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Best Picture Academy Awards
1951-1960
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Before The Academy Awards • Oscar-Winning Western Movies
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 | "Postwar Hollywood, 1946-1962" [2007] by Drew Casper Wiley-Blackwell pb [9/2007] for $42.95 |
 | "American Cinema of The 1950s: Themes & Variations" [2005] Edited by Murray Pomerance Rutgers Univ Press 9¼x6¼ pb [10/2005] for $22.95 Rutgers Univ Press 9½x6¼ hardcover [10/2005] for $62.00 |
 | "Lost In Fifties Hollywood" [2005] by Wheeler Winston Dixon covers neglected Fifties Era producers & directors such as Charles Haas, Sam Katzman, Arnold Laven {of Levy-Gardner-Laven}, Ida Lupino, Leslie Martinson, Fred F. Sears & Herbert L. Strock Southern IL Univ Press 9x6 pb [8/2005] for $30.00 Southern IL Univ Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [8/2005] for $60.00 |
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"Movies of The 50s" [2005] by Jürgen Müller Taschen 10x8 pb [4/2005] for $29.19 |
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"The 1950s: American Popular Culture Through History" [2004] by William H. & Nancy K. Young Greenwood Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [4/2004] for $49.35 |
 | "The Fifties: Transforming The Screen, 1950-1959" [2003] by Peter Lev (History of The American Cinema, Vol. 7) Univ CA Press 10x7 pb [11/2006] for $18.15 Scribner's 10¼x7½ hardcover [7/2003] out of print/used |
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"The Bad & The Beautiful: Hollywood In The Fifties" [2002] by Sam Kashner & Jennifer MacNair W.W. Norton 8½x5½ pb [5/2003] for $15.15 Konecky & Konecky 9¼x6 hardcover [2/2006] for $10.98 W.W. Norton 9¼x6½ hardcover [6/2002] out of print/many used |
 | "Film Posters of The 50s: The Essential Movies of The Decade" [2000] Edited by Tony Nourmand & Graham Marsh Aurum pb [9/2000] for $18.47 Overlook 11¾x9¾ hardcover [12/2003] for $15.75 Overlook 12x10 hardcover [1/2001] for $22.05 |
 | "Hollywood Musicals of The 50s" [2000 video release]
Passport Video b&w/color DVD [5/2000] for $9.99 not listed on IMDb; interviewees include Fred Astaire, Shirley Jones, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Conner, Ann Miller, and Debbie Reynolds; featured films include "An American In Paris" [1951], "Carmen Jones" [1954], "I'll See You In My Dreams" [1951], "Kiss Me Kate" [1953], "Show Boat" [1951], and "Silk Stockings" [1957] |
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"Mad To Be Saved: The Beats, The '50s & Film" [1998] by David Sterritt SIU Press 9¼x6¼ pb [9/98] for $22.40 'The Beat Generation' Page at Maison d'Ętre Beatnik Coffeehouse |
 | "Hollywood's Best: The '50s" [1997] artists include Louis Armstrong, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Susan Hayward, Lena Horne, Louis Jourdan, Gene Kelly, Grace Kelly, Tony Martin, Jane Powell & Debbie Reynolds Rhino Records/W.E.A. music CD [10/97] 16 tracks - out of prodn/used |
 | "Lost Films of The Fifties"[1988] by Douglas Brode Citadel Press 11x8¼ pb [10/88] out of print/used |
 | "The Films of The Fifties: Sunset Boulevard To On The Beach" [1976] by Douglas Brode Citadel Press 10¼x8 pb [4/90] out of print/used Citadel Press 11x8½ hardcover [8/76] out of print/used |
Go Daddy-O 1950s posters site in U.K.
