Lakeshore Entertainment
There were quite a few films released this week over the past century, but you’d be hard-pressed to find many that are all that memorable. There are just as many Razzie nominees this week as there are Oscar nominees. Of the more notable titles is a 1933 Frank Capra film based on a Damon Runyon story that Capra remade in 1961 and is probably more well-known. One 1933 film features small roles by two of the Three Stooges. This week has films featuring Charlie Chan and Sherlock Holmes, a breakthrough performance from Julie Christie, a film so foggy you can’t see the actors, a film that even its star didn’t like, the debut of Deathstalker, the teaming of Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts, two films in their respective franchises that ended up not being chronological in their stories, and an ill-fated attempt to tell the story of a beloved royal. Read on to learn more and tell us if you remember any of these films!
1923
September 15 – Forgive and Forget (USA)
- Cast: Estelle Taylor, Pauline Garon, Philo McCullough, Josef Swickard, Wyndham Standing, Raymond McKee, Vernon Steele, Lionel Belmore
- Director: Howard M. Mitchell
- Production Company: Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: A print of the film with one reel missing is located in the George Eastman Museum Motion Picture Collection.
September 15 – Scaramouche (USA)
- Cast: Lloyd Ingraham, Alice Terry, Ramon Novarro, Lewis Stone, Julia Swayne Gordon, William Humphrey, Otto Matieson, George Siegmann
- Director: Rex Ingram
- Production Company: Metro Pictures Corporation
- Trivia: Based on the 1921 novel Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini. The film required extensive outdoor sets built both on the Metro lot and at a site in the San Fernando Valley, and used 1,500 extras. One sequence was funded by and filmed in Technicolor, but proved unsatisfactory and was discarded. The film exists and has fallen into the public domain, although it has been released on DVD by the Warner Archive Collection.
September 15 – The Daring Years (USA)
- Cast: Mildred Harris, Charles Emmett Mack, Clara Bow, Mary Carr, Joe King, Tyrone Power, Sr., Richard “Skeets” Gallagher, Jack Richardson, Joseph Depew, Helen Rowland, Sam Sidman
- Director: Kenneth Webb
- Production Company: Daniel Carson Goodman, distributed by Equity Pictures Corporation
- Trivia: The film is presumed lost.
September 16 – The Fair Cheat (USA)
- Cast: Edmund Breese, Wilfred Lytell, Dorothy Mackaill, Marie White, William Robyns, Bradley Barker
- Director: Burton L. King
- Production Company: Robertson-Cole Pictures Corporation, distributed by Film Booking Offices of America
- Trivia: The film is considered lost.
September 16 – The Silent Partner (USA)
- Cast: Leatrice Joy, Owen Moore, Robert Edeson, Robert Schable, Patterson Dial, E. H. Calvert, Maude Wayne, Bess Flowers, Laura Anson, Bert Woodruff, R. Henry Grey
- Director: Charles Maigne
- Production Company: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Based on a series of articles from the Saturday Evening Post by Maximilian Foster. A remake of the 1917 film of the same name. The film is presumed lost.
September 17 – A Chapter in Her Life (USA)
- Cast: Claude Gillingwater, Jane Mercer, Jacqueline Gadsden, Frances Raymond, Robert Frazer, Eva Thatcher, Ralph Yearsley, Fred Thomson
- Director: Lois Weber
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the novel Jewel: A Chapter in Her Life by Clara Louise Burnham, which had previously been adapted for the 1915 film Jewel. Prints of the film are held by the Cineteca Del Friuli, George Eastman House, Library of Congress and BFI National Film and Television Archive.
September 17 – Rouged Lips (USA)
- Cast: Viola Dana, Tom Moore, Nola Luxford, Sidney De Gray, Arline Pretty, Francis Powers
- Director: Harold M. Shaw
- Production Company: Metro Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the story ‘Upstage’ by Rita Weiman which appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine. A print of the film is reportedly held in a foreign film collection.
