Svensk Filmindustri
Welcome to a streamlined version of Movies By the Decade. Moving forward the trivia will be limited to key facts about the film’s roots and if it won or was nominated for any awards. Release dates will be tied to where the film was released. This week every decade produced one or more new films, but as we’re in between the end of Summer and the beginning of ‘Awards Season’, a lot of this week’s films are fairly forgettable. There are even two that are considered some of the worst films ever made. There are many international productions making their debuts this week, and ten films that were either nominated for or won major awards in the US or abroad. But did any of your favorite films premiere this week over the last century? Ley us know in the comments section below!
1922
September 15 – When Knighthood Was in Flower (USA)
- Cast: Marion Davies, Forrest Stanley, Lyn Harding, Teresa Maxwell-Conover, Pedro de Cordoba, Ruth Shepley, Ernest Glendinning, Arthur Forrest, Johnny Dooley, William Kent
- Director: Robert G. Vignola
- Production Company: Cosmopolitan Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the eponymous novel by Charles Major and play by Paul Kester.
September 18 – Häxan (Sweden)
- Cast: Benjamin Christensen, Ella la Cour, Emmy Schønfeld, Kate Fabian, Oscar Stribolt, Wilhelmine Henriksen, Astrid Holm, Elisabeth Christensen, Karen Winther, Maren Pedersen
- Director: Benjamin Christensen
- Production Company: Svensk Filmindustri, distributed by Skandias Filmbyrå (Sweden)
- Trivia: Also known as The Witches and Witchcraft Through the Ages.
September 20 – A Gipsy Cavalier (UK)
- Cast: Georges Carpentier, Flora le Breton, Rex McDougall, Mary Clare, Hubert Carter, William Luff, Simeon Stuart, W.D.C. Knox, Norma Whalley, Percy Standing
- Director: J. Stuart Blackton
- Production Company: International Artists, distributed by Gaumont British Distributors
- Trivia: Adapted from the novel My Lady April by John Overton.
1932
September 16 – The Most Dangerous Game (USA)
- Cast: Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Leslie Banks, Robert Armstrong, Noble Johnson, Steve Clemente, Dutch Hendrian, William B. Davidson
- Director: Irving Pichel, Ernest B. Schoedsack
- Production Company: RKO Radio Pictures
- Trivia: An adaptation of the 1924 short story of the same name by Richard Connell.
September 17 – Pack Up Your Troubles (USA)
- Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Don Dillaway, Jacquie Lyn, Mary Carr, James Finlayson, Richard Cramer, Adele Watson, Tom Kennedy, Charles Middleton
- Director: George Marshall, Raymond McCarey
- Production Company: Hal Roach Studios, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: Named after the World War I song ‘Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag, and Smile, Smile, Smile’. Laurel & Hardy’s second feature-length film.
September 18 – Big City Blues (USA)
- Cast: Joan Blondell, Eric Linden, Jobyna Howland, Ned Sparks, Guy Kibbee, Grant Mitchell, Walter Catlett, Inez Courtney, Thomas Jackson
- Director: Mervyn LeRoy
- Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the play New York Town by Ward Morehouse.
September 20 – Back Street (London)
- Cast: Irene Dunne, John Boles, George Meeker, ZaSu Pitts, June Clyde, William Bakewell, Arletta Duncan, Shirley Grey, Doris Lloyd, Paul Weigel, Jane Darwell
- Director: John M. Stahl
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Fannie Hurst.
1942
September 14 – The Battle of Midway (USA, documentary)
- Director: John Ford
- Production Company: United States Navy, distributed by 20th Century Fox
September 14 – The First of the Few (UK)
- Cast: Leslie Howard, David Niven, Rosamund John, Ronald Culver, Anne Firth, David Horne, J.H. Roberts, Derrick De Marney, Rosalyn Boulter, Herbert Cameron
- Director: Leslie Howard
- Production Company: British Aviation Pictures, distributed by General Film Distributors (UK), RKO Radio Pictures (USA)
September 16 – The Major and the Minor (USA)
Paramount Pictures
- Cast: Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Rita Johnson, Diana Lynn, Edward Fielding, Robert Benchley, Norma Varden, Frankie Thomas, Raymond Roe
- Director: Billy Wilder
- Production Company: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: The first American film directed by Billy Wilder. Suggested by the 1923 play Connie Goes Home by Edward Childs Carpenter, based on the 1921 Saturday Evening Post story ‘Sunny Goes Home’ by Fannie Kilbourne.
