Underrated 50s
An evolving list of 50s films that I feel all deserve more love. Some of these movies make the list for having low average user ratings. Others are here for having very few user ratings. All of these are movies I like. (Though some are certainly better than others!) Here, then, is my list of the best unappreciated, misunderstood and/or unknown 50s films that I particularly enjoyed, films that surely deserve higher ratings and/or a bigger audience.
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- DirectorTay GarnettStarsMickey RooneyPat O'BrienBeverly TylerAn orphanage runaway becomes a roller-skating champion but gets sick with polio.
- DirectorAndrew L. StoneStarsWilliam P. Lane Jr.John S. BattleW. Kerr ScottLed by a psychopathic killer, a vicious gang of armed robbers terrorizes Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, robbing banks and payrolls and murdering anyone who might identify them.
- DirectorKurt NeumannStarsAudie MurphyGale StormAlbert DekkerIn New Mexico, Billy the Kid is involved in the Lincoln County War, kills many rivals and eventually becomes a wanted fugitive.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsRandolph ScottDorothy MaloneForrest TuckerA mysterious stranger crosses paths with an outlaw bank robber and a greedy rancher.
- DirectorArch ObolerStarsWilliam PhippsSusan Douglas RubesJames AndersonThe world is destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. Only five Americans survive, including a pregnant woman, a neo-Nazi, a black man and a bank clerk.
- DirectorTed TetzlaffStarsRichard ConteAudrey TotterJohn McIntireAfter a cunning, unscrupulous mobster is sentenced to a Florida prison farm, he launches a deadly escape plan.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsAudie MurphyFaith DomergueStephen McNallyMarshal Tyrone and the Silver Kid form an uneasy alliance against a gang of claim jumpers.
- DirectorHarold D. SchusterStarsRichard RoberBruce CabotAllene Roberts"Kid" Monk Baroni, the leader of a street gang, becomes a professional boxer to escape his life in Little Italy, New York.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsBela KovacsHerbert HeyesTina PineThe Globe is a small, but visionary newspaper started by Phineas Mitchell, an editor recently fired by The Star. The two newspapers become enemies, and the Star's ruthless heiress Charity Hackett decides to eliminate the competition.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsJoan FontaineRay MillandTeresa WrightAn actress becomes an alcoholic after being jilted. She is aided by an Alcoholics Anonymous member with whom she has an affair; however, he is married.
- DirectorAndrew L. StoneStarsJoseph CottenTeresa WrightJonathan HaleA Los Angeles bank assistant-manager devises a plan to steal money from the bank's vault and to flee to Brazil with his unsuspecting wife.
- DirectorAndrew L. StoneStarsJoseph CottenJean PetersGary MerrillWhitney Cameron suspects his sister-in-law has poisoned his brother and niece, but without proof how does he prevent the murder of his nephew?
- DirectorMaurice ElveyStarsWilliam SylvesterMary GermaineAlexander GaugeA blackmailer is murdered, and the police find that there is a long list of suspects who wanted to see him dead.
- DirectorAnthony PelissierStarsGene TierneyLeo GennPamela BrownIn a 1950s British village, a teenager, who is in love with her Latin language teacher, disappears, prompting the police to investigate the teacher, amidst public rumors of rape and murder.
- DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsAudie MurphyMari BlanchardLyle BettgerA dishonest mayor and powerful criminal dominate a small western town. But when the town's sheriff dies under mysterious circumstances, Tom Destry, son of a famed gunman, is called in to put an end to the corruption.
- DirectorJerry HopperStarsSterling HaydenGloria GrahameGene BarryA chief of police detectives fired for brutality, tries to get evidence on a man suspected of killing 3 of his officers.
- DirectorDavid KramarskyRoger CormanLou PlaceStarsPaul BirchLorna ThayerDona ColeA dysfunctional family operating an isolated date farm in the California desert is threatened by the arrival of an extra-terrestrial.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsVictor MatureRichard EganStephen McNallyThree hoodlums carefully case a small town while planning to rob the bank on the upcoming Saturday. On Saturday, things turn violent and deadly.
- DirectorReginald Le BorgStarsBasil RathboneAkim TamiroffLon Chaney Jr.Sir Joel Cadman, a mad scientist, kidnaps his victims and cuts open their brains in an effort to discover a means to cure his wife's brain tumor.
