And the '50s ruled the world

I simply cannot get enough of this decade - only too often have I felt like I should've been born then instead. Sure, it was in its façade the age of the repression: the decade of perfection, the American lifestyle, Doris Day, washing machines and the perfect figures (blessed be the girdle, the corset of the new generations)... but that cover of sweet and dandy hid all the violent feelings that shaped our society to what it is today... and that's what makes it the sexiest decade of an already sexy century.

So, just a couple of my favourite things from the 1950s...

The looks
It simply seemed much harder to be cheesy in that type of clothes - the accentuation of the figure (tight waist, wide skirts), the lovely slippers, the cute hats, the gorgeous accessories and all those chic little haircuts - basically everything that's in all over again (gotta love fashion boomeranging right back)

The birth of rock 'n roll, rockability et all.
Okay, so the historical accuracy police might hit back and say the genre wasn't technically born in the '50s, but as far as we're into this, few things shaped the decade more than its music. It's the age of Sun Records: Sam Phillips' record company gave a whole new vibe of music... and it was fun to dance to, a kick to sing along to and it had a fantastic and new air of revolution... and for a moment we had Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson, and all that crowd that made women faint and parents forbid...
Rock 'n roll lives lives on, babe.

The movies
Absolutely impossible to miss... and who would want to? The moment in time when my personal "Golden Age" of Hollywood occured, there was simply space for everything: enchanting love stories, haunting mysteries, social commentaries, satires, sordid sexual dramas - anything. Ten years lead by the greats: Welles, Hitchcock, Kurosawa, Fellini, Kazan, Wilder, Bergman - what more could anyone ask? Oh, and this, of course, leads us to the next item...

The stars
Guys
This isn't the 30s anymore. While they remain (as they do still) bigger than life creatures, a Hollywood star isn't the completely unapproachable, grand and plain old "better than you" that was before. There new generation of stars don't include a Greta Garbo begging to be left alone nor a Shakespearean, heavily theatre-based Laurence Olivier - oh, no. This "Hollywood youth" is full of trouble-makers that really just don't give a damn. They're there to be cool, to excel, to make history and to be assholes. In jeans and t-shirts they went on screen to light up the world - and so they did.

Marlon Brando
A bastard? Quite probably. Insane? Evidence seems to point that way. Rebellious? To the core. A total babe? Like few before or after. The greatest actor that ever breathed? Goddamn it, yes. A screen power often imitated and most rarely achieved, He was the Messiah of cinema - the great guide towards grander things. In a still rather new industry where few actors seemed to have a clue of what to do when being filmed, Brando and his intense Method acting showed the way and left immense footsteps to be followed - had he only appeared in A Streetcar Named Desire, film acting would've still owed him its very basis. To the conqueror of Hollywood: many thanks, love.


Montgomery Clift
One of the most absolutely gorgeous men ever filmed (and the one with the best ass, as one can see from this picture) and, quoting darling Liz, "easily one of the better actors". A tortured soul and a very emotionally intense actor, Monty was considered, along Brando as one of the best actors around that actually looked like an angel as well. Unfortunately for him, he suffered first-hand the restrictions of his time: a closeted homosexual, he was forced to hide his sexuality; and, on top of that, at 35 he smashed his car into a telephone pole and, while saved by good friend Elizabeth Taylor, lost his formerly gorgeous looks and seemingly his self-confidence, drowning in an alcoholism that would ultimately destroy his life - considered the "longest suicide in Hollywood" - and even then, before and forever, he will always be one of the great Hollywood stars.

James Dean
If ever a single name had a meaning, that was James Dean and rebellion. The man that became a name, and the name that became an icon, James Dean is, along with Elvis, the most recognizable person in the decade - and this with only three films! Achieving immortality through dying (contrary to what Woody Allen desires to do) nobody can deny James Dean his iconic status - and how drop dead gorgeous he was as well. Granted, I find him to be the poor man's Marlon Brando (Brando himself said he was trying to copy his lifestyle and once advised him to "get help" - how screwed up must you be for Marlon Brando to tell you to see a shrink?) and I feel he basically played extensions of the same role in his three films (though to a lesser extent in Giant) - but hey, you just gotta love a cute icon.

Paul Newman
So, fine, his "era" was probably the 60s, or all his major roles were then anyway - but he started out in the 50s, and, quite honestly, there's enough of him to fill every decade. The sexiest and most gorgeous creature ever to have been filmed, Paul Newman is one of those oddities that not only looked like a Greek god, but was born with the charm and talent to support them. In reality a lifelong devotee to good food, fast cars and Joanne Woodward, Paul Newman was for decades an icon of the silent, cold, charming and downright hot bad-ass characters - and we love every minute of it. Specially when he didn't have his shirt on.

Girls
The screen mermaids of the 50s were exactly that - beautiful, stunning, enchanting and downright volcanic. Their up's and down's followed closely by the media, their relationships, their outbursts, their every move... and that constant scrutiny sort of taught them to be unpredictable - and so they were. My four favourite 50s beauties:

Grace Kelly
The beauty who became an actress. The actress who became a princess: the lady that became a legend. Elegant, well-mannered, cultured, well-spoken, beautiful beyond words and the very image of class: Grace Kelly was the ice princess, the grace of a lifestyle, the status of a time. The ultimate Hitchcock blonde, this sophisticated daughter of Philadelphia was born to shine. With a film career that spanned roughly three or four years, she achieved her place in the sun with a quiet talent and her ability to marry well (almost too well). She became the face of the people of Monaco and the trademarked image of a serene, royal calm - but to me, she will always remain the adrenalin-junkie Frances Stevens that chases Cary Grant around Montecarlo in To Catch a Thief.

