Universal Pictures
The list of new releases is long this week, mainly due to unknown June release dates for many films in the early part of the century. This week’s notable films celebrating milestone anniversaries include the screen debut of Errol Flynn, a new Abbott & Costello comedy, a film that did not promise what was advertised, an acclaimed role for Marlon Brando, the last sci-fi serial, Universal’s first 3D sci-fi film, another Disney film with Hayley Mills, a sequel to Old Yeller, an award-winning role for Shirley MacLaine, two films featuring Knights of the Round Table, the return of Norman Bates, Steve Martin as a doctor with an unusual love interest, a world on the brink of nuclear war, the second film in a still popular franchise, a Will Smith bomb, and a movie about illusion. Read on to learn more and tell us if your favorites are on the list!
1923
June – A Gamble with Hearts (UK)
- Cast: Milton Rosmer, Madge Stuart, Olaf Hytten, Valia, George Bishop, Margaret Hope, Cecil Morton York, Mickey Brantford, C. Hargrave Mansell, Pat Fitzgerald
- Director: Edwin J. Collins
- Production Company: Master Films, distributed by Woolf & Freedman Film Service
- Trivia: Adapted from a novel by Anthony Carlyle.
June – Desert Rider (USA)
- Cast: Jack Hoxie, Frank Rice, Evelyn Nelson, Claude Payton, Thomas G. Lingham
- Director: Robert N. Bradbury
- Production Company: Sunset Productions, distributed by Aywon Film Corporation
June – God’s Prodigal (UK)
- Cast: Gerald Ames, Flora le Breton, Frank Stanmore, Ada Ford, Judd Green, Reginald Fox, Beatrix Templeton
- Director: Edward José, Bert Wynne
- Production Company: International Artists
- Trivia: Final film of Beatrix Templeton.
June – Little Miss Nobody (UK)
- Cast: Flora le Breton, John Stuart, Ben Field, Gladys Jennings, Sidney Paxton
- Director: Wilfred Noy
- Production Company: Carlton Films, distributed by Butcher’s Film Service
June – Love, Life and Laughter (UK)
- Cast: Betty Balfour, Harry Jonas, Frank Stanmore, Annie Esmond, Nancy Price, Sydney Fairbrother
- Director: George Pearson
- Production Company: Welsh-Pearson, distributed by Gaumont British Distributors
- Trivia: The film was thought lost for years and was placed on the BFI’s ’75 Most Wanted’ list. The Dutch film institute Eye announced it had discovered a copy on April 2, 2014.
June – Married Love (UK)
- Cast: Lillian Hall-Davis, Rex Davis, Sydney Fairbrother, Sam Livesey, Roger Livesey as Henry Burrows, Mary Brough
- Director: Alexander Butler
- Production Company: Napoleon Films
- Trivia: Also known by the alternative titles Married Life and Maisie’s Marriage. Loosely based on the 1918 non-fiction book Married Love by Marie Stopes.
June – The Scandal (UK)
- Cast: Henry Victor, Edward O’Neill, Vanni Marcoux, Adeline de La Croix, Hilda Bayley
- Director: Arthur Rooke
- Production Company: I.B. Davidson, distributed by Granger
June – The Sign of Four (UK)
- Cast: Eille Norwood, Isobel Elsom, Fred Raynham, Arthur M. Cullin, Norman Page, Humberston Wright
- Director: Maurice Elvey
- Production Company: Stoll Pictures
- Trivia: Screened at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival on June 1, 2014. Based on the 1890 novel The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle. One of a series of Sherlock Holmes films starring Eille Norwood. Previous Watson Hubert Willis was replaced by Arthur M. Cullin as the director felt Willis was too old to woo the younger Isobel Elsom as Mary Morstan. Norwood was unimpressed with Cullin. The climactic chase on the Thames was shot on location.
June – The Wandering Jew (UK)
- Cast: Matheson Lang, Hutin Britton, Malvina Longfellow, Isobel Elsom, Florence Saunders, Shayle Gardner, Hubert Carter, Jerrold Robertshaw
- Director: Maurice Elvey
- Production Company: Stoll Picture Productions
- Trivia: Based on a play by E. Temple Thurston. Remade in 1933.
June 2 – The Dinkum Bloke (AUS)
- Cast: Arthur Tauchert, Lottie Lyell, Lotus Thompson
- Director: Raymond Longford, Lottie Lyell
- Production Company: Longford-Lyell Australian Productions, distributed by Paramount
- Trivia: Originally known as The Bloke from Woolloomooloo. The story seems influenced by the 1920 novel Stella Dallas. Opened in the UK on March 10, 1924 as A Gentleman in Mufti.
June 3 – The Exciters (USA)
- Cast: Bebe Daniels, Antonio Moreno, Burr McIntosh, Diana Allen, Cyril Ring, Bigelow Cooper, Ida Darling, Jane Thomas
- Director: Maurice Campbell
- Production Company: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Based on a 1922 Broadway play of the same name by Martin Brown. No prints of the film are known to exist in any film archives.
