Best Drama Films of 1956

War and Peace

War and Peace is ... at the box office; far more successful was the epic, scrupulously faithful 1968 version, filmed in the Soviet Union. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

This meticulous and unusually ... a detached executive, and an unbilled DeForrest Kelley as an army medic (who gets to say "He's dead, captain"!) [ best drama films - 1956 ]

The Wide Blue Road

La Grande Strada Azzura ... as the heat is off. His final comeuppance both predictable and inevitable, but cleverly handled by director Gillo Ponteverco. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

Friendly Persuasion

Adapted from the best-selling ... (by Dmitri Tiomkin and Paul Francis Webster). The story was remade as a 2-hour TV pilot film in 1975. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

Lust for Life

This filmed biography of ... artist stands before his easel, spattered with paint and with a look of white-hot intensity burned into his countenance. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

Patterns

Rod Serling's incisive "gray ... Everett Sloane and Ed Begley were carried over from TV, the more "bankable" Van Heflin replaced Kiley as Staples. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

Battle Hymn

Battle Hymn was inspired ... director Douglas Sirk--though Sirk felt that Robert Stack would have been better suited to the role of Rev. Hess. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

Miracle in the Rain

The fate that brings ... she is walking near St. Patrick's Cathedral when a second miracle occurs, giving her the will to live again. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

The Eddy Duchin Story

Tyrone Power stars in ... is cut short when he contracts leukemia. Pianist Carmen Cavallaro dubbed in Duchin's piano parts for non-musician Tyrone Power. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

The Harder They Fall

An obviously ailing Humphrey ... the prizefighting business. The videotape version contains the "harder" denouement, while most TV prints end with the "softer" message. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

Hot Rod Girl

American-International's Hot Rod Girl ... years later would reteam with director Leslie H. Martinson on the set of the theatrical-feature version of TV's Batman. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

Die Halbstarken

Rising young German leading ... that many "pros" could not emulate. Most of Die Halbstarken was lensed on location in genuine gang-ridden urban neighborhoods. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

Il Ferroviere

Pietro Germi is both ... to forgive and forget. Il Ferroviere was released in the U.S. as The Railroad Man and Man of Iron. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

Girl in Black

Hot on the heels ... and implicit degeneracy all around them. To Koritsi me ta Mara was screened at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

Liane, Jungle Goddess

In this variation of ... she finds that she is in as much danger in the city as she would be in the jungle. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

New Year Sacrifice

Based on an original ... a bad omen. Now shunned from society, the tragic woman is forced into a life of seclusion and loneliness. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

La Tercera Palabra

The English-language title of ... Mexican equivalent of the Oscar in 1955 hurt the box-office prospects of La Terera Palabra not in the slightest. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

Crazed Fruit

In this powerful drama ... trailblazing work in the Japanese "taiyozoku" (sun tribe) subgenre; it was the first feature for celebrated filmmaker Ko Nakahira. [ best drama films - 1956 ]

Locura Pasional

[ best drama films - 1956 ]

Besos Prohibidos

A cabaret singer is ... to choose between two men vying for her affections in this classic Mexican drama starring Luis Aguilar. [ best drama films - 1956 ]