Magic Lantern's Stereoscopic {3-D} Cinema Page
 | "Best of The 50's Collection" DVD Box Set [2003]
Warner Home Video DVD set [12/2003] 4 disks - out of prodn/used contains 4 feature films: "Rebel Without A Cause" [1955] directed by Nicholas Ray, starring James Dean; "A Streetcar Named Desire" [1951] directed by Elia Kazan - won 4 Oscars; "The Searchers" [1956] directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne; and Alfred Hitchcock's "North By Northwest" [1959] starring Cary Grant |
 | "The Nifty Fifties: 50 Classic Features Movie Set" DVD Box Set [2012]
Mill Creek Ent. DVD set [4/2012] 12 disks for $13.65 contains 50 feature-length films, 1949-1958; eight are in color and eight are TV shows: "A Bolt of Lightning" TV show [CBS-TV/Studio One Nov 1951] starring Charlton Heston; "A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court" TV show [CBS-TV/Studio One 1952] starring Thomas Mitchell & Boris Karloff; "A Life At Stake" [1954] starring Angela Lansbury & Keith Andes; "A Tale of Two Cities" TV show [A.B.C. Monodrama April 1953] starring Wendell Corey & Jack Manning; "The Admiral Was A Lady" [1950] starring Wanda Hendrix, Edmond O'Brien, Johnny Sands, Richard Erdman, Steve Brodie & Rudy Vallee; "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" TV show [CBS-TV/Climax 1955] starring John Carradine & Thomas Mitchell; "Affair In Monte Carlo" [1952] starring Merle Oberon, Richard Todd & Leo Genn; "Africa Screams" [1949] starring Abbott & Costello, Clyde Beatty, Frank Buck, Max Baer, Buddy Baer, Shemp Howard & Joe Besser; "The Angel With The Trumpet" [1950] starring Eileen Herlie, Maria Schell & Oskar Werner; "Battles of Chief Pontiac" [1952] starring Lon Chaney Jr., Lex Barker & Helen Westcott; "Behave Yourself" [R.K.O. 1951] |
| starring Farley Granger, Shelley Winters, William Demarest & Lon Chaney Jr.; "Beneath The 12-Mile Reef" [Fox Tech-nicolor 1953] starring Gilbert Roland, Robert Wagner, J. Carrol Naish & Terry Moore; "The Bigamist" [1953] directed by & starring Ida Lupino, also starring Edmond O'Brien & Joan Fontaine; "Borderline" [1950] starring Fred MacMurray, Raymond Burr & Claire Trevor; "Buffalo Bill In Tomahawk Territory" [1952] starring Clayton Moore {as 'Buffalo Bill' Cody}; "Captain Scarface" [1953] starring Barton MacLane, Virginia Grey & Leif Erickson; "The Capture" [R.K.O. 1950] directed by John Sturges, starring Lew Ayres, Teresa Wright & Victor Jory; "Cause For Alarm!" [M.G.M. 1951] starring Loretta Young, Barry Sullivan & Bruce Cowling; "Chained For Life" [1951] starring siamese twins Violet & Daisy Hilton; "The Conquest of Everest" documentary [Technicolor 1953] starring Sir Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay; "Cyrano de Bergerac" [1950] music by Dimitri Tiomkin, starring Jose Ferrer, Mala Powers & William Prince; "The Groom Wore Spurs" [1951] starring Ginger Rogers, Jack Carson & Joan Davis; "Home Town Story" [M.G.M. 1951] starring Jeffrey Lynn, Donald Crisp, Marilyn Monroe, Marjorie Reynolds & Alan Hale Jr.; "The Hoodlum" [1951] starring Lawrence Tierney; "Indiscretion of An American Wife" [Italy 1953] directed by Vittorio De Sica, starring Jennifer Jones & Montgomery Clift; "The Jackie Robinson Story" [1950] starring Jackie Robinson as himself; "The Lady Says No" [1952] starring Joan Caulfield & David Niven; "The Last Time I Saw Paris" [Technicolor 1954] directed by Richard Brooks, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon & Donna Reed; "Lay That Rifle Down" [Republic Pictures 1955] starring Judy Canova; "The Life and Loves of Mozart" [Germany Eastmancolor 1955] starring Oskar Werner; "Lilli Mar-lene" [Monarch/R.K.O. 1951] starring Lisa Daniely; "The Limping Man" [Lippert 1953] starring Lloyd Bridges & Moira Lister; "Love Island" [1952] starring Paul Valentine & Eva Gabor; "The Man Who Cheated Himself" [Fox 1950] starring Lee J. Cobb, Jane Wyatt & John Dall; "The Man Who Had Influence" [CBS-TV/-Studio One 1950] starring Robert Sterling & Anne Bancroft; "The Man With The Golden Arm" [1955] directed by Otto Preminger, from the novel by Nelson Algren, music by Elmer Bernstein, starring Frank Sinatra, Darren McGavin, Kim Novak & Eleanor Parker; "Manfish" [1956] starring John Bromfield, Lon Chaney Jr., Victor Jory & Barbara Nichols; "The Mark of The Hawk" [Technicolor 1958] starring Sidney Poitier, Eartha Kitt & John McIntire; "Martin Luther" [Germany 1953] starring Niall MacGinnis; "My Outlaw Brother" [1951] adapted from a Max Brand novel by Gene Fowler Jr., starring Mickey Rooney, Robert Preston & Robert Stack; "Never Wave At A W.A.C." [R.K.O. 1952] co-written by Frederick Kohner, starring Rosalind Russell & Paul Douglas; "The Night America Trembled" TV show [CBS-TV/Studio One 1957] featuring Edward R. Murrow, Alexander