Walt Disney Pictures
There are a lot of movies celebrating anniversaries this week so we won’t take up too much time hinting about them. Of note this week — all of 1923’s films still survive today, and there are not one but two films starring Lindsay Lohan. This week also features the usual book, stage and comic book adaptations, a Laurel and Hardy film which lands them in an unusual predicament, Boris Karloff’s return to the UK, the start of the Frankie & Annette beach movies, Tom Cruise’s early signature role, George Lucas’ foray into animation and Harrison Ford on the run. Read about these films and more and tell us if your favorites are on the list!
1923
August 5 – The Spoilers (USA)
- Cast: Milton Sills, Anna Q. Nilsson, Barbara Bedford, Robert Edeson, Ford Sterling, Wallace MacDonald, Noah Beery Sr., Mitchell Lewis, John Elliott, Robert McKim, Rockliffe Fellowes
- Director: Lambert Hillyer
- Production Company: Jesse D. Hampton Productions, distributed by Goldwyn Pictures
- Trivia: Adapted from the 1906 Rex Beach novel of the same name, which was also adapted in 1914, 1930, 1942 and 1955. A print of The Spoilers is maintained in the film archives at Gosfilmofond in Moscow and the Centre National du Cinéma at Fort de Bois-d’Arcy.
August 6 – Ashes of Vengeance (USA)
- Cast: Norma Talmadge, Conway Tearle, Wallace Beery, Josephine Crowell, Betty Francisco, Claire McDowell, Courtenay Foote
- Director: Frank Lloyd
- Production Company: Norma Talmadge Film Corporation, distributed by Associated First National Pictures
- Trivia: A complete print of Ashes of Vengeance is maintained at the Library of Congress and a partial copy consisting of two reels is in the George Eastman Museum Motion Picture Collection.
August 6 – Bright Lights of Broadway (USA)
- Cast: Doris Kenyon, Harrison Ford, Edmund Breese, Claire de Lorez, Lowell Sherman, Charles Murray, Effie Shannon, Tyrone Power
- Director: Webster Campbell
- Production Company: B.F. Zeidman Productions, distributed by Principal Distributing
- Trivia: A print of Bright Lights of Broadway survives with the Library of Congress.
1933
August 2 – The Fighting Parson (USA)
- Cast: Hoot Gibson, Marceline Day, Skeeter Bill Robbins, Ethel Wales, Stanley Blystone, Robert Frazer, Charles King, Phil Dunham
- Director: Harry L. Fraser
- Production Company: M.H. Hoffman Productions, distributed by Allied Pictures
- Trivia: Marceline Day’s last movie.
August 3 – Her First Mate (USA)
- Cast: Slim Summerville, ZaSu Pitts, Una Merkel, Warren Hymer, Berton Churchill, George F. Marion, Henry Armetta
- Director: William Wyler
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
- Trivia: Adapted from the play written by Frank Craven, John Golden and Daniel Jarrett.
August 3 – The Midnight Patrol (USA, short)
- Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Harry Bernard, Billy Bletcher, Frank Brownlee, Edgar Dearing, Charlie Hall, Bob Kortman, James C. Morton
- Director: Lloyd French
- Production Company: Hal Roach Studios, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: Louise Beavers appeared in the role of a maid, but her scenes were deleted. One of only two Laurel & Hardy films where the boys end up deceased.
August 3 – You Made Me Love You (UK)
- Cast: Stanley Lupino, Thelma Todd, John Loder, Gerald Rawlinson, James Carew, Charles Mortimer, Hugh E. Wright
- Director: Monty Banks
- Production Company: British International Pictures, Elstree, distributed by Wardour Films (UK), Majestic Pictures (USA)
- Trivia: Released in the US on May 31, 1934. The plot is a modern reworking of William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.
August 4 – Before Dawn (USA)
- Cast: Stuart Erwin, Dorothy Wilson, Warner Oland, Dudley Digges, Gertrude Hoffman, Oscar Apfel, Frank Reicher, Jane Darwell
- Director: Irving Pichel
- Production Company: RKO Pictures
- Trivia: One of the few Warner Oland films from this period in which he does not play an Asian character.
August 4 – Shanghai Madness (USA)
- Cast: Spencer Tracy, Fay Wray, Ralph Morgan, Eugene Pallette, Herbert Mundin, Arthur Hoyt, Albert Conti, Maude Eburne
- Director: John G. Blystone
- Production Company: Fox Film Corporation
- Trivia: Elizabeth Allan was the original leading lady but she walked off the set and production was shut down until Fay Wray was hired to replace her.
August 4 – Tugboat Annie (USA)
- Cast: Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Robert Young, Maureen O’Sullivan, Willard Robertson, Tammany Young, Frankie Darro, Jack Pennick, Paul Hurst, Oscar Apfel
- Director: Mervyn LeRoy
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: The Tugboat Annie character first appeared in a series of stories in the Saturday Evening Post written by the author Norman Reilly Raine. Filmed on location in Seattle with locals acting as extras, including Mayor John F. Dore.
