Top 10 Films of 1952

1. "Singin' In The Rain" (Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, USA)

2. "High Noon" (Fred Zinnemann, USA)

3. "The Quiet Man" (John Ford, USA)


4. "Jeux interdits" (René Clement, France)

5. "The Importance Of Being Earnest" (Anthony Asquith, UK)

6. "The Crimson Pirate" (Robert Siodmak, USA)

7. "Bend Of The River" (Anthony Mann, USA)

8. "The Belle Of New York" (Charles Walters, USA)

9. "The Narrow Margin" (Richard Fleischer, USA)

10. "Life Of Oharu" (Kenji Mizoguchi, Japan)

Other great films:

Alraune (Germany)
The Bad And The Beautiful

Les Belles de nuit (France)

The Big Sky
Casque d'or (France)
Coiffeur pour dames (France)
The Flavor Of Green Tea Over Rice (Japan)

Le Fruit défendu (France)

The Greatest Show On Earth
Gromada (Poland)
Hans Christian Andersen
Ikiru (Japan)
Ivanhoe
Just For You
Life Of Oharu (Japan)
Limelight

Manina la fille sans voile (France)

The Member Of The Wedding
Million Dollar Mermaid

Mlodosc Chopina (Poland)
Monkey Business
Othello
Pat And Mike
La Petite Aurore, l'enfant martyre (Canada)
Le Plaisir (France)

The Planter's Wife (UK)

Rancho Notorious
Rewizor (Soviet Union)
Road To Bali
The Sniper

Subida al cielo (Mexico)
Sudden Fear

A Treasure On Bird Island (Czechoslovakia)
Umberto D (Italy)

The Witch (Finland)

With A Song In My Heart

Short Top 3:

1. "Reducing" (Dave O'Brien, MGM, USA)

2. "Desert Killer" (Larry Lansburgh, Warner, USA)

3. "Communism" (Coronet, USA)

Other great shorts:

Water Birds

Top Commercial:

"I Like Ike" (Eisenhower For President)

Top TV:

"I Love Lucy: Lucy Does A TV Commercial" (Marc Daniels, CBS)

Cartoon Top 10

1. "Madeline" (Robert Cannon, Columbia)

2. "Rabbit Seasoning" (Chuck Jones, Warner)

3. "How To Be A Detective" (Jack Kinney, Disney)

4. "Pink And Blue Blues" (Pete Burness, Columbia)

5. "Pluto's Christmas Tree" (Jack Hannah, Disney)

6. "Neighbors" (Norman McLaren, NFB, Canada)

7. "Two Chips And A Miss" (Jack Hannah, Disney)

8. "Terrier Stricken" (Chuck Jones, Warner)

9. "Tree For Two" (Friz Freleng, Warner)

10. "Termites From Mars" (Don Patterson, Universal)

Other great cartoons:

14 Carrot Rabbit
Ain't She Tweet
Beep Beep
Caballero Droopy
Captains Outrageous
Color Cry
Cracked Quack
The Dog Snatcher
Donald Applecore
Feed The Kitty
Fit To Be Tied
Gift Wrapped
Hare Lift
Hasty Hare
Hello Aloha
Johann Mouse
Kiddin' The Kitten
Little Beau Pepe
The Little House
Little Johnny Jet
Little Red Rodent Hood
Little Runaway
Magical Maestro
Man Alive
Mouse Warming
Muntz TV
One Cab's Family
The Oompahs
Operation: Rabbit
Rock-A-Bye Bear
A Romance Of Transportation In Canada (Canada)
The Super Snooper
Susie The Little Blue Coupe
Triplet Trouble
The Turn-Tale Wolf
Two Gun Goofy
Two Weeks' Vacation
Uncle Donald's Ants
Willie The Kid

Weak films of 1952:

5 Fingers
Bloodhounds Of Broadway

Flat Top
Moulin Rouge
Outcast Of The Islands (UK)
Son Of Paleface
Viva Zapata

Weak shorts:

