Top 10 Films of 1958

1. "Vertigo" (Alfred Hitchcock, USA)

2. "Eroica" (Andrzej Munk, Poland)

3. "Touch Of Evil" (Orson Welles, USA)

4. "Gigi" (Vincente Minnelli, USA)

5. "Popiol i diament" (Andrzej Wajda, Poland)

6. "Mon Oncle" (Jacques Tati, France)

7. "Ewa chce spac" (Tadeusz Chmielewski, Poland)

8. "En cas de malheur" (Claude Autant-Lara, France)

9. "Hidden Fortress" (Akira Kurosawa, Japan)

10. "Pozegnania" (Wojciech Has, Poland)

Other great films:

The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad

Les Amants (France)

Anticipation Of The Night
Ascenseur pour l'echafaud (France)
Auntie Mame
Big Deal On Madonna Street (Italy)

Les Bijoutiers du claire de lune (France)
Damn Yankees

Equinox Flower (Japan)
The First Lad (Soviet Union)

High School Confidential

Invention For Destruction (Czechoslovakia)

Kalosze szczescia (Poland)

King Creole
The Magician (Sweden)
Man Of The West

Mi desconocida esposa (Mexico)

Naked Venus

A Night To Remember (UK)

Osmy dzien tygodnia (Poland)

La Putain sentimentale (France)

Someone Else's Children (Soviet Union)

South Pacific
Tarnished Angels
Teacher's Pet
A Time To Love And A Time To Die

El Trueno entre las hojas (Argentina)
White Wilderness
Zolnierz Krolowej Madagaskaru (Poland)

Short Top 3:

1. "Dwaj ludzie z szafa" (Roman Polanski, Poland)

2. "A Movie" (Bruce Conner, USA)

3. "L'Opera-mouffe" (Agnes Varda, France)

Other great shorts:

Charlotte et son jules (France)

Grand Canyon 
Une Histoire d'eau (France)
Les Mistons (France)
Les Raquetteurs (Canada)
Spacerek staromiejski (Poland)

Top Commercial:

"Tide Clean" (Tide)

Top TV:

"Have Gun Will Travel: Hey Boy's Revenge" (Lewis Milestone, CBS)

Cartoon Top 10

1. "Sidney's Family Tree" (Gene Deitch, Art Bartsch, Terry)

2. "Dom" (Walerian Borowczyk, Jan Lenica, Poland) 

3. "Cat Feud" (Chuck Jones, Warner)

4. "Knighty Knight Bugs" (Friz Freleng, Warner)

5. "Le Merle" (Norman McLaren, NFB, Canada)

6. "Free Radicals" (Len Lye, USA)

7. "The Juggler Of Our Lady" (Gene Deitch, Al Kouzel, Terry)

8. "Dustcap Doormat" (Gene Deitch, Al Kouzel, Terry)

9. "Sick Sick Sidney" (Gene Deitch, Art Bartsch, Terry)

10. "Tal Farlow" (Len Lye, USA)

Other great cartoons:

Don't Axe Me
Gumshoe Magoo
Hare-less Wolf
Hare-Way To The Stars
Hook Line And Stinker
Magoo's Young Manhood
Mutts About Racing
Paul Bunyan
Robin Hood Daffy
Robin Hoodwinked
Sailing And Village Band
Sheep Wrecked
To Itch His Own
The Tot Watchers
The Vanishing Duck
Waggily Tale

Weak films of 1958:

Bonjour Tristesse
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
The Defiant Ones
The Horse's Mouth (UK)
Houseboat
I Married A Monster From Outer Space
The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness
I Want To Live
Marjorie Morningstar
The Naked And The Dead
Night Of The Blood Beast
The Old Man And The Sea
Petla (Poland)
The Reluctant Debutante
Separate Tables
The Wild Women Of Wongo

Weak shorts:

Amelia And The Angel (UK)
Harmonia (Poland)

Weak cartoons:

Bird In A Bonnet
Carrousel boréal (France)
A Chilly Reception
Dog Tales
Droopy Leprechaun
Feather Bluster
Gopher Broke
Half Empty Saddle
Happy Go Ducky
Hip Hip Hurry
Little Televillain
Misguided Missile
Now Hare This
A Pizza Tweety Pie
Pre-hysterical Hare
Royal Cat Nap
Salmon Yeggs
Scoutmaster Magoo
Signed Sealed and Clobbered
Spring And Saganaki
Tortilla Flaps
Tree's A Crowd
Watch The Birdie
Weasel While You Work
Whoa Be Gone

Top 3 Musicals of 1958

1. "Gigi" (Vincente Minnelli, MGM)

2. "South Pacific"  (Joshua Logan, 20th-Fox)

3. "Damn Yankees" (George Abbott, Stanley Donen, Warner)

The First Lad (1958) ****

Sergei Parajanov's feature film debut and probably the greatest Soviet musical comedy of the 1950's.  Silly, endlessly innovative and profoundly charming, but very different from his later works (and consequently disavowed by the filmmaker himself as too conventional and conformistic).

