Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #154 :: July 5•11

Walt Disney Pictures

Many films were released this week, post-July 4 holiday in the US, and a handful went on to win some awards recognition, and an even smaller handful went on to become massive blockbusters in the later part of the century. The earliest part of the century had the usual films based on well-known literature but most have fallen into obscurity. Two films are notable in 1953, one for producing a sound effects which has been used — sometimes for ironic effect — in films and TV shows ever since, and the other for being the film in which a character inspired the name for said sound effect. 1963 produced a film that landed its star in a groundbreaking historical moment at the Oscars, and it also gave us the first ‘splatter film’. 1993 put Daniel Stern in the director’s chair for the first time, gave us an unnecessary sequel, and had a Clint Eastwood movie that scored some love from various awards organizations. 2003 had arguably the biggest hit of the week in any decade and launched a successful film franchise. It also gave us a not-very-well-received adaptation of a popular graphic novel, and an Oscar nominated turn for Cate Blanchett. 2013 is notable only for having three films released this week with ‘Love’ in the title. Read on to learn more and tell us if your favorites are celebrating an anniversary!

1923

July – Broken Hearts of Broadway (USA)

Cast: Colleen Moore, Johnnie Walker, Alice Lake, Tully Marshall, Kate Price, Creighton Hale
Director: Irving Cummings
Production Company: Irving Cummings Productions, distributed by Select Pictures
Trivia: Based on a 1917 play Broken Hearts of Broadway by James Kyrle McCurdy. Copies are preserved in the Library of Congress, the Academy Film Archive collection and Blackhawk Films.

July – Loyal Lives (USA)

Cast: Brandon Tynan, Mary Carr, Faire Binney, William Collier Jr., Charles Mcdonald, Blanche Craig, Chester Morris
Director: Charles Giblyn
Production Company: Postman Pictures, distributed by Vitagraph Company of America

July – Beautiful Kitty (UK)

Cast: Violet Hopson, James Knight, Robert Vallis, Arthur Walcott, Polly Emery, Fred Percy
Director: Walter West
Production Company: Walter West Productions, distributed by Butcher’s Film Service

July – Should a Doctor Tell? (UK)

Cast: Fred Oppey, Thelma Newling, Verna Haines, Anne Parsons, Teddy Austin
Director: P. J. Ramster, Alexander Butler
Production Company: Napoleon Films, P.J. Ramster Photoplays, distributed by Napoleon Films
Trivia: The film is considered lost. Most of the cast came from P.J. Ramster’s acting school.

July – The Hotel Mouse (UK)

Cast: Lillian Hall-Davis, Campbell Gullan, Warwick Ward, Josephine Earle, Morgan Wallace
Director: Fred Paul
Production Company: British-Super Films, distributed by Jury Films
Trivia: Based on a play by Paul Armont and Marcel Gerbidon.

July – The Indian Love Lyrics (UK)

Cast: Catherine Calvert, Owen Nares, Malvina Longfellow, Shayle Gardner, Fred Raynham, Roy Travers
Director: Sinclair Hill
Production Company: Stoll Pictures
Trivia: Based on the poem The Garden of Kama by Laurence Hope.

July 7 – Townies and Hayseeds (AUS)

Cast: George Edwards, JP O’Neill, Pinky Weatherly, Ada S Claire, Lotus Thompson, W.J. Newman, Gordon Collingridge
Director: Beaumont Smith
Production Company: Beaumont Smith Productions, distributed by Beaumont Smith, Union Theatres
Trivia: Fifth film in the series featuring the rural Hayseeds family. The film is considered lost.

July 8 – Children of Jazz (USA)

Cast: Theodore Kosloff, Ricardo Cortez, Robert Cain, Eileen Percy, Irene Dalton, Alec B. Francis, Frank Currier, Snitz Edwards, Lillian Drew, Julie Bishop
Director: Jerome Storm
Production Company: Famous Players–Lasky Corporation, distributed by Paramount Pictures
Trivia: Adapted from Harold Brighouse’s play. The film is lost.