September 17 – In Which We Serve (UK)
- Cast: Noël Coward, Bernard Miles, John Mills, Celia Johnson, Joyce Carey, Kay Walsh, Michael Wilding, Derek Elphinstone, Leslie Dwyer, James Donald
- Director: Noël Coward, David Lean
- Production Company: Two Cities Films, The London Symphony Orchestra, distributed by British Lion Films
- Trivia: Inspired by the exploits of Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten.
September 18 – Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (USA)
- Cast: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Evelyn Ankers, Reginald Denny, Thomas Gomez, Henry Daniell, Montagu Love, Hillary Brooke, Mary Gordon, Arthur Blake
- Director: John Rawlins
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
- Trivia: Based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes detective stories, combining elements of Doyle’s short story ‘His Last Bow’, to which it is credited as an adaptation, and the real-life activities of Lord Haw-Haw.
1952
September 16 – The Planter’s Wife (UK)
- Cast: Claudette Colbert, Jack Hawkins, Anthony Steel, Ram Gopal, Jeremy Spenser, Peter Asher, Tom Macaulay, Sonya Hana, Andy Ho
- Director: Ken Annakin
- Production Company: Pinnacle Productions, distributed by General Film Distributors (UK), United Artists (US)
- Trivia: Retitled Outpost in Malaya for the US release.
September 19 – The Devil Makes Three (USA)
- Cast: Gene Kelly, Pier Angeli, Richard Rober, Richard Egan, Claus Clausen, Margot Hielscher, Ruth Megary
- Director: Andrew Marton
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, distributed by Loew’s Inc.
September 19 – One Minute to Zero (USA)
- Cast: Robert Mitchum, Ann Blyth, William Talman, Charles McGraw, Margaret Sheridan, Richard Egan, Eduard Franz, Robert Osterloh, Robert Gist, Stuart Whitman, Kathleen O’Malley
- Director: Tay Garnett
- Production Company: RKO Pictures
- Trivia: The film’s working title was The Korean Story. The effects of air power in the Korean War were vividly depicted through the use of combat footage.
1962
September 15 – Convicts 4 (USA)
- Cast: Ben Gazzara, Stuart Whitman, Ray Walston, Vincent Price, Rod Steiger, Broderick Crawford, Dodie Stevens, Jack Kruschen, Sammy Davis Jr., Naomi Stevens
- Director: Millard Kaufman
- Production Company: Kaufman-Lubin Productions, distributed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
- Trivia: Also known as Reprieve. Fictionalized version of the life of death row convict John Resko.
September 16 – Harakiri (Japan)
- Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Rentarō Mikuni, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita, Tetsurō Tamba, Ichirō Nakatani, Masao Mishima, Kei Satō, Yoshio Inaba, Yoshiro Aoki
- Director: Masaki Kobayashi
- Production Company: Shochiku
- Trivia: Considered one of the best samurai pictures ever made.
September 16 – Hero’s Island (USA)
- Cast: James Mason, Neville Brand, Kate Manx, Rip Torn, Warren Oates, Brendan Dillon, Dean Stanton, Robert Sampson, Morgan Mason, Darby Hinton
- Director: Leslie Stevens
- Production Company: Daystar Productions, distributed by United Artists
- Trivia: Also known as The Land We Love.
September 20 – Vivre Sa Vie (France)
- Cast: Anna Karina, Sady Rebbot, André S. Labarthe, Guylaine Schlumberger, Gérard Hoffman, Monique Messine, Paul Pavel, Dimitri Dineff, Peter Kassovitz
- Director: Jean-Luc Godard
- Production Company: Les Films de la Pléiade, Pathé Consortium Cinéma, distributed by Panthéon Distribution (France), Miracle Films (UK), Union Film Distributors Inc. (US)
- Trivia: Rreleased in the United States as My Life to Live and in the United Kingdom as It’s My Life.
