Cineliteracy: What You Need to Know about 1950 as a Movie Year
Box-Office Hits
Rank Title Distributor Domestic rentals
1 Samson and Delilah Paramount $9,000,000
2 King Solomon’s Mines MGM $5,047,000
3 Annie Get Your Gun $4,708,000
4 Cheaper by the Dozen 20th Century Fox $4,425,000
5 Cinderella RKO/Walt Disney $4,275,000
6 Born Yesterday Columbia $4,100,000
7 Father of the Bride MGM $4,036,000
8 Broken Arrow 20th Century Fox $3,600,000
9 All About Eve $3,100,000
10 Three Little Words MGM $3,019,000
Bette Davis was denied the 1950 Oscar for what’s the majestic performance of her career, as Margo Channing in All About Eve, but she competed against her co-star Anne Baxter in the same category. As I have noted before, this must have split the votes.
In fact, 1950 was a year of extraordinary performances, including Gloria Swanson’s in Sunset Boulevard. The surprise winner was Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday, the only comedic role in a year of heavy dramatic roles; the fifth nominee was Eleanor Parker as the victimized wife in the prison drama Caged.
Best Picture Oscar: All About Eve
N.Y. Film Critics Circle: All About Eve
Venice Festival: Justice Is Done
British Awards: All About Eve; The Blue Lamp (UK Best Film)
Best Actress:
Oscar: Judy Holliday, Born Yesterday
N.Y. Film Critics Circle: Bette Davis, All About Eve
National Board of Review: Gloria Swanson, Sunset Boulevard
Cannes Film Festival:
Venice Film Festival: Eleanor Parker, Caged
Best Actor:
Oscar: Jose Ferrer, Cyrano de Bergerac
N.Y. Film Critics Circle: Gregory Peck, Twelve O’Clock High
National Board of Review: Alec Guinness, Kind Hearts and Coronets
Cannes Film Festival: No Award
Venice Film Festival: Sam Jaffe, The Asphalt Jungle
Events
January 13 –
Three weeks after world premiere at Paramount and Rivoli theatres in N.Y. DeMille’s Samson and Delilah opens in Los Angeles. A massive commercial success, the movie wins the Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design Oscars.
My Oscar Book:
February 15 –
Disney Studios’ animation, Cinderella, is the most successful the studio has made since Dumbo, and saves the studio from debt.
July 19 –
Disney’s first completely live-action, Treasure Island.
Awards
23rd Academy (Oscar) Awards, March 29, 1951
Top 10 money making stars
1. John Wayne
2. Bob Hope
3. Bing Crosby
4. Betty Grable
5. James Stewart
6. (tie) Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
7. Clifton Webb
8. Esther Williams
9. Spencer Tracy
10. Randolph Scott
Notable Films Released in 1950
711 Ocean Drive, starring Edmond O’Brien, Joanne Dru
A
Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
All About Eve, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Hugh Marlowe, Marilyn Monroe, winner of 6 Oscars
Annie Get Your Gun, starring Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Louis Calhern
Armored Car Robbery, starring Charles McGraw, William Talman
The Asphalt Jungle, John Huston, starring Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Sam Jaffe, James Whitmore, Jean Hagen, Marilyn Monroe
At War with the Army, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
B
The Baron of Arizona, starring Vincent Price
Beauty and the Devil (La Beauté du diable), René Clair, starring Michel Simon (France/Italy)
The Big Lift, starring Montgomery Clift, Paul Douglas
The Black Rose, starring Tyrone Power, Orson Welles – (GB/US)
Born to Be Bad, starring Joan Fontaine, Robert Ryan
Born Yesterday, George Cukor, starring Broderick Crawford, Judy Holliday, William Holden (Oscar winner)
The Breaking Point, Michael Curtiz, starring John Garfield, Patricia Neal
Bright Leaf, starring Gary Cooper, Lauren Bacall, Patricia Neal
Broken Arrow, starring James Stewart, Jeff Chandler
C
Caged, starring Eleanor Parker
Cheaper by the Dozen, starring Clifton Webb, Myrna Loy
Cinderella, Disney animated, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, and Wilfred Jackson, starring Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Rhoda Williams, James MacDonald, Luis van Rooten, Don Barclay, Mike Douglas, Lucille Bliss