August 5 – Galloping Romeo (USA)
- Cast: Bob Steele, Doris Hill, George “Gabby” Hayes, Ed Brady, Frank Ball, Ernie Adams, Lafe McKee, Earl Dwire
- Director: Robert N. Bradbury
- Production Company: Trem Carr Pictures, distributed by Monogram Pictures
- Trivia: The film has fallen into the public domain.
August 5 – Notorious But Nice (USA)
- Cast: Marian Marsh, Betty Compson, Donald Dillaway, Rochelle Hudson, John St. Polis, J. Carrol Naish, Dewey Robinson
- Director: Richard Thorpe
- Production Company: Chesterfield Pictures
- Trivia: A copy of the film is preserved by the Library of Congress.
August 5 – The Big Brain (USA)
- Cast: Phillips Holmes, George E. Stone, Fay Wray, Minna Gombell, Lilian Bond, Reginald Owen, Berton Churchill
- Director: George Archainbaud
- Production Company: K.B.S. Productions Inc., distributed by RKO Pictures
- Trivia: This film is considered lost.
August 5 – Voltaire (USA)
- Cast: George Arliss, Doris Kenyon, Margaret Lindsay, Reginald Owen, Theodore Newton, Alan Mowbray, Gordon Westcott, Murray Kinnell, Doris Lloyd
- Director: John G. Adolfi
- Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: The film has not been released on DVD, but a print is preserved in the Library of Congress and it has been broadcast on TCM.
August 7 – The Ghoul (UK)
- Cast: Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke, Ernest Thesiger, Dorothy Hyson, Anthony Bushell, Kathleen Harrison, Harold Huth, D. A. Clarke-Smith, Ralph Richardson
- Director: T. Hayes Hunter
- Production Company: Gaumont British Picture Corporation, distributed by Woolf & Freedman Film Service (UK), Gaumont British Picture Corporation of America (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in the US on November 25, 1933. Ralph Richardson’s film debut. Loosely based on a 1928 novel by Frank King. During a contract dispute with Universal Pictures, this was the first film Boris Karloff had made in Great Britain in over two decades. The film was thought lost for decades until a murky, inaudible, subtitled print turned up in Czechoslovakia. That print, missing eight minutes of footage, was preserved by the Museum of Modern Art and Janus Film and received limited distribution. A complete negative in perfect condition was unearthed in a forgotten film vault at Shepperton Studios which the BFI took possession of and struck new prints. However, the Czech copy was released in the US on VHS, with the restored version released on DVD in 2003.
August 8 – Three-Cornered Moon (USA)
- Cast: Claudette Colbert, Richard Arlen, Mary Boland, Wallace Ford, Lyda Roberti, Tom Brown, Joan Marsh, Hardie Albright, William Bakewell, Sam Hardy
- Director: Elliott Nugent
- Production Company: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Based on a 1933 play by Gertrude Tonkonogy Friedberg.
1943
August 2 – Hi Diddle Diddle (USA)
- Cast: Adolphe Menjou, Martha Scott, Pola Negri, Dennis O’Keefe, Billie Burke, Walter Kingsford, Barton Hepburn, Georges Metaxa
- Director: Andrew L. Stone
- Production Company: Andrew L. Stone Productions, distributed by United Artists
- Trivia: The film was reissued as Diamonds and Crimes, and is now in the public domain. The film may also be known under the title Try and Find It.
August 2 – Young Ideas (USA)
- Cast: Susan Peters, Herbert Marshall, Mary Astor, Elliott Reid, Richard Carlson, Allyn Joslyn, Dorothy Morris, Frances Rafferty, George Dolenz, Emory Parnell
- Director: Jules Dassin
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: Bill Noble wrote the screenplay while a student at the University of Washington, and submitted it to MGM’s Junior Writing Program. The studio bought the script and had Ian McLellan Hunter do a polish. Noble was put on the studio payroll but this is his only produced screenplay.
August 3 – Six Gun Gospel (USA)
- Cast: Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Hatton, Inna Gest, Eddie Dew, Kenneth MacDonald, Edmund Cobb, Roy Barcroft, Bud Osborne, Isabel Withers, Mary MacLaren
- Director: Lambert Hillyer
- Production Company: Monogram Pictures
- Trivia: Third film in the ‘Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie’ series.
August 4 – The Man from Down Under (USA)
- Cast: Charles Laughton, Binnie Barnes, Richard Carlson, Donna Reed, Christopher Severn, Raymond Severn, Ernest Severn, Clyde Cook, Horace McNally , Arthur Shields
- Director: Robert Z. Leonard
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: Hollywood’s first feature film dealing with Australia and Australians. The film was originally intended as a vehicle for Wallace Beery. When Charles Laughton was cast, he insisted on Robert Z. Leonard as director as they had just worked together on Stand By For Action. Australian actor Clyde Cook played an Australian on screen for the first time. Laughton feared his role, resorting to using his own British accent, as he had never immersed himself in Australian culture and worried he would offend millions of Australian citizens. Unable to secure permission to use aerial stock footage of Sydney, a line had to be redubbed to Melbourne as the location where Laughton’s character was going to enlist as that was the only stock footage available.
