Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #284 :: January 1•7

Happy New Year! It’s a new year with a new format, highlighting cast and crew for each film as well as just a bit of interesting trivia for many of the titles. We’re streamlining things here as we prepare to launch a new podcast, where we’ll be able to go more in depth with some of the more notable titles, so stay tuned for that! So scroll down and check out all the films that were released in the first week of the new year across the decades, and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating milestone anniversaries. We hope you enjoy the new format! Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

1926  •  1936  •  1946  •  1956  •  1966  •  1976  •  1986  •  1996  •  2006  •  2016

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1926

1926 – A Woman of the Sea (USA, Chaplin Film Company)

• Cast: Norma Talmadge, Gilbert Roland, Lilyan Tashman, Rose Dione, Oscar Beregi, Sr.
• Director: Fred Niblo
• Trivia: An incomplete 35mm positive print exists in the Raymond Rohauer collection of the Cohen Media Group

January – Fort Frayne (USA, Ben Wilson Productions)

• Cast: Ben F. Wilson, Neva Gerber, Ruth Royce, Bill Patton, Lafe McKee
• Director: Ben F. Wilson
• Trivia: The film is considered lost.

January – The Hollywood Reporter (USA, Hercules Film Productions)

• Cast: Frank Merrill, Charles K. French, Peggy Montgomery, William T. Hayes, Jack Richardson, Violet Schram
• Director: Bruce Mitchell

January – The Phantom of the Forest (USA, Gotham Productions)

• Cast: Thunder the Dog, Betty Francisco, Eddie Phillips, Jim Mason
• Director: Henry McCarty
• Trivia: Prints of the film are located in the Library of Congress and BFI National Archive.

January – The Wives of the Prophet (USA, J. A. Fitzgerald Productions)

• Cast: Orville Caldwell, Alice Lake, Violet Mersereau, Harlan Knight, Ruth Stonehouse
• Director: James A. Fitzgerald

January 1 – Stop, Look and Listen (USA, Larry Semon Productions)

• Cast: Larry Semon, Dorothy Dwan, Mary Carr, William Gillespie, Lionel Belmore
• Director: Larry Semon
• Trivia: Oliver Hardy appears in the film credited as Babe Hardy. The film was thought lost but in 2020 ten minutes of footage and the final reel were recovered and assembled into a 43 minute print.

January 2 – The Roaring Rider (USA, Action Pictures)

• Cast: Jay Wilsey, Jean Arthur, Frank Ellis, Bert Lindley, Slim Whitaker
• Director: Richard Thorpe
• Trivia: A print survives in the UCLA Film and Television Archives.

January 3 – Hearts and Fists (USA, H.C. Weaver Productions)

• Cast: John Bowers, Marguerite De La Motte, Alan Hale, Dan Mason, Jack Curtis
• Director: Lloyd Ingraham

January 3 – The Gilded Butterfly (USA, Fox Film Corporation)

• Cast: Alma Rubens, Bert Lytell, Huntley Gordon, Frank Keenan, Herbert Rawlinson, Vera Lewis, Arthur Hoyt
• Director: John Griffith Wray
• Trivia: The film is considered lost.

January 3 – The Little Giant (USA, Universal Pictures)

• Cast: Glenn Hunter, Edna Murphy, James Bradbury Jr., Leonard Meeker, Tom McGuire, Dodson Mitchell
• Director: William Nigh

January 3 – Too Much Money (USA, First National Pictures)

• Cast: Lewis Stone, Anna Q. Nilsson, Robert Cain, Derek Glynne, Edward Elkas, Ann Brody
• Director: John Francis Dillon
• Trivia: The film is considered lost.

January 4 – Dance Madness (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

• Cast: Conrad Nagel, Claire Windsor, Hedda Hopper, Douglas Gilmore, Mario Carillo
• Director: Robert Z. Leonard
• Trivia: The film is considered lost.

