Category Archives: Zeitgeist Movement

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right a right which, we hope and believe, is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can may revolutionize, and make their own of so much of the territory as they inhabit. Speech by Abraham Lincoln in the House of Representatives, January 12, 1848

In December 2016, Washington State Representatives Matt Shea, Bob McCaslin, and David Taylor sponsored House Joint Memorial 4000, which would create the "State of Liberty," the 51st state, out of the portion of Washington State east of the Cascades. Opponents are saying such a move would be unconstitutional.

Sheas bill explains the impetus for the proposed partition: "Since statehood, the lifestyles, culture, and economies of eastern and western Washington have been very distinct and dramatically different, while the urbanization and rapid growth in the western portions of the state has progressively heightened this divergence of cultural and economic values between the western and eastern portions of the state."

Culturally, the area of the propsed State of Liberty, eastern Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming are all similar, and have been termed derisively by the Left as the "American Redoubt," a land of ignorant bigots, homesteaders, Bible-thumpers, preppers, gun nuts, and the like. But some residents of this cultural region are proudly adopting the term "Redoubt," noting that liberals have their "redoubts": socialist havens such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, New York, etc.

Conservative journalist Sheri Dovale explained the popularity among constitutionalists of the area that includes the proposed State of Liberty in a May 27 article for redoubtnews.com. Calling the American Redoubt a great place to live and to raise a family, she said, the weather is comfortable, it is not too crowded, and it is not overblown with government regulations. We can share our Conservative views and not be incarcerated for them. We can garden and preserve the fruits of our labors. We can raise livestock and provide meat for our families. We can go to church and share the word of God without fear, she added.

In an exclusive statement to The New American, Representative Shea reveals not only the popularity of the proposal, but the prospect for prosperity such a separation would bring: "Liberty State is hugely popular of over 10,000 people polled there is 74% support in eastern Washington. Seattle continues to disparage us on this side of the state and say we are a bunch of welfare freeloaders because we get more money expenditures than we raise in taxes. If we are such a burden then why not let us go then? This is not going away. Ultimately we will have success in this endeavor and keep pushing until we do."

An article published in Liberty Hangout lays out the plan, highlighting obstacles and opportunities:

If the bill succeeds, this would be an important domino for the secession movement, and help inspire other disaffected communities across the nation to secede. As governments decentralize, power is restored to the individual, and communities can appropriately govern themselves as they see fit, without outside influences. As even our founders recognized, the government which is closest to home is easiest to control.

Should the bill fail, communities ought to learn from their efforts and push forward with their own secession movements anyway. For if their voices are not being heard in the federal and state governments anyway, then what do they have to lose? They only have everything to gain.

Strictly speaking, should a new star be added to the flag of the United States for the State of Liberty, secession from the Union would not be involved (though this would involve secession from the state of Washington). Despite the fact that articles and blog posts by many supporters describe the proposal as act of secession, logically a state cannot leave the Union (secede) and be the 51st state!

In a recording posted to SoundCloud last week, Representative Shea refuted the assertion put forth by some opponents that the division of a state into two or more states is unconstitutional.

Thats simply ridiculous! Shea exclaims, referring to the charge of constitutional violation.

Shea cites Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution which reads, New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.

In other words, should lawmakers in the states parts of which would be ceded to form the State of Liberty agree to allow the division and should Congress do likewise, there is nothing in the Constitution that would prevent the proposal from being enacted.

In fact, this precise procedure has been followed a few times in American history: first, with the formation of the state of Kentucky. In 1789, the state legislature of Virginia approved the creation of the state of Kentucky, followed two years later by the constitutionally mandated approval by Congress; second, the state of Maine was formed in a similar fashion having separated from Massachusetts; and in 1861 in a manner much less constitutionally compliant West Virginia separated from Virginia.

Shea believes that separating from the other states and forming one where people share customs, beliefs, and values is the proper way to protect and preserve those beliefs for generations to come.

Classically, of course, the idea of restraining republics to territories wherein the residents share fundamental values was accepted as a given. In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu asserts that the public good is better felt, better known, lies nearer to each citizen. In this, the celebrated Frenchman was advocating a small size and the State of Liberty, should it be formed, is certainly not small.

The spirit of Montesquieus observation is present in the proposal, however. Those who would choose to become citizens of the State of Liberty would be those who, as explained above by Sheri Dovale, share a vision of the proper size and power of government, as well as more fundamental values, including the importance of religion, family, and self-sufficiency in a well-functioning, peaceful society.

As of now, there seems to be little movement on the part of the Washington State Legislature toward approving the separation. After all, proposals to form a new state out of Eastern Washington were put forth in 2015, 2005, 1991, 1985, and even as far back as 1915; none of which, obviously, succeeded.

Such lack of movement for separation is not not true globally, however, as evidenced by Brexit and the efforts by Scotland and Catalan to break away from the larger societies with which they are close geographically, but historically and culturally very distant. Perhaps these events are portents of a zeitgeist supportive of separation and decentralization and that spirit will sweep across the Cascades and across the State of Liberty.

Representative Shea is undeterred, and told me in a text message, "Liberty is not just a proposed state, it's a state of mind and the more we spread liberty the more successful we are."

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Is Proposed "State of Liberty" Constitutional? - The New American

Ottawa Sun

New collection of Canadian and indigenous art is National Gallery's largest ever Ottawa Sun Mayer acknowledged the significance of the collection amid the movement in Canada for Truth and Reconciliation. ... And the government is responding to the zeitgeist that Canada is moving in a positive direction and we're following along, said Mayer. and more »

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New collection of Canadian and indigenous art is National Gallery's largest ever - Ottawa Sun

In US academic tradition, university administrators choose commencement speakers they believe embody the zeitgeist of their institutions and as such, will be able to inspire graduating students to take that spirit with them into the world outside.

In this context, it makes perfect sense that Ayman El-Mohandes, dean of the Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy at City University of New York (CUNY), invited Linda Sarsour to serve as commencement speaker at his facultys graduation ceremony.

Sarsour embodies Mohandess values.

Mohandess Twitter feed makes his values clear. His Twitter feed is filled with attacks against Israel.

Mohandes indirectly accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of wishing to commit genocide. Netanyahu, he intimated, wishes to throw the Arabs in the sea.

He has repeatedly libeled Israel as a repressive, racist, corrupt state.

Mohandes has effectively justified and legitimized Islamic terrorism and the Hamas terrorist regime in Gaza. The Islamic terrorist assault against Israel, led by Hamas from Gaza, is simply an act of desperation, he insists.

By Mohandess lights, Hamas terrorists are desperate not because they uphold values and beliefs that reject freedom, oppress women and aspire to the genocide of Jewry and the destruction of the West. No, they are desperate because Israel is evil and oppressive.

Who could Mohandes have chosen to serve as his commencement speaker other than Sarsour, given his positions? Sarsour, the rising star of the Democratic Party, not only shares Mohandess values and positions, she has taken those common values and positions and amplified them on the national stage.

Sarsour has taken support for Islamic terrorism and Jew hatred positions that not long ago were considered beyond the pale in the Democratic Party and moved them into the mainstream of the Democratic Party.

In fact, Sarsour has gone far beyond Mohandes. She has left him in the dust with her willingness to shill for radical Islam and its oppression of women and express openly her desire to see Israel destroyed while embracing Islamic terrorists and murderers.

Whereas Mohandes generally has shielded himself from accusations of bigotry, support for Hamas, and misogyny by basing his Twitter posts on statements by non-Muslim opponents of Israel like Kenneth Roth from Human Rights Watch, Sarsour has publicly embraced Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists.

She unapologetically justifies Islamic misogyny, attacks opponents of Islamic misogyny and terrorism and whitewashes Islamic violence against women.

Indeed, Sarsour has mainstreamed all of these things by fusing support for Islamic terrorism, misogyny and antisemitism with black anti-white racism and leftist hatred for police and law enforcement agencies more generally.

So in light of Sarsours trailblazing role in advancing Mohandess apparent values as signaled through his Twitter feed, his decision to have her speak to his graduating class this Thursday is entirely understandable.