August 5 – Heaven Can Wait (Canada)
- Cast: Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar, Spring Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Signe Hasso, Louis Calhern
- Director: Ernst Lubitsch
- Production Company: 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: Opened in wide release in the US on August 13, 1943 after a limited run that began on August 5. Based on the play Birthday by Leslie Bush-Fekete. Nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director and Color Cinematography. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2015.
August 5 – Let’s Face It (USA)
- Cast: Bob Hope, Betty Hutton, ZaSu Pitts, Phyllis Povah, Dave Willock, Eve Arden, Cully Richards, Marjorie Weaver, Dona Drake, Raymond Walburn
- Director: Sidney Lanfield
- Production Company: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Adapted from the musical of the same name.
August 6 – Bomber’s Moon (USA)
- Cast: George Montgomery, Annabella, Kent Taylor, Walter Kingsford, Martin Kosleck, Dennis Hoey, Robert Barrat, Leon Tyler, Lionel Royce, Victor Kilian
- Director: Charles Fuhr
- Production Company: 20th Century-Fox
- Trivia: Wartime propaganda film based on an unpublished magazine serial ‘Bomber’s Moon’ by Leonard Lee. Directors Edward Ludwig and Harold D. Schuster were both credited as Charles Fuhr. John Brahm also contributed uncredited, and Robert Florey directed the 2nd unit aerial sequences. Two other directors were also involved. George Montgomery enlisted in the Army Air Corps shortly after completing the film and did not appear in another film until 1946.
August 6 – Frontier Badmen (USA)
- Cast: Robert Paige, Anne Gwynne, Noah Beery Jr., Diana Barrymore, Leo Carillo, Andy Devine, Lon Chaney Jr., Thomas Gomez, Frank Lackteen, William Farnum
- Director: Ford Beebe
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
August 6 – That Nazty Nuisance (USA)
- Cast: Bobby Watson, Joe Devlin, Johnny Arthur, Frank Faylen, Emory Parnell, Jean Porter, Ian Keith, Henry Victor
- Director: Glenn Tryon
- Production Company: Hal Roach Studios, distributed by United Artists
- Trivia: Also known as The Last Three, and Double Crossed Fool is the international TV title. Sequel to The Devil with Hitler.
August 6 – The Law Rides Again (USA)
- Cast: Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, Jack La Rue, Betty Miles, Emmett Lynn, Kenneth Harlan, Chief Thundercloud
- Director: Alan James
- Production Company: Monogram Pictures
August 6 – The Lone Star Trail (USA)
- Cast: Johnny Mack Brown, Tex Ritter, Fuzzy Knight, Jennifer Holt, George Eldredge
- Director: Ray Taylor
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
- Trivia: Robert Mitchum appears in a small role billed a Bob Mitchum. The last of 29 B-Westerns Johnny Mack Brown starred in for Universal.
August 8 – Fighting Valley (USA)
- Cast: Dave O’Brien, James Newill, Guy Wilkerson, Patti McCarty, John Merton, Robert Bice, Stanley Price, Mary MacLaren, John Elliott, Charles King
- Director: Oliver Drake
- Production Company: Alexander-Stern Productions, distributed by Producers Releasing Corporation
- Trivia: Fifth of 22 ‘Texas Rangers’ films.
1953
August 3 – Arrowhead (USA)
- Cast: Charlton Heston, Jack Palance, Katy Jurado, Brian Keith, Mary Sinclair, Milburn Stone, Richard Shannon, Lewis Martin, Frank DeKova, Robert J. Wilke
- Director: Charles Marquis Warren
- Production Company: Nat Holt Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the novel Adobe Walls by W. R. Burnett.
August 3 – Cruisin’ Down the River (USA)
- Cast: Dick Haymes, Audrey Totter, Billy Daniels, Cecil Kellaway, Connie Russell, Douglas Fowley, Larry Blake, Johnny Downs
- Director: Richard Quine
- Production Company: Columbia Pictures Corporation
August 4 – The Man from the Alamo (Sweden)
- Cast: Glenn Ford, Julie Adams, Chill Wills, Hugh O’Brian, Victor Jory, Neville Brand, Jeanne Cooper, Guy Williams, Dennis Weaver
- Director: Budd Boetticher
- Production Company: Universal International Pictures, distributed by Universal Pictures
- Trivia: Opened in the US on August 21, 1953. Glenn Ford was thrown against a tree by a horse and suffered three broken ribs. Production was halted for about five weeks.
August 5 – Down Laredo Way (USA)
- Cast: Rex Allen, Koko, Slim Pickens, Dona Drake, Marjorie Lord, Roy Barcroft, Judy Nugent, Percy Helton, Clayton Moore, Zon Murray
- Director: William Witney
- Production Company: Republic Pictures
August 7 – Dangerous Crossing (USA)
- Cast: Jeanne Crain, Michael Rennie, Casey Adams, Carl Betz, Mary Anderson, Marjorie Hoshelle, Willis Bouchey
- Director: Joseph M. Newman
- Production Company: 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: Based on the 1943 radio play Cabin B-13 by John Dickson Carr, which had also been adapted for TV in 1948. The film began production with the title Ship Story. Casey Adams was a screen name sometimes used by Max Showalter. Corinne Calvert and Gary Merrill were the original leads, but the roles were reassigned to Fox contract players Jeanne Crain and Michael Rennie.