Crisis, starring Cary Grant and Jose Ferrer
Cyrano de Bergerac, starring José Ferrer (Oscar winner)
D
D.O.A., starring Edmond O’Brien
Dallas, starring Gary Cooper
The Damned Don’t Cry, starring Joan Crawford
Dark City, William Dieterle, starring Charlton Heston (first studio film), Lizabeth Scott, Viveca Lindfors, Dean Jagger, Mike Mazurki, Ed Begley
The Daughter of Rosie O’Grady, starring June Haver, Gordon MacRae
Deported, starring Jeff Chandler
The Devil Is a Woman (Doña Diabla) – (Mexico)
Devil’s Doorway, starring Robert Taylor, Louis Calhern, Paula Raymond
Dieu a besoin des hommes (God Needs Man), Jean Delannoy (France)
E
Les Enfants Terribles, directed by Jean-Pierre Melville – (France)
F
Fancy Pants, starring Bob Hope, Lucille Ball
Father Is a Bachelor, starring William Holden, Colleen Gray
Father of the Bride, Vincente Minnelli, starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor
The File on Thelma Jordon, starring Barbara Stanwyck
The Flame and the Arrow, starring Burt Lancaster and Virginia Mayo
The Flowers of St. Francis (Francesco, giullare di Dio), directed by Roberto Rossellini – (Italy)
For Heaven’s Sake, starring Clifton Webb, Joan Bennett
Frenchie, starring Joel McCrea and Shelley Winters
The Fuller Brush Girl, starring Lucille Ball, Eddie Albert
The Furies, Anthony Mann, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Huston
G
The Glass Menagerie, based on Tennessee Williams play, starring Jane Wyman, Kirk Douglas, Gertrude Lawrence, Arthur Kennedy
Gun Crazy (aka Deadly is the Female), starring John Dall, Peggy Cummins
The Gunfighter, starring Gregory Peck
Gunman in the Streets, starring Simone Signoret (France)
H
The Happiest Days of Your Life, starring Alastair Sim, Margaret Rutherford (GB)
Harriet Craig, starring Joan Crawford, Wendell Corey
Harvey, starring James Stewart, Josephine Hull
The Hollywood Ten, documentary by John Berry
House by the River, starring Louis Hayward and Jane Wyatt
I
I’ll Get By, starring June Haver, Gloria DeHaven, Steve Allen, Dennis Day
In a Lonely Place, Nicholas Ray, starring Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame
J
The Jackie Robinson Story, starring Robinson as himself, with Ruby Dee
Johnny One-Eye, starring Pat O’Brien
Julius Caesar, starring Charlton Heston
K
Key to the City, starring Clark Gable, Loretta Young
The Kid (Xi lu xiang), starring Bruce Lee, age 10 (Hong Kong)
Kim, starring Errol Flynn
King Solomon’s Mines, starring Deborah Kerr, Stewart Granger
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, starring James Cagney
L
A Lady Without Passport, starring Hedy Lamarr, John Hodiak
Last Holiday, starring Alec Guinness – (GB)
The Lawless, Joseph Losey, starring Macdonald Carey
Let’s Dance, starring Fred Astaire, Betty Hutton
Love Happy, starring the Marx Brothers and Marilyn Monroe
M
The Magnificent Yankee, starring Louis Calhern
The Men, starring Marlon Brando in film debut, with Teresa Wright, Everett
The Miniver Story, starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, John Hodiak
Mirror of Holland (Spiegel van Holland) – (Netherlands) winner of Short Film Palme d’Or (Cannes Fest).
Mister 880, starring Burt Lancaster, Edmund Gwenn
Montana, starring Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith
Mrs. O’Malley and Mr. Malone, starring Marjorie Main, James Whitmore
My Blue Heaven, starring Betty Grable
My Friend Irma Goes West, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
N
Nancy Goes to Rio, starring Ann Sothern, Jane Powell, Barry Sullivan, Carmen Miranda, Louis Calhern
The Nevadan, starring Randolph Scott, Dorothy Malone
Night and the City, Jules Dassin, starring Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney (GB)
No Man of Her Own, starring Barbara Stanwyck
No Way Out, starring Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, Sidney Poitier
O
Los Olvidados, Luis Buñuel, cinematography, Gabriel Figueroa (Mexico)
Once a Thief, starring Cesar Romero, Lon Chaney Jr.
