Argyle Enterprises
As March transitions into April and spring has sprung, we’re beginning to see quite a few more movies being released this week across the decades with several very notable movies on the list. A 1935 musical scored an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, a 1945 film gave its troubled star her first full musical role, a 1955 film saw a country couple head to Hawaii, a 1965 stage-to-screen musical did win the Best Picture Oscar and became an enduring classic, a 1975 film saw its director head back to familiar territory, a 1985 comedy reunited an inept police squad, a 1995 comic adaptation went on to become a cult classic, a 2005 comic adaptation remained true to its source, and a 2015 film reunited a pair of actors for the third time. Scroll down to see all of the films released this week over the last century, and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries.
1925
- March 28 – Old Shoes (USA, Peerless Pictures)
- March 28 – The Empty Saddle (USA, Lariat Productions)
- March 29 – A Broadway Butterfly (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)
- March 29 – Beauty and the Bad Man (USA, Peninsula Studios)
- March 29 – Head Winds (Universal Pictures)
- March 29 – Marriage in Transit (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
- March 29 – Sally (USA, First National Pictures)
- March 29 – Scar Hanan (USA, Ben Wilson Productions)
- March 29 – The Way of a Girl (USA, Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corporation)
- March 30 – Confessions of a Queen (USA, Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corporation)
- March 30 – Stop Flirting (USA, Christie Film Company)
- March 30 – The Dressmaker from Paris (USA, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation)
- March 30 – The Goose Hangs High (USA, Famous Players-Lasky Corporation)
- April – A Romance of Mayfair (UK, Stoll Picture Productions)
- April – The Presumption of Stanley Hay, MP (UK, Stoll Picture Productions)
- April – Winning a Woman (USA, Harry Webb Productions)
- April 1 – Duped (USA, Independent Pictures Corporation)
- April 2 – Super Speed (USA, Harry J. Brown Productions)
A Romance of Mayfair, and The Presumption of Stanley Hay, MP have no known US theatrical release dates.
Lost films: A Broadway Butterfly, Beauty and the Bad Man, Marriage in Transit, Sally, The Dressmaker from Paris, The Goose Hangs High
Status unknown: Old Shoes, The Empty Saddle, Scar Hanan, The Way of a Girl, Stop Flirting, A Romance of Mayfair, The Presumption of Stanley Hay, MP, Winning a Woman, Duped
Old Shoes was released in the UK on April 23, 1928. Prints of Head Winds exist in the George Eastman Museum Motion Picture Collection and UCLA Film and Television Archive. Sally was the second of five films in three years to star Colleen Moore and Lloyd Hughes. An incomplete print of Confessions of a Queen exists. The Goose Hangs High was remade with sound in 1932 as This Reckless Age. Duped was released in the UK as Steel and Gold. A print of Super Speed is located at the Library of Congress.
1935
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- March 28 – Traveling Saleslady (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)
- March 29 – George White’s 1935 Scandals (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
- March 29 – Mimi (UK, Associated British Picture Corporation)
- March 29 – Naughty Marietta (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
- March 30 – Circumstantial Evidence (USA, Chesterfield Motion Pictures Corporation)
- March 30 – The Florentine Dagger (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)
- April 1 – Born to Battle (USA, Reliable Pictures Corporation)
- April 1 – On Probation (USA, Peerless Pictures)
- April 1 – Princess O’Hara (USA, Universal Pictures)
- April 1 – Storm Over the Andes (USA, Universal Pictures)
- April 2 – Smokey Smith (USA, Supreme Pictures)
- April 2 – The Reckless Buckaroo (USA, Ray Kirkwood Productions)
Mimi was released in the US on January 9, 1936.
Traveling Saleslady is one of five films by Warner Bros. where Glenda Farrell and Joan Blondell were paired as two blonde bombshells. Blondell was married to the film’s cinematographer George Barnes at the time of filming.
George White’s 1935 Scandals was a follow-up to (but not a sequel to) the 1934 release, George White’s Scandals. Mimi is based on the 1851 novel La Vie de Bohème by Henri Murger.
