Top 10: Best historical titles

 

1. 55 Days at Peking (1963) - Guy Green, Andrew Marton, Nicholas Ray

 

 

2. My Enemy's Enemy (2007, documentary) - Kevin Macdonald 

 

 

3. The Last King of Scotland (2006) - Kevin Macdonald

 

 

4. Elizabeth (1998) - Shekhar Kapur 

 

 

5. Gandhi (1982) - Richard Attenborough

 

6. The Look of Silence (2014, documentary) - Joshua Oppenheimer

 

 

7. Oppenheimer (2023) - Christopher Nolan  

8. Farewell My Concubine/霸王別姬/Bàwáng Bié Jī (1993) - Chen Kaige

 

 

9. Deadwood - season 1 (2004) - David Milch

 

10. Flags of Our Fathers (2006) - Clint Eastwood

Selected from 51 titles labeled 'historical', 'historical drama' or 'history'

Previous Top 10 lists:

Best action movies
Best adapted movies
Best adventure movies
Best 'big flop' movies
Best B/W movies
Best true story movies
Best 'big hit' movies
Best biopic movies
Best 'box office success' movies
Best car chases in movies
Best comedies
Best cop movies       
Best crime movies 
Best debut movies   
Best Danish movies
Best Disney movies 
Best documentaries 
Best dramas
Best drama-thrillers
Best dramedies

Best drug-themed movies

Best UK movies

Best epic movies

Best erotic movies

Best family movies

Best fantasy movies

Best films about filmmaking 

Best first-of-franchise movies 

Best 'flop' rank movies

Best Twentieth Century Fox titles 

Best French movies

Best franchise movies 

Best future-set movies 

Best gangster movies

Best gay-themed titles

Best German movies 

Best ghost horror movies 

Best gore movies

Top 10: Best HBO titles

Best heist movies

Best high school titles 

What do you think of the list?
Which historical titles would make your personal Top 10?

In a Lonely Place (1950) - Ray and Bogart's dark, Hollywood-set noir

♥♥♥♥

 

Humphrey Bogart is prime real estate on this poster for Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place, which also highlights that the film has a 'surprise finish'

An experienced Hollywood screenwriter gets insight into a book by a reception girl, who is later brutally slain. At the same time as he begins a relationship with his neighbor, he is investigated in the murder case.

 

In a Lonely Place is written by Andrew Solt (The Lusty Men (1952)), based on Edmund H. North's (The Fiercest Heart (1961)) adaptation of Dorothy B. Hughes' (The Delicate Ape (1944)) same-titled 1947 novel, and directed by great Wisconsinite filmmaker Nicholas Ray (They Live by Night (1948)).

To start out this is an enjoyable exposé of Tinseltown, but its tone changes with the murder. Humphrey Bogart's (To Have and Have Not (1944)) character's enormous iciness and unfeeling cynicism is very unsympathetic, so much so that one wonders what ever sexy Gloria Grahame (The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)) sees in him here?

Well shot (by cinematographer Burnett Guffey (The Split (1968))) and elegantly written, the film changes its focus to the shadowy parts of the movie business: Jealousy, hatred, loathing and other negative feelings abound here. The score (by avant garde composer George Antheil (The Plainsman (1936))) is excessive and too abrasive. But the acting is good. Not surprisingly, In a Lonely Place ends up being underlining its being a sad companion.

Related posts:

Nicholas Ray: Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
55 Days at Peking (1963) or, Peking anno 1900

 Flying Leathernecks (1951) - Ray's gung ho, Technicolor aviation spectacle 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: In excess of 3.43 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain but likely at least a big hit

[In a Lonely Place premiered 17 May (New York) and runs 94 minutes. Shooting took place from October - December 1949 in California, including in Los Angeles. Ray's marriage to Grahame fell apart during filming. The film was listed in Variety January 1951 with a 1.375 mil. $ rental, coming to an approximately 3.43 mil. $ domestic gross. A cautious international total of 5 mil. $ is projected. Ray returned with Born to Be Bad (1950). Bogart returned in The Enforcer (1951). In a Lonely Place is certified fresh at 96 % with an 8.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of In a Lonely Place? 

