1957 — Paths Of Glory
Despite being a war picture with horrific fighting sequences, Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory derives its true grandeur, drama, and anguish from the film’s central trial. An excessively eager and corrupt commander needs someone to blame for a disastrous battle; instead of accepting responsibility, he selects one soldier from each company and court martials them for cowardice. Colonel Dax (the renowned Kirk Douglas) rises to the occasion as the three men’s defense attorney. The struggle of the common soldier is at the forefront of Paths of Glory from the start – the corporals are required to carry out instructions that the commanders themselves would never have dreamed of. The guys are sentenced to death despite Dax’s testimony to the contrary.
1957 — Paths Of Glory
1958 — Vertigo
With his newest pursuit of mistaken identification, Alfred Hitchcock, the perennial Master of Suspense, departed from his own thriller formula. Hitchcock re-teamed with one of his favorite actors, Jimmy Stewart, to create a story about unrequited love and the spiral into lunacy. Stewart’s Scottie Ferguson is a retired detective who is called back into service when an old acquaintance begs him to follow his wife Madeline (Kim Novak) – Scottie does so and falls in love with her in the process. Scottie is in an almost unbearable state of grief after Madeline falls to her death. He soon meets Judy, a lady who resembles Madeline (also Novak) and who may be the answer to his lonely existence.
1958 — Vertigo