Accattone (1961)

AKA:
Accattone - Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen aß >> German

Synopsis:
In a seedy section of Rome, Vittorio Cataldi - "Accattone" ("beggar" in Italian) to those that know him - lives off the avails of prostitution, Maddalena being his one and only girl. He is married to Ascenza with who he has one young son named Iaio, but he does not live with them - they who live with her father and brother - provide for them, or play any important part of their lives. He generally hangs out with his similarly slack life friends playing cards and drinking. His source of income is threatened when Maddalena is injured being hit by a motorcyclist, then beaten by rivals of his, which leads to her being arrested and jailed for a year. Largely because of Iaio, Accattone contemplates going straight and getting a real job. Then he meets Stella, a young innocent woman who has had a hard life, but who is not as naive to the ways of the world as she first appears. Accattone falls in love with her, but as the thought of working a steady job now becomes abhorrent, contemplates.

Starring:
Franco Citti
Franca Pasut
Silvana Corsini

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Kabuliwala (1961)

Starring:
Balraj Sahni

Director: Bimal Roy

Frau Holle (1961)

Synopsis:
Eine Witwe hat zwei Töchter: die fleißige Goldmarie und die faule Pechmarie. Als die Goldmarie eines Tages mit ihrem Spinnrad am Brunnen sitzt, fällt ihr die Spule ins Wasser. Aus lauter Angst vor der Mutter springt sie in den Brunnen und kommt in das Zauberland von Frau Holle. Als sie dort durch ihren Fleiß und ihre Gutherzigkeit viele Prüfungen besteht, kehrt sie reich belohnt wieder nach Hause zurück. Als die Pechmarie ihr aus Neid folgt, erlebt sie ihr pechschwarzes Wunder.

Maya (1961)

Synopsis:
On his birthday, wealthy Bombay-based Manmohan, whose father, Shamnarain, is overseas, finds out that he does not have any real friends. Disillusioned, he returns home, and that night overpowers a burglar, Sudesh. He decides to not call the police on the condition that he lets him live in the slums, to which Sudesh agrees, and takes him to a shanty Chawl. The next day, Manmohan, who now calls himself Shyam, meets Sudesh' sister, Shyama, and both are attracted to each other. He then sub-lets a room from a dweller, known as Mausi, and starts to sell ice-cream on the streets as a living. He indirectly uses his wealth and influence to help some of the impoverished residents. He then proposes to Shyama and she accepts - and it is this acceptance that will soon pit him not only against his snobbish and enraged father - but also against Sudesh as well as a much-feared gangster, Ranvir, who wants to wed Shyama at any and all costs.
Starring:
Dev Anand
Mala Sinha
Lalita Pawar

Director: D.D. Kashyap

Pyar Ki Pyas (1961)

Synopsis:
Shreekant, Nishi and Manmohan Krishna. The film features Shreekant, Nishi,Manmohan Krishna David Abraham Manorma Honey Irani and Yasodhara Katju. In this Movie Geeta(Honey Irani), a five-year old orphan of Seva-Kunj, gets adopted by wealthy Asha(Nishi) and Ashok Gupta(Shreekant), believes them to be her missing birth parents, and moves in with them in their palatial house. She quickly settles down and is showered with toys, attention and affection. But when Asha becomes pregnant, gives birth to a baby girl, Ritu; Geeta is traumatized by abuse and neglect, gets depressed and decides to return back to Seva-Kunj.

Director: Mahesh Koul

Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1961)

Synopsis:
Nawab Pyare Mian gets a close look at a stunning woman in a busy market place, and is left stunned by her beauty. Unable to get her out of his mind, he asks his friends, Shedad and Aslam, for assistance. Then to Nawab's delight he spots her at his sister's birthday celebration, and asks Nasibhan to find out who she is. After a few misunderstandings, he does find out her name, which is Jameela. But the problem is that his friend, Aslam, has also fallen for her, and the friends will have to make sacrifices for each other, then after that the decision will be Jameela's to decide who to chose for her life-partner.

Starring:
Waheeda Rehman
Guru Dutt
Rehman
Minu Mumtaz
Johnny Walker

Director: M. Sadiq

Gunga Jumna (1961)

AKA:
Ganga Jamna

Synopsis:
'Gunga Jumna' is a Dacoit drama having two brothers on opposites sides of the law. In the small village of Haripur, widowed Govindi (Leela Chitnis) lives with her two sons, Gungaram (Dilip Kumar) and Jumna (Nasir Khan). While Jumna is studious, Gungaram is the opposite, but has a good heart and decides to use his earnings to ensure his brother gets a decent education. Their mother dies of shock after she is accused and arrested for theft and Gungaram is left to look after Jumna. He sends Jumna to the city for studies and during the course of his studies, Gunga is forced to sell all his belongings. Later, Gunga is framed for a crime he did not commit by the wicked landlord Hariram (Anwar Hussain) and he becomes a bandit living in the mountains with his love, Dhanno (Vyjayantimala). Meanwhile, Jumna, educated on Gunga's money in the city, becomes an upright police officer. Fate play a cruel game where Jumna is pitted against his own brother and must arrest him at any cost.

