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The History of American Cinema: 1950

January - September

15/2 -

Cinderella, Disney’s first major animated feature for eight years, is released. [ADD]

10/3 -

Deanna Durbin’s successor Jane Powell stars in MGM’s Nancy Goes to Rio, a remake of Durbin’s It's a Date (1940).   Powell’s co-stars in the lightweight musical include Ann Sothern, Barry Sullivan, and Brazilian Bombshell Carmen Miranda. [ADD]

23/3 -

The 22nd Annual Academy Awards ceremony is held at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. [MORE]

10/4 -

The Supreme Court declines to comment on the condemnation of screenwriters Dalton Trumbo and John Lawson for their contempt of Congress following the HUAC investigations into alleged communist infiltration in Hollywood. [ADD]

20/4 -

Alfred Hitchcock purchases the rights to Patricia Highsmith's first novel Strangers on a Train. [ADD]

23/5 -

John Huston’s crime thriller The Asphalt Jungle is released.   The film stars Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen and Sam Jaffe – and also features Marilyn Monroe, who makes an impact in a small but significant role as Calhern’s squeeze. [ADD]

20/6 -

Judy Garland, in the grip of a deep depression, attempts suicide by cutting her throat with a piece of glass. [ADD]

19/7 -

Disney’s first all-live feature, Treasure Island, is released.   Byron Haskin directs, and Robert Newton stars as Long John Silver. [ADD]

21/7 -

Delmer Daves first western, Broken Arrow, is released.   Based on fact, it is also the first Hollywood film to show the native American Indian in a positive light.   It tells the story of US Army scout Jefford (James Stewart) who befriends Cochise (Jeff Chandler) after marrying an Apache girl (Debra Paget), and brokers a peace treaty that results in conflict and death. [ADD]

30/7 -

In the year in which United Artists are reported to be losing $1 million a week, Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford sell 3,600 of their 4,000 shares in the company. [ADD]

4/8 -

Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard is released.   Gloria Swanson gives a bravura performance as faded silent movie queen Norma Desmond, involved in a fatal relationship with down-at-heel screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden), who narrates the story lying face down in the diva’s swimming pool.   Silent stars Buster Keaton, H. B. Warner and Anna Q. Nilsson make cameo appearances, as does director Cecil B. DeMille. [ADD]

The History of Cinema: 1950