Must-sees of 1956
The titles hereby listed have been selected out of 109 1956-released works seen.
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50 titles
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsRentarô MikuniShôji YasuiTatsuya MihashiA conscience-driven Japanese soldier traumatized by the events of WWII adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsFrançois LeterrierCharles Le ClaincheMaurice BeerblockA captured French Resistance fighter during World War II engineers a daunting escape from a German prison in France.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneJeffrey HunterVera MilesAn American Civil War veteran embarks on a years-long journey to rescue his niece from the Comanches after the rest of his brother's family is massacred in a raid on their Texas farm.
- DirectorYasujirô OzuStarsChikage AwashimaRyô IkebeTeiji TakahashiA young man and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless relationship while he has an extramarital romance.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsSetsuko HaraShûji SanoKyôko KagawaThis wry chamber piece from director Mikio Naruse focuses on a couple whose pet peeves and minor irritations escalate into major rifts and animosity.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsMachiko KyôAiko MimasuAyako WakaoThe personal tales of various prostitutes who occupy a brothel.
- DirectorBudd BoetticherStarsRandolph ScottGail RussellLee MarvinA former sheriff blames himself for his wife's death during a Wells Fargo robbery and vows to track down and kill the seven men responsible.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsKevin McCarthyDana WynterLarry GatesA small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
- DirectorYûzô KawashimaStarsMasayuki MoriTatsuya MihashiMie KitaharaHaruki Murakami is a successful family man and the head of a camera company. Unbeknownst to Murakami, his arrogant son oscillates between a mistress and a new lover who sings at a nightclub. When Murakami's disabled daughter befriends the mistress, the affair throws the family into turmoil.
- DirectorPietro GermiStarsPietro GermiLuisa Della NoceSylva KoscinaThe railroad engineer Andrea Marcocci has been working with his partner and friend Gigi Liverani for thirty years and feels happy and proud of his work, drinking wine after hours with his friends in a bar owned by the former railroad man Ugo. Andrea is married to Sara, and his young son Sandro is very close to him; however, Andrea has issues with his unemployed son Marcello and with his pregnant daughter Giulia, whose boyfriend Renato Borghi was forced to marry her. After a suicide crosses the tracks of his train in a curve, Andrea feels deeply affected by the accident and almost collides with another train. The railroad company investigates the accident and steps Andrea down from his position. The domestic life of Andrea is also affected by his aggressive behavior and Marcello and Giulia leave home. Later Andrea also leaves home and starts to drink until the day Sandro visits him in a bar.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsPaul NewmanPier AngeliEverett SloaneBoxer Rocky Graziano's biopic, based on his autobiography, from childhood to his World Middleweight Championship title win at age 28 in 1947.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsSterling HaydenColeen GrayVince EdwardsCrook Johnny Clay assembles a five-man team to plan and execute a daring racetrack robbery.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsDana AndrewsRhonda FlemingGeorge SandersA serial killer has been killing beautiful women in New York and the new owner of a media company offers a high ranking job to the first of his senior executives who can get the earliest scoops on the case.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsRock HudsonLauren BacallRobert StackAlcoholic playboy Kyle Hadley marries the woman secretly loved by his poor but hard-working best friend, who in turn is pursued by Kyle's nymphomaniac sister.
- DirectorAlbert LamorisseStarsPascal LamorisseSabine LamorisseGeorges SellierA red balloon with a mind of its own follows a little boy around the streets of Paris.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsHenry FondaVera MilesAnthony QuayleIn 1953, an innocent man named Christopher Emanuel "Manny" Balestrero is arrested after being mistaken for an armed robber.
