Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #230 :: December 19•25

Marc Platt Productions

It’s a very big week for new releases heading into Christmas, with the studios pulling out their big guns in the later part of the century to compete for Oscar, Golden Globe and other awards attention. Quite a few of this week’s films were nominated, many in the Original Score category, and we have at least one Best Picture winner this week, a first in that category as well. With a lot to see, we’ll ask you to scroll down the list to see what films premiered this week, and let us know if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries!

1924

• December 20 – Branded a Bandit (USA, Ben Wilson Productions)
• December 21 – Cheap Kisses (USA, C. Gardner Sullivan Productions)
• December 21 – Idle Tongues (USA, Thomas H. Ince Corporation)
• December 21 – The Air Hawk (USA, Van Pelt-Wilson Productions)
• December 21 – The Flaming Forties (USA, Hunt Stromberg Productions)
• December 21 – The Folly of Vanity (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
• December 22 – He Who Gets Slapped (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• December 22 – North of 36 (USA, Famous Players–Lasky Corporation)
• December 22 – The Beauty Prize (USA, Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corporation)
• December 24 – Battling Mason (USA, Hercules Film Productions)

Lost films: Cheap Kisses, Idle Tongues, The Flaming Forties

Status unknown: Branded a Bandit, The Air Hawk, The Beauty Prize, Battling Mason

Al Wilson is the only cast member credited on screen in The Air Hawk. Wilson wasn’t just the star of the film, he was also a stunt pilot. Wilson had been performing aerial stunts before taking up an acting career in 1923. Like many silent era actors, he was unable to make the transition to talkies.

A print of The Folly of Vanity reportedly is held in the Národní filmový archiv and in an American collection. The film is divided into two parts, with a modern section and an underwater fantasy section. Portions of the dream fantasy sequence were tinted in various shades, some to indicate being underwater.

He Who Gets Slapped, based on the Russian play of the same name by playwright Leonid Andreyev, was the first film produced entirely by the newly former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but it was not the first film released as the new studio held the film until the Christmas season when attendance was usually higher. It was also the first MGM film to feature a lion as its mascot. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2017. It entered the public domain in 2020, with all 1924 American films, as the copyright had expired and was no longer able to be renewed due to US copyright law.

North of 36, based on the novel of the same name by Emerson Hough, was preserved in the Library of Congress in the 1970s and has been restored by that archive with a new screening of the restored film in the summer of 2011 in upstate New York.

1934

• December 20 – The Scarlet Pimpernel (UK, London Film Productions)
• December 21 – Helldorado (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
• December 21 – The Band Plays On (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• December 21 – The Silver Streak (USA, RKO Radio Pictures)
• December 22 – Sequoia (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• December 22 – The Mysterious Mr. Wong (USA, Monogram Pictures)
• December 22 – The Secret Bride (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)
• December 22 – Wild Boy (AUS, Gainsborough Pictures)
• December 23 – Don Quixote (USA, Nelson Film)
• December 23 – Forsaking All Others (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• December 23 – The Mighty Barnum (USA, 20th Century Pictures)
• December 24 – The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (USA, Universal Pictures)
• December 24 – Sometimes Good (UK, Grafton Films)

The Scarlet Pimpernel was released in the US on February 7, 1935. Wild Boy has no known US theatrical release date. Don Quixote first opened in France on March 24, 1933. Sometimes Good has no known US theatrical release date.

The Scarlet Pimpernel was based on the 1905 play by Baroness Orczy and Montagu Barstow and the classic 1905 adventure novel by Orczy. Charles Laughton was originally announced for the lead role of Sir Percy Blakeney, but negative reaction from Pimpernel fans of the pug-nosed Laughton as Sir Percy prompted producers to give the role to Leslie Howard, whose performance is regarded as the definitive portrayal of the character. Director Rowland Brown informed producer Alexander Korda that he would direct the film like a gangster film or he would walk. Korda told him to walk, leaving Brown unemployed and stranded in England. Harold Young replaced him.

