Thursday, 8 June 2017

Lists: those American dramas ...

Final List of the season - we are all listed out! After covering British, French and Italian favourites its now a return look at those great American dramas from the Golden Age of the 1950s and 1960s - the heyday of Kazan and Kramer,  Wyler and Wilder, Huston, Mankiewicz, Cukor, Minnelli, Nick Ray, Preminger, Brooks, Ritt, etc. and when American drama was ruled by the likes of Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill, William Faulkner, William Inge etc. We have covered them in detail here before, so this is a quick roundup. Lots more at labels - particularly Tennessee Williams ,,, (below: NIGHT OF THE IGUANA)
We have to begin of course with those early Kazans; 
  • A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
  • ON THE WATERFRONT
  • EAST OF EDEN
  • A FACE IN THE CROWD
  • Nicholas Ray's THE LUSTY MEN in 1952, a strong rodeo drama bringing out the best in Mitchum and Susan Hayward.(right) 
  • More baroque Ray with his 1954 JOHNNY GUITAR - the first film I saw, aged 8. 
  • Ray's REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE of course, and Stevens' GIANT to complete the Dean hat-trick. 
  • Cukor's 1954 A STAR IS BORN, the best musical drama ever
  • THE BIG COUNTRY in 1958 is really a William Wyler drama which just happens to be set in the west. 
  • CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
  • SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER
  • BONJOUR TRISTESSE
  • SEPARATE TABLES
  • THE NUN'S STORY
  • ON THE BEACH.
Those 20th Century Fox literarary adaptations came thick and fast:
  • THE LONG HOT SUMMER - Faulkner, 1958
  • THE SOUND AND THE FURY in 1959 - Faulkner, Good cast: Brynner, Woodward, Leighton
  • THE WAYWARD BUS - a long unseen Steinbeck from 1957, Jayne Mansfield and Joan Collins! Its a fascinating mess or Trash Classic
  • SONS AND LOVERS - D H Lawrence gets the Fox treatment in 1960 ...
  • SANCTUARY - another Faulkner misfire, from Tony Richardson in 1961 - Lee Remick and Yves Montand make the oddest team, but Lee shines ...
  • HEMINGWAY'S ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG MAN - 1962, as per recent review. 
The 1960s upped the ranks with those new directors like John Frankenheimer, Arthur Penn, Robert Mulligan, while John Huston went on and on ....
  • THE MISFITS
  • ONE EYED JACKS - Brando's brooding western, 1961
  • ALL FALL DOWN - a perennial favourite
  • THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
  • SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS
  • THE MIRACLE WORKER
  • TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
  • DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES
  • LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT
  • THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS
  • TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN 
  • THE STRIPPER
  • NIGHT OF THE IGUANA 
  • WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
  • REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE
  • SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH
  • SUMMER AND SMOKE
  • THIS PROPERTY IS CONDEMNED
  • INSIDE DAISY CLOVER
  • THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS STONE 
  • MIDNIGHT COWBOY.

1 comment:

  1. Where's BABY DOLL and WILD RIVER? Watched both SONS AND LOVERS and SUMMER AND SMOKE again recently and was very disappointed in both. I've never seen THE SOUND AND THE FURY, THE WAYWARD BUS or SANCTURY but I must seek them out.

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