Cineliteracy 1948: What You Need to Know about 1948 as a Movie Year
Movie Events:
Olivier’s Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the Best Picture Oscar.
May 3 –
The Supreme Court decide in United States v. Paramount that the practice of block booking and ownership of theater chains by studios constituted anti-competitive and monopolistic trade practices.
Sep 28-
Death of ace cinematographer Gregg Toland (Citizen Kane) at the young age of 44, huge loss.
Top-Grossing Films of 1948
Rank, Title, Distributor, Domestic rentals
1 The Red Shoes General Film $5,000,000
2 Red River United Artists $4,506,825
3 The Paleface Paramount $4,500,000
4 Johnny Belinda Warner Bros. $4,266,000
5 Easter Parade MGM $4,144,000
6 The Three Musketeers $4,124,000
7 The Snake Pit 20th Century Fox $4,100,000
8 The Emperor Waltz Paramount $4,000,000
9 Homecoming MGM $3,699,000
10 Sitting Pretty, 20th Century Fox $3,550,000
Top Money-Making Stars (by Rank)
1. Bing Crosby
2. Betty Grable
3. (tie) Bud Abbott
Lou Costello
4. Gary Cooper
5. Bob Hope
6. Humphrey Bogart
7. Clark Gable
8. Cary Grant
9. Spencer Tracy
10. Ingrid Bergman
Oscar Year: 1948
Best Picture Nominees
Hamlet
Johnny Belinda
The Red Shoes
The Snake Pit
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
N.Y. Film Critics Circle: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Venice Festival: Hamlet
Cannes Festival: Not held that year
Notable films released in 1948
#
3 Godfathers, directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne
A
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
Act of Violence, starring Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh
Adventures of Don Juan, starring Errol Flynn
L’Amore, directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Anna Magnani – (Italy)
Anna Karenina, starring Vivien Leigh and Ralph Richardson – (GB)
Another Part of the Forest, starring Fredric March
Arch of Triumph, starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Charles Laughton
B
B.F.’s Daughter, starring Barbara Stanwyck
Berlin Express, directed by Jacques Tourneur, Merle Oberon, Robert Ryan
Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette), directed by Vittorio De Sica – (Italy)
The Big Clock, starring Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester
Blood on the Moon, starring Robert Mitchum
Bodyguard, starring Lawrence Tierney and Priscilla Lane
The Boy with Green Hair, Joseph Losey, Dean Stockwell, Robert Ryan
The Bride Goes Wild, Norman Taurog, June Allyson and Van Johnson
Brighton Rock, a Boulting Brothers film, starring Richard Attenborough – (GB)
C
Call Northside 777, starring James Stewart
Command Decision, starring Clark Gable
Cry of the City, starring Victor Mature and Richard Conte
D
The Dark Past, starring William Holden, Lee J. Cobb, Nina Foch
A Date with Judy, starring Wallace Beery, Jane Powell, Elizabeth Taylor, Carmen Miranda
Dédée d’Anvers, starring Simone Signoret – (France)
Drunken Angel (Yoidore tenshi), directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Takashi
Shimura and Toshiro Mifune – (Japan)
E
The Eagle with Two Heads (L’Aigle à deux têtes), Jean Cocteau – (France)
Easter Parade, starring Judy Garland, Fred Astaire and Peter Lawford
The Emperor Waltz, starring Bing Crosby
Escape, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Rex Harrison – (GB/U.S.)