August 7 – Melba (USA)
- Cast: Patrice Munsel, Robert Morley, John McCallum, John Justin, Alec Clunes, Martita Hunt, Sybil Thorndike, Joseph Tomelty, Beatrice Varley, Theodore Bikel
- Director: Lewis Milestone
- Production Company: Horizon Pictures, distributed by United Artists
- Trivia: Film debut of the Metropolitan Opera’s Patrice Munsel. The film was based on the life of Australian-born soprano Nellie Melba. Munsel was looking forward to working with director Edmund Goulding, but issues arose with the producer and Goulding was fired, replaced by Lewis Milestone whom Munsel referred to as ‘more traffic cop than auteur’, disappointed that the story became a plotless love story built around opera sequences rather than a story of the ‘gutsy, difficult, strong-minded’ Melba.
August 7 – Spaceways (USA)
- Cast: Howard Duff, Eva Bartok, Alan Wheatley, Philip Leaver, Michael Medwin, Andrew Osborn, Cecile Chevreau, Anthony Ireland, Hugh Moxey, David Horne
- Director: Terence Fisher
- Production Company: Hammer Film Productions, distributed by Lippert Pictures
- Trivia: Based on a radio play by Charles Eric Maine. Some scenes of the spaceship taking off were taken from Lippert Pictures’ Rocketship XM.
August 7 – The Band Wagon (USA/Canada)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Cast: Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan, James Mitchell, Robert Gist
- Director: Vincente Minnelli
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, distributed by Loew’s, Inc.
- Trivia: Notable but uncredited cast members include Ava Gardner (as herself), Madge Blake, Henry Corden, Julie Newmar and Herb Vigran. The song ‘That’s Entertainment’ was written specifically for the film. The film earned three Oscar nominations: Best Costume Design – Color, Best Music, Best Writing. The characters Lester and Lily Marton were modeled by screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green on themselves. Selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1995.
August 8 – Bandits of the West (USA)
- Cast: Allan Lane, Black Jack, Eddy Waller, Cathy Downs, Roy Barcroft, Trevor Bardette, Ray Montgomery, Byron Foulger, Harry Harvey, Robert Bice, Lane Bradford
- Director: Harry Keller
- Production Company: Republic Pictures
August 8 – Bully for Bugs (USA, short)
- Voice Cast: Mel Blanc
- Director: Charles M. Jones
- Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Chuck Jones claims the cartoon was created after producer Eddie Selzer announced there was nothing funny about bullfighting and no cartoons about it were to be made. Jones felt Selzer was constantly proven wrong (he felt Pepe Le Pew wasn’t funny and then accepted an Oscar for For Scent-imental Reasons), so the only option was to make the cartoon. The sounds of the crowd and the bull are recorded from a genuine bullfighting crowd in Barcelona, Spain. The boulder to the face gag was reused from Rabbit Punch five years earlier.
1963
August 2 – Doctor in Distress (UK)
- Cast: Dirk Bogarde, James Robertson Justice, Samantha Eggar, Barbara Murray, Mylène Demongeot, Donald Houston, Jessie Evans, Ann Lynn, Leo McKern, Dennis Price
- Director: Ralph Thomas
- Production Company: The Rank Organisation, Betty E. Box-Ralph Thomas Productions, distributed by Rank Film Distributors (UK), Governor Films (US)
- Trivia: Released in the US on July 7, 1964. Fifth of seven films in the Doctor series. After skipping the fourth film, Dirk Bogarde returned for the last time as Simon Sparrow. The film uses characters from Richard Gordon’s Doctor novels, but is not based on any of them.
August 7 – Beach Party (USA)
- Cast: Bob Cummings, Dorothy Malone, Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Morey Amsterdam, Harvey Lembeck, Eva Six, John Ashley, Jody McCrea, Dick Dale, The Del Tones, Meredith MacRae, Vincent Price
- Director: William Asher
- Production Company: Alta Vista Productions, distributed by American International Pictures
- Trivia: The film is credited with creating the beach party genre. Yvette Vickers appears in an uncredited role. Annette Funicello was always the first choice for the female lead but there was concern as she was under contract to Disney at the time. Walt Disney had to approve the material and was concerned about AIP’s reputation. Disney eventually declared the script to be ‘good clean fun’ and gave his blessing … as long as she didn’t expose her navel. Fabian was sought for the male lead but was under contract to Fox so Frankie Avalon got the part. The film was shot over a period of three weeks. In one of the first instances of cross-promotion, AIP cast Vincent Price to hype Haunted Palace which was released just a few weeks after Beach Party.
August 7 – Dr. Crippen (UK)
- Cast: Donald Pleasence, Coral Browne, Samantha Eggar, Donald Wolfit, James Robertson Justice, John Arnatt, Oliver Johnston, Geoffrey Toone, Edward Underdown
- Director: Robert Lynn
- Production Company: Torchlight Productions, distributed by Warner-Pathé Distributors (UK), Warner Bros. Pictures (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in the US on February 14, 1964. The film’s plot concerns the real-life Edwardian doctor Hawley Harvey Crippen, who was hanged in 1910 for the murder of his wife. The cinematography was by Nicolas Roeg.