July 8 – Desert Driven (USA)

Cast: Harry Carey, Marguerite Clayton, George Waggner, Charles J. Le Moyne, Alfred Allen, Tom Lingham
Director: Val Paul
Production Company: Robertson-Cole, distributed by Film Booking Offices of America

July 8 – The Self-Made Wife (USA)

Cast: Ethel Grey Terry, Crauford Kent, Virginia Ainsworth, Phillips Smalley, Dorothy Cumming, Maurice Murphy, Turner Savage, Honora Beatrice, Tom McGuire, Laura La Varnie, Matthew Betz
Director: John Francis Dillon
Production Company: Universal Pictures
Trivia: Based upon the short story ‘The Self-Made Wife’ by Elizabeth Alexander.

July 9 – When the Kellys Were Out (AUS)

Cast: Godfrey Cass, Rose Rooney, Harry Southwell, Charles Villiers, William Ellison
Director: Harry Southwell
Production Company: Australian Players Film Company
Trivia: Only a portion of the film exists today.

1933

July 5 – College Humor (USA)

Cast: Bing Crosby, Jack Oakie, Richard Arlen, Mary Carlisle, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Mary Kornman, Joe Sawyer
Director: Wesley Ruggles
Production Company: Paramount Pictures
Trivia: When the 68 minute film premiered, audiences complained about the choppy editing. Missing sequences were restored extending the film to 80 minutes, which is the version available today.

July 7 – By Appointment Only (USA)

Cast: Lew Cody, Aileen Pringle, Sally O’Neil, Edward Morgan, Edward Martindel, Wilson Benge, Marceline Day, Claire McDowell, Pauline Garon, Gladys Blake
Director: Frank R. Strayer
Production Company: Invincible Pictures Corp., distributed by Chesterfield Motion Pictures Corporation

July 7 – Disgraced! (USA)

Cast: Helen Twelvetrees, Bruce Cabot, Adrienne Ames, William Harrigan, Ken Murray, Charles Middleton, Adrienne D’Ambricourt
Director: Erle C. Kenton
Production Company: Paramount Pictures

July 7 – Hold Your Man (USA)

Cast: Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Stuart Erwin, Dorothy Burgess, Muriel Kirkland, Garry Owen, Barbara Barondess, Elizabeth Patterson, Inez Courtney, Blanche Friderici, Helen Freeman
Director: Sam Wood
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, distributed by Loew’s Inc.
Trivia: Louise Beavers appears uncredited as a powder room maid. Harriet Lee was the singing voice for Jean Harlow. The film’s working titles were Black Orange Blossoms, He Was Her Man and Nora. The third of six films Harlow and Clark Gable made together.

July 7 – Life in the Raw (USA)

Cast: George O’Brien, Claire Trevor, Greta Nissen, Francis Ford, Warner Richmond, Steve Pendleton, Alan Edwards, Nigel De Brulier
Director: Louis King
Production Company: Fox Film Corporation
Trivia: Based on Zane Grey’s short story ‘From Missouri’. Claire Trevor’s film debut.

July 8 – I Love That Man (USA)

Cast: Edmund Lowe, Nancy Carroll, Robert Armstrong, Lew Cody, Warren Hymer, Grant Mitchell, Dorothy Burgess, Walter Walker, Berton Churchill, Susan Fleming
Director: Harry Joe Brown
Production Company: Paramount Pictures
Trivia: A nitrate print of this film survives in the UCLA Film and Television Archives, but is not listed for preservation.

July 8 – It’s Great to Be Alive (USA)

Cast: Raul Roulien, Edna Mae Oliver, Gloria Stuart, Herbert Mundin, Joan Marsh, Dorothy Burgess, Emma Dunn, Edward Van Sloan, Robert Greig, Edna May Oliver, Edward Van Sloan
Director: Alfred L. Werker
Production Company: Fox Film Corporation
Trivia: Remake of 1924’s The Last Man on Earth. The film later influenced the 1946 novel Mr. Adam by Pat Frank.

