Variety (Jan 1949)

AO-rime Top Grossers FolloiLnng is the all-time "Golden Circle"—those pictures ti-Iiich have earned, or give promise of earning a minimum of $4,000,000 in domestic (V S and Canada) rentals. D. W. Griffith's 1915 smash, "Birth of a Nation" (Mutual), belongs on the list, but exactly where is a question ronfused by nost(ilgia and lost records. Oldtimers in one way or another n.-.ociated with the picture estimate its gross at anywhere from ^0000,000 to $50,000,000. Present-day disfribution execs feel, however %dt fmres such as those wsre impossible to achieve in those days of \mvled theatres and distribution. . . Gone vvitji the Wind (M-G) (1939) $22,000,000 , 2 Kept Years of Our l^yes (RKO) (1947) 10,170,000 3 Duel in the Sun (SRO) (1947) ...; 8,700,000 4 This Is the Army (WB) (1943) ■ 8,500,000 6, Jo.'son Story (Col) (1947 8,000,000 6 Bells of St. Mary's (RKO) (194(i) 8,000,000 7 Going My Way'(Par) (1944) 6,.500,000 8 j.'or Whom the Bell Tolls (Par) (194.3) 6,300.000 q Welcome Stranger (Par) (1947) 6,100,000 lo' Snow White .(RKO) (1937) ; 6,000,000 il' B'.ue Skies (Par) (1946) 5.700,000 12 Egg and 1 (U) (1947) , . r. 5.750,000 13 Leave Her to Heaven (20th) (1945) 5,550,000 14' Big Parade (M-G) (1925) 5,500,000 15 Unconquered (Par) (1947) 5,250,000 16 Yearling (Metro) (1947) 5,250,000 17 Forever Amber (20th) (1947) 5,050,000 18 Song of Bemadette (20th) (1943) 5,000,000 19' Meet Me in St. Louis (M-G) (1945) 5,000,000 20 Mrs. Miniver (M-G) (1942) 5,000,000 21 Spellbound (UA) (1946) 5.000,000 22' Green Dolphin St. (M-G) (1947) .5,000,000 23* Razor's Edge (20th) (1947) 5 000,000 24' Weekend at the Waldorf (M-G) (1945)... , 4 900,000 25 Notorious (RKO) (1946) 4,8004)00 26 Ziegfeld Follies (M-G) (1946) 4,7,30,000 27 lluckstei-s (M-G) (1947) 4,700,000 28 Green Years (M-G) (1946) 4.650,000 29. Adventure (M-G) (1946) ^ 4,500,000 30 Easy to Wed (M-G) (1946) ; 4,500,000 31. Anchors Aweigh (M-G) (19^5) 4,500,000 32 Four Horsemen (M-G) (1921) 4,500,000 33. Random Harvest (M-G) (1942) 4.500,000 34, Road to Utopia (Par) (1945) 4,.»00,000 35. Since You Went Away (UA) (1944) 4,500,000 36. Stagedoor Canteen (UA) (1943) .,,, 4 500,000 37, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (M-G) (1944) ; 4,500,000 38, Thrill of a Romance (M-G) (1945) , 4 500,000 39 Valley of Decision (M-G) (1945) , 4,500,000 40, Bachelor and Bobbysoxer (RKOi (1947) 4-,500,000 41, Till Clouds Roll By (M-G) (1947) 4 .-500,000 ■ 42. Road to Rio (Par) 1948) . , v , , . . 4.500,000 43. Two Years Before the Mast (Par) (1,946) 4.400,000 44. Hamy Girls (M-G) (1946) , 4.3,50,000 45. Lost Weekend (Par) (194(i) 4,300,000 (46, Saratoga Trunk (WB) (19461. , 4,210,000 47. Hollywood Canteen (WB) (1944) 4.200.000 43. Easter Parade (M-G) (1948) 4.'200,000 49. Mother Wore Tights (20th> (1947)....?.;.............. 4,-1,50,000 50. Red River (UA) (1948) 1 4,1,50,000 51. Three Musketeers M-G) (1948) 4.100,000 52. Johnny Belinda (WB) (1948) 4,100,000 53. Cass Timberlane (M-G) (-1948), 4,050,000 54. Emperor Waltz (Par) (1948) 4,000,000 55. Ben-Hur (M-G) (1926) ! ■. 4,000,000 56. Dolly Sisters (20th) (1945) 4 000,000 57. Kid from Brooklyn (RKO) (1946) 4,000,000 58. Reap the Wild Wind (Par) (1942) 4,000,000 59. Sln,ging Fool (WB) (1928) 4,000,000 60. State Fair (20th) (1945) 4,000,000 . SI. Holiday in Mexico (M-G) (1946),.. 4,000,000 62. Margie (20th) (1946) ^.T.: .: J.: .'