These films were released in 1953

From Here to Eternity

2 Replies

★★★★★[/types]]

In lesser hands, this movie would have been one long soap opera, but this adaptation of James Jones’ rather bawdy novel manages to wring real human drama out of its characters instead. The real miracle is that the filmmakers managed to tame the rather explicit novel enough to appease the censors and still stay true to the spirit of the story. If all you remember or know about this movie is Burt Lancaster’s famous clinch on the beach with Deborah Kerr, then you owe yourself a viewing of this movie, which has a lot more to offer.

Continue reading →

Stalag 17

Leave a reply

★★★★★[/types]]

”[types
[/types]“]

Stalag 17 would have been a tight little World War II adventure if the writers had show more restraint in using their poor man’s version of Martin and Lewis (Harvey Lembeck and Robert Strauss).

Never having seen the play, I can’t say for certain if they’re hijinks are faithful to the original material, but I’d guess that they are. However, one part of adapting material from another medium to film is removing or changing the things that don’t work on screen. The antics of Shapiro and “Animal” should have been cut or sharply curtailed. Unfortunately, I think producer/director Billy Wilder probably felt some obligation to carry over Strauss and Lembeck from the original Broadway production of the play.

Continue reading →

The War of the Worlds

1 Reply

★★★★★[/types]]

If you include the original H. G. Wells novel, there have been four major versions of The War of the Worlds, and each one was an accurate reflection of the fears of the time in which it was made. The recent Steven Spielberg film is clearly influenced by the events of September 11, 2001. The Orson Welles radio broadcast of 1938 reflected the gathering clouds of a war in Europe that was less than a year away. Likewise, the 1898 novel portrayed the author’s concern about the rising militarism that would sweep the continent into World War I.

The 1953 version is equally a product of the Cold War, reflecting the concerns of its producer, George Pal, whose native Hungary had been swept up in the postwar annexation of Eastern Europe by the Soviet Union. Anyone who can’t see this film’s implacable Martians as stand-ins for Communism, well, that person probably hasn’t actually seen the movie.

Continue reading →