1953

Film Decades: 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

• 99 River Street, starring John Payne and Evelyn Keyes
• The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, starring Tommy Rettig, screenplay by Dr. Seuss
• Abbott and Costello Go to Mars
• Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Act of Love (Un acte d’amour), starring Kirk Douglas – (US/France)
• The Actress – starring Spencer Tracy and Jean Simmons
• Albert R.N., directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Anthony Steel, Jack Warner, Robert
• Beatty, William Sylvester – (GB)
• The All-American, starring Tony Curtis
• All I Desire, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• All the Brothers Were Valiant, starring Ann Blyth
• Angel Face – directed by Otto Preminger, starring Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons
• Anarkali – (India)
• Appointment in Honduras, directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Ann Sheridan and Glenn Ford
• Arrowhead, starring Charlton Heston and Jack Palance
• Baaz, directed by and starring Guru Dutt – (India)
• The Band Wagon, starring Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Jack Buchanan, Nanette Fabray, Oscar Levant
• The Bandit of Brazil (O Cangaceiro) – (Brazil)
• Barabbas, directed by Alf Sjöberg – (Sweden)
• The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, starring Paula Raymond and Cecil Kellaway
• Beat the Devil – directed by John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida – (Italy/GB/US)
• The Beggar’s Opera, starring Laurence Olivier and Dorothy Tutin – (GB)
  Belinsky – (U.S.S.R.)
• Ben and Me, featuring the voices of Sterling Holloway and Charles Ruggles
• Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, starring Robert Wagner
• Bienvenido Mr. Marshall, directed by Luis García Berlanga, starring Fernando Rey – (Spain)
• The Big Heat – directed by Fritz Lang, starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Lee Marvin
• Big Leaguer, starring Edward G. Robinson
• The Bigamist – directed by and starring Ida Lupino, with Joan Fontaine, Edmond O’Brien
• Black Ermine – (Argentina)
• Blowing Wild / starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck
• The Blue Gardenia – starring Anne Baxter and Raymond Burr
• A Blueprint for Murder, starring Joseph Cotten and Jean Peters
• Bread, Love and Dreams (Pane, amore e fantasia) – starring Vittorio De Sica and Gina Lollobrigida – (Italy)
• The Brute (El Bruto), directed by Luis Buñuel, starring Pedro Armendáriz and Katy Jurado – (Mexico)
• By the Light of the Silvery Moon, starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae
• The Caddy, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
• Calamity Jane, starring Doris Day
• Call Me Madam, starring Ethel Merman
• The Captain’s Paradise, starring Alec Guinness – (GB)
• Cease Fire
• The Charge at Feather River, starring Guy Madison
• City Beneath the Sea, starring Robert Ryan, Anthony Quinn, Mala Powers
• City That Never Sleeps, starring Gig Young, William Talman, Paula Raymond, Mala Powers
• The Clown, starring Red Skelton
• Confidentially Connie, starring Van Johnson and Janet Leigh
• The Conquest of Everest – (documentary) – (GB)
• Conquest of Cochise – directed by William Castle
• The Cruel Sea, starring Jack Hawkins and Denholm Elliott – (GB)
• Cry of the Hunted, starring Vittorio Gassman, Barry Sullivan, Polly Bergen
• Dangerous Crossing, starring Jeanne Crain and Michael Rennie
• Dangerous When Wet, starring Esther Williams
• Decameron Nights – starring Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdan
• The Desert Rats, starring Richard Burton and James Mason
• Desperate Moment, starring Dirk Bogarde and Mai Zetterling – (GB)
• Devdas – (India)
• Do Bigha Zamin (Two Acres of Land), directed by Bimal Roy – (India)
• Donovan’s Brain, starring Lew Ayres and Nancy Davis
• Down Among the Sheltering Palms, starring Mitzi Gaynor, Gloria DeHaven, Jane Greer
• Dream Wife – starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr
• Él (Him), directed by Luis Buñuel, starring Arturo de Córdova – (Mexico)
• The Earrings of Madame de…, directed by Max Ophüls, starring Charles Boyer – (France/Italy)
• East of Sumatra, starring Anthony Quinn and Jeff Chandler
• Easy to Love, starring Esther Williams
• Easy Years (Anni facili), directed by Luigi Zampa – (Italy)
• The Eddie Cantor Story, starring Keefe Brasselle
• Entotsu no mieru basho (The Four Chimneys) – (Japan)
• Esa pareja feliz (That Happy Couple), directed by Juan Antonio Bardem and Luis García Berlanga – (Spain)
• Escape By Night, starring Bonar Colleano and Sid James – (GB)