The only truly challenging aspect of Mohandess invitation is that he didnt tell the truth about why he chose to honor her. He didnt say he invited her for her pioneering work in mainstreaming antisemitism, anti-Americanism, anti-white bigotry, Islamic misogyny and terrorism in the Democratic Party.

To the contrary, he hid those things.

Mohandes wrote that he invited Sarsour to speak at commencement because her work has emphasized womens health issues in the New York area.

No it hasnt.

At least, not unless you consider calling for women to have their vaginas carved out emphasizing womens health issues.

In 2011, Sarsour used her Twitter feed to call for precisely that in a shocking verbal assault against two female icons Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who has dedicated much of her career to protecting Muslim girls from female genital mutilation and was herself victimized by the barbaric practice, and Brigitte Gabriel, who as a Lebanese Christian suffered firsthand the wrath of Islamic supremacism during the Lebanese Civil War.

In Sarsours words, Brigitte Gabriel= Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Shes asking 4 an a$$ whippin. I wish I could take their vaginas away they dont deserve to be women.

Earlier this month, during a speech at Dartmouth College, Sarsour was asked by a student how her professed feminism could be squared with her expressed support for genital mutilation of her ideological opponents.

Sarsours response was telling.

First, she delegitimized the student, insisting that since he is a young white man he had no right to ask her such a question.

Then, she intimated that she never wrote the offensive post.

Then, she insisted that her words are unimportant because she wrote them when she was in her 20s. (She was 31 in 2011).

In her uplifting words, People say stupid sh*t sometimes, right? Finally, Sarsour insisted that what she said is irrelevant.

I will be judged by my impeccable record for standing for black lives and immigrant rights, and womens rights and LGBT rights. You judge me by my record and not by some tweet you think I did or did not tweet 10 years ago or seven years ago, or whenever it was.

But if we judge her by her record, we see the only thing that is impeccable about it is her consistent, unapologetic defense of Islamic misogyny, terrorism and Jew hatred.

Sarsour has been extolled for her championing of womens rights by former president Barack Obama, and New York Senator Kristin Gillibrand. But it is not clear when she has ever done so in her own community.

For instance, as Ian Tuttle reported in National Review, in 2014 Sarsour (who was then leading efforts to fuse the Black Lives Matter movement with anti-Zionism) published an article on CNN.com titled, My hijab is my hoodie.

There Sarsour conflated the death of Trayvon Martin with the 2012 murder of Shaima Alawadi.

Alawadi was a Muslim woman who was beaten to death in her California home.

Sarsour alleged that Alawadi was murdered because of Islamophobia. But this was a lie. And it would be bizarre if Sarsour didnt realize it was a lie when she wrote the article.

If Islam had anything to do with Alawadis murder, it may have served as a justification for her Muslim husbands decision to beat her to death. Her husband was arrested for her murder in 2012. He was convicted and sentenced to 26 years to life in prison in 2014.

That wasnt the only time that Sarsour used false allegations of American anti-Muslim bigotry to whitewash Islamic misogyny.

In 2014 she took to her Twitter feed to defend Saudi Arabias treatment of women while belittling Saudi gender apartheid that among other things, bars women from driving cars.

In her words, 10 weeks of PAID maternity leave in Saudi Arabia. Yes PAID. And ur worrying about women driving. Puts us to shame.

In 2015, she extolled Sharia law, which among other things allows men to marry four women and sanctions wife beating and child brides.

As she did in her defense of Saudi misogyny, Sarsour defended Sharia by ignoring its hatred of women and pretending it is no different from progressive socialism.

Again turning to Twitter, she wrote, Youll know when youre living under Sharia law if suddenly all your loans and credit cards become interest free. Sounds nice, doesnt it? As for LGBT rights, Sarsour pretends to support them. But she is silent about the systematic oppression of homosexuals in Muslim society.

With everything related to Jews and Israel, Sarsour has been outspoken in her bigotry, support for terrorism and anti-Jewish supremacism. Sarsour is a leader of the antisemitic boycott, divestment and sanctions movement that seeks to bar pro-Israel voices from college campuses and wider American society.

Sarsour was one of the organizers of the anti-President Donald Trump womans marches in January. Yet, Sarsour insists Zionist women cannot be feminists.

She recently publicly embraced a Hamas terrorist. She rejects any cooperation with Jewish groups that support Israel. Her relatives have been served time in Israeli prisons for terrorist activities on behalf of Hamas. Hamas of course, calls for the genocide of world Jewry in its charter.

Sarsour supports the Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh who murdered two Israeli students in a bombing in a Jerusalem supermarket in 1970.

The most notable aspect of Sarsours impeccable record is that it is all in the public square. She has hidden nothing.

This tells us the most distressing thing about the Lefts decision to promote her. The Left is empowering Sarsour not despite her views, but because of them.

She is being elevated by CUNY, by the Democratic Party and by major American media outlets because she mainstreams Jew hatred, anti-Zionism and Islamic misogyny, not despite the fact that she does those things.

Sarsour has been rightly condemned by opponents of Islamic misogyny, supremacism and terrorism and by supporters of Israel.

But the truth is shes not the real problem.

The real problem is that Mohandes was right to invite her. Not only does she share his values, she embodies the zeitgeist of the American Left today.

A version of this piece also appeared onThe Jerusalem Post

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Linda Sarsour and the progressive zeitgeist - Accuracy In Media

When he was interviewing politicians on BBC2s Newsnight, it was often said that the presenter Jeremy Paxman lived by the old journalistic motto: Why is this lying bastard lying to me?

That is also the credo adopted by Emma Banville, the central character in Fearless, ITVs absorbing new six-part legal thriller. Played with characteristic panache and passion by the actress Helen McCrory, Emma is a human rights lawyer whose speciality is defending lost causes. Her whole career has been based on questioning the powers that be and refusing to accept the official line.

According to the Fearless series creator Patrick Harbinson (who also worked with McCrorys husband Damian Lewis on Homeland), the character is inspired by the work of lawyers like Gareth Peirce and Helena Kennedy.

In Fearless, which begins on 12 June, Emmas defiant attitude comes to a head when she sets out to clear the name of a man convicted of murder 14 years previously. Convinced that he has been the victim of a miscarriage of justice, the idealistic lawyer takes drastic measures to prove his innocence.

But as she delves into the background of the case, Emma becomes aware of sinister forces within the police and intelligence services that could jeopardise her professional and personal lives.

And yet despite these threats, Emma will not be cowed. She remains a fully paid up member of The Awkward Squad. In McCrorys eyes, such tough, independent-minded people play a vital role in our society.

The Independent is chatting to the actress, who has been acclaimed for her work in everything from Hugo and Penny Dreadful to Peaky Blinders and the final three Harry Potter films, in an ITV boardroom at a gigantic wooden table that would not look out of place on The Apprentice.

Known for her dedication to her work she won the Critics Circle Best Actress Award in 2015 for her blazingly intense performance as Medea McCrory is far more light-hearted in real life.

Looking slim and a decade younger than her 48 years, McCrory is dressed in a brown silk shirt and black trousers. She has a winning sense of humour. For instance, she develops an elaborate and long-running gag during our interview that I may well possess a secret, cross-dressing alter ego who goes by the name of Hallelujah Bangkok.

Helen McCrory as PollyGray in'Peaky Blinders' (BBC)

The actress, who has two young children with Lewis, goes on to joke that the canaps we have been offered during our interview are not nearly sophisticated enough. I want oysters that speak to you in several languages before you eat them, she laughs.

But McCrory also has the knack of providing serious and thoughtful analysis of her work. She is certainly impassioned in her defence of civil-rights campaigners such as Emma. Its absolutely right that you question the Establishment thats the whole point of our democracy.

Britain has always, always applauded that. In no other country do people get OBEs for criticising the Establishment. We celebrate that in Britain because we know that it makes us one of the greatest democracies in the world.

It is that sort of crusading approach which marks Emma out. Her courageous pursuit of the truth is also pertinent in an age where we have to be constantly suspicious of being fed fake news and alternative facts.

Emma risks everything her career and her house in order to find the truth, McCrory continues. She has a fundamental distrust of the party line. Shes always questioning and refusing to take things at face value. If you believe everything that youre told, that can be very dangerous.

