Top 3 Musicals of 1959

1. "Li'l Abner" (Melvin Frank, Paramount)

2. "The Five Pennies" (Melville Shavelson, Paramount)

3. "Porgy And Bess" (Otto Preminger, Columbia)

Destiny Of A Man (1959) ****

Ballad Of A Soldier (1959) ****

A heroic soldier on leave travels across war-torn Russia, falls in love, visits his mother and returns to the front. Deeply touching, superbly well-made film.

Porgy And Bess (1959) ***

Songs include:

"Summertime"  *
"A Woman Is A Sometime Thing"   *
"Honey Man's Call"  *
"Gone Gone Gone"  *
"I Got Plenty Of Nuttin'"  **
"Bess You Is My Woman"  *
"Oh I Can't Sit Down"  **
"I Ain't Got No Shame"
"It Ain't Necessarily So"  ***
"What You Wan' Wid Bess"  *
"I'M On My Way"  *
"Time And Time Again"
"Crab Man's Call"
"A Reed-Headed Woman"  *
"Dere's A Boat Dat's Leaving Soon For New York"  *
"Bess Oh Where's My Bess"  *
"I'M On My Way" (reprise)  *

Soft Skin On Black Silk (1959) ***

Baza ludzi umarlych (1959) ***

Excellent allegory about Communism, presented as hell on earth, from which everybody wants to escape.

Voulez-vous danser avec moi ? (1959) ***

Virgin Sacrifice (1959) ***

The Head (1959) ***

La Fièvre monte à El Pao (1959) ***

The final chapter of Luis Bunuel's "revolutionary trilogy" of French coproductions, preceded by "La Mort en ce jardin" (1956) and "Cela s'appelle l'aurore" (1956).

The Immoral Mr Teas (1959) ***

The Five Pennies (1959) ***

Songs include:

"Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home"  **
"Battle Rhythm Of The Republic"  **
"Indiana"  *
"Follow The Leader"  **
"Lullaby In Ragtime"  **
"The Music Goes 'Round And Around"  **
"The Five Pennies"  *
"Good Night Sleep Tight"  *
"When The Saints Go Marching On"  **
"The Five Pennies"  (reprise)  *

Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (1959) ***

The Wayward Girl (1959) ***

Le Testament du docteur Cordelier (1959) ***

Teenage Zombies (1959) **

Four young people find themselves prisoners on a remote island inhabited by zombies.

Inspekcja pana Anatola (1959) *

Charlotte et Véronique, ou Tous les garçons s'appellent Patrick (1959) *****

Written by Eric Rohmer and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, it's a short film about flirting, loving and double-timing in Paris. A perfect little gem - clever, unpretentious and superbly well acted. Veronique and Charlotte are roommates and best friends. One day, they are both picked up by the same young playboy and later they talk about him at length, not realizing they've fallen in love with the same guy.

Portret mezczyzny z medalem (1959) *****

Window Water Baby Moving (1959) *****

Skyscraper (1959) ****

A brilliant and innovative documentary short about the construction of the Tishman building in New York.

Wedlock House: An Intercourse (1959) ****

Veronique et son cancre (1959) ****

Amusing short film directed by Eric Rohmer.

The Running Jumping And Standing Still Film (1959) ****

Polska kronika filmowa 52 (1959) ***

A parody of a newsreel, directed by Andrzej Munk.

Uncle (1959) ***

Mysteries Of The Deep (1959) ***

Wonderful nature documentary about sea creatures.

The Very Eye Of Night (1959) *

Dancers superimposed upon a starry sky. Directed by Maya Deren.

Some Like It Hot (1959) *****

One of the greatest of all Hollywood comedies, a screamingly funny farce about two male musicians trying to hide from the mob by disguising themselves as women. A timeless classic.

Rio Bravo (1959) *****

Sexy Angie Dickinson spices up this otherwise testosterone-heavy western starring John Wayne as a beleaguered sheriff in a lawless town. This film was Howard Hawks's response to Fred Zinnemann's "High Noon", with an identical premise, but diametrically opposite ideological point-of-view. While "High Noon" was a leftist cry in the wilderness bemoaning the lack of solidarity among human beings, ''Rio Bravo" is a right-wing allegory about experienced professionals doing their jobs without caring about anything else. In fact, both film could be seen as allegories about George W. Bush's presidency: "High Noon" about his unsuccessful diplomatic efforts to built an anti-Saddam coalition, and "Rio Bravo" about the efforts of his tiny "coalition of the willing" in Iraq.