- DirectorYûzô KawashimaStarsMichiyo AratamaYukiko TodorokiSeizaburô KawazuA couple stand indecisively on a bridge in Asakusa. Tsutae and Yoshiji have lost confidence and passion for their future as they get on the bus for Tsukishima and get off at Suzaki. Across the bridge they see the sign for Suzaki Paradise, a red-light district where Tsutae once worked as a prostitute. Tsutae spots an ad for a waitress at a bar near the bridge and she rushes in to get the job. The kind hearted madam, Tokuko, helps them out by hiring Tsutae and finding work for Yoshiji delivering noodles. But the wanton Tsutae is soon attracted to Ochiai, a rich, generous man who owns an electrical shop specializing in radios.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsKarl MaldenCarroll BakerEli WallachAn immature, naive teenage bride holds her anxious husband at bay while flirting with an amorous Sicilian farmer.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsDeborah KerrJohn KerrLeif EricksonA new senior at a boy's prep school, finds himself harassed by the machismo culture of his classmates and the unfeelingly behavior by his father, only being treated with decency by his roommate and with affection by the coach's wife.
- DirectorMaxwell ShaneStarsEdward G. RobinsonKevin McCarthyConnie RussellA New Orleans musician has a nightmare about killing a man in a strange house but he suspects that it really happened.
- DirectorRussell RouseStarsGlenn FordJeanne CrainBroderick CrawfordIn the western frontier town of Cross Creek, storekeeper George Temple is a polite and soft spoken man with a secret past. When 3 bank robbers on the lam stop in town to change horses, George's past comes back to haunt him.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsAkira IshihamaKatsuo NakamuraSadako SawamuraA young man ignores his mother's pleas and becomes drawn to a life of crime.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliGeorge CukorStarsKirk DouglasAnthony QuinnJames DonaldThe life of brilliant but tortured artist Vincent van Gogh.
- DirectorCamillo MastrocinqueStarsTotòPeppino De FilippoGiulia RubiniThree decent but clumsy men facing economic difficulties reluctantly start to fabricate counterfeit bills; the son of one of them is the cop who follows the case, ignoring his father's involvement.
- DirectorMauro BologniniStarsAntonella LualdiFranco InterlenghiSergio RaimondiThe film is about some youths' love stories: Franco and his hairdresser girlfriend Adriana, Otello another hairdresser who is hopelessly in love with Adriana. The youths usually meet in a restaurant whose owner, Ines, seduces Franco making Adriana very jealous. In turn the girl decides to accept Otello's courting.
- DirectorFred M. WilcoxStarsWalter PidgeonAnne FrancisLeslie NielsenA starship crew in the 23rd century goes to investigate the silence of a distant planet's colony, only to find just two survivors, a powerful robot, and the deadly secret of a lost civilization.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsPinaki SenguptaSmaran GhosalKamala AdhikariFollowing his father's death, a boy leaves home to study in Calcutta, while his mother must face a life alone.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsGregory PeckRichard BasehartLeo GennThe sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain's self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsKinuyo TanakaIsuzu YamadaHideko TakamineOtsuta is running the geisha house Tsuta in Tokyo. Her business is heavily in debt. Her daughter Katsuyo doesn't see any future in her mothers trade in the late days of Geisha. But Otsuta will not give up. This film portraits the day time life of geisha when not entertaining customers.
- DirectorCamillo MastrocinqueStarsTotòPeppino De FilippoDorian GrayTwo clumsy provincial uncles visit a metropolis to stop the relationship between their nephew and a woman of ill repute.
- DirectorJean-Pierre MelvilleStarsRoger DuchesneIsabelle CoreyDaniel CauchyAfter losing big, an aging gambler decides to assemble a team to rob a casino.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsElizabeth TaylorRock HudsonJames DeanSprawling epic covering the life of a Texas cattle rancher and his family and associates.
- DirectorGerd OswaldStarsBarbara StanwyckSterling HaydenRaymond BurrKathy leaves the newspaper business to marry homicide detective Bill but is frustrated by his lack of ambition and the banality of life in the suburbs. Her drive to advance Bill's career soon takes her down a dangerous path.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsJack PalanceLee MarvinEddie AlbertIn 1944, an American Infantry company sets up an artillery observation post, but tensions between Captain Cooney and Lieutenant Costa run high.