August 7 – For Love or Money (USA)
- Cast: Kirk Douglas, Mitzi Gaynor, Thelma Ritter, Gig Young, Julie Newmar, William Bendix, Leslie Parrish, Dick Sargent, Elizabeth MacRae, William Windom, Willard Sage, Billy Halop
- Director: Michael Gordon
- Production Company: Atlantic Films, distributed by Universal-International
- Trivia: The last film Mitzi Gaynor made before retiring. Kirk Douglas’ first foray into the romantic comedy genre.
August 7 – Gidget Goes to Rome (USA)
- Cast: Cindy Carol, Don Porter, Jean ‘Jeff’ Donnell, James Darren, Jessie Royce Landis, Cesare Danova, Danielle De Metz, Joby Baker, Trudi Ames, Noreen Corcoran
- Director: Paul Wendkos
- Production Company: Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: Third of three Gidget films directed by Paul Wendkos. Shot on location in Rome, Italy, with some scenes filmed on Italian beaches. Original Gidget star Deborah Walley was pregnant at the time of production and was replaced with Cindy Carol.
1973
August 3 – A Name for Evil (USA)
- Cast: Samantha Eggar, Robert Culp, Sheila Sullivan, Mike Lane, Sue Hathaway, Ted Greenhalgh
- Director: Bernard Girard
- Production Company: Penthouse, distributed by Cinerama Releasing Corporation
- Trivia: The film was in production by MGM in 1970 as a psychological thriller but as the budget ballooned the studio shelved the project. The film was acquired three years later by Penthouse magazine’s film division and re-cut as a horror film.
August 8 – Heavy Traffic (USA)
- Cast: Joseph Kaufmann, Beverly Hope Atkinson, Frank de Kova, Terri Haven, Mary Dean Lauria, Charles Gordone, Jim Bates, Jacqueline Mills, Lillian Adams, Peter Hobbs, Candy Candido
- Director: Ralph Bakshi
- Production Company: Steve Krantz Productions, distributed by American International Pictures
- Trivia: The film combines live action and animation. Despite attempts to secure an R-rating, the film was still given an X by the MPAA. The film was developed before Fritz the Cat, but Ralph Bakshi was told no studio would fund the film because of his inexperience. Following the success of Fritz, Bakshi was allowed to produce Heavy Traffic as he intended, focusing more on human characters rather than anthropomorphic animals.
August 8 – The Stone Killer (USA/Canada)
- Cast: Charles Bronson, Martin Balsam, David Sheiner, Norman Fell, Ralph Waite, Paul Koslo, Stuart Margolin, Jack Colvin, John Ritter
- Director: Michael Winner
- Production Company: Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica, Produzioni Cinematografiche Inter. Ma. Co., Rizzoli Film, distributed by Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the 1969 novel A Complete State of Death by John Gardner writing under the name Derek Torry. Norman Fell and John Ritter play cops in the film, not long before the both appeared on Three’s Company. The cars used in the parking garage shootout were rentals from Hertz, which was so concerned about damage they sent a rep to reclaim them. Director Michael Winner told the rep, ‘You should be glad we’re crashing your (expletive) awful cars. You’ll be able to write them off completely and get nice new ones.’
August 8 – White Lightning (USA)
- Cast: Burt Reynolds, Jennifer Billingsley, Ned Beatty, Bo Hopkins, Matt Clark, Louise Latham, Diane Ladd, R. G. Armstrong, Conlan Carter, Dabbs Greer
- Director: Joseph Sargent
- Production Company: Levy-Gardner-Laven, distributed by United Artists
- Trivia: Laura Dern appears in an uncredited role in her film debut. The film’s original title was McKlusky. Steven Spielberg was almost the film’s director, exiting after nearly three months of pre-production then realizing it was not something he wanted to do as a first film after three TV movies. He decided to do Sugarland Express, which he felt was more challenging. Quentin Tarantino used some of Charles Bernstein’s score in Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Inglorious Basterds.
1983
August 4 – Heat and Dust (AUS)
- Cast: Greta Scacchi, Shashi Kapoor, Julie Christie, Christopher Cazenove, Nickolas Grace, Zakir Hussain, Julian Glover, Susan Fleetwood, Patrick Godfrey, Jennifer Kendal
- Director: James Ivory
- Production Company: Merchant Ivory Productions, distributed by Curzon Film Distributors (UK), Universal Classics (USA)
- Trivia: Originally opened in the UK in January 1983. Released in the US on September 15, 1983. Based on Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s 1975 novel of the same name. Nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival, and eight BAFTA nominations including Best Film, winning Jhabvala Best Adapted Screenplay.
August 5 – Daffy Duck’s Movie: Fantastic Island (USA)
- Voice Cast: Mel Blanc, June Foray, Les Tremayne
- Director: Friz Freleng, Phil Monroe
- Production Company: Warner Bros. Animation, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: The film is a compilation of classic Warner Brothers cartoons, and was the first Looney Tunes compilation to focus on Daffy Duck. The film is dedicated to animator John Dunn, who died of heart failure six months before the film’s release.