September 17 – Where Is This West? (USA)
- Cast: Jack Hoxie, Mary Philbin, Bob McKenzie, Sid Jordan, Slim Cole, Joseph Girard, Bernard Siegel
- Director: George Marshall
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
September 19 – A Wife’s Romance (USA)
- Cast: Clara Kimball Young, Lewis Dayton, Alan Roscoe, Lillian Adrian, Wedgwood Nowell
- Director: Thomas N. Heffron
- Production Company: Harry Garson Productions, distributed by Metro Pictures
- Trivia: Final film of director Thomas N. Heffron.
September 19 – Chu-Chin-Chow (UK)
- Cast: Betty Blythe, Herbert Langley, Randle Ayrton, Eva Moore, Judd Green, Olaf Hytten, Jeff Barlow, Jameson Thomas
- Director: Herbert Wilcox
- Production Company: Graham-Wilcox Productions, distributed by Graham-Wilcox Productions (UK), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (US)
- Trivia: Opened in the US on February 10, 1925. Based on the extraordinarily successful stage musical Chu Chin Chow by Oscar Asche, with music by Frederic Norton, that ran in London from 1916 to 1921. The film experimented with synchronized sound, but the process could only be enjoyed at specially equipped theaters. The US release was drastically cut by nearly half, ruining the story continuity.
1933
September 13 – Lady for a Day (USA)
- Cast: May Robson, Warren William, Guy Kibbee, Glenda Farrell, Ned Sparks, Jean Parker, Barry Norton, Walter Connolly, Nat Pendleton
- Director: Frank Capra
- Production Company: Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the 1929 short story ‘Madame La Gimp’ by Damon Runyon. Frank Capra received his first Best Director Oscar nomination for this film. The first film from Columbia Pictures to be nominated for Best Picture. Capra also directed the 1961 remake, A Pocketful of Miracles. Capra had a wish list of actors for major roles — Robert Montgomery, James Cagney, William Powell, Marie Dressler, W.C. Fields — but was unable to cast them as their various studios refused to loan them out. Capra had to use a cast of Columbia contract players in the end. Capra came to believe that the relatively unknown cast helped audiences accept them as the down-on-their-luck characters they were meant to be. The film’s original title Madame La Gimp was changed to Beggar’s Holiday and changed again before the Radio City Music Hall premiere. The original film negative was lost in the 1950s during a transfer from one lab to another. Capra owned a 35mm print from which he had a negative made and donated a new print to the Library of Congress.
September 13 – Leave It to Smith (UK)
- Cast: Tom Walls, Carol Goodner, Anne Grey, Allan Aynesworth, Eva Moore, Reginald Gardiner, Veronica Rose, Hartley Power, Basil Radford, Peter Gawthorne, Leslie Perrins
- Director: Tom Walls
- 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 April 21, 1934. Also known as Just Smith. Based on a play by Frederick Lonsdale.
September 15 – A Man of Sentiment (USA)
- Cast: Marian Marsh, Owen Moore, Christian Rub, William Bakewell, Emma Dunn, Edmund Breese, Geneva Mitchell, Pat O’Malley, Syd Saylor, Lucille Ward
- Director: Richard Thorpe
- Production Company: Chesterfield Pictures
September 15 – Berkeley Square (USA)
- Cast: Leslie Howard, Heather Angel, Valerie Taylor, Irene Browne, Beryl Mercer, Colin Keith-Johnston, Alan Mowbray, Juliette Compton, Betty Lawford, Ferdinand Gottschalk
- Director: Frank Lloyd
- Production Company: Fox Film Corporation
- Trivia: Based on the play of the same name by John L. Balderston, which was based on the unfinished 1917 Henry James novel The Sense of the Past. The film was thought lost until the 1970s. Leslie Howard received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his work.
