Paramount Pictures
The first week of December across the last century saw quite a few new releases but only a few were anything of note. What is interesting is December 1 in 1921 and 1941 saw the release of films featuring the character Tarzan (though one was a multi-chapter serial and one a feature film). 1931 had a notorious pre-Code James Cagney film, 1961 saw the release of an epic starring Charlton Heston (probably not the one you’re thinking of), 1991 featured the final film in a franchise that included the entire original cast, while 2001 launched a new franchise with an all-star cast. Can you guess these films before reading on? Did any of your favrorites get released this week? Let us know in the comments!
1921
December 1 – Adventures of Tarzan
- Cast: Elmo Lincoln, Louise Lorraine, Scott Pembroke, Frank Whitson, Lillian Worth, Charles Inslee, Zip Monberg, Charles Gay, Maceo Bruce Sheffield, Fifi R. Lachoy, Frank Merrill, George B. French, Gordon Griffith, Thomas Jefferson
- Director: Robert F. Hill, Scott Sidney
- Studio: Great Western Producing Company, distributed by Numa Pictures Corporation
1931
Warner Bros. Pictures
December 3 – Blonde Crazy
- Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Louis Calhern, Noel Francis, Ray Milland, Guy Kibbee, Polly Walters, William Burress, Maude Eburne, Nat Pendleton, Charles Lane
- Director: Roy Del Ruth
- Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: The film’s premiere was held on November 14, 1931.
1941
December 1 – Tarzan’s Secret Treasure
- Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O’Sullivan, Johnny Sheffield, Reginald Owen, Barry Fitzgerald, Tom Conway, Philip Dorn, Cordell Hickman, Johnny Eck, Everett Brown
- Director: Richard Thorpe
- Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, distributed by Loew’s Inc.
December 5 – Mr. Bug Goes to Town
- Voice Cast: Kenny Gardner, Gwen Williams, Jack Mercer, Tedd Pierce, Carl Meyer, Stan Freed, Pauline Loth, The Four Marshalls, The Royal Guards
- Director: Dave Fleischer
- Studio: Fleischer Studios, distributed by Paramount Pictures
1951
December 1 – Silver City
- Cast: Edmond O’Brien, Yvonne De Carlo, Barry Fitzgerald, Richard Arlen, Gladys George, Kasey Rogers, Edgar Buchanan, Michael Moore, John Dierkes, Billy House
- Director: Byron Haskin
- Studio: Nat Holt Productions, distributed by Paramount Pictures
December 7 – I’ll Never Forget You
- Cast: Tyrone Power, Ann Blyth, Michael Rennie, Dennis Price, Beatrice Campbell, Kathleen Byron, Raymond Huntley, Irene Browne
- Director: Roy Ward Baker
- Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
1961
Samuel Bronston Productions
December 7 – El Cid
- Cast: Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Herbert Lom, Raf Vallone, Geneviève Page, John Fraser, Douglas Wilmer, Frank Thring, Michael Hordern, Andrew Cruickshank, Gary Raymond, Ralph Truman, Massimo Serato, Hurd Hatfield, Tullio Carminati, Fausto Tozzi, Christopher Rhodes, Carlo Giustini, Gérard Tichy, Barbara Everest, Nerio Bernardi, Franco Fantasia
- Director: Anthony Mann
- Studio: Samuel Bronston Productions, Dear Film Produzione, distributed by Allied Artists (United States), Dear Film (Italy)
December 7 – Five Minutes to Live
- Cast: Johnny Cash, Donald Woods, Cay Forrester, Pamela Mason, Vic Tayback, Ron Howard, Merle Travis, Midge Ware, Norma Varden
- Director: Bill Karn
- Studio: Somera Productions-Flower Film Productions, distributed by Sutton Pictures
1971
December – Dulcima
- Cast: Carol White, John Mills, Stuart Wilson, Bernard Lee, Sheila Raynor, Dudley Foster, Cyril Cross
- Director: Frank Nesbitt
- Studio: EMI Films, distributed by MGM-EMI
December 1 – Born to Win
- Cast: George Segal, Karen Black, Paula Prentiss, Hector Elizondo, Jay Fletcher, Robert De Niro, Ed Madsen, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Irving Selbst, Burt Young
- Director: Ivan Passer
- Studio: United Artists
December 1 – Chandler
- Cast: Warren Oates, Leslie Caron, Alex Dreier, Marianne McAndrew, Mitch Ryan, Gordon Pinsent, Charles McGraw, Walter Burke, Richard Loo, Gloria Grahame, Scatman Crothers
- Director: Paul Magwood
- Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
1981
- No new films were released this week in 1981.