.".4,000,000 63. JNlght and Day (WB) (1946) 4,000,000 64. Smoky (20th) (1946) 4,000,000 George Sidney and Joe Pastemak Year's Top $ Director and Producer lane" all that coin; and can Miss Turner be credited with "Mus- keteers' " success against the mu- sic, with Its attendant fanfare, the color, th(^ bigness of the produc- tion and Gene Kelly, Van Hellin and June AJlyson? Tracy, in addition to "Timber- lane," was in another big-grosser, Pair of pix megged by Metro's, Engel, William Jacobs, Alex Gotn agafnVere was a wd^^^^^^ ^'^""^ '""^ Prions jtlieb and Henry Blanke. and Van Johnson, Katharine Hep- °^ other Hollywood directors | Sidney directed "Three Musk© burn and Angela Lansbury to lielj)' last year in the coin they garnererd teers," which grossed $4,100,000: out But a big assist must certain-1 at the boxoffice. Sidney's "Three ' and '/Cass Timberlane," $4,050,000 Musketeers" and "Cass Timber-'to give thfe total of $8,150,000 lane" dopped: $8,150,000 between i M c L e o d helmed Paraniounl'i them in domestic cross" Vakiety's "«oad to Rio'', ($4,50Q,()()0) ani mem in aomesue gross? variety s ..paleface" ($3,500,000) for aii &» annual year-end tabulation of gygggte $8,000,06(). earnings of top films reveals. j Thorpe, at Metro, handled th* On the producer . side, Metro's meg on : "Date fto : Jucly''' ($3i7b0i'i him in the rare strata of stars Whose names mean money at the boxoflice^. I Judy, Hope, Oliver. Grant Sticking to Metro ■ for the mo- ment^and that studio seems to be j 1 x^..^ . , , ,-i„.,. ^, . the only one with any considerable 1 "'"^ Pasternak was top man—and j 000) and "On an Island With You'' also the busiest; He .was responsi-1 (!l!3,150,000) for ■a? total -$6,850,000. ble for five films released during ■ Walters, another Metrbite.meggeiJ; the. year. They racked up a gigan-1 "F.astpr Parade" . ($4,200,000) and tic total of $13,850,000--about 6% j ''Good News" ($2,500,000) for total of the aggregate gross of all 1948 $6,700,000. pix that earned $1,500,000 wt ; Hawks niade "Red River'* ($4,- 150,000) for Monterey Productions, Leading directors, all of whom an indie unit (UA), ahd "Song Is coincidcntayy. accounted for two | Bbi-n" ($2,400,000) for Gpldwyn. pix during the year, in the order ( Wilder, a JPariamounteerj turned of finish at the payoff line follow- , out 'fEinperbr Walta?' ($4,000,000) ing Sidney were Norman McLeod;! and ^?F6reigh Affiair*^ ($2,5OO,OO0)i Walter Lang, Richard Thorpe, 1 totalling $6,500,000; ' $4,200,000 can you credit to Miss Charles Walters, Howard Hawks,; Negelescu made one for Warner Garland? Some of it, anyway.. 1 William. Wilder,; Jean Negelescu, iBi'os.. ''.Tohttny Belinda" ($4,100.- Paramount's second wonder boy' David Butler, John Huston and' oqO), and one for 20th--Fox, "Road' is Bob Hope. Crosby, of course, i S. Sylvan Simon, , House" ($2,350,000), for a $6.4.50.- was no handicap to him in pushing | Producers following Pasternak ' 000 total. Butler made "Wild Irish Rio" to $4,500,000, but "Paleface" in the amount of coin their output Rose" ($3,400,000) and "Two Guys garnefed were Arthur Freed,! from Texas" ($2,350,000), giving stable of valuable marquee, names —Judy Garland pops up in a pair of winners, "Easter Parade" and "The Pirate." Latter was no great shake.s at $2,200,000, but the Gar- land-Gene Kelly combo must be credited with getting it a good por- tion of that sum. As for "Easter Parade," by the time you get Irv- ing Berlin songs. Technicolor, a tremendous production; Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford and Ann Miller, how much of . its giant at .