The Associates & Aldrich Company
It’s another week loaded with new movies, many of them quite memorable considering it’s January. 1935 gave us a literary adaptation that was rewarded with three Oscar nominations, 1945 saw the first pairing of two actors who would go on to have one of Hollywood’s greatest love stories, 1955 gave us a movie more remembered for its now classic theme song, 1965 continued what has been dubbed the ‘hagsploitation genre’ putting aging movie stars in horror films, 1975 gave us the debut of a now iconic director, 1985 gave us the debut of an iconic team of directors who also happen to be brothers, 1995 saw Kevin Bacon go seriously method for a role, 2005 had two films that got some awards love, and 2015 saw a film director go all-digital for the first time. Scroll down to see all the films that premiered this week, and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries.
1925
- January 18 – A Thief in Paradise (USA, George Fitzmaurice Productions)
- January 18 – Fear-Bound (USA, Nigh-Smith Pictures Inc.)
- January 18 – Smouldering Fires (USA, Universal Pictures)
- January 18 – Women and Gold (USA, Gotham Productions)
- January 19 – A Man Must Live (USA, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation)
- January 19 – Border Intrigue (USA, Independent Pictures)
- January 19 – Excuse Me (USA, Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corporation)
- January 20 – The Parasite (USA, B.P. Schulberg Productions)
- January 21 – Outwitted (USA, Independent Pictures)
- January 22 – Champion of Lost Causes (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
Lost films: A Thief in Paradise, Fear-Bound, A Man Must Live, Excuse Me, Champion of Lost Causes
Statsus unknown: Women and Gold, Border Intrigue, Outwitted
Copies of Smouldering Fires are archived by UCLA and George Eastman House. A print of The Parasite, based on the 1913 novel of the same name by Helen Reimensnyder Martin, is in the collection of the Library of Congress.
1935
- January 18 – David Copperfield (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
- January 18 – Grand Old Girl (USA, RKO Radio Pictures)
- January 20 – Symphony of Living (USA, Invincible Pictures Corp.)
- January 21 – A Notorious Gentleman (USA, Universal Pictures)
- January 21 – Charlie Chan in Paris (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
- January 21 – Square Shooter (USA, Columbia Pictures)
- January 21 – The Life of the Party (UK, Warner Brothers-First National Productions)
The Life of the Party has no known US theatrical release date.
David Copperfield is based upon Charles Dickens’ 1850 novel The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger. The novel had previously been adapted for three silent films. This is the first sound production. MGM agreed to fund the film for David O. Selznick on the condition its child star Jackie Cooper was cast as David. Selznick fought to remain true to the story, and prevailed with the casting of Freddie Bartholomew, after an extensive search in Canada and Great Britain. Scenes of the White Cliffs of Dover were filmed in Malibu, California. Charles Laughton was cast as Mr. Micawber and was authentically made up with a bald cap, but he didn’t like his performance in the dailies and requested to leave the film. W.C. Fields was cast as his replacement, and was contractually obligated to use a British accent. Fields could not memorize his lines and used cue cards for his performance, using his own accent. It is the only film in which Fields does not ad-lib, although he wanted to add a juggling scene which was denied. The film earned three Academy Award nominations including Best Picture.
Grand Old Girl’s production had been announced as Portrait of Laura Bayles. A Notorious Gentleman was remade in 1946 as Smooth as Silk.
Charlie Chan in Paris is the seventh Fox-produced film with Warner Oland as Chan. It is the first film in the series to feature Keye Luke who would become a mainstay as ‘Number One Son’ Lee.
Square Shooter was also known under the title of Quicksand. The Life of the Party was produced as a ‘quota quickie’ to help support the then faltering British film industry.
