Movies of the 50s [Paperback]

Jurgen Muller (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2005

At a time when people were terrified of UFOs and Communism, the movie industry was busy producing movies that ranged from film noir to suspense to grandiose musicals; apparently the paranoid public in the 1950s wanted family entertainment and dark, brooding pictures in equal doses. The result is a decade's worth of truly monumental cinema, from Hitchcock masterpieces (Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window) to comedy classics (Tati's Mr. Hulot's Holiday, Billy Wilder's Some Like it Hot) to groundbreaking nouvelle vague films (Godard's Breathless, Truffaut's The Four Hundred Blows) and profound, innovative dramas such as Antonioni's L?Avventura, Fellini's La Strada, John Huston's Misfits, and Kubrick's Paths of Glory. Though censorship kept sex safely off-screen, sexy stars such as James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Marilyn Monroe provided plenty of heat in Rebel Without a Cause, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes respectively. A survey of the most important films of the 1950s

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jurgen Muller studied art history in Bochum, Paris, Pisa, and Amsterdam. He has worked as an art critic, a curator of numerous exhibitions, a visiting professor at various universities, and has published books and numerous articles on cinema and art history. Currently he holds the chair for art history at the University of Dresden, where he lives. Muller is also the editor of TASCHEN's Movies of the 90s, Movies of the 80s, Movies of the 70s and Movies of the 60s.

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Taschen (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3822832480
• ISBN-13: 978-3822832486
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,227,694 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Movies of the 50s, August 9, 2005

By 

Miss Dunaway (Islamabad, Pakistan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Movies of the 50s (Paperback)

This continues in a great series of books on cinema that Taschen has put out. The films are a well selected lot representing the 1950s with good write-ups and an excellent selection of photos accompanying each film chosen. I can't wait for them to come out with editions on films of the 1940s, 1930s and the Silent period (covering the years 1900-1929).

My only complaint is why the year 1950 has been missed out from the decade of the 1950s while 1960 is included instead!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Superbly Illustrated Must-Have Survey, February 23, 2009

By 

John Howard Reid (Wyong, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Movies of the 50s (Paperback)

The criteria for inclusion in this beautifully illustrated guide to the best of the cinema's 1950s obviously is: "Does the movie currently enjoy a significant cult reputation in France and Germany?" If the answer is yes, you will most assuredly find that movie in this book. There is only surprise -- of inclusion rather than exclusion: "It Happened in Broad Daylight" (1958) which the editor himself admits is a "forgotten classic." So why include it? The answer: The movie was remade as "The Pledge" with Jack Nicholson in 2000. Although Hollywood still dominates, Europe makes a greater showing here than in previous books in this series. Of the 14 movies selected to represent 1950, for example, only 4 are American. By contrast, in 1955, only 3 of the 11 films are European. And as might be expected, the editor keeps up his campaign against Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, both of whom were never popular in Europe, But another of the editor's pet hates, Fred Astaire, actually gets a look-in this time because it would be impossible to exclude Stanley Donen's "Funny Face", which has an enormous reputation in France. The French still regard Audrey Hepburn as one of their own, so "Roman Holiday" becomes a must inclusion as well. However, as Parisians do not take kindly to satire directed against themselves, "Sabrina" is out! All told, if you enjoy looking at really beautiful stills, and/or are interested in learning which films of the decade are regarded as cult classics by European cineastes, this book is an absolute must.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fully satisfied, April 17, 2008

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M. J. Devillard - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Movies of the 50s (Paperback)

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