• Escape from Fort Bravo – directed by John Sturges, starring William Holden, Eleanor Parker, John Forsythe
• Fair Wind to Java, starring Fred MacMurray and Vera Ralston
• The Farmer Takes a Wife, starring Betty Grable
• Fast Company, starring Howard Keel and Polly Bergen
• Fear and Desire – directed by Stanley Kubrick
• The Final Test, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Jack Warner (GB)
• Folly to Be Wise, directed by Frank Launder, starring Alastair Sim – (GB)
• Footpath, starring Dilip Kumar – (India)
• Fort Ti (3-D) – directed by William Castle
• From Here to Eternity – directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra, Donna Reed
• Gate of Hell (Jigokumon) – (Japan)
• A Geisha (Gion Bayashi), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi – (Japan)
• Genevieve, starring Dinah Sheridan, John Gregson, Kay Kendall – (GB)
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – directed by Howard Hawks, starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe
• The Girl Next Door, starring June Haver and Dan Dailey
• The Girl Who Had Everything, starring Elizabeth Taylor, William Powell, Fernando Lamas, Gig Young
• Give a Girl a Break – directed by Stanley Donen, starring Debbie Reynolds, Marge Champion, Gower Champion
• The Glass Wall, starring Vittorio Gassman and Gloria Grahame
• The Golden Blade, starring Rock Hudson and Piper Laurie
• The Great Adventure (Det stora äventyret), directed by Arne Sucksdorff – (Sweden)
• The Great Sioux Uprising, starring Jeff Chandler
• Gun Fury, starring Rock Hudson and Donna Reed
• The Heart of the Matter, starring Trevor Howard – (GB)
• The Hitch-Hiker, directed by Ida Lupino, starring Edmond O’Brien and William Talman
• Hondo – starring John Wayne and Geraldine Page in her film debut
• Houdini, starring (husband and wife) Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh
• House of Wax – starring Vincent Price
• How to Marry a Millionaire – directed by Jean Negulesco, starring Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall, and William Powell
• I Confess, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter
• The I Don’t Care Girl, starring Mitzi Gaynor
• I Love Lucy, starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz
• I, the Jury, starring Biff Elliot and Peggie Castle
• Inferno, starring Robert Ryan
• Interim, directed by Stan Brakhage, short film (25 ½ minutes); music by James Tenney)
• The Intruder, starring Jack Hawkins – (GB
• Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?, starring Bonar Colleano and Diana Dors – (GB)
• Island in the Sky – starring John Wayne
• It Came from Outer Space, directed by Jack Arnold, starring Richard Carlson
• Jennifer, starring Ida Lupino and Howard Duff
• Jeopardy, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Ralph Meeker
• Julius Caesar – directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Marlon Brando, James Mason, John Gielgud, Louis Calhern, Greer Garson, Deborah Kerr
• The Kidnappers, starring Jon Whiteley – (GB)
• King of the Khyber Rifles, starring Tyrone Power
• Kiss Me Kate, starring Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, released in 2-D and 3-D
• The Lady Without Camelias (La signora senza camelie), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni – (Italy)
• The Landowner’s Daughter (Sinhá Moça), starring Anselmo Duarte – (Brazil)
• Lagu Kenangan (L. Inata [id]), starring Titien Sumarni and AN Alcaff (Indonesia)
• Latin Lovers, starring Lana Turner
• Law and Order, a western starring Ronald Reagan
• The Lawless Breed, starring Rock Hudson
• Lili, starring Leslie Caron
• The Limping Man, starring Lloyd Bridges – (GB)
• A Lion Is in the Streets, starring James Cagney, Barbara Hale, Anne Francis
• Little Boy Lost, starring Bing Crosby
• Little Fugitive
• The Living Desert, winner of Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
• Love in the City (L’Amore in Città) – directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, Dino Risi, Federico Fellini and others – anthology– (Italy)
• Love Letter (Koibumi) – (Japan)
• Malta Story, directed by Brian Desmond Hurst, starring Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Anthony Steel, Muriel Pavlow – (GB)
• Man in the Attic, starring Jack Palance and Constance Smith
• The Man Between, starring James Mason and Claire Bloom – (GB)
• Man in the Dark, starring Edmond O’Brien and Audrey Totter
• Man on a Tightrope – directed by Elia Kazan, starring Fredric March and Gloria Grahame
• Martin Luther – (US/West Germany)
• The Master of Ballantrae – directed by William Keighley, starring Errol Flynn, Roger Livesey, Anthony Steel, Beatrice Campbell – (U.K.)