July 8 – The Narrow Corner (USA)

Cast: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Patricia Ellis, Ralph Bellamy, Dudley Digges, Arthur Hohl, Reginald Owen, Henry Kolker, William V. Mong, Willie Fung, Sidney Toler
Director: Alfred E. Green
Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
Trivia: Adaptation of Somerset Maugham’s 1932 novel The Narrow Corner. Remade in 1936 as Isle of Fury.

July 10 – Letting in the Sunshine (UK)

Cast: Albert Burdon, Renee Gadd, Molly Lamont, Henry Mollison, Herbert Langley, Eric Le Fre, Ethel Warwick, Syd Crossley, Toni Edgar-Bruce
Director: Lupino Lane
Production Company: British International Pictures, distributed by Wardour Films

July 10 – Summer Lightning (UK)

Cast: Ralph Lynn, Winifred Shotter, Chili Bouchier, Horace Hodges, Helen Ferrers, Esme Percy, Miles Malleson, Gordon James
Director: Maclean Rogers
Production Company: Herbert Wilcox Productions, British & Dominions Film Corporation, distributed by United Artists Corporation
Trivia: Based on the 1929 novel Summer Lightning by P.G. Wodehouse.

July 10 – The Wrecker (USA)

Cast: Jack Holt, Genevieve Tobin, George E. Stone, Sidney Blackmer, Ward Bond
Director: Albert S. Rogell
Production Company: Columbia Pictures
Trivia: A print is held by the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation.

July 12 – Laughing at Life (USA)

Cast: Victor McLaglen, Conchita Montenegro, William “Stage” Boyd, Lois Wilson, Henry B. Walthall, Regis Toomey, Ruth Hall, Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams, Dewey Robinson, Ivan Lebedeff
Director: Ford Beebe
Production Company: Mascot Pictures

1943

July 5 – Thumbs Up (USA)

Cast: Brenda Joyce, Richard Fraser, Elsa Lanchester, Arthur Margetson, J. Pat O’Malley, Queenie Leonard, Molly Lamont
Director: Joseph Santley
Production Company: Republic Pictures

July 8 – Bordertown Gun Fighters (USA)

Cast: Wild Bill Elliott, George “Gabby” Hayes, Anne Jeffreys, Ian Keith, Harry Woods, Edward Earle, Karl Hackett, Roy Barcroft, Bud Geary
Director: Howard Bretherton
Production Company: Republic Pictures

July 8 – What’s Buzzin’, Cousin? (USA)

Cast: Ann Miller, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, John Hubbard, Freddy Martin, Leslie Brooks, Jeff Donnell, Carol Hughes, Theresa Harris, Dub Taylor
Director: Charles Barton
Production Company: Columbia Pictures

July 9 – Gals, Incorporated (USA)

Cast: Leon Errol, Harriet Nelson, Grace McDonald, David Bacon, Betty Kean, Maureen Cannon, Lillian Cornell
Director: Leslie Goodwins
Production Company: Universal Pictures
Trivia: Singer Jo Stafford appears as a member of The Pied Pipers.

July 9 – Three Little Twirps (USA, short)

Cast: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Stanley Blystone, Chester Conklin, Bud Jamison, Heinie Conklin, Al Thompson, Duke York
Director: Harry Edwards
Production Company: Columbia Pictures
Trivia: The 71st of 190 Three Stooges short released by Columbia Pictures. It was the last film the Stooges made with director Harry Edwards due to his alcoholism and reputation as Columbia’s worst director.

