Cineliteracy 1948: What You Need to Know about 1948 as a Movie Year

Movie Events:

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.

Olivier’s Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the Best Picture Oscar.

Sep 28

Death of ace cinematographer Gregg Toland (Citizen Kane) at the young age of 44, huge loss.

Highest-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

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

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.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)

Call Northside 777, starring James Stewart

Command Decision, starring Clark Gable

Cry of the City, starring Victor Mature and Richard Conte

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)

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

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

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 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

Julia Misbehaves starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lawford, Elizabeth Taylor

June Bride, starring Bette Davis

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

The Kissing Bandit, starring Kathryn Grayson and Frank Sinatra

Krakatit, directed by Otakar Vávra (Czechoslovakia)

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 starring Sacha Guitry – (France)

Letter from an Unknown Woman, directed by Max Ophüls, starring Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdan

London Belongs to Me, starring Richard Attenborough and Alastair Sim – (GB)

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

Luxury Liner, starring Jane Powell and George Brent

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)

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)

On an Island with You starring Esther Williams, Peter Lawford, Ricardo

Montalbán, Cyd Charisse, and Jimmy Durante

One Sunday Afternoon, starring Dennis Morgan

One Touch of Venus, starring Robert Walker and Ava Gardner

Oliver Twist, directed by David Lean, starring Alec Guinness and Robert Newton – (GB)
On Our Own Land (Na svoji zemlji) – (Yugoslavia)

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)

Portrait of Jennie, directed by William Dieterle, starring Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten

Q
Quartet, starring Mai Zetterling – (GB)

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, Janis Paige, Doris Day (film debut)

Rope, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart

Ruthless, starring Zachary Scott and Diana Lynn

Saigon, the final of 4 films starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake

The Sainted Sisters, starring Veronica Lake and Joan Caulfield
Saraband for Dead Lovers, starring Stewart Granger and Joan Greenwood – (GB)

Scott of the Antarctic, starring John Mills – (GB)

Sealed Verdict, starring Ray Milland

The Search, directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Montgomery Clift – (US/Switzerland)

Secret Beyond the Door, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Joan Bennett and Michael Redgrave

Senza pietà (Without Pity) – (Italy)

Shaheed, starring Dilip Kumar – (India)

Silver River, starring Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan

Sitting Pretty, starring Robert Young and Maureen O’Hara

Sleep, My Love, starring Claudette Colbert

Sleeping Car to Trieste, starring Jean Kent – (GB)

Smart Girls Don’t Talk, starring Virginia Mayo

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

Spring in a Small Town (Xiǎochéng zhī chūn), directed by Fei Mu – (China)

Spring in Park Lane, starring Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding – (GB)

State of the Union, starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn

Station West, starring Dick Powell and Jane Greer

The Street with No Name, starring Richard Widmark

Tap Roots, starring Van Heflin and Susan Hayward

La Terra Trema (The Earth Will Tremble), directed by Luchino 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 and Walter Huston (best supporting actor)

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)

Vidya, starring Dev Anand – (India)

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
Pat Buttram – The Strawberry Roan
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

Frank Lovejoy – Black Bart
Klara Luchko – The Young Guard
Ralph Moody – Tex Granger
Nonna Mordyukova – The Young Guard
Terence Morgan – Hamlet
Audie Murphy – Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven

Debra Paget – Cry of the City

Irene Papas – Fallen Angels

Nehemiah Persoff – The Naked City

John Randolph – The Naked City

Debbie Reynolds – June Bride

Russ Tamblyn – The Boy with Green Hair