- DirectorCharles Marquis WarrenStarsRichard EganDorothy MaloneCameron MitchellA reluctant gunslinger tires of having to defend himself at every cow town he visits, so he adopts an alias and continues his wandering. At an outpost run by a father and young son, he gets involved with a robbery in progress, and agrees to take the son to the boy's uncle, a sheriff in Table Rock, for his safety. Once there he finds the town gearing up for the arrival of a cattle drive and the unruly cowboys. He strives to remain uninvolved as the sheriff tries to get his help with the cowboys, but the sheriff nurses bad memories from an earlier incident that may threaten his effectiveness.
- DirectorHerbert L. StrockStarsSandra HarrisonLouise LewisGail GanleyUnder hypnosis, a young woman turns into a vampire.
- DirectorSaul GilbertAlejandro JodorowskyRuth MichellyStarsDenise BrossotRolande PolyaAlejandro JodorowskyA short mime adaptation of a Thomas Mann story about a Parisian urchin who makes her living selling human heads.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsKenji SaharaYumi ShirakawaMomoko KôchiShortly after a giant robot destroys a village, aliens from outer space arrive offering friendship. Will the people of Earth tie these two events together?
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsSusan CabotDick MillerBarboura MorrisA poor-little-rich-girl feels alienated by her mother and enacts a string of torment on her fellow pupils at a girls' boarding school, increasingly aggravating them until she goes too far.
- DirectorPaul LandresStarsJohn BealColeen GrayKenneth TobeyA kind, small-town doctor mistakenly ingests pills made from vampire bat blood and they turn him into a dangerous fanged creature.
- DirectorRobert DayStarsBoris KarloffBetta St. JohnChristopher LeeDr. Thomas Bolton fights for the use of anesthetic in surgery and uses himself as a guinea pig, but soon finds himself addicted.
- DirectorRichard E. CunhaStarsEd KemmerSally FraserBob SteeleA very large, degenerate, Spanish conqueror is freed from suspended animation by lightning and goes on a killing spree in a small town.
- DirectorRobert DayStarsBoris KarloffAnthony DawsonDerek BirchA researcher investigating a notorious serial killer who was hanged 20 years earlier seemingly becomes possessed by the long-dead strangler.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsAudie MurphyEddie AlbertPatricia OwensThe Cuban misadventures of a Florida smuggler, at the time of the Cuban Revolution.
- DirectorHerbert L. StrockStarsRobert H. HarrisPaul BrinegarGary ConwayWhen a master monster make-up artist is sacked by the new bosses of American International studios, he uses his creations to exact revenge.
- DirectorHenry BrandtHeinz SielmannStarsJean DesaillyGeorges AminelKazuo AokiDocumentary showing the struggles of the inhabitants--both human and animal--of what was then called the Belgian Congo.
- DirectorIrving LernerStarsVince EdwardsLyle TalbotJohn ArcherA vicious killer escapes from San Quentin with a cannister of what he believes to be heroin but is actually a radioactive substance that threatens all Los Angeles.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsVictoria ShawGlenn CorbettJames ShigetaTwo detectives seek a stripper's killer in the Japanese quarter of Los Angeles, but a love triangle threatens their friendship.
- DirectorWard KimballStarsPaul FreesJack SmithWalt Disney, with the cooperation of the U.S. Department of Defense, uses music and animation to speculate on the use of space satellite technology (with a coordinated defense network) as a means to modify weather.
- DirectorRobert DayStarsMarshall ThompsonMarla LandiBill EdwardsThe first pilot to leave Earth's atmosphere lands, then vanishes; but something with a craving for blood prowls the countryside...
- DirectorRay KelloggStarsDon SullivanFred GrahamLisa SimoneA giant lizard terrorizes a rural Texas community and a heroic teenager attempts to destroy the creature.
- DirectorCharles F. HaasStarsMamie Van DorenMel TorméRay AnthonySilver is a troubled teenage girl sent to a Catholic reform school, where she has trouble fitting in.
- DirectorVictor TrivasStarsHorst FrankKarin KernkeHelmut SchmidA scientist invents a serum that keeps a dog's head alive after its body dies.
- DirectorRay KelloggStarsJames BestIngrid GoudeKen CurtisOn an isolated island, a small group of people are terrorized by giant voracious shrews in the midst of a hurricane.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsSusan CabotAnthony EisleyBarboura MorrisThe head of a major cosmetics company experiments on herself with a youth formula made from royal jelly extracted from wasps, but the formula's side effects have deadly consequences.