This Month

Turner Classic Movies explores what the movies produced in the 1950s reveal about their time with the premiere of Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties (2001), a TCM original documentary, accompanied by a 33-film festival every Tuesday and Thursday evening throughout the month and new interstitials on individual movies.

Hidden Values: The Movies of the Fifties features film clips and interviews that offer insight into what the decade's best-known movies reveal about their audience, the time period and American culture. Film experts including Molly Haskell, noted critic and acclaimed author; Peter Biskind, noted journalist and author of Seeing is Believing: How Hollywood Taught Us to Stop Worrying and Love the '50s; director/actor Paul Mazursky; director John Carpenter; legendary director and producer of science fiction, horror and action films Roger Corman, and Oscar®-winning actress and documentary filmmaker Lee Grant will look beyond the entertainment value of the films to explore their social context, revealing how they serve as reflections of the values and priorities of the period.

The one-hour documentary takes a film-by-film approach to explore the changing portrayal of teenagers and juvenile delinquents, society's anxiety about science and technology, the struggle for control within the family and changing ideas about expressing sexuality. In addition, those interviewed will share memories of watching the films when they were first released, discussing how they have influenced society and them personally, as well as what they miss about the way films were made in the '50s.

C-60m.