1972
September 14 – Savage Messiah (UK)
- Cast: Dorothy Tutin, Scott Antony, Helen Mirren, Lindsay Kemp, Michael Gough, John Justin, Aubrey Richards, Peter Vaughan, Ben Aris
- Director: Ken Russell
- Production Company: Russ-Arts, distributed by MGM-EMI
- Trivia: Based on the book Savage Messiah by H. S. Ede.
September 15 – Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie (France)
Greenwich Film Productions
- Cast: Fernando Rey, Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig, Bulle Ogier, Stéphane Audran, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Julien Bertheau, Milena Vukotic, Claude Piéplu
- Director: Luis Buñuel
- Production Company: Greenwich Film Productions, distributed by 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: Released in the US as The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and BAFTA Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Audran) and Best Original Screenplay.
September 15 – The Ruling Class (USA)
- Cast: Peter O’Toole, Coral Browne, William Mervyn, James Villiers, Arthur Lowe, Alastair Sim, Carolyn Seymour, Michael Bryant, Graham Crowden, Harry Andrews
- Director: Peter Medak
- Production Company: Keep Films, distributed by United Artists (UK), Embassy Pictures (USA)
- Trivia: An adaptation of Peter Barnes’ satirical stage play The Ruling Class. Peter O’Toole received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. The film was nominated for Best English Language Foreign Film at the 1973 Golden Globes.
September 18 – I racconti di Canterbury (Italy)
- Cast: Hugh Griffith, Laura Betti, Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti, Josephine Chaplin, Alan Webb, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Jenny Runacre, Tom Baker, Robin Askwith, Michael Balfour, Vernon Dobtcheff, Derek Deadman, Adrian Street, Nicholas Smith
- Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
- Production Company: Les Productions Artistes Associés, Produzioni Europee Associate, distributed by United Artists
- Trivia: English title: The Canterbury Tales. Based on the medieval narrative poem by Geoffrey Chaucer. it won the Golden Bear at the 22nd Berlin International Film Festival.
1982
September 17 – Inchon (USA)
- Cast: Laurence Olivier, Jacqueline Bisset, Ben Gazzara, Toshiro Mifune, Richard Roundtree, David Janssen, Namkoong Won, Karen Kahn, Rex Reed
- Director: Terence Young
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, One Way Productions, News World Communications, distributed by MGM/UA Entertainment Co.
- Trivia: Quickly withdrawn due to critical and financial failure, and it has never been released on home video.
September 17 – La Notte di San Lorenzo (Italy)
- Cast: Omero Antonutti, Margarita Lozano, Claudio Bigagli, Miriam Guidelli, Massimo Bonetti, Enrica Maria Modugno
- Director: Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
- Production Company: RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana, Ager Cinematografica, SACIS, distributed by Consorzio Italiano Distributori Indipendenti Film (Italy), Premier Releasing (UK), United Artists Classics (USA)
- Trivia: UK title: The Night of San Lorenzo. US title: The Night of the Shooting Stars. Winner of the Jury Special Grand Prix at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. The film was selected by Italy as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 55th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
1992
September 16 – Léolo (France)
- Cast: Gilbert Sicotte, Maxime Collin, Ginette Reno, Julien Guiomar, Pierre Bourgault, Giuditta Del Vecchio, Andrée Lachapelle, Denys Arcand, Germain Houde
- Director: Jean-Claude Lauzon
- Production Company: Alliance Films Corporation, CanalPlus, Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC), Flach Film, La Ministre de la Culture et de la Communication, La Societe de Radio-Television Quebec, Les Productions du Verseau, National Film Board of Canada (NFB), Société des Producteurs de Cinéma et de Télévision (Procirep), Super Ecran, Téléfilm Canada, distributed by Diaphana Films (France), Fine Line Features (US)
- Trivia: Jean-Claude Lauzon’s final film, as he died in a plane crash in 1997 while working on his next project. Winner of three Genie Awards, including Best Original Screenplay for Lauzon.
