The 10 Worst Films of the 1950's

Here is a continued look at the worst movies of the decade. This time we take a look at the ten worst films of the 1950's. As usual I am not going for obvious choices like the slew of bad monster movies or teen dramas. You will not see such titles as "I Was A Teenage Frankenstein" or "Attack of the Crab Monsters" or "High School Confidential." The list includes major movies with top actors and directors.

Here are the top ten films in alphabetical order:

THE CONQUERER (1956) - One of the all time terrible movies is this epic starring John Wayne in his worst performance ever as Genghis Khan (!). This laughably bad epic was produced by Howard Hughes and directed by actor Dick Powell. Powell later claimed that when he first read the script he (wisely) threw it in the wastebasket in his office. When he returned a short time later he found Wayne sitting on the couch reading the script. For whatever reason Wayne was enamored with it and talked Powell into directing and later said, "You don't say 'no' to John Wayne." Unfortunately no one had the guts to tell Wayne he was completely wrong in the role and ended up embarrassing himself to a degree that would have ended many others careers. A sad footnote to the film was that it was shot in Utah near an Atomic bomb testing sight and most of the cast and crew would later contract and die of cancer.

THE EGYPTIAN (1954) - This biblical soap opera is one of the most unintentionally funny movies ever made. The film is slow and ponderous and only comes to life when Bella Darvi, mistress of Daryl F. Zanuck, shows up to spout lines that you can barely understand due to her heavy accent.

A FAREWELL TO ARMS (1957) - Ernest Hemingway's beautiful, poetic novel about a romance between a soldier and a nurse in WWI was turned into a heavy handed soap opera with Rock Hudson in the lead and Jennifer Jones (aka Mrs. David O. Selznick) playing a nurse meant to be almost 20 years younger then she was. Selznick's constant interference lead to problems with director John Huston, who was fired mid-production. This dud marked the end of Selznick's career.

JET PILOT (1957) - Howard Hughes' aviation adventure starred John Wayne and Janet Leigh as highflying lovers. The film does, admittedly, have some impressive aerial sequences but the story is a whole lot of nothing going nowhere fast. The film was completed in 1951 and Hughes spent six years in post-production trying to get every frame of the film to his satisfaction. By the time the film was released Leigh had gone onto bigger and better things and Wayne disowned the film. Smart man the Duke was.

PRIDE AND THE PASSION (1957) - Epic battle film takes place in the 19^th Century about a British captain (Cary Grant) and his men capturing a cannon in Spain. The thin storyline carries the film only so far and then becomes boring and repetitive with more then half the film still left. Grant looked terribly uncomfortable in his costume and his famous accent sounded ridiculous here.

SAINT JOAN (1957) - Otto Preminger's awful rendition of the famous play by George Bernard Shaw is perhaps best known for the film debut of Jean Seberg, 17, discovered after a much-publicized nationwide talent search. Unfortunately Seberg is awful in the role and her newfound career almost died right there. Thankfully she went on to many more bad movies (what can you say about a career whose zenith was Airport?) before tragically dying at the age of 39 when she apparently lost her mind and tried to convince people her refrigerator was talking to her and planning to kill her.

THE SILVER CHALICE (1954) - This biblical piece of nonsense is best known today as the film debut for Paul Newman. Newman is so jaw-droppingly awful in the lead that it's a testament to him that he was able to recover and go on to the career we all know and love. Newman himself called it "the worst film of the 50's" and it's hard to argue. To further distance his fans Newman took out a full-page ad in Variety apologizing for his performance and pleading with fans to skip it at all costs.

STORM CENTER (1956) - Bette Davis turned in one of her worst performances as a librarian who gets caught up in political intrigue with Communism and censorship issues. The film may have been timely when released due to the Red Scare hearings with Joseph McCarthy but it's heavy-handed and silly.

VENDETTA (1950) - Howard Hughes strikes yet again with this costume drama about a woman who is determined to avenge the murder of her father. The film's star, Faith Domergue, was Hughes' mistress at the time which can only explain how such a bad actress could get a lead role. As usual Hughes overspent on the film with his perfectionist attitude and actually went through 5 different directors to get the film completed. Hughes yet again spent an inordinate amount of time (two years) editing and re-editing and by the time the film was ready for release Domergue had exited Hughes's life. Hughes apparently lost interest in the film and released it with no fanfare or publicity whatsoever.

YOU'RE IN THE NAVY NOW (1951) - Gary Cooper starred in this insanely stupid comedy about a WWII battleship whose captain has to suffer the indignity of having the dumbest crew this side of Iwo Jima. There is nary a laugh to be found here but Cooper redeemed himself the very same year by winning an Academy Award in "High Noon." Sometimes Hollywood can forgive a turkey.