August 5 – Get Crazy (USA)
- Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Allen Goorwitz, Daniel Stern, Gail Edwards, Miles Chapin, Ed Begley Jr., Stacey Nelkin, Bill Henderson, Lou Reed, Lee Ving, Bobby Sherman, Fabian Forte, Franklyn Ajaye, Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, Clint Howard, Linnea Quigley, Jackie Joseph, Dick Miller
- Director: Allan Arkush
- Production Company: D & P Productions, distributed by Embassy Pictures
- Trivia: Allen Goorwitz was a psuedonym used by Allen Garfield. Concert scenes, as well as exterior shots of the marquee, were filmed at the historic Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, California. All the actors performed their own vocals, and Malcolm McDowall specifically requested to sing as part of his contract.
August 5 – Risky Business (USA)
The Geffen Film Company
- Cast: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Joe Pantoliano, Nicholas Pryor, Janet Carroll, Richard Masur, Curtis Armstrong, Bronson Pinchot, Raphael Sbarge, Anne Lockhart
- Director: Paul Brickman
- Production Company: The Geffen Film Company, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Paul Brickman’s directorial debut. Sean Penn, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, John Cusack and Tom Hanks all auditioned for the role of Joel Goodsen. Michelle Pfeiffer was offered the role of Lana, but turned it down.
August 5 – The Star Chamber (USA)
- Cast: Michael Douglas, Hal Holbrook, Yaphet Kotto, Sharon Gless, James Sikking, Joe Regalbuto, Don Calfa, David Faustino, Larry Hankin, Dick Anthony Williams
- Director: Peter Hyams
- Production Company: Frank Yablans Presentations, distributed by 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: The film’s title is taken from a controversial English law court called the ‘Star Chamber’ which was founded in 1487 by King Henry VII. The film was intended to be Fox’s big summer film but was pulled after two weeks due to poor box office and replaced with Mr. Mom, a film the studio had no faith in which went on to become a hit. First major film for Sharon Gless.
August 5 – Twice Upon a Time (USA)
- Voice Cast: Lorenzo Music, Julie Payne, Marshall Efron, Hamilton Camp, James Cranna, Paul Frees, Judith Kahan Kampmann
- Director: John Korty, Charles Swenson
- Production Company: Korty Films, Lucasfilm, distributed by The Ladd Company
- Trivia: First animated film produced by George Lucas.
1993
August 4 – Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives (USA, documentary)
- Cast: Stephanie Morgenstern, Lynne Adams, Marie-Jo Thério, George Thomas, Lory Wainberg, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Michael Copeland
- Director: Lynne Fernie, Aerlyn Weissman
- Production Company: National Film Board of Canada, Studio D, distributed by Women Make Movies
- Trivia: Winner of the Genie Award for Best Feature Length Documentary and in 1994 it won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film (Documentary).
August 6 – Cyborg Cop (South Africa)
- Cast: David Bradley, Todd Jensen, John Rhys-Davies, Alonna Shaw, Ron Smerczak
- Director: Sam Firstenberg
- Production Company: Millennium Films
- Trivia: Made its premiere in the US on home video on February 9, 1994. Released in the Philippines as Universal Warrior 2.
August 6 – My Boyfriend’s Back (USA)
- Cast: Andrew Lowery, Traci Lind, Danny Zorn, Edward Herrmann, Mary Beth Hurt, Jay O. Sanders, Libby Villari, Matthew Fox, Philip Hoffman, Paul Dooley, Austin Pendleton, Bob Dishy, Cloris Leachman, Paxton Whitehead, Matthew McConaughey
- Director: Bob Balaban
- Production Company: Touchstone Pictures, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
- Trivia: The credited actor Philip Hoffman is in fact Philip Seymour Hoffman. Renée Zellweger filmed a scene for the movie which was cut in the final edit. First film roles for Matthew Fox and Matthew McConaughey. The film’s title is an allusion to the 1963 song of the same name by The Angels, which is used in the film’s trailer but not in the film itself. The original title was Johnny Zombie.
August 6 – Naked (Norway)
- Cast: David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, Katrin Cartlidge, Greg Cruttwell, Claire Skinner, Peter Wight
- Director: Mike Leigh
- Production Company: Thin Man Films, British Screen Productions, Channel Four Films, distributed by Norsk Filmdistribusjon (Norway), First Independent Films (UK), Fine Line Features (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in the UK on November 5, 1993, and in wide US release on February 4, 1994 after a limited release on December 15, 1993 for awards consideration. The scenes between Johnny and Brian the security guard came from an eight-hour improvisation. The uncut shot of Johnny and Brian in silhouette, where Johnny expounds on his convoluted apocalyptic conspiracy theory, had 26 takes, but Leigh ended up using one of the earliest.