The Human Condition III - A Soldiers Prayer (1961)

AKA:

The Human Condition 3

Ningen no joken III

Synopsis:

Third part of a trilogy. After the Japanese defeat to the Russians in the last episode Kaji the Japanese soldier and humanist protagonist leads the last remaining men through Manchuria . Intent on returning to his dear wife and his old life Kaji faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his fellow men sneak behind enemy lines. Ultimately he finds himself in the exact opposite position he held in the first episode: then a labour manager Kaji is now a prisoner of war forced to work for the Russians whom do not seem to hold to the Communist ideals in which Kaji himself had put his faith.

Il gigante di Metropolis (1961)

AKA:
Der Untergang von Metropolis >> West Germany
Giant of Metropolis >> English

Synopsis:
Muscleman Ohro travels to the sinful capital of Atlantis to rebuke its godlessness and hubris and becomes involved in the battle against its evil lord Yoh-tar and his hideous super-science schemes.

Starring:
Gordon Mitchell
Bella Cortez
Roldano Lupi

Director: Umberto Scarpelli

Sathihara (1961)

AKA:
Sathi Hara


Synopsis:The story is as Kundan (Uttam Kumar) and Rupa (Mala Sinha) were Banjaras. Kundan played behala very well. They showed different types of play with monkeys. Once, two music directors (Taru Kumar & Kajari Guha) heard Kundan's behala and offered him a big deal. Kundan didn't agree with it but under Rupa's pressure, he agreed and went with them. Sujon played game with Kundan and tried to break the Kundan and Rupa's relation. The music director shifted Kundan to another place. Rupa misunderstood Kundan. Sujon wanted to marry Rupa forcefully but in the meantime Kundan came and married Rupa. He also became the Sardar of the group.

Starring:
Uttam Kumar
Mala Sinha
Tarun Kumar
Jahar Roy
Preeti Majumdar
Ajit Chatterjee
Nripati Chatterjee
Kajari Guha
Geeta Dey
Rajlakhi Debi

Director: Sukumar Dasgupta

Der Fall Gleiwitz (1961)

Synopsis: Re-enacted true story of successful assault by Nazis, posing as Poles, on a German border radio station so that Hitler could "justify" thereby his invasion of Poland. Starring: Hannjo Hasse Christoph Bayertt Wolfgang Kalweit Director: Gerhard Klein

Pyar Ki Pyas (1961)

Starring:
Honey Irani
Shreekant
Nishi
Manmohan Krishna
David Abraham
Manorama
Yashodra Katju
Kamal Mehra

Director: Mahesh Kaul

The Thief of Bagdad (1961)

Synopsis:
In ancient Bagdad, Abu, a good-natured young thief (Sabu), befriends the deposed king Ahmad (John Justin) as both are imprisoned in the palace dungeon, awaiting execution under orders from the evil vizier Jaffar (Conrad Veidt), who has seized the throne. But they escape and make their way to Basra, where Ahmad, now living as a beggar, meets and falls in love with the Princess (June Duprez), who has been betrothed by her father the Sultan (Miles Malleson, who also wrote the screenplay) to Jaffar. Their fight for the love of the Princess triggers a series of adventures for the young Abu that brings him halfway around the world and into mystical realms with help from a towering genie (Rex Ingram), brushing up against the gods and transforming the little thief into a hero in the process. Along the way, we encounter a wide array of characters, some of them charming, such as the gentle Old King (Morton Selten), and some sinister, such as the devious Halima (Mary Morris), plus a range of color and lushly designed sets and set pieces (and special effects) that still dazzle the eye seven decades later, even in the wake of various remakes (which include Disney Studios' Aladdin). And it all leads to an amazing and suspenseful ride on a magic carpet, and a race against time to save the king and his beloved.

Starring:
Conrad Veidt
Mary Morris
June Duprez
John Justin
Sabu

Director: Ludwig Berger and Michael Powell

Rabindranath Tagore By Satyajit Ray (1961)

Director: Satyajit Ray

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961)

Synopsis:
A routine scientific expedition to the North Pole turns into a race to save all mankind when a radiation belt in space causes a fiery inferno on Earth. Admiral Nelson (Walter Pidgeon) and the crew of the atomic submarine Seaview battle saboteurs, giant sea-creatures and attacks by enemy submarines as they race to prevent global catastrophe.

Starring:
Peter Lorre
Joan Fontaine
Barbara Eden
Walter Pidgeon

Yojimbo the Bodyguard (1961)

AKA:
Yôjinbô >> Japan (Original Title)
Bodyguard >> Japan (literal title)
Die Leibwache >> West Germany
Yojimbo - Der Leibwächter >> West Germanylay title)

Starring:
Toshirô Mifune
Eijirô Tôno
Tatsuya Nakadai

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Synopsis:
A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.

Mem Didi (1961)

Starring:
Lalita Pawar … Rosy ‘Memdidi’
David Abraham … Bahadur Singh (as David)
Jayant … Sher Mohammed Khan ‘Shera’
Tanuja … Rita Roy
Kaysi Mehra … Dilip
Dhumal … Sethji
Rashid Khan … Doctor
Nazar
Hari Shivdasani … Dilip’s Father
Shivji Bhai
Amol Sen … Ramu (as A. Sen)
Aruna
Viren
Geetanjali
Anwaribai

Director: Hrishikesh Mukherjee

Kabuliwala (1961)

Director: Bimal Roy