The Best of 1959
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- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsEmmanuelle RivaEiji OkadaStella DassasA French actress filming an anti-war film in Hiroshima has an affair with a married Japanese architect as they share their differing perspectives on war.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsElizabeth TaylorKatharine HepburnMontgomery CliftA surgeon is assigned the case of a young woman whose aunt wants her lobotomized to cover up a family secret.
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsPaul NewmanBarbara RushAlexis SmithA promising lawyer tries to handle his social and professional problems while climbing the ranks in Philadelphia.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsJohn WayneDean MartinRicky NelsonA small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsCary GrantEva Marie SaintJames MasonA New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsMarilyn MonroeTony CurtisJack LemmonAfter two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsJames StewartLee RemickBen GazzaraAn upstate Michigan lawyer defends a soldier who claims he killed an innkeeper due to temporary insanity after the victim raped his wife. What is the truth, and will he win his case?
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsJean-Pierre LéaudAlbert RémyClaire MaurierA young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsCharlton HestonJack HawkinsStephen BoydAfter a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.
- DirectorDelmer DavesKarl MaldenVincent ShermanStarsGary CooperMaria SchellKarl MaldenUnusual western about a doctor with a dark past, whose life is complicated and ultimately redeemed by a young thief, and a pretty Swiss immigrant whom he nurses back to health.
- DirectorRobert RossenStarsGary CooperRita HayworthVan HeflinAn army major, himself guilty of cowardice, is asked to recommend soldiers for the Congressional Medal of Honor during the Mexican Border Incursion of 1916.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsMartin LaSalleMarika GreenJean PélégriMichel passes the time by picking pockets, careful to never be caught despite being watched by the police. His friend Jacques may suspect, while both men may have their eyes on Jeanne, the pretty neighbor of Michel's ailing mother.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsRichard WidmarkHenry FondaAnthony QuinnA famous gunman becomes the marshal of Warlock to end a gang's rampages, but is met with some opposition by a former gang member turned deputy sheriff who wants to follow only legal methods.
- DirectorAndré De TothStarsRobert RyanBurl IvesTina LouiseBlaise Starrett is a rancher at odds with homesteaders when outlaws hold up the small town. The outlaws are held in check only by their notorious leader, but he is diagnosed with a fatal wound and the town is a powder keg waiting to blow.
- DirectorAndré HunebelleStarsJean MaraisBourvilSabine SesselmannPrince Philippe de Gonzague decides to get rid of his cousin Duke de Nevers, having wished for long his properties and wealth.
- DirectorGuy HamiltonAlexander MackendrickStarsBurt LancasterKirk DouglasLaurence OlivierThe black sheep of a family and the local minister discover their true vocations during the Revolutionary War.
- DirectorWilliam CastleStarsVincent PriceCarol OhmartRichard LongA millionaire offers $10,000 to five people who agree to be locked in a large, spooky, rented house overnight with him and his wife.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneWilliam HoldenConstance TowersIn 1863, a Union outfit is sent behind Confederate lines in Mississippi to destroy enemy railroads but a captive southern belle and the unit's doctor cause frictions within ranks.
- DirectorTerence FisherStarsPeter CushingAndré MorellChristopher LeeWhen a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsRobert MitchumStanley BakerElisabeth MüllerIn 1941, the Greek resistance entrusts an American journalist with a secret Greek double-agent list that must reach London and not fall into German hands.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsLana TurnerJohn GavinSandra DeeAn aspiring white actress takes in an African American widow whose mixed-race daughter is desperate to be seen as white.
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsGregory PeckHarry GuardinoRip TornDuring the Korean War peace talks, U.S. troops fight to retake a hill from the Communist Chinese forces.
- DirectorJohn SturgesStarsKirk DouglasAnthony QuinnCarolyn JonesA marshal tries to bring the son of an old friend, an autocratic cattle baron, to justice for his role in the rape and murder of the marshal's Native American wife.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsSophia LorenTab HunterJack WardenIn 1944, on a Miami to New York train, two paratroopers on furlough meet and fall in love with two 'kept women' who are on their way to meet their 'sugar-daddies'.
- DirectorJack ArnoldStarsAudie MurphyCharles DrakeJoan EvansWhen hired killer John Gant rides into Lordsburg, the town's folk become paranoid as each leading citizen has enemies capable of using the services of a professional killer for personal revenge.