1953

July 5 – Pack Train (USA)

Cast: Gene Autry, Champion, Gail Davis, Kenne Duncan, Sheila Ryan, Tom London, Smiley Burnette
Director: George Archainbaud
Production Company: Columbia Pictures

July 6 – Twice Upon a Time (UK)

Cast: Hugh Williams, Elizabeth Allan, Jack Hawkins, Yolande Larthe, Charmian Larthe, Violette Elvin, Isabel Dean, Michael Gough
Director: Emeric Pressburger
Production Company: London Films, British Lion Films
Trivia: Based on the 1949 novel Lisa and Lottie by Erich Kästner, which had previously been adapted into 1950’s Two Times Lotte and 1951’s Hibari no komoriuta. The story was later adapted into The Parent Trap. This was the only solo directing effort for Emeric Pressburger, who generally worked with Michael Powell.

July 8 – Canadian Mounties vs Atomic Invaders (USA, serial)

Cast: Bill Henry, Susan Morrow, Arthur Space, Dale Van Sickel, Pierre Watkin, Stanley Andrews, Edmund Cobb, Jean Wright, Fred Graham, Hank Patterson, Gayle Kellogg, Harry Lauter, Tom Steele
Director: Franklin Adreon
Production Company: Republic Pictures
Trivia: Sixty-second of sixty-six serials produced by Republic, and the cheapest of their 1953 serials and the most under-budget of all Republic serials. Despite the title, the film is not a science fiction story. Snowy footage was re-used from Republic’s 1938 feature Call of the Yukon, and serials King of the Royal Mounted and King of the Mounties.

July 8 – The Moon Is Blue (USA)

Otto Preminger Films

Cast: William Holden, David Niven, Maggie McNamara, Tom Tully, Dawn Addams, Fortunio Bonanova, Gregory Ratoff
Director: Otto Preminger
Production Company: Otto Preminger Films, distributed by United Artists
Trivia: Based on F. Hugh Herbert’s 1951 play of the same title. Otto Preminger produced simultaneous English and German versions with different casts. The German film was titled Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach. Hardy Krüger and Johanna Matz, the stars of the German version, appear as the young tourist couple waiting to use the coin-operated telescope at the top of the Empire State Building, cameo roles which William Holden and Maggie McNamara play in the German version. David Niven was cast over objections of the studio. Patty O’Neill appeared in Chicago and New York productions of the play, and this marks her first film credit.

July 10 – Column South (USA)

Cast: Audie Murphy, Joan Evans, Robert Sterling, Ray Collins, Dennis Weaver, Palmer Lee, Russell Johnson, Jack Kelly, Johnny Downs, Bob Steele, James Best, Ralph Moody Face, Rico Alaniz
Director: Frederick de Cordova
Production Company: Universal International Pictures, distributed by Universal Pictures
Trivia: The only western in movie history in which the Indians occupy a fort and are held under siege, surrounded by the US Cavalry. The film marks one of the earliest uses of the Wilhelm scream after its 1951 origin in Distant Drums.

July 10 – Return to Paradise (USA)

Cast: Gary Cooper, Barry Jones, Roberta Haynes, Moira MacDonald, John Hudson, Le Mamea Matatumua Ata, Hans Kruse, Terry Dunleavy
Director: Mark Robson
Production Company: Aspen Productions, distributed by United Artists
Trivia: Based on the short story ‘Mr. Morgan’ by James Michener in his 1951 short story collection Return to Paradise.

July 11 – The Charge at Feather River (USA)

Cast: Guy Madison, Frank Lovejoy, Helen Westcott, Vera Miles, Dick Wesson, Onslow Stevens, Steve Brodie, Ron Hagerthy, Fay Roope, Neville Brand
Director: Gordon Douglas
Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
Trivia: The film was the originator of the name ‘Wilhelm scream’ coined by Ben Burtt, the Star Wars sound designer who named the sound after a minor character in the film, Pvt. Wilhelm. The film was produced in 3D.

July 12 – Northern Patrol (USA)

Cast: Kirby Grant, Marian Carr, William Phipps, Claudia Drake, Dale Van Sickel, Gloria Talbott
Director: Rex Bailey
Production Company: Allied Artists Pictures
Trivia: Ninth in a series of ten films featuring Kirby Grant as a Canadian Mountie.

