1953 in film

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The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.

Events

• September 16 — The Robe debuts as the first anamorphic, widescreen CinemaScope film.

Top grossing films (U.S.)

Rank	Title	Studio	Actors	Gross
1.	Peter Pan*	Disney/RKO		$87,584,000
2.	The Robe	20th Century Fox	Richard Burton, Jean Simmons and Victor Mature	$17,500,000
3.	From Here to Eternity	Columbia	Burt Lancaster	$12,200,000
4.	Shane	Paramount	Alan Ladd and Jean Arthur	$9,500,000
5.	How to Marry a Millionaire	20th Century Fox	Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall	$9,000,000
6.	Gentlemen Prefer Blondes	20th Century Fox	Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell	$7,591,000
7.	Mogambo	MGM	Clark Gable, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly	$5,100,000
8.	Salome	Columbia	Rita Hayworth	$4,864,000
9.	Roman Holiday	Paramount	Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn	$4,750,000
10.	Julius Caesar	MGM	Marlon Brando	$4,741,000
11.	Niagara	20th Century Fox	Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten	$4,734,000
12.	Stalag 17	Paramount	William Holden
13.	Calamity Jane	Warner Brothers	Doris Day
14.	The Glenn Miller Story	Universal	James Stewart and June Allyson
15.	The Wild One	Columbia	Marlon Brando
16.	Miss Sadie Thompson	Columbia	Rita Hayworth
17.	Hondo	Paramount	John Wayne
18.	Titanic	20th Century Fox	Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb
19.	I Confess	Warner Brothers	Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter
20.	House of Wax	Warner Brothers	Vincent Price
21.	The Girl Who Had Everything	MGM	Elizabeth Taylor and Fernando Lamas
22.	The Farmer Takes a Wife	20th Century Fox	Betty Grable

(*) After theatrical re-issue(s)

Awards

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: From Here to Eternity - Columbia Pictures

Best Director: Fred Zinnemann - From Here to Eternity

Best Actor: William Holden - Stalag 17

Best Actress: Audrey Hepburn - Roman Holiday

Best Supporting Actor: Frank Sinatra - From Here to Eternity

Best Supporting Actress: Donna Reed - From Here to Eternity

Golden Globe Awards:

Drama:

Best Picture: The Robe

Best Actor: Spencer Tracy - The Actress

Best Actress: Audrey Hepburn - Roman Holiday

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture: No award

Best Actor: David Niven - The Moon Is Blue

Best Actress: Ethel Merman - Call Me Madam

Other

Best Director: Fred Zinnemann - From Here to Eternity

Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival):

The Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, France / Italy

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival): Not awarded

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

The Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, France / Italy

Films released in 1953

U.S.A. unless stated

• 99 River Street
• The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T

A

• Abbott and Costello Go to Mars
• Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• The Actress, starring Spencer Tracy and Jean Simmons
• All I Desire
• All the Brothers Were Valiant
• Anarkali - (India)
• Arrowhead, a western starring Charlton Heston and Jack Palance

B

• Baaz - (India)
• The Band Wagon, starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse
• The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
• Beat the Devil, starring Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones and Gina Lollobrigida - (Italy/U.K./U.S.)
• The Beggar's Opera, starring Laurence Olivier and Dorothy Tutin - (U.K.)
• Belinsky - (U.S.S.R.)
• Ben and Me
• Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
• Bienvenido Mr. Marshall - (Spain)
• The Big Heat, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame
• The Blue Gardenia, starring Anne Baxter and Raymond Burr
• Bread, Love and Dreams (Pane, amore e fantasia), starring Vittorio De Sica and Gina Lollobrigida - (Italy)
• The Brute (El Bruto), directed by Luis Buñuel, starring Pedro Armendáriz and Katy Jurado - (Mexico)

C

• The Caddy, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
• Calamity Jane, starring Doris Day
• Call Me Madam, starring Ethel Merman
• The Captain's Paradise, starring Alec Guinness - (U.K.)
• Cease Fire
• City Beneath the Sea
• The Clown, starring Red Skelton
• Confidentially Connie, starring Van Johnson and Janet Leigh
• The Conquest of Everest - (documentary) - (U.K.)
• The Cruel Sea, starring Jack Hawkins - (U.K.)

