Nine From 1953

1953 saw the discovery of the double helix and the cracking of the DNA code. It was the year Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed Mount Everest; the year Elizabeth II was crowned, and Stalin died; the year both Playboy Magazine and The Paris Review were launched, and the Korean War ended in stalemate. At the beginning of 1953 there were 12 million television sets in the USA. In 1950 there had been only six million; by 1960 there were 60 million and the movies were in real trouble. These nine classic films, however, show that the cinema was still a strong and vital artform in the same year that the Dalhousie Art Gallery was officially launched.

Cinema in 1953 - Thursday, 25 September at 8pm

In this illustrated lecture Ron Foley Macdonald discusses the filmmaking situation 50 years ago, identifying technologies and trends of the period.

24 September - From Here to Eternity

Fred Zinnemann, USA, 118 minutes. Winner of eight Oscars including Best Picture, this famous adaptation of James Joyce's novel offers a riveting portrayal of life in the US millitary base in Hawaii on the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbour.

1 October - It Came From Outer Space

Jack Arnold, USA, 81 minutes

In this surprisingly restrained featured adapted by fantasy master Jack Arnold from a Ray Bradbury story, a spaceship full of aliens crashes in the Arizona Desert and its occupants attempt to effect repairs.

8 and 15 October No films due to exhibition installation

22 October - Sawdust and Tinsel

Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 90 minutes

One of Bergman's earliest films about actors and performers. Sawdust and Tinsel follows the travails of a small-time circus owner and the tangled romances of the motley performers. (Swedish with English subtitles)

29 October - Tokyo Story

Jasujiro Ozu, Japan, 135 minutes. The most 'Japanese' of Japanese film directors, Ozu concentrated on low-key domestic dramas. In the sadly beautiful Tokyo Story, he follows an older couple as they realize their grown, city-bound children have no use for their parents' old fashioned ways. (Japanese with English subtitles)

5 November - Shane

George Stevens, USA, 118 minutes

Perhaps the greatest of all Westerns, Shane depicts the conflict between homesteaders and ranchers, epitomized by the title character -- a former gunfighter (Alan Ladd) -- and his nemesis (Jack Palance) in the classic bad guy role.

12 November - Love In The City

Antonioni, Fellini, Lizanni, Lattuada Risi, Maselli, and Zavattini, Italy, 100 minutes.

This engaging but little-seen omnibus film catches the Italian neo-realist movement as it branches off into the various directors' own idiosyncratic styles, each portraying a different aspect of urban romance. (Italian with English subtitles)

19 November - Pickup On South Street

Samuel Fuller, USA, 80 minutes

Legendary tough-guy director Sam Fuller combines politics and film noir with spectacular results. Richard Widmark and Thelma Ritter star in this steamy thriller set on a city waterfront dank with crime, espionage, betrayal and a growing sense of Cold War paranoia.

3 December - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Howard Hawkes, USA, 92 minutes

In one of this great director's few ventures in the musical genre, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russel tantalize men on two continents. Featuring the enduring set-piece "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend", this film is escapist entertainment at its most frothy and seductive.

10 December - The War of the Worlds

Byron Haskins, USA, 85 minutes

With still-shocking special effects by the great animator George Pal, H. G. Well's turn-of-the-century tale of Martians invading the earth becomes a terrifying cinematic reality.