Well this is really a chart from the USA. Scanning down the chart, certain ones surprise me – for instance I hadn’t realised that ‘The Country Girl’ was such a popular film at the time nor for that matter ‘The Caine Mutiny’
The Country Girl is a brilliant piece of work thanks in part to a fine adaptation by director and screenwriter George Seaton (Oscar for best screen adaptation, 1954) and performances by Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby and William Holden.
| Rank | Title | Distributor | Domestic rentals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White Christmas | Paramount | $12,000,000[1] |
| 2 | The Caine Mutiny | Columbia | $8,700,000[1] |
| 3 | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea | Buena Vista | $8,000,000[1] |
| 4 | The Glenn Miller Story | Universal | $7,600,000[1] |
| 5 | The Country Girl | Paramount | $6,500,000[1] |
| 6 | The High and the Mighty A Star Is Born | Warner Bros. | $6,100,000[1] |
| 7 | Seven Brides for Seven Brothers | MGM | $5,526,000[2] |
| 8 | Rear Window | Paramount | $5,300,000[1] |
| 9 | Magnificent Obsession | Universal | $5,200,000[1] |
| 10 | There’s No Business Like Show Business | 20th Century Fox | $5,103,555[3] |
I didn’t think that ‘The Caine Mutiny’ would be so highly placed
One interesting snippet on the film though is that the original Vinyl record of the score of ‘The Caine Mutiny’ would be now, so highly valued. Apparently the Studio withdrew the record almost immediately after it’s release because of contractual issues. As regards the film – a wonderful performance by Humphrey Bogart. Who can forget the final scene where he virtually goes to pieces giving evidence – brilliant acting.
‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ was a real hit for Walt Disney who only a few years before had got into ‘live-action’ films with ‘Treasure Island’ and ‘The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men’ – I have to say that I thought these two films were better than 20,00 Leagues. Kirk Douglas was to the fore in this one though. He was popular at the Box Office and in fairness to him, he realised his own worth and capitalised on it.
Recently I read that Kirk had been approached for a key role in ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ but he also demanded star billing and the largest of all the other actors in salary – Sam Spiegel the Producer told him NO
I read also about ‘Spartacus’ which he had co-produced that he had one Director fired from the film. One of the producers commented that ‘Spartacus was a good film -‘ it could have been a great film if that bastard (Kirk Douglas) had not insisted in being in every scene of the film’
James Stewart has two films here in the top ten – quite different ones – ‘The Glenn Miller Story’ and Hitchcock’s classic ‘Rear Window’ – both very good and entertaining films.
We all know ‘Rear Window’ – it is film that leaves you on the edge of your seat right up until the last scene. Very much done on an elaborate Studio set
‘The High and the Mighty’ is there as a big box office winner. It was little seen after it’s original release but in the last decade or so, it has had a DVD release and has been on Television. It is a film packed with suspense – This was an original in it’s time but all the ‘Airport’ films followed with stories similar in style to this
‘White Christmas’ tops the chart here – this iis almost always on Television in England at Christmas and like ‘Its a Wonderful Life’ always has a big viewing audience
The unique and beautiful Cinema – The Kinema in the Woods at Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire – shows ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ each year just before Christmas and even now in November this year, a number of the showings are sold out
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