Movies of the 1950s

On the Edge
Movies from the decade of Cold War paranoia, Pop art, and Nouvelle Vague

At a time when people were terrified of UFOs and Communism, the film industry was busy producing movies that ranged from film noir to grandiose musicals. The paranoid public in the 1950s apparently craved family entertainment and dark, brooding pictures in equal doses.

The result is a decade's worth of truly monumental cinema, from Hitchcock masterpieces (Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window) to comedy classics (Tati's Mr. Hulot's Holiday, Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot), from groundbreaking Nouvelle Vague films (Truffaut's The 400 Blows) to profound, innovative dramas like Antonioni's L'avventura, Fellini's La Strada, John Huston's Misfits, and Kubrick's Paths of Glory.