my favorite movies of 1952:

(1) Sudden Fear

(2) Singin’ in the Rain

(3) Forbidden Games

(4) Ikiru

(5) Limelight

(6) Don’t Bother to Knock

favorite of 1952:

Sudden Fear

(Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, Gloria Grahame. Directed by David Miller.)

One thing I love about Sudden Fear is how you know when you’re watching the exact emotional moment described by the title. Another thing I love about this film noir is the point later on when you realize you’re seeing a little movie within the movie: a fantasy sequence of events showing how the protagonist (Joan Crawford) wants it to end. You know it can’t simply work out like that, because then the movie would be too redundant. But you don’t know what’s going to happen — what will go wrong or right …

Why do you look at me like that?

I was just wondering what I’d done to deserve you.

Stream Sudden Fear on Tubi (free with ads), Kanopy, or these sites.

 

2nd favorite of 1952:

Singin’ in the Rain

(Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor, Jean Hagen. Directed by Kelly, Stanley Donen.)

What do they think I am, dumb or something? Why, I make more money than Calvin Coolidge put together!

Do you recognize Jean Hagen in that photo from any other movie on my list? She’s the woman in the video for my second choice from 1950, The Asphalt Jungle. Hard to believe it’s the same person.

Stream Singin’ in the Rain on Max.

 

3rd favorite of 1952:

Forbidden Games

[French: Jeux Interdits]

(Brigitte Fossey, Georges Poujouly. Directed by René Clément.)

A 5-year-old girl (Brigitte Fossey) who’s been orphaned by air strikes in World War II is taken in by a family that includes a boy a few years older than her (Georges Poujouly). At first she shows no emotion about her parents’ death, instead grieving over her dog, who also died in the strikes. In a misguided attempt to help the young girl, the boy has them start an animal graveyard, complete with stolen crosses. Why do the kids play this touchingly inappropriate game? It’s the only way they know how to process feelings no child should have to live with, in a world that’s been ruined by adults.

Stream Forbidden Games here.

4th favorite of 1952:

Ikiru

[Japanese, meaning “To Live”]     生きる

(Takashi Shimura, Miki Odagiri, Yūnosuke Itō, Nobuo Nakamura. Directed by Akira Kurosawa.)

The comedian Patton Oswalt is very excited about this Kurosawa movie in the video below:

I remember … I won’t name the show, but there was a producer on a show who told me: “I’ve always wanted to — but it feels sadistic to do this — take the writing staff on a Friday afternoon, show them the film Ikiru, and then see who comes back in on Monday.” Because it is one of those movies … where you watch it and you genuinely rethink your life.

Watching a movie about an old man who’s dying of cancer might not sound like your idea of a fun time. But this movie is less about death than about searching for ways to have a meaningful life.

We only realize how beautiful life is when we face death, and even then few of us realize it. … It’s our human duty to enjoy life. Wasting it is desecrating God’s great gift. We have to be greedy for life.

Stream Ikiru on the Criterion Channel (with extras including commentary), Max, or Kanopy. If you don’t have accounts on any of those sites, try a free 14-day trial of the Criterion Channel, or rent it on one of these sites.  

 

5th favorite of 1952:

Limelight

(Charlie Chaplin, Claire Bloom, Sydney Chaplin, Buster Keaton. Directed by Charlie Chaplin.)

Limelight has been called Charlie Chaplin’s “most deeply personal and introspective film.” He plays an aging, washed-up clown who’s jaded about his own life, but still has hope to offer to a dancer struggling with depression (Claire Bloom, in her first significant movie role).

I want to forget the public.

Never. You love them too much.

I’m not so sure. Maybe I love them, but I don’t admire them.

I think you do.

As individuals, yes. There’s greatness in everyone. But as a crowd, they’re like a monster without a head that never knows which way it’s going to turn. It can be prodded in any direction.

Stream it on the Criterion Channel (with extras), Max, or Kanopy. If you don’t subscribe to the Criterion Channel, try a free 14-day trial.

6th favorite of 1952:

Don’t Bother to Knock

(Marilyn Monroe, Richard Widmark, Anne Bancroft, Elisha Cook Jr., Jeanne Cagney. Directed by Roy Ward Baker.)

Marilyn Monroe plays a mentally disturbed babysitter in Don’t Bother to Knock, which takes place entirely in a hotel. This movie suffers from trying to cram several aspects of mental illness into a brisk hour and 15 minutes; if it were made today it would be longer and more introspective. It might not be a great movie, but Marilyn Monroe is great in it. We can appreciate the depth of her performance better today than audiences could at the time, now that we know of her real-life tragedy.

In this scene, she’s babysitting a sleeping kid while putting on the mother’s clothing, makeup, and jewelry without permission:

Stream Don’t Bother to Knock on these sites.

Click here for the full list of my favorite movie(s) of each year from 1920 to 2020.