- DirectorBlake EdwardsStarsCary GrantTony CurtisJoan O'BrienDuring World War II, a commander finds himself stuck with a decrepit (and pink) submarine, a con man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsGérard PhilipeMaría FélixJean ServaisAroused citizens assassinate an unpopular Caribbean despot, then two men vie for his gorgeous widow Ines. Ojeda is a steamy, isolated island, the penal colony for an oppressive dictatorship. A reactionary seizes the murdered governor's post, and rushes to eliminate his romantic rival, an idealistic underling. The bureaucrat Vazquez hopes to marshal the angry residents of the capitol, El Pao, plus the many political prisoners, to oust Governor Gual.
- DirectorStanley KramerStarsGregory PeckAva GardnerFred AstaireAfter a global nuclear war, the residents of Australia must come to terms with the fact that all life will be destroyed in a matter of months.
- DirectorJ. Lee ThompsonStarsHayley MillsHorst BuchholzJohn MillsA twelve-year-old tomboy witnesses the murder of a woman by her Polish merchant marine boyfriend, but bonds with him and thwarts the police in their investigation.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsHarry BelafonteRobert RyanGloria GrahameIn need of quick money, a fallen former cop recruits a hard-bitten ex-con and a debt-ridden nightclub singer to pull off a bank job. But as the animosity between them boils over, the entire plan threatens to implode.
- DirectorNorman PanamaStarsRichard WidmarkLee J. CobbTina LouiseIn a remote Californian desert town, a lawyer arranges for a wanted mobster to skip the country via a small airstrip but the local sheriff and his deputy could pose a problem.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsTatsuya NakadaiMichiyo AratamaChikage AwashimaA Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsTatsuya NakadaiMichiyo AratamaKokinji KatsuraAs a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist struggles to maintain his determination to keep his ideals.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsAlec GuinnessMaureen O'HaraBurl IvesJim Wormold, who is a vacuum cleaner salesman, participates as an Agent in the British Secret Service. But he soon realizes that his plans by lying are going to get him into trouble.
- DirectorMarcel CamusStarsBreno MelloMarpessa DawnLourdes de OliveiraA retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, set during the time of the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsSoumitra ChatterjeeSharmila TagoreAlok ChakravartyThis final installment in Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy follows Apu's life as an orphaned adult aspiring to be a writer.
- DirectorGrigoriy ChukhrayStarsVladimir IvashovZhanna ProkhorenkoAntonina MaksimovaYoung Russian soldier Alyosha earns a medal, but asks to visit his mother instead. His journey recounts various kinds of love during wartime.
- DirectorClaude ChabrolStarsGérard BlainJean-Claude BrialyJuliette MaynielA pair of cousins share a flat, but animosity begins to build between the two when a woman gets involved.
- DirectorLes ClarkClyde GeronimiEric LarsonStarsMary CostaBill ShirleyEleanor AudleyAfter being snubbed by the royal family, a malevolent fairy places a curse on a princess which only a prince can break, along with the help of three good fairies.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsRichard BurtonClaire BloomMary UreA disillusioned, angry university graduate comes to terms with his grudge against middle-class life and values.
- DirectorClaude ChabrolStarsMadeleine RobinsonAntonella LualdiJean-Paul BelmondoA wealthy wine grower has trouble with his wife, his children, his best friend, and his mistress across the way, who is murdered.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsDebra PagetPaul HubschmidWalther ReyerIn Eschnapur, a local Maharajah and a German architect fall in-love with the same temple dancer.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsDebra PagetPaul HubschmidWalther ReyerA German architect runs away with the maharajah of Eschnapur's fiancee but is caught and thrown in the dungeon, while his relatives arrive from Europe looking for him and the maharajah's brother is scheming to usurp the throne.
- DirectorRoger VadimStarsJeanne MoreauGérard PhilipeAnnette StroybergJuliette Merteuil and Valmont is a sophisticated couple, always looking for fun and excitement. Both have sexual affairs with others and share their experiences with one another. But there is one rule: never fall in love. But this time Valmont falls madly in love with a girl he meets at a ski resort, Marianne.
- DirectorDelbert MannStarsRita HayworthDeborah KerrDavid NivenThe stories of several people are told as they stay at a seaside hotel in Bournemouth which features dining at "Separate Tables."
- DirectorHenry LevinStarsJames MasonPat BooneArlene DahlAn Edinburgh professor and assorted colleagues follow an explorer's trail down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the earth's center.
- DirectorNobuo NakagawaStarsShigeru AmachiNoriko KitazawaKatsuko WakasugiThe ghost of a samurai's wife takes revenge on her husband.