20th Century Fox
The second week of February produced an interesting mix of films, from Oscar nominees and winners to some infamous bombs. In 1932, Marlene Dietrich and Josef von Sternberg teamed up again, earning the director an Oscar nomination, 1952 saw Groucho Marx’s feature film swan song as a leading man, and also had the fifth pairing of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. !962 gave us the directorial debut of Francis Ford Coppola, and 20 years later he directed a film that cost $23 million and earned less than $700,000. 1972 saw Liza Minnelli in her signature role, 1982 paired Henry and Jane Fonda for the first time, 1992 brought an SNL sketch to the big screen, and 2012 had the only film on the list that earned more than #200 million (thanks in part to Denzel Washington). Read about these films and more and see if your favorites are celebrating anniversaries this week,
1922
February 13 – Smilin’ Through
- Cast: Norma Talmadge, Harrison Ford, Wyndham Standing, Alec B. Francis, Glenn Hunter, Grace Griswold, Miriam Battista, Gene Lockhart, Buddy Roosevelt
- Director: Sidney Franklin
- Production Company: First National Pictures
- Gross: $1 million
- Trivia: Based on the 1919 play of the same name. Screen debut of Gene Lockhart.
Paramount Pictures
1932
February 12 – Shanghai Express
- Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, Lawrence Grant, Eugene Pallette, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Louise Closser Hale, Émile Chautard
- Director: Josef von Sternberg
- Production Company: Paramount Pictures
- Gross: $3.7 million
- Trivia: Based on a 1931 short story by Harry Hervey. The film’s premiere was held on February 4, 1932. Remade as Night Plane from Chungking (1943) and Peking Express (1951). Nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, winning for Best Cinematography. The highest grossing film in the US and Canada in 1932. Incorporates footage of China shot by cinematographer James Wong Howe when he visited the country in 1929.
February 13 – The Beast of the City
- Cast: Walter Huston, Jean Harlow, Wallace Ford, Jean Hersholt, Dorothy Peterson, Tully Marshall, John Miljan, Emmett Corrigan, Warner Richmond, J. Carrol Naish, George Chandler, Robert Homans, Ethan Laidlaw, Tom London, Morgan Wallace, Leo White
- Director: Charles Brabin
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Gross: $408,000
- Trivia: The film opened in the UK on March 4, 1932. Originated in consultations between MGM head of production Louis B. Mayer and President Herbert Hoover, who was concerned that the public needed to have greater respect for police officers and other law-enforcement officials. Working title was City Sentinels. Mayer felt the completed film was too violent for MGM’s family entertainment image and ordered it to be featured at the bottom of double bills.
1942
February 15 – Captain Midnight (Serial)
- Cast: Dave O’Brien, Dorothy Short, James Craven, Sam Edwards, Guy Wilkerson, Bryant Washburn, Luana Walters, Joe Girard, Ray Teal, Chuck Hamilton, Al Ferguson
- Director: James W. Horne
- Production Company: Columbia Pictures
- Trivia: Based upon the radio adventure serial of the same name, broadcast from 1938 to 1949.
1952
February 9 – Sailor Beware
- Cast: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Corinne Calvet, Marion Marshall, Robert Strauss, Leif Erickson, Don Wilson, Vince Edwards, Skip Homeier, Dan Barton, Mike Mahoney, Mary Treen
- Director: Hal Walker
- Production Company: Paramount Pictures (US), British Lion Films (UK)
- Gross: $4.3 million
- Trivia: Adaption of a 1933 Kenyon Nicholson play of the same name. The film opened in Los Angeles on January 24, 1952, and New York City on January 31 before its general February 9 release. The working title was At Sea with the Navy. The fifth of sixteen Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis movies. Betty Hutton, James Dead and Duke Mitchell make cameo appearances. Debut of actress Elaine Stewart.
February 13 – A Girl in Every Port
- Cast: Groucho Marx, Marie Wilson, William Bendix, Don DeFore, Gene Lockhart, Dee Hartford, Hanley Stafford, Teddy Hart, Percy Helton, George E. Stone
- Director: Chester Erskine
- Production Company: RKO Radio Pictures
- Trivia: Based on the short story They Sell Sailors Elephants by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan. This was Groucho’s last starring role in a feature film.
February 13 – Return of the Texan
- Cast: Dale Robertson, Joanne Dru, Walter Brennan, Richard Boone, Tom Tully, Robert Horton, Helen Westcott, Lonnie Thomas, Dennis Ross
- Director: Delmer Daves
- Production Company: 20th Century Fox
- Trivia: The film opened in the UK on June 16, 1952.