1963

July 5 – Lilies of the Field (West Germany)

Cast: Sidney Poitier, Lilia Skala, Lisa Mann, Isa Crino, Francesca Jarvis, Pamela Branch, Stanley Adams, Dan Frazer
Director: Ralph Nelson
Production Company: Rainbow Productions, distributed by United Artists
Trivia: Released in the US on October 1, 1963. Adapted from the 1962 novel of the same name by William Edmund Barrett. The film features an early score by Jerry Goldsmith. The film was adapted into the Broadway musical Look to the Lilies, which starred Shirley Booth. Received five Oscar nominations with Sidney Poitier winning Best Actor, the first Black actor to win for a leading role, and the second Black actor in history to win after Hattie McDaniel for Gone With the Wind. Selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2020. Jester Hairston appears in an uncredited role, wrote the gospel arrangements of ‘Amen’, and dubbed Poitier’s vocals.

July 6 – Blood Feast (USA)

Cast: Thomas Wood, Mal Arnold, Connie Mason, Lyn Bolton, Scott H. Hall, Toni Calvert, Ashlyn Martin
Director: Herschell Gordon Lewis
Production Company: Friedman-Lewis Productions, distributed by Box Office Spectaculars
Trivia: Considered the first ‘splatter film’.

July 8 – Cattle King (Japan)

Cast: Robert Taylor, Robert Loggia, Joan Caulfield, Robert Middleton, Larry Gates, Malcolm Atterbury, William Windom, Virginia Christine, Richard Devon, Ray Teal
Director: Tay Garnett
Production Company: Missouri Productions, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Trivia: Opened in the US on July 31, 1963.

1973

July 6 – Steptoe and Son Ride Again (UK)

Cast: Wilfrid Brambell, Harry H. Corbett, Diana Dors, Milo O’Shea, Bill Maynard, Neil McCarthy, Yootha Joyce, George Tovey, Olga Lowe, Sam Kydd
Director: Peter Sykes
Production Company: Associated London Films, distributed by Anglo–EMI
Trivia: Seven-year-old Dexter Fletcher’s film debut.

July 11 – Cahill U.S. Marshall (USA)

Cast: John Wayne, George Kennedy, Gary Grimes, Neville Brand, Clay O’Brien, Marie Windsor, Morgan Paull, Dan Vadis, Royal Dano, Scott Walker, Denver Pyle, Jackie Coogan, Harry Carey Jr.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Production Company: Batjac Productions, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Trivia: Neville Brand didn’t feel he was particularly suited for the role of half-Comanche scout Lightfoot but he took it anyway because he wasn’t getting any better offers. The film was originally to have been titled Wednesday Morning. The last of 17 John Wayne films in which Hank Worden appeared. The last of 26 films in which Paul Fix appeared with his long-time friend, John Wayne.

1983

No new films were released this week in 1983.

1993

July 7 – Rookie of the Year (USA)

Cast: Thomas Ian Nicholas, Gary Busey, Amy Morton, Patrick LaBrecque, Robert Hy Gorman, Bruce Altman, Dan Hedaya, Albert Hall, Eddie Bracken, Daniel Stern, Neil Flynn, Ian Gomez
Director: Daniel Stern
Production Company: 20th Century Fox
Trivia: Daniel Stern’s feature film directorial debut. John Candy appears in an uncredited role. Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, and Pedro Guerrero appear as themselves.

July 8 – The Cement Garden (Netherlands)

Cast: Andrew Robertson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alice Coulthard, Ned Birkin, Sinéad Cusack, Hanns Zischler, Jochen Horst
Director: Andrew Birkin
Production Company: British Broadcasting Corporation, Constantin Film, Laurentic Film Productions, Torii Production, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, distributed by Constantin Film (Germany), October Films (USA)
Trivia: Opened in the US on February 11, 1994. Based on the 1978 novel of the same name written by Ian McEwan. Andrew Birkin won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival.