January 5 – Walloping Kid (USA, Robert J. Horner Productions)

• Cast: William Barrymore, Jack Richardson, Dorothy Ward, Frank Whitson, Al Kaufman
• Director: Robert J. Horner

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1936

January – It’s Up to You (USA, Raphael G. Wolff Studios)

• Cast: Erville Alderson, Betty Blythe, James P. Burtis, Frank Craven, Maxine Doyle
• Director: Christy Cabanne

January – Limelight (UK, Herbert Wilcox Productions)

• Cast: Arthur Tracy, Anna Neagle, Jane Winton, Ellis Jeffreys, Muriel George
• Director: Herbert Wilcox
• Trivia: Limelight was released in the US on June 25, 1937 as Backstage.

January – Step on It (USA, Reliable Pictures Corporation)

• Cast: Richard Talmadge, Lois Wilde, Roger Williams, George Walsh
• Director: Harry S. Webb

January 2 – Desert Guns (USA, Black King Productions Inc.)

• Cast: Conway Tearle, Margaret Morris, William Gould, Budd Buster
• Director: Charles Hutchison

January 3 – King of Burlesque (USA, 20th Century Fox)

• Cast: Warner Baxter, Alice Faye, Jack Oakie, Mona Barrie, Arline Judge, Fats Waller
• Director: Sidney Lanfield
• Trivia: Sammy Lee received an Academy Award nomination for the now dead category of Best Dance Direction.

January 3 – Riffraff (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

• Cast: Jean Harlow, Spencer Tracy, Una Merkel, Joseph Calleia, Victor Kilian, Mickey Rooney
• Director: J. Walter Ruben
• Trivia: 40 elderly or frail female extras sustained serious injuries during a simulated rain sequence, with the crew being found understaffed and unable to provide supplies to keep the extras warm and dry.

January 3 – Ticket of Leave (London, British & Dominions Film Corporation)

• Cast: Dorothy Boyd, John Clements, George Merritt, Wally Patch, Molly Hamley-Clifford
• Director: Michael Hankinson
• Trivia: This quota quickie entered wide UK release on May 25, 1936, and made its US debut on television in Atlanta on August 15, 1949.

January 4 – Dangerous Intrigue (USA, Columbia Pictures)

• Cast: Ralph Bellamy, Gloria Shea, Joan Perry, Fred Kohler
• Director: David Selman

January 5 – Skull and Crown (USA, Reliable Pictures Corporation)

• Cast: Rin Tin Tin Jr., Regis Toomey, Jack Mulhall, Molly O’Day, Jack Mower
• Director: Elmer Clifton
• Trivia: This was the last film of Molly O’Day before she retired from acting. She died October 15, 1998, one day before her 89th birthday.

January 7 – Jury’s Evidence (London, British Lion Film Corporation)

• Cast: Hartley Power, Margaret Lockwood, Nora Swinburne, Sebastian Shaw
• Director: Ralph Ince
• Trivia: The film went into general release in the UK on June 29, 1936, but has no known US theatrical release date.

January 7 – Night Cargo (USA, Peerless Pictures)

• Cast: Lloyd Hughes, Julie Bishop, Walter Miller, Carlotta Monti, Lloyd Whitlock
• Director: Charles Hutchison
• Trivia: This was the final film produced by Peerless Pictures.

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1946

1946 – Beale Street Mama (USA, Hollywood Pictures Corporation)

• Cast: July Jones, Spencer Williams, Rosalie Larrimore
• Director: Spencer Williams
• Trivia: The film is named after the popular 1923 song of the same name. The film was never copyrighted, so it is in the public domain.

1946 – Hollywood Bound (USA, Astor Pictures)

• Cast: Betty Grable
• Dirctors: Sam White, Alf Goulding, Leigh Jason
• Trivia: The film is a compilation of short films made by Grable a decade earlier: Ferry-Go-Round (1934), A Night at the Biltmore Bowl (1935) and The Spirit of 1976 (1935).