February 13 – Viva Zapata!
- Cast: Marlon Brando, Jean Peters, Anthony Quinn, Joseph Wiseman, Arnold Moss, Alan Reed, Margo, Harold Gordon, Lou Gilbert, Frank Silvera, Florenz Ames, Richard Garrick, Fay Roope, Mildred Dunnock as Señora
- Director: Elia Kazan
- Production Company: 20th Century Fox
- Gross: $1.9 million
- Trivia: The screenplay was written by John Steinbeck based on Edgcomb Pinchon’s 1941 book Zapata the Unconquerable. The film’s premiere was held in New York City on February 7, 1952. The film opened in Canada on February 29, and in the UK on March 27. Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning Best Supporting Actor for Anthony Quinn. The cast includes the original voice of Fred Flintstone, Alan Reed, and his successor, Henry Corden. Though they share no scenes, this is nonetheless the only feature film in which both appear. Film debut of Henry Silva. Julie Harris was set to play Josefa Zapata before Jean Peters was cast.
February 15 – Phone Call from a Stranger
- Cast: Gary Merrill, Shelley Winters, Michael Rennie, Keenan Wynn, Evelyn Varden, Warren Stevens, Beatrice Straight, Ted Donaldson, Craig Stevens, Bette Davis, Helen Westcott
- Director: Jean Negulesco
- Production Company: Twentieth Century-Fox
- Gross: $1.35 million
- Trivia: The film opened in London on January 17, 1952, and premiered in New York City on February 1. The film also opened in Canada on February 15. Nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Gary Merrill’s wife Bette Davis asked him to ask the director to cast her in the small role of Marie Hoke simply because she felt it was a good part, making her first appearance an hour and seventeen minutes into the film which runs one hour and thirty-six minutes. Beatrice Straight made her screen debut in this film. Producer-screenwriter Nunnally Johnson originally wanted to cast Lauren Bacall as Binky Gay, but she was unavailable.
1962
February 9 – Light in the Piazza
- Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Rossano Brazzi, Yvette Mimieux, George Hamilton, Barry Sullivan, Isabel Dean, Nancy Nevinson, Moultrie Kelsall
- Director: Guy Green
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Gross: $2.2 million
- Trivia: The film opened in San Francisco on January 31, 1962, and New York City on February 7. The UK engagement began on April 19.
February 10 – Sergeants 3
- Cast: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, Henry Silva, Ruta Lee, Buddy Lester, Phillip Crosby, Dennis Crosby, Lindsay Crosby, Hank Henry, Dick Simmons, Michael Pate, Armand Alzamora, Richard Hale, Rodd Redwing
- Director: John Sturges
- Production Company: Exxex Productions, Meadway-Claude Productions Company, distributed by United Artists
- Gross: $4.3 million
- Trivia: The film opened in the UK on April 5, 1962.
February 12 – The Bellboy and the Playgirls
- Cast: June Wilkinson, Don Kenney, Karin Dor, Willy Fritsch, Michael Cramer
- Director: Francis Ford Coppola, Fritz Umgelter
- Production Company: Defin Film, Rapid Film, Screen Rite Picture Company, distributed by Joseph Brenner Associates
- Trivia: First directorial credit for Francis Ford Coppola. This film is a re-edited version of a 1958 German film called The Sin Began with Eva, directed by Fritz Umgelter. A U.S. producer hired Francis Ford Coppola to write and shoot additional nude scenes to add for an American release.
February 15 – Pontius Pilate
- Cast: Jean Marais, Jeanne Crain, Basil Rathbone, Letícia Román, John Drew Barrymore, Massimo Serato, Riccardo Garrone, Livio Lorenzon, Gianni Garko, Roger Tréville, Carlo Giustini, Dante DiPaolo, Paul Muller, Alfredo Varelli, Manuela Ballard, Raffaella Carrà
- Director: Gian Paolo Callegari, Irving Rapper
- Production Company: Glomer Film, Lux Compagnie Cinématographique de France, distributed by Castilla Films (Spain), U.S. Films (US)
- Trivia: The film opened in Italy on February 15, 1962 but did not get a US release until 1967.
1972
February 11 – Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?
- Cast: Shelley Winters, Mark Lester, Chloe Franks, Ralph Richardson, Lionel Jeffries, Hugh Griffith, Rosalie Crutchley, Pat Heywood, Judy Cornwell, Michael Gothard, Jacqueline Cowper, Richard Beaumont, Charlotte Sayce, Marianne Stone
- Director: Curtis Harrington
- Production Company: Hemdale, distributed by American International Pictures
- Trivia: The film opened in the UK on February 11, 1972, and in the US on March 17.