The Silver Streak was loosely based on the record-setting “dawn-to-dusk” run of the Pioneer Zephyr on May 26, 1934, with the real Zephyr used for exterior shots.

The Mysterious Mr. Wong is based on Harry Stephen Keeler’s 1928 short story ‘The Strange Adventure of the Twelve Coins of Confucius’, one of three stories in Keeler’s book Sing Sing Nights. Mr. Wong does not appear in the original story, and the film has no relation to Mongram’s later Mr. Wong film series.

Don Quixote is the first sound version of the classic Miguel de Cervantes story. Forsaking All Others was the sixth of eight films to star Joan Crawford and Clark Gable.

1944

Walt Disney Animation Studios

• December 20 – Carolina Blues (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• December 20 – Practically Yours (USA, Paramount Pictures)
• December 21 – Saddle Leather Law (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• December 21 – The Fighting Lady (USA, documentary, Louis De Rochemont Associates)
• December 21 – The Three Caballeros (Mexico, Walt Disney Animation Studios)
• December 22 – Destiny (USA, Universal Pictures)
• December 22 – Meet Miss Bobby Socks (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• December 22 – The Mummy’s Curse (USA, Universal Pictures)
• December 22 – Together Again (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• December 22 – Winged Victory (USA, Twentieth Century Fox)
• December 23 – Lake Placid Serenade (USA, Republic Pictures)
• December 23 – Thoroughbreds (USA, Republic Pictures)
• December 25 – Nevada (USA, RKO Radio Pictures)

The Fighting Lady uses Technicolor footage shot by ‘gun cameras’ mounted directly on aircraft guns during combat, giving a very realistic edge to the film. The film won the Oscar for Best Documentary and was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2018.

The Three Caballeros was released in the US on February 22, 1945. The film marks the tenth anniversary of Donald Duck. It is one of the first feature-length films to incorporate live-action and animation. The film was produced as part of Disney studio’s goodwill message for Latin America. The Good Neighbor policy was a campaign by the United States to improve its relations with Latin America, a propaganda effort to help combat the rise of Nazism in the United States. The film’s television premiere on December 22, 1954 as the ninth episode of the Disneyland TV series was significantly edited, shortened and re-titled A Present for Donald, with Donald receiving gifts for Christmas instead of his birthday as in the original feature. The film earned two Oscar nominations for Best Score and Best Sound Recording.

Destiny was originally filmed as the first segment of the anthology drama Flesh and Fantasy, but after enthusiastic previews and high praise for star Gloria Jean’s performance, Universal cut the first half hour and released the film with just three segments in 1943. The segment was converted to a full-length feature two years later, rushing the project to completion in two weeks while Jean was available. The new material was directed by Reginald Le Borg (the original was directed by Jean Duvivier). The new footage was shot by a different cinematographer and eagle-eyed viewers can spot the differences between the atmospheric, noir-like original footage and the flat look of the newer footage.

The Mummy’s Curse is the fifth film in Universal’s Mummy series, and marks Lon Chaney Jr’s final appearance as Kharis, the Egyptian mummy. The film is a direct continuation of The Mummy’s Ghost, which was explicitly set in the swamps of rural Massachusetts, which is not known for its swamps, while this one strongly implies those swamps are actually in Louisiana. The film’s working title was The Mummy Returns.

Winged Victory, based on the play of the same name by Moss Hart, was a joint production between Twentieth Century Fox and the U.S. Army Air Force. The film was not released until the play’s run ended. Many of the Broadway cast appeared in the film.

Nevada, based on the 1928 Zane Grey novel and a remake of the 1927 silent film, featured Robert Mitchum, billed as Bob, in his first lead role. Richard Martin played sidekick Chito Rafferty, a character he played in thirty other movies, set in both the contemporary and Old West.

