Twentieth Century Fox
It’s a busy Halloween week with many new films released across the decades include a classic mystery-drama in 1944, a cult classic musical in 1974, a retelling of a horror classic in 1994, and a new group of animated superheroes in 2004. Scroll down to see all the films that were released this week over the last century, and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries. We’ll be back with more trivia about the later films on the list so stay tuned!
1924
- November – Trigger Fingers (USA, Independent Pictures)
- November 1 – For Another Woman (USA, Rayart Pictures Corporation)
- November 1 – The Rev. Dell’s Secret (AUS, P.J. Ramster Photoplays)
- November 1 – Turned Up (USA, William Steiner)
- November 1 – White Man (USA, B.P. Schulberg Productions)
- November 1 – Women First (USA, Columbia Pictures)
- November 2 – The Garden of Weeds (USA, Paramount Pictures)
- November 2 – Husbands and Lovers (USA, Louis B. Mayer Productions)
- November 2 – The Last Man on Earth (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
- November 2 – The Sunset Trail (USA, Universal Pictures)
- November 2 – Teeth (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
- November 3 – Merton of the Movies (USA, Paramount Pictures)
The Rev. Dell’s Secret has no known US theatrical release date.
Known lost films: Trigger Fingers, The Rev. Dell’s Secret, White Man, The Garden of Weeds, The Sunset Trail, Merton of the Movies.
A copy of For Another Woman is located in the BFI National Archive. The Garden of Weeds is based on the Broadway play Garden of Weeds by Leon Gordon and Doris Marquette. A complete print of Husbands and Lovers is preserved by MGM and also at Filmmuseum EYE Institut, Netherlands. A complete print of Teeth is in the Library of Congress collection.
The Last Man on Earth is based on the short story of the same name by John D. Swain that appeared in the November 1923 issue of Munsey’s Magazine. The film was remade as a semi-musical comedy, It’s Great to Be Alive (1933), and influenced the sci-fi novel Mr. Adam (1946). The film was banned in Virginia for its story of several women vying for a single man. It was also banned in the UK. Prints of the film are held in the Cinematheque Royale de Belgique in Brussels and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Merton of the Movies is based on the George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly 1922 play of the same name, which in turn was based on Harry Leon Wilson’s novel, also titled Merton of the Movies. Glenn Hunter reprised his stage role of Merton Gill for the movie. As the play depended on funny dialogue, the silent film used a good bit of slapstick instead. The film was remade in 1932 as Make Me a Star, and again in 1947 as Merton of the Movies.
1934
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- November – Irish Hearts (UK, Clifton-Hurst Productions)
- November 1 – The Oil Raider (USA, Scott-Bennet Productions)
- November 2 – The Captain Hates the Sea (USA, Columbia Pictures)
- November 2 – Elinor Norton (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
- November 2 – Kentucky Kernels (USA, RKO Radio Pictures)
- November 2 – The Merry Widow (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
- November 3 – Gambling (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
- November 3 – Love Time (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
- November 5 – Cheating Cheaters (USA, Universal Pictures)
Irish Hearts, also known as Norah O’Neale, originally opened in the US on October 24, 2934. Irish Hearts was produced as a quota quickie. It was based on Johnson Abrahams’s novel Night Nurse.
The Captain Hates the Sea was the last film for silent icon John Gilbert, and the first from Columbia Pictures to feature The Three Stooges. The film went over budget due in large part to the alcohol-fueled partying by Gilbert, Victor McLaglen, Leon Errol, Walter Catlett and Walter Connolly. Studio head Harry Cohn sent a cable to director Lewis Milestone asking him to ‘Hurry up! The cost is staggering’, to which Milestone replied, ‘So is the cast!’ Exterior footage of the San Capeador was reused in the Stooges short Dunked in the Deep.
Elinor Norton is based on the 1933 novel, The State versus Elinor Norton by Mary Roberts Rinehart.
The Merry Widow is a 1934 film adaptation of the 1905 operetta of the same name by Franz Lehár. A French language version was filmed at the same time and released in France in 1934 as La veuve joyeuse. Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald appeared in both versions. Cedric Gibbons and Frederic Hope were nominated for, and won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction.
Gambling is based on the 1929 play of the same name by George M. Cohan. Love Time is a romanticized biopic of composer Franz Schubert, released the same year as the similarly themed Blossom Time.