Scourby, Warren Oates & Warren Beatty; "The Painted Hills" [Technicolor 1951] starring Lassie the Dog & Gary Gray; "Plan For Escape" TV show [CBS-TV/Studio One 1952] starring Peggy Ann Garner; "The Second Woman" [1951] starring Robert Young & Betsy Drake; "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" [Fox Technicolor 1952] music by Bernard Herrmann, starring Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, Ava Gardner & Hildegard Knef; "St. Benny The Dip" [1951] directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, starring Dick Haymes, Lionel Stander, Roland Young & Nina Foch; "Three Husbands" [1951] starring Eve Arden, Ruth Warrick, Vanessa Brown, Howard Da Silva & Shepperd Strudwick; "The Trial of John Peter Zenger" TV show [CBS-TV/Studio One 1953] starring Eddie Albert & Marian Seldes; and "The White Orchid" [color 1954] starring William Lundigan, Peggie Castle & Armando Silvestre |
1951
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"An American In Paris" [M.G.M. Oct 1951] full credits from IMDb |
"The African Queen"
[United Artists Dec 1951]
Humphrey Bogart won an Oscar for Best Actor •
full credits from IMDb
more details (synopsis, docufilms, posters, books, links) on
Magic Lantern's "The African Queen" 1951 Movie Page
"Rashômon"
[Japan Aug 1950; USA Dec 1951]
 | What is truth? After a killing in the woods, police interrogate four people and obtain four conflicting versions of the events. Co-written & directed by Akira Kurosawa [1910-98]; based on stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa; starring Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura & Minoru Chiaki; won Honorary Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film
Home Vision b&w DVD [3/2002] for $29.96 Home Vision b&w VHS [5/94] for $29.95 full credits from IMDb • official movie site |
1952
"The Greatest Show On Earth"
[Paramount Pictures January 1952]
  | This picture's win stirred up much controversy, since it beat Carl Foreman's "High Noon", John Huston's "Moulin Rouge", and John Ford's "The Quiet Man". Some attribute the upset victory to blacklist hysteria, some to end-of-career sentiment for DeMille by silent-era Academy voters, and some to the movie's huge box office success {all-time ranking in 2011 of #55}.
Filmed in 35mm three-strip Technicolor; the manager of a major 'railroad circus' convinces the owners to allow him to keep the show going as long as it brings in a profit; he hires a star trapeze act, which upsets his trapeze artist girlfriend; other problems include a crooked midway concessionaire, love triangles, and professional jealousy aplenty. The fired crook robs the box office and stages a railroad wreck to cover his tracks, which injures the manager, so the girlfriend rallies the troops and the show goes on . . . Co-produced by Cecil B. DeMille & Henry Wilcoxon; directed by Cecil B. DeMille; written by Frank Cavett, Fredric M. Frank, Jack Gariss, Barré Lyndon & Theodore St. John; original music by Victor Young; starring Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, Dorothy Lamour, James Stewart, Gloria Grahame, Henry Wilcoxon, Lyle Bettger, Lawrence Tierney, clown Emmett Kelly, circus owner John Ringling North, clown Lou Jacobs & Edmond O'Brien; with cameos by Leon Ames, Oliver Blake, William Boyd (as Hopalong Cassidy}, Bing Crosby, Bob Crosby, Van Heflin, Bob Hope, Noel Neill & Danny Thomas; won Oscars for Best Picture & Best Story, Oscar noms for Best Director, Best Costume Design, Best Editing
Paramount widescreen color DVD [4/2004] 2 disks for $6.99 Paramount color DVD [4/2004] for $8.96 full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia movie-tie-in novelization Paramount mass pb [1952] out of print/used |
"High Noon" [Stanley Kramer July 1952]
 | Directed by Fred Zinnemann, from the book "The Tin Star" by John W. Cunningham; starring Gary Cooper, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Bridges, Grace Kelly, Ian MacDonald & Lee Van Cleef; Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Script, won Best Actor (Cooper), Best Editing, Best Music (Dimitri Tiomkin), Best Song; listed at National Film Registry 1989
Republic Video b&w DVD [10/2001] for $16.99 Republic Video b&w VHS [10/97] for $13.99 26"x38" one-sheet poster available at AllPosters.com full credits from IMDb |
"Ivanhoe" [Loew's/M.G.M. July 1952]
 | Filmed in Technicolor; based on the 1819 novel by Sir Walter Scott. A disowned Saxon knight returning from a Crusade to the Holy Land learns that England's King Richard is imprisoned in Austria for ransom. Prince John and his Norman cronies have no interest in paying the ransom and ending their power, so Ivanhoe teams with outlaw Robin Locksley to raise the money by taking tax monies back from Prince John's collectors.
