Cinema: CURRENT & CHOICE, Dec. 17, 1956

The Magnificent Seven. Blood and thunder in medieval Japan, with overtones of agrarian allegory, masterfully directed by the man (Akira Kurosawa) who made Rashomon (TIME, Dec. 10).

Marcelino. A miracle play filled with a shining sweetness, made in Spain by Director Ladislao Vajda (TiME. Nov. 26).

Vitelloni. One of the best of the Italian-made movies—a biting but not bitter satire of small-town life, by Federico Fellini, who directed La Strada (TIME, Nov. 5).

Around the World in 80 Days. Producer Mike Todd, with the help of Jules Verne, 46 stars and $6,000,000, has created what is certainly the most spectacular travelogue ever seen on the screen (TIME, Oct. 29).

Wee Geordie. The stiffest comic punch the British have delivered since High and Dry—an intoxicating mixture of Scotch and wry; with Bill Travers, Alastair Sim (TIME, Oct. 29).

Giant. In a big (3 hr. 18 min.), tough picture based on Edna Ferber’s bestseller about Texas, Director George Stevens digs the rowels of social satire into the soft underbelly of U.S. materialism; with Rock Hudson. Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean (TIME, Oct. 22).

Lust for Life. Perhaps the finest film biography of an artist (Vincent van Gogh) ever made in Hollywood; almost a hundred of Van Gogh’s paintings are shown in full, fulminating color on the screen; with Kirk Douglas (TIME, Sept. 24).

War and Peace. An uneven but brilliantly pictorial treatment of Tolstoy’s great novel, with some outstandingly good battle pieces; with Henry Fonda, Audrey Hepburn. Mel Ferrer (TIME, Sept. 10).