Rebel Without a Cause (1955 Nicholas Ray)

Still in Natalie Wood mode we see the 16-year old winning her first Oscar nomination across from James Dean (24, died just before film's release) and puppy dog Sal Mineo. Ray shoots especially the family scenes really well, often at an angle, and there's a terrific moment where domineering mother Ann Doran gets involved in fight with dad Jim Backus (great*) and the camera tilts. The acting is all good but Dean is so extraordinarily real that it's a wonder he wasn't nominated himself.

Subject matter must have been sensational when film was released, and still just as relevant. The character Dean plays is not the Rebel of the title, however - he is in fact trying to be a decent man.

Still has very exciting scenes, e.g. fight outside planetarium, chicken race. Well lit by Ernie Haller in CinemaScope, great score by Leonard Rosenman.

I love colour films from the fifties. There's something about the artificiality of them that I like. Even the way way the shot quality deteriorates at each dissolve...

* Much work on TV, known for something called Gilligan's Island and as the voice of Mr Magoo.