Directed by Richard Thorpe; starring Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Finlay Currie, Felix Aylmer, Norman Wooland, Harold Warrender & Guy Rolfe; Oscar noms for Best Picture, Best Color Cinema-tography & Best Music Score
Warner Home Video color DVD [1/2005] for $14.99 M.G.M./Warner color VHS [9/99] out of prodn/many used 27"x40" poster from Amazon for $19.99 full credits at IMDb |
"Viva Zapata!" [Fox 1952]
 | Directed by Elia Kazan; starring Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, Anthony Quinn & Joseph Wiseman; won Best Supporting Actor Oscar (AQ), nominated for Best Script (John Steinbeck), Best Actor (Brando), Best Music, Best Art Direction
b&w DVD [undated] out of prodn/used Fox b&w VHS [6/2001] out of prodn/used Verese soundtrack CD [3/98] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb |
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1953
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"From Here To Eternity" [Columbia Aug 1983] full credits from IMDb |
"Shane" [Paramount April 1953]
 | Directed by George Stevens, screenplay by A.B. Guthrie Jr. from the Jack Schaefer story; starring Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon DeWilde, Jack Palance & Ben Johnson; Oscar noms for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Script, Best Supporting Actor (JP & BD), won for Best Cinema-tography; listed at National Film Registry 1993
Paramount color DVD [8/2000] for $22.49 Hungry Minds color VHS [4/98] for $9.95 full credits from IMDb |
 | Novel by Jack Schaefer [1954]
Bantam Starfire pb [10/83] for $5.99 DH Audio UNABR [1/92] out of stock/used hardcover edition illustrated by J. McCormick
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1954
"On The Waterfront"
[Columbia July 1954]
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| An aspiring prizefighter who runs errands for the local underworld witnesses the murder of a fellow dockworker who was going to testify to the Waterfront Crime Commission. When he meets the sister of the dead man, his conscience begins to assert itself. Directed by Elia Kazan; script by Budd Schulberg; starring Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning, Leif Erickson, James Westerfield, Tony Galento, Tami Mauriello, John Hamilton, John Heldabrand, Eva Marie Saint, Martin Balsam & Nehemiah Persoff; won 8 Oscars: for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Brando), Best Supporting Actress (EMS), Best B&W Cinematography, Best Set Decoration, Best Editing; Oscar noms for Best Supporting Actor x 3 (Cobb & Malden & Steiger), Best Music Score; won DGA & WGA Awards; listed on National Film Registry (1989); listed on Time Magazine's All-TIME 100 Movies (10/2005)
Sony b&w DVD [10/2001] for $18.99 Sony b&w VHS [2/98] out of prodn/many used full credits from IMDb |
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"On The Waterfront: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Articles That Inspired The Classic Film & Transformed The New York Harbor" [1948] by Malcolm Johnson & Budd Schulberg Chamberlain 8x5¼ hardcover [5/2005] out of print/used Allison & Busby pb [undated] out of print/used |
 | "On The Waterfront: The Final Shooting Script" [1988] by Budd Schulberg Samuel French 8½x5½ pb [10/88] for $11.01 |
 | "On The Waterfront" [2005] critical text by Leo Braudy British Film Institute pb [6/2005] for $11.86 |
"La Strada" [Italy Sept 1954]
 | During the hardscrabble times of post-WWII Italy, a gypsy strongman entertainer buys a young girl to act as his assistant. This is a love story – a tragic one.
