Referenews

What was the greatest decade in the history of American movies? For Foster Hirsch, the answer is obviously the 1950s, a period whose glorious output included “All About Eve” (1950), “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950), “Sunset Boulevard” (1950), “An American in Paris” (1951), “From Here to Eternity” (1953), “Rear Window” (1954), “East of Eden” (1955), “The Searchers” (1956), “Vertigo” (1958) and “Some Like It Hot” (1959)—to name but 10.

As exhilarating as that span was, the movie industry itself was experiencing a number of crises. As Mr. Hirsch observes in “Hollywood and the Movies of the Fifties,” the government forced studios to sell their theaters on antitrust grounds, while increasing numbers of moviegoers stayed home to watch their new televisions. Creative types had provocative stories to tell, rousing the wrath of censors—even as congressional committees investigated the presence of Communists in the business. Mr. Hirsch, a professor of film at Brooklyn College and the author of many books, has written an entertaining survey of this productive and problematic period.