- DirectorMark RobsonStarsHumphrey BogartRod SteigerJan SterlingAn ex-sportswriter is hired by a shady fight promoter to promote his latest find, an unknown but easily exploitable rising star from Argentina.
- DirectorCamillo MastrocinqueStarsTotòPeppino De FilippoFranco InterlenghiAntonio and Peppino live in a small town in central Italy: Peppino is the barber, Totò is maintained by the rich but avaricious wife Teresa.
- DirectorMikio NaruseStarsHideko TakamineToshirô MifuneKeiju KobayashiA young woman tries to raise money to open her own coffee shop.She arranges a loan when her rigid family won't help and then her husband becomes jealous of the loan officer.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsKô MishimaTorahiko HamadaKeiko KishiA group of rank-and-file Japanese soldiers are jailed for crimes against humanity, themselves victims of a nation refusing to bear its burdens as a whole.
- DirectorYûzô KawashimaStarsRyûtarô TatsumiYôko MinamidaShirô ÔsakaIn 1906, a man returns to Japan after finishing a job in the Philippines, only to discover that his lover is dying, leaving him a baby girl.
- DirectorMauro BologniniStarsAlberto SordiPeppino De FilippoAldo FabriziThis is the (funny) story of four Roma traffic police agents in the 1950s. Their lives are crossed in affairs that often go beyond mere job relationships. 'Guardia scelta' (special agent) Giuseppe, an aspiring composer, wants to write an anthem for the Roman traffic police. 'Guardia' (agent) Alberto Randolfi has a too-strong inclination to fine everyone and is dreaming about learning French. 'Brigadiere' (sergeant) Pietro Spaziali is busy looking after his little son Tonino and daughter Maria who is engaged to marry a boxer. The 'Maresciallo' (Marshal) tries to manage and solve all the troubles they attract.
- DirectorMario MonicelliStarsElsa MartinelliGabriele FerzettiWalter ChiariDonatella is a simple and honest Roman girl, daughter of a bookbinder and girlfriend of Guido, a gas station owner.
- DirectorNicholas RayStarsJames MasonBarbara RushWalter MatthauA seriously-ill schoolteacher becomes dependent on a "miracle" drug that begins to affect his sanity.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsGilles QuéantDirector Chris Marker begins by recounting his childhood dream of visiting the city of Peking, a city he was once only able to admire in books. The viewer is taken on a journey through this city, as if experiencing it from the mind and through the eyes of Marker.
- DirectorVivian MilroyLotte ReinigerJan SadloStarsAnthony JacobsBarbara RuickA nativity story animated with music performed by the Glyndeboume Festival Chorus.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsIneko ArimaKeiji SadaYôko KatsuragiA botanist woos the secretary of an industrialist whose company threatens the local water supply.
- DirectorBudd BoetticherStarsJoseph CottenRhonda FlemingWendell CoreyAn unhinged, deceptively mild-mannered bank robber escapes prison, seeking revenge on the cop who accidentally killed his wife during a gun battle.
- DirectorAlessandro BlasettiStarsSophia LorenCharles BoyerMarcello MastroianniA photographer named Corrado snaps a picture of Antonietta. When it shows up on the front page of a magazine, she wants to take him to court over it.
- DirectorMasaki MôriStarsTomisaburô WakayamaAkemi TsukushiChieko SômaOiwa has been searching for the one who killed her father for a long time. She comes to Yedo and sees a man named Naosuke. The film is based on the kabuki classic: Toukaidou Yotsuya Kaidan (1826) written by Tsuruya Nanboku and is one of the most famous ghost stories throughout Japan.
- DirectorAllan DwanStarsJohn PayneRhonda FlemingArlene DahlAn urban wheeler-dealer gets involved in organized crime, corrupt city politics and graft while falling in love with the fiancée of the newly elected mayor.
- DirectorRonald NeameStarsClifton WebbGloria GrahameRobert FlemyngIn order to fool the Germans into thinking the Allied invasion of Sicily will take place elsewhere, British Military Intelligence comes up with a cunning ruse.