Ikiru, Japan, 1952, 143 min. Starring Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko. Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Touching story of a man who, upon learning that he does not to have long to live, vows to make his mark on the world. Kurosawa regular Shimura shines in the title role.

Viva Zapata!, USA, 1952, 113 min. Starring Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, Anthony Quinn. Directed by Elia Kazan. Kazan joined with screenwriter John Steinbeck to paint this energetic portrait of the man who led the Mexican Revolution to victory, only to learn a lesson about the price of power. Quinn won an Oscar for his role as Brando's tempestuous brother.

Tokyo Story, Japan, 1953, 136 min. Starring Chishu Ryu, Chieko Higashyama, Setsuko Hara, Haruko Sugimura. Directed by Yasujiro Ozu. Simple story of an elderly couple who live in the country going to visit their grown sons and daughters in Tokyo. Unfortunately they do not get quite the welcome they expected, nor, it turns out, do their notions of their children's lives correspond to the reality of the situation. Ozu's films stand in sharp contrast to the action-packed spectacles of his fellow countryman Kurosawa, as they unfold in leisurely fashion, giving them an air of dynamic realism. Frequent Ozu collaborator Ryu convincingly plays a man much older than he actually was, and among the cast Sugimara stands out as the widowed daughter-in-law who turns out to be far more of a devoted to the couple than their actual offspring.

Mr. Hulot's Holiday, France, 1953, 86 min. Starring Jacques Tati, Nathalie Pascaud. Directed by Jacques Tati. Tati introduces the popular character he would play in three more subsequent films by sending him to the beach, where complications, of course, ensue. It's quite easy to see why some value Tati in the same way they do predecessors such as Chaplin and Keaton.

Rear Window, USA, 1954, 112 min. Starring James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Photographer Stewart finds himself housebound and bored after he breaks his leg, but manages to find entertainment observing the lives of those in the apartments around the well inside his building. Only entertainment takes a backseat to intrigue when he begins to suspect one of the neighbors of having killed his wife. Hitchcock shrewdly turns the camera back on the audience in a jab at the joys of voyeurism that, of course, are such an integral part of the movie-watching experience. Grace has never looked lovelier as Stewart's gal pal who allows herself to get involved in the mystery and Burr is suitably menacing as the is-he-or-isn't-he-a-killer neighbor.