BEST FILMS OF 1950
by Mike Lorefice

All About Eve
Joseph L. Manciewicz

****

The Asphalt Jungle
John Huston

***1/2

Born To Be Bad
Nicholas Ray

***

Devil's Doorway
Anthony Mann

***

Flowers of St. Francis
Roberto Rossellini

***1/2

The Gunfighter
Henry King

****

Full Movie Review

House by the River
Fritz Lang

***

Full Movie Review

In a Lonely Place
Nicholas Ray

***1/2

The Men
Fred Zinnemann

***1/2

Mystery Street
John Sturges

***

Night and the City
Jules Dassin

***1/2

Los Olvidados
Luis Bunuel

***1/2

Outrage
Ida Lupino

Akira Kurosawa got all the credit for dealing with rape in Rashomon, but this Ida Lupino film from the same year is far more focused on the topic and especially it's painful aftermath. Outrage has some problems like poorly scripted lines, lousy acting with an especially unbelievable over the top performance by lead Mala Powers, and too much melodrama, so Rashomon is a much more accomplished though to my mind less topically significant film. In any case, Outrage is a good film in it's own right that deserves to be far better known, one that truly cares for the victim rather than using them as a tool. It's a very important one for breaking through and opening up some legitimate discourse on a serious subject that had been completely ignored in US film, and of course that lack of importance and urgency extended far beyond dreamland. What makes Outrage beyond the tenderness of the director is it's style, with Lupino utilizing amplified sound effects and German expressionism extremely well in spots (though the style should have been more consistent) to show the traumatized mental state of the victim. There's no exploitation here; in fact it's easily one of the most caring rape films ever. The rape scene is particularly memorable because the woman, filmed to come across as a mouse, is pursued through a seeming maze of back alleys for 5 1/2 minutes. The tension is so excruciating it seems like even longer. It's not meant to be believable since it's expressionism, but what makes it so effective is there are times when she could get away, but she's so scared she stumbles and bumbles her way into letting him know where she is. Once he's about to catch her we move on to the aftermath. This may be because of what they weren't allowed to show, they weren't even allowed to actually use the word rape, but nonetheless it's much more powerful when left to our imagination. And more important than the vile act is the aftermath, which Lupino is able to show punishes the victim because the selfish busy bodies can never look at her the same again, the victim becomes different, an outcast. Powers feels forced to flee, and the film has a surprising believability in using the body to convey her state of mind. Eventually there's another great scene where an innocent forthright man tries to get her to dance, and her mind distorts him into the victim. The scene is shot incredibly well, not for the effect of superimposing the scar of the rapist on his neck, but for the sheer intimidation we see through Powers' eyes, simply conveyed by carefully framed and selected tight shots of the man she sees. Lupino grew fast as a director so next few films were more professional, particularly Hitch-hiker, but all of her unfortunately small body of directorial work is inspirational because she defied the odds. She directed in a time women weren't allowed making topical movies that men couldn't even get made, and did so under the auspices of low budget B pictures which supposedly didn't deal seriously with anything (theoretically that was reserved for a few "prestige" pictures). [11/8/05] ***

Panic in the Streets
Elia Kazan

****

Rashomon
Akira Kurosawa

***1/2

Rio Grande
John Ford

***1/2

Side Street
Anthony Mann

***

Stars in My Crown
Jacques Tourneur

***

Stromboli
Roberto Rossellini

****

Sunset Blvd.
Billy Wilder

****

Wagon Master
John Ford

The sweeping poetic vision of the west John Ford creates in Wagon Master has rarely been matched. The wagons alternately glide and shake, their inhabitants coexisting with nature and regularly pausing to celebrate life however they can. The film is theoretically about the Mormons 1849 journey to their "promised land" Utah, but it could best be described as Ford's idea of the west. Tinged with nostalgia, Ford captures the joyful spirit of the pioneers in this communal film. America is a place for all forms of outcasts, with Ford giving us a cross section to show most of them will band together, and his stereotypical bandit family (in My Darling Clementine they were called Clanton, now they are Clegg) to represent those who refuse no matter how hard you try. With the exception of a few scenes such as the bandits arrival - a missed opportunity for a startling turn because Ford opened the film with one of their holdups - where Ford shows a series of head shots to convey the apprehension, fear, and intensity of the situation, the film is so lighthearted and laid back there's almost no tension. This had to be one of the most grueling journeys in American history, but to Ford it's mostly singing and dancing. Some Mormons die, but the film celebrates the life of the ones who live to they are just a bit of collateral damage. Ford actually did some writing here with this son Patrick, taking tremendous creative license including making Mormons liberal pacifists who refuse to bear arms. The characters are well developed at least, and it's nice to see a western about tolerance for once. There are no stars, so Ford doesn't have to focus on one or two individuals and tailor the characters to their iconography. He has the characters he wants and gets performances at least as good from his stock company actors, including impressive turns from Ward Bond & Ben Johnson. [3/25/07] ***

Winchester '73
Anthony Mann

***