Naughty Marietta was Oscar nominated for Best Picture, and it won the award for Best Sound Recording. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2003. The story for Princess O’Hara was reused for the Abbott & Costello movie It Ain’t Hay.
A separate Spanish version of Storm Over the Andes, titled Alas Sobre El Chaco, was produced with a different cast but the same director as the American version, Christy Cabanne. Smokey Smith was remade in 1950 as Crooked River.
1945
- March 28 – Between Two Women (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
- March 30 – Bring on the Girls (USA, Paramount Pictures)
- March 30 – The Great Flamarion (USA, Filmdom Productions)
- March 31 – Strange Illusion (USA, Producers Releasing Corporation)
- April – Keep Your Powder Dry (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
- April 1 – I’ll Remember April (USA, Universal Pictures)
- April 1 – Song of the Sarong (USA, Universal Pictures)
- April 2 – Identity Unknown (USA, Republic Pictures)
Between Two Women was the sixteenth film in the ‘Dr. Kildare’ series, and the fourteenth of fifteen appearances by Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Gillespie. It was also the last of four appearances by Van Johnson as Dr. Randall ‘Red’ Adams. The film originally had a plotline about twins, one of whom is pregnant, but the Hays Code rejected details about pregnancy and pregnancy tests so the plotline was eliminated and the script rewritten.
Bring on the Girls was the first proper musical for Veronica Lake, although she had sung in two previous films. This marked her return to acting after several months which saw her lose a child and get divorced. Dick Powell was originally cast as one of the two male leads, but he was replaced with Sonny Tufts. June Foray was the Voice of Parrot. Yvonne De Carlo has a small role as Hatcheck Girl.
The title song of I’ll Remember April made its debut in the 1942 film Ride ‘Em Cowboy and had become a jazz standard by 1945.
1955
- March 27 – Seven Angry Men (USA, Allied Artists Pictures)
- March 29 – Above Us the Waves (UK, J. Arthur Rank Organisation)
- March 29 – Cult of the Cobra (USA, Universal International Pictures)
- April – Chief Crazy Horse (USA, Universal International Pictures)
- April – Jump into Hell (USA, Warner Bros. Pictures)
- April – Jungle Moon Men (USA, Clover Productions)
- April – Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki (USA, Universal International Pictures)
- April – A Man Called Peter (USA, Twentieth Century Fox)
Above Us the Waves was released in the US on October 26, 1956.
Seven Angry Men was based on abolitionist John Brown, particularly his involvement in Bleeding Kansas and his leadership of the Raid on Harpers Ferry. The title refers to Brown and his six sons. Star Raymond Massey had previously portrayed Brown in 1940’s Santa Fe Trail and appeared on stage in John Brown’s Body. The film’s original title was John Brown’s Raiders.
Cult of the Cobra was released as a double feature with Revenge of the Creature. Mari Blanchard began filming, but after a few days was replaced with Faith Domergue.
Chief Crazy Horse, a fictionalized biography of Lakota Sioux Chief Crazy Horse, is also known as Valley of Fury. Jeff Chandler was originally announced as the lead, but the part went to Victor Mature instead. It was the final film of Suzan Ball, who died from cancer four months after its release.
Jungle Moon Men is the fifteenth ‘Jungle Jim’ film from Columbia Pictures, and stars Johnny Weissmuller in his second of three appearances as protagonist adventurer Johnny Weissmuller (he played Jungle Jim in the thirteen previous films). The Jungle Jim name was not used after the thirteenth film due to copyright issues. The film’s working title was simply Moon Men.
Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki was the seventh of ten installment of the ‘Ma and Pa Kettle’ series, and the last to feature Percy Kilbride as Pa Kettle, withdrawing from the series in 1953 after filming Ma and Pa Kettle Hit the Road, which was released in 1954 as Ma and Pa Kettle at Home. It was his last film role. Universal only released one Kettle movie a year, causing a backlog of unreleased films. Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki was filmed in February 1952 but not released until 1955, by which time the film’s producer, Leonard Goldstein, had died.