June 4 – Children of Dust (USA)
- Cast: Johnnie Walker, Pauline Garon, Lloyd Hughes, Bert Woodruff, George Nichols, Mary Carr, Frankie Lee
- Director: Frank Borzage
- Production Company: Arthur H. Jacobs Corporation, distributed by First National Pictures
June 4 – Don Quickshot of the Rio Grande (USA)
- Cast: Jack Hoxie, Emmett King, Elinor Field, Fred C. Jones, William Steele, Bob McKenzie, Harry Woods, Hank Bell, Ben Corbett
- Director: George E. Marshall
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
- Trivia: Based on a 1921 short story of the same name by Stephen Chalmers. A copy of the film is preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
June 4 – The Ragged Edge (USA)
- Cast: Alfred Lunt, Mona Palma, Charles Fang, Wallace Erskine, George MacQuarrie
- Director: F. Harmon Weight
- Production Company: Distinctive Pictures, distributed by Goldwyn-Cosmopolitan Distributing Corporation
- Trivia: No prints have been located in any archives so the film is considered lost.
1933
June – Anne One Hundred (UK)
- Cast: Betty Stockfeld, Gyles Isham, Dennis Wyndham, Evelyn Roberts, Allan Jeayes, Eric Hales, Quentin McPhearson, Phyllis Calvert
- Director: Henry Edwards
- Production Company: British and Dominions, distributed by Paramount British Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the play Anne One Hundred Percent by Sewell Collins.
June – Doss House (UK)
- Cast: Frank Cellier, Arnold Bell, Herbert Franklyn, Mark Daly, Edgar Driver, Hubert Leslie, Wilson Coleman, Robert MacLachlan
- Director: John Baxter
- Production Company: Baxter and Barter Productions, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: Made at Shepperton Studios as a quota quickie. Director John Baxter remade the film in 1941 as The Common Touch.
June – Facing the Music (UK)
- Cast: Stanley Lupino, Nancy Burne, Jose Collins, Nancy Brown, Doris Woodall, Lester Matthews, Dennis Hoey, Morris Harvey, Hal Gordon
- Director: Harry Hughes
- Production Company: British International Pictures, distributed by Wardour Films
- Trivia: Also known by the alternative title Jewel Song.
June – Great Stuff (UK)
- Cast: Henry Kendall, Betty Astell, Alfred Wellesley, Barbara Gott, Hal Walters, Ernest Sefton, Gladys Hamer
- Director: Leslie S. Hiscott
- Production Company: British Lion, distributed by Fox Film
June – My Lucky Star (UK)
- Cast: Florence Desmond, Oscar Asche, Charlie Naughton, Jimmy Gold, Harry Tate, Harold Huth, Carol Coombe, Reginald Purdell, Herman Darewski
- Director: Louis Blattner, John Harlow
- Production Company: Masquerader, distributed by Woolf and Freedman
June – Sleeping Car (UK)
- Cast: Madeleine Carroll, Ivor Novello, Kay Hammond, Claud Allister, Laddie Cliff, Stanley Holloway, Ivor Barnard
- Director: Anatol Litvak
- Production Company: Gaumont British Picture Corporation, distributed by Gaumont Ideal Films
- Trivia: Peggy Simpson’s film debut.
June – The Stickpin (UK)
- Cast: Henry Kendall, Betty Astell, Francis L. Sullivan, Lawrence Anderson, Henry Caine, F. Pope-Stamper
- Director: Leslie S. Hiscott
- Production Company: British Lion, distributed by Fox Film
- Trivia: Made as a quota quickie at Beaconsfield Studios.
June – Waltz Time (UK)
- Cast: Evelyn Laye, Fritz Schulz, Gina Malo, Jay Laurier, Parry Jones, George Baker, Frank Titterton, Ivor Barnard, D. A. Clarke-Smith, Edmund Breon
- Director: Wilhelm Thiele
- Production Company: Gaumont British Picture Corporation, distributed by Woolf and Freedman
- Trivia: Opened in the US on September 28, 1933. Adaptation of the operetta Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II and Richard Genée.
June 1 – Ann Carver’s Profession (USA)
- Cast: Fay Wray, Gene Raymond, Claire Dodd, Arthur Pierson, Claude Gillingwater, Frank Albertson, Frank Conroy, Jessie Ralph, Robert Barrat
- Director: Edward Buzzell
- Production Company: Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: The film was made the same year Fay Wray had ascended to stardom with King Kong.
June 1 – Horse Play (USA)
- Cast: Slim Summerville, Andy Devine, Leila Hyams, May Beatty, Una O’Connor, David Torrence, Cornelius Keefe, Ferdinand Gottschalk, Ethel Griffies, Lucille Lund
- Director: Edward Sedgwick
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
- Trivia: Lucille Lund’s film debut.
June 1 – King of the Arena (USA)
- Cast: Ken Maynard, Lucile Browne, John St. Polis, Bob Kortman, Michael Visaroff, James A. Marcus, Jack Rockwell, Frank Rice
- Director: Alan James
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
- Trivia: The film is based on a true story.
June 1 – The Sphinx (USA)
- Cast: Lionel Atwill, Sheila Terry, Theodore Newton, Paul Hurst, Luis Alberni, Robert Ellis, Lucien Prival, Lillian Leighton, Paul Fix, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes
- Director: Phil Rosen
- Production Company: Trem Carr Pictures, distributed by Monogram Pictures
- Trivia: Remade by William Beaudine as Phantom Killer in 1942.
