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The History of American Cinema: 1963

September - December

11/9 -

31 films are screened at the Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art for the first New York Film Festival, which opens with a screening of Luis Buñuel's El Ángel exterminador (The Exterminating Angel). [ADD]

11/9 -

Samuel Fuller holds a preview in New York of his latest film, Shock Corridor, which stars Peter Breck, Constance Towers and Gene Evans [ADD]

1/10 -

Ralph Nelson’s Lilies of the Field, about a handyman who helps a group of East European nuns to build a chapel in the Arizona desert is released.   Sidney Poitier stars. [ADD]

6/10 -

Tony Richardson’s British film Tom Jones receives its world premiere in New York.   The irreverent adaptation of Henry Fielding’s novel stars Albert Finney in the title role, with Hugh Griffith and Dame Edith Evans in support. [ADD]

17/10 -

Frank Sinatra gains control of one-third of the Warner Bros. Record Company after selling his Reprise record label to them. [ADD]

20/10 -

The Screen Actors Guild accuses studios of attempting to obstruct a Congressional inquiry into the recent trend for making films overseas. [ADD]

4/11 -

250 journalists from 26 countries are invited to four days of festivities to mark the release of Stanley Kramer’s It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World at a total cost of $250,000. [ADD]

7/11 -

Stanley Kramer’s madcap comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is released.   Filmed in Ultra Panavision, it features a roster of stars, including Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Ethel Merman, Phil Silvers, Dick Shawn, Terry-Thomas, William Demarest, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Buster Keaton, the Three Stooges, Joe E. Brown and Jimmy Durante, all led by grizzled veteran Spencer Tracy. [ADD]

25/11 -

Film studios close for the day as a mark of respect to President John F. Kennedy who was assassinated on the 22^nd November. [ADD]

Nov -

Andy Warhol moves into his ‘factory’ in an East 47^th Street, New York warehouse. [ADD]

1/12 -

In response to union accusations that studios are increasing the number of films made overseas, Eric Johnston, the president of the MPAA, declares that the film industry would not survive if a percentage of films weren’t made abroad, where production costs are considerably lower than in the States. [ADD]

4/12 -

MGM announce that its films will cease to be released under the exclusive rights system and will change to the Showcase system, whereby a film is shown simultaneously at a large number of cinemas in each major city.   20^th Century-Fox and United Artists already operate the same system. [ADD]

5/12 -

Stanley Donen’s Charade, a Hitchcockian-type thriller, is released.   Filmed on location in Paris, the film stars Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.   An impressive supporting cast includes Walter Matthau, James Coburn, Ned Glass and George Kennedy. [ADD]

11/12 -

Frank Sinatra's son Frank Sinatra Jr is released following the payment of a $240,000 ransom.   He was kidnapped on the 9^th December. [ADD]

15/12 -

Elia Kazan’s America, America, based on his own 1962 novel, is released. [ADD]

– Durwood Theatres, a regional chain, opens the first mall multiplex, a two-screen cinema at the Ward Parkway Center in Kansas City. [ADD]

– The first computer-animated films are made at Bell Laboratories. [ADD]

– Panavision develop a process to blow 35mm prints up to 70mm without any discernible loss in picture quality.   The first release using this technique is Otto Preminger’s The Cardinal. [ADD]

Other Key American Films of 1963

The Balcony (Joseph Strick) [ADD]

Hallejulah the Hills (Adolfas Mekas, Jonas Mekas) [ADD]

The List of Adrian Messenger (John Huston) [ADD]

Showman (Albert Maysles, David Maysles) [ADD]

The History of Cinema: 1963