A Man Called Peter was based on the life of Peter Marshall, who served as Chaplain of the United States Senate and pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington DC. It was the last film for Jean Peters, who retired from acting (though she took some TV roles in the 1970s and 1980s, with her last performance on a 1988 episode of Murder, She Wrote). Alfred Newman reused much of his score from his 1948 film The Walls of Jericho. The film was Oscar nominated for its color cinematography.
1965
- March 29 – The Sound of Music (UK, Argyle Enterprises)
- March 31 – Taffy and the Jungle Hunter (USA, Zimbalist Company)
- March 31 – The Truth About Spring (USA, Quota Rentals Limited)
- April – The Sword of Ali Baba (USA, Universal Pictures)
- April 1 – The Naked Brigade (USA, Boxoffice Attractions Inc.)
The Sound of Music was released in the US on April 1, 1965 after a limited roadshow engagement that began on March 2. By 1966, The Sound of Music had become the highest grossing film of all time, and held the spot for five years. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2001. The real Maria von Trapp has a brief, uncredited cameo. The Sound of Music is based on her memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, which was adapted into the German film The Trapp Family and its sequel The Trapp Family in America. An English language version was to be produced by Paramount with Audrey Hepburn, but the studio dropped its option on the story. One of the studio’s directors then proposed the story as a stage musical for Mary Martin. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were approached to write one song, but felt their style did not mesh with the traditional Austrian music and offered to write a completely new score if the producers could wait while they finished Flower Drum Song. They were given as much time as they needed, and the musical opened on November 16, 1959. In June 1960, Twentieth Century-Fox purchased the film rights. Julie Andrews was the producer’s only choice for Maria. Director Robert Wise also had Grace Kelly and Shirley Jones on his wish list, but after paying a visit to Disney Studios to view footage from the yet to be released Mary Poppins, Wise told the producer to sign Andrews before someone else did. Andrews was concered about the amount of sweetness in the screenplay, but she learned Wise was as well so she signed on to the film. Bing Crosby, Yul Brynner, Sean Connery, and Richard Burton were among the actors considered for the Captain. Wise saw Christopher Plummer on Broadway and wanted him for the role, but the actor turned him down several times. After meeting with Wise in London and being assured he could help craft the character, Plummer agreed to the offer. Plummer, however, did not do his own singing. The film earned 10 Oscar nominations, winning five including Best Picture and Director. Andrews received a BAFTA nominations for Best British Actress, and the film earned four Golden Globe nominations, winning two including Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Best Actress.
The Truth About Spring is also known as The Pirates of Spring Cove and Miss Jude. It was the third film to star Hayley Mills and her father John Mills. The Sword of Ali Baba is a remake of 1944’s Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
1975
- March 27 – The True Story of Eskimo Nell (AUS, Quest Productions)
- March 27 – Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (UK, documentary, Goodtimes Enterprises)
- April – Deadly Strangers (UK, Silhouette Film Productions)
- April 1 – Smoke in the Wind (USA, Frontier Productions)
- April 2 – Supervixens (USA, September 19)
The True Story of Eskimo Nell and Deadly Strangers have no known US theatrical release dates. Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? was released in the US on August 6, 1975.
The True Story of Eskimo Nell is not to be confused with the 1975 UK film Eskimo Nell, which was retitled The Sexy Saga of Naughty Nell and Big Dick in Australia. The True Story of Eskimo Nell was retitled Dick Down Under in the UK. Both films were inspired by the bawdy Ballad of Eskimo Nell, which had been banned in Australia. The film featured large amounts of full frontal nudity. A scene filmed in Canada involving a pursuit on ice floes, an homage to the 1920 silent film Way Down East, was almost entirely re-shot in Melbourne, Australia.
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? was Golden Globe nominated for Best Documentary Film. Deadly Strangers is also known as Silhouettes.
Smoke in the Wind featured Walter Brennan’s final film performance as he died six months before the film’s release. The film was shot on location in Winslow, Arkansas. Brennan agreed to do the film if his son Andy was the director. John Ashley agreed to be in the film only if Brennan was in it, and if the producers couldn’t get him, Ashley would walk away. Andy Brennan was having a hard time directing and was replaced with Joe Kane, but Walter remained even though he was ill with emphysema at the time. Ashley spent as much time with Brennan as he could, saying he would have paid them or worked for free just to work with Walter Brennan. Ashley was not happy he received top billing over Brennan.
