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The History of American Cinema: 1958

July - December

2/7 -

Elvis Presley stars in Paramount’s King Creole, directed by Michael Curtiz.  Set in New Orleans, the film is an adaptation of the Harold Robbin’s novel A Stone for Danny Fisher.   Walter Matthau co-stars as Presley’s ruthless manager. [ADD]

9/7 -

Marilyn Monroe returns to Hollywood to film Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. [ADD]

3/8 -

The Screen Directors Guild threatens to boycott Samuel Goldwyn's Porgy and Bess unless director Rouben Mamoulian, who was fired from the production by Goldwyn, is re-instated.   Filming of the troubled production is already behind schedule due to a fire destroying many of the original sets. [ADD]

10/9 -

A chemical manufacturing company announces the imminent commencement of a $3 million Anglo-American project to bring the dimension of smell to the movie-going experience. [ADD]

17/9 -

Alfred Hitchcock obtains permission to use models of the copyright-protected faces on Mount Rushmore for the final scenes of his forthcoming North by Northwest. [ADD]

20/9 -

Richard Brooks’ adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is released by MGM.   The heavyweight cast includes Paul Newman as Brick and Elizabeth Taylor as his sexually frustrated wife, Maggie, and Burl Ives repeating his stage role of Big Daddy. [ADD]

11/10 -

John Sturges’ screen adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s novella The Old Man and the Sea is released.   Spencer Tracy stars in the title role. [ADD]

11/12 -

Ingrid Bergman stars as British missionary Gladys Aylward in 20th Century-Fox's The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, in which the mountains of north Wales stand in for China.   Curd Jürgens and Robert Donat (in his final role) also star. [ADD]

31/12 -

Charlie Chaplin, living in Switzerland in exile from the US, pays the US treasury $425,000 in settlement of back taxes. [ADD]

Other Key American Films of 1958

The History of Cinema: 1958