September 18 – Captain Ron (USA)
- Cast: Kurt Russell, Martin Short, Mary Kay Place, Meadow Sisto, Benjamin Salisbury, Sunshine Logroño, Jorge Luis Ramos, J.A. Preston, Dan Butler, Tom McGowan, Roselyn Sanchez, Paul Anka
- Director: Thom Eberhardt
- Production Company: Touchstone Pictures, Touchwood Pacific Partners I, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
September 18 – Husbands and Wives (USA/Canada)
- Cast: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Judy Davis, Sydney Pollack, Juliette Lewis, Liam Neeson, Lysette Anthony, Cristi Conaway, Timothy Jerome, Ron Rifkin, Bruce Jay Friedman, Blythe Danner
- Director: Woody Allen
- Production Company: TriStar Pictures
- Trivia: The last of Allen’s and Farrow’s 13 films together. Nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Supporting Actress (Judy Davis) and Best Original Screenplay (Woody Allen).
September 18 – School Ties (USA)
Paramount Pictures
- Cast: Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Chris O’Donnell, Randall Batinkoff, Andrew Lowery, Cole Hauser, Ben Affleck, Anthony Rapp, Amy Locane, Peter Donat, Željko Ivanek, Kevin Tighe, Michael Higgins, Ed Lauter, Peter McRobbie
- Director: Robert Mandel
- Production Company: Jaffe/Lansing Production, distributed by Paramount Pictures
September 18 – Singles (USA)
- Cast: Bridget Fonda, Campbell Scott, Kyra Sedgwick, Sheila Kelley, Jim True-Frost, Matt Dillon, Bill Pullman, James LeGros, Ally Walker, Eric Stoltz, Jeremy Piven, Tom Skerritt, Peter Horton, Paul Giamatti
- Director: Cameron Crowe
- Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures! Atkinson/Knickerbocker Productions, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
2002
September 18 – Callas Forever (France/Belgium)
- Cast: Fanny Ardant, Jeremy Irons, Joan Plowright, Jay Rodan, Gabriel Garko, Anna Lelio, Stephen Billington, Justino Díaz
- Director: Franco Zeffirelli
- Production Company: Cattleya, Medusa Film, Alquimia Cinema, Film and General Productions, Galfin, Media Pro Pictures, Babe Film, France 2 Cinéma, CanalPlus, Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (MiBAC), Eurimages, distributed by Bac Films (France), Medusa Distribuzione (Italy), Regent Releasing (US)
- Trivia: Franco Zeffirelli’s last film before his death in 2019. The costume designs were nominated for a Goya Award in Spain.
September 20 – Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (USA)
- Cast: Antonio Banderas, Lucy Liu, Gregg Henry, Ray Park, Talisa Soto, Miguel Sandoval, Terry Chen, Roger R. Cross, Eric Breker, Sandrine Holt, Steve Bacic, Tony Alcantar
- Director: Kaos
- Production Company: Franchise Pictures, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: The worst-reviewed film in the history of Rotten Tomatoes with a 0% approval rating out of 118 reviews.
September 20 – The Banger Sisters (USA/Canada)
- Cast: Goldie Hawn, Susan Sarandon, Geoffrey Rush, Erika Christensen, Robin Thomas, Eva Amurri
- Director: Bob Dolman
- Production Company: Gran Via, Elizabeth Cantillon Productions, distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures
- Trivia: Goldie Hawn’s last film until 2017’s Snatched.
September 20 – The Dancer Upstairs (Spain)
- Cast: Javier Bardem, Juan Diego Botto, Laura Morante, Elvira Mínguez, Wolframio Sinué, Abel Folk, Alexandra Lencastre, Oliver Cotton, Luís Miguel Cintra, Natalia Dicenta, John Malkovich (uncredited)
- Director: John Malkovich
- Production Company: Mr. Mudd, Antena 3 Televisión, Via Digital, distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures
- Trivia: John Malkovich’s directorial debut. An adaptation of the 1995 novel The Dancer Upstairs by Nicholas Shakespeare, who also wrote the screenplay.