1954

• December 20 – The Silver Chalice (USA, Victor Saville Productions)
• December 23 – Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (UK, Loew’s, Inc.)
• December 24 – Deep in My Heart (USA, Loew’s Incorporated)
• December 24 – Hansel and Gretel: An Opera Fantasy (USA, Michael Myerberg)
• December 24 – L’amante di Paride (Italy, Cino del Duca)
• December 24 – The Black Pirates (USA, Salvador Films Corp.)
• December 25 – Vera Cruz (USA, Hecht-Lancaster Productions)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers first opened in the US and Canada on August 6, 1954. L’amante di Paride opened in the US in 1954 under the title Loves of Three Queens, but the exact date is unknown.

The Silver Chalice was based on Thomas B. Costain’s 1952 novel of the same name. Star Paul Newman called the film the worst motion picture of the 1950s and apologized for his performance when the film was about to air on television for the first time. His suggestion that people not watch backfired as the broadcast drew unusually high ratings. The film still managed to score two Oscar nominations for Color Cinematography and Original Score, with Newman winning the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer – Male.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is based on the short story ‘The Sobbin’ Women’, by Stephen Vincent Benét, which was based in turn on the ancient Roman legend of the Rape of the Sabine Women. The dance sequences with the backwoods male characters had to feel authentic, so choreographer Michael Kidd wanted trained dancers to perform as the brothers. Howard Keel had already appeared in several movie musicals, and four of the brothers were dancers. Two non-dancer MGM contract players were integrated into the cast with Jeff Richards performing simple dance numbers, and Russ Tamblyn’s gymnastics and tumbling skills utilized. Julie Newmar and Ruta Lee appear in the film billed as Julie Newmeyer and Ruta Kilmonis. The ‘Lonesome Polecat’ number was filmed in one take. MGM was more interested in Brigadoon, which was filming at the same time, and diverted money from Seven Brides to that film. The dresses worn by the female cast were made from old quilts that costume designer Walter Plunkett found at the Salvation Army. The film was shot in both CinemaScope and standard ratio as MGM worried not all theaters were equipped for the widescreen process. The standard version was apparently never screened but both versions were available on LaserDisc and DVD. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. Jeff Richards won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer – Male.

Stop-motion animation feature film Hansel and Gretel: An Opera Fantasy was the first American feature-length animated film not made by Disney since 1941’s Mr. Bug Goes to Town and the first American feature-length animated film not made with traditional animation.

Vera Cruz featured Charles Bronson, billed for the final time under his real name, Charles Buchinsky. The film was the first American production to be filmed entirely in Mexico. Mexican authorities were appalled at the unflattering depiction of their country, so any subsequent Hollywood productions (including The Magnificent Seven) were thoroughly overseen by state censors.

1964

• December 22 – Kiss Me, Stupid (USA, Phalanx Productions)
• December 25 – Kiss Me Quick! (USA, Fantasy Films)
• December 25 – Sex and the Single Girl (USA, Richard Quine Productions)
• December 25 – The Pleasure Seekers (USA, Twentieth Century Fox)

Billy Wilder wanted Jack Lemmon for the lead in Kiss Me, Stupid, but he was unavailable so Wilder cast Peter Sellers instead. During production, Sellers suffered a series of thirteen heart attacks and was hospitalized in Los Angeles. Upon his release he returned to England on doctor’s orders, but instead of waiting for him to recuperate Wilder opted to recast and reshoot all of Sellers’ scenes with Ray Walston. The part of Polly the Pistol was written for Marilyn Monroe, but after her death production was delayed until the part was recast. Jayne Mansfield took over the role, but then had to bow out when she became pregnant (with daughter Mariska Hargitay). Kim Novak was given the role, coming out of a two-year absence from acting. The car Dean Martin drives in the movie was his own. The film was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency because of the suggestion Zelda (Felicia Farr) had committed adultery with Dino (Martin), the first condemned rating since 1956’s Baby Doll, forcing United Artists to release the film under the Lopert Pictures banner.

Kiss Me Quick! was originally titled Dr. Breedlove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love to cash in on Stanely Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, but was retitled Kiss Me Quick! to cash in on Billy Wilder’s Kiss Me, Stupid.