Allied Artists
February 13 – Cabaret
- Cast: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem, Joel Grey, Fritz Wepper, Marisa Berenson, Elisabeth Neumann-Viertel, Helen Vita, Sigrid von Richthofen, Gerd Vespermann, Ralf Wolter, Ricky Renée, Kathryn Doby
- Director: Bob Fosse
- Production Company: ABC Pictures, Allied Artists, distributed by Allied Artists (United States), 20th Century Fox (International)
- Gross: $42.8 million
- Trivia: The film opened in the UK on June 1, 1972.
1982
February 12 – Cannery Row
- Cast: Nick Nolte, Debra Winger, Audra Lindley, M. Emmet Walsh, Tom Mahoney, John Malloy, James Keane, Sunshine Parker, Rosanna DeSoto, Frank McRae, Santos Morales, Anne Lockhart, John Huston
- Director: David S. Ward
- Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Chai Productions, distributed by MGM/UA Entertainment Company
- Gross: $1.8 million
- Trivia: Raquel Welch was originally cast as Suzy. She was fired after five days of filming. She allegedly took too long to get ready each day.
February 12 – Death Wish II
- Cast: Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Vincent Gardenia, J.D. Cannon, Paul Lambert, Anthony Franciosa, Drew Snyder, Paul Comi, Robin Sherwood, Charles Cyphers, Ben Frank, Paul Comi, Michael Prince, Thomas F. Duffy, Larry Fishburne, Kevyn Major Howard, Stuart K. Robinson, E. Lamont Johnson, Silvana Gallardo, Robert F. Lyons, Frank Campanella, Robert Snively, Steffen ZachariasDavid Daniels, Don Dubbins, Buck Young, Jim Galante, Peter Pan, Jim Begg, Melody Santangello, Karsen Lee, Leslie Graves, Henny Youngman
- Director: Michael Winner
- Production Company: American-European Productions, Golan-Globus Productions, Landers-Roberts Productions, City Films, distributed by Filmways Pictures, Columbia Pictures (International)
- Gross: $16.1 million
- Trivia: The film opened in the UK on February 12, 1982, and in the US on February 19.
February 12 – On Golden Pond
- Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Doug McKeon, Dabney Coleman, William Lanteau, Christopher Rydell
- Director: Mark Rydell
- Production Company: IPC Films, ITC Entertainment, distributed by Universal Pictures, Associated Film Distribution
- Gross: $119.3 million
- Trivia: The film premiered in Los Angeles on November 18, 1982, and in New York City on December 2. The film received a limited release on December 4 for awards consideration before its general US release on February 12. The film opened in the UK on March 12.
February 12 – One from the Heart
- Cast: Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr, Raul Julia, Nastassja Kinski, Lainie Kazan, Harry Dean Stanton, Allen Garfield, Rebecca de Mornay
- Director: Francis Ford Coppola
- Production Company: Zoetrope Studios, distributed by Columbia Pictures
- Gross: $636,796
- Trivia: A rough cut was screened in Seattle on March 15, 1981, and in San Francisco on August 17. The film’s New York City premiere was held on January 15, 1982, with Los Angeles premiere on January 20. The film was released in Canada on November 12, 1982, and in the UK in June 1983.
February 12 – The Beast Within
- Cast: Paul Clemens, Ronny Cox, Bibi Besch, Don Gordon, R. G. Armstrong, Katherine Moffat, L. Q. Jones, Logan Ramsey, John Dennis Johnston, Ron Soble, Luke Askew, Meshach Taylor, Boyce Holleman
- Director: Philippe Mora
- Production Company: Katzka, distributed by MGM/United Artists Distribution and Marketing
- Gross: $7.7 million
- Trivia: Michael’s x-rays were actually x-rays of actor Paul Clemens. Strips of metal were applied to Clemens to create the illusion of subcutaneous anomalies. This was the final feature-length score for composer Les Baxter, who considered it to be one of his finest.
February 12 – The Border
- Cast: Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, Valerie Perrine, Warren Oates, Elpidia Carrillo, Shannon Wilcox, Jeff Morris, Dirk Blocker, Lonny Chapman
- Director: Tony Richardson
- Production Company: Efer Productions, RKO Pictures, distributed by Universal Pictures
- Gross: $6,118,683
- Trivia: The film opened in limited US release on January 29, 1982.