June 2 – The Nuisance (USA)
- Cast: Lee Tracy, Madge Evans, Frank Morgan, Charles Butterworth, John Miljan, Virginia Cherrill, David Landau, Greta Meyer, Herman Bing, Samuel Hinds, Syd Saylor
- Director: Jack Conway
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
June 2 – Tomorrow at Seven (USA)
- Cast: Chester Morris, Vivienne Osborne, Frank McHugh, Allen Jenkins, Henry Stephenson, Grant Mitchell, Charles B. Middleton
- Director: Ray Enright
- Production Company: Jefferson Pictures Corporation, distributed by RKO Pictures
June 3 – In the Wake of the Bounty (AUS)
- Cast: Mayne Lynton, Errol Flynn, Victor Gouriet, John Warwick
- Director: Charles Chauvel
- Production Company: Expeditionary Films, distributed by Universal Pictures Proprietary
- Trivia: Screen debut of Errol Flynn. Arthur Greenaway was the film’s narrator.
June 3 – The Life of Jimmy Dolan (USA)
- Cast: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Loretta Young, Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee, Lyle Talbot, Fifi D’Orsay, Harold Huber, John Wayne
- Director: Archie Mayo
- Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Mickey Rooney appears in an uncredited role. Released in the UK as The Kid’s Last Fight. Based on a 1933 play called Sucker by Bertram Millhauser. The film was remade in 1939 as They Made Me a Criminal.
1943
May 31 – The Black Raven (USA)
- Cast: George Zucco, Wanda McKay, Robert Livingston, Noel Madison, Byron Foulger, Charles B. Middleton, Robert Middlemass, Glenn Strange, I. Stanford Jolley
- Director: Sam Newfield
- Production Company: Sigmund Neufeld Productions, distributed by Producers Releasing Corporation
June 2 – Hit the Ice (USA)
- Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Ginny Simms, Patric Knowles, Elyse Knox, Joseph Sawyer, Marc Lawrence, Sheldon Leonard, Johnny Long and His Orchestra
- Director: Charles Lamont
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
- Trivia: The film went into production 12 days after Abbott & Costello completed It Ain’t Hay. Erle C. Kenton was the film’s original director but was replaced after having difficulties with Costello.
June 3 – Bataan (USA)
- Cast: Robert Taylor, George Murphy, Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Nolan, Lee Bowman, Robert Walker, Desi Arnaz, Barry Nelson, Phillip Terry
- Director: Tay Garnett
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: The presence of a racially integrated fighting force prevented the film’s showing in the American South. Scenes from the 1934 RKO film The Lost Patrol, directed by John Ford, were reused in this production.
June 4 – Captive Wild Woman (USA)
- Cast: Evelyn Ankers, John Carradine, Milburn Stone, Lloyd Corrigan, Acquanetta, Martha MacVicar, Fay Helm, Vince Barnett, Paul Fix, Ray Corrigan, Ray Walker
- Director: Edward Dmytryk
- Production Company: Universal Pictures Company, Inc.
- Trivia: Martha MacVicar became better known as Martha Vickers. Universal announced the film in 1940 with production to begin in August 1941, but filming did not start until December 1942. Nothing in the announcement actually ended up in the finished film. It was followed by two sequels in the 1940s: Jungle Woman and The Jungle Captive.
June 4 – Cowboy Commandos (USA)
- Cast: Ray ‘Crash’ Corrigan, Dennis Moore, Max Terhune, Evelyn Finley, Johnny Bond, Budd Buster, John Merton, Frank Ellis
- Director: S. Roy Luby
- Production Company: Monogram Pictures
- Trivia: The 22nd of 24 ‘Range Busters’ films.
1953
May 31 – Roar of the Crowd (USA)
- Cast: Howard Duff, Helene Stanley, Dave Willock, Louise Arthur, Minor Watson, Harry Shannon, Don Haggerty, Edna Holland, Ray Walker, Paul Bryar, Larry Thor
- Director: William Beaudine
- Production Company: Monogram Pictures
- Trivia: The film was shot in Cinecolor, and a number of race car drivers appear as themselves.
June – Johnny on the Run (UK)
- Cast: Eugeniusz Chylek, Sydney Tafler, Michael Balfour, Jean Anderson, Moultrie Kelsall, Mona Washbourne, Margaret McCourt, Keith Faulkner, Cleopatra Sylvestre, John Laurie
- Director: Lewis Gilbert
- Production Company: International Realist, distributed by Associated British Film Distributors
- Trivia: Produced by the Children’s Film Foundation.
June – Run for the Hills (USA)
- Cast: Sonny Tufts, Barbara Payton, John Harmon, Mauritz Hugo, Vici Raaf, Jack Wrightson, Paul Maxey, Harry Lewis, John Hamilton, Byron Foulger
- Director: Lew Landers
- Production Company: Jack Broder Productions, distributed by Realart Pictures
June – The Fake (UK)
- Cast: Dennis O’Keefe, Coleen Gray, Hugh Williams, Guy Middleton, John Laurie, Eliot Makeham, Gerald Case, Leslie Phillips, Billie Whitelaw
- Director: Godfrey Grayson
- Production Company: Pax Films, distributed by United Artists
- Trivia: Opened in the US on September 25, 1953. Film debut of Billie Whitelaw. First film directed by Godfrey Grayson that was not made by Hammer Film Productions.
June – The Phantom Stockman (AUS)
- Cast: Chips Rafferty, Janette Elphick, Max Osbiston, Guy Doleman, Henry Murdoch
- Director: Lee Robinson
- Production Company: Platypus Productions, distributed by Platypus Film Productions (AUS), Astor Pictures Corporation (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in the US on September 15, 1953 as Return of the Plainsman. Australian artist Albert Namitjira appears as himself. The film was originally known as Dewarra, Platypus then The Tribesman.
