RKO Radio Pictures
This week is the weird post-Christmas/pre-New Year week where most of the films released are barely noticed. The exception to this is 1933 which featured three films that have gone on to be classics, one introducing a pair of actors and dancers who would go on to star in several films together. A 1953 film featured another popular screen duo in color and 3D for the first time, and 1993 had two films that garnered attention from the Oscars. 1983 and 2003 sat the week out. Scroll down and check out the films celebrating premiere anniversaries this week, and tell us if any of your favorites are on the list!
1923-1924
- December 30 – The Darling of New York (USA, Universal Pictures)
- December 30 – Boy of Mine (USA, Associated First National Pictures)
- December 30 – Eyes of the Forest (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
- December 30 – The Courtship of Miles Standish (USA, Associated Exhibitors)
- December 31 – Chastity (USA, First National Pictures)
- December 31 – Her Temporary Husband (USA, First National Pictures)
- January – Black Oxen (USA, Associated First National Pictures)
The Darling of New York was the first feature film of Baby Peggy. All but the final reel of the film is lost. Her Temporary Husband was based upon a play of the same name by Edward A. Paulton. The film is considered lost.
The Courtship of Miles Standish is also known as The Courtship of Myles Standish, and is based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1858 poem The Courtship of Miles Standish. The film is presumed lost. A 180-ton rocking replica of the Mayflower was built for the film at a cost of $65,000 ($1,141,527 today).
Black Oxen premiered in San Francisco on December 29, 1923 before expanding to a wider release in January 1924. The film is based on the controversial best-selling 1923 novel of the same name by Gertrude Atherton. The complete film does exist but not in a single complete form. The George Eastman House retains the first seven of the film’s eight reels. The Gosfilmofond Russian State Archive has all but the second reel. The New York Public Library has a 16mm print on three reels, and a 60-minute version is available on DVD.
1933
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- December 27 – Murder on the Campus (USA, Chesterfield Pictures)
- December 29 – Flying Down to Rio (USA, RKO Radio Pictures)
- December 29 – Roman Scandals (USA, United Artists)
- December 29 – Sons of the Desert (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
- December 30 – Movie Memories (USA, short, Warner Bros. Pictures)
- December 30 – Puppets of Fate (UK, United Artists)
- December 30 – The Fighting Code (USA, Columbia Pictures)
- January – Colonel Blood (UK, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
- January – The Lady Is Willing (UK, Columbia Pictures Corporation)
- January 1 – The Whirlwind Rider (USA, American Pictures Corp.)
Murder on the Campus, also known as On the Stroke of Nine in the UK, was based on the novel The Campanile Murders, by Whitman Chambers.
Flying Down to Rio featured the first screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, although they are not top billed. The film earned a Best Original Song Oscar nomination for ‘Carioca’, but lost to ‘The Continental’ from The Gay Divorcee, Astaire and Rogers’ first film with top billing. The black-and-white film contains a color sequence, and is notable for Dolores del Rio being the first major actress to wear a two-piece swimsuit onscreen.
Roman Scandals features intricate production numbers by Busby Berkeley, and introduced the song ‘Keep Young and Beautiful’. The Goldwyn Girls featured in the production numbers include Lucille Ball, Paulette Goddard and Barbara Pepper.
Sons of the Desert was released as Fraternally Yours in the UK. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2012.
Puppets of Fate was released in the US as Wolves of the Underworld on January 10, 1936 through Regal Distributing. The film was produced as a ‘quota quickie’ for United Artists in the UK.
The exact release dates for Colonel Blood and The Lady is Willing are unknown. The Lady Is Willing was released in the US on August 11, 1934 through Columbia Pictures, while Colonel Blood has no known US theatrical release date.
1943
- December 28 – What a Woman! (USA, Columbia Pictures)
- December 29 – California Joe (USA, Republic Pictures)
- December 30 – A Gem of a Jam (USA, short, Columbia Pictures)
- December 30 – Raiders of Sunset Pass (USA, Republic Pictures)
- December 30 – Whispering Footsteps (USA, Republic Pictures)
- December 31 – Destination Tokyo (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)
- December 31 – O, My Darling Clementine (USA, Republic Pictures)
- December 31 – The Woman of the Town (USA, United Artists)
A Gem of a Jam is the 76th Three Stooges film of 190 shorts released by Columbia Pictures. It was the tenth short the Stooges released in 1943, more than any other year. The gag of Curly stepping out of a trough appearing as a ghost first appeared in the 1934 Laurel and Hardy film The Live Ghost.
Destination Tokyo was the directorial debut of Delmer Daves. Considered the ‘granddaddy of submarine films’, it was used at the height of World War II as propaganda to boost morale back home and to entice young men to join the Submarine Service of the U.S. Navy. Cary Grant was borrowed from Columbia in a swap with Humphrey Bogart, who starred in Sahara, which Grant had turned down. The role of the Captain in Destination Tokyo had been turned down by Gary Cooper.
The Woman of the Town was loosely based on the true stories of Dora Hand and Bat Masterson.
1953
- December 27 – Man in the Attic (USA, 20th Century Fox)
- December 31 – Money from Home (USA, Paramount Pictures)
- January – Meet Mr. Malcolm (UK, Associated British-Pathé)
- January 1 – Don’t Blame the Stork (UK, David Dent Productions)
Man in the Attic was based on the 1913 novel The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes, which had been previously filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1927.