2012
September 14 – Arbitrage (USA, limited)
- Cast: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Brit Marling, Laetitia Casta, Nate Parker, Stuart Margolin, Chris Eigeman, Graydon Carter, Bruce Altman
- Director: Nicholas Jarecki
- Production Company: Green Room Films! Treehouse Pictures! Artina Films, distributed by Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions
- Trivia: Gere was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama at the 70th Golden Globe Awards.
September 14 – Barfi! (UK/Ireland/India)
- Cast: Ileana D’Cruz, Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Saurabh Shukla, Ashish Vidyarthi, Akash Khurana, Jisshu Sengupta, Roopa Ganguly, Uday Tikekar, Sumona Chakravarti, Haradhan Bandopadhyay, Arun Bali
- Director: Anurag Basu
- Production Company: Ishana Movies, UTV Motion Pictures
- Trivia: One of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of 2012. India’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film nomination for the 85th Academy Awards.
September 14 – Resident Evil: Retribution (USA/Canada)
- Cast: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Michelle Rodriguez, Aryana Engineer, Li Bingbing, Boris Kodjoe, Johann Urb, Robin Kasyanov, Kevin Durand, Ofilio Portillo, Oded Fehr, Colin Salmon, Shawn Roberts, Toshio Oki, Takato Yamashita, Mika Nakashima, Megan Charpentier
- Director: Paul W. S. Anderson
- Production Company: Constantin Film, Davis Films, Impact Pictures, distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing/Screen Gems
- Trivia: Fifth installment in the Resident Evil film series.
September 14 – Stolen (USA, limited)
- Cast: Nicolas Cage, Danny Huston, Malin Åkerman, Sami Gayle, Mark Valley, M. C. Gainey, Josh Lucas, Tanc Sade
- Director: Simon West
- Production Company: Millennium Entertainment, Nu Image Films, Saturn Films, Wonderland Sound and Vision, distributed by Millennium Films
September 19 – Now Is Good (UK/Ireland)
- Cast: Dakota Fanning, Jeremy Irvine, Paddy Considine, Olivia Williams, Edgar Canham, Kaya Scodelario, Rose Leslie, Joe Cole, Sarah Hadland, Patrick Baladi
- Director: Ol Parker
- Production Company: Blueprint Pictures, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Based on Jenny Downham’s 2007 novel Before I Die.
September 20 – Amour (Germany)
Les Films du Losange
- Cast: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert, Alexandre Tharaud, Rita Blanco, Carole Franck, Dinara Droukarova, William Shimell
- Director: Michael Haneke
- Production Company: Les Films du Losange, X-Filme Creative Pool, Wega Film, France 3 Cinéma, CanalPlus, distributed by X-Verleih
- Trivia: Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. It also won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards, and was nominated in four other categories: Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Emmanuelle Riva), Best Original Screenplay (Michael Haneke) and Best Director (Michael Haneke). At 85, Riva is the oldest nominee for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
September 20 – Bait 3D (Australia)
- Cast: Xavier Samuel, Sharni Vinson, Adrian Pang, Qi Yuwu, Alex Russell, Phoebe Tonkin, Dan Wyllie, Julian McMahon, Martin Sacks
- Director: Kimble Rendall
- Production Company: Screen Australia, Media Development Authority of Singapore, Darclight Films, Blackmagic Design, Pictures in Paradise, Story Bridge Films, Screen Queensland, Bait Holdings
- Trivia: Production of a sequel called Deep Water, about a plane en route from China to Australia crashing in the Pacific Ocean, was scrapped in March 2014 due to ‘uncomfortable similarities’ to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
September 20 – Lore (Australia)
- Cast: Saskia Rosendahl, Kai Malina, Nele Trebs, Ursina Lardi, Hans-Jochen Wagner, André Frid, Mika Seidel, Eva-Maria Hagen, Nick Holaschke, Sven Pippig, Philip Wiegratz
- Director: Cate Shortland
- Production Company: Rohfilm, Porchlight Films, Edge City Films, distributed by Transmission Films
- Trivia: Based on the 2001 novel The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert.
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