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1950 in film

overview of the events of 1950 in film

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ238738 ↗
Source-derived summary

The year 1950 in film involved some significant events.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1950 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Events

January 13 – Three weeks after its world premiere at the Paramount and Rivoli theatres in New York City, Cecil B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah opens in Los Angeles. The film is a massive commercial success and wins the awards for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design at the 23rd Academy Awards.

February 15 – Walt Disney Studios' animated film Cinderella debuts. The film is the most successful the studio has made since Dumbo, and saves the studio from four million dollars in debt.

July 19 – Walt Disney Studios' first completely live-action film Treasure Island debuts.

Awards

Top ten money making stars

Notable films released in 1950

US unless stated

#

47 morto che parla, starring Totò – (Italy)

711 Ocean Drive, starring Edmond O'Brien and Joanne Dru

A

Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello

The Admiral Was a Lady, starring Wanda Hendrix and Edmond O'Brien

All About Eve, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Hugh Marlowe, Marilyn Monroe – winner of 6 Oscars

Ambush, starring Robert Taylor and Arlene Dahl

Annie Get Your Gun, starring Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Louis Calhern

Armored Car Robbery, starring Charles McGraw and William Talman

The Asphalt Jungle, directed by John Huston, starring Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Sam Jaffe, James Whitmore, Jean Hagen and Marilyn Monroe

The Astonished Heart, starring Celia Johnson and Noël Coward – (GB)

At War with the Army, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis

B

Babul (Father's House), starring Dilip Kumar and Nargis – (India)

Backfire, starring Virginia Mayo and Gordon MacRae

The Bandit Queen, starring Barbara Britton and Phillip Reed

The Baron of Arizona, starring Vincent Price

Beauty and the Devil (La Beauté du diable), directed by René Clair, starring Michel Simon – (France/Italy)

Beqasoor, starring Madhubala – (India)

The Big Lift, starring Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas

Bitter Springs, starring Tommy Trinder and Chips Rafferty – (Australia/GB)

The Black Forest Girl, starring Sonja Ziemann and Rudolf Prack – (West Germany)

The Black Rose, starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles – (GB/US)

The Blue Lamp, starring Jack Warner and Dirk Bogarde – (GB)

Born to Be Bad, starring Joan Fontaine and Robert Ryan

Born Yesterday, directed by George Cukor, starring Broderick Crawford, Judy Holliday and William Holden

The Breaking Point, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring John Garfield and Patricia Neal

Bright Leaf, starring Gary Cooper, Lauren Bacall and Patricia Neal

Broken Arrow, starring James Stewart and Jeff Chandler

C

Café Paradis – (Denmark)

Caged, starring Eleanor Parker

Caiçara, directed by and starring Adolfo Celi – (Brazil)

Captain Carey, U.S.A., starring Alan Ladd and Wanda Hendrix

Captain China, starring John Payne and Gail Russell

Champagne for Caesar, starring Ronald Colman, Celeste Holm, Vincent Price, Art Linkletter

Cheaper by the Dozen, starring Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy

Cinderella, a Disney animated film. Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, and Wilfred Jackson, starring Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Rhoda Williams, James MacDonald, Luis van Rooten, Don Barclay, Mike Douglas, and Lucille Bliss

Comanche Territory, starring Maureen O'Hara

Convicted, starring Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford

Crisis, starring Cary Grant and Jose Ferrer

Cyrano de Bergerac, starring José Ferrer

D

D.O.A., starring Edmond O'Brien

Dallas, starring Gary Cooper

The Damned Don't Cry, starring Joan Crawford

Dance Hall, directed by Charles Crichton, starring Diana Dors and Petula Clark – (GB)

Darah dan Doa, directed and produced by Usmar Ismail – (Indonesia), first native-produced Indonesian film

Dark City, directed by William Dieterle, starring Charlton Heston (in his first studio film), Lizabeth Scott, Viveca Lindfors, Dean Jagger, Mike Mazurki, Ed Begley

The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady, starring June Haver and Gordon MacRae

Death is a Caress (Døden er et kjærtegn) – (Norway)

Deported, starring Jeff Chandler

Destination Moon, starring John Archer

The Devil Is a Woman (Doña Diabla) – (Mexico)

Devil's Doorway, starring Robert Taylor, Louis Calhern, Paula Raymond

Dial 1119, starring Marshall Thompson, Virginia Field, William Conrad

Dieu a besoin des hommes (God Needs Man), directed by Jean Delannoy – (France)

E

The Eagle and the Hawk, starring Rhonda Fleming and John Payne

Edge of Doom, starring Farley Granger and Mala Powers

Les Enfants Terribles, directed by Jean-Pierre Melville – (France)

La escalinata, directed by César Enríquez – (Venezuela)

Escape at Dawn (Akatsuki no dasso) – (Japan)

F

The Fall of Berlin (Padeniye Berlina) – (USSR)

Fancy Pants, starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball

Father Is a Bachelor, starring William Holden and Colleen Gray

Father of the Bride, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor

The File on Thelma Jordon, starring Barbara Stanwyck

The Fireball, starring Mickey Rooney and Pat O'Brien

The Flame and the Arrow, starring Burt Lancaster and Virginia Mayo

The Flowers of St. Francis (Francesco, giullare di Dio), directed by Roberto Rossellini – (Italy)

For Heaven's Sake, starring Clifton Webb and Joan Bennett

Frenchie, starring Joel McCrea and Shelley Winters

The Fuller Brush Girl, starring Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert

The Furies, directed by Anthony Mann, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Walter Huston

G

Gabriela, directed by Géza von Cziffra, starring Zarah Leander – (West Germany)

Gerald McBoing-Boing

The Glass Menagerie, based on the play by Tennessee Williams, starring Jane Wyman, Kirk Douglas, Gertrude Lawrence and Arthur Kennedy

Gone to Earth, starring Jennifer Jones – (GB)

Guilty of Treason, starring Charles Bickford and Bonita Granville

Gun Crazy (aka Deadly is the Female), starring John Dall and Peggy Cummins

The Gunfighter, starring Gregory Peck

Gunman in the Streets, starring Simone Signoret – (France)

H

The Happiest Days of Your Life, starring Alastair Sim and Margaret Rutherford – (GB)

Harriet Craig, starring Joan Crawford and Wendell Corey

Harvey, starring James Stewart and Josephine Hull

Highly Dangerous, starring Margaret Lockwood and Dane Clark – (GB)

Highway 301, starring Steve Cochran and Virginia Grey

The Hollywood Ten, documentary by John Berry

House by the River, starring Louis Hayward and Jane Wyatt

Hunt the Man Down, starring Gig Young and Carla Balenda

I

The Iroquois Trail, starring George Montgomery

I Was a Shoplifter, starring Scott Brady and Mona Freeman

I'll Get By, starring June Haver, Gloria DeHaven, Steve Allen, Dennis Day

In a Lonely Place, directed by