1945
Warner Bros. Pictures
- January 16 – Grissly’s Millions (USA, Republic Pictures)
- January 18 – A Song to Remember (USA, Columbia Pictures)
- January 19 – Adventures of Kitty O’Day (USA, Monogram Pictures)
- January 19 – The Man in Half Moon Street (USA, Paramount Pictures)
- January 19 – Three Pests in a Mess (USA, short, Columbia Pictures)
- January 19 – Under Western Skies (USA, Universal Pictures)
- January 20 – To Have and Have Not (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)
- January 22 – Madonna of the Seven Moons (UK, Gainsborough Pictures)
- January 22 – The Big Show-Off (USA, Spence-Williams Productions)
Madonna of the Seven Moons was released in the US on January 28, 1946. Adventures of Kitty O’Day is a sequel to 1944’s Detective Kitty O’Day.
The Man in Half Moon Street has a plot similar to The Picture of Dorian Gray, but with a more logical explanation for the eternal youth of the main character. The film is based on a 1939 West End play of the same title by Barré Lyndon.
Three Pests in a Mess is the 83rd of 190 Three Stooges shorts from Columbia Pictures. It is a partial remake of the 1933 short Sailors Beware! and 1941 short Ready, Willing but Unable.
Based on Ernest Hemingway’s novel of the same name, the setting of To Have and Have Not was changed from Cuba to Martinique to not be in violation of the United States’ Good Neighbor policy. William Faulkner contributed to Hemingway’s screenplay, making it the only film story on which two winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature worked, though the two never met. Only 36 pages of the script were finished when filming began due to changes required by the Production Code office. As filming progressed, each scene was written three days before it was filmed. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall began their romance during production, leading Bogart to divorce his third wife and marry Bacall a year later. Director Howard Hawks disapproved of the relationship and told Bacall that Bogart did not love her and he would send her to B-list status at Monogram Pictures. Bacall told Bogart, he confronted Hawks and production had to be shut down for two weeks. Realizing his power, Bogart negotiated with Warner Bros. to return to the film for an extra $33,00 salary, which was granted as long as he no longer held up production.
1955
- January 19 – Unchained (USA, Hall Bartlett Productions)
- January 21 – Six Bridges to Cross (USA, Universal International Pictures)
Unchained, based on the non-fiction book Prisoners are People by Kenyon J. Scudder, marked the directorial debut of Hall Bartlett. It is remembered for its theme song ‘Unchained Melody’, performed by Todd Duncan. The song has become one of the most recorded of the 20th century. The song was Oscar-nominated.
Jeff Chandler was to play the lead in Six Bridges to Cross but refused and was placed on suspension by Universal. Clint Eastwood had his first real audition for the film but was rejected.
1965
- January 20 – Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (USA, The Associates & Aldrich Company)
- January 20 – Quick, Before It Melts (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte featured the final film performance of Mary Astor. The film was to reunite What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? co-stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, but filming was postponed after Crawford was hospitalized for an upper respiratory infection. The insurance company insisted she be replaced or the film would have been cancelled altogether. Crawford was replaced with Olivia de Havilland, though Loretta Young and Vivien Leigh were approached but turned down the role. Crawford claimed to learn of her firing from a news radio broadcast. Some footage with Crawford made it into the film where she is sitting in a taxi in a wide shot, peering out the window wearing dark sunglasses and clothing. A planned reshoot had been planned with de Havilland but was cancelled. The film earned seven Academy Award nominations including Best Supporting Actress for Agnes Moorehead. Moorehead was also nominated for and won the Golden Globe.
1975
- January 17 – Dark Star (USA, Jack H. Harris Enterprises)
- January 17 – Eskimo Nell (UK, Salon Productions)
Dark Star began as a University of Southern California student film produced from 1970 to 1972, gradually expanded to feature length, screened at Filmex in 1974 and released theatrically in 1975. The final budget was about $60,00. The film was not a financial success, but became a cult hit due to the home video boom of the 1980s. The film was John Carpenter’s directorial debut, and the feature debut for writer Dan O’Bannon. The film’s original title was The Electric Dutchman, which was changed to Planetfall before settling on Dark Star. Carpenter had to dub his own voice of that of Andreijah Pahich due to his thick accent. Carpenter also dubbed Joe Saunders. The film’s distributor deemed 30 minutes of the film boring and unusable and ordered additional footage to be shot to bring the film to a releasable length. Crude language was ordered to be toned down and a wall of nude centerfolds was blurred to obtain a G-rating. An effect showing stars becoming streaks during a ship’s jump to hyperspace preceded Star Wars by two years. The ‘beachball with claws’ was reworked by O’Bannon into Alien.