Last night, for example, Google had to take down a story that everyone thought was true, but was actually fake news. Emma questions everything, and thats absolutely in tune with the zeitgeist. It chimes with whats going on now right across the world.

She playedCherie Blair in 'The Queen' with Michael Sheen as Tony Blair(Rex Features)

The actress, who has also won awards for her stage work in The Last of the Haussmans and Macbeth, believes that the character of Emma reflects a very laudable, and often underrated side of our society. Of course, there are extraordinary people like the human rights lawyers Gareth Peirce and Michael Mansfield. Many investigative journalists do something similar to counterbalance the Establishment.

But even if were not that extraordinary, I think people do that in their daily lives. People are fearless. They do things for others. They walk into overcrowded inner city classrooms where some children have behavioural problems every morning and just keep going.

McCrory, who played Cherie Blair in both The Queen and The Special Relationship, adds that, There is a positivity about Fearless because its about people who put something back into society. There is this widespread idea that everyone is out for themselves, but thats simply not true. I dont think thats the normal human condition.

We are lied to. We are told were selfish and only interested in money and the way we look, but I think that is wrong. Theyre not the people that surround me or the people I meet in the street.

What the individualistic Emma also represents is a reaction against the homogenisation of our culture. I think theres a huge backlash against that, and Emma is part of it, McCrory observes. Shes a lone wolf.

She doesnt feel she is part of some enormous tribe or great movement. She doesnt want to be like everybody else. Shes trying to make life worth something more than her own petty problems. But that costs her hugely. She has to make immense sacrifices.

McCrory asNarcissaMalfoy in'Harry Potter and the DeathlyHallows' (Courtesy of Warner Bros Pictures)

McCrory and her husband are two of the busiest and most successful actors in the country. So how will they organise their lives and make sure their household runs smoothly? We do everything very badly! laughs the actress.

I dont know how we juggle. There is a lot of unsexy diary time. Were constantly organising things. Thats why I never get to watch anything on TV! Im continually trying to work out what were doing tomorrow and if the kids are now old enough to drive themselves to school!

She carries on that, Every night we just shout, Everyone alive? Yes? Lights out! But thats OK. We have definitely established Im not a perfectionist, but thats the only way to do it. Its chaos, but its happy chaos.

Next up, McCrory is reprising her role as the steely Polly in Peaky Blinders, Steven Knights beautifully made BBC1 drama about the Shelby crime family in 1920s Birmingham. Its really struck a chord, the actress affirms.

It does what the Americans have always done so well and we usually never do: it romanticises the past. We are normally very apologetic about the past. Steven turns the working man into a hero - not just any hero, but a hero filmed by John Ford.

So what is coming up on the horizon for this most charismatic actress? She has already starred as a government minister in one James Bond film, Skyfall. Could McCrory ever envisage moving into the lead role and picking up 007s martini, shaken not stirred? Yes, absolutely! Why not? Why not?

Its time for a female Bond!

Dont bet against her!

'Fearless' starts on ITV at 9pm on Monday 12 June.

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Helen McCrory on Fearless, Peaky Blinders and juggling family life with husband Damien Lewis - The Independent

In the May 21 issue of The Catholic Register Peter Stockland wrote a sincere Comment piece about the need for renewal within organizations. I agree with him on this point.

I dont mean change for the sake of change, but the meaningful integration of new people with new ways of perceiving challenges. This is not necessarily an age thing. Its about ideas and implementation. Youth does not have a monopoly on good innovation any more than age has a monopoly on good implementation.

He is quite accurate in his analysis of the culture in which the pro-life movement has been working. Losses have accrued in a zeitgeist of relentless and ferocious hostility to life, and against an ideology of personal autonomy that borders on the mad, he wrote.

What prompts this response however, is the absurdity of this statement: I recently spoke with someone deeply involved in promoting and facilitating adoption. She described a truly Byzantine regulatory regime that is the reason adoption is such a distant second choice to abortion. When I asked why more political pressure isnt applied to unravel the crazy rules, she said bluntly its because the pro-life movement monopolizes the policy space with its all-or-nothing-at-all demands on abortion.

As a member of Campaign Life Coalition, there is simply not a pro-life lobbyist I know who would agree with this statement. It is patently untrue.

The all-or-nothing assertion is a bell-whistle term which usually refers to Campaign Life Coalitions non-gestational approach to legislation. It does not reflect the many bills and motions weve supported that have never ascribed an age-limit to this protection. But unknown to many people, in 2014 my colleague and I lobbied federal MPs on the provincial issue of adoption.

In the Harper government, there were many wonderful pro-life MPs who had been touched by adoption. We were allies on this file. A pledge in the 2012 Throne Speech to make adoption more affordable was enacted in the 2013 Economic Action Plans Bill C-60. The government allowed the $11,669 adoption expense tax credit to start basically when adoption paperwork was filed. This was great news and it also signalled to me that the government might be open to doing even more for adoptive parents.

After speaking with counsellors from a local crisis pregnancy centre, we presented several concrete proposals to the federal government.

Over the course of several months, we met with ministers of state, ministry staffers and a minister. It was during the course of our lobbying, between the 2013 and 2014 Canada Action Plans, that the government increased the adoption expense tax credit to $15,000. We put a spotlight on this issue and it led to a favourable announcement. No credit was given and no credit was taken.

Yet, despite a majority Conservative government that held a preponderance of pro-life and pro-adoption MPs, plus ministers of state and ministers who were very supportive of adoption, all we saw was this tax credit increase. Was this really a Campaign Life failure, a pro-life failure or a failure of a majority government that was indifferent to the pro-life movement?

That same year, Health Canada was again reviewing the abortion pill RU-486. I worked closely with some of our trusted MPs. Again, Campaign Life drew public attention to the dangers of the deadly drug combo. At the National March For Life, we used the theme RU 4LIFE to drive the message home. According to the press, approval of RU-486, marketed as Mifegymiso, was subjected to the longest approval process in Canadian history. We absolutely take credit for that.

That was followed by the 2014 federal election, when we worked on the nomination of 40 pro-life Campaign Life candidates. And we still found time to sell fruitcakes.

Too many pro-lifers simply do not know we can chew gum and walk at the same time. This cultural marathon is really a series of organizational sprints, 365 days a year.

Should organizations involved in the pro-life movement reflect on their approaches and strategies? Yes, they should. But perhaps a glimpse into the workings of the largest pro-life group in Canada can help to rebuild confidence in us and in the movements work.

We are one organization, working alongside others, in this zeitgeist of relentless and ferocious hostility to life.

(Brownrigg manages federal government relations for Campaign Life Coalition, Ottawa.)

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Comment: On the contrary adoption is a pro-life issue - The Catholic Register

Retail's old guard has officially come to an end: Mickey Drexler, the "merchant prince" of retail, is stepping down as J.Crew's CEO. As reported by The Business of Fashion late Monday afternoon, after 14 years leading the company, Drexler will be replaced by Jim Brett, who is leaving his post as West Elm's president.

This is the latest dramatic fall in Drexler's storied career as turnaround agent. Most famous for his revival of The Gap in the 1990s--bringing it from a $400 million company to a $14 billion retail powerhouse--in 2002 he was abruptly fired. His redemption was at J.Crew, which he joinedin 2003. Upon arrival, he spotted a lanky designer named Jenna Lyons; and over the next decade, the two transformed J.Crew from an outdated, preppy player into a profitable, cult fashion brand.

But over the last few years, J.Crew has become the latest victim of an unforgiving retail environment. After several years of falling sales, plateauing popularity, steep pricing, and product misfires, the retailer's private equity owners, TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners, have lost patience. In April, after 26 years with the company, Lyons--the face of J.Crew who turned her nerd-chic look into a national fashion movement--abruptly stepped down as creative director. Later that month, the New York-based retailer announced a restructuring, layoffs, and the departure of its head of menswear, a department that not too long ago was a reliable profit engine in the company.

It was somewhat inevitable that Drexler would be next. A couple of weeks ago, the charismatic, 72-year-old Bronx-native admitted to the Wall Street Journal that during his J.Crew tenure he underestimated the impact technology would have on retail. "I've never seen the speed of change as it is today," he said. "If I could go back 10 years, I might have done some things earlier."