Anatomy Of A Murder (1959) ****

Excellent courtroom drama, starring James Stewart and Lee Remick.

North By Northwest (1959) ****

Classic Hitchcock. Terrific chases, non-stop suspense, great dialogue, tense drama.

Ben Hur (1959) ***

A fine epic drama.

Black Orpheus (1959) ****

Visually stunning film set in Rio de Janeiro.

Les Cousins (1959) ***

Claude Chabrol's film debut, but very different from all his other works.

Floating Weeds (1959) ***

A typical Ozu's film. Talky, melancholic and beautiful. A remake of the same director's silent film from 1934.

Hiroshima mon amour (1959) ***

Alain Resnais's first film.

Journey To The Center Of The Earth (1959) ***

A fine adaptation of Jules Verne's novel.

Nazarin (1959) ***

It's quite unique among Luis Bunuel's works - a seemingly pro-religious film about the tribulations of saintly man. The first in his "religious quartet", followed by "Viridiana" (1961), "Simon Of The Desert" (1965) and "La Voie lactée" (1969).

Pickpocket (1959) ***

Austere film by Robert Bresson.

Pillow Talk (1959) ***

Rock Hudson and Doris Day in their best comedy together.

Pociag (1959) ****

Znakomity film Jerzego Kawalerowicza. Doskonala alegoria wspolczesnej historii Polski.

Les Quatre-cent coups (1959) ****

François Truffaut's first film, a touching tale of a young delinquent boy.

Room At The Top (1959) ***

British drama starring Simone Signoret.

The Bridge (1959) ***

German anti-war drama about young kids defending a bridge during the last days of WWII.

General della Rovere (1959) ***

Interesting drama, set in 1943, about a con man (Vittorio de Sica) forced by the Germans to impersonate an anti-Nazi Italian general. 

Imitation Of Life (1959) ***

Great melodrama starring Lana Turner as an ambitious actress. Directed by Douglas Sirk.

Li'l Abner (1959) ***

Funny musical about a bunch of barefooted hillbillies from Dogpatch. Memorable characters include Stupefyin' Jones (Julie Newmar) and Passionata von Climax (Stella Stevens). "Jubilation T. Cornpone" number is one of the greatest showstoppers in the history of the American musical. Musical numbers:

"A Typical Day" **
"If I Had My Druthers" *
"Jubilation T. Cornpone" ***
"Unnecessary Town" *
"Namely You" *
"The Country's In The Very Best Of Hands" **
"I'M Past My Prime" **
"Pat 'Em Back The Way The Wuz" *
"I Wish It Could Be Otherwise" *
"Jubilation T.Cornpone" (reprise) **

Lotna (1959) ***

Film o Kampanii Wrzesniowej, o szarzach ulanow na niemieckie czolgi, o duchu starej Polski - arystokratycznej, patriotycznej, idealistycznej i naiwnej.

The Nun's Story (1959) ***

Audrey Hepburn plays a nun working in a hospital in the Belgian Congo.

Odd Obsession (1959) ***

Kon Ichikawa's film about an older man who fears loosing his sexual potency.

Ohayo (1959) ***

A color and sound remake of "I Was Born But" (1932), by the same director, Yasujiro Ozu.

Sleeping Beauty (1959) ***

Visually magnificent Disney animated fairy-tale, whose graphic design was inspired by medieval paintings and miniatures. Songs: 

"Once Upon A Dream" * 

"Hail The Princess" 

"I Wonder" ** 

"Once Upon A Dream" (reprise) ** 

"The Skump Song" 

"The Sleeping Beauty Song" * 

"Once Upon A Dream" (reprise) *

Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) ***

Fascinating melodrama with a touch of mystery. It's a story of a young girl (Elizabeth Taylor), who suffers from amnesia after the death of her cousin.

The World Of Apu (1959) ***

The final part of the "Apu" trilogy, a moving and beautiful film.

The Diary Of Anne Frank (1959) **

Famous story of the young Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1959) **

An ambitious puppet-animation feature, directed by Jiri Trnka. Occassionally brilliant, but too often disappointing.