• Meet Me at the Fair, starring Dan Dailey and Diana Lynn
• Miss Sadie Thompson – starring Rita Hayworth
• The Mississippi Gambler, starring Tyrone Power and Piper Laurie
• Mogambo – directed by John Ford, starring Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly (remake of 1932’s Red Dust which starred Gable with Jean Harlow)
• Money from Home, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
• Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot), directed by and starring Jacques Tati – (France)
• La montaña sin ley
• The Moon Is Blue – directed by Otto Preminger, starring William Holden, David Niven, Maggie McNamara – first U.S. movie to use the words “pregnant” and “virgin”
• The Moonlighter, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray
• The Naked Spur – starring James Stewart, Robert Ryan and Janet Leigh
• The Net, directed by Anthony Asquith – (GB)
• Niagara – directed by Henry Hathaway, starring Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten
• No Way Back (Weg Ohne Umkehr) – (West Germany)
• Patita, starring Dev Anand and Usha Kiran – (India)
• Peter Pan, a Walt Disney animation featuring the voice of Bobby Driscoll
• The Phantom Stockman, starring Chips Rafferty – (Australia)
• Pickup on South Street – directed by Samuel Fuller, starring Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter
• Plunder of the Sun, starring Glenn Ford
• Pony Express, starring Charlton Heston
• The President’s Lady
• Remains to Be Seen, starring June Allyson and Van Johnson
• Report News (Reportaje), starring Arturo de Córdova and Dolores del Río – (Mexico)
• Return to Paradise – starring Gary Cooper
• Ride, Vaquero!, starring Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner
• The Robe, the first movie filmed in CinemaScope, starring Richard Burton and Jean Simmons
• Rogue’s March, starring Peter Lawford, Janice Rule
• Roman Holiday – directed by William Wyler, starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn
• Rosanna (La Red) – (Mexico)
• Salome – starring Rita Hayworth
• Sawdust and Tinsel (Gycklarnas afton) – directed by Ingmar Bergman – (Sweden)
• Scared Stiff, starring Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Lizabeth Scott and Carmen Miranda
• Sea Devils, starring Rock Hudson and Yvonne De Carlo – (GB/US)
• Seminole, starring Rock Hudson and Anthony Quinn
• Serpent of the Nile – directed by William Castle
• Shane, directed by George Stevens, starring Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur (in her final film role), Brandon de Wilde, Ben Johnson, Jack Palance
• Siamo Donne (We, the Women), starring Alida Valli and Ingrid Bergman – (Italy)
• Slaves of Babylon – directed by William Castle
• Small Town Girl, starring Jane Powell and Ann Miller
• So Big, directed by Robert Wise, starring Jane Wyman, Sterling Hayden, Steve Forrest
• So This Is Love, starring Kathryn Grayson and Merv Griffin
• South Sea Woman, starring Burt Lancaster and Virginia Mayo
• Split Second, starring Alexis Smith and Jan Sterling
• Stalag 17 – directed by Billy Wilder, starring William Holden, Don Taylor, Harvey Lembeck, Robert Strauss, Otto Preminger, Peter Graves
• Stars of the Russian Ballet (Mastera russkogo baleta), starring Galina Ulanova – (USSR)
• The State Department Store (Állami Áruház) – (Hungary)
• The Steel Lady, starring Rod Cameron and Tab Hunter
• The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan, starring Robert Morley and Maurice Evans – (GB)
• The Story of Little Muck (Die Geschichte vom kleinen Muck) – (East Germany)
• The Story of Three Loves, trilogy starring James Mason, Leslie Caron, Kirk Douglas
• Summer with Monika (Sommaren med Monika) – directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Harriet Andersson – (Sweden)
• The Sun Shines Bright – directed by John Ford, starring Charles Winninger, Slim Pickens
• Take Me to Town, directed by Douglas Sirk, starring Ann Sheridan and Sterling Hayden
• Take the High Ground!, starring Richard Widmark and Karl Malden
• Thérèse Raquin, directed by Marcel Carné, starring Simone Signoret – (France)
• Three Perfect Wives (Las Tres perfectas casadas), starring Arturo de Córdova – (Mexico)
• Thunder Over the Plains, starring Randolph Scott
• Titanic, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Clifton Webb, Thelma Ritter, Brian Aherne, Robert Wagner
• The Titfield Thunderbolt, directed by Charles Crichton, starring Stanley Holloway – (GB)
• Tokyo Story (Tōkyō Monogatari), directed by Yasujirō Ozu – (Japan)
• Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom
• Torch Song, starring Joan Crawford
• Treasure of the Golden Condor, directed by Delmer Daves, starring Cornel Wilde
• Trouble Along the Way – starring John Wayne
• Trouble in Store, starring Norman Wisdom – (GB)
• Tumbleweed, starring Audie Murphy
• Twice Upon a Time, directed by Emeric Pressburger – (GB)
• Ugetsu Monogatari, directed by Kenji Mizoguchi – (Japan)
• The Vanquished (I Vinti), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni – (Italy)
• I Vitelloni – directed by Federico Fellini – (France/Italy)
• The Wages of Fear (Le Salaire de la Peur), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Yves Montand – (France)
• Walking My Baby Back Home, starring Janet Leigh and Donald O’Connor
• War Arrow – starring Maureen O’Hara and Jeff Chandler
• The War of the Worlds, starring Gene Barry
• White Lightning, starring Stanley Clements and Steve Brodie
• White Mane (Crin Blanc, Cheval Sauvage) – (France)
• White Witch Doctor, starring Robert Mitchum and Susan Hayward
• The Wild One – starring Marlon Brando, Mary Murphy, Robert Kieth, Lee Marvin
• Young Bess, starring Jean Simmons, Deborah Kerr, Charles Laughton