$3,500,000 was all his own. John Wayne's , straight shooting Out of the west doesn't seem to get him i on any of the 'smart , "most popu- ' lar" lists,- but the boots-and-saddle hero apparently has something with three films that averaged Charles Brackett, Jerry Wald, Sam , WB' $5,750,000. Another War — I norite, -Huston, did "Key Largo"' Yoti're '"""^ "Sierra Madre" you run into the stopper, »v- 1 ~nn nnn^ * i 1 < <.r: i:EA nnn about to add Burt Lancaster and t ^$2,300,000), a total of $5,550,000, then you consider "All My Sons," 1 Simon, via a tletip With Red « 917 nnooanv, in crr^eo Th«,. in wMch he's teamed With Edwai d Skellon, directed both of the "Rpi Tvpr" (whf.h Jil^^^ Robinson, and which proved a, actor's films. First, at Columbia. Red River (vvhich may make I pj.i^p ^^ppj^jg Or Dana Andrews 1 was "FulW Rnwh M:m " arrmmt. nSce)"'"^rt "aoX""' Td and' theTTou remembe;"'^ee; ing for"$3:i0W rnd"seco„d: at "Tvpnn^ " ■ ^ Waters," with a gross so low 20th-' Metro. "Southern Yankee," good i for $1,800,000 Or how about Jimmy Cagney and $4^0,000. ^Laurence Olivier's a quadruple j ^^^^'^ t^'^"/,^'''f'^jf^J^ threat who certainly must be reck^ oned with in the tungstens. Despite the aid of a kid named Bill Shake- speare, "Hamletv is still all Olivier's as actor, directbr, pro-, „ , . „ . ducer and adapter. 1 ^o"' ^^"e Davis in a real fizz. Winter Meeting," or . a- total . of recall "Time of Your Life." Or Rita Hayworth and consider "Lady from Shanghai." And Ginger Rogers and Cornel Wilde in "It Star Ratings Dubious Continued from pa.ee 3 . irons who voted for her when | "Arch of Triumph" was in the j neighborhood? Out seeing Lassie I in "The Hills of Home," no doubt,! because the Lassie and the Berg- j man-Charles Boyer epic both did exactly the same amount of busi- nesi—$1,700,000. Miss Bergman, as a mailer of fact, only two years ago was tagged in Variety's annual sum- nary as an unequaled phenome- noji. She appeared in a whole quartet of films which averaged belter than $5,000,000 each in domestic gross. That's a record approached only by her sidekick in the b,o, sweepstakes that year, Bmg Crosby. Crosby, if anyone, can probably •je counted as a star with real arag-em-in quality at the b.o. Either that or he's been highly caretul of the pictures in which nes worked. In any case, alter qualifying as b.o. leader in 1946 S?r ?<=Peat>ng in '47, he is undis- puted laurel-holder for the year 3ust past. Of the two Paramount ti nr.i^'i'''^'^ garnered more than $4,000,000 gross—in a total list of seven from all campanies—Crosby appeared in both. They were "Road ."•o Hio, the year's b.o. champ, and Jimperor Waltz." Incidentally, despite the tune- 0 Lf "Waltz," there's an- otl e • s,de to the record. Pic, in taln^""'"^"'' «"<i with Joan Pon- ln m-.i'""?^^''''*''' was so expensive on )w. f Ptobably end up , " Wrong side of the P&L tally. 