August 6 – The Fugitive (USA/Canada)
- Cast: Harrison For, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela Ward, Joe Pantoliano, Andreas Katsulas, Jeroen Krabbé, Daniel Roebuck, Tom Wood, L. Scott Caldwell, Johnny Lee Davenport, Julianne Moore, Jane Lynch, Nick Searcy, Neil Flynn, Richard Riehle, Lester Holt
- Director: Andrew Davis
- Production Company: Kopelson Entertainment, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the 1960s television series of the same name created by Roy Huggins. Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, winning Best Supporting Actor for Tommy Lee Jones. Jones reprised his role in the spin-off movie U.S. Marshals. Actors including including Alec Baldwin, Nick Nolte, Kevin Costner and Michael Douglas were original choices for the lead role. Nolte felt he was too old, though he’s just a year older than Harrison Ford. Ford took the role to play a character unlike him and so he could grow a beard. WB chairman Robert Daly forbid the beard saying he paid to see Ford’s face. Gene Hackman and Jon Voight were also up for the Jones role. Richard Jordan was cast as Dr. Charles Nichols but was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had to drop out, replaced with Jeroen Krabbé. Jordan died three weeks after the film’s release. The train crash scene cost $1 million, and was shot in a single take using a real train with a locomotive whose engine had been removed. The wreckage can still be seen from the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad excursion trains. The chase scene during the St. Patrick’s Day parade was filmed during the actual parade in Chicago. Michael Apted was filming Blink during the same parade. Much of the film was rewritten throughout production, with actors often assembling and creating new dialogue. Jane Lynch has recalled crafting new dialogue with Ford for their scene before filming because Ford didn’t like the way it was written.
August 6 – The Meteor Man (USA)
- Cast: Robert Townsend, Marla Gibbs, Eddie Griffin, Robert Guillaume, James Earl Jones, Bill Cosby, Another Bad Creation
- Director: Robert Townsend
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Tinsel Townsend Studios, distributed by MGM/UA Distribution Co.
- Trivia: One of the earliest films to feature an African-American superhero. Though set in Washington DC, the film was shot in Baltimore.
2003
August 6 – Freaky Friday (USA/Canada)
- Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Ryan Malgarini, Harold Gould, Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, Stephen Tobolowsky, Julie Gonzalo, Willie Garson
- Director: Mark Waters
- Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures, Gunn Films, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
- Trivia: Based on Mary Rodgers’s 1972 novel of the same name, it is the third adaptation of the same story, which served as a reboot and fifth installment overall in the Freaky Friday franchise. Jamie Lee Curtis earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. Lindsay Lohan’s character was written as a goth, but she didn’t feel people would relate and chose a preppy look. The character ended up rewritten as a grunge, alt-rock teen. Lohan trained for a year to play the guitar, but her and Curtis’ guitar parts were overdubbed by professional musicians. Jodie Foster, who starred in the original was approached to play the mother, but she felt the stunt casting would detract from other elements of the film. Curtis got the role at the last minute after Annette Bening dropped out four days before filming began. Kelly Osbourne was cast as Maddie but withdrew when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. She was replaced with Christina Vidal. Tom Selleck was cast as Ryan but dropped out when Bening dropped out. Marc McClure, who appears in the original, has a cameo.
August 8 – Baby (Denmark)
- Cast: Alice Dwyer, Lars Rudolph, Filip Peeters, Christian Grashof, Hamid Bundu, Irina Platon, Mischa Hulshof, Fedja van Huêt
- Director: Philipp Stölzl
- Production Company: ARTE, DoRo Fiction Film GmbH, Gemini Film, IDTV Film, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Twin Film GmbH, distributed by Advanced
- Trivia: Philipp Stölzl’s feature debut.
August 8 – S.W.A.T. (USA/Canada)
- Cast: Colin Farrell, Jeremy Renner, Brian Van Holt, Samuel L. Jackson, Michelle Rodriguez, LL Cool J, Olivier Martinez, Josh Charles, Ken Davitian, Reg E. Cathey, Larry Poindexter
- Director: Clark Johnson
- Production Company: Columbia Pictures, Original Film, distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
- Trivia: Based on the 1975 television series of the same name. Mark Wahlberg turned down the film for The Italian Job. Paul Walker was cast but had to drop out for 2 Fast 2 Furious. Vin Diesel had to pass on a role as he was involved with The Chronicles of Riddick. Jeremy Renner turned down a role in The Big Bounce for this film.
2013
August 2 – 2 Guns (USA/Canada)
- Cast: Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton, Bill Paxton, James Marsden, Fred Ward, Edward James Olmos, Robert John Burke, Patrick Fischler
- Director: Baltasar Kormákur
- Production Company: Marc Platt Productions, Oasis Ventures Entertainment, Envision Entertainment, Herrick Entertainment, Boom! Studios, distributed by Universal Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the comic book series of the same name created by Steven Grant and Mateus Santolouco, published in 2007 by Boom! Studios.
August 2 – Drift (USA, limited)
- Cast: Xavier Samuel, Myles Pollard, Sam Worthington, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Robyn Malcolm
- Director: Morgan O’Neill, Ben Nott
- Production Company: World Wide Mind, distributed by Wrekin Hill Entertainment
- Trivia: Originally opened in Australia on May 2, 2013. Debuted in the US first as a VOD release on July 2. Inspired by actual events related to the birth of the Australian surf industry in the 1970s.