Eva – (Sweden)
Every Girl Should Be Married, starring Cary Grant
F
The Fallen Idol, written by Graham Greene, directed by Carol Reed, starring Ralph Richardson – (GB)
Fighter Squadron, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Edmond O’Brien, Robert Stack
Force of Evil, starring John Garfield
A Foreign Affair, directed by Billy Wilder, Jean Arthur and Marlene Dietrich
Fort Apache, directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple
Four Faces West, starring Joel McCrea and Frances Dee
G
Germany Year Zero (Germania anno zero), Roberto Rossellini – (Italy)
God Reward You (Dios se lo pague), starring Arturo de Córdova – (Argentina)
Good Sam, directed by Leo McCarey, starring Gary Cooper
Good-Time Girl, starring Jean Kent and Dennis Price – (GB)
Green Grass of Wyoming, starring Peggy Cummins and Charles Coburn
The Green Promise, starring Marguerite Chapman and Walter Brennan
H
Half Past Midnight, starring Kent Taylor and Peggy Knudsen
Hamlet, directed by and starring Laurence Olivier, with Basil Sydney and Jean Simmons – (GB)
He Walked by Night, starring Richard Basehart and Jack Webb
A Hen in the Wind, directed by Yasujirō Ozu – (Japan)
Hollow Triumph, starring Paul Henreid and Joan Bennett
Homecoming, starring Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Anne Baxter, John Hodiak
I
I Remember Mama, directed by George Stevens, starring Irene Dunne
I Walk Alone, starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas
The Iron Curtain, William Wellman, Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, June Havoc
Isn’t It Romantic?, starring Veronica Lake
J
Joan of Arc, starring Ingrid Bergman
Johnny Belinda, starring Jane Wyman and Lew Ayres
K
Key Largo, directed by John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, Claire Trevor
Kiss the Blood off My Hands, starring Joan Fontaine and Burt Lancaster
L
La Terra Trema, directed by Luchino Visconti (Italy)
Ladies of the Chorus, starring Marilyn Monroe
Lal Dupatta, starring Madhubala (India)
The Lame Devil (Le Diable boiteux), directed by and starring Sacha Guitry – (France)
Letter from an Unknown Woman, directed by Max Ophüls, starring Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan
Louisiana Story, documentary by Robert J. Flaherty
The Loves of Carmen, starring Rita Hayworth
The Luck of the Irish, starring Tyrone Power and Anne Baxter
M
Macbeth, directed by and starring Orson Welles
The Mating of Millie, starring Evelyn Keyes and Glenn Ford
Mela, starring Dilip Kumar – (India)
Melody Time, starring Roy Rogers & Trigger and The Andrews Sisters
Mexican Hayride, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
Michurin, directed by Alexander Dovzhenko – (U.S.S.R.)
Miranda, directed by Ken Annakin, starring Glynis Johns – (GB)
Miss Tatlock’s Millions, starring Wanda Hendrix, Barry Fitzgerald, John Lund
The Monkey’s Paw, starring Milton Rosmer – (GB)
Moonrise, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Gail Russell and Dane Clark
Morituri – (Germany)
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy
My Dear Secretary, starring Kirk Douglas, Laraine Day
Myriad of Lights (Wanjia denghuo) – (China)
The Mysterious Apartment (Den hemmelighetsfulle leiligheten) – (Norway)
N
The Naked City, directed by Jules Dassin, starring Barry Fitzgerald
Night Has a Thousand Eyes, starring Edward G. Robinson
No Orchids for Miss Blandish – (GB)
No Room at the Inn, starring Freda Jackson and Hermione Baddeley – (GB)
Noose, starring Carole Landis
The Noose Hangs High, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
Nosotros los Pobres (We the Poor), starring Pedro Infante – (Mexico)
O
On an Island with You starring Esther Williams, Peter Lawford, Ricardo Montalbán
Oliver Twist, directed by David Lean, starring Alec Guinness and Robert Newton – (GB)
P
The Paleface, starring Bob Hope and Jane Russell
Les Parents terribles, directed by Jean Cocteau, starring Jean Marais – (France)
The Pirate, starring Gene Kelly and Judy Garland
Pitfall, starring Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr
Port of Call (Hamnstad), directed by Ingmar Bergman – (Sweden)
Q
Quartet, starring Mai Zetterling – (GB)
R
Race Street, starring George Raft and William Bendix
Rachel and the Stranger, starring Loretta Young, William Holden, Robert Mitchum
