Years & Movies: 1954

The first place in the list of the best, according to FilmGourmand, films of the world cinema of 1954 belongs to the film of Federico Fellini "La Strada".

The film premiered in September 1954 at the Venice Film Festival, where the film was nominated for the main prize - the Golden Lion. For the same award, the film "Senso (The Wanton Contessa)" claimed another coryphaeus of Italian cinema - Luchino Visconti. The competition was so fierce that it led to a real fight between Franco Zefirelli, who considered Visconti to be his teacher, and Moraldo Rossi, Fellini's assistant. The jury of the film festival had no choice but to award the Golden Lion to the third film - "Romeo and Juliet" by Renato Castellani.

But Fellini's "La Strada" was not left without an award: Silver Lion was awarded to this film.

It is difficult to say whether the scandal at the Venice Film Festival or any other reasons influenced, but the demonstration of La Strada in other countries began only two years later. And then, in 1956, Fellini's masterpiece began to collect international film awards, including prestigious ones: the Danish Bodil Prize and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Moreover, "La Strada" was the first film in Oscar history to be awarded this prize in this nomination.

Then, in 1956, the film "La Strada" obtained two nominations for the British BAFTA Prize. One - for the best movie. And the other - for Giulietta Masina as the best actress. From this moment began the world fame of Federico Fellini's wife. And also appeared in the cinematic routine nickname of Giulietta Masina - "Chaplin in a skirt."

The image of the main character of the picture - Gelsomina - was born from photographs of Giulietta Masina at the age of 10. And the character of the protagonist - Zampanò - Fellini wrote off from the person of his childhood. In the hometown of Fellini - Rimini - there lived a castrator of pigs, who "took" all the girls in the city, and one mentally defective - left pregnant.

13 years after the premiere, the film "La Strada" reached the screens of Soviet cinemas. True, in a truncated form for 21 minutes. Frankly, I still did not understand why Soviet censors did not like the episodes in the monastery and some others that they had to be cut out. Maybe one of the adherents of the Soviet film distribution will explain this?

Film critics of all countries overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the Fellini film. Although, it should be noted that our esteemed Roger Ebert was a little "greedy": he gave the film only three and a half stars out of 4 possible.

The success of the film among the viewers is undeniable: 70% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users rated the film from 8 to 10.

According to FilmGourmand, the rating of the film "La Strada" is 9.608, and this film masterpiece occupies 72nd Rank in the Golden Thousand.

In addition to the Fellinian La Strada, the top ten films of the 1954 world cinema, according to FilmGourmand, included:

- On the Waterfront, by Elia Kazan, USA. Movie's Rating - 9,565; 79th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Shichinin no samurai 七人の侍 (Seven Samurai), by Akira Kurosawa, Japan. Movie's Rating - 9,308; 102nd Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Sanshô dayû 山椒大夫 (Sansho the Bailiff), by Kenji Mizoguchi, Japan. Movie's Rating - 8,970; 173rd Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Rear Window, by Alfred Hitchcock, USA. Movie's Rating - 8,535; 307th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Верные друзья (True Friends), by Mikhail Kalatozov, USSR. Movie's Rating - 8,526; 314th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Hobson's Choice, by David Lean, UK. Movie's Rating - 8,380; 375th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Dial M for Murder, by Alfred Hitchcock, USA. Movie's Rating - 8,173; 498th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Nijûshi no hitomi 二十四の瞳 (Twenty-Four Eyes), by Keisuke Kinoshita, Japan. Movie's Rating - 8,153; 523rd Rank in the Golden Thousand.
- Les diaboliques (The Devils), by Henri-Georges Clouzot, France. Movie's Rating - 7,963; 764th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

10 most "cinegenic"*, in our opinion, events of 1954:

- Transfer of Crimea to Ukraine. In the USSR, by the decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, in violation of the Constitution of the USSR in force at that time, the Crimean region was transferred from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR. At the same time, the city of Sevastopol was not part of the Crimean region either at that moment or after. It is believed that in this way Khrushchev tried to appease the Ukrainian people, many of whom he had destroyed in previous years, in an effort to earn Stalin's favor.
- Testing a hydrogen bomb. The United States on the Marshall Islands conducted a test of a hydrogen bomb, which power 500 times surpassed the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima (Japan). Several hundred islanders were subjected to radioactive contamination. In addition, the resulting radioactive ash has covered the Japanese fishing schooner Daigo Fukuryū Maru, all 23 fishermen received a lethal dose of radioactive contamination.
- The Battle of Dien Bien Phu. In the Vietnamese city of Dien Bien Phu there was a major battle between the army of France and Vietnam. The French garrison capitulated.
- Suicide of Getulio Vargas. In connection with the acute political and economic crisis, Brazilian President Getulio Vargas committed suicide.
- Nuclear tests in the USSR. In the USSR, at the Totsky training ground under the leadership of Marshal Zhukov, military exercises with the use of atomic weapons were held. As a result, according to unconfirmed reports, 45,000 military personnel and 10,000 civilians received varying degrees of exposure.
- The beginning of the Algerian revolution. The struggle for liberation from the colonial rule of France began in Algeria.
- Flight of Vladimir Petrov. Soviet diplomat and intelligence officer Vladimir Petrov and his wife sought and received political asylum in Australia. In this connection, the USSR broke off diplomatic relations with this country.
- Launch of the world's 1st nuclear power plant. The first nuclear power plant in the world was launched in Obninsk in the USSR.
- Chlef earthquake. An earthquake hit the Algerian province of Chlef, killing more than 1,200 people.
- The death of the ferry Toya Maru. In Japan, the Toya Maru rail ferry crashed and sank. According to official figures based on the number of tickets sold, 1,153 people died. But many passengers got on board the ferry without tickets.

Besides Joel Cohen, Emir Kusturica, James Cameron, Ron Howard, Ang Lee were born.

* -With "cinematic" in the present context, we mean events that either have already found their reflection in world cinema, or deserve to become the basis of the plot of a future film.