American Cinema of the 1950s: Themes and Variations »

From cold war hysteria and rampant anticommunist witch hunts to the lure of suburbia, television, and the new consumerism, the 1950s was a decade of sensational commercial possibility coupled with dark nuclear fears and conformist politics. Amid this amalgamation of social, political, and cultural conditions, Hollywood was under siege: from the Justice Department, which pressed for big film companies to divest themselves of their theater holdings; from the middleclass, whose retreat to family entertainment inside the home drastically decreased the filmgoing audience; and from the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was attempting to purge the country of dissenting political views. In this difficult context, however, some of the most talented filmmakers of all time, including John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Vincente Minnelli, Nicholas Ray, and Billy Wilder produced some of their most remarkable work.

Bringing together original essays by ten respected scholars in the field, American Cinema of the 1950s explores the impact of the cultural environment of this decade on film, and the impact of film on the American cultural milieu. Contributors examine the signature films of the decade, including From Here to Eternity, Sunset Blvd., Singin' in the Rain, Shane, Rear Window, and Rebel Without a Cause, as well as lesser-known but equally compelling films, such as Dial 1119, Mystery Street, Suddenly, Summer Stock, The Last Hunt, and many others.

Provocative, engaging, and accessible to general readers as well as scholars, this volume provides a unique lens through which to view the links between film and the prevailing social and historical events of the decade.

Acknowledgments     ix
Timeline: The 1950s     xi
Introduction: Movies and the 1950s   Murray Pomerance     1
1950 Movies and Landscapes   Mary Beth Haralovich     21
1951 Movies and the New Faces of Masculinity   Kristen Hatch     43
1952 Movies and the Paradox of Female Stardom   Sumiko Higashi     65
1953 Movies and Our Secret Lives   Rebecca Bell-Metereau     89
1954 Movies and the Walls of Privacy   Michael DeAngelis     111
1955 Movies and Growing Up ... Absurd   Jon Lewis     134
1956 Movies and the Crack of Doom   Barry Keith Grant     155
1957 Movies and the Search for Proportion   Murray Pomerance     177
1958 Movies and Allegories of Ambivalence   Adrienne L. McLean     201
1959 Movies and the Racial Divide   Arthur Knight     222
Select Academy Awards, 1950-1959     245
Works Cited and Consulted     251
Contributors     265
Index     269