September 15 – Broadway to Hollywood (USA)
- Cast: Alice Brady, Frank Morgan, Jackie Cooper, Russell Hardie, Madge Evans, Mickey Rooney, Eddie Quillan, Jimmy Durante, May Robson, Albertina Rasch Dancers, Fay Templeton
- Director: Willard Mack
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Trivia: Features an almost unrecognizable Moe and Curly Howard, without Larry Fine, as clowns Otto and Fritz. Nelson Eddy’s first film. The original release featured color sequences from the unfinished musical The March of Time, but current prints of the film shown on TCM have no color sequences.
September 15 – Charlie Chan’s Greatest Case (USA)
- Cast: Warner Oland, Heather Angel, Roger Imhof, John Warburton, Walter Byron, Ivan F. Simpson, Virginia Cherrill, Francis Ford, Robert Warwick, Frank McGlynn Sr., Clara Blandick
- Director: Hamilton MacFadden
- Production Company: Fox Film Corporation
- Trivia: Based on the Earl Derr Biggers novel The House Without a Key. One of three Warner Oland Charlie Chan films that is considered lost.
September 15 – My Lips Betray (France)
- Cast: Lilian Harvey, John Boles, El Brendel, Irene Browne, Maude Eburne, Henry Stephenson, Herman Bing, Frank Atkinson
- Director: John G. Blystone
- Production Company: Fox Film Corporation, distributed by Fox Films (France), Fox Film Corporation (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in the US on November 4, 1933. A restored version of the film was shown at the 2019 UCLA Festival of Preservation.
September 15 – To the Last Man (USA)
- Cast: Randolph Scott, Esther Ralston, Noah Beery Sr., Jack La Rue’ Buster Crabbe, Barton MacLane, Gail Patrick, Muriel Kirkland, Egon Brecher, Fuzzy Knight
- Director: Henry Hathaway
- Production Company: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the 1921 novel by Zane Grey. A silent version was made in 1923. Noah Beery Sr. played the same role in both versions. Shown on television as Law of Vengeance.
September 16 – Bureau of Missing Persons (USA)
- Cast: Bette Davis, Lewis Stone, Pat O’Brien, Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, Ruth Donnelly, Hugh Herbert, Alan Dinehart, Marjorie Gateson, George Chandler, Adrian Morris
- Director: Roy Del Ruth
- Production Company: First National Pictures, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the book Missing Men by former New York City Police Captain John H. Ayers and Carol Bird. The film’s working title was Missing Persons. A print of the film is held by The Library of Congress. The film was reissued in 1936 with the opening credits altered to give Bette Davis, who had become Warner Bros. top female star, top billing.
September 18 – Night of the Garter (UK)
- Cast: Sydney Howard, Winifred Shotter, Elsie Randolph, Connie Ediss, Austin Melford, Harold French, Jack Melford, Marjorie Brooks, Arthur Chesney
- Director: Jack Raymond
- Production Company: British and Dominions, distributed by United Artists
- Trivia: No known US release date. Based on the play Getting Gertie’s Garter by Avery Hopwood and Wilson Collison.
1943
September 13 – Hoosier Holiday (USA)
- Cast: George D. Hay, Isabel Randolph, Shug Fisher, Lillian Randolph, Dale Evans, George Byron, Emma Dunn, Thurston Hall, Nick Stewart, Ferris Taylor
- Director: Frank McDonald
- Production Company: Republic Pictures
September 15 – Arizona Trail (USA)
- Cast: Tex Ritter, Fuzzy Knight, Dennis Moore, Janet Shaw, Jack Ingram, Glenn Strange, Dan White, Art Fowler, Johnny Bond
- Director: Vernon Keays
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
September 15 – Hail to the Rangers (USA)
- Cast: Charles Starrett, Arthur Hunnicutt, Lloyd Bridges, Ted Adams, Ernie Adams, Tom London, Jack Kirk, Dick Botiller
- Director: William Berke
- Production Company: Columbia Pictures
September 17 – Revenge of the Zombies (USA)
- Cast: John Carradine, Gale Storm, Robert Lowery, Bob Steele, Mantan Moreland, Veda Ann Borg, Mauritz Hugo, Madame Sul-Te-Wan, James Baskett, Franklyn Farnum
- Director: Steve Sekely
- Production Company: Monogram Pictures
- Trivia: The film was a follow-up to/semi-remake of the horror-comedy King of the Zombies (1941) with Mantan Moreland reprising his role as Jeff and Madame Sul-Te-Wan returning as a different character. The film was originally to star Bela Lugosi.