While Drexler will stay on as the company's chairman, he's chosen another turnaround agent--West Elm's Brett--to take his place. Brett is credited with turning Anthropologie into a profitable, swoon-worthy home goods utopia for women shoppers in the early 2000s. After becoming the president of William Sonoma Inc.-owned West Elm in 2010, the merchandising veteran transformed it from a bland modern furniture chain that was shuttering stores, to a dynamic $1 billion home furnishings destination, at one point resulting in double-digit revenue growth for 24 consecutive quarters. (Brett is also a former Inc. magazine columnist.)

Brett has a proven track record for cleverly tapping into every zeitgeist, from sourcing artisanal products to turning West Elm stores into cafes and community centers to even launching a new boutique hotel line. While most of Brett's career has not been in apparel--arguably his biggest learning curve--according to a statement Drexler made toThe Business of Fashion, Brett has another qualification that's been lacking. "Jim has a proven track record of pushing for innovation and growing omnichannel brands," says Drexler.

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J.Crew Mastermind Mickey Drexler Is Out--and a West Elm Exec Will Take Over - Inc.com

(Courtesy Photo)

More than just the 1994 Sundance surprise that launched Kevin Smith's career, it signifies a movement of low-budget (Clerks cost less than $30k, grossed $3 million) self-produced movies, often with non-professional cast and guerrilla marketing. It also captured a post-ironic zeitgeist, with its low-key dialogue, droll humor, and minimal plot. Sometimes seen as social commentary on the plight of the working class and youth without future, it has a loose structure of Dante's nine rings of hell, set in the actual convenience store and video rental where Smith worked, 7 p.m., Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder; $6-$11; 303-444-7328.

Photo Exhibit at St. Aidan's Gallery Boulder area photographer Sandy Backlund is exhibiting her work at the Muriel Sibell Wolle Art Gallery at St. Aidan's Episcopal Church through July. She has lived in Boulder County over 40 years and specializes in photographing gardens, farmers' markets, travels and the outdoors, 8:30 a.m., St. Aidan's Episcopal Church, Boulder, 2425 Colorado Ave., Boulder; Free; 303-443-2503 or saintaidans.org.

Dinosaur Discoveries: Ancient Fossils, New Ideas The Longmont Museum's hands-on summer exhibition series for families is back with an engaging show that reveals what living, breathing dinosaurs were really like. This exhibition highlights current research by scientists from the American Museum of Natural History and other leading paleontologists around the world, 9 a.m., Longmont Museum & Cultural Center, 400 Quail Road, Longmont; $8; 303-651-8374 or longmontmuseum.org.

"Heading Home: Field Notes" by Peter Anderson Heading Home begins with Peter Anderson's dharma-bum passion for the road, which leads him through the mountains and high deserts of the American West, and eventually lands him in an eccentric end-of-the-road town full of mystics, misfits, and other mountain dwellers. This book is a gathering of "field notes" observations, recollections, and stories along the way, where home is understood as a work in progress and the way is a road that never ends, 7:30 p.m., Boulder Book Store, 1107 Pearl St., Boulder; $5; 303-447-2074 or boulderbookstore.net.

Newspapers in Lyons since 1890, Exhibit 125 years of newspapers; five different First Editions, beginning in 1890. Issues will be changed weekly, so visitors can read the news and see what was advertised and reported decades ago. Visitors can also "put themselves in the news" and take home a digital souvenir of their visit through the interactive newspaper photo booth, 9:30 a.m., Lyons Redstone Museum, 340 High St., Lyons; Free; 303-823-5271 or rockymtretreats.com/lyons-event.htm.

Confident Cooking for Teens In this fun, five-day camp, young chefs will practice essential kitchen skills and master the fundamentals of cooking. Teens will enjoy working alongside classmates learning techniques for everything from grilling and searing to making pizza and pasta from scratch. We'll get hands-on and cover all the basics such as rules for handling knives, how to read and follow recipes, measuring and mixing, and the importance of kitchen safety. Teens will build on skills throughout the week and on day 5, they'll create an impressive menu of restaurant-style dishes. Teens ages 13-17 are welcome to join this popular summer cooking camp. Classes run about two hours each and last for five consecutive days, 12 p.m., Sur la Table, 1850 29th St., Suite 1004, Boulder; $250; 800-243-0852, 303-952-7084 or surlatable.com/browse/storeLocator/storeDirections.jsp?storeId=106.

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6 things to do in Boulder County today, June 5, 2017 - Boulder Daily Camera

Californias signature scent of marijuana permeates the warm air in San Franciscos Buena Vista Park. Dogs pant and people strip off. The arrival of an early summer has caught the Haight-Ashbury neighbourhood off guard. It is a distinctive, blissed-out atmosphere but still an age away from the drug-fuelled, music-drenched summer of 1967, when 100,000 people converged on the Haight.

Back then, people came to embrace a higher consciousness and obey the Turn on, tune in, drop out message that Timothy Leary had delivered earlier that year to 30,000 people in Golden Gate Park at the Gathering of the Tribes for a Human Be-In.

The area quickly became a test-ground for 1960s counterculture, with the political activists from Berkeley joining the bohemians of Haight-Ashbury.

Comparisons and reflections are expected this year, though, as San Francisco is busy looking backwards, marking the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, remembering and debating its legacy. The summer of 1967 was an optimistic, heady time, following on from the beat generations championing of sexual liberation and freedom, and the Trips festival in San Francisco the year before, when 10,000 people watched the Grateful Dead perform, many of them high on LSD having heeded the festival flyers words: The audience participates because its more fun to do so than not.

This was a short-lived, peak moment of trippy rock posters and social activism, cut short by an influx of violent heroin dealers into the Haight, subsequent overdoses and, eventually, tourist buses arriving to gawk at the hippies. Come autumn 1967, many of the flower children had decamped to rural communes and the original pioneers and visionaries were gone.

Today, Haight-Ashbury is still a living if touristy flashback to that seminal summer, a district of nonconformists, tie-dye stores and emporiums with names like Little Wing (after the Jimi Hendrix song) selling fringed waistcoats, anarchist handbooks and bongs. Distractions boutique declares it has been keeping Haight-Ashbury strange since 1976, while other stores mirror the style of the 60s. Theres Rasputin Records, with a psychedelic sign depicting the Russian mystic in the lotus position; the Blue Front Caf, advertising itself with a fantastic giant muscle-bound blue genie; and Hippie Thai, with its campervan logo and macrobiotic Thai street food. A huge mural above a fast-food cafe called Burger Urge illustrates the Summer of Love with Hendrix playing the guitar and Janis Joplin howling into a microphone. Buskers play harmonicas and Hare Krishna folk in orange robes tour the streets. You either love it or hate it.

From the open doors of Love on Haight, a shop on the corner of Masonic and Haight, Jerry Garcias weathered voice eases out the shop stereo only ever plays the music of former residents the Grateful Dead. Multi-coloured fractals and tie-dye designs cover not only the walls and ceiling but also the staff. Proprietor Sunshine Powers, self-proclaimed Queen of Haight Street, is a well-known local figure and her youthful mop of curly red hair makes her easy to spot amongst the psychedelic pile-up. Despite not being part of the original movement (Powers was born in 1980), she is a keen modern-day promoter of the 1960s message of peace, community and love.

What people forget is that all that hippy stuff sex and drugs and music was just frosting on the cake, says Powers, her signature green glitter facepaint sparkling. Social justice, community and healthcare, thats what really mattered. That was the main drive. This 50th anniversary also gives us the chance to show the original pioneers that were carrying on their causes. After all, they may not be around in 10 or 20 years time.

Its easy to dismiss the peace and love message as corny and pass, but Powers is convincing when she speaks of valuing people over things, and her beliefs are proven later when I learn of her considerable financial support of Taking it to the Streets, a charity helping vulnerable homeless youths, of whom there are many. (This is depressing given the torrent of wealth pouring into the city from nearby Silicon Valley. If the Summer of Love set out to end stark inequality in its own community, it appears to have failed, despite the efforts of people like Powers.)