Flying Leathernecks (1951) - Ray's gung ho, Technicolor aviation spectacle

♥♥♥

The thrill of aviation, male rivalry - and a beautiful dame - is all promised on this characteristically red-white-and-blue poster for Nicholas Ray' Flying Leathernecks

Major Kirby takes command of a squadron of Marine fliers before the pivotal WWII battle of Guadalcanal is about to take place.

Flying Leathernecks is a very pro-American war romance-drama, which is perhaps most memorable for the many authentic WWII color clips that are edited into the beautifully Technicolored story. This gives the film an aesthetically messy quality, and some of its effects are dated by today's standards.
The plot is fairly standard for its time: A lax squadron gets a new major, - in this case John Wayne (Island in the Sky (1953)) is the just hammer of a man, - and the Tune Is Changed. In Flying Leathernecks, Robert Ryan (Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)) is the cowardly opponent. At no point are we worried, however, that good will not prevail.
Flying Leathernecks provides entertainment, including some funny supporting characters, SPOILER and its ending take us back to a trite American Dream-type of 1950s fantasy family, which is certainly fascinating.
It is written by James Edward Grant (Special Delivery (1976)), with story by Kenneth Gamet (Santa Fe (1951)), inspired by real-life battle of Guadalcanal hero, Major John L. Smith, and directed by great Wisconsinite filmmaker Nicholas Ray (55 Days at Peking (1963)). A leatherneck is a nickname for a Marine.

Related posts:

Nicholas Ray: Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
55 Days at Peking (1963) or, Peking anno 1900

Watch a 1-minute clip from the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 2.6 mil. $ (North America rentals only)
= Unknown
[Flying Leathernecks was released 28 August (USA) and runs 102 minutes. Ray hired Ryan, because he thought of him as the only actor who could "kick Wayne's ass". Aviator and film producer Howard Hughes financed the film and decided to use color. Shooting took place from November 1950 - February 1951 in California. A near-catastrophe took place on the set in relation to a dynamite explosion. Without budget and foreign box office numbers known, it is impossible to say, if the film was a theatrical hit or miss. Wayne returned in The Quiet Man (1952), Ryan in The Racket (1951). Ray returned with uncredited work on The Racket and as credited director of On Dangerous Ground (1951). 4,037 users at Rotten Tomatoes have given Flying Leathernecks a 3.4/5 average rating.]

What do you think of Flying Leathernecks?

Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

1. We Need to Talk about Kevin (2011) - Lynne Ramsay

2. Anything Else (2003) - Woody Allen 

3. City Island (2009) - Raymond De Felitta

4. Braindead/Dead Alive (1992) - Peter Jackson

5. Dogville (2003) - Lars Von Trier

6. 54 (1998) - Mark Christopher

7. Children of Men (2006) - Alfonso Cuarón

8. The Devil's Backbone/El Espinoza del Diablo (2001) - Guillermo del Toro

9. Blade Runner (1982) - Ridley Scott 

10. 55 Days at Peking (1963) - Nicholas Ray, Guy Green, Andrew Marton

Other great big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date (in alphabetical order)

25th Hour (2002)
Albert Nobbs (2011) 
All Is Lost (2013) 
Amos & Andrew (1993) 
The Believer (2001) 
Bound (1996)
Dark Water (2005) 
Dazed and Confused (1993) 

Good big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date (in alphabetical order)

Art School Confidential (2006) 
Attack the Block (2011) 
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans/Bad Lieutenant (2009) 
Catch-22 (1970) 
Celebrity (1998) 
Cimarron (1960) 
Collateral Damage (2002) 
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) 
Dinner for Schmucks/Dinner with Schmucks (2010) 
Il Divo/Il Divo - La Spettacolare Vita di Giulio Andreotti (2008)
Dogtooth/Κυνόδοντας (Kynodontas) (2009) 
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010) 
Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) 
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011) 
In Real Life/Det Andet Liv (2014) 
Maniac (2012) 
Melancholia (2011) 
Mesrine: Killer Instinct + Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1/Mesrine: L'Instinct de Mort + Mesrine: L'ennemi public n°1 (2008) 
Northwest/Nordvest (2013) 
The Paperboy (2012)
Rango (2011) 
The Sitter (2011) 
Thirteen Days (2000) 
Tusk (2014)
We Shall Overcome/Drømmen (2006) 

Mediocre or poor big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date (in alphabetical order)