Russ Meyer wrote the first draft for Supervixens in eight days, the first film he wrote totally himself. He then rewrote it nine times with input from the actors. Charles Napier had appeared in several Meyer films but had quit acting to become a journalist for a trucking magazine. Meyer coaxed him out of retirement to do the film. The film’s official budget was $400,000, but Meyer said he deliberately inflated the figure.
1985
- March 28 – Not Quite Jerusalem (UK, Acorn Pictures)
- March 29 – King David (USA, Paramount Pictures)
- March 29 – Morons from Outer Space (UK, Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment)
- March 29 – Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (USA, The Ladd Company)
- March 29 – The Slugger’s Wife (USA, Rastar Films)
Not Quite Jerusalem was released in the US on June 6, 1986 as Not Quite Paradise. Morons from Outer Space was released in the US on September 20, 1985.
According to one of the writers of King David, Paramount was interested in the story because of its parallels to Star Wars, with David as Luke Skywalker and Samuel as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Director Bruce Beresford wanted to cast Jack Thompson as Saul, but the producers wanted Sean Connery. Connery wanted too much money so Edward Woodward was cast. The producer chose Richard Gere for the lead, while Beresford wanted an unknown and Gere was forced on him. He knew audiences would think Gere was ridiculous but he couldn’t walk off the film, knowing he’d never work in Hollywood again if he did. Gere knew Beresford wanted to replace him and that caused friction on the set, so Beresford did what he wanted to do in scenes in which Gere did not appear, and Gere did what he wanted to do in his scenes.
The release of Morons from Outer Space caused Mel Brooks to retitle a film he was working on from Planet Moron to Spaceballs. Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment is the only film of the franchise to not feature Leslie Easterbrook as Callahan. The Slugger’s Wife received a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Song, ‘Oh, Jimmy!’
1995
United Artists
- March 31 – Born to Be Wild (USA, Outlaw Productions)
- March 31 – Bulletproof Heart (USA, Keystone Film Company)
- March 31 – Funny Bones (USA, Hollywood Pictures)
- March 31 – Jefferson in Paris (USA, Merchant Ivory Productions)
- March 31 – Tank Girl (USA, United Artists)
- March 31 – Tommy Boy (USA, Broadway Pictures)
The original title of Jefferson in Paris was Head and Heart. The film was shot on location in Paris, at the Desert de Retz and the Palace of Versailles. Gwyneth Paltrow studied the harpsichord for the film, but her playing was dubbed. This was the first film to portray Jefferson’s enslaved maid Sally Hemmings, and implies the sexual relationship between the two.
Tank Girl filmed primarily in White Sands, New Mexico and Tucson, Arizona. The Liquid Silver club set was built in an abandoned shopping mall in Tucson. Courtney Love assembled the film’s highly praised soundtrack, and Stan Winston headed the special effects makeup team. Winston’s studio was so excited about the project, they cut their fee in half to meet the film’s budget. According to director Rachel Talalay, two or three of the Spice Girls met while waiting in line for an audition. Video of the event shows Victoria Beckham and Geri Halliwell standing next to each other, but Talalay later confirmed the audition was just a publicity stunt arranged by MGM. Talalay wanted to hire Emily Lloyd for the lead, but then fired her after she refused to cut her hair for the role. Lloyd disputes this and says Talalay was angry that she was staying at the same hotel as screenwriter Tedi Sarafian and did not know why Talalay became angry with both of them, and said she was fired for rescheduling her hair appointment. Lori Petty was then cast because, according to Talalay, she was ‘crazy in her own life’ and the role needed someone like that. Malcolm McDowall was on the wish list for actors for the film, and Talalay never dreamed MGM would contact him. McDowall had an enjoyable experience on the film and compared it to A Clockwork Orange. Several people wanted cameos in the film but Talalay did not want it to become overburdened with famous faces, settling on just Iggy Pop as Rat Face and Björk as Sub Girl. She later dropped out and the role was given to Ann Cusack.