September 17 – Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (USA)
Universal Pictures
- Cast: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Dennis Hoey, Arthur Margetson, Hillary Brooke, Halliwell Hobbes, Minna Phillips, Milburn Stone, Frederick Worlock, Gavin Muir
- Director: Roy William Neill
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
- Trivia: Sixth of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes films, and the second of three films also featuring Hillary Brooke. Loose adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Holmes 1893 story ‘The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual’. Peter Lawford has an uncredited role.
September 17 – Top Man (USA)
- Cast: Donald O’Connor, Susanna Foster, Lillian Gish, Richard Dix, Peggy Ryan
- Director: Charles Lamont
- Production Company: Universal Pictures
- Trivia: Also known as Man of the Family. Donald O’Connor and Peggy Ryan’s first film without Gloria Jean.
September 17 – Wintertime (USA)
- Cast: Sonja Henie, Jack Oakie, Cesar Romero, Carole Landis, S. Z. Sakall, Cornel Wilde, Woody Herman and His Orchestra, Helene Reynolds, Don Douglas
- Director: John Brahm
- Production Company: Twentieth Century-Fox
- Trivia: The film’s original title was Quota Girl. Woody Herman and His Orchestra replaced Glenn Miller, who had joined the Army.
September 18 – Beyond the Last Frontier (USA)
- Cast: Eddie Dew, Harry Woods, Robert Mitchum, Lorraine Miller, Smiley Burnette
- Director: Howard Bretherton
- Production Company: Republic Pictures
- Trivia: The first in the ‘John Paul Revere’ series of films.
September 18 – Murder on the Waterfront (USA)
- Cast: Warren Douglas, Joan Winfield, John Loder, Ruth Ford, Bill Crago, Bill Kennedy, William B. Davidson, Don Costello, James Flavin
- Director: B. Reeves Eason
- Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: At 49 minutes, this is the shortest feature film ever released by Warner Bros. The film’s working title was The Navy Gets Rough.
September 19 – Here Comes Kelly (USA)
- Cast: Eddie Quillan, Joan Woodbury, Maxie Rosenbloom, Armida, Sidney Miller, Mary Gordon, Ian Keith, Luis Alberni
- Director: William Beaudine
- Production Company: Monogram Pictures
- Trivia: Followed by the sequel There Goes Kelly.
1953
September 13 – Mexican Manhunt (USA)
- Cast: George Brent, Hillary Brooke, Morris Ankrum, Karen Sharpe, Marjorie Lord, Douglas Kennedy
- Director: Rex Bailey
- Production Company: Monogram Pictures, distributed by Allied Artists Pictures
September 14 – Always a Bride (UK)
- Cast: Peggy Cummins, Terence Morgan, Ronald Squire, James Hayter, Marie Lohr, Geoffrey Sumner, David Hurst, Sebastian Cabot, Charles Goldner, Jacques B. Brunius
- Director: Ralph Smart
- Production Company: Clarion Films, distributed by General Film Distributors (UK), Universal Pictures (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in general US release on June 6, 1954 after a New York City engagement that began on May 27.
September 16 – Blowing Wild (USA)
- Cast: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Ruth Roman, Anthony Quinn, Ward Bond, Ian MacDonald, Richard Karlan as Henderson, Juan Garcia
- Director: Hugo Fregonese
- Production Company: United States Pictures, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: The title song ‘Blowing Wild (The Ballad of Black Gold)’ was sung by Frankie Laine.