Eskimo Nell has no known US theatrical release date. The film is also known as The Ballad of Eskimo Nell, and was retitled The Sexy Saga of Eskimo Nell and Big Dick in Australia. The film is not to be confused with 1975’s The True Story of Eskimo Nell, which was released in the UK as Dick Down Under.
1985
River Road Productions
- January 18 – Blood Simple (USA, River Road Productions)
- January 18 – That’s Dancing! (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
- January 18 – The New Kids (USA, Columbia Pictures)
Blood Simple is the directorial debut of the Coen Brothers, and the first major film for cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld, and the feature film debut for Frances McDormand. The Coens shot a dummy trailer with Bruce Campbell to persuade investors to help fund the film. The film was shot in 1982 and was in post-production for a year and was completed in 1983.
Unlike MGM’s That’s Entertainment! film series, That’s Dancing! included films from other studios. The film was notable for including the complete Ray Bolger dance number to ‘If I Only Had a Brain’ from The Wizard of Oz.
Harry Crews was responsible for the original draft of The New Kids but was unhappy with the finished product and his name does not appear in the credits.
1995
- January 20 – Murder in the First (USA, The Wolper Organization)
- January 20 – Rough Diamonds (UK, Beyond Films)
- January 20 – S.F.W. (USA, Propaganda Films)
Rough Diamonds was released in the US on April 21, 1995.
To prepare for his role in Murder in the First, Kevin Bacon spent a night in solitary confinement and lost 20 pounds. Filming was interrupted on January 17, 1994 by the Sylmar earthquake and resumed two weeks later. Filming at Alcatraz Island had to be done at night as to not interrupt tourism during the day. More than 300 crew members had to be crammed into prison cells. Bacon received a SAG Award nomination for Supporting Actor.
Rough Diamonds was the first featured role for Jason Donovan. Craig McLachlan was originally cast but dropped out.
2005
- January 19 – Assault on Precinct 13 (USA, Rogue Pictures)
- January 20 – Hotel Rwanda (Singapore, Miracle Pictures)
- January 21 – A Love Song for Bobby Long (USA, Crossroads Films)
- January 21 – Are We There Yet? (USA, Revolution Studios)
Assault on Precinct 13 was a remake of John Carpenter’s 1976 film of the same name.
Hotel Rwanda received a limited US release on December 22, 2004 for awards consideration, and expanded nationwide on February 4, 2005. The film received three Oscar nominations including Best Actor for Don Cheadle and Best Supporting Actress for Sophie Okonedo. It also received one BAFTA nomination and three Golden Globe nominations.
Scarlett Johansson received her third Golden Globe nomination for A Love Song for Bobby Long.
2015
Forward Pass
- January 16 – Appropriate Behavior (USA/Canada, limited, Parkville Pictures)
- January 16 – Blackhat (USA, Forward Pass)
- January 16 – Little Accidents (USA, limited, Amplify)
- January 16 – Spare Parts (USA, limited, Brookwell-McNamara Entertainment)
- January 16 – Still Life (USA, limited, Redwave Films)
- January 16 – The Wedding Ringer (USA, Will Packer Productions)
- January 16 – Vice (USA, Emmett/Furla Oasis Films)
- January 20 – Veronika Decides to Die (USA, Das Films)
Still Life first opened in Italy on December 12, 2013. Veronika Decides to Die first opened in limited release in Brazil on August 21, 2009.
Blackhat, initially titled Cyber, was director Michael Mann’s first film shot entirely using digital cameras.