Audrey Hepburn
The thin, delicate and beautiful beauty of Audrey Hepburn has been talked about for decades. An icon of fashion, a goodwill ambassador, a perpetual fighter against wrongness - Audrey was a dreamy creature. Hers was a Cinderella-like story: brought up in Holland during World War II, she went through starvation and was persecuted - and still, when possible, the then-ballet dancer gave some of her performances income to the Resistance movement. An out of this world personality, Audrey emerged as trapped princess Anya in William Wyler's Roman Holiday and worked her way into history after that - and she will remain, always, loverly.

Natalie Wood
Re-reading the entry I came upon the realization that I actually hadn't mentioned Natalie... after two or three hours of self laceration I came to the editing page to add the woman that not only was a landmark in Hollywood, but a drop dead gorgeous creature, someone who unfortunately suffered more than her fair share - and my personal childhood idol from the moment I first saw West Side Story at seven. The utterly fascinating Californian beauty was born from Russian emigrants to a stage-crazed mother that practically sold her to movie studios (and movie directors...) at a very early age - psychologically, something Natalie had to fight against throughout her entire life.

Elizabeth Taylor
The most beautiful woman ever filmed. Someone who went through it all: a nonexisting childhood, an eternal poor healthy, a wild love life ("I do" seemingly being her two favourite words), and even a swim with sharks; Elizabeth Taylor (Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton Burton Warner Fortensky) is not only the woman I personally look up to as an idol - but in the 50s and 60s, there was simply not anybody bigger. A rocky life and a sizzling talent have kept her in the worldly headlines for 50 years - after two Oscars, seven husbands, two buried best friends (Monty and Rock Hudson), a couple of million dollars and rolls of film: Elizabeth was, is, and will always be, a star, an icon and a heartfelt and passionate human being. Bless her.

Tu me tues... tu me fais du bien

My favorite '50's romance is the wonderful, breath-taking Hiroshima Mon Amour. Beautiful in every aspect and very moving, it's a mix of dreamy fiction and frightening reality. An evocatively romantic analysis of a world still aching with the atomic bomb, Hiroshima Mon Amour is absolute cinematic perfection, and truly heartbreaking in every possible way.

A less-than-cheerful decade, I for one identify the '50's more with blunt passion than with actual romance. After all, it's the decade of the closet feelings, of the inner demons, of the secret affections, of the underground sexual revolutions. And I'll mention the two Pulitzer prize-winning Tennesse Williams plays that were later adapted for the screen as the example of this whole 50's feeling: Elia Kazan's A Streetcar Named Desire and Richard Brooks' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.


Since, in more ways than one, it was indeed James Dean's decade (even if he only was a big name for two years of it - he truly owned it) might just add my favorite of the bunch: Rebel Without a Cause. While probably outdated, it's still effective and reaches its purpose, and it's some of the best work by both Dean and the god-like creature that was Natalie Wood.



For a sexual revolution to be underground, necessarily there must be something covering up for it. That way, the magical era of downright adorable MGM musicals saw its greatest days, with the ever so gorgeous Gene Kelly leading the way. And so two of the best musicals in history were born: Vicente Minnelli's An American in Paris and the Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen wonderful, wonderful Singin' in the Rain (quite possibly the best musical ever made - or, at the very least, the most representative of the genre)


Oh, but there's so much to say for this wonderful, wonderful decade, in just about every possible aspect. As there were passion-driven stories, there were some of the old stories of undying love at first sight. Another fantastic film from this decade is that exactly, but with the characteristic "twist" into a darker theme; George Stevens' A Place in the Sun, with the ever gorgeous pair of Elizabeth and Montgomery Clift.


Also, as far as the classic love story with a twist, Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece and most definitely the one truly strong love story of his filmography, Vertigo. Acted wonderfully by both James Stewart and Kim Novak (specially the latter), it's a story of love, betrayal and deceit, adding some espionage and an "out of this world" spice - and you get Hitchcock perfection.

Now, for the downright sappy, the stand-out "tearjerker" of the decade, An Affair to Remember (possibly most known for being referenced in Sleepless in Seattle as the "chick flick" of choice). Now, while it does venture into cheese in its entirety, the movie doesn't truly lose any points over it - however corny it might be, it's impossible not to adore it... at least if you're female.



A bit about my three favorite romantic comedies of this decade: the first, lovely beyond reason, features the first big role by one of the true goddesses of cinema... Audrey Hepburn in her adorable portrayal of princess Anya in Roman Holiday, one of so many movies that Hollywood has produced to prove, for the millionth time, that there's just something about iconic European cities in summer time...

The wild, silly, and tremendously funny comedy of sex change (no, not Ed Wood's Glen or Glenda) by the amazing Billy Wilder, Some Like It Hot, simply cannot go unmentioned. Most definitely not the same old "boy meets girl" affair, this "girl meets... girl/boy meets... boy" story, while seemingly simple, ends up simply exploding in its own ridicule, and every single second of it is to die for.

Now, for the most fabulous of the Rock Hudson/Doris Day comedies: Pillow Talk. A messy, hilarious story of the best "showy" screwball type. The music, the costumes, the performances - the whole thing, almost 50 years later, remains, still, absolutely fresh and downright cute. And damn, Rock Hudson was a babe.


And, a pic from An American in Paris, because the damn thing wouldn't fit where it was supposed to...