June 1 – The Oracle (UK)
- Cast: Robert Beatty, Michael Medwin, Virginia McKenna, Mervyn Johns, Arthur Macrae, Gillian Lind, Ursula Howells, Louise Hampton
- Director: C. M. Pennington-Richards
- Production Company: Group 3 Productions, distributed by Associated British-Pathé (UK), Arthur Mayer-Edward Kingsley (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in the US on January 7, 1954 as The Horse’s Mouth. Based on a radio play To Tell You the Truth by Robert Barr.
June 4 – Julius Caesar (USA)
- Cast: Marlon Brando, James Mason, John Gielgud, Louis Calhern, Edmond O’Brien, Greer Garson, Deborah Kerr, George Macready, Michael Pate, Richard Hale, Alan Napier
- Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, distributed by Loew’s, Inc.
- Trivia: Billed on-screen as William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. The film is largely faithful to the source material with no significant cuts or alterations to the original text. Nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor (Brando), winning Best Art Direction – Black and White. Brando won the BAFTA for Best Foreign Actor, and John Gielgud won for Best British Actor. MGM wanted to shoot the film in color, but the producers refused, wanting audiences to associate the film with the newsreels of the time depicting the Fascist movement in Europe. Also, because they were using sets from Quo Vadis and didn’t want to invite comparison. Brando’s casting was questioned as he had been dubbed ‘The Mumbler’ due to his past performances, but he sought guidance from Gielgud on how to handle the dialogue and his diction earned universal praise to the point that Gielgud wanted to direct Brando in a stage version of Hamlet, which he considered but turned down. James Mason became concerned that Brando was stealing his focus and implored the director to stop Brando from dominating the film. Brando took notice that Mason was suddenly getting more scenes thrown to him and threatened to walk off the film. Gielgud complimented the director’s tact for keeping them all together as a working unit.
June 4 – The Lost Planet (USA, serial)
- Cast: Judd Holdren, Vivian Mason, Ted Thorpe, Forrest Taylor, Michael Fox, Gene Roth, Karl Davis, Leonard Penn, John Cason, Nick Stuart
- Director: Spencer Bennet
- Production Company: Sam Katzman Productions, distributed by Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: The last interplanetary-themed sound serial ever made. It was planned as a sequel to Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere with many shared plot points, props, sets and cast members but the Video Rangers do not appear. Judd Holdren, who played Captain Video, here plays a newspaper reporter named Rex Barrow. Unlike the Captain Video serial, The Lost Planet features a female character in her own version of the Video Rangers uniform. The film did use stock footage from the Captain Video serials. The serial’s working title was The Planet Men.
June 5 – A Slight Case of Larceny (USA)
- Cast: Mickey Rooney, Eddie Bracken, Elaine Stewart, Marilyn Erskine, Douglas Fowley, Charles Halton, Henry Slate, Rudy Lee, Mimi Gibson
- Director: Don Weis
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
June 5 – It Came from Outer Space (USA)
Universal Pictures
- Cast: Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, Charles Drake, Joe Sawyer, Russell Johnson, Kathleen Hughes, Alan Dexter, Dave Willock, Robert Carson, George Eldredge
- Director: Jack Arnold
- Production Company: Universal Pictures, distributed by Universal-International
- Trivia: The first science fiction-horror film in 3D from Universal. The script is based on Ray Bradbury’s original film treatment ‘The Meteor’, not a previously published short story as has been claimed. Unusual for the time, the aliens in Bradbury’s story were just stranded travelers on Earth with no malicious intent, although he offered the studio an option with malicious aliens. In 2004 Bradbury published in one volume of all four versions of his screen treatment for It Came From Outer Space. Two alien makeup designs were submitted to the studio, and the one that was rejected was later used for This Island Earth‘s ‘Mutant Metalunan’. Barbara Rush earned a Golden Globe as Most Promising Female Newcomer for her role in the film. A made-for-TV sequel, It Came from Outer Space II, aired in 1996 and was essentially a remake of the film.
1963
May 31 – Summer Magic (UK)
- Cast: Hayley Mills, Burl Ives, Dorothy McGuire, Una Merkel, Deborah Walley, James Stacy, Eddie Hodges, Jimmy Mathers, Michael J. Pollard
- Director: James Neilson
- Production Company: Walt Disney Productions, distributed by Buena Vista Distribution Company
- Trivia: Opened in the US on July 7, 1963. Based on the novel Mother Carey’s Chickens by Kate Douglas Wiggin. The fourth of six Disney films starring Hayley Mills, and she received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. Mills later said it was the worst movie she ever made for Disney.
June 1 – Savage Sam (USA)
- Cast: Brian Keith, Tommy Kirk, Kevin Corcoran, Dewey Martin, Jeff York, Marta Kristen, Rafael Campos, Slim Pickens, Royal Dano, Rodolfo Acosta
- Director: Norman Tokar
- Production Company: Walt Disney Productions, distributed by Buena Vista Distribution
- Trivia: Film sequel to Old Yeller based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Fred Gipson.
June 2 – Lancelot and Guinevere (UK)
- Cast: Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace, Brian Aherne, George Baker, Archie Duncan, Adrienne Corri
- Director: Cornel Wilde
- Production Company: Emblem Productions, distributed by Rank Film Distributors (UK), Universal Pictures (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in the US on June 5, 1963 as Sword of Lancelot. Cornel Wilde and Jean Wallace were married at the time of the film’s production.
