One of my favorite sci-fi/horror films is John Carpenter’s The Thing, in which the tension is high and you, like the characters, have no idea what is going on and who may not be the person you think they are. Yet The Thing was a remake and according to some, one of the best ever made. I had never seen the original version before, but I was curious about the similarities/differences. Continue reading
Tag Archives: 1951
The African Queen (1951)
Catherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart star in The African Queen. Set in Africa during the first world war Rose Sayer (Hepburn) runs a missionary post together with her brother. The Germans invade the country and leave Rose with no other option to leave the place by getting on board the African Queen, a little steamboat that’s run by Charlie Allnut (Bogart). The two don’t want to get captured and decide to see if they can do some damage to the Germans. The only problem is that the part of the river they have to go through is said to be impenetrable, with fast rapids and overgrown parts. To make matters worse the two can’t get along very well either. Continue reading
A Place in the Sun (1951)
A Place in the Sun is based on the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser, which was based on real events. It won 6 Oscars, including best director, best editing, best music and best screenplay.
George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) is a man without a lot of education. He is invited by his succesful uncle (played by Herbert Heyes) to come over and work for him. Because he’s not really adapted for the higher social circles he receives a very simple job working in one of the factories. Because there are a lot of women working there as well it is not allowed to have relationships with other factory workers.
But as these things go, sometimes the flesh is weak and George has several dates with Alice (Shelley Winters), one of the women he works with. When he sees the wealthy Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor) he immediately falls in love with her and tries to sneak away from Alice whenever he can to spend some time with her.
When Alice tells her that she’s pregnant he sees all his dreams go up in smoke. While spending some time at his uncle’s vacation spot he hears the story of a couple that drowned in the lake. Is this the solution for his problem? Continue reading