September 18 – The Joe Louis Story (USA)
- Cast: Coley Wallace, Hilda Simms, Paul Stewart, James Edwards, John Marley, Dots Johnson, Evelyn Ellis
- Director: Robert Gordon
- Production Company: Walter P. Chrysler Jr., distributed by United Artists
September 19 – The Moonlighter (USA)
- Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Ward Bond, William Ching, John Dierkes, Morris Ankrum, Jack Elam, Myron Healey, Charles Halton, Norman Leavitt, Sam Flint
- Director: Roy Rowland
- Production Company: Joseph Bernhard Productions, Abtcon Pictures, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Produced and released in 3D, with the 3D Bugs Bunny short, Lumber Jack-Rabbit, and the Lippert short, Bandit Island.
1963
September 16 – Billy Liar (UK)
- Cast: Tom Courtenay, Wilfred Pickles, Mona Washbourne, Ethel Griffies, Finlay Currie, Gwendolyn Watts, Helen Fraser, Julie Christie, Leonard Rossiter, Rodney Bewes
- Director: John Schlesinger
- Production Company: Vic Films Productions, Waterhall Productions, distributed by Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (UK), Continental Distributing (USA)
- Trivia: Released in the US on December 16, 1953. Based on the 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse. The film was nominated for six BAFTAs, including one for Julie Christie in her breakthrough role.
September 18 – In the French Style (USA)
- Cast: Jean Seberg, Stanley Baker, Philippe Forquet, Addison Powell, Jack Hedley, Maurice Teynac, James Leo Herlihy
- Director: Robert Parrish
- Production Company: Orsay Films, distributed by Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: Based on a short story by Irwin Shaw.
September 18 – The Slime People (USA)
- Cast: Robert Hutton, Les Tremayne, Robert Burton, Susan Hart
- Director: Robert Hutton
- Production Company: Joseph F. Robertson Productions, distributed by Donald J. Hansen Enterprises
- Trivia: The film was infamous for its extensive use of fog machines, with the fog becoming so thick towards the end that it is virtually impossible to see any of the actors. Producers ran out of money nine days into filming, and the cast completed their work without any pay. Only film directed by Robert Hutton. It was featured on the first season of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
September 19 – X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes (USA)
- Cast: Ray Milland, Diana Van der Vlis, Harold J. Stone, John Hoyt, Don Rickles
- Director: Roger Corman
- Production Company: Alta Vista Productions, distributed by American International Pictures
- Trivia: Morris Ankrum, Dick Miller and Jonathan Haze have uncredited roles.
1973
September 18 – Hit! (USA)
- Cast: Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, Paul Hampton, Gwen Welles, Sid Melton
- Director: Sidney J. Furie
- Production Company: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: One of the earliest films to feature product placement by McDonald’s. J&B Scotch Whisky and Kentucky Fried Chicken are also featured. 22-year-old Tina Andrews plays Billy Dee Williams’ 15-year-old daughter in the film.
September 19 – Charley Varrick (Sweden)
- Cast: Walter Matthau, Andy Robinson, Joe Don Baker, John Vernon, Sheree North, Felicia Farr, Norman Fell, Woodrow Parfrey, William Schallert, Jacqueline Scott
- Director: Don Siegel
- Production Company: Universal Pictures, distributed by Cinema International Corporation (Sweden), Universal Pictures (USA)
- Trivia: Released in the US and Canada on October 19, 1973. Also known as The Last of the Independents and Kill Charley Varrick. Based on the novel The Looters by John H. Reese. The role of Varrick was written for Clint Eastwood, who turned it down after not finding any redeeming qualities in the character. Star Walter Matthau was also unimpressed with the film, and director Don Siegel blames Matthau for the film’s box office failure by publicly stating he didn’t like or understand the movie. Critics, however, gave the film fairly good reviews.