The Shaggy Dog (1959) *

A mediocre Disney comedy, far less memorable than "The Absent-Minded Professor", "The Parent Trap" or "That Darn Cat".

Really Scent (1959) ****

Amazingly, this Pepe le Pew cartoon wasn't directed by Chuck Jones (who made all the other Pepe's films). Even more amazingly, it's one of the best entries in the series, telling the love story of Pepe and Fabrette. Ironic role reversals.

Noah's Ark (1959) ****

The second Disney version of the famous biblical story (following 1933's "Father Noah's Ark"), but superior in every respect, with puppet animation and jazzy songs. The film received an Oscar nomination.

Mexicali Shmoes (1959) ****

Two cats, Manuel and Jose, are unable to catch Speedy Gonzales (the fastest mouse in all Mexico), so they decide to go after Slowpoke Rodriguez (the slowest mouse in all Mexico). Big mistake, because Slowpoke, "he packs a gun". An Oscar-nominated gem, possibly the best Speedy Gonzales cartoon.

Donald In Mathmagic Land (1959) ****

In 1943, Walt Disney produced an unusual animated documentary feature, "Victory Through Air Power", which combined serious footage explaining military strategies with more amusing segments about the history of aviation. In some later cartoons (like "Toot Whistle Plunk And Boom" and "Melody", both 1953), Disney would again combine jokes and anecdotes with some didactic material. But it wasn't until the release of "Donald In Mathmagic Land" in 1959, that a clear format of the documentary series was finally established. This film is an excellent animated lesson in geometry and algebra, perfectly mixing education with pleasure. It received an Oscar nomination for best documentary (short subject).

Baton Bunny (1959) ***

Bugs Bunny conducts an orchestra in this impressive, but laboured musical cartoon, which borrows some gags from Disney's "The Band Concert" (1935). Highlights include a mock chase between cowboys and Native Americans (with the cavalry riding to the rescue), all interpreted by Bugs.

Apes Of Wrath (1959) ***

A drunken stork mistakenly delivers Bugs Bunny to a gorilla family. The are some amusing bits as the rabbit pretends to be a baby, hits "daddy" with a baseball bat and runs to "mommy" for protection.

Man And His Best Friend (1959) ***

Kiddie League (1959) ***

China Jones (1959) ***

Inventive, vaguely Tintin-esque, cartoon set in China.

The Violonist (1959) ***

Nice little cartoon in the UPA style.

Wild And Woolly Hare (1959) ***

Many funny gags in this typical Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon. Nice backgrounds too.

Tweet And Lovely (1959) ***

Tweety's bird house is protected by Spike, but Sylvester soon manufactures various gadgets to snatch the bird. The structure of the film, directed by Friz Freleng, closely resembles Chuck Jones' Road Runner cartoons, but some gags are original and ingenious (like Sylvester's invisible paint and his mechanical dog).

Trick Or Tweet (1959) ***

Sylvester wants to eat Tweety, but another alley cat, Sam, also has a sweet tooth for little birds. They engage in a hilarious game of one-upmanship.

Short And Suite (1959) ***

Abstract patterns set to jazz music.

Hot Rod And Reel (1959) ***

Nice gags in this Road Runner cartoon.

Mouse-Placed Kitten (1959) ***

Amusing cartoon about a couple of mice who adopt a little kitten.

Picnics Are Fun And Dino's Serenade (1959) ***

A "Ham and Hattie" cartoon.

People Are Bunny (1959) ***

Daffy brings Bugs at gunpoint to a TV contest to win a large prize, but the smart hare dresses Daffy like a rabbit and collects the prize himself. Full of amusing jokes spoofing 1950's game shows, including Daffy forcing an old lady to cross the street. A reworking of Bob McKimson's own earlier film, "Wideo Wabbit" (1956).

Wild About Hurry (1959) ***

Amusing Road Runner cartoon.

The Mouse That Jack Built (1959) ***

Memorable cartoon about a Jack Benny mouse, his girlfriend Mary and his valet Rochester. Excellent in every respect.

Magoo's Homecoming (1959) ***

Mister Magoo visits his old alma mater, but finds himself in a zoo instead (mistaking various animals for his old friends), while a thief tries to recover his loot from Magoo's pocket.

Woodpecker In The Moon (1959) ***

Woody "volunteers" to be an astronaut.