August 2 – Europa Report (USA, limited)
- Cast: Anamaria Marinca, Michael Nyqvist, Karolina Wydra, Daniel Wu, Sharlto Copley, Christian Camargo, Embeth Davidtz, Dan Fogler, Isiah Whitlock, Jr.
- Director: Sebastián Cordero
- Production Company: Start Motion Pictures, Wayfare Entertainment Ventures LLC, distributed by Magnet Releasing
- Trivia: Filming took place in Brooklyn, New York.
August 2 – Our Children (USA, limited)
- Cast: Émilie Dequenne, Niels Arestrup, Tahar Rahim, Stéphane Bissot, Mounia Raoui, Redouane Behache, Baya Belal, Nathalie Boutefeu, Claire Bodson
- Director: Joachim Lafosse
- Production Company: Versus Production, Samsa Film, Les Films du Worso, Box Productions, Prime Time, BNP Paribas Fortis Film Finance, Radio Télévision Belge Francophone, Radio Télévision Suisse, SRG – SSR, VOO, Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds, Belgacom, Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Fédéral Belge, Inver Invest, Fonds National de Soutien à la Production Audiovisuelle du Luxembourg, Eurimages, Canal+, Ciné+, Les Films du Losange, Arte / Cofinova 6, Office Fédéral de la Culture, Fonds Regio Films, Loterie Suisse Romande, Filmcoopi Zürich, MEDIA Programme of the European Union, Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Versus Production, distributed by Distrib Films
- Trivia: Originally opened in Belgium as À perdre la raison on May 30, 2012. Based on a real-life incident involving a woman (Geneviève Lhermitte) who killed her five children. The film competed at the Cannes Film Festival under the title Loving Without Reason.
August 2 – The Artist and the Model (USA)
- Cast: Jean Rochefort, Aida Folch, Claudia Cardinale, Götz Otto, Chus Lampreave
- Director: Fernando Trueba
- Production Company: Fernando Trueba Producciones Cinematográficas, Televisión Española, Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales, Instituto de Crédito Oficial, Audiovisual Aval SGR, distributed by Cohen Media Group
- Trivia: First opened in Spain as El artista y la modelo on September 28, 2012. Nominated for 13 Goya Awards including Best Film and Director.
August 2 – The Canyons (USA/Canada)
- Cast: Lindsay Lohan, James Deen, Nolan Funk, Amanda Brooks, Tenille Houston, Gus Van Sant, Chris Zeischegg
- Director: Paul Schrader
- Production Company: Post Empire Films, Sodium Fox, Prettybird Pictures, distributed by IFC Films
- Trivia: Also released online in the US on August 2. Many of the actors were cast through the Let It Cast website.
August 6 – Liars All (USA, limited)
- Cast: Matt Lanter, Sara Paxton, Gillian Zinser, Randy Wayne, Darin Brooks, Alice Evans, Torrance Coombs, Tiffany Mulheron, Stephanie McIntosh, Henry Hereford
- Director: Brian Brightly
- Production Company: Cinema Management Group, Indie Entertainment, Morning Coffee Productions, Mott Street Pictures, Preferred Content, distributed by Phase 4 Films
August 7 – Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (UK)
- Cast: Steve Coogan, Colm Meaney, Felicity Montagu, Simon Greenall, Phil Cornwell, Sean Pertwee, Anna Maxwell Martin, Darren Boyd, Nigel Lindsay, Karl Theobald
- Director: Declan Lowney
- Production Company: Baby Cow Productions, distributed by StudioCanal (UK), Magnolia Pictures (USA)
- Trivia: Released in the US online as simply Alan Partridge on February 27, 2014. Alan Partridge was created for the 1991 BBC Radio 4 comedy programme On The Hour, a spoof of British current affairs broadcasting.
August 7 – Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (USA/Canada/UK)
- Cast: Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Alisha Newton, Douglas Smith, Leven Rambin, Brandon T. Jackson, Jake Abel, Paloma Kwiatkowski, Grey Damon, Stanley Tucci, Nathan Fillion, Octavia Spence, Craig Robinson, Robert Knepper, Anthony Head, Ron Perlman, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Missi Pyle, Yvette Nicole Brown, Mary Birdsong, Derek Mears
- Director: Thor Freudenthal
- Production Company: Fox 2000 Pictures, TSG Entertainment, Sunswept Entertainment, 1492 Pictures, distributed by 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: Also known as Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters and Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters. Based on the 2006 novel The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan. The film is a sequel to Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. A third film was planned but never produced.
August 7 – We’re the Millers (USA/Canada)
New Line Cinema
- Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Will Poulter, Emma Roberts, Ed Helms, Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, Molly Quinn, Luis Guzmán, Thomas Lennon, Ken Marino, Scott Adsit
- Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
- Production Company: New Line Cinema, Newman/Tooley Films, BAD VERSION Productions, Slap Happy Productions, Heyday Films, Benderspink, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Steve Buscemi, Will Arnett, and Jason Bateman were all attached at one point to play David Clark. Will Poulter won the BAFTA Rising Star Award for his performance. A sequel, We’re Still the Millers, was announced but scrapped.
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