settima

1950s

The Big Combo (Joseph H. Lewis, 1955)

Jun

24

spaghetti

The Big Combo (1955)

A man in a bathrobe (Ted de Corsia) lifts undrained, slightly overcooked spaghetti from a white enamel pan onto a plate. The overcookedness may be caused by this movie's horrible horrible AI “restoration”. DP: John Alton.

“I couldn't swallow any more salami.”

– Mingo

Caged (John Cromwell, 1950)

Jun

20

prison chow

Caged (1950)

The girls eating their grub. It'd be Marie Allen's (Eleanor Parker) first of many. DP: Carl E. Guthrie.

“What I'd give for a sink full of dirty dish.”

– Millie

Suddenly, Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1959)

Jun

7

Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)

Catherine (Elizabeth Taylor) and a man in white, seen from the back, eating alfresco near a beach. DP: Jack Hildyard.

“My son – Sebastian – and I constructed our days. Each day we would carve each day like a piece of sculpture, leaving behind us a trail of days like a gallery of sculpture until suddenly, last summer.”

– Mrs Vi Venable

Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951)

May

16

doubles

Strangers on a Train (1951)

Guy Haines (Farley Granger) and Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker), two strangers on a train. DP: Robert Burks.

“I still think it would be wonderful to have a man love you so much he'd kill for you.”

Domenica d'agosto [Sunday in August] (Luciano Emmer, 1950)

Apr

29

spaghetti di mamma

Domenica d'agosto (1950)

Marcella (Anna Baldini) enjoying mamma's spaghetti on the beach of Ostia. DPs: Leonida Barboni, Ubaldo Marelli & Domenico Scala.

Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, 1957)

April 20

20

oysters

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster) pulling Sidney Falco's (Tony Curtis) tie over cocktails and oysters. DP: James Wong Howe.

“I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic.”

– J.J. Hunsecker

Raggare! [Blackjackets] (Olle Hellbom, 1959)

Apr

3

Raggare! (1959)

Bibban, a beaming blonde (Christina Schollin) in a petticoat, at a small bar table smoking a cigarette. There's an half-empty glass and a full ashtray next to her. Just offscreen the object of her smile: a smartly dressed man reaching for his glass. DPs: Frank Dalin & Bertil Palmgren.

Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959)

Mar

12

Pickpocket (1959)

Michel (Martin LaSalle) in a busy café, observing. An emptied water glass next to the thief should make him look like a paying guest. DP: Léonce-Henri Burel.

“Can we not admit that certain skilled men, gifted with intelligence, talent or even genius, and thus indispensable to society, rather than stagnate, should be free to disobey laws in certain cases?”

– Michel

Hägringen [Mirage] (Peter Weiss, 1959)

Feb

12

Hägringen (1959)

An uncomfortably close close-up up of a man's mouth eating something. Tongue and mouth are visible. He's got stubble. DP: Gustaf Mandal.

Weegee’s Coney Island [Coney Island] (Arthur “Weegee” Fellig, 1954)

Feb

10

Good Humor

Weegee’s Coney Island (1954)

Two chubby ladies on Coney Island's beach eating chocolate-coated ice cream bars on a stick, I guess Good Humor bars. The women both wear black shapeless bathing suits. One of them has a pink towel over her shoulders and her hair in rollers. The framing shows only part of the couple, but tells you all you need to know. DP: Weegee.