The Olympic Elk
Pamietniki chlopow (Poland)
Royal Scotland (UK)

Weak cartoons:

Bird In A Guilty Cage
Born To Peck
Busybody Bear
Cruise Cat
The Dog House
The Duck Doctor
The Egg-cited Rooster
Father's Lion
The Flying Cat
Fool Coverage
Foxy By Proxy
Going! Going! Gosh!
The Great Who Dood It
Hoppy-Go-Lucky
Let's Stick Together
Little Wise Quacker
Man's Best Friend
Oily Hare
Pete Hothead
A Phantasy (Canada)
Pluto's Party
Push-Button Kitty
Rabbit's Kin
Scalp Treatment
Shuteye Popeye
Sloppy Jalopy
Smitten Kitten
Sock-A-Doodle Doo
Stage Hoax
Teachers Are People
Thumb Fun
Trick Or Treat
Water Water Every Hare
Who's Kitten Who ?
Woodpecker In The Rough

Top 3 Musicals of 1952

1. "Singin' In The Rain" (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, MGM)


2. "The Belle Of New York" (Charles Walters, MGM)

3. "Million Dollar Mermaid" (Mervyn Leroy, MGM)

Subida al cielo (1952) ***

The Witch (1952) ***

The Sniper (1952) ***

A serial killer is shooting women in San Francisco.

The Planter's Wife (1952) ***

Manina la fille sans voile (1952) ***

Rancho Notorious (1952) ***

Excellent western about revenge, with Marlene Dietrich.

Le Fruit défendu (1952) ***

The Flavor Of Green Tea Over Rice (1952) ***

Complex film about a childless middle-aged couple and their headstrong niece who comes for a visit.

Les Belles de nuit (1952) ***

Ivanhoe (1952) ***

Handsome adaptation of Walter Scott's most popular novel, starring Elizabeth Taylor as a Jewish maiden who gets involved in medieval intrigues involving Richard the Lionheart and his brother John.

Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) ***

Musical biopic about the life of Annette Kellerman, played by Esther Williams.

With A Song In My Heart (1952) ***

A Treasure On Bird Island (1952) ***

Alraune (1952) ***

Over-the-top German melodrama about an evil scientist and a seductress.

Rewizor (1952) ***

Excellent adaptation of Gogol's classic.

The Bad And The Beautiful (1952) ***

Excellent drama about a complicated Hollywood producer.

Gromada (1952) ***

Stalinist drama about brave Communists fighting against evil kulaks in a little village in post-war Poland. Pure propaganda, totally divorced from reality, but very skillfully made.

Mlodosc Chopina (1952) ***

Flat Top (1952) **

Average war movie set on an aircraft carrier.

Viva Zapata (1952) **

So-so biopic about the famous Mexican revolutionary, Emiliano Zapata. Fairly accurate, but curiously tame.

5 Fingers (1952) **

Ordinary spy melodrama set in Turkey during World War II.

Son Of Paleface (1952) *

Very silly comedy western starring Bob Hope.

Communism (1952) ***

Hard-hitting documentary denouncing Soviet Communism and its aggression. A fascinating relic of its time, made while Stalin was still alive and while US troops were still fighting the Korean War (which at the time many thought would be a prelude to World War III). It explains why this film is much harsher than later Cold War propaganda films. Just as harsh, in fact, as the anti-Nazi propaganda films made during World War II.

I Like Ike (1952) ***

Water Birds (1952) ***

Desert Killer (1952) ***

Pleasant little Oscar-nominated documentary about a hunt for a mountain lion in Arizona.

Reducing (1952) ***

Very politically-incorrect by today's standards, a comedy about an obese woman trying to lose weight. Fat-shaming, 1950's-style.

The Olympic Elk (1952) **

High Noon (1952) *****

A man of integrity faces a cruel world. A great western and a great political allegory. Gary Cooper's greatest performance.