1983
September 16 – Deathstalker (USA)
New World Pictures
- Cast: Rick Hill, Barbi Benton, Richard Brooker, Lana Clarkson, Victor Bo, Bernard Erhard, Augusto Larreta, Verónica Llinás, Patrick Duggan
- Director: John Watson
- Production Company: Aries Cinematográfica Argentina, Palo Alto, distributed by New World Pictures
- Trivia: John Watson is a pseudonym for director James Sbardellati. First of four films about the Deathstalker character, and the first of ten films Roger Corman produced in Argentina in the 1980s. The film launched the career of Lana Clarkson.
September 16 – Revenge of the Ninja (USA)
- Cast: Sho Kosugi, Keith Vitali, Virgil Frye, Kane Kosugi, Professor Toru Tanaka
- Director: Sam Firstenberg
- Production Company: Cannon Films, distributed by MGM/UA Entertainment Co.
- Trivia: Second installment in Cannon’s ‘Ninja Trilogy’. The cost of permits, police protection, fire marshals and other logistical fees forced production to move from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City where producers were promised no fees or permits would be required.
September 16 – Strange Invaders (USA)
- Cast: Paul Le Mat, Nancy Allen, Diana Scarwid, Michael Lerner, Louise Fletcher, Wallace Shawn, Fiona Lewis, Kenneth Tobey, June Lockhart, Charles Lane
- Director: Michael Laughlin
- Production Company: Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment, distributed by Orion Pictures
- Trivia: Intended to be the second of a ‘Strange Trilogy’, following Strange Behavior, but the lackluster box office ended those plans. Diana Scarwid earned a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actress. James Cummins, who handled the prosthetic alien effects, had his name removed from the credits after heated debates over how director Michael Laughlin was using and shooting the effects. Laughlin intended to have his Strange Behavior star Michael Murphy as the lead but the studio refused, suggesting Mel Gibson or Powers Boothe. Laughlin went with Paul Le Mat instead. The government agent role had been written for a man, but was changed to a woman during the writing process and Louise Fletcher, who had appeared in Strange Behavior, was cast.
1993
September 16 – Hercules Returns (AUS)
- Cast: David Argue, Michael Carman, Mary Coustas, Bruce Spence
- Director: David Parker
- Production Company: Philm Productions, distributed by Roadshow Films
- Trivia: No known US release date. Opened in the UK on June 17, 1994. First feature film directed by David Parker. Hercules Returns is a screen adaptation of the popular Australian live comedy show Double Take, in which actors humorously voice over an existing film or television program. The film featured in the film is Samson and His Mighty Challenge (Ercole, Sansone, Maciste e Ursus: gli invincibili).
September 16 – The Silver Brumby (AUS)
- Cast: Caroline Goodall, Amiel Daemion, Russell Crowe
- Director: John Tatoulis
- Production Company: Film Victoria, Film Finance Corporation Australia, distributed by Roadshow Entertainment
- Trivia: No known US theatrical release outside of festival screenings, however it was released on home video in 1994. Also known as The Silver Stallion or The Silver Stallion: King of the Wild Brumbies. Based on the Silver Brumby series of novels by Elyne Mitchell.
September 17 – Airborne (USA)
- Cast: Shane McDermott, Seth Green, Brittney Powell, Chris Conrad, Edie McClurg, Patrick O’Brien, Jack Black, Alanna Ubach, Jacob Vargas
- Director: Rob Bowman
- Production Company: Icon Productions, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Filmed in Cincinnati, Ohio, production was due to move to Minnesota for a snowier landscape, but a blizzard in Ohio allowed filmmakers to complete all of the exterior filming in the state.
September 17 – Striking Distance (USA)
- Cast: Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Farina, Tom Sizemore, Brion James, Robert Pastorelli, Timothy Busfield, John Mahoney, Andre Braugher, Tom Atkins
- Director: Rowdy Herrington
- Production Company: Arnon Milchan Productions, distributed by Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: The film was shot in Pittsburgh with the working title Three Rivers.
