Cineliteracy: What You Need to Know about 1942 as a Movie Year
Top-Grossing Films (U.S.)
1. Mrs. Miniver Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $5,358,000
2. Random Harvest $4,650,000
3. Yankee Doodle Dandy Warner Bros. $4,631,000
4. Reap the Wild Wind Paramount Pictures $4,000,000
5. Holiday Inn
Road to Morocco $3,800,000
6. The Pride of the Yankees RKO/Samuel Goldwyn Productions $3,671,000
7. Wake Island Paramount Pictures $3,500,000
8. For Me and My Gal Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $2,894,000
9. Somewhere I’ll Find You $2,885,000
10. The Black Swan 20th Century Fox $2,586,000
Events
January 16 –
Actress Carole Lombard is killed in a plane crash west of Las Vegas while returning home from a War Bond tour.
June 4 – Mrs. Miniver, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, opens at Radio City Music Hall in New York, in what will become a record-breaking 10-week run.
The film is released nationally on July 22, 1942, and becomes MGM’s most financially successful film of the 1940s.
At the 15th Oscars, Mrs. Miniver wins six awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (for William Wyler), Best Actress (for Greer Garson) and Best Supporting Actress (for Teresa Wright).
August 8:
Walt Disney’s animated film Bambi opens in United Kingdom.
November 11:
Road to Morocco, starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour, premieres.
November 26:
The film Casablanca premieres at the Hollywood Theatre in New York. Released nationally on January 23, 1943, it becomes one of the top-grossing pictures of 1943 and goes on to win the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars.
Oscar Awards
Best Picture: Mrs. Miniver – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best Director: William Wyler – Mrs. Miniver
Best Actor: James Cagney – Yankee Doodle Dandy
Best Actress: Greer Garson – Mrs. Miniver
Best Supporting Actor: Van Heflin – Johnny Eager
Best Supporting Actress: Teresa Wright – Mrs. Miniver
Special Academy Award: In Which We Serve
Popular Movie Stars (rank-ordered):
Abbott and Costello
Clark Gable
Gary Cooper
Mickey Rooney
Bob Hope
James Cagney
Gene Autry
Betty Grable
Greer Garson
Spencer Tracy