Back outside, I step over paving slabs painted with large red love hearts, towards family-owned Guss Community Market. Its motto of local produce, local farmers, locally here for you lured me inside, as did the smell of sweet Californian berries mixing with the soft aroma of baked grains. Every conceivable wholefood is packed into every available space. The label on a bottle of organic kombucha, a fermented tea, claims, cringingly, that its number one ingredient is love and that it hails from a batch small enough to hug. Psychedelic posters advertising street-fairs from the past decorate the walls, acting as reminders that common ecological awareness and vegetarian lifestyles have been central to this part of California since the 60s. Organic food and Middle Eastern food, so popular worldwide today, was sold at the Monterey music festival of 1967, where Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and the Mamas & the Papas all played.

Outside, posters advertise one of the biggest shows of the year: the De Young Museums Summer of Love exhibition (until August 20). I head there next.

De Young is a giant copper-clad museum in the open green spaces of three-mile-long Golden Gate Park, where goldfinches and turquoise jays flit between palm and eucalyptus trees. It is a cool, calming space.

In the garden, signs for the Summer of Love exhibition draw links and contrasts between 1967 and 2017. One reads hippie 1967, hipster 2017, seemingly ignoring the fact that hipsters emerged as a subculture in the 1940s. Another reads free clinic 1967, affordable care 2017, reminding us of the non-judgmental clinic set up in the Haight in 1967, complete with a bad trip room.

Inside, the roar of Jefferson Airplane introduces the exhibition. In one room, Ben Van Meters double- and triple-exposed images from the Trips festival are described as a documentary ... from the point of view of a goldfish in the Kool-Aid bowl. Fashion-focused rooms show the journey from uptight girdles and garter belts to loose, free-flowing maxi dresses and flared trousers. The first bell-bottom jeans, made in San Francisco at the Levis factory then on Valencia Street, are displayed. Flared, or boot-cut jeans, we are told, were originally made to fit over cowboy boots.

Today, the Levis store on Market Street, the main downtown shopping drag , has a rack of Summer of Love clothes inspired by the companys archive, including a two-tone suede jacket at $1,200. Its easy for corporations to jump on the Summer of Love theme, seemingly ignoring key messages about simple living, inclusion and community. In April, the San Franciso branch of department store Neiman Marcus held a pop-up called The Love Boutique, featuring vintage pieces from the 60s alongside new Balmain, Chloe and Alexander McQueen garments that cost thousands of dollars.

One of the best items in the exhibition, however, is one of the smallest. Made of goatskin and decorated with silk chain-stitch embroidery by Haight-Ashbury couturier Linda Gravenites, it is Janis Joplins exquisite handbag from 1967. Suspended in a glass case, it looks like new, its red beads still shining. Joplin told Vogue magazine in 1968 that Gravenites turns them out slowly and turns them out well and only turns them out for those she likes.

Later, I meet Greg Castillo, a counterculture expert and associate professor of architecture at Berkeley. He says some of the legacies of 1967 are more subtle and less dramatic than sex, drugs and rocknroll. The recycling logo, today one of the most recognisable in the world, is a direct product of that era. It was designed in 1970, its spinning, revolving graphic based on the mandala a symbol for the cosmos borrowed from eastern cultures. Its designer, Gary Anderson, has said that the spirit of the 1960s directly influenced his design.

Later, as a sunset turns the Californian sky bubblegum pink, I walk through Chinatown, making a literary pilgrimage to the landmark City Lights bookshop and publishing house. Open until midnight daily, Americas first all-paperback bookstore has been riding the counterculture wave since it was founded in 1953 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, a veteran of the Bay area now 98 years old. It still publishes books on social and political issues, as well as the poetry it is best known for, much of which influenced the local 60s zeitgeist. Ferlinghetti famously published Allen Ginsbergs controversial 1955 poem Howl. A poster on the wall today announces that printers ink is the greatest explosive, while another reminds us that democracy is not a spectator sport. City Lights, with its wall of zines, still holds regular radical events and has held on to its anarchic charm.

Back at my hotel, the Zeppelin, in the theatre district, a couple of blocks from the alarmingly drug-addled streets of the Tenderloin and the department stores of Union Square, there is also an air of 67. The Doors Light my Fire released in May of that year is playing in the lobby and on the wall a giant mural of a doe-eyed girl with flowers in her hair overlooks the chill-out area. The staff are disarmingly friendly, too, and a general air of liberalism dominates.

The spirit of the Summer of Love does appear to linger in this city. Despite the vast and obvious inequalities which some say are steadily worsening San Francisco feels like a flexible and creative city, somewhere that is still capable of opening minds.

The trip was provided by American Sky (01342 886721. americansky.co.uk), which offers five nights at the Hotel Zeppelin from 999pp, including flights from Gatwick with American Airlines and room-only accommodation.

For Summer of Love events, see sftravel.com/summer-love-2017

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San Francisco, 50 years on from the Summer of Love - The Guardian

While the passing decades have distilled critical opinion to a fairly reliable Required Viewing roster for films of the prolific 1950s, the era remains more difficult to pin down than the1930s or 40s, largely due to an explosive diversity in both subject matter and cinematic technology. We still see the profound influence of WWII, we still see film noir and Westerns and the development of European neorealism. We also see the proliferation of color technology. The affluence that grew in the post-war years and the rise of leisure culture play a role in the zeitgeist of this decade. There is also an emphasis on teen culture, perhaps best represented by the brief but meteoric career of James Dean. Television became mainstream, and Hollywood found itself with some stiff competition from the networks. Cold War paranoia and anti-Communist sentiment joined with a profusion of new technologies to fuel American filmscience fiction and outer space films, in particular. It was the decade of Alfred Hitchcockand Ingmar Bergman, and in Asia, Akira Kurosawa and Satayajit Ray were both producing some of their finest work. The French New Wave was in full flow, with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut defining what would come to be known as auteur theory. Psychological thrillers, Shakespeare adaptations, goofy musicals, and the cast of millions epic style canonized by Cecil B. deMille are all very much in evidence. Film took off in a million directions during the 1950s, and it is truly up for debate what constitutes the best of this prolific and diverse decade. So weve tried to keep an eye on the films that defined something about the era, and while anyone might squabble over one being more artistically important than another (rightly so, in some cases), weve pulled together a list of films that all tick the if you want to consider yourself a culturally literate cinephile, you need to see this box for one reason or another.

100. The Tingler (1944)

For William Castle, going to the movies was a matter of life and death. Or at least he wanted to convince you as much: If he didnt have you believing you had some serious stakes in what was happening onscreen, then hethe 20th centurys consummate cinematic showmanwasnt doing his job. So begins The Tingler, Castles 1959 creature feature, wherein Castle appears on screen like a B-grade Alfred Hitchcockto remind the audience that what theyre about to see is hardly a lark. Fear is a natural but serious affliction, a building up of poisonous humors within ones nervous system, and so it must be addressed should you endure the film hes about to show you. The only way to live through The Tingler? Youre going to have to scream. And, to prove his medical conclusions, Castle introduces us to Dr. Chapin (Vincent Price at the height of his weirdo sophisticate phase), a man who believes that every human being has a parasite living in their spine that feeds off of extreme fearthats the tingling sensation you get every time youre panicked. The parasite will grow and decimate a persons backbone unless its defeated/deflated by the only logical reaction to fear: screaming. Things of course get tinglier once Chapin captures an actual rubbery spine centipedeand, meanwhile, Castle was always ready to exploit his audiences squirm factor, having Percepto! contraptions installed into each theater seat, set to buzz the butts of already agitated film-goers to scare them into thinking the insectoid creature was crawling between their legs. Among Castles many interactive gimmick films in the 1950s, The Tingler might be the Castle-est, a sincerely wacky, unsettling, imaginative experience whether youre equipped with a vibrating chair or not. And hearing Vincent Price hollering into the void of a pitch-black screen, Scream! Scream for your lives! The Tingler is loose in the theater!, offers enough urgency to convince you something may be nipping at your backside after all. Dom Sinacola