The Pleasure Seekers was Gene Tierney’s final film. The film was Oscar-nominated for Best Original Score.

1974

The Coppola Company

• December 19 – Swept Away (Italy, Medusa Distribuzione)
• December 20 – Hearts and Minds (USA, documentary, BBS Productions)
• December 20 – The Godfather Part II (USA/Canada, The Coppola Company)
• December 20 – The Man with the Golden Gun (USA/Canada/UK, Eon Productions)
• December 25 – Abby (USA, American International Pictures)
• December 25 – Freebie and the Bean (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)

Swept Away, full title Swept Away… by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August (Italian: Travolti da un insolito destino nell’azzurro mare d’agosto) was released in the US on September 17, 1975.

Distribution for Hearts and Minds was delayed due to a restraining order by one of the film’s participants who claimed parts of the film were misleading. Columbia Pictures then refused to release the film, forcing the producers to buy it back and release it themselves, but were unable to come up with the $1 million needed. It was eventually shown in Los Angeles for one week to qualify for Academy Awards consideration, winning the award for Best Documentary Feature. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2018.

While many of the original cast returned for The Godfather Part II, several did not. Marlon Brando initially agreed to return as Vito Corleone in the birthday flashback scene, but felt mistreated by Paramount Pictures and failed to show up for his one day of filming, forcing Francis Ford Coppola to rewrite the scene that day. Richard S. Castellano declined to return as Peter Clemenza after failing to reach an agreement that allowed him to write his character’s dialogue (though Castellano’s widow has disputed this claim). James Cagney was offered a role but turned it down. James Caan, who famously dies in the first film, also agreed to return for the birthday flashback but only at the same salary he received for the entire first film, which he got. Roger Corman and Peter Donat appear as Senators in the hearing committee. Coppola insisted the film carry the ‘Part II’ in the title despite the studio’s resistance. It was the first major U.S. film to be titled as such. The film’s cross-cutting between stories was called a disaster three weeks before the film’s release, so Coppola and his editors went back to work to change the narrative structure, but were unable to complete the edit before the film’s scheduled release, leaving the final scenes poorly timed when it opened. The film received 11 Oscar nominations including Best Picture and three in the Supporting Actor categories, winning six. It was the first sequel to win the Best Picture Oscar. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1993.

The Man with the Golden Gun is the ninth film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Roger Moore as Bond. The film was intended as the follow-up to You Only Live Twice, introducing Moore as Bond, but the timing was not good with filming to take place in Cambodia at the time of the Samlaut Uprising and Moore’s commitments to The Saint TV series, so On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was produced with George Lazenby in the role of Bond. The film was finally greenlit after United Artists saw footage of Moore’s performance in Live and Let Die. Jack Palance was offered the role of villain Scaramanga, but he turned it down. Christopher Lee was eventually cast. Lee had been suggested to Ian Fleming for the role of Dr. No, but by the time that film went into production Fleming had forgotten and Joseph Wiseman was cast. Britt Ekland and Maud Adams were cast as the ‘Bond girls’, and Adams would eventually turn up again as the female lead in Octopussy. Three Golden Gun props were made: a solid piece, one that could be fired with a cap and one that could be assembled and disassembled, which Lee said was extremely difficult. One of the props was assumed stolen from Elstree Props in 2008.

Abby was pulled from theaters after its first month due to a lawsuit filed by Warner Bros. alleging copyright violation and being derivative of The Exorcist. Producers admitted the film was made to cash in on the success of The Exorcist. The film was also inspired by Rosemary’s Baby. The film still made $4 million before it was pulled.

Freebie and the Bean was originally conceived as a cop drama but morphed into what is known now as a ‘buddy cop’ movie, with bantering and improvisation from its stars Alan Arkin and James Caan. By the end of filming the pair had no idea what the film’s purpose was, unaware that they had stumbled into a successful formula.

