Year

Country

Home

People

Films

Articles

Store

The History of American Cinema: 1943

January - July

1/1 -

Warner Bros. cancel plans to make a biographical film of Charles de Gaulle at the request of the government – reportedly because of tensions that exist between de Gaulle and President Roosevelt. [ADD]

12/1 -

Joseph Cotten plays Uncle Charlie, a seemingly affable man who is actually a murderer on the run in Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt.   Written by Thornton Wilder, the film was shot in Santa Rosa, a real California suburb to create added authenticity.   Teresa Wright also stars as Cotten’s increasingly suspicious niece. [ADD]

23/1 -

Warner Bros. Casablanca goes on general release to coincide with the Allied Conference taking place in the real North African city.   Humphrey Bogart stars as Rick Blaine, proprietor of Rick’s Café Americain, where spies, hustlers, refugees and Nazis gather.   Ingrid Bergman co-stars as Ilsa, his lost love who appears out of the blue with her resistance-hero husband (Paul Henreid).   Providing memorable support under Michael Curtiz’s assured direction are Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson who warbles ‘As Time Goes By’, the film’s signature tune. [ADD]

5/2 -

Howard Hughes’ The Outlaw defies the Production Code thanks to new star Jane Russell’s impressive cleavage, which enlivens an otherwise ordinary western.  Co-starring in the background are Jack Buetel, Thomas Mitchell and Walter Huston. [ADD]

6/2 -

After a trial lasting 21 days, Errol Flynn emerges with his popularity intact after being found not guilty of charges of statutory rape brought against him by two adolescent girls. [ADD]

6/2 -

Saludos Amigos, Walt Disney’s 43-minute mix of live action and animation is released in the States nearly six months after its release in South America. [ADD]

19/3 -

Eight gangsters alleged to be in the employ of Al Capone are charged with extorting $2.5 million from the Cinema Technicians Union. [ADD]

11/3 -

Alice Faye, John Payne, Jack Oakie, Lynn Bari, Laird Cregar and June Havoc star in H. Bruce Humberstone’s musical Hello, Frisco, Hello for 20^th Century Fox. [ADD]

20/3 -

Tex Avery’s animated hound Droopy makes his debut in MGM’s Dumb-Hounded. [ADD]

23/3 -

Fritz Lang’s Hangmen Also Die, inspired by the assassination of Gestapo official Reinhard Heydrich by the Czech resistance, is released.   The film stars Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan and Anna Lee. [ADD]

Mar -

As the male population enlists for military service, Warner Bros. reports that it now has the first cinema in the country to be staffed entirely by women. [ADD]

9/4 -

Cabin in the Sky, Vincente Minnelli’s first credited film, is released.   Adapted from a hit Broadway musical, the film stars Ethel Waters, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong and Rex Ingram. [ADD]

21/4 -

Jacques Tourneur’s I Walked With a Zombie, adapted from the novel Jane Eyre, is released.   Produced by Val Lewton for RKO, it stars Tom Conway and Frances Dee. [ADD]

4/5 -

Billy Wilder’s Five Graves to Cairo, a remake of Hotel Imperial (1939) is released.   It stars Franchot Tone as a British spy who infiltrates a desert inn to uncover the whereabouts of Rommel’s supply dumps.   Erich von Stroheim plays Rommel, while Akim Tamiroff is the inn’s shifty owner. [ADD]

7/5 -

Jean Renoir’s French resistance tale, This Land is Mine, opens at 72 cinemas in 50 cities, creating a box-office record for opening day gross receipts.   The film stars Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara and George Sanders. [ADD]

10/5 -

An opinion poll in the Motion Picture Herald concludes that the public is saturated with war movies, and wants more lighthearted entertainment. [ADD]

16/6 -

54-year-old Charlie Chaplin marries 18-year-old Oona O’Neill, daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill, in south Burbank.   The disapproving father of the bride, who is only six months older than his new son-in-law, cuts all communication with his daughter. [ADD]

Jun -

Loews reports that 62 of its cinemas – approximately half – are run by women. [ADD]

Jun -

Coming!! Snafu is released by Warner Bros.   Produced by Leon Schlesinger, Private Snafu appeared in a series of short military information films explaining how not to do things. [ADD]

The History of Cinema: 1943