D-F

• Dangerous Crossing, a film noir starring Jeanne Crain and Michael Rennie
• The Desert Rats, starring Richard Burton and James Mason
• Do Bigha Zamin - (India)
• Dream Wife, starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr
• El, directed by Luis Buñuel - (Mexico)
• The Earrings of Madame de..., directed by Max Ophuls, starring Charles Boyer - (France/Italy)
• East of Sumatra, starring Anthony Quinn and Jeff Chandler
• Entotsu no mieru basho - (Japan)
• Escape By Night - (U.K.)
• The Farmer Takes a Wife, starring Betty Grable
• The Final Test directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Jack Warner (U.K.)
• Folly to Be Wise, directed by Frank Launder, starring Alastair Sim - (U.K.)
• From Here to Eternity, directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed -- winner of 8 Oscars

G-H

• Gate of Hell (Jigokumon) - (Japan)
• A Geisha (Gion Bayashi), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi - (Japan)
• Genevieve - (U.K.)
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe
• The Girl Who Had Everything
• The Golden Blade, starring Rock Hudson and Piper Laurie
• The Great Adventure, directed by Arne Sucksdorff - (Sweden)
• The Great Sioux Uprising
• Gun Fury
• The Heart of the Matter, starring Trevor Howard - (U.K.)
• The Hitch-Hiker, directed by Ida Lupino
• Hondo, starring John Wayne and Geraldine Page in her film debut
• Houdini, starring (husband and wife) Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh
• House of Wax, starring Vincent Price
• How to Marry a Millionaire, starring Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall (Grable, Fox's top star of the 1940s, with Monroe, Fox's top star of the 1950s)

I-J

• I Confess, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter
• I Love Lucy, starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz
• I Vitelloni, directed by Federico Fellini - (France/Italy)
• Inferno, starring Robert Ryan
• Interim, directed by Stan Brakhage (First film) 25 ½ minutes - Black & white. Features music by James Tenney.
• The Intruder, starring Jack Hawkins - (U.K.)
• Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary? - (U.K.)
• Island in the Sky, starring John Wayne
• It Came from Outer Space
• Julius Caesar, starring Marlon Brando with James Mason, John Gielgud, Louis Calhern, Edmond O'Brien, Greer Garson and Deborah Kerr

K-L

• The Kidnappers - (U.K.)
• King of the Khyber Rifles
• Kiss Me, Kate, released in 2-D and 3-D
• The Lady Without Camelias (La signora senza camelie), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni - (Italy)
• Latin Lovers, starring Lana Turner
• Law and Order, a western starring Ronald Reagan
• The Lawless Breed, starring Rock Hudson
• Lili, starring Leslie Caron
• A Lion Is in the Streets, starring James Cagney, Barbara Hale, Anne Francis
• Little Fugitive

M

• Malta Story, starring Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Anthony Steel and Muriel Pavlow - (U.K.)
• The Man Between - (U.K.)
• Man on a Tightrope
• Martin Luther - (U.S./West Germany)
• Miss Sadie Thompson, starring Rita Hayworth
• The Mississippi Gambler, a western starring Tyrone Power
• Mogambo, starring Clark Gable and Ava Gardner with Grace Kelly (a remake of the 1932 film Red Dust which starred Jean Harlow and also Gable)
• Money from Home starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
• Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot), directed by and starring Jacques Tati - (France)
• The Moon Is Blue, first U.S. movie to use the words "pregnant" and "virgin", directed by Otto Preminger, starring William Holden, David Niven and Maggie McNamara

N-O

• The Naked Spur, starring James Stewart and Janet Leigh
• The Net, directed by Anthony Asquith (U.K.)
• Niagara, starring Marilyn Monroe (as a villainous femme fatale)
• No Way Back (Weg Ohne Umkehr) - (West Germany)

P-Q

• Peter Pan (Walt Disney animation)
• The Phantom Stockman, starring Chips Rafferty - (Australia)
• Pickup on South Street, directed by Sam Fuller, starring Richard Widmark, Jean Peters and Thelma Ritter
• Plunder of the Sun
• Pony Express, starring Charlton Heston (as Buffalo Bill)
• The President's Lady (Charlton Heston's first turn at Andrew Jackson before The Buccaneer)