1946 – Mantan Messes Up (USA, Lucky Star Productions)

• Cast: Mantan Moreland, Monte Hawley, Jo Rhetta, Doryce Bradley, Lola Carrington
• Director: Sam Newfeld
• Trivia: The film was advertised as having an ‘All Colored Cast’. Footage of Lena Horne and Nina Mae McKInney may have been taken from an early film.

1946 – Midnight Menace (USA, short, All-American News-Al Sack)

• Cast: Sybil Lewis, Lollypop Jones, George Wiltshire
• Director: Josh Binney
• Trivia: The musical short features songs by Fats Waller and Andy Razaf. The film was advertised as having an ‘All Colored Cast”.

1946 – One World or None (USA, short, Philip Ragan Productions)

• Cast: Raymond Swing (narrator)
• Director: Philip Ragan
• Trivia: Made just months after the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is considered the first postwar ‘atomic scare’ film.

1946 – Seeds of Destiny (USA, short, United States Army Signal Corps)

• Cast: Ralph Bellamy (narrator)
• Director: David Miller
• Trivia: Winner of the Best Documentary Short Subject Oscar.

1946 – Special Delivery (USA, short, U.S. Army Air Forces)

• Trivia: There is no information available listing a narrator or director.

1946 – A Tale of Two Cities (USA, short, Army-Navy Screen Magazine)

• Cast: Harry S. Truman
• Director: Unknown

1946 – Tall, Tan, and Terrific (USA, short, Astor Pictures Corporation)

• Cast: Mantan Moreland, Monte Hawley, Francine Everett, Dots Johnson, Rudy Toombs
• Director: Bud Pollard

1946 – That Man of Mine (USA, Alexander Productions-Associated Producers of Negro Motion Pictures Inc.)

• Cast: Ruby Dee, Harrel Tillman, Powell Lindsay, Tommie Moore, Flo Hawkins
• Director: Leonard Anderson
• Trivia: Performances in the film by the all-girl group The International Sweethearts of Rhythm were released separately as ‘Soundies’, the equivalent of today’s music videos.

January 2 – Strangler of the Swamp (USA, Producers Releasing Corporation)

• Cast: Rosemary La Planche, Robert Barrat, Blake Edwards, Charles Middleton
• Director: Frank Wisbar
• Trivia: The film is a remake of director Wisbar’s 1936 German film, Fährmann Maria.

January 4 – The Fighting Guardsman (USA, Columbia Pictures)

• Cast: Willard Parker, Anita Louise, Janis Carter, John Loder, Edgar Buchanan, Shelley Winters
• Director: Henry Levin
• Trivia: The film was Willard Parker’s first lead role, making the film upon his return from Army duty.

January 5 – Book Revue (USA, short, Warner Bros. Pictures)

• Voice Cast: Sara Berner, Mel Blanc, Bea Benaderet
• Director: Robert Clampett
• Trivia: The animated short is a semi-remake of Clampett’s 1941 short, A Coy Decoy.

January 7 – Lightning Raiders (USA, Sigmund Neufeld Productions)

• Cast: Buster Crabbe, Al St. John, Steve Darrell, I. Stanford Jolley, Karl Hackett
• Director: Sam Newfield
• Trivia: This is the 30th of 36 ‘Billy the Kid’ movies starring Buster Crabbe.

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1956

1956 – Assignment: Venezuela (USA, short, Creole Petroleum Corporation)

• Director: John H. ‘Jack’ Tobin
• Trivia: The short is a fictional travelogue designed to promote working in the oil industry in Venezuela. It was spoofed by Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the 1990s for CD-ROM content.

1956 – Basin Street Revue (USA, short, Studio Films)

• Cast: Willie Bryant, Sarah Vaughan, Lionel Hampton, Paul Williams, Charles ‘Honi’ Coles, Cab Calloway
• Directors: Joseph Kohn, Leonard Reed

1956 – A City Decides (USA, short, Charles Guggenheim & Associates for the Fund for the Republic)

• Director: Charles Guggenheim
• Trivia: Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

1956 – A Desk for Billie (USA, short, Agrafilms)

• Cast: Nancy Pinet, Joan Lundy, A. Carroll Edwards, Verna Brown
• Director: Irving Rusinow
• Trivia: The film won a Golden Reel Award in the Education category at the Fourth Annual American Film Assembly.