99. The Ten Commandments (1956)

There are a lot of major motion pictures from the 50s that remain eminently relevant and even bizarrely au courant. The Ten Commandments isnt one of them, But even though it feels dated, from the standpoint of cultural literacy it remains a must-see. Luckily, it hits the airwaves every year around Easter/Passover, and has done since 1973, so its easy to catch. Cecil B. DeMilles remake of his own 1923 treatment of the same story is the dictionary definition of epic with its sweeping, massive set, mind-boggling cast, and overall Big Damn Production. Its overblown, even a little ludicrous, but at the same time, this story of Moses liberation of the Hebrews from Egypt has a certain magnificence that only DeMille could have given it. Its incredibly extravagant and runs four hours, so prepare to arrange some intermissions if you must. You might giggle at some quaint or dated or kind of pompous moments but you wont be bored. It takes a big story, gives it a cast of stars (Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Edward G. Robinson, Vincent Price, Anne Baxter and Debra Padgett for starters), and gives it an opulent, sprawling, color-saturated, mind-blowingly excessive field on which to play that story out. Its eye-popping and a genuine spectacle. Amy Glynn

98. Lola Montes (1955)

Way back in the early 2000s, the films of German-born, Paris-based director Max Ophuls languished out of print. His fin de sicle Europe, aristocratic mores, women on the verge of nervous breakdowns and loooooong tracking shots fell out of sight. But with the availability of the fever dream of his financially and critically catastrophic last feature, Lola Monts, our portrait of the artist in his final years is complete. Eliza Rosanna Gilberta dancer and actress most often called by her stage name, Lola Montspioneered the cult of celebrity. Paramour to composers Franz Liszt, Frederic Chopin and Richard Wagner, not to mention numerous dukes, counts and even King Ludwig I of Bavaria, her affairs were fodder for the papers, and sometimes cause for riots. Ophuls anticipates such modern media circuses, eschewing simple biography for his heroine and setting her in a context more grandiose and garish: a real circus. Andy Beta

97. Kanal (1957)

Watch them closely, for these are the last hours of their lives. The voiceover that opens Kanal, which simultaneously introduces us to a depleted company of the failed Warsaw uprising and foretells of its imminent grisly fate, powers Andrzej Wajdas resistance movie with a morbid fascination. Aware of their slim chances of survival with the German army tightening its grip all the time, the remaining men and women of Lt. Zadras Home Army unit escape to the sewers, not because they think that offers much chance of survival, but because their instincts keep driving them to live, even if just for a few moments more. But the confusion and strange terror down there, in the foul winding tunnels of an underground maze of waste, make them a pitiful few last hours. All sense of time and geography is lost: its just mysterious bodies, wading in perpetual night through a river of shit. Sandwiched between A Generation and Ashes and Diamonds, as the least complicated and political of Wajdas war trilogy, Kanal is as pure a portrayal of human desperation as one might find in the cinema. Brogan Morris

96. Les Enfants Terribles (1952)

Jean Cocteau adapted this screenplay from his own novel and Pierre Melville directed. A tale of mind games and manipulations, it features Cocteaus dreamlike, poetic sensibility and Melvilles lucid, deft direction. Edouard Dermit plays Paul, a sensitive young man whos a bit obsessed with a girl named Agathe (Renee Cosima), to the consternation of Pauls sister Elisabeth, who has a rather inappropriate fascination with her brother. Cosima also plays (in drag) school bully Dargelos, who sees to it Elisabeth gets her karmic just desserts after jealousy leads her to thwart the romance between her brother and Agathe. Its fantastical in tone, with Cocteaus typical poetry-infused visual sensibility. He also provides the narration, which some critics have found to be a bit over the topin any event the overall impression is that while Melville might have directed it, this is really Cocteaus film. Its strange and dreamy and full of adolescent angst. Probably not the finest work of either Melville or Cocteau, Les Enfants Terribles remains an intriguing collaboration between two masters of mid-century French cinema. Amy Glynn

95. Blackboard Jungle (1955)

Richard Brooks glorified after-school special is fascinating for the film it couldve been: something truly subversive, an indictment of Americas post-war social systems and a loud screed against systemic racism. Instead, Blackboard Jungle is a movie divided, willing to confront some serious issues but unwilling to make much noise about it. Preluded by a title card warning that the film isnt about all public schools, but is rather a look at the rising tide of juvenile delinquency spreading into some public schools, the film from its very first moments shifts blame to the kids acting out, diluting deeper messages about the broken systems which failed, and continue to fail, these kids in the first place. After all, a young teacher (Glenn Ford) with an expecting wife believes that every kid deserves a shot at a good education, but after his wife ends up in the hospital due to some harassment care of a few hooligans unafraid to go too far, he must admit that some bad apples are just straight-up rotten. Sidney Poitier stars in one of his first films as an ally to the beleaguered teacher, and Ford is predictably committed to the melodrama, but the film shines in its subtler detailsthe use of Bill Haleys Rock Around the Clock to signal the dawn of a youthful revolution, or the majority of the schools teachers being WWII veterans returned to a country which doesnt seem to appreciate thempointing to a much thornier film in Blackboard Jungles marrow. Dom Sinacola

94. Ace in the Hole (1951)

Billy Wilders cynical streak is a mile wide in this story of muckraker journalist Chuck Tatum, who plots an amoral scheme to take advantage of a collapsed mine incident in the deserts of New Mexico. Starring Kirk Douglas in full snarling villain mode, its a film that looks squarely at the relationship between the press and public calamities that allow it to sell papers. If you have any preconceived notions about 50s movies being wholesome, Ace in the Hole will soon put those to bed. Christina Newland

93. Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

The presence of color, glorious color, is an overlooked moment in the evolution of horror cinema, but 1957s Curse of Frankenstein is one of its most important moments. After years of the classic Universal monsters being absent from the spotlight, Hammer Film Productions chose to bring the greatest of themFrankensteins Monsterback to life in a manner that fit the times and once again put the fear of God into audiences. And its the richness of the colorthe red of arterial blood, the vivid green of Dr. Frankensteins traveling cloak, the blue of a dark, shadowy laboratorythat helped create Hammers signature vibe, dripping with gothic opulence and grandeur. The roles here are also reversed: The monster this time around (Christopher Lee) is presented as dangerous but more or less thoughtless, an unfortunate automaton who is less than the sum of his stitched-together parts. The true monster is Dr. Frankenstein himself, masterfully played by an imperious Peter Cushing. His blithe disregard for ethics, his own life and the lives of his friends are an obvious influence on the caddish, antihero scientists who came after, such as Jeffrey Combs Herbert West in 1985s Re-Animator. Unlike Colin Clive in the 1931 Universal original, Cushing would never be mortified by the results of tampering in Gods domain. Each discovery only pushes him to go further, deeper into his own damnation. Jim Vorel

92. A Star is Born (1954)

Judy Garland proves her nuance and dramatic skill in this archetypal Hollywoodtale of rags-to-riches stardom. The story is practically written into the movie industrys DNAoriginally called What Price Hollywood?, the first version was made in 1932. Even with three iterations (and one more on the way, starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper), the 50s version is still likely the finest. Garland is Esther Blodgett, a homely small-town aspiring singer who is groomed and manicured into a perfect ingenue. But her enormous talent soon eclipses her beloved mentor, James Mason. Mason, a washed-up lush who is hopelessly in love with her. Almost Shakespearean in its tragedyand in its epic lengthA Star is Born is essential viewing. Christina Newland

91. Picnic (1956)

There are only two plots in all of storytelling. One is a hero sets out on a quest. This is the other one: A stranger comes to town. This film, adapted from William Inges Pulitzer-winning play of the same name, depicts 24 hours in the life of a sleepy Kansas town during which several peoples lives are turned upside down by the arrival of chaos in the form of Hal Carter (William Holden), a down-on-his-luck former football star whos passing through to connect with his old friend, Alan Benson (Cliff Robertson). He meets the Owens family (Kim Novak, Betty Field, Susan Strasburg) and their spinster-lodger Rosemary (Rosalind Russell) and sparks begin to fly. The movie is sweet and sad and angry and nostalgic and dreary all at once, and it put Kim Novak on the Hollywoodmapall good things. But the takeaway is that ultra-sexy can happen without anyone even touching. The dance scene between Holden and Novak, set to the gorgeous strains of Moonglow, is as steamy today as it was in 1955. Amy Glynn