Tommy Boy was filmed in Toronto and Los Angeles under the working title Rocky Road. Bo Derek received a Razzi nomination for Worst Supporting Actress.
2005
Troublemaker Studios
- March 30 – A Stranger in My Homeland (AUS, documentary, Zimbabwean Film)
- March 30 – Beauty Shop (USA, State Street Pictures)
- April 1 – Sin City (USA, Troublemaker Studios)
- April 1 – The Upside of Anger (USA, Media 8 Entertainment)
A Stranger in My Homeland has no known US theatrical release date.
Beauty Shop is a spin-off of the Barbershop film series. Queen Latifah’s character Gina Norris was first introduced in Barbershop 2: Back in Business.
Much of Sin City is based on the first, third, and fourth books in Frank Miller’s original comic series of the same name. There is no screenwriting credit as director Robert Rodriguez considers the film a translation of Miller’s comics. The intro and outro of the film are based on the short story ‘The Customer is Always Right’ which is collected in Booze, Broads & Bullets, the sixth book in the comic series. Miller has a cameo as a priest, and Rodriguez makes a cameo appearance as a member of the SWAT team. Several scenes were filmed before any actors were cast, with stand-ins replaced digitally once the actors were cast. Rodriguez wanted directing credits for himself, Miller and Quentin Tarantino (who directed the drive-to-the-pits scene in which Dwight talks with a dead Jack Rafferty). Miller and Rodriguez worked as a team for the rest of the film, but the Directors Guild refused to allow two directors that were not an established team to be credited, especially since Miller had never directed before. Rodriguez wanted to give Miller full credit but Miller would not allow him to do that, and since Rodriguez didn’t want full credit he resigned from the DGA so the joint credit could remain.
The screenplay for The Upside of Anger was written specifically for Joan Allen, but was rejected by many studios specifically because of Allen’s casting, which has never been explained. Studios only became interested when Kevin Costner came on board. Costner’s character, Denny Davies, is believed to be based on Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain.
2015
- March 27 – Get Hard (USA, Gary Sanchez Productions)
- March 27 – Home (USA, DreamWorks Animation)
- March 27 – Serena (USA, 2929 Productions)
- April 2 – While We’re Young (Singapore)
- April 2 – Woman in Gold (Israel, Origin Pictures)
Serena first opened in the UK on October 24, 2014. While We’re Young first opened in the US in a limited release on March 27, 2015, and expanded on April 17. Woman in Gold first opened in the US in a limited release on April 1, 2015, expanding wider on April 10.
Get Hard is the directorial debut of Etan Cohen. Some perceived the film to be playing into racial stereotypes, and during some scenes Cohen asked star Kevin Hart for his opinion on how some jokes would be perceived by African American audiences, making changes accordingly. The director and studio also did extensive test screenings to make sure the humor came across well. While there were little negative reactions to the racial humor, the film was criticized for its gay panic jokes and homophobia.
Home is based on Adam Rex’s 2007 children’s book The True Meaning of Smekday. The film was promoted with the release of a four-minute short film titled Almost Home, which was shown in theaters before Mr. Peabody & Sherman and Rio 2 in 2014. Production on the film was announced on June 20, 2012 with the title Happy Smekday! The title was changed to Home in June 2013. Rihanna, who had a major voice role in the film, also created a concept album also titled Home to tie in with the movie. The film received three Annie Awards nominations and two People’s Choice Awards nominations.
Serena starred Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, and was directed by Susanne Bier. The film was originally to be directed by Darren Aronofsky, with Angelina Jolie in the title role. Bier replaced Aronofsky and cast Lawrence instead. Lawrence recommended Cooper as her co-star since she had worked with him on Silver Linings Playbook, and had talked about working together in the future. This became the third project to star the pair.
Woman in Gold marked the second time Helen Mirren and Katie Holmes had starred in a film together, following 1999’s Teaching Mrs. Tingle. Mirren received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.