September 17 – The Pelican Brief (Canada)
- Cast: Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Sam Shepard, John Heard, Tony Goldwyn, James Sikking, John Finn, William Atherton, Robert Culp, Stanley Tucci, Hume Cronyn, John Lithgow, Anthony Heald, Cynthia Nixon, Jake Weber
- Director: Alan J. Pakula
- Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: Opened in the US on December 17, 1993. Based on the 1992 novel by John Grisham. The last film that Alan J. Pakula wrote and directed before his death.
2003
September 19 – Anything Else (USA)
- Cast: Woody Allen, Jason Biggs, Christina Ricci, Danny DeVito, Stockard Channing, Jimmy Fallon, KaDee Strickland, Erica Leerhsen, David Conrad, Adrian Grenier, Fisher Stevens, Diana Krall
- Director: Woody Allen
- Production Company: Dreamworks Pictures, Gravier Productions, Canal+, Granada Film Productions, Perdido Productions, distributed by DreamWorks Distribution
- Trivia: Woody Allen cast Jason Biggs as his alter ego because he thought Biggs was Jewish. Biggs is Catholic.
September 19 – Cold Creek Manor (USA)
- Cast: Dennis Quaid, Sharon Stone, Stephen Dorff, Juliette Lewis, Kristen Stewart, Christopher Plummer
- Director: Mike Figgis
- Production Company: Touchstone Pictures, Red Mullet, Cold Creek Manor Productions, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
- Trivia: The original title was The Devil’s Throat. Christopher Plummer only spent two days on the set. He was shooting one day each with Dennis Quaid and Stephen Dorff.
September 19 – Secondhand Lions (USA/Canada)
- Cast: Haley Joel Osment, Robert Duvall, Michael Caine, Kyra Sedgwick, Nicky Katt, Josh Lucas, Michael O’Neill, Eric Balfour, Adrian Pasdar
- Director: Tim McCanlies
- Production Company: New Line Cinema, David Kirschner Productions, Digital Domain, Avery Pix, distributed by New Line Cinema
- Trivia: Director Tim McCanlies, who was an admirer of cartoonist Berkeley Breathed, wrote requesting work of his to feature in the film. Breathed sent the drawings of a strip called Walter and Jasmine, which is presented as the work of the grown-up Walter, and they also accompany the final credits.
September 19 – The Fighting Temptations (USA)
- Cast: Cuba Gooding Jr., Nigel Washington, Beyoncé Knowles, Chloe Bailey, Mike Epps, LaTanya Richardson, Eddie LeVert Sr., Melba Moore, Wendell Pierce, Lou Myers, Rue McClanahan, Angie Stone, Montell Jordan, Faith Evans, Steve Harvey, Dakin Matthews, Faizon Love
- Director: Jonathan Lynn
- Production Company: MTV Films, Handprint Films, distributed by Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: Reverend Shirley Caesar, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Mary Mary, Ramiyah, Donnie McClurkin, and Yolanda Adams have cameos as themselves. Cuba Gooding Jr. earned a Razzie nomination for Worst Actor.
September 19 – Thirteen (USA)
- Cast: Evan Rachel Wood, Nikki Reed, Holly Hunter, Jeremy Sisto, Brady Corbet, Deborah Kara Unger, Sarah Clarke, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Kip Pardue, D. W. Moffett
- Director: Catherine Hardwicke
- Production Company: Working Title Films, Antidote Films, distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures
- Trivia: The screenplay was written over six days by director Catherine Hardwicke and 14-year-old Nikki Reed, upon whose life from ages 12-13 the story is based. Holly Hunter received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Supporting Actress, and Evan Rachel Wood was Oscar and Golden Globe nominated for Best Actress. Hardwick shot on 16mm film to keep costs down. Wood and Reed wore mostly their own wardrobe, and as production progressed they began dressing similarly without being asked to do so.
September 19 – Underworld (USA/Canada/UK)
- Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Bill Nighy, Michael Sheen, Shane Brolly, Erwin Leder, Sophia Myles, Wentworth Miller
- Director: Len Wiseman
- Production Company: Lakeshore Entertainment, distributed by Screen Gems
- Trivia: First film in the Underworld franchise, though chronologically is the second.