1956 – Disneyland Dream (USA, short, BTA Films & Video)

• Cast: Robbins Barstow, Meg Barstow, Mary Barstow, David Barstow, Daniel Barstow
• Director: Robbins Barstow
• Trivia: The short is a home movie made by the Barstow family during a free trip to the newly-opened Disneyland. Steve Martin worked at the park as a teenager, and can be seen about 20 minutes into the film selling programs. The short was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2008.

1956 – The House Without a Name (USA, short, Universal International Pictures)

• Cast: Raymond Burr, Marilyn Hare
• Director: Joe Parker
• Trivia: Oscar-nominated for Best Documentary Short.

1956 – The Naked Eye (USA, documentary, Camera Eye Pictures Inc.)

• Cast: Raymond Massey (narrator), Edward Weston
• Director: Louis Clyde Stoumen
• Trivia: Ocar-nominated for Best Documentary Feature.

1956 – Once Upon a Honeymoon (USA, short, Jerry Fairbanks Productions)

• Cast: Virginia Gibson, Ward Ellis, Chick Chandler, Alan Mowbray, Veronica Pataky, Russell Hicks
• Director: Gower Champion
• Trivia: The film was sponsored by Bell Telephone to promote its new line of colorful telephones for the home. The short was featured on a 1996 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

1956 – The Violent Years (USA, Dél Productions)

• Cast: Jean Moorhead, I. Stanford Jolley, Barbara Weeks, Timothy Farrell
• Director: William Morgan
• Trivia: An uncredited Ed Wood wrote the screenplay, originally titled Teenage Girl Gang. Star Jean Moorhead was the Playboy Playmate for October 1955.

1956 – Your Safety First (USA, short, John Sutherland Productions)

• Voice Cast: Marvin Miller, George O’Hanlon
• Director: George Gordon
• Trivia: Set in the year 2000, the short’s look at the history of the automobile, and improvements to comfort, performance and safety, three-hour work days, flying cars, and robotic assistants heavily influenced The Jetsons.

January – Inside Detroit (USA, Clover Productions)

• Cast: Dennis O’Keefe, Pat O’Brien, Tina Carver, Margaret Field, Mark Damon, Joe Turkel
• Director: Fred F. Sears
• Trivia: The film is loosely adapted from the true tale of the Reuther brothers.

January – Johnny, You’re Wanted (UK, George Maynard Productions)

• Cast: John Slater, Alfred Marks, Garry Marsh, Joan Rhodes
• Director: Vernon Sewell
• Trivia: The film has no known US theatrical release date.

January – The Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn (UK, short, Marlborough Pictures)

• Cast: Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Dick Emery
• Director: Joseph Sterling
• Trivia: The short was released in the US on July 30, 1962. The film is also known as Gone Goon.

January – Three Bad Sisters (USA, Bel-Air Productions)

• Cast: Marla English, Kathleen Hughes, Sara Shane, John Bromfield, Jess Barker, Madge Kennedy, Anthony George
• Director: Gilbert Kay

January 2 – Laughing in the Sunshine (UK, Logardt-Film)

• Cast: Jane Hylton, Bengt Logardt, Adolf Jahr, Jean Anderson, Peter Dyneley, Marjorie Fielding
• Director: Daniel Birt
• Trivia: The British-Swedish co-production has no known US theatrical release date.

January 5 – Glory (UK, David Butler Productions)

• Cast: Margaret O’Brien, Walter Brennan, Charlotte Greenwood, John Lupton, Byron Palmer
• Director: David Butler
• Trivia: The film was released in the US on January 11, 1956.