One Way Street, starring James Mason
Orphée, directed by Jean Cocteau, starring Jean Marais – (France)
Outrage, directed by Ida Lupino, starring Mala Powers
P
Panic in the Streets, Kazan, starring Richard Widmark, Jack Palance, Zero Mostel, Barbara Bel Geddes
Perfect Strangers, starring Ginger Rogers
Q
Quicksand, starring Mickey Rooney, Peter Lorre
R
Rashomon, Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune, Masayuki Mori (Japan)
Riding High, Frank Capra, starring Bing Crosby
Right Cross, starring June Allyson, Dick Powell
Rio Grande, John Ford, starring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara
La Ronde (The Merry-Go-Round), Max Ophüls, starring Simone Signoret, Anton Walbrook (France)
S
Scandal (Sukyandaru), Kurosawa (Japan)
September Affair, starring Joan Fontaine and Joseph Cotten
Shadow on the Wall, starring Ann Sothern, Zachary Scott, Nancy Davis
Stage Fright, Hitchcock, starring Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding, Richard Todd (GB)
State Secret, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Jack Hawkins – (GB)
Story of Love Affair (Cronaca di un amore), Antonioni – (Italy)
Stromboli, Rossellini, starring Ingrid Bergman – (Italy/US)
Summer Stock, starring Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, with Phil Silvers
Sunset Boulevard, directed by Billy Wilder, starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich Von Stroheim, Nancy Olson
T
Tea for Two, starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae
Tension, starring Richard Basehart, Audrey Totter
Three Came Home, starring Claudette Colbert
Three Little Words, starring Fred Astaire, Red Skelton
The Titan: Story of Michelangelo, award-winning documentary by Robert J. Flaherty
To Please a Lady, starring Clark Gable, Stanwyck
U
Union Station, starring William Holden
V
Variety Lights (Luci del varietà), Fellini (Italy)
W
Wabash Avenue, starring Betty Grable (remake of Grable’s 1943 Coney Island)
Wagon Master, directed by John Ford, starring Ben Johnson, Joanne Dru, Ward Bond
Where the Sidewalk Ends, Preminger, starring Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney
Winchester ’73, James Stewart, Shelley Winters, Stephen McNally, Dan Duryea, Rock Hudson,Tony Curtis
Woman in Hiding, starring Ida Lupino, Howard Duff, Stephen McNally
Woman on the Run, starring Ann Sheridan, Dennis O’Keefe
Y
The Yellow Cab Man, starring Red Skelton, Gloria DeHaven
The Young and the Damned (Los Olvidados), Buñuel – (Mexico)
Young Man with a Horn, Michael Curtiz, starring Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day (lesbian)
Deaths
January 2 –
Emil Jannings, 65, Swiss-born German actor, The Blue Angel, The Last Laugh
January 12 –
John M. Stahl, 63, director and producer, Leave Her to Heaven, Imitation of Life
January 22
Alan Hale Sr., 57, actor, director, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Santa Fe Trail
March 18 –
Edgar Rice Burroughs, 74, American writer, creator of Tarzan
March 25 –
Frank Buck, 66, American actor and animal expert, Bring ‘Em Back Alive, Africa Screams
April 7 – Walter Huston, 67, Oscar-winning actor, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Dodsworth
October 23 –
Al Jolson, 64, Lithuanian-born American actor, singer, entertainer, The Jazz Singer, Rhapsody in Blue, The Singing Fool
Film debuts
Marlon Brando – The Men
Carol Channing – Paid in Full
Robert Cornthwaite – Union Station
Richard Crenna – Let’s Dance
Royal Dano – Undercover Girl
Ossie Davis – No Way Out
James Fox – The Miniver Story
Peter Hansen – Branded
Tippi Hedren – The Petty Girl
Jeffrey Hunter – Julius Caesar
Tab Hunter – The Lawless
Piper Laurie – Louisa
Sophia Loren – Totò Tarzan
Vera Miles – When Willie Comes Marching Home
Rita Moreno – So Young, So Bad
Jack Palance – Panic in the Streets
Peter Sellers – The Black Rose
Cyril Shaps – Cairo Road
Robert Wagner – The Happy Years
Jack Warden – The Asphalt Jungle
Robert Webber – Highway 301
Joseph Wiseman – With These Hands