Money from Home was the first Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis film — their eleventh as a team — in color, and their only one in 3D. The film also included a 3-track stereophonic soundtrack which is now lost. Because of technical issues at Technicolor, pairs of 3D prints were not available for the New Year’s Eve preview screening so the film was presented flat until it went into general release in February 1944.
Meet Mr. Malcolm and Don’t Blame the Stork have no known US theatrical release dates.
1963
- December 31 – Silent Playground (UK, British Lion Film Corporation)
- January – Light Fantastic (USA, Embassy Pictures)
- January – Pie in the Sky (USA, Allied Artists)
Silent Playground has no known US theatrical release date. Shortly after the release of Pie in the Sky, the film was retitled Terror in the City.
1973
- December 28 – TIl mio nome è Shanghai Joe (Italy, Jumbo Cinematografica)
- December 31 – Godmonster of Indian Flats (USA, limited, Ellman Film Enterprises)
- January – Big Zapper (USA, Levitt-Pickman)
- January – Black Belt (USA, Howard Mahler Films)
- January – Mistress Pamela (USA, Fanfare Films)
- January – Moving On (AUS, Film Australia)
- January – The Death Wheelers (USA, Scotia International)
- January – The Cherry Picker (UK, Elsinore Productions)
- January – The Rehearsal (Greece, Melina Film)
- January 1 – The Devil’s Plaything (USA, limited, Omni Pictures)
Big Zapper was originally released in the UK on September 20, 1963. Black Belt was originally released in Hong Kong on September 6, 1973. Mistress Pamela was originally released in the UK in November 1973 through Anglo-EMI Film Distributors.
The Death Wheelers originally opened in the UK as Psychomania in March 1973 through Scotia-Barber. The working title was The Living Dead. The film features George Sanders in his final role.
The Cherry Picker is also known as The Quiet Life. As of August 2014, the film is missing from the BFI National Archive and is listed as one of the British Film Institute’s ’75 Most Wanted’ lost films (inferior copies of the film are in circulation). The screenplay was based on the novel Pick Up Sticks by Mickey Phillips.
The Rehearsal began a limited engagement in New York City on October 17, 2001. The Devil’s Plaything originally opened in West Germany on October 16, 1973 through Scotia International Filmverleih under the original title Der Fluch der schwarzen Schwestern, which translates to The Curse of the Black Sisters.
Il mio nome è Shanghai Joe (My name is Shanghai Joe) was released in the US as The Fighting Fist of Shanghai Joe in January 1976 by United International Pictures. The film was released with other titles in the US including To Kill or to Die and The Dragon Strikes Back.
1983
- No new movies were released this week in 1983-1984.
1993
Universal Pictures
- December 27 – In the Name of the Father (Ireland, Universal Pictures)
- December 29 – Ghost in the Machine (USA, 20th Century Fox)
- December 30 – Shadowlands (AUS, Roadshow Films)
- December 31 – Century (UK, Beambright)
- January – The War Room (USA, documentary, October Films)
In the Name of the Father had a limited US release for awards consideration on December 29, 1993, and expanded nationwide on February 25, 1994. The screenplay was an adaptation of the 1990 autobiography Proved Innocent: The Story of Gerry Conlon of the Guildford Four by Gerry Conlon. The film received seven Oscar nominations including Best Actor in a Leading Role (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Pete Postlethwaite), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Emma Thompson), Best Director, and Best Picture. It also received four Golden Globe and two BAFTA nominations. Saffron Burrows made her debut in the film. Daniel Day-Lewis lost over 50 lbs and spent three days in a jail cell, where he was kept awake all night by the inmates, was interrogated by three different teams for nine hours, and insisted crew members verbally abuse and throw cold water on him so he could experience why an innocent man would sign a confession that would destroyed his life.
Ghost in the Machine was briefly put into turnaround by Fox fearing similarities to Wes Craven’s Shocker, but development resumed after some script re-writes. The film is set in Cleveland, Ohio but was shot entirely in Los Angeles.
Shadowlands was released in the US on January 14, 1994 through Savoy Pictures. The film was based on the 1985 TV movie and 1989 stage play of the same name by William Nicholson, who also wrote the screenplay. It won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film, and was nominated for two Oscars for Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress (Debra Winger). It marks the last screen appearance of Michael Denison.
Century has no known US theatrical release date.
The War Room was originally intended to cover the scope of the 1992 presidential election, but only the Clinton campaign would grant filmmakers access, and only within the confines of the campaign’s national headquarters, aka the ‘war room’, in Little Rock, Arkansas. About 35 hours of film was shot over the course of four months. The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature.
2003
- No new movies were released this week in 2003-2004.
2013
Paramount Pictures
- December 27 – Dumar (UK, limited, Fruit District Media)
- December 27 – Labor Day (USA, Paramount Pictures)
- January – Left of Center (USA, North 177)
- January – The Invisible Life (Netherlands, Rosa Filmes)
- January 2 – Future Shift (Canada, Nowlife Productions)
Dumar, The Invisible Life and Future Shift have no known US theatrical release dates. Labor Day was based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard.
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