed and co-written by John Huston, follows the story of criminal mastermind Erwin ‘Doc’ Riedenschneider. Upon his release from a seven-year prison sentence, Doc seeks out the help of bookie Cobby in an unknown city located near a Midwestern river. In need of $50,000 to complete a major jewel theft, Doc requests the assistance of three individuals: a safecracker, a driver, and a hooligan. With Cobby’s connections, he sets up a meeting with high-class lawyer and fixer Alonzo Emmerich. During the meeting, Doc mentions that the stolen jewels could potentially ...

Richard Fleischer’s Armored Car Robbery (1950) is a thrilling heist film about a meticulously planned robbery of an armored car during its stop at a sports stadium. However, things go wrong and a determined Los Angeles cop takes up the chase. Meanwhile, criminal mastermind Dave Purvis hatches a plot to rob the final pickup of the day. In his quest for accomplices, he enlists struggling Benny McBride, who calls upon low-level criminals Al Mapes and Ace Foster to join the gang. Benny’s motivation is to win back his estranged wife Yvonne, but little does he know that she is now seeing someone else – ...

Mighty Joe Young (1949) is an American black and white fantasy film distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. Produced by the same creative team behind King Kong (1933), it tells the story of eight-year-old Jill Young living in 1937 Tanganyika territory, Africa with her father on their ranch. One day, two Africans bring an orphaned baby gorilla to their ranch, which Jill happily trades her toys and money for. Twelve years later, Hollywood businessman Max O’Hara and his assistant Gregg are on a safari trip in search of animals for their nightclub back in LA. While they have captured several lions, things take an unexpected turn when Joe Young appears – ...

The British film, The History of Mr. Polly (1949), was based on H.G. Wells’ comic novel of the same name and directed by Anthony Pelissier. After losing his job at a draper’s shop where his father had arranged for him to apprentice, Alfred Polly struggles to find work elsewhere. Upon receiving news of his father’s passing, he returns home and inherits £500. While pondering his future, a family friend named Mr. Johnsen suggests investing in a shop, an idea that doesn’t sit well with Polly. During a leisurely bike ride in the countryside, he has a ...

The British romantic drama film, The Passionate Friends (1949), was directed by David Lean. It follows the story of Mary on holiday in Switzerland while waiting for her husband Howard (Claude Rains) to join her from his business. It had been nine years since their last vacation, but also nine years since she last spoke to Steven, the man she loves and who happens to be staying in the neighboring room without her knowledge. The film then delves into flashbacks of their past relationship. Despite her love for Steven, Mary declines his proposal, believing that a marriage built on love would feel suffocating. Steven argues ...

The French drama film The Silence of the Sea (1949) is Jean-Pierre Melville’s directorial debut. It is based on the book of the same name by Jean Bruller, published in 1942. Set in occupied France in 1941, the story follows a retired man and his adult niece who share a house in a small village. Their peaceful coexistence is disrupted when they are forced to accommodate Werner von Ebrennac, a German lieutenant with a limp. Despite their mutual dislike for him, they silently agree to never speak or acknowledge his presence. The officer often joins them by the fire at ...

In the timeless classic Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), directed by Robert Hamer, we are transported to Edwardian England where Louis D’Ascoyne Mazzini, 10th Duke of Chalfont, finds himself imprisoned awaiting execution for a murder he may or may not have committed. As he reflects upon his life in memoir form, we are taken back in time to see how events unfolded. Louis’s mother was the youngest daughter of the 7th Duke of Chalfont, but she scandalously eloped with an Italian opera singer named Mazzini and was subsequently disowned by her family. Sadly, Mazzini passed away soon after Louis’s birth, ...

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) is an American horror comedy film directed by Charles Barton. A concerned Larry Talbot contacts the railway station in Florida, where baggage clerks Chick Young and Wilbur Grey are employed. In his call, Talbot urgently warns Wilbur of an impending shipment for ‘McDougal’s House of Horrors’. However, his message is cut short as he transforms into a werewolf with the rising full moon. Wilbur dismisses the call as a joke, unaware of the real danger. Meanwhile, McDougal demands that the crates be delivered directly to his wax museum. Despite it being after ...

The American film noir crime drama, Key Largo (1948), was directed by John Huston and starred Humphrey Bogart. Frank McCloud, an army veteran, arrives at the Hotel Largo in Key Largo, Florida to visit the family of his late comrade George Temple, who served under him during the Italian campaign. At the hotel owned by George’s father James, Frank meets with George’s widow Nora and comes to know that due to the end of the winter vacation season and an approaching hurricane, there are only six guests staying at the hotel: Toots who is suave, Curly who is rude, ...

Nightmare Alley (1947) is an American film noir directed by Edmund Goulding from a screenplay by Jules Furthman, based on William Lindsay Gresham’s novel of the same name. Set in a seedy traveling carnival, the story follows Stanton ‘Stan’ Carlisle, a barker who is captivated by all that he sees, including a grotesque geek. Upon witnessing this unusual character, Stanton remarks that he can’t fathom how someone could sink so low. At the carnival, Stanton teams up with ‘Mademoiselle Zeena’ ...