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The History of American Cinema: 1949

January - June

3/1 -

Alfred Hitchcock signs a contract with Warner Bros. to make four films over the following six years.  [ADD]

6/1 -

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s first child, Stephen, is born. [ADD]

20/1 -

Joseph L. Manckiewicz’s A Letter to Three Wives, an adaptation of John Klempner’s novel A Letter to Five Wives, is released.   Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Kirk Douglas and Ann Sothern star. [ADD]

25/2 -

In Washington, Paramount sign the anti-trust agreement, aimed at preventing one organisation controlling production and distribution of films.   The studio agrees to hand over its 1,450-strong network of cinemas to a new company, which will then reduce that number to 600 cinemas by 1952. [ADD]

Feb -

Movie mogul Sam Goldwyn opines that ‘instead of any talk about how to lick television, motion picture people now need to discuss how to fit movies into the new world made possible by television’. [ADD] 

24/3 -

The 21^st Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Robert Montgomery, take place at the Academy Theater in Hollywood.   Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet becomes the first non-US production to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. [MORE]

9/4 -

Mark Robson’s adaptation of Ring Lardner’s short story Champion is released by United Artists.   The film stars Kirk Douglas as a manipulative boxer who cheats all around him.   Paul Stewart, Ruth Roman, Marilyn Maxwell, Lola Albright and Arthur Kennedy also appear. [ADD]

12/5 -

Home of the Brave, Mark Robson’s study of racism in the army, is released.   Lloyd Bridges, James Edwards and Frank Lovejoy feature in the all-male cast. [ADD]

8/6 -

A leaked confidential FBI document accuses John Garfield, Paul Muni, Edward G. Robinson and Sylvia Sidney of being communist sympathisers.   In addition, a list published by a Senate committee investigating anti-American activities names Charles Chaplin, Gregory Peck, Katharine Hepburn, Gene Kelly, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, Frank Sinatra and Orson Welles as suspects alleged to have ‘followed the Communist Party line.’ [ADD]

11/6 -

Warner Bros’ Colorado Territory, starring Joel McCrea and Virginia Mayo, and directed by Raoul Walsh, becomes the first film to premiere at a drive-in cinema. [ADD]

The History of Cinema: 1949