June 5 – Come Blow Your Horn (USA)
- Cast: Frank Sinatra, Lee J. Cobb, Molly Picon, Barbara Rush, Jill St. John, Dan Blocker, Phyllis McGuire, Tony Bill
- Director: Bud Yorkin
- Production Company: Tandem Productions, Essex Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the 1961 play of the same name by Neil Simon. Norman Lear and Dean Martin make cameo appearances. Oscar-nominated for Best Art Direction.
June 5 – Irma la Douce (USA)
- Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Lou Jacobi, Bruce Yarnell, Herschel Bernardi, Hope Holiday, Joan Shawlee, Grace Lee Whitney, Paul Dubov, Howard McNear, Cliff Osmond, Tura Satana, Bill Bixby
- Director: Billy Wilder
- Production Company: The Mirisch Corporation, distributed by United Artists
- Trivia: Based on the 1956 French stage musical of the same name by Marguerite Monnot and Alexandre Breffort. The title translates to ‘Irma the sweet’ in English. James Caan appears in an uncredited role. Louis Jourdan is the film’s uncredited narrator. Paul Frees narrated the trailer. The film was originally conceived as a vehicle for Marilyn Monroe, which would have reunited her with Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon after Some Like It Hot. Shirley MacLaine was cast after Monroe’s death. MacLaine received one of the film’s three Oscar nominations. Andre Previn won the Oscar for Best Original Score. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe, as were MacLaine and Lemmon, with MacLaine taking home the trophy. MacLaine also received a BAFTA nomination for Best Foreign Actress.
1973
May 31 – The Student Teachers (USA)
- Cast: Susan Damante, Brooke Mills, Brenda Sutton, Johnny Ray McGhee, Bob Harris, John Kramer, Dick Miller, Chuck Norris
- Director: Jonathan Kaplan
- Production Company: Santa Cruz Productions, distributed by New World Pictures
- Trivia: Inspired by the ‘nurse’ cycle of pictures starting with The Student Nurses (1970). The film was shot in 15 days for under $100,000. The lead was written for Patti Byrne, who appeared in Night Call Nurses, but she did not commit to the part and it was cast with Susan Damante.
June – England Made Me (UK)
- Cast: Peter Finch, Michael York, Hildegarde Neil, Joss Ackland, Michael Hordern, Tessa Wyatt, Michael Sheard, Richard Gibson, Lalla Ward
- Director: Peter Duffell
- Production Company: Atlantic Productions, Centralni Filmski Studio, Two World Film, distributed by Hemdale (UK), Cine Globe (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in the US on November 18, 1973. Based on the 1935 novel England Made Me by Graham Greene. The film changed the novel’s setting from Sweden to Nazi Germany as the director knew little about Sweden in the 1930s and audiences would recognize the growing menace in Europe at the time. The art direction received a BAFTA nomination.
June – Gawain and the Green Knight (UK)
- Cast: Murray Head, Ciaran Madden, Nigel Green, Anthony Sharp, Robert Hardy, David Leland, Murray Melvin, Tony Steedman, Ronald Lacey
- Director: Stephen Weeks
- Production Company: Scancrest, distributed by United Artists
- Trivia: Nigel Green’s final theatrical film. Based on the medieval English tale Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and also Yvain, the Knight of the Lion by Chrétien de Troyes and the tale of Sir Gareth in Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. Stephen Weeks remade the film in 1984 as Sword of the Valiant with Miles O’Keeffe and Sean Connery as Gawain and the Green Knight, respectively.
June – Little Cigars (USA)
- Cast: Angel Tompkins, Billy Curtis, Jerry Maren, Frank Delfino, Felix Silla, Emory Souza, Joe De Santis, Jon Cedar, Philip Kenneally, Barbara Rhoades, Todd Susman, Michael Pataki
- Director: Chris Christenberry
- Production Company: American International Pictures
- Trivia: Also known as The Little Cigars Mob.
June – The Candy Snatchers (USA)
- Cast: Tiffany Bolling, Ben Piazza, Susan Sennett, Brad David, Vince Martorano, Bonnie Boland, Jerry Butts, Leon Charles, Dolores Dorn
- Director: Guerdon Trueblood
- Production Company: Marmot Productions, distributed by General Film Corporation
- Trivia: Unofficially inspired by the kidnapping of Barbara Jane Mackle. Tiffany Bolling later regretted doing the film, saying she only did it for the paycheck.
June – Trader Horn (USA)
- Cast: Rod Taylor, Anne Heywood, Jean Sorel, Don Knight, Ed Bernard, Stack Pierce
- Director: Reza Badiyi
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: Remake (or perhaps more accurately a reboot) of the 1931 film, but neither film was faithful to the original memoirs of Alfred Aloysius Horn, who was 53 when World War I began. The film re-used colorized footage from 1950’s King Solomon’s Mines and 1953’s Mogambo. Rod Taylor did his own stunt riding on a zebra, taming the animal in the process.
1983
June – Stacy’s Knights (USA)
- Cast: Kevin Costner, Andra Millian, Eve Lilith, Mike Reynolds, Garth Howard, Ed Semenza, Don Hackstaff, Loyd Catlett, Cheryl Ferris, Gary Tilles
- Director: Jim Wilson
- Production Company: Crown International Pictures, American Twist, distributed by Crown International Pictures
- Trivia: Also known as Double Down, The Touch (American video title), and Winning Streak (British video title).