90. Black Orpheus (1959)

The Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice has been the source of countless works of art over the centuries. Marcel Camus adaptation is set in a Rio de Janeiro favela and features a brilliant soundtrack by Tom Jobim and Luiz Bonfa. Brenno Melo plays Orfeu, a talented guitarist in a somewhat reluctant engagement to Mira (Lourdes de Olveira) who falls in love with Eurydice (Marpessa Dawn). Eurydice is taken from him by Death. Orfeu tries to get her back, fails, and is killed by the jilted Mira. Its an ancient story and Camus does a marvelous job of making it new and fresh in its recontextualization. The samba and bossa nova music are befitting of mythologys greatest singer-songwriter, and the production is stylish and colorful and full of heart. Visually lush and ebullient, this is a film to roll around in, not to be overly cerebral about. Lavishly sensuous, with stunning cinematography and a soundtrack to die for (and come back from Hades to hear all over again). Amy Glynn

89. The Browning Version (1951)

Anthony Asquith directed this adaptation of a stage play by killer British playwright Terence Rattigan, who also supplied the screenplay. Together they afforded Michael Redgrave what just might be his best performance ever. The story of a boarding school teacher whose life goes into freefall is one of the great-granddaddies of the Teacher Who Actually Schools You that has become one of the tropes that never gets old (Lookin at you, Stand and Deliver!). The great strengths here are absolutely the script and Redgraves performance-he does as spectacular job with what is actually a pretty dreary subject: Life falling apart. He breathes life into a potentially airless character and his performance is riveting. Amy Glynn

88. Night and Fog (1956)

Released 10 years after the liberation of prisoners from the Nazi concentration camps, Night and Fog was almost never made. Any number of reasons contributed to its tenuous birth: that noted documentary director Alain Resnais refused repeated attempts to helm the movie, insisting that a survivor of the camps be intimately involved, until screenwriter Jean Cayrol came on board, himself a survivor of the Mauthausen-Gusen camp; that Resnais and collaborators battled both French and German censors upon potential Cannesrelease; or that both Resnais and Cayrol themselves struggled with especially graphic footage, unsure of how to properly and comprehensively depict the unmitigated horror of what they were undertaking. Regardless, the film found release and is today, even at only 31 minutes, an eviscerating account of life in the camps: their origins, their architecture and their inner-workings.

Yet, most of all, Night and Fog is a paean to the power of art to shake history down to its foundational precedents. Look only to its final moments, in which, over images of the dead, emaciated and piled endlessly in mass graves, narrator Michel Bouquet simply asks to know who is responsible. Who did this? Who allowed this to happen? Which is so subtly subversiveespecially given the films quiet filming of Auschwitz and Majdanek, overgrown and abandoned, accompanied by lyrical musings and a strangely buoyant scorebecause rarely do documentariesdemand such answers. Rarely do documentaries ask such questions. Rarely is truth taken to task, bled of all subjectivity, and placed naked before the audience: Here is evil, undeniablywhat will you do about this? Dom Sinacola

87. East Of Eden (1955)

Elia Kazans adaptation of the Steinbeck novel of the same name might be most famous for being the film that launched the brief but meteoric career of James Dean. A cheery little Cain and Abel story set in the lettuce-farming country of Californias Salinas Valley, the film garnered intense critical acclaim for Kazans masterful use of CinemaScope technology to create a beautiful, moody mise en scene. Critical opinion was divided on Dean, whom some found pointlessly histrionic. Others have pronounced his fiery confrontations with his pious father (Raymond Massey) to be compelling and masterful. Whichever way you see it, theres strong consensus that this film created the persona of disaffected bad-boy Dean, whose iconic rebelliousness defined teenage rebellion and the generational divide that widened into the 1960s. Amy Glynn

86. Horror of Dracula (1958)

Horror of Dracula is either the second or third most iconic classic vampire film ever made, trailing only the 1931 Bela Lugosi Dracula and possibly the original Nosferatu. But really, if you were going to put together the ultimate, time-spanning Dracula film, youd choose this version of the vampire, as played by the regal, intimidating Christopher Lee at the height of his powers. Horror of Dracula is simply a gorgeous movie, with lush, gothic settingscrypts, foggy graveyards and stately manorsphotographed with the Golden Age charm of Technicolor. It has the best version of Van Helsing ever put to film (the aquiline, gaunt-looking Peter Cushing), some of the best sets and an omnipresent feeling of refinement and grandeur. Dracula, as played by Lee, is a creature of dualitiespreferring to use very few words and simply influence through his magnetic presence, but also just moments away from leaping into action with ferocious animality. Along with Curse of Frankenstein, its the film most responsible for the late 50s to early 70s revival of classic gothic horror via Hammer Film Productions in the UK, which would produce dozens of takes on Frankenstein, The Mummy, and no fewer than eight Dracula sequels. The first, however, is unquestionably the bestso effective that it typecast Christopher Lee as a horror icon for decades, exactly as Dracula did to Bela Lugosi. Jim Vorel

85. Father of the Bride (1950)

DNA tests have not been conclusive, but this Vicente Minelli comedy is possibly also the father of Nora Ephron and John Hughes. A nostalgia-bomb comedy about an anxious father (Spencer Tracy) coming to terms with the fact that his baby (Elizabeth Taylor) is not a baby anymore. The film might seem like a bit of a lightweight, but its worth noting it received Oscar nominations for Best Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Picture. Its a warmhearted and funny look at parent-child control struggle, anxiety, and confronting the need to let go, and a poignant picture of family life in the postwar United States. Its not necessarily an epiphanyjust a really well done classic comedy with great writing, great acting, and surefooted direction. Amy Glynn

84. Throne of Blood (1957)

In adapting Macbeth from Scotland to feudal Japan, Akira Kurosawa visually inflected his version with an evocatively chilly ambienceespecially with its preponderance of fog and that seemingly isolated castle in the mountainsthat gives William Shakespeares tragedy of ambition run amok the feel of a horror movie. He also brought elements of Noh theater into the mixseen in its ceremonial set designs, Masaru Satos use of flute and drum in his score, and especially in the deliberately affectless performance styles of Isuzu Yamada and Chieko Naniwathat has the effect of giving Throne of Blood a ritualized feel, a sense of haunting inevitability. In Kurosawas hands, one hardly needs Shakespeares own language to experience the horrifying poetry of Washizus (Toshiro Mifune) inexorable path toward his own personal doom, imprisoned not just by greed, but also by fear, guilt and heavens-defying egotism. Here is one of cinemas rare shining examples of a great director transforming a great play and making it indelibly his own. Kenji Fujishima

83. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Six words: James Stewart, James Stewart, James Stewart. Man, that guy was pitch perfect in pretty much everything, but put this jewel in the setting of a classic Hitchcock noir and you are in for a treat. Hitchcock made this film as a Technicolor reboot of his own 1934 treatment of the same story. Critical debate continues to percolate over which version is better. Hitch famously quipped Lets say the first version is the work of a talented amateur and the second was made by a professional. It took the Oscar for best song and left Doris Days rendition of Que Sera, Sera permanently imprinted on American cultural vernacular. Some might call this a laconically paced thriller, but Hitchcock took the time to make ample use of the wonderful settings afforded by shooting on location in Morocco, and elicits wonderful performances from the whole cast. For a Hitchcock movie this ones got a relatively high number of slow moments, but the last acts a masterful thrill-ride and the rest of the time, Hitchcocks beautiful compositional sense and the superb acting are more than enough to hold your interest. Amy Glynn

82. Godzilla (1951)

Its amazing, isnt it, how something so seemingly childish and flat-out dopey on paper could be as substantive, and as enduring, as Ishiro Hondas Godzilla? Hire a couple of actors and have them alternate donning an unwieldy rubber monster suit, and then let them stomp all over a miniature Tokyo set, smashing buildings with wild abandon, and presto: Just like that, youve made unexpected movie history. However silly Godzilla sounds when broken down into its component parts, it remains every bit as meaningful today as it did back in 1954, less than a decade after the U.S. of A. dropped nuclear ordnance on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a colossal and nightmarish metaphor for the horrors of nuclear warfare. The King of the Monsters first major outing spawned legions of imitators and about as many sequels and spin-offs and rebootswere still making Godzilla movies, after all, and will continue to if Warner Bros. has anything to say about it but theres only one Godzilla movie that matters, Hondas, a film awash in the fears of a nation and ablaze with radioactive nihilism. Andy Crump