15 Minutes (2001) 
16 Blocks (2006) 
A Dangerous Method (2011) 
A Home at the End of the World (2004) 
Arthur (2011) 
Bandidas (2006) 
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) 
Deathwatch (2002) 
The Doom Generation (1995) 
Dreamcatcher (2003) 
Dreamgirls (2006) 
Dune (1984) 
The Frighteners (1996) 
Girl Most Likely/Imogene (2012) 
John Carter (2012) 
John Dies at the End (2012) 
The Mechanic (2011) 
Night of the Living Dead (1990) 
Promised Land (2012) 
Spider (2002) 

[63 titles in all]

Previous Top 10 lists:

The best action movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The best adapted movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
The best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 
The best true story movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

What do you think of the list?
What big flop movies would be on your top 10? 

55 Days at Peking (1963) or, Peking anno 1900

♥♥♥♥♥

The gorgeously painted poster in booming colors for Nicholas Ray, Andrew Marton and Guy Green's 55 Days at Peking

American Marine Major Lewis has to get his Western counterparts to stand shoulder by shoulder in Peking around 1900 in the bloody 'Boxer Rebellion'.
 
Charlton Heston (Planet of the Apes (1968)) is the angular strong-man, who falls for a stoic beauty from Russia (Ava Gardner (The Barefoot Contessa (1954))). David Niven (The Guns of Navarone (1961)) beautifully portrays the over-courteous and feeble-minded Brit, a character who grows in the course of the film.
Dmitri Tiomkin's (Rio Bravo (1959)) music is grand. He was both Oscar-nominated for his score and for the song So Little Time, with Paul Francis Webster (Paytonn Place (1957), lyrics). 55 Days is also the kind of epic where its sets are so big and detailed that one feels compelled to watch without blinking.
Wisconsinite Nicholas Ray (Rebel without a Cause (1955)) was a great director, and he was hired to direct: However, somewhere in the course of doing this, he became so overworked that he collapsed on the set, and Guy Green (A Patch of Blue (1965)) and Andrew Marton (The Longest Day (1962)) finished the job uncredited. Save for a lost horror film and an experimental film, We Can't Go Home Again (1973) and some shorts, this became Ray's last film. 55 Days is written by Philip Yordan (The Bravados (1958)), Bernard Gordon (Crime Wave (1954)) and an uncredited Ben Barzman (The Heroes of Telemark (1965)), with Robert Hamer (They All Died Laughing (1964)) supplying some dialogue.
The film contains both suspense, glamour, destitution and tragedy, SPOILER although the latter is ultimately lightened some by a humane decision committed by Heston's wonderful character. - Epic historical dramas rarely get finer than 55 Days at Peking.

The marvelous water color title still, created by Chinese-American artist Dong Kingman for Nicholas Ray, Guy Green and Andrew Marton's 55 Days at Peking

Here is a short trailer for the film

Cost: 17 mil. $
Box office: 10 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertainty (likely at least a big flop)
[55 Days at Peking premiered 4 May (UK) and runs 153 minutes. The period in Chinese history that the film portrays, influenced, naturally, by its own time, is still controversial today. Ray was reportedly paid a very high salary for directing the film, which made him uneasy that it should become his last, which it sort of did. Filming took place near Madrid in Spain, and 4,000 extras were employed, including many Chinese, who were recruited from restaurants and laundries across Europe, as Spain didn't have enough Chinese people for the mass scenes. The film became the 20th highest grossing in North America for the year, but with its massive budget, it was still a financial disaster, although it was reportedly more successful internationally. - Without those figures, however, it is impossible to make out its precise status, although it was likely at least a big flop. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: It lost Best Score to John Addison for Tom Jones and Best Song to Call Me Irresponsible from Papa's Delicate Condition. Ray returned with now lost horror, The Doctor and the Devil (1965). Green returned with A Patch of Blue (1965). Marton returned with The Thin Red Line (1964). Heston returned in Kraft Mystery Theater (1963, TV-series), The Patriots (1963, TV movie) and theatrically in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965); Gardner in Seven Days in May (1964); and Niven in Burke's Law (1963, TV-series) and theatrically in The Pink Panther (1963).  5,288 IMDb-users have given 55 Days at Peking an average rating of 6.8/10.]

What do you think of 55 Days at Peking?