June 3 – Psycho II (USA)
Universal Pictures
- Cast: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Robert Loggia, Meg Tilly, Dennis Franz, Hugh Gillin, Robert Alan Browne, Claudia Bryar, Lee Garlington, Oz Perkins
- Director: Richard Franklin
- Production Company: Universal Pictures, Oak Industries, distributed by Universal Pictures
- Trivia: The film is unrelated to the 1982 novel Psycho II by Robert Bloch, which he wrote as a sequel to his original 1959 novel Psycho. Richard Franklin’s American directorial debut. The Australian was a student of Hitchcock’s. The film was originally planned as a made-for-cable production, and Anthony Perkins turned down the offer to reprise the role of Norman Bates, but he liked Tom Holland’s script and agreed to return to the role. Christopher Walken was considered for the role if Perkins did not return. Vera Miles reprised her role of Lila Crane, but John Gavin was unable to return as Sam Loomis due to his position as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. Jamie Lee Curtis was sought for the role of Lila’s daughter before Meg Tilly was cast. The original film’s assistant director was contacted about producing the film, but fearing Hitchcock would not have approved of a sequel to his works he contacted the director’s daughter Patricia, who gave her blessing and said her father would have loved it. The Bates house from the 1960 film was still standing on the Universal backlot, but the hotel had to be reconstructed. Many props and setpieces from the original film were found and used in the sequel. The town of Fairvale was actually the Courthouse Square set on the Universal lot, best known for its appearance in Back to the Future. As a tribute to Hitchcock, his silhouette can be seen in Norman’s room before the lights are turned on. The cast and crew did not receive the final pages of the script until the last day of filming. The film’s poster artwork was actually an image that was used as a Christmas card for various crew members after Franklin rejected the studio’s original concept. John Williams was considered to compose the score but it was decided to go with Jerry Goldsmith, who was a long-time friend of Bernard Herrmann, the original film’s composer. Goldsmith wrote a theme for Norman that was rejected. It was ultimately used in the second segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie.
June 3 – The Man with Two Brains (USA)
- Cast: Steve Martin, Kathleen Turner, David Warner, Paul Benedict, George Furth, Peter Hobbs, Earl Boen, James Cromwell, Estelle Reiner, Merv Griffin, Jeffrey Combs
- Director: Carl Reiner
- Production Company: Aspen Film Society, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Sissy Spacek provided the uncredited voice of Anne Uumellmahaye, the brain with which Dr. Hfuhruhurr (Steve Martin) falls in love. Kathleen Turner said she used a body double for a sex scene in this movie.
June 3 – WarGames (USA)
- Cast: Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, John Wood, Ally Sheedy, Barry Corbin, Juanin Clay, Dennis Lipscomb, Kent Williams, Joe Dorsey, Michael Ensign, John Spencer, Michael Madsen, James Tolkan, Maury Chaykin, Eddie Deezen
- Director: John Badham
- Production Company: United Artists, Sherwood Productions, distributed by MGM/UA Entertainment Company
- Trivia: Nominated for three Academy Awards — Cinematography, Sound and Original Screenplay. Martin Brest was the film’s original director, but was fired after 12 days because of a disagreement with the producers. Several of his scenes remain in the film. Replacement John Badham said Brest was taking a darker approach to the film and he wanted to make it more fun and exciting. Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy both thought they were going to be fired as well, so Badham did more than a dozen takes of the first shot to loosen them up and raced with the actors around the studio to lighten the mood, with the loser having to serenade the crew with a song. Badham lost and sang ‘The Happy Wanderer’.
1993
June 4 – Frauds (UK)
- Cast: Phil Collins, Mitchell McMahon, Hugo Weaving, Josephine Byrnes, Ian Cockburn, Andrew McMahon, Rebel Penfold-Russell, Peter Mochrie, Nicholas Hammond
- Director: Stephan Elliott
- Production Company: J&M Entertainment, Latent Image Productions Pty. Ltd., distributed by First Independent Films (UK), Live Entertainment (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in the US on September 17, 1993. Phil Collins was cast after the producers and director saw him in an episode of Miami Vice.
June 4 – Guilty as Sin (USA)
- Cast: Rebecca De Mornay, Don Johnson, Jack Warden, Stephen Lang, Luis Guzman, Dana Ivey, Ron White
- Director: Sidney Lumet
- Production Company: Hollywood Pictures, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
- Trivia: Filmed entirely on location in Toronto.
June 4 – Life with Mikey (USA)
- Cast: Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane, Cyndi Lauper, David Krumholtz, David Huddleston, Christina Vidal, Victor Garber, Frances Chaney, Kathryn Grody, Mary Alice, Rubén Blades, Aida Turturro, Christine Baranski, Kevin Zegers, Mandy Patinkin
- Director: James Lapine
- Production Company: Touchstone Pictures, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
- Trivia: Also known as Give Me a Break. Christina Vidal’s acting debut.
June 4 – The Music of Chance (USA)
- Cast: James Spader, Mandy Patinkin, M. Emmet Walsh, Charles Durning, Joel Grey, Samantha Mathis, Chris Penn
- Director: Philip Haas
- Production Company: Trans Atlantic Entertainment, distributed by IRS Media
- Trivia: Based on the 1990 book of the same name.