1 Those Other Factors | thP successful pix, the i . gross was due lo • Mdi or sUrs and how much to other factors. In most fnstances, by the 'time you peel o(f all the other reasons the film is big, you begin to wonder. That's not to say the player's performaneie isn't im- portant, as was pointed out in the' case of Jane Wyman in "Johnny Belinda." But as a name for draw- ing coins across the b,o, sill, it must be admitted that Miss Wyman could never before be credited with much potency. She may carry over some power into her. next picture as the result of her per- formance, but if the yarn itself isn't good, the draw —and Miss Wyman—will soon be forgotten. "Sitting Pretty" Is another case in point. It rang up $3,550,000, a whale of a gross, yet certainly almost any competent players could have been substituted for Robert Young and Maureen O'Hara and nobody would have known the difference. What about Clifton Webb, however? His performance Undoubtedly was one of the things that made the picture, yet his b.o, draw is inconsequential unless he's given a suitable story. On the other hand, aside from Crosby there are some names that do count, per se. Two of them must be Clark Gable and Lana Turner, for together—and largely througli their power—they pushed "Home- coming" to a giapt $3,600,000. That was Gable's only film during 1948, but Miss Turner was in two others that did even better—"Three Mus- keteers," Which grossed $4,100,000, and "Cass Timberlane," which did $4,050,000. Again the questions comes up, how much was it Gable and how much Turner that caused "Homecoming" to score so well; was it Spencer Tracy or Miss Turner, or both, who got "Tiinber- Cary Grant, if he had to, nailed down his claim to some of that b.o, moolah when Sam Goldwyn's "Bishop's Wife" wasn't going so well and was given a needed hypo by changing the billing to "Gary and the Bishop's Wife," His other one was "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House." Aside from other such estab- lished names as Gary Cooper, Hum- phrey Bogart, Danny Rave. Alan Ladd, Abbott & Costello, Errol Flynn and Victor Mature, a few additional ones must be taken into I account, 20th-Fox's Dan Dalley is one. In "When My Baby Smiles at Me" he had the support of Betty Grable (whose "Lady in Ermine," to confuse things fur- ther, was a flop). In "You Were Meant for Me" he had the less important support of .leanne Grain. (Less important although her "Apartment for Peggy" did al?' most : twice as well as Grable's "Ermine"?). In "Give My Regards to Broadway" Dailey was on his and a near-miss, "June Bride. Then, again, Tyrone Power looked great when "Captain from Castile"' did $3,650,000, \>ut what happened I to "Luck of trie Irish" shouldn't I happen to. any actor. \ . Ray Milland was the hottest i thing around after his perforjiiaiice a couple years ago in "Lost Week- end," But what good did it do Paramount this past year when "Sealed Verdict" and "So Evil My Love" failed to do enough- busi- ness to talk about. It's the same kind of predicament that wiU face Producers' Tabulations On the producer side, Paster- nak's five at M-G were "Date With Judy;" ($3,700,0001, "On an Island With You" ($3,150,000), "Three Daring Daughters" (.S2.8QO,000), "Luxury Liner" ($2,400,000) and "Kissing Bandit" ($1,800,000). - Freed's production, likewi.se at Metro, added to $10,500,000, with "Eaisler Parade" ($4,200,000). "Pi- rale" (.'R2,200.000), "Good News" ($2,500,000) and "Summer Holi- day" (.M.eOO.OOO). Brackett, at Paramount, totalled $8,800,000 With "Emperolr Waltz" ($4,000,000), "Foreign Afl'air" ($2,- 500,000) and "Tatlock's Millions"> i.