81. Othello (1951)

So, Orson Welleswas a supergenius. And studios just hated the guy. He was beset with financial tribulations and pull-outs and bait and switches and catfights every time he got behind a camera. He might be one of cinemas most enduring examples of creativity being generated by constraint, sometimes perhaps more than it is by unfettered freedom. Welles Othello is arguably mandatory viewing for anyone who wants to make a movie on a shoestring budget. It took four years (and three Desdemonas) to make this movie because he couldnt secure studio backing and would shott until he ran out of dough, then resume when hed scored a few acting gigs. It was ridiculous and a testament to Welles genius or the existence of miracles or both that the film isnt an epic disaster. On the contraryits fascinating. Many Shakespeare adaptations of this decade focused on extreme faithfulness to the original scriptsWelles cut Othello down to a zero-body-fat 92 minutes. The film uses fast, choppy cuts and intriguing angles to produce a quite Expressionist version of Shakespeares tragedy, and it doesnt look remotely accidental or like the product of a production that stopped and started repeatedly over an agonizing four years. Welles himself is a wonderful Othello, and Suzanne Cloutier as Desdemona matches his energy beautifully, but the real star here is the directorial moxie and quick-wittedness and sheer tenacity of vision that got the thing onscreen. Welles fought hard for this movie and the result is a beautiful and fascinating take on one of Shakespeares darkest plays. Amy Glynn

80. The Barefoot Contesssa (1954)

Long, long before Ina Garten was whipping up crabcakes on the Food Network, a nice young lady named Ava Gardner was emitting some serious BTUs as fictional Spanish sex symbol Maria Vargas. Down and out filmmaker discovers sizzling talent in Madrid nightclub, reignites his own career and starts hers, things happen, and Vargas ends up married to a count. There is much bling and sparkle and glam and a very unhappy ending. Joseph Mankiewiczs original screenplay earned him an Oscar nomination and the film is considered one of the quintessential Hollywood high-glamor Golden Age films, although in fact it was entirely produced in in Italy. Critical opinion on the film was rather cleft when it was released: Some admired its decadence while others considered it exemplary of everything wrong with Hollywood culture, crass and unsubtle. I see it as a great meditation on Show Biz cynicism. What most folks agreed on was that Gardner was the hottest thing on celluloid. Amy Glynn

79. Pather Panchali (1955)

Satyajit Rays Pather Panchali is, depending on who you ask, either the saddest movie ever made or one of the saddest, and if you dont believe the former then you likely believe the latter (unless you are made of stone, but aside from rock golems and Republicans, people tend to be made of flesh and blood). But whether the film makes you weep more or less is, perhaps, besides the point. When we talk about the classics of cinema, we talk about influence, and one note worth making about influence is that it comes in all shapes and sizes: Some movies have impact on a micro scale, others on a macro scale. Pather Panchalis influence may be best evinced on a micro scale, in specific relation to Indian cinema, presenting a watershed moment that sparked the Parallel Cinema movement and altered the texture of the countrys films forevermore.

This, again, isnt proof of Pather Panchalis actual substance, though lets be realistic here: Rays masterpiece doesnt need to prove anything to anyone. Its extraordinary on its authentic artistic merits, an aching, vital movie crafted to transmute the harshest rigors of a childhood lived in rural India into narrative. Maybe its presumptuous for an American critic with no frame of reference for Pather Panchalis cultural context to describe the film as true to life, but Ray is so good at capturing life with his camera that we come to know, to understand, the life of young Apu, regardless of who we are or where we come from, and isnt that just the absolute definition of cinemas transporting power? Andy Crump

78. Les Diaboliques (1955)

Watching Henri-Georges Clouzots Les Diaboliques through the lens of the modern horror film, especially the slasher flickreplete with un-killable villain (check); ever-looming jump scares (check); and a final girl of sorts (check?)one would not have to squint too hard to see a new genre coming into being. You could even make a case for Clouzots canonization in horror, but to take the film on only those terms would miss just how masterfully the iconic French director could wield tension. Nothing about Les Diaboliques dips into the scummy waters of cheap thrills: The tightly wound tale of two women, a fragile wife (Vra Clouzot) and severe mistress (Simone Signoret) to the same abusive man (Paul Meurisse), who conspire to kill him in order to both reel in the money rightfully owed the wife, and to rid the world of another asshole, Diaboliques may not end with a surprise outcome for those of us long inured to every modern thrillers perfunctory twist, but its still a heart-squeezing two hours, a murder mystery executed flawlessly. That Clouzot preceded this film with The Wages of Fear and Le Corbeau seems as surprising as the films outcome: By the time hed gotten to Les Diaboliques, the directors grasp over pulpy crime stories and hard-nosed drama had become pretty much his brand. That the film ends with a warning to audiences to not give away the ending for othersperhaps Clouzot also helped invent the spoiler alert?seems to make it clear that even the director knew he had something devilishly special on his hands. Dom Sinacola

77. The Quiet Man (1952)

Seen today, John Fords 1952 Ireland-set comedy/drama/romance plays as both squarely of its time and enchantingly outside of it. On the minus side, there are its thorny gender politics. Though the female love interest, Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen OHara), exhibits a feistiness and a desire for agency that could be seen as proto-feminist to modern eyes, shes ultimately put at the mercy of the hyper-masculine ex-boxer Sean Thornton (John Wayne), who is finally forced to tap into the violent side hes so desperate to escape in order to consummate their marriage. The fact that Sean is an Americanthough of Irish origin, having been born in Innisfree, the village he returns to in the filmand Mary Kate a lifelong Irishwoman gives their dynamic a faint imperialist air as well. And yet, Ford, more often than not, disarms criticism by sheer virtue of his lyrical sensibility, reserves of deep feeling, and humane attention to character detail. The Technicolor Ireland of The Quiet Man is clearly a lush dreamscape: an out-of-time haven of hearty romance and even heartier community. Not that its a paradise, necessarily, as Sean finds himself stymied to some degree by Irish traditions that go against his much-more-forthright American upbringing. But this is not the dark and brutal vision of Fords later 1956 masterpiece The Searchers, with an outlaw outsider finding himself perpetually unable to fit into any established order. Here, in the looser-limbed and lighter-hearted The Quiet Man, Sean and the Irish locals eventually find common ground, albeit through a perversely extended brawl that plays as a purifying male-bonding session. Kenji Fujishima

76. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

A courtroom drama with noir leanings, based on a story by Agatha Christie and directed by the always-fascinating and sometimes really-damned-weird Billy Wilder? Yes, please. Tyrone Powers last role was as accused murderer Leonard Vole, defended by barrister Sir Wilfred Robarts (Charles Laughton). Hes believed to have done in a besotted, wealthy widow, Emily French (Norma Varden) whod been kind, or dotty, enough to make him the beneficiary in her will. Marlene Dietrich rounds things out as Voles wife, who both provides an alibi for her husband and testifies for the prosecution that the man admitted to the crime. Say it with me: Hijinks Ensue, Christie style. And if there was anyone who could match Christie for Twistedness factor, it was surely Billy Wilder. The surprise ending staggered audiences (and no, Im not telling), the acting crackles with life from end to end (especially in Laughtons case), and the mise en scene is fabulously dramatic. This is a master of suspense placed into the hands of a master or weirdness and subtlety and it is just plain riveting. Amy Glynn

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The 100 Best Movies of the 1950s - Paste Magazine

How the Conservatives made it back: 12 years that changed Britain Financial Times The Tories then were a resistance movement against the zeitgeist. They bashed adulterers, gay people, working and/or single mothers ie most of the electorate. An extremely detailed post-election report called Smell the Coffee, funded by former ... and more »

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How the Conservatives made it back: 12 years that changed Britain - Financial Times