1944
- October 31 – I’m from Arkansas (USA, Producers Releasing Corporation)
- November – Laura (USA, Twentieth Century Fox)
- November – Mrs. Parkington (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
- November 1 – I Love a Soldier (USA, Paramount Pictures)
- November 1 – Something for the Boys (USA, Twentieth Century Fox)
- November 3 – Bowery to Broadway (USA, Universal Pictures)
- November 3 – The Woman in the Window (USA, Christie Corporation)
- November 4 – I Accuse My Parents (USA, Alexander-Stern Productions)
- November 4 – Law of the Valley (USA, Monogram Pictures)
- November 6 – Champagne Charlie (UK, Ealing Studios)
- November 6 – Lights of Old Santa Fe (USA, Republic Pictures)
- November 6 – Medal for the General (UK, British National Films)
- November 6 – Two Thousand Women (UK, Gainsborough Pictures)
Champagne Charlie was released in the US on August 6, 1948. Medal for the General was released in the US on March 15, 1946 as The Gay Intruders. Two Thousand Women was released in the US in October 1951, severely edited and retitled House of 1,000 Women.
Laura is based on the 1943 novel of the same name by Vera Caspary. Laura was originally conceived as a theatrical project titled Ring Twice for Laura with Otto Preminger to direct. Marlene Dietrich interested in the title role but without her commitment, Caspary was unable to secure financing for a national tour or Broadway run and the project was abandoned. Caspary eventually adapted the play for a novel and a sequel, simply titled Laura, and both were purchased by 20th Century Fox. George Sanders and Laird Cregar were announced as the leads. Preminger had butted heads with Caspary during the theatrical process, and when he was assigned the task of developing the book for the screen, he left Caspary out of the process until the first draft was completed, making Waldo Lydecker the main character instead of Laura as he was the more interesting. Caspary did not approve of the changes. Studio head Darryl Zanuck, who had been away fulfilling his military duty, was appalled to find his nemesis Preminger had been hired. He said Preminger could produce the film but not direct, assiging him to In the Meantime, Darling. After several directors rejected the project, Rouben Mamoulian finally took the job and immediately ignored all of Preminger’s directives, and rewrote the script. Preminger was not happy with the casting of Laird Cregar as Lydecker, because his reputation of playing sinister characters would make the audience suspicious of him too early. He wanted Clifton Webb, but Zanuck and the casting director both objected because of his effeminate mannerisms, which Preminger insisted was why he was right for the role. Preminger filmed a screen test with Webb performing a monlogue from the Noël Coward play Blithe Spirit, in which he was appearing in Los Angeles at the time. Zanuck then agreed that Webb was right for the role and he was cast. Zanuck also wanted Reginald Gardiner for the role of Shelby, but the part went to Fox contract player Vincent Price. When production began, Mamoulian offered little support to relative newcomers Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews, allowed theatrical actress Judith Anderson to play to the balcony, and virtually ignored Webb, who learned the director was unhappy with his casting. Zanuck called a meeting with the director and producer, both of whom blamed the other for the problems on set. Preminger told Zanuck the film needed a more subtle approach than what Mamoulian was willing to give, and Zanuck reluctantly hired Preminger to direct and dismiss Mamoulian. Preminger hired a new cinematographer and scenic designer, and replaced the portrait of Laura, a crucial element of the film which had been painted by Mamoulian’s wife, with an enlarged photograph of Tierney dabbed with oil paint to create the etheral effect he wanted. The cast was resistant to Preminger at first, having been led to believe by the departing Mamoulian that he was unhappy with their work, but once things were rolling they had an easy time. Zanuck didn’t like the first cut of the film and insisted on a new ending in which Lydecker imagined the entire story. After a screening with Zanuck’s ending, columnist Walter Winchell told Zanuck the ending made no sense and he had to change it, forcing Zanuck to reinstate Preminger’s original ending and conceding defeat to the director’s success. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Director (but not Best Picture) and Supporting Actor (Webb), winning for Best Black and White Cinematography. Laura was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1999.
Mrs. Parkington was adapted from the Louis Bromfield novel of the same name. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon starred as husband and wife for the fourth time. Garson was Oscar nominated for Best Actress, and Agnes Moorehead received a Supporting Actress nomination. She was also Golden Globe nominated.
Something for the Boys is based on the 1943 Broadway musical of the same name. The show featured songs by Cole Porter, but the film only includes the title song and features no other music from the show. The role of Chiquita was expanded for Carmen Miranda. When the rights to the show were purchased in 1942, Fox was not permitted to release the film until the Summer of 1944 at the earliest so it didn’t compete with the touring version of the musical.