July 9 – In the Line of Fire (USA)

Castle Rock Entertainment

Cast: Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich, Rene Russo, Dylan McDermott, Gary Cole, Fred Dalton Thompson, John Mahoney, Gregory Alan Williams, Tobin Bell, Clyde Kusatsu, Patrika Darbo, John Heard, Joshua Malina
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Production Company: Castle Rock Entertainment, Apple-Rose Productions, distributed by Columbia Pictures
Trivia: Robert De Niro turned down the role of Leary (John Malkovich) due to scheduling conflicts with A Bronx Tale. Malkovich went on to earn a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations, and the film earned Oscar and BAFTA noms for Original Screenplay and Film Editing.

July 9 – Weekend at Bernie’s II (USA)

Cast: Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, Terry Kiser, Barry Bostwick, Troy Byer, Novella Nelson, Tom Wright, Steve James, Gary Dourdan
Director: Robert Klane
Production Company: TriStar Pictures, Victor Drai Productions, Artimm, D&A Partnership, distributed by TriStar Pictures
Trivia: A third film was announced in 2016 but never got past the development stage, however the script is readily available online. Gary Dourdan’s first feature film. Troy Beyer was cast as Claudia after the original actress suffered a mental breakdown two weeks into filming.

2003

July 7 – Party Monster (Russia, limited)

Cast: Macaulay Culkin, Brendan O’Malley, Seth Green, Dillon Woolley, Chloë Sevigny, Natasha Lyonne, Wilmer Valderrama, Wilson Cruz, Diana Scarwid, Dylan McDermott, Marilyn Manson, Mia Kirshner, Justin Hagan, John Stamos, Daniel Franzese
Director: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato
Production Company: Killer Films, Fortissimo Film Sales, World of Wonder, distributed by Strand Releasing
Trivia: Received a limited US release beginning September 5, 2003. Amanda Lepore, Richie Rich, Armen Ra appear as themselves. Macaulay Culkin’s first film in nearly nine years. Based on Disco Bloodbath, the memoir of James St. James which details his friendship with Michael Alig. Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato had previously directed the documentary Party Monster: The Shockumentary.

July 9 – Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (USA/Canada)

Cast: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Jack Davenport, Kevin R. McNally, Zoe Saldana, Jonathan Pryce
Director: Gore Verbinski
Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Trivia: Based on Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disney theme parks, and the first film of the franchise. The first film released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner to be rated PG-13. Johnny Depp won a Screen Actors Guild award for his performance, and received Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. The film also scored four additional Oscar and BAFTA nominations. Jim Carrey was considered for the role of Jack Sparrow but the schedule conflicted with Bruce Almighty. Michael Keaton and Christopher Walken were also considered. The island of St. Vincent was used as a primary location because it had the quietest beach the producers could find. The film completed shooting in five months, just four months before the scheduled premiere, with Industrial Light and Magic going to work on special effects during that time. Gore Verbinski had to work 18-hour days on the edit while overseeing 600 effects shots, 250 of which were merely removing modern sailboats from shots. Disney execs added the film’s subtitle in case it was successful enough to spawn sequels, but Verbinski hated the new title as it was the Aztec gold that was cursed, not the ship, and requested that the title be unreadable on the poster.

July 11 – The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (USA)

20th Century Fox

Cast: Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng, Richard Roxburgh, David Hemmings
Director: Stephen Norrington
Production Company: Angry Films, International Production Company, JD Productions, distributed by 20th Century Fox
Trivia: The film was also promoted as LXG. Loosely based on the first volume of the comic book series of the same name by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill. Sean Connery’s final role in a theatrical film before his retirement in 2006. Connery had previously turned down the role of The Architect in The Matrix and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, which would have earned him $450 million, but he took the role of Quatermain for $17 million, which left producers little budget to fill out the cast with bigger names. The studio was unable to secure the rights to H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man, so the script referred to ‘An Invisible Man’ with a name change from Hawley Griffin to Rodney Skinner. The Fu Manchu character was dropped, and the Tom Sawyer character was added to appeal to American audiences and a youth demographic. A character named Eva Draper, played by Winter Ave Zoli, can be seen in some promotional materials but does not appear in the final cut of the film.