January 5 – Husbands Beware (USA, short, Columbia Pictures)

• Cast: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Shemp Howard, Lou Leonard, Maxine Gates
• Director: Jules White
• Trivia: 167th of 190 Three Stooges films released by Columbia Pictures. The second half of Husbands Beware is stock footage from 1947’s Brideless Groom, with a double standing in for Dee Green in the new footage. The film was released following the death of Shemp Howard on November 22, 1955.

January 6 – Flame of the Islands (USA, Republic Pictures)

• Cast: Yvonne De Carlo, Howard Duff, Zachary Scott, Kurt Kasznar, Barbara O’Neil, James Arness
• Director: Edward Ludwig
• Trivia: The film was shot on location in the Bahamas in Trucolor.

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1966

1966 – 1:42.08 (USA, short, George Lucas)

• Cast: Pete Brock
• Director: George Lucas
• Trivia: George Lucas’s 1966 senior project at the University of Southern California.

1966 – Afro-American Work Songs in a Texas Prison (USA, short, Toshi Seeger)

• Director: Toshi Seeger
• Trivia: The film has been archived and preserved by the Library of Congress.

1966 – Castro Street (USA, short, Canyon Cinema)

• Director: Bruce Baillie
• Trivia: Selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1992. The Academy Film Archive preserved Castro Street in 2000.

1966 – Chafed Elbows (USA, Goosedown Productions)

• Cast: George Morgan, Elsie Downey, Lawrence Wolf
• Director: Robert Downey Sr.
• Trivia: Downey photographed the movie with a 35mm still camera, and had the film processed at Walgreens. All 13 of the female roles were played by Elsie Downey, Robert Downey’s wife.

1966 – Cicero March (USA, short, NewenhouseNovo)

• Director: Robert Lucas
• Trivia: The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2013.

1966 – Cowboy (USA, short, U.S. Information Agency)

• Director: Michael Ahnemann
• Trivia: Oscar-nominated for Best Documentary Short.

1966 – Eating Too Fast (USA, The Factory)

• Cast: Gregory Battcock
• Director: Andy Warhol
• Trivia: Originally titled Blow Job #2, it is essentially a sound remake of 1964’s Blow Job.

1966 – Hold Me While I’m Naked (USA, George Kuchar)

• Cast: George Kuchar, Donna Kerness, Stella Kuchar, Andrea Lunin
• Director: George Kuchar
• Trivia: The most popular of Kuchar’s more than 200 films, it was voted 52nd in Village Voice’s Critics’ Poll of the 100 Best Films of the 20th Century.

1966 – Mondo Keyhole (USA, Lamb-Garden)

• Cast: Nick Moriarty, Adele Rein, Cathy Crowfoot, Carol Baughman, Christopher Winters
• Directors: Jack Hill, John Lamb
• Trivia: Jack Hill’s directorial debut.

1966 – Salvador Dalí (USA, short, The Factory)

• Cast: Salvador Dalí, The Velvet Underground
• Director: Andy Warhol

1966 – Since (USA, The Factory)

• Cast: Ondine, Mary Woronov, Gerard Malanga, Ronnie Cutrone, Ingrid Superstar, International Velvet, Richard Rheem
• Director: Andy Warhol
• Trivia: The film is also known as Kennedy’s Assassination. At 67 minutes long, the film has been described as ‘unfinished’.

1966 – The Three Sisters (USA, Commonwealth United Entertainment-The Actors Studio)

• Cast: Geraldine Page, Shelley Winters, Kim Stanley, Sandy Dennis, Kevin McCarthy, James Olson, Robert Loggia
• Director: Paul Bogart

1966 – The Wild World of Batwoman (USA, ADP Productions)

• Cast: Katherine Victor, Steve Brodie, Steve Conte, Bruno VeSota, Bob Arbogast
• Director: Jerry Warren
• Trivia: The film is the first English-language motion picture with a female superhero, and the last until the release of Supergirl in 1984. After Warren was sued for copyright infringement, which he won, he re-released the film as She Was a Hippy Vampire after the popularity of the Batman TV series died down.

