Movies of the 50s

The 50s were the decade of Elvis and Marilyn, UFOs and Godzilla, the Cold War and the Red Scare, a bubbling ferment of reaction and revolt. In the 50s, the moving image was triumphant, not only on the silver screen but also in the living rooms of the Western world. TV stole audiences away from the movie palaces, but it also promoted the cult of celebrity; suddenly, film actors were pop stars. In the 50s, the cinema reflected society’s deepest fears and desires: Hollywood translated the real terror of the Bomb into sci-fi shockers, while coming-of-age movies catalyzed the first youth rebellion. James Dean and Marlon Brando embodied a new type of individualist hero with a smoldering and curiously androgynous sex appeal. As the old studio system gradually dissolved, directors acquired greater freedom, and the movies could risk subversive and dissident tones. But the real cinematic revolution was happening in its birthplace, Paris, where a handful of dynamic young directors created a new cinematic language. In short: the 50s marked the transition to a truly modern cinema.