R

• Ride, Vaquero!, starring Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner
• The Robe, the first movie filmed in CinemaScope, starring Richard Burton and Jean Simmons
• Robot Monster
• Roman Holiday, directed by William Wyler, starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in her Oscar-winning first leading role

S

• Salome, starring Rita Hayworth
• Sawdust and Tinsel (Gycklarnas afton), directed by Ingmar Bergman - (Sweden)
• Scared Stiff, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
• Sea Devils - (U.K./U.S.)
• Seminole
• Shane, directed by George Stevens, starring Alan Ladd and Jean Arthur in her final film role
• Siamo Donne (We the Women), starring Alida Valli and Ingrid Bergman - (Italy)
• Stalag 17, directed by Billy Wilder, starring William Holden in his Oscar-winning role
• The Story of Three Loves, trilogy starring James Mason, Leslie Caron and Kirk Douglas
• Summer with Monika (Sommaren med Monika), directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Harriet Andersson - (Sweden)
• The Sun Shines Bright

T-V

• Take the High Ground!
• Thérèse Raquin, directed by Marcel Carné, starring Simone Signoret - (France)
• Thunder Over the Plains
• Titanic, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• The Titfield Thunderbolt, directed by Charles Crichton, starring Stanley Holloway - (U.K.)
• Tokyo Story (Tōkyō Monogatari), directed by Yasujiro Ozu - (Japan)
• Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom
• Torch Song, starring Joan Crawford
• Trouble Along the Way, a light comedy starring John Wayne
• Twice Upon a Time, directed by Emeric Pressburger - (U.K.)
• Ugetsu (Ugetsu monogatari), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi - (Japan)

W-Z

• The Wages of Fear (Le Salaire de la Peur), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Yves Montand and Charles Vanel -- winner of Golden Bear and Palme d'Or awards - (France)
• War Arrow
• The War of the Worlds, starring Gene Barry
• The Wild One, starring Marlon Brando (a film thought by some to have started the generation gap between adults and young people)
• Young Bess

Serials

• Canadian Mounties vs Atomic Invaders, starring Bill Henry
• The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd, starring Richard Crane
• Jungle Drums of Africa, starring Clayton Moore and Phyllis Coates
• The Lost Planet, starring Judd Holdren

Short film series

• Mickey Mouse (1928)-(1953)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Popeye (1933–1957)
• Donald Duck (1934)-(1956)
• The Three Stooges (1934–1959)
• Goofy (1939)-(1953)
• Tom and Jerry (1940–1958)
• Bugs Bunny (1940)-(1962)
• Chip and Dale (1943–1956)
• Droopy (1943–1958)
• Sylvester the Cat (1944–1966)
• Yosemite Sam (1945–1963)
• Ranger Don (1953-1956)
• Speedy Gonzales (1953-1968)

Births

• January 30: Steven Zaillian, director
• February 8: Mary Steenburgen, actress
• February 11: Philip Anglim, actor
• February 19: Massimo Troisi, actor (died 1994)
• March 4: Scott Hicks, director
• March 16: Isabelle Huppert, French actress
• April 18: Rick Moranis, Canadian actor & comedian
• May 16: Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor
• May 24: Alfred Molina, British-born American actor
• May 30: Colm Meaney, Irish actor
• June 13: Tim Allen, actor
• August 11: Hulk Hogan, wrestler
• August 27: Peter Stormare, Swedish actor
• September 10: Amy Irving, actress
• October 9: Tony Shalhoub, actor
• October 26: Maureen Teefy, actress
• October 31: Michael J. Anderson, actor
• November 3: Kate Capshaw, actress
• November 6: Ron Underwood, director
• December 6: Tom Hulce, actor
• December 8: Kim Basinger, actress
• December 8: Sam Kinison, stand-up comedian (died 1992)
• December 9: John Malkovich, actor
• December 17: Bill Pullman, actor
• December 31: James Remar, actor

Deaths

• March 5: Herman J. Mankiewicz, American screenwriter (born 1897)
• June 20: Vsevolod Pudovkin, Soviet film Director (born 1893)
• October 8: Nigel Bruce, British actor (born 1895)
• November 29: Sam De Grasse, pioneer Hollywood actor (born 1875)

Debuts

• John Cassavetes
• Steve McQueen
• Jeanne Moreau