1966 – A Year Toward Tomorrow (USA, short, Sun Dial Films)

• Cast: Paul Newman (narrator)
• Director: Edmond Levy
• Trivia: Oscar winner for Best Documentary Short Subject.

January – Naked Evil (UK, Protelco)

• Cast: Basil Dignam, Anthony Ainley, Richard Coleman, Suzanne Neve, Olaf Pooley
• Director: Stanley Goulder
• Trivia: The film opened in the US on May 25, 1973. The US version was tinted so it appeared to be in color. It was shown on television in the US as Exorcism at Midnight, with a full color sequence featuring an American cast.

January – Ride Beyond Vengeance (USA, Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions)

• Cast: Chuck Connors, Michael Rennie, Kathryn Hays, Joan Blondell, Gloria Grahame, Gary Merrill, Bill Bixby, Claude Akins
• Director: Bernard McEveety
• Trivia: Producers Mark Goodson and Bill Todman were better known as TV game show producers. Alternate titles include Night of the Tiger, The Tiger Wore Guns (working title), and You Can’t Ever Go Home Again (working title).

January – Sky West and Crooked (UK, John Mills Productions)

• Cast: Hayley Mills, Ian McShane, Annette Crosbie, Laurence Naismith, Geoffrey Bayldon
• Director: John Mills
• Trivia: The film was released in the US in July 1966 as Gypsy Girl. It is also known as Bats with Baby Faces.

January 1 – Nashville Rebel (USA, Fred A. Niles Productions)

• Cast: Waylon Jennings, Mary Frann, Tex Ritter, Sonny James, Loretta Lynn, Porter Wagoner
• Director: Jay J. Sheridan
• Trivia: The film is the only one to feature Waylon Jennings in a lead character role. The other musicians and actors in the film play themselves including Faron Young, Henny Youngman, Chet Atkins, Archie Campbell, Ralph Emery, and The Country Gentlemen.

January 2 – Dracula: Prince of Darkness (London, Hammer Films)

• Cast: Christopher Lee, Francis Matthews, Andrew Keir, Philip Latham, Suzan Farmer, Barbara Shelley
• Director: Terence Fisher
• Trivia: The film’s UK wide release began on January 9, 1966, with a US release on January 12. Star Lee long stated he didn’t speak in the film because he felt the dialogue was awful, while screenwriter Jimmy Sangster claimed he never wrote dialogue for Dracula because ‘vampires don’t chat.’

January 2 – The Plague of the Zombies (UK, Hammer Films)

• Cast: André Morell, Diane Clare, Brook Williams, Jacqueline Pearce, John Carson, Michael Ripper
• Director: John Gilling
• Trivia: The film’s UK wide release began on January 9, 1966, with a US release on January 12. The film was shot back-to-back with The Reptile (1966) using the same sets. Pearce and Ripper appeared in both films.

January 5 – 7 Women (USA, limited, John Ford Productions)

• Cast: Anne Bancroft, Sue Lyon, Margaret Leighton, Flora Robson, Mildred Dunnock, Betty Field, Anna Lee, Eddie Albert, Woody Strode
• Director: John Ford
• Trivia: This was the last feature film directed by Ford, ending a 53 year career.

January 5 – Agent for H.A.R.M. (USA, Dimension VI)

• Cast: Mark Richman, Carl Esmond, Barbara Bouchet, Martin Kosleck, Wendell Corey, Robert Quarry, Rafael Campos
• Director: Gerd Oswald
• Trivia: The film was originally intended to be a TV movie pilot for a new spy series before the decision was made to release it theatrically.

January 5 – The Alphabet Murders (France, Lawrence P. Bachmann Productions)

• Cast: Tony Randall, Anita Ekberg, Robert Morley, Maurice Denham, Guy Rolfe, Sheila Allen, James Villiers, Julian Glover
• Director: Frank Tashlin
• Trivia: The film first opened in Denmark on December 26, 1965, and opened in the US on May 17, 1966. It is also known as ABC Murders, and is based on the 1936 Agatha Christie novel, The A.B.C. Murders. Margaret Rutherford, who played Miss Marple in a series of four Marple films, has an uncredited cameo as Marple.