2003
June 5 – 2 Fast 2 Furious (AUS)
- Cast: Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes, Cole Hauser, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, James Remar, Devon Aoki, Thom Barry, Edward Finlay, Mark Boone Junior, Mo Gallini, Roberto Sanchez, MC Jin, Amaury Nolasco, Michael Ealy, John Cenatiempo, Eric Etebari
- Director: John Singleton
- Production Company: Universal Pictures, Original Film, Mikona Productions GmbH & Co. KG, Ardustry Entertainment, distributed by United International Pictures (AUS), Universal Pictures (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in Canada and the US on June 6, 2003. Producer Neal H. Moritz makes a cameo appearance as a police officer. With Vin Diesel unwilling to return for the sequel, Tyrese Gibson was cast to fill the vacancy. To canonically account for Diesel’s departure, the short film The Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 Fast 2 Furious was produced. Diesel was offered $25 million to return but he hated the script and opted to do The Chronicles of Riddick instead. In 2014 he admitted he should have returned as an obligation to the audience to make the film as good as possible. Ja Rule’s salary was upped from $15,000 for the first film to $500,000 but he turned it down. Director John Singleton said the rapper was acting like he was too big to be in the sequel. Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges was hired to replace him. The house of the villain played by Cole Hauser was a home in Coral Gables, Florida owned by Sylvester Stallone. While 2 Fast 2 Furious was filming on one side of Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, Bad Boys II was filming on the other side. Devon Aoki, the film’s only female driver, did not have a driver’s license or any driving experience at the time of the film’s production, taking driving lessons during filming.
June 5 – Carolina (Russia, limited)
- Cast: Julia Stiles, Shirley MacLaine, Alessandro Nivola, Randy Quaid, Jennifer Coolidge, Edward Atterton, Azura Skye, Mika Boorem, Alan Thicke, Daveigh Chase
- Director: Marleen Gorris
- Production Company: Bregman-IAC Productions, Carol Baum Productions, Carolina Torn Asunder Inc., Hollywood Partners, Living Pictures, Screenland Movieworld GmbH, The Pitt Group, distributed by Paradise Group (Russia)
- Trivia: Premiered on DVD in the US on February 1, 2005. Miramax was to be the film’s US distributor, and Harvey Weinstein promised they would blast the film’s promotion all over MTV and the Super Bowl. Producers never heard about it again until it was suddenly released on DVD. Barbara Eden has an uncredited role. Kathy Bates was originally cast as Grandma Millicent Mirabeau, but dropped out after make-up and hair tests due to the shut down of the original production shoot date. Shirley MacLaine eventually stepped in to play the role.
June 6 – Comandante (Spain, documentary)
- Director: Oliver Stone
- Production Company: HBO Documentary, Media Produccion, Morena Films, Pentagrama Films
- Trivia: Opened in the UK on October 3, 2003, and in Canada on March 28, 2004. The film was planned to have an HBO broadcast, but shortly before airtime, after Cuba executed three hijackers of a ferry to the United States and imprisoned more than 70 political dissidents, HBO pulled the program. To this day, it still has not been given a video release in the USA.
2013
May 31 – After Earth (USA)
- Cast: Jaden Smith, Will Smith, Sophie Okonedo, Zoë Kravitz, Glenn Morshower, Kristofer Hivju, Sacha Dhawan, Chris Geere, Diego Klattenhoff, David Denman
- Director: M. Night Shyamalan
- Production Company: Columbia Pictures, Overbrook Entertainment, Blinding Edge Pictures, Relativity Media, distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
- Trivia: The story by Will Smith was originally about a father-son camping trip before it was reworked into a sci-fi film set 1,000 years in the future. It is the second film to star Smith and his real-life son Jaden. It was the first Sony film to be shot and presented in the then-emerging 4K digital format.
May 31 – American Mary (USA, limited)
- Cast: Katharine Isabelle, Antonio Cupo, Tristan Risk, David Lovgren
- Director: Jen and Sylvia Soska
- Production Company: American Mary Productions, Evolution Pictures, distributed by IndustryWorks Pictures
- Trivia: First opened in the UK on January 11. 2013. Jen and Sylvia Soska make an appearance as the demon twins from Berlin; their father, Marius, also appears in a minor role as Dr. Janusz, a professor at the medical school. The film has no visual effects. All of the effects are practical and Mary’s patients are members of the real-life body modification community. The role of Mary was written specifically for Katharine Isabelle.
May 31 – Blood (UK)
- Cast: Paul Bettany, Mark Strong, Stephen Graham, Brian Cox, Naomi Battrick, Ben Crompton, Natasha Little, Zoë Tapper, Adrian Edmondson
- Director: Nick Murphy
- Production Company: BBC Films, British Film Institute, IM Global, Quickfire Films, Lipsync Productions, Neal Street Productions, Red Production Company, distributed by Neal Street Productions (UK), Image Entertainment (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in the US on August 9, 2013. Cinematic remake of the 2004 BBC television mini series Conviction.
May 31 – Ephraim’s Rescue (USA)
- Cast: Darin Southam, Richard Benedict, James Gaisford, Koleman Stinger, Katherine Nelson, Travis Eberhard
- Director: T. C. Christensen
- Production Company: Remember Films, distributed by Excel Entertainment Group
- Trivia: Based on the true stories of Mormon pioneers Ephraim Hanks and Thomas Dobson and their experiences in the handcart brigades.
May 31 – I Do (USA, limited)
- Cast: David W. Ross, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Alicia Witt, Grant Bowler, Maurice Compte, Mike C. Manning
- Director: Glenn Gaylord
- Production Company: School Pictures, distributed by Breaking Glass Pictures
May 31 – Now You See Me (USA)
Summit Entertainment
- Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Mark Ruffalo, Mélanie Laurent, Morgan Freeman, Jessica Lindsey, Michael Caine, David Warshofsky, Michael Kelly, Common, José Garcia, Caitriona Balfe, Elias Koteas, Conan O’Brien
- Director: Louis Leterrier
- Production Company: Summit Entertainment, K/O Paper Products, distributed by Lionsgate
- Trivia: Winner of the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Thriller Movie. Isla Fisher nearly drowned while filming the water tank scene when her chain got stuck. Everyone thought she was acting and didn’t realize she was struggling but a stuntman standing nearby used a quick release switch to save her.