$2 300,000), Close behind him was- Waid. at WB, with ".lohnny Belin- Miss Wyman this coming year and I da" ($4,000,000) and "Key Largo" Olivia de Havilland after her per-' ($3,250,000) giving a total of formance in "Snake Pit," They'll $7,250,000, while his "To the Vic- have to have equally good vehicles I tors" was a bust and didn't, score or their Oscars aren't going to put, -ir much coin in any producer's grouch bag. . It's all this up and down bu.siness at the boxoffice repeatedly recur- ring that must dump the breeze right out of the mainsail of any would-be maker of a list to indicate own except for a bit of Technicolor i star drawing power. Just when you and a w,k. title and he did very okay. Those He-Men Robert Mitchum, in "Blopd on the Moon" and "Rachel anrf the Stranger," both of which did well, added strength, paradoxically, as i a result of publicity attendant to I and the day of using stars for I a narcotic's rap. Richard Wid- "insurance" at the boxoffice is mark's murderous laugh gave him think you're getting safely into port with a foolproof tabulation, you find six members of your crew have dropped dead in their latest pictures and you're adrift. All of which just proves the original thesis that it takes many factors to make a successful film a certain asset value at the b.o. Just as the list gets long enough, however, to make it seem as though there might be a decent number of players who count on the marquee past. As a matter of fact, if the choice of buying the policy is on the actor-or the writer, the pro- ducer would appear: to • be better off laying his coin on the man at the typewriter. Top-Grossers by Companies Here's how many picLures each company distribiLted rohicli SiTo.s'.sed $1,500,000 or over during 1948, and how much coiii each rercircd or will receive in total domestic (including Canadian) *• No. Of ■ ■ ■ ■ Pix Over- $1,500,000 1. Metro 20 2. 20th-Fox 17 3. RKO 13 4. Paramount . 12 . 5. Warner Bros 11 6. Universal 6 ^—' 7. Columbia ,...; 6 8. . United Artists , 4 9. SRO •. 2 10. Mono-Allied Artists ... 1 11. Eagle Lion t.. 1 93 Total Rentals $53,950,000 41,500,000 30,600,000 31.600,000 27.500,000 13,700,000 ' 12,100,000 9,000,000 4,950,000 2,400,000 2.200,000 $229,500,000 sufficiently to get on - Variety's top-grosser list. Engel made "Sitting Pretty" ($3,550,000) and "Street With No Name" ($2,350,000) to give 20th a total of $5,900,000. Jacobs worked for WB to the tune of $5,150,000 with "April Showers" ($1,750,000) and "Wild Irish Rose" ($3,400,000). He was trailed by two other War-- nerites, Gottlieb and Blanke. Gottlieb made "Romance on High Seas" ($2,100,000), and "Two Guys from Texas" ($2,350,000) for a total of $4,450,000. while "Wall- flower," which he also produced, failed to make the top-grossers list. Blanke was in the same boat with Bette Davis' "Winter Meet- ing" and with "Woman in White," but just about mad« the grade with another Davis starrer,' "June Bride," thart got $1,500,000. He also came through rather well with "Sierra Madrc" at $2,300,000 for a $3,800,000 total. Heavy Name Lbeup For Rep. Big-Budgeters Hollywood, Republic winds the 1948 produc- tion year with the strongest star- name backlog in the studio's 14- year history. : Completed and awaiting release are eight top budgeters studded with such names as John Wayne, Gail Russell. Robert Mit- chum, Myrna Loy, Louis Calhem, Orson Welles, Constance Bennett, George Brent, Brian Aheme, Jane Russeli, John Carroll, Thomas Gomez and Hoy Rogers. \la addi- tion, studio has six small^ budg- eters and a quartet of Cdlor cary toons from Impossible Ficturev stored in the vaults.