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The Best Films of the 1950s Decade
The greatest films of the 1950s, from the classic Hollywood musicals to Japan’s Golden Age of cinema.
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Stalag 17 (1953)
Though a World War II German prison camp is not a setting that naturally opens itself up to comical escapades, Billy Wilder recognises the need to step away from its bleakness every now and again in Stalag 17, dedicating this suspenseful, funny, and tender film to the persistence of the human spirit in the worst…
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Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
Whenever some force of political cynicism comes along to threaten the sweet innocence of Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, Jacques Tati may bite back with good humour, but his focus never strays from the sweet, childlike love of beaches, dress-up parties, ice cream, fire crackers, and summer vacations, effectively turning his film into the cinematic equivalent of…
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The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Beyond its inexorable influence upon every heist movie from this point on, John Huston’s film noir The Asphalt Jungle sets a perfectionistic standard of plotting that has rarely been topped in the genre, following the exploits and comeuppance of a skilled gang of crooks destined to fail by nature of their own inevitable flaws and…
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Mon Oncle (1958)
Keeping the spirit of silent cinema alive, Jacques Tati puts his flair for physicals gags and intricate architectural set pieces to use in Mon Oncle, sending up the consumerist culture of post-war France while offering hope in one playful, eccentric man this world isn’t as superficial, self-centred, or tangled as it seems.