Raw Deal, directed by Anthony Mann, starring Dennis O’Keefe, Claire Trevor Marsha Hunt, Raymond Burr
Red River, directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Wayne, Montgomery Clift
Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru, John Ireland
The Red Shoes, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring
Moira Shearer and Anton Walbrook – (GB)
Relentless, starring Robert Young
The Return of October, starring Glenn Ford
Road House, starring Ida Lupino
Rogues’ Regiment, directed by Robert Florey and starring Dick Powell, Märta Torén, Vincent Price
Romance on the High Seas, starring Jack Carson, Doris Day (film debut)
Rope, directed by Hitchcock, starring James Stewart
Ruthless, starring Zachary Scott and Diana Lynn
S
Saigon, the final of 4 films starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake
The Sainted Sisters, starring Veronica Lake and Joan Caulfield
Scott of the Antarctic, starring John Mills – (GB)
Sealed Verdict, starring Ray Milland
The Search, directed by Fred Zinnemann, Montgomery Clift (US/Switzerland)
Secret Beyond the Door, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Joan Bennett, Michael Redgrave
Senza pietà (Without Pity) – (Italy)
Shaheed, starring Dilip Kumar – (India)
Sitting Pretty, starring Robert Young and Maureen O’Hara
Sleep, My Love, starring Claudette Colbert
Sleeping Car to Trieste, starring Jean Kent – (GB)
The Snake Pit, starring Olivia de Havilland
So Evil My Love, starring Ray Milland, Ann Todd, Geraldine Fitzgerald – (GB)
A Song Is Born, starring Danny Kaye
Sorry, Wrong Number, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster
State of the Union, starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn
Station West, starring Dick Powell and Jane Greer
The Street with No Name, starring Richard Widmark
T
Tap Roots, starring Van Heflin and Susan Hayward
La Terra Trema (The Earth Will Tremble), directed by Visconti – (Italy)
They Live by Night, directed by Nicholas Ray, starring Farley Granger, Cathy O’Donnell
The Three Musketeers, starring Lana Turner and Gene Kelly
The Time of Your Life, starring James Cagney
Tragic Hunt (Caccia tragica) – (Italy)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, directed by John Huston (Oscars for best director and best screenplay), starring Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston (best supporting actor)
U
Under the Sun of Rome (Sotto il sole di Roma), directed by Renato Castellani – (Italy)
Unfaithfully Yours, starring Linda Darnell and Rex Harrison
Up in Central Park, directed by William A. Seiter, starring Deanna Durbin, Vincent Price
Ustedes los ricos (you the Rich), starring Pedro Infante – (Mexico)
V
Vidya, starring Dev Anand – (India)
W
Waverley Steps – (GB) documentary
Western Heritage, starring Tim Holt
When My Baby Smiles at Me, starring Betty Grable and Dan Dailey
When You Come Home
Whiplash, starring Alexis Smith and Dane Clark
Whispering Smith, starring Alan Ladd and Robert Preston
The Winslow Boy, directed by Anthony Asquith, Robert Donat, Margaret Leighton – (GB)
Y
Yellow Sky, starring Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, Richard Widmark
Births
Long list
Deaths
Long list
Film Debuts
John Agar – Fort Apache
Claire Bloom – The Blind Goddess
Beau Bridges – No Minor Vices
Capucine – The Eagle with Two Heads
Doris Day – Romance on the High Seas
José Ferrer – Joan of Arc
Laurence Harvey – House of Darkness
Thomas Browne Henry – Hollow Triumph
Audrey Hepburn – Dutch in Seven Lessons
Rock Hudson – Fighter Squadron
Howard Keel – The Small Voice
Klaus Kinski – Morituri
Eartha Kitt – Casbah
Christopher Lee – Corridor of Mirrors
Margaret Leighton – Bonnie Prince Charlie
Audie Murphy – Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
Irene Papas – Fallen Angels
Debbie Reynolds – June Bride
Russ Tamblyn – The Boy with Green Hair
Best Actress
Oscar: Jane Wyman, Johnny Belinda
N.Y. Film Critics Circle: Olivia De Havilland, The Snake Pitt
National Board of Review: Olivia De Havilland
Cannes Film Festival
Venice Film Festival: Jean Simmons, Hamlet
Best Actor
Oscar: Laurence Olivier, Hamlet
N.Y. Film Critics Circle: Laurence Olivier, Hamlet
National Board of Review: Walter Huston, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Cannes Film Festival: No Festival
Venice Film Festival: Ernest Deutsch, Der Prozess