January 5 – Wild Wild Winter (USA, Universal Pictures)

• Cast: Gary Clarke, Chris Noel, Steve Franken, Val Avery, James Frawley
• Director: Lennie Weinrib
• Trivia: The film was originally titled Snow Ball, then Snowbound. It is one of only three films directed by Weinrib. Jay and the Americans and the duo of Dick and Dee Dee appear in their only film performances. The Beau Brummels, Jackie & Gayle, and The Astronauts also perform onscreen.

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1976

1976 – The Chicago Maternity Center Story (USA, documentary, Kartemquin Films)

• Directors: Gordon Quinn, Jerry Blumenthal

1976 – Deportee (USA, Sharron Miller)

• Cast: Andrew Stevens, Leslie Paxton, Sam Gilman
• Director: Sharron Miller

1976 – Edith’s Shopping Bag (USA, documentary, Magic Vidoe Softmachine)

• Cast: Edith Massey, John Waters, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce, Vincent Peranio, Paul Swift, Ed Peranio
• Directors: Laurel Douglas, Peter Koper, Charlie Ludlow

1976 – Free Wheelin’ (USA, documentary, Cinecraft Productions)

• Director: William Buckley
• Trivia: B.F. Goodrich sponsored the film as a promotional tool to push its involvement in the ever-growing van scene. The film has various running times in order to play as a short, a trailer, or a feature.

1976 – Universe (USA, documentary, NASA)

• Cast: William Shatner (narrator)
• Director: Lester Novros
• Trivia: Oscar-nominated for Best Documentary Short.

1976 – Unmade Beds (USA, Amos Poe)

• Cast: Duncan Hannah, Eric Mitchell, Patti Astor, Debbie Harry, Kitty Sondern
• Director: Amos Poe

1976 – The Yum-Yum Girls (USA, Cinema 405)

• Cast: Michelle Daw, Harlan Cary Poe, Barbara Ackerman, Tanya Roberts, Judy Landers, James Rebhorn
• Director: Barry Rosen

January 1 – End Play (AUS, Hexagon Productions)

• Cast: George Mallaby, John Waters, Ken Goodlet, Delvene Delaney, Charles Tingwell, Belinda Giblin
• Director: Tim Burstall
• Trivia: The film has no known US theatrical release date. It was an adaptation of the 1972 novel End Play by Russell Braddon, with the setting changed from England to Australia.

January 1 – One Away (UK, Silhouette Film Productions)

• Cast: Patrick Mower, Bradford Dillman, Elke Sommer, Dean Stockwell
• Director: Sydney Hayers
• Trivia: Based on the novel of the same name by Allan Prior, who also wrote the screenplay.

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1986

January 1 – The Adventures of Mark Twain (AUS, Will Vinton Studios)

• Voice Cast: James Whitmore, Michele Mariana, Gary Krug, Chris Ritchie
• Director: Will Vinton
• Trivia: The film first opened in the US on March 1, 1985. The film was released in the UK as Comet Quest. It tested well with teens and college student, but the distributor chose to market it to children with a G-rating, hurting it at the box office.

January 3 – Head Office (USA, HBO Pictures)

• Cast: Judge Reinhold, Lori-Nan Engler, Eddie Albert, Richard Masur, Merritt Butrick, Jane Seymour, Rick Moranis, Danny DeVito
• Director: Ken Finkleman
• Trivia: This is the second film to include a score by James Newton Howard.

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1996

• No new films were released this week in 1996.

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2006

2006 – Gene-X (AUS, NAFA Productions)

• Cast: Patrick Magee, Ayşe Tezel, Peter Astridge, Gerry Sont
• Director: Martin Simpson
• Trivia: The film has no known US theatrical release date.