2013
September 13 – Insidious: Chapter 2 (USA)
- Cast: Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson, Garrett Ryan, Ty Simpkins, Lin Shaye, Lindsay Seim, Steve Coulter, Hank Harris, Barbara Hershey, Jocelin Donahue, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Michael Beach, Jenna Ortega
- Director: James Wan
- Production Company: Blumhouse Productions, Entertainment One, FilmDistrict, Stage 6 Films, Oren Peli, distributed by FilmDistrict
- Trivia: Second film in the Insidious franchise, but chronologically is the fourth in terms of the story. The film was shot in 25 days.
September 13 – The Family (USA)
- Cast: Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianna Agron, John D’Leo, Tommy Lee Jones, Vincent Pastore
- Director: Luc Besson
- Production Company: EuropaCorp, Relativity Media, TF1 Films Production, Grive Productions, distributed by Relativity Media
- Trivia: Released as Malavita and Cosa Nostra in some countries. Based on the French novel Malavita (Badfellas in the 2010 English translation) by Tonino Benacquista.
September 14 – Strutter (Japan)
- Cast: Sara Ashley, Iris Berry, Jade Gordon, Terry Graham, Elyse Hollander, Florence Keith-Roach, Flannery Lunsford, Ariel Pink, Craig Stark
- Director: Allison Anders, Kurt Voss
- Production Company: French Fan Club Films, distributed by Copiapoa Film, Fulmo Telmo
- Trivia: No known US release outside of festival screenings. The film is the third in a trilogy about Southern California musicians following Border Radio and Sugar Town.
September 17 – Dick Figures: The Movie (USA)
- Cast: Ed Skudder, Zack Keller, Eric Bauza
- Director: Ed Skudder, Zack Keller
- Production Company: Remochoso, Six Point Harness, distributed by Mondo Media
- Trivia: Based on the animated web series Dick Figures. Feature film directorial debut of Ed Skudder & Zack Keller. The film was split into 12 chapters and posted on YouTube. The movie was initially intended to be a 40-minute special, but a Kickstarter campaign raised enough money to expand it to 73 minutes.
September 19 – Diana (Hungary)
Ecosse Films
- Cast: Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews, Cas Anvar, Laurence Belcher, Harry Holland, Douglas Hodge, Geraldine James, Charles Edwards, Mary Stockley, Juliet Stevenson
- Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
- Production Company: Ecosse Films, Le Pacte, Film i Väst, Filmgate Films, Scope Pictures, MP Film, distributed by Pro Video Film & Distribution Kft. (Hungary), Metrodome Distribution (UK), Entertainment One (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in the UK on September 20, 2013, and in limited release in the US and Canada on November 1. Based on Kate Snell’s 2001 book, Diana: Her Last Love. Naomi Watts received a Razzie nomination for her work in both this film and Movie 43, but lost to Tyler Perry in A Madea Christmas.
September 19 – Mistaken for Strangers (Croatia, documentary)
- Cast: The National
- Director: Tom Berninger
- Production Company: Abramorama
- Trivia: Opened in the US on March 28, 2014.
September 19 – The Last Days on Mars (UK/Denmark)
- Cast: Liev Schreiber, Elias Koteas, Romola Garai, Goran Kostić, Johnny Harris, Tom Cullen, Yusra Warsama, Olivia Williams
- Director: Ruairí Robinson
- Production Company: BFI, Bord Scannán na hÉirann/The Irish Film Board, Qwerty Films, Fantastic Films, Focus Features International, distributed by Batrax Entertainment (UK), Magnet Releasing (USA)
- Trivia: Opened in limited US release on December 6, 2013. Based on the short story ‘The Animators’ by Sydney J. Bounds. Paul Walker and Philip Seymour Hoffman were offered the lead role just before their untimely deaths.
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