My Favorite Films of the 1950s

"Intelligence. Nothing has caused the human race so much trouble as intelligence."

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by John Michael Hayes
Music by Franz Waxman
Cinematography by Robert Burks
Editing by George Tomasini

"As a lawyer, I've had to learn that people aren't just good or just bad. People are many things."

Directed by Otto Preminger
Written by Wendell Mayes
Music by Duke Ellington
Cinematography by Sam Leavitt
Editing by Louis R. Loeffler

"You shouldn't keep souvenirs of a killing. You shouldn't have been that sentimental."

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor
Music by Bernard Herrmann
Cinematography by Robert Burks
Editing by George Tomasini

"Gentlemen, that's a very sad thing... to be nothing."

Directed by Sidney Lumet
Written by Reginald Rose
Music by Kenyon Hopkins
Cinematography by Boris Kaufman
Editing by Carl Lerner

"It was a great plan, except for the Human Element. So many plans fail to take into account the Human Element. Mrs. Wilberforce will always be with us. A whole army couldn't take her out. There were only 5 of us. Even with 50, 60, or even a Whole Orchestra..."

Directed by Alexander Mackendrick
Written by William Rose
Music by Tristram Cary
Cinematography by Otto Heller
Editing by Jack Harris

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."

Directed by Billy Wilder
Written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshman Jr.
Music by Franz Waxman
Cinematography by John F. Seitz
Editing by Arthur P. Schmidt

"It isn't fair. I never had anybody but you. Not a real husband. Not even a man. Just a bad joke without a punch line."

Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Written by Stanley Kubrick and Jim Thompson
Music by Gerald Fried
Cinematography by Lucien Ballard
Editing by Betty Steinberg

"Now, shall you deal with ME, O Prince - and all the powers of HELL!"

Directed by Les Clark, Clyde Geronimi, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman and Hamilton Luske
Written by Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Ted Sears, Ralph Wright and Milt Banta
Music by George Bruns
Cinematography by
Editing by Roy M. Brewer Jr. and Donald Halliday

"In the world of advertising, there's no such thing as a lie. There's only expedient exaggeration."

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Ernest Lehman
Music by Bernard Herrmann
Cinematography by Robert Burks
Editing by George Tomasini

"There are few things more fundamentally encouraging and stimulating than seeing someone else die."

Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Written by Stanley Kubrick, Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson
Music by Gerald Fried
Cinematography by Georg Krause
Editing by Eva Kroll

"When I saw him, he was dead."
"He looked exactly the same when he was alive, only he was vertical."

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by John Michael Hayes
Music by Bernard Herrmann
Cinematography by Robert Burks
Editing by Alma Macrorie

"You know, when you're little, you have more endurance than God is ever to grant you again. Children are man at his strongest. They abide."

Directed by Charles Laughton
Written by Charles Laughton and James Agee
Music by Walter Schumann
Cinematography by Stanley Cortez
Editing by Robert Golden

"That's all any of us are: amateurs. We don't live long enough to be anything else."

Directed by Charles Chaplin
Written by Charles Chaplin
Music by Charles Chaplin
Cinematography by Karl Struss
Editing by Joe Inge

"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"

Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske and Jack Kinney
Written by Winston Hibler, Ted Sears, Bill Peet, Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Milt Banta, William Cottrell, Dick Kelsey, Joe Grant, Dick Huemer, Del Connell, Tom Oreb, John Walbridge and Aldous Huxley
Music by Oliver Wallace
Cinematography by
Editing by Lloyd L. Richardson

"Your eyes are full of hate, forty-one. That's good. Hate keeps a man alive. It gives him strength."

Directed by William Wyler
Written by Karl Tunberg
Music by Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography by Robert Surtees
Editing by John D. Dunning, Ralph E. Winters and Margaret Booth

"I can tell you something about this place. The boys around here call it "The Black Lagoon" - a paradise. Only they say nobody has ever come back to prove it."

Directed by Jack Arnold
Written by Harry Essex, Arthur A. Ross and Maurice Zimm
Music by Henry Mancini, Hans J. Salter and Herman Stein
Cinematography by William E. Snyder
Editing by Ted J. Kent

"A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true."

Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske
Written by Bill Peet, Erdman Penner, Ted Sears, Winston Hibler, Homer Brightman, Harry Reeves, Ken Anderson and Joe Rinaldi
Music by Paul J. Smith and Oliver Wallace
Cinematography by
Editing by Donald Halliday

"Give him a princely welcome. You know what celebrities can be like. "I want to be alone." But lord help us if we fulfill his wishes!"

Directed by Edith Carlmar
Written by Bias Bernhoft, Sverre Bævre, Otto Carlmar, William Ross and Gösta Stevens
Music by Gunnar Sønstevold and Maj Sønstevold
Cinematography by Sverre Bergli
Editing by Bjørn Breigutu

"It's a mistake to confuse pity with love."

Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Written by Stanley Kubrick and Howard Sackler
Music by Gerald Fried
Cinematography by Stanley Kubrick
Editing by Stanley Kubrick

"You have muddled everything from the start, taking that child with you from Marrakesh. Don't you realize that Americans dislike having their children stolen?"

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by John Michael Hayes
Music by Bernard Herrmann
Cinematography by Robert Burks
Editing by George Tomasini