1991
December 5 – Shadows and Fog
- Cast: Woody Allen, Kathy Bates, Philip Bosco, Charles Cragin, John Cusack, Mia Farrow, Jodie Foster, Fred Gwynne, Robert Joy, Julie Kavner, William H. Macy, Madonna, John Malkovich, Kenneth Mars, Kate Nelligan, Donald Pleasence, James Rebhorn, John C. Reilly, Wallace Shawn, Kurtwood Smith, Josef Sommer, David Ogden Stiers, Lily Tomlin, Daniel von Bargen, Michael Kirby
- Director: Woody Allen
- Studio: Orion Pictures
- Trivia: The film did not open in the UK until February 12, 1993.
December 6 – At Play in the Fields of the Lord
- Cast: Tom Berenger, John Lithgow, Daryl Hannah, Aidan Quinn, Kathy Bates, Tom Waits, Stênio Garcia, Nelson Xavier, José Dumont, Niilo Kivirinta
- Director: Héctor Babenco
- Studio: Universal Pictures
December 6 – Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
- Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Kim Cattrall, Christopher Plummer, David Warner, Rosanna DeSoto, Iman, Brock Peters
- Director: Nicholas Meyer
- Studio: Paramount Pictures
- Trivia: The film’s premiere was held on December 3, 1991. The film did not open in the UK until February 14, 1992. René Auberjonois had a cameo as a would-be assassin but the part was cut from the final film. His scenes were re-instated for the home video version. Michael Dorn appears as Colonel Worf, grandfather to the character he played on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Christian Slater, son of the film’s casting director, also has a very small cameo.
2001
December 5 – The Affair of the Necklace
- Cast: Hilary Swank, Hayden Panettiere, Jonathan Pryce, Christopher Walken, Simon Baker, Adrien Brody, Joely Richardson, Brian Cox, Simon Shackleton, Hermione Gulliford
- Director: Charles Shyer
- Studio: Alcon Entertainment, Warner Bros. Pictures (United States), Summit Entertainment (International)
- Trivia: The film premiered on November 20, 2001, then opened in limited US release on November 30. The film’s first wide release was in the Philippines on November 5, followed by the US and Canada on November 7. The film was not released in the UK until January 11, 2002.
Warner Bros. Pictures
December 7 – Ocean’s Eleven
- Cast: George Clooney, Bernie Mac, Brad Pitt, Elliott Gould, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Eddie Jemison, Don Cheadle, Shaobo Qin, Carl Reiner, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts
- Director: Steven Soderbergh
- Studio: Village Roadshow Pictures, Jerry Weintraub Productions, Section Eight Productions, NPV Entertainment, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
- Trivia: The film’s premiere was held on December 5, 2001. The film did not open in the UK until February 15, 2002. Holly Marie Combs, Topher Grace, Joshua Jackson, Barry Watson, Shane West, Siegfried and Roy, Wayne Newton, Henry Silva, Angie Dickinson, Wladimir Klitschko & Lennox Lewis appear as themselves in cameos. Steven Soderbergh cameos as one of the bank robbers with Basher, and Jerry Weintraub cameos as Denny Shields, a high-roller gambler.
December 7 – The 51st State
- Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Carlyle, Emily Mortimer, Meat Loaf, Sean Pertwee, Michael Starke, Ricky Tomlinson, Rhys Ifans, Stephen Walters, Keith Chegwin, Paul Barber, Ade
- Director: Ronny Yu
- Studio: Distributed by Momentum Pictures (United Kingdom), Alliance Atlantis (Canada)
- Trivia: The film opened in the UK and Ireland on December 7, 2001, but did not get a US release until October 18, 2002 under the title Formula 51.
December 7 – The Emperor’s New Clothes
- Cast: Ian Holm, Iben Hjejle, Tim McInnerny, Tom Watson, Nigel Terry, Hugh Bonneville, Murray Melvin, Eddie Marsan, Clive Russell, Bob Mason, Trevor Cooper, Niall O’Brien, Hayley Carmichael, Moya Brady, Philip McGough, Tim Barlow, Tony Vogel, Russell Tovey, John McGlynn
- Director: Alan Taylor
- Studio: Redwave Films, Rai Cinema, Senator Film, Panorama Films, Mikado Film, FilmFour, distributed by FilmFour Distributors
- Trivia: The film opened in Italy on December 7, 2001, and received a limited US release starting June 14, 2002. The film did not open in the UK until January 30, 2004.
2011
December 2 – Shame
- Cast: Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Nicole Beharie, Alex Manette, Lucy Walters, Elizabeth Masucci, Amy Hargreaves, Hannah Ware, Robert Montano
- Director: Steve McQueen
- Studio: Film4, UK Film Council, Alliance Films, Lipsync Productions, HanWay Films, See-Saw Films, distributed by Momentum Pictures
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