Best Films - 1955
by Andre Soares
The guilty pleasure of all guilty pleasures. An unabashedly sentimental story about East meets West, a bland performance by leading man William Holden (Sunset Boulevard, Network), an awful (and awfully long) title. That’s 20th Century Fox’s Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing. Yet, the film does offer gorgeous locations (Hong Kong and surrounding areas), superb color cinematography (Leon Shamroy), a rousing, romantic score (Alfred Newman), several good directorial touches (Henry King), and a beautifully modulated performance by leading lady Jennifer Jones (The Song of Bernadette, Carrie). A huge hit at the time of its release, Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing is the type of movie that will either make you sick or touch you profoundly. Come to think of it, chances are it’ll work both ways.
FILM
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
All That Heaven Allows
L’Arte di arrangiarsi / The Art of Getting Along
Bad Day at Black Rock
Interrupted Melody
Lady and the Tramp
The Rose Tattoo
The Seven Year Itch
Summertime
DIRECTOR
Henry King (Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing)
Michelangelo Antonioni (Le Amiche / The Girlfriends)
Curtis Bernhardt (Interrupted Melody)
Carl Dreyer (Ordet / The Word)
David Lean (Summertime)
Daniel Mann (The Rose Tattoo)
Douglas Sirk (All That Heaven Allows)
John Sturges (Bad Day at Black Rock)
Billy Wilder (The Seven Year Itch)
Luigi Zampa (L’Arte di arrangiarsi / The Art of Getting Along)
ACTOR
Ernest Borgnine (Marty)
James Cagney (Love Me or Leave Me)
Tom Ewell (The Seven Year Itch)
Glenn Ford (The Blackboard Jungle)
Glenn Ford (Trial)
Cary Grant (To Catch a Thief)
Preben Lerdorff Rye (Ordet / The Word)
Frank Sinatra (The Man with the Golden Arm)
Alberto Sordi (L’Arte di arrangiarsi / The Art of Getting Along)
Spencer Tracy (Bad Day at Black Rock)
ACTRESS
Anna Magnani (The Rose Tattoo)
Julie Adams (The Private War of Major Benson)
Eleonora Rossi Drago (Le Amiche / The Girlfriends)
Susan Hayward (I’ll Cry Tomorrow)
Katharine Hepburn (Summertime)
Jennifer Jones (Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing)
Marilyn Monroe (The Seven Year Itch)
Eleanor Parker (Interrupted Melody)
Barbara Stanwyck (The Violent Men)
Jane Wyman (All That Heaven Allows)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Arthur Kennedy (Trial)
Louis Calhern (The Blackboard Jungle)
Tim Hovey (The Private War of Major Benson)
James Robertson Justice (Land of the Pharaohs)
Henrik Malberg (Ordet/ The Word)
Raymond Massey (East of Eden)
Arthur O’Connell (Picnic)
Robert Ryan (Bad Day at Black Rock)
Rod Steiger (The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell)
Peter Ustinov (Lola Montès)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Rosalind Russell (Picnic)
Vivian Blaine (Guys and Dolls)
Nana Bryant (The Private War of Major Benson)
Valentina Cortese (Le Amiche / The Girlfriends)
Chumbala Devi (Pather Panchali / Song of the Road)
Virginia Grey (The Rose Tattoo)
Katie Johnson (The Ladykillers)
Jessie Royce Landis (To Catch a Thief)
Jo Van Fleet (East of Eden)
Jo Van Fleet (I’ll Cry Tomorrow)
SCREENPLAY
Billy Wilder & George Axelrod (The Seven Year Itch)
Vitagliano Brancati & Luigi Zampa (L’Arte di arrangiarsi / The Art of Getting Along)
Suso Cecchi d’Amico & Alba de Cespedes (Le Amiche / The Girlfriends)
Peg Fenwick (All That Heaven Allows)
Millard Kaufman (Bad Day at Black Rock)
David Lean & H. E. Bates (Summertime)
John Patrick (Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing)
Satyajit Ray (Pather Panchali / Song of the Road)
Daniel Taradash (Picnic)
Tennessee Williams (The Rose Tattoo)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Gunnar Fischer (Sommarnattens leende / Smiles of a Summer Night)
Henning Bendtsen (Ordet / The Word)
Robert Burks (The Trouble with Harry)
Jack Hildyard (Summertime)
James Wong Howe (Picnic)
Milton Krasner (The Rains of Ranchipur)
Bruno Mondi (Sissi)
Leon Shamroy (Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing)
Harry Stradling (Guys and Dolls)
Robert Surtees (Trial)
ORIGINAL SCORE
Alfred Newman (Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing)
Georges Auric (Lola Montès)
Alessandro Cicognini (Summertime)
Giovanni Fusco (Le Amiche / The Girlfriends)
Anton Profes (Sissi)
Ravi Shankar (Pather Panchali / Song of the Road)
Frank Skinner (All That Heaven Allows)
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