July 11 – Veronica Guerin (Ireland)

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Gerard McSorley, Ciarán Hinds, Brenda Fricker, Barry Barnes, Simon O’Driscoll, Don Wycherley, Alan Devine
Director: Joel Schumacher
Production Company: Touchstone Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Trivia: Opened in the US on October 17, 2003. The 2000 film When the Sky Falls tells the same story, but the names of the real-life characters were changed. Colin Farrell makes an appearance as a heavily tattooed young man Guerin briefly engages in conversation about a football match. Cate Blanchett received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance.

2013

July 5 – Absence (USA, limited)

Cast: Erin Way, Eric Matheny, Ryan Smale, Stephanie Scholz, Tamra Meskimen, David Paladino, Lee Burns, Linda Paice, Michael Angelo Covino, Don Moss
Director: Jimmy Loweree
Production Company: Radcliffe Pictures, distributed by Cinedigm Entertainment Group

July 5 – Hammer of the Gods (USA)

Cast: Charlie Bewley, Clive Standen, Michael Jibson, James Cosmo, Elliot Cowan, Guy Flanagan, Glynis Barber, Ivan Kaye, Alexandra Dowling, Finlay Robertson, Francis Magee
Director: Farren Blackburn
Production Company: Vertigo Films, distributed by Magnet Releasing
Trivia: The film premiered on the internet first on May 3, 2013. Clive Standen also played a Viking on the History Channel series Vikings. Alexandra Dowling’s film debut.

July 5 – Stuck In Love (USA, limited)

Cast: Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Connelly, Lily Collins, Logan Lerman, Nat Wolff, Kristen Bell, Liana Liberato, Spencer Breslin, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Rusty Joiner
Director: Josh Boone
Production Company: Informant Media, MICA Entertainment, distributed by Millennium Entertainment
Trivia: First opened in Israel on May 2, 2013. Josh Boone’s directorial debut. Stephen King provides his own voice. The film’s working title was Writers. Released in Australia and New Zealand as A Place for Me.

July 5 – The Look of Love (USA, limited)

Cast: Steve Coogan, Imogen Poots, Anna Friel, Tamsin Egerton, David Walliams, Chris Addison, Shirley Henderson, James Lance, Paul Popplewell
Director: Michael Winterbottom
Production Company: Revolution Films, Baby Cow Productions, Film4, Lipsync Productions, distributed by IFC Films
Trivia: First released in the UK on April 26, 2013. Debuted on the internet on July 7, 2013. The film’s original title was The King of Soho but had to be changed for legal reasons.

July 9 – Coffee Town (USA)

Cast: Glenn Howerton, Steve Little, Ben Schwartz, Adrianne Palicki, Josh Groban, Derek Waters, Josh Perry, Matt Riedy
Director: Brad Copeland
Production Company: The Wellspring, distributed by Filmbuff
Trivia: The first feature film from CollegeHumor. Taika Waititi appears uncredited as Cosmetology Instructor.

July 9 – Crazy Kind of Love (USA)

Cast: Virginia Madsen, Graham Rogers, Amanda Crew, Zach Gilford, Sam Trammell, Madeline Zima, Kristoffer Ryan Winters, Anthony LaPaglia, Aly Michalka, Lin Shaye, Christopher Atkins
Director: Sarah Siegel-Magness
Production Company: Smokewood Entertainment Group, distributed by Phase 4 Films
Trivia: Based on the 1995 novel Angel Angel by April Stevens. Working title was Long Time Gone. Meg Ryan was originally attached to the role played by Virginia Madsen. Directorial debut of Sarah Siegel-Magness, who had produced three previous films including 2009’s Precious.

July 11 – Igra v pravdu (Russia)