Bowery to Broadway featured Donald O’Connor and Peggy Ryan as a specialty act, and it was the only film they were in together where they did not have a name or character. The film was originally conceived to cover the history of Broadway, with the title Hip Hip Hooray.
The Woman in the Window is based on J. H. Wallis’ 1942 novel Once Off Guard. The term ‘film noir’ originated as a genre description in part because of the movie. Fritz Lang directed, and the film shares stars Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea with Lang’s Scarlet Street, which also has the same cinematographer. The film was Oscar nominated for Best Scoring but lost to Spellbound.
I Accuse My Parents was lampooned on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Law of the Valley is the twelfth film in the ‘Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie’ series.
Medal for the General is based on the novel of the same title by James Ronald (published in the U.S. under the title Old Soldiers Never Die). 11-year-old Petula Clark makes her film debut.
1954
- November – The Fast and the Furious (USA, Palo Alto Productions)
- November – The Snow Creature (USA, Planet Filmplays)
- November – The White Orchid (USA, Cosmos Productions)
- November 1 – Cannibal Attack (USA, Sam Katzman Productions)
- November 1 – The Green Carnation (UK, William N. Boyle Productions)
- November 1 – Miss Robin Crusoe (USA, Eastern Productions)
- November 1 – The Outlaw’s Daughter (USA, Edward L. Alperson Productions)
- November 1 – Ricochet Romance (USA, Universal International Pictures)
- November 4 – Athena (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
- November 4 – Three Hours to Kill (USA, Columbia Pictures)
- November 5 – Malaga (USA, Frankovich Productions)
The Green Carnation was released in the US on July 9, 1955 as The Green Buddah.
More to come.
1964
- November – Back Door to Hell (USA, Lippert Pictures)
- November 2 – Where Love Has Gone (USA, Joseph E. Levine Productions)
- November 4 – Kitten with a Whip (USA, Universal Pictures)
- November 4 – Youngblood Hawke (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)
More to come.
1974
Harbor Productions
- October 31 – The Four Musketeers (West Germany, Alexander, Michael and Ilya Salkind Productions)
- November – Black Hooker (USA, Movie Company)
- November – The Transformation: A Sandwich of Nightmares (USA, Palomino Productions)
- November 1 – Phantom of the Paradise (USA, Harbor Productions)
- November 6 – Frightmare (UK, Peter Walker (Heritage) Ltd.)
The Four Musketeers was released in the US on February 26, 1975. Black Hooker was originally titled Street Sisters. Frightmare was released in the US on December 27, 1974.
More to come.
1984
- No new film were released this week in 1984.
1994
- November 3 – Dallas Doll (Germany, Dallas Doll Productions)
- November 3 – Silent Tongue (Germany, Belbo Films)
- November 4 – Double Dragon (USA, Greenleaf Productions)
- November 4 – Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (USA, TriStar Pictures)
- November 4 – Oleanna (USA, Bay Kinescope)
- November 4 – The War (USA, Island World)
Dallas Doll was released in the US on June 23, 1995. Silent Tongue was screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 28, 1993 but has no known US theatrical release date.
More to come.
2004
Pixar
- November – Piccadilly Jim (UK, Myriad Pictures)
- November 4 – A Man’s Gotta Do (AUS, Oilrag Productions)
- November 5 – Bear Cub (USA, limited, Canal+ España)
- November 5 – Fade to Black (USA, RadicalMedia)
- November 5 – The Incredibles (USA, Pixar)
- November 5 – My Summer of Love (UK, Apocalypso Pictures)
- November 5 – Shark Tale (USA/Canada, DreamWorks Animation)
Piccadilly Jim was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 22, 2005 but has no known US theatrical release date. A Man’s Gotta Do received a limited US release on May 6, 2005. Bear Cub originally opened in Spain on February 27, 2004 as Cachorro. My Summer of Love received a limited US release onJune 17, 2005, and expanded to general release on July 1.
More to come.
2014
- November 1 – Maya the Bee (AUS, Buzz Studios)
- November 2 – An Honest Liar (UK, documentary, Left Turn Films)
- November 6 – My Mistress (AUS, Mini Studios)
Maya the Bee first opened in South Korea on September 4, 2014, and received a US theatrical release on March 8, 2015. An Honest Liar was screened at thirteen US film festivals but did not receive a theatrical release. My Mistress was released to the internet in the US on February 24, 2015.
More to come.
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