May 31 – Shadow Dancer (USA, limited)
- Cast: Andrea Riseborough, Clive Owen, Gillian Anderson, Aidan Gillen, Domhnall Gleeson, Brid Brennan, David Wilmot, Michael McElhatton, Stuart Graham, Martin McCann
- Director: James Marsh
- Production Company: Irish Film Board, BBC Films, UKFS, Element Pictures, Unanimous Pictures
- Trivia: Originally opened in the UK on August 24, 2012. Based on his 1998 novel of the same name.
May 31 – The East (USA)
- Cast: Brit Marling, Alexander Skarsgård, Elliot Page, Toby Kebbell, Shiloh Fernandez, Julia Ormond, Patricia Clarkson, Jason Ritter, Aldis Hodge, Billy Magnussen, Jamey Sheridan
- Director: Zal Batmanglij
- Production Company: Scott Free Productions, distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures
- Trivia: Writers Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling spent two months in 2009 practicing freeganism and co-wrote a screenplay inspired by their experiences and drawing on thrillers from the 1970s.
May 31 – The History of Future Folk (USA)
- Cast: Nils d’Aulaire, Jay Klaitz, Julie Ann Emery, April Hernandez Castillo, Onata Aprile, Dee Snider, Nathan Hinton
- Director: John Mitchell
- Production Company: Maida Vale Films, distributed by Variance Films
May 31 – The Kings of Summer (USA, limited)
- Cast: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moisés Arias, Nick Offerman, Erin Moriarty, Alison Brie, Megan Mullally, Marc Evan Jackson, Eugene Cordero, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Thomas Middleditch
- Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
- Production Company: Low Spark Films, Big Beach Films, distributed by CBS Films
- Trivia: The film premiered under its original title Toy’s House on January 19, 2013, at the Sundance Film Festival. Jordan Vogt-Roberts’s first feature film.
May 31 – Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (USA)
- Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Kalki Koechlin, Aditya Roy Kapur, Evelyn Sharma, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Farooq Sheikh, Tanvi Azmi, Dolly Ahluwalia, Poorna Jagannathan
- Director: Ayan Mukerji
- Production Company: Dharma Productions, distributed by Eros International
- Trivia: The film’s title translates to ‘This youth is crazy’. Some of the film’s shots were taken at 14,000 feet above sea level and the crew shot at a temperature as low as −10 degrees Celsius. The unit experienced a difficult shoot in Rajasthan due to the overwhelming heat.
June 6 – L’autre vie de Richard Kemp (France)
- Cast: Jean-Hugues Anglade, Mélanie Thierry, Philippe Berodot, Jean-Henri Compère, Pierre Moure, Loïc Rojouan
- Director: Germinal Alvarez
- Production Company: Haut et Court, Direct Cinéma, Direct 8, Canal+, Ciné+, B MediaExport, Palatine Étoile 10, Région Aquitaine, Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée, Poitou-Charentes Cinéma, distributed by Haut et Court
- Trivia: Known in English as Back in Crime.
June 6 – Gagarin: First in Space (Russia)
- Cast: Yaroslav Zhalnin, Mikhail Filippov, Olga Ivanova, Vadim Michman, Vladimir Steklov, Viktor Proskurin, Nadezhda Markina, Daniil Vorobyov, Inga Strelkova-Oboldina
- Director: Pavel Parkhomenko
- Production Company: Kremlin Films, distributed by Central Partnership
- Trivia: The film’s 108 minute running time approximates the time it took Gagarin to orbit the Earth.
June 6 – 20 ans d’écart (Hungary)
- Cast: Virginie Efira, Pierre Niney, Charles Berling, Gilles Cohen, Camille Japy, Michaël Abiteboul, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, François Civil, Blanche Gardin
- Director: David Moreau
- Production Company: Echo Films, EuropaCorp, TF1 Films Production, Canal+, Ciné+, TF1, distributed by MTVA (Hungary), EuropaCorp. Distribution (Belgium)
- Trivia: Originally opened in Belgium on March 6, 2013. Released in Canada on December 25, 2013 as It Boy.
June 6 – Violet & Daisy (Israel)
- Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Alexis Bledel, James Gandolfini, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Danny Trejo, Lynda Gravatt, Tatiana Maslany, Cody Horn, John Ventimiglia
- Director: Geoffrey Fletcher
- Production Company: Magic Violet, distributed by Teleview International (Israel), Cinedigm Entertainment Group (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in limited release in the US on June 7. Geoffrey Fletcher’s directorial debut. Fletcher credits Pulp Fiction, Superbad, and Thelma & Louise as inspiration for this film; critics called it a tired Tarantino retread. The film was adapted for the stage and performed at The New School in 2019. Bruce Willis was considered for the role of The Guy before James Gandolfini was cast. Carey Mulligan was originally cast in the role of Violet but opted to do Drive instead. She was replaced by Alexis Bledel. In its opening weekend Violet & Daisy grossed $9,982. The film ended its theatrical run with a total domestic gross of $17,186. Internationally, the film grossed an additional $90,953 for a worldwide total of $108,139 against a budget of $8 million.
Share this post