1984

• December 19 – Don’t Open till Christmas (UK, Spectacular Trading International)
• December 20 – Melvin, Son of Alvin (AUS, McElroy & McElroy)
• December 21 – Birdy (USA, A&M Films)
• December 21 – Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (USA, The Cannon Group)
• December 21 – Johnny Dangerously (USA, Edgewood Productions)
• December 21 – Micki & Maude (USA, BBE)
• December 21 – Protocol (USA, Hawn / Sylbert Movie Company)
• December 21 – The Flamingo Kid (USA, ABC Motion Pictures)

Don’t Open till Christmas was released in the US on December 21, 1984. Melvin, Son of Alvin, a sequel to Alvin Purple, has no known US theatrical release date, but was released in the US and UK at some point under the title Foreplay.

Filming on Birdy was scheduled to start in December 1983, but was postponed for six months to accommodate Modine’s shooting schedule for Mrs. Soffel.

Dudley Moore won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical for Micki & Maude. The film was also nominated for Best Picture – Comedy/Musical.

The Flamingo Kid was the first film to receive the PG-13 rating, but the fifth film released with the rating. Richard Crenna received a Supporting Actor Golden Globe nomination, and Marissa Tomei made her big screen debut with a minor role in the film.

1994

• December 21 – Mixed Nuts (USA, TriStar Pictures)
• December 21 – Richie Rich (USA, Silver Pictures)
• December 22 – Shallow Grave (AUS, Channel Four Films)
• December 23 – Nell (USA, Egg Pictures)
• December 23 – Street Fighter (USA, Edward R. Pressman Productions)
• December 25 – I.Q. (USA, Sandollar)
• December 25 – Little Women (USA, DiNovi Pictures)
• December 25 – The Jungle Book (USA, Vegahom Europe)
• December 25 – Prêt-à-Porter (USA/Canada, Etalon Film)

Little Women received a limited US release on December 21, 1994 and expanded on December 25. Shallow Grave was released in the US and Canada on February 10, 1995. The title of Prêt-à-Porter was changed to Ready to Wear for US release.

Mixed Nuts is based on the 1982 French comedy film Le Père Noël est une ordure (Santa Claus is a Stinker). The film was originally developed at Disney, titled The Night Before Christmas.

Richie Rich was the final film of Macauley Culkin as a child actor until he began working as an adult in 2003.

Shallow Grave was Danny Boyle’s directorial debut, and was the first screenplay for John Hodge. The tight budgetary restraints during filming meant many of the props had to be auctioned off for them to afford sufficient film stock.

Jodie Foster won the inaugural Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for Nell, and was nominated for the Golden Globe and Oscar. The film was also Golden Globe nominated for Best Picture – Drama and Best Original Score.

Street Fighter was Raul Julia’s final film, as he died of a stroke two months before the film’s release. The post-credits scene where Julia’s Bison character is revived was omitted from the theatrical release ‘out of deference’ to the actor but was retained in home video and DVD releases. The first cut of the film received an R-rating, which was unacceptable for the videogame company Capcom, which wanted a PG-13 rating. After cuts it received a G-rating, but an expletive was added in post-production to bump it up to a PG-13.

Little Women was the fifth adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868–69 two-volume novel of the same title. It was Oscar-nominated for Best Actress (Winona Ryder), Best Costume Design and Best Original Score. This adaptation was the first, and so far only, film to have two different actresses play Amy over the course of the film, Samantha Mathis (older) and Kirsten Dunst (younger). An unknown Natalie Portman read for the role, as did Thora Birch. Reese Witherspoon was a candidate for the older Amy.

Unlike previous adaptations, the animal characters in 1994’s The Jungle Book do not talk. Kaa is portrayed by both a CGI and an animatronic python, as well as a trained green anaconda. Other trained animals include monkeys, Indian elephants, camels, horses, zebus, and wolves. KNB FX Group crew member Shannon Shea doubled for Baloo in certain shots in an animatronic bear suit.