2006 – Tan Lines (AUS, Ed Aldridge)

• Cast: Jack Baxter, Christian Willis, Justin Smith
• Director: Ed Aldridge
• Trivia: The film debuted on DVD in the US on July 24, 2007.

January 4 – Colour Me Kubrick: A True…ish Story (France, Colour Me K Productions Limited)

• Cast: John Malkovich, Burn Gorman, Leslie Phillips, Honor Blackman, Luke Mably, Maynard Eziashi, Enzo Cilenti, Richard E. Grant, Marisa Berenson, Ken Russell
• Director: Brian Cook
• Trivia: The film opened in limited release in the US on March 23, 2007 as Colour Me Kubrick. The film marks Cook’s debut as a director.

January 5 – The Thief Lord (Germany, Thema Production)

• Cast: Aaron Johnson, Jasper Harris, Alice Connor, Rollo Weeks, George MacKay, Caroline Goodall, Alexei Sayle
• Director: Richard Claus
• Trivia: The film opened in the US on March 14, 2006. The German title is Herr der Diebe.

January 6 – BloodRayne (USA, Herold Productions-Pitchblack Pictures Inc.)

• Cast: Kristanna Loken, Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Madsen, Ben Kingsley, Matthew Davis, Geraldine Chaplin, Udo Kier, Meat Loaf, Michael Paré, Billy Zane
• Director: Uwe Boll
• Trivia: Boll did not ask for any rewrites after Guinevere Turner turned in the first draft, making his own changes afterward and then asking the actors to ‘take a crack at it.’ Turner estimated only about 20% of her work was actually filmed. The film earned six Golden Raspberry Awards nominations including Worst Picture, Director and Screenplay.

January 6 – Grandma’s Boy (USA/Canada, Level 1 Entertainment-Happy Madison Productions)

• Cast: Allen Covert, Linda Cardellini, Doris Roberts, Shirley Jones, Shirley Knight, Nick Swardson, Kevin Nealon, Jonah Hill, David Spade
• Director: Nicholaus Goossen

January 6 – Hostel (USA/Canada, Next Entertainment-Raw Nerve)

• Cast: Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Eyþór Guðjónsson, Barbara Nedeljáková, Jennifer Lim
• Director: Eli Roth
• Trivia: The film includes cameos by Takashi Miike, Quentin Tarantino, and Eli Roth.

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2016

January – Uncle Howard (USA, documentary, Pinball London)

• Cast: Howard Brookner, Aaron Brookner, Jim Jarmusch, Sara Driver, Tom DiCillo, William S. Burroughs, James Grauerholz, Robert Wilson
• Director: Aaron Brookner
• Trivia: The film began as director Brookner began searching for a missing print of Howard Brookner’s film Burroughs, which was located and restored with the help of a Kickstarter campaign.

January 1 – Nowhere Boys: The Book of Shadows (AUS, Film Victoria-Matchbox Pictures)

• Cast: Dougie Baldwin, Joel Lok, Rahart Adams, Matt Testro, Angourie Rice
• Director: David Caesar
• Trivia: The film has no known US theatrical release date. It is based on the teen-oriented television series Nowhere Boys.

January 1 – The Fall of the Krays (UK, Saracen Films-Torn Pictures)

• Cast: Simon Cotton, Kevin Leslie, Josh Myers, James Hepburn, Dan Parr
• Director: Zackary Adler
• Trivia: The film has no known US theatrical release date. It is a sequel to The Rise of the Krays.

January 7 – The Forest (Czech Republic, Lava Bear Films)

• Cast: Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney, Eoin Macken, Stephanie Vogt, Yukiyoshi Ozawa
• Director: Jason Zada
• Trivia: The film opened in the US and Canada on January 8, 2016. The film was inspired by a Wikipedia article about Aokigahara, a forest in Japan associated with a high rate of suicides. Due to restrictions on filming in the actual forest, a forest near Tara Mountain in Serbia was used as a stand-in.