Equinox Flower (1958) ****

A family patriarch finds it hard to accept that his daughter refuses an arranged marriage, preferring to marry a man she chose herself.

En cas de malheur (1958) ****

Pozegnania (1958) ****

One of Wojciech Has' best films, a complex study in human behavior.

El Trueno entre las hojas (1958) ****

Zolnierz Krolowej Madagaskaru (1958) ***

Someone Else's Children (1958) ***

Invention For Destruction (1958) ***

Les Amants (1958) ***

High School Confidential (1958) ***

Mi desconocida esposa (1958) ***

Damn Yankees (1958) ***

Musical film about baseball. Songs:

"Six Months Out Of Every Year"  **
"Goodbye Old Girl"
"Heart"  **
"Shoeless Joe From Hannibal Mo"  **
"There's Something About An Empty Chair"
"A Little Brains A Little Talent"  **
"Whatever Lola Wants"  **
"Those Were The Good Old Days"  *
"Who's Got The Pain"  **
"Two Lost Souls"  **

Kalosze szczescia (1958) ***

Osmy dzien tygodnia (1958) ***

King Creole (1958) ***

An Elvis Presley musical set in New Orleans. Songs:

“Crawfish” *
“Steadfast Loyal And True”
“Lover Doll” *
“Trouble” *
“Dixieland Rock” **
“Young Dreams” **
“New Orleans” *
“King Creole” **
“Don't Ask Me Why” **
“As Long As I Have You” *

La Putain sentimentale (1958) ***

Les Bijoutiers du claire de lune (1958) ***

Naked Venus (1958) ***

The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness (1958) **

Set in China before and during the Japanese invasion, it's an epic drama starring Ingrid Bergman as a missionary saving little orphan children. Long, talky in the first half, but quite exciting in the second half.

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958) **

With all references to homosexuality removed from the film adaptation, it doesn't make much sense, as Bosley Crowther amusingly commented upon in his 1958 New York Times review: Mr. Williams' original stage play has been altered considerably, especially in offering explanation of why the son is as he is. Now, a complicated business of hero-worship has been put by Mr. Brooks and James Poe in place of a strong suggestion of homosexuality in the play. No wonder the baffled father, in trying to find out what gives, roars with indignation: "Something's missing here!".

Separate Tables (1958) **

David Niven plays a retired British officer accused (and convicted) of sexual harassment. A curious film to see in the #MeToo era, showing how moral values have (and haven't) changed in 60 years.

I Want To Live (1958) **

Susan Hayward's Oscar-winning performance aside, this is a dated and disappointing legal drama about a miscarriage of justice.

The Defiant Ones (1958) **

Overrated drama about two escaped convicts: one black, one white.

The Reluctant Debutante (1958) **

Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall give bravura comic performances in this otherwise very uneven comedy, co-starring Sandra Dee.

The Wild Women Of Wongo (1958) *

Insignificant bit of silliness about two tribes of prehistoric humans exchanging women among themselves. The catch: in one tribe, all men are ugly and all women are beautiful, while in the other tribe, all women are ugly and all men are handsome. There is no nudity, though, making the whole film rather pointless and dated.

Houseboat (1958) *

Atrocious comedy starring Cary Grant and Sophia Loren.

Anticipation Of The Night (1958) ***

An ambitious experimental film showing beautiful images of nature, light, childhood, happiness, anxiety and despair. It's a succession of shifting, semi-abstract patterns of light and colours, combined with dynamic editing, whirling camera movements, continuous pans and travelings. One of Stan Brakhage's longest films (41 min), but just as abstract (and lyrical) as his shorter works.

Petla (1958) *

Depressing Polish film about the last day of an alcoholic who commits suicide. Wojciech Has's feature film debut doesn't give a hint of his cinematic glories to come ("Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie" and "Sanatorium pod klepsydra").

Ewa chce spac (1958) ****

Absurdist comedy about a young girl (Barbara Kwiatkowska), who arrives in a strange city and cannot find a place to sleep. Her bizarre encounters with policemen, criminals, hotel clerks and wandering drunks, lead to hilarious misunderstandings.

Dwaj ludzie z szafa (1958) ****

Roman Polanski's silent short about two young men emerging from the sea and dragging an antique wardrobe across sandy beaches, town squares and city dumps. Rejected by society, kicked out of bars and assaulted by thugs or security guards, the two men finally return to the sea. Equally inspired by Bunuel, Becket and Kafka, it's a grim and bitter mixture of surrealism and absurdity.

L'Opera-mouffe (1958) ****