1992
February 14 – Wayne’s World
- Cast: Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Tia Carrere, Rob Lowe, Lara Flynn Boyle, Brian Doyle-Murray, Colleen Camp, Kurt Fuller, Chris Farley, Meat Loaf, Frank DiLeo, Ed O’Neill, Michael DeLuise, Lee Tergesen, Dan Bell, Sean Gregory Sullivan, Mike Hagerty, Frederick Coffin, Donna Dixon, Ione Skye, Robin Ruzan, Charles Noland, Carmen Filpi
- Director: Penelope Spheeris
- Production Company: Paramount Pictures
- Gross: $183.1 million
- Trivia: The film was released in the UK on May 22, 1992. It was screened at TIFF on September 7, 2017.
2002
February 15 – Revolution OS
- Narrator: Susan Egan
- Director: J. T. S. Moore
- Production Company: Wonderview Productions, distributed by Seventh Art Releasing
- Trivia: The film was screened at the South By Southwest Film Festival in March 2001.
2012
Universal Pictures
February 9 – Safe House
- Cast: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Rubén Blades, Nora Arnezeder, Robert Patrick, Liam Cunningham, Joel Kinnaman, Fares Fares
- Director: Daniel Espinosa
- Production Company: Relativity Media, Stuber Productions, distributed by Universal Pictures
- Gross: $208.1 million
- Trivia: The film’s premiere was held on February 7, 2012, and it opened in Australia and other territories on February 9. The film opened in the US and Canada on February 10, France on February 22 and the UK on February 24.
February 9 – The Vow
- Cast: Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum, Jessica Lange, Sam Neill, Jessica McNamee, Wendy Crewson, Tatiana Maslany, Lucas Bryant, Scott Speedman, Joey Klein, Joe Cobden, Jeananne Goossen, Dillon Casey, Shannon Barnett, Lindsay Ames, Kristina Pešić, Britt Irvin, Sarah Carter, Rachel Skarsten
- Director: Michael Sucsy
- Production Company: Spyglass Entertainment, Birnbaum/Barber Productions, distributed by Screen Gems
- Gross: $196.1 million
- Trivia: The film’s premiere was held on February 6, 2012. It first went into wide release in Australia, Germany and other European countries, then opened in the US, Canada and the UK on February 10.
February 10 – Exit Strategy
- Cast: Jameel Saleem, Quincy ‘Qdeezy’ Harris, Noelle Balfour, Kimelia Weathers, Big Boy, Liz Hernandez, Fuzzy Fantabulous, Rick Amieva, Jenna Willis, Danette Wilson, Jennah Hughes-Taylor, Juhahn Jones, Jonny Whitton, Kevin Hart, Nick Sinise, Marina Steele, Sid Burston, Matt Kawczynski, Carlos Javier Castillo, Misty Alli, Chad Younglove
- Director: Michael Whitton
- Production Company: Ask Around Productions, Ida’s Son Productions, distributed by Ask Around Entertainment
- Trivia: Exit Strategy was independently made for under $100,000.
February 10 – Rampart
- Cast: Woody Harrelson, Ned Beatty, Ben Foster, Anne Heche, Ice Cube, Cynthia Nixon, Sigourney Weaver, Robin Wright, Ruben Garfias, Steve Buscemi, Brie Larson, Don Creech, Jon Bernthal, Jon Foster, Robert Wisdom, Audra McDonald
- Director: Oren Moverman
- Production Company: Amalgam Features, Waypoint Entertainment, distributed by Millennium Entertainment
- Gross: $1,567,905
- Trivia: The film was screened at TIFF on September 10, 2011, and began a limited run in New York City and Los Angeles for awards consideration on November 23. The film received a limited US release on February 10, 2012, and opened in Canada and the UK on February 24.
February 10 – Take This Waltz
- Cast: Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Luke Kirby, Sarah Silverman, Jennifer Podemski, Graham Abbey, Aaron Abrams
- Director: Sarah Polley
- Production Company: Joe’s Daughter, The Movie Network, Movie Central, Super Écran, TF1 Droits Audiovisuels, distributed by Mongrel Media (Canada), Alta Classics (Spain), Broadmedia Studios (Japan)
- Gross: $4.9 million
- Trivia: The film screened at TIFF on September 10, 2011 and at the Vancouver International Film Festival on September 20. It received a limited release in Spain on November 25, 2011, and opened in Taiwan on February 10, 2012. It was screened at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 19, 2012 and received a Video on Demand release in the US on May 25. A New York City premiere was held on June 21, 2012, followed by the TV premiere in the US on June 27. The film received a limited release in Canada on July 6, 2012, and was released in the UK on August 17.
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