Co-written & directed by Federico Fellini; music by Nino Rota; starring Anthony Quinn, Giulietta Masina, Richard Basehart & Aldo Silvani; won the first official Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, Oscar nominated for Best Original Screenplay Criterion b&w DVD [8/00] 2 disks for $38.99 Homevision b&w VHS [6/2000] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb; Wikipedia |
1955
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"Marty" United Artists
full credits from IMDb |
1956
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"Around the World in 80 Days" United Artists
full credits from IMDb |
"Giant" [Warner Oct 1956]
 | Directed by George Stevens; based on the Edna Ferber novel; starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Chill Wills, Mercedes McCambridge & Dennis Hopper; won Best Director Oscar, nominated for Best Picture, Best Script, Best Actor (RH & JD), Best Music, Best Editing, Best Costumes, Best Art Direction, Best Supporting Actress (MM)
Warner widescreen color DVD [10/2003] 2 disks for $19.99 Warner widescreen color keepcase DVD [5/2005] for $23.99 Warner Video color VHS [1/2002] 2 tapes - out of prodn/used Warner VHS w/Spanish subtitles [1/2002] 2 tapes - out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb |
 | Novel by Edna Ferber [1952] Harper 8x5.3 pb [9/2000] for $11.20 Buccaneer 9x5¾ hardcover [1/96] for $32.16 BooksOnTape UNABR audio [1/84] for $80.00 |
"The Red Balloon"
aka "Le Ballon Rouge" [France 1956]
 | Written & directed by Albert Lamorisse; starring Pascal Lamorisse; won the Oscar for Best Screenplay even though there is not one word of dialogue in the film; won BAFTA Special Award
Home Vision color VHS [3/96] for $12.71 full credits from IMDb children's book by Albert Lamorisse Doubleday YA 12x8¼ pb [8/78] for $9.71 Doubleday YA 12x8¾ hardcover [8/67] for $11.53 stage musical [1989] book & lyrics by Anthony Clark (music by Mark Vibrans) TCG/Oberon 8¼x5 pb [4/2000] for $16.95 Nick Hern Books hardcover [5/97] out of print/used |
1957
"The Bridge On The River Kwai"
[Columbia Dec 1957]
"The Three Faces of Eve" [1957]
Best Actress Oscar to Joanne Woodward
1958
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"Gigi" MGM
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1959
"Ben-Hur" [M.G.M. ]
full credits from IMDb
more details (synopses, sequels, stageplays, posters, books & ebooks, links, merchandise) on
"Ben-Hur" Novel & Movies Page at Spirit of America Bookstore
1960
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"The Apartment" United Artists
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"The Alamo" [Batjac/United Artists Oct 1960]
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Sam Houston asked Col. Travis to stall Mexico's Gen. Santa Anna's 6,000-man army at the Alamo mission outside San Antonio. The 200 Texicans were joined by Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and others willing to fight to the death to save the new Republic of Texas. Directed by & starring John Wayne; co-starring Richard Widmark, Richard Boone, Laurence Harvey, Frankie Avalon, Patrick Wayne, Linda Cristal, Chill Wills & Denver Pyle; Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Wills), Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Music (Dimitri Tiomkin), won for Best Sound
MGM/UA UNCUT {202 min.} color VHS [12/2001] for $9.94 MGM/UA widescreen [162 min.} DVD [12/2000] for $17.98 Sony soundtrack CD [3/95] for $11.98 full credits from IMDb 11"x17" poster (at left) from Amazon for $9.99 14"x11" poster from Amazon for $9.99 |
"Elmer Gantry"
"Inherit The Wind"
[United Artists Oct 1960]
 | The Scopes vs. State of Kentucky 'monkey trial' of 1925 was a sensational debate over Darwinian evolution and the first U.S. trial broadcast on national radio. Directed by Stanley Kramer; script by Nedrick Young & Harold Jacob Smith, based on the 1955 play; starring Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly, Dick York, Donna Anderson, Harry Morgan, Claude Akins, Noah Beery Jr. & Norman Fell; Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Script, Best Actor {Tracy}, Best Cinematography & Best Editing, BAFTA noms for Best Film & Best Actors (Tracy & March}
M.G.M. b&w DVD [11/2001] for $10.99 M.G.M. b&w VHS [2/97] out of stock/many used full credits from IMDb |
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"Inherit The Wind" playscript [1955] by Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee The play's Henry Drummond lawyer character was modelled on Clarence Darrow, lawyer Matthew Harrison Brady was modelled on politician William Jennings Bryan, and the E.K. Hornbeck reporter character was modelled on H.L. Mencken. Ballantine mass pb [11/2003] for $6.99 Dramatists Play Service 8x5¼ pb [1/96] for $6.50 |
"Macario"
[Mexico June 1960, USA Sept 1961]
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A medieval morality play, set in 18th Century Mexico, and one of the finest examples of Mexican cinema. Co-written & directed by Roberto Gavaldón; co-written by Emilio Carballido, based on a story by B. Traven; starring Ignacio López Tarso, Pina Pellicer, Enrique Lucero, Mario Alberto Rodríguez, José Gálvez & José Luis Jiménez; Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film
Hannover color DVD [12/2003] for $13.46 Connoisseur/Meridian VHS w/English subtitles [1/90] out of stock/used full credits from IMDb |
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