Prêt-à-Porter was shot on location during the Paris Fashion Week with a host of international stars, models, and designers. Director Robert Altman was inspired to make the film after attending a Sonia Rykiel fashion show in Paris in 1984. Despite poor critical and audience reaction, the film still earned two Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Best Supporting Actress (Sophia Loren).

2004

• December 22 – Meet the Fockers (USA, Tribeca Productions)
• December 25 – Fat Albert (USA, Davis Entertainment)
• December 25 – The Aviator (USA, Appian Way)
• December 25 – The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (USA, American Empirical Pictures)
• December 25 – The Queen of Sheba’s Pearls (Sweden, AKA Pictures)

The Queen of Sheba’s Pearls has no known US theatrical release date.

Fat Albert acts as a continuation of the 1972-1975 animated series with the cartoon characters becoming three-dimensional people, dealing with the differences between theirs and the real world. The film was originally developed in 1993 with Tracy Morgan as Fat Albert, but the project fell into development hell. In 2001, Omar Benson Miller was cast in the role, but production stalled after clashes between Miller and director Forest Whitaker with Fat Albert creator Bill Cosby. Whitaker was eventually replaced with Joel Zwick, who wanted an unknown child to play Albert but no suitable actor could be found and the role went to Kenan Thompson.

The Aviator received eleven Academy Awards nominations, winning five for Cinematography, Editing, Costume Design, Art Direction and Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett). It also earned six Golden Globe nominations, winning three for Best Picture – Drama, Best Actor – Drama (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Best Original Score.

2014

Tim Burton Productions

• December 19 – Annie (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• December 19 – Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (USA, 1492 Pictures)
• December 19 – Wild (USA, Fox Searchlight Pictures)
• December 24 – The Czar of Black Hollywood (USA, Block Starz Music Television)
• December 25 – Big Eyes (USA, Tim Burton Productions)
• December 25 – Into the Woods (USA, Marc Platt Productions)
• December 25 – The Gambler (USA, Winkler Films)
• December 25 – The Interview (USA, limited, Columbia Pictures)
• December 25 – Unbroken (USA, 3 Arts Entertainment)

Jay-Z and Will Smith were announced in 2011 as producers of Annie, with Smith’s daughter Willow attached to play the title role. Ryan Murphy was the front-runner to direct but had to decline due to the filming of Glee. By the time Will Gluck was hired to direct, Willow had aged out of the role. Quvenzhané Wallis was cast in February 2013. The film earned two Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy (Wallis) and Best Original Song. It also earned two Golden Raspberry nominations for Worst Supporting Actress (Cameron Diaz) and Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel, which it won.

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is the third and final live-action film in the series, and is dedicated to Robin Williams and Mickey Rooney, who both died before the film’s release.

Wild was Oscar-nominated for Best Actress (Reese Witherspoon) and Supporting Actress (Laura Dern). Witherspoon also received a BAFTA and Golden Globe nomination.

Big Eyes was set to go into production in 2008 with screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski set to direct their script, with Kate Hudson and Thomas Haden Church to star. Filming was delayed due to a new Screen Actors Guild contract. By 2010, Tim Burton had become involved as a producer, and Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Reynolds were attached to star, but by 2013 Burton had taken over directing with Amy Adams and Christophe Waltz starring. The film earned three Golden Globe nominations for Waltz and Adams, as well as for Lana Del Rey’s original song ‘Big Eyes’. Adams won for Best Actress – Comedy or Musical.

Into the Woods is based on the Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical of the same name. Meryl Streep broke her own ‘no witch roles after 40’ to do another Sondheim role. She had appeared in Sondheim’s The Frogs as a student at Yale University. While 90% of the vocal tracks were pre-recorded, the rest were done on location or on set. A forest of ancient pine trees in Windsor Great Park was used for many of the scenes in the woods. The film earned three Oscar nominations, two BAFTA nominations, and three Golden Globe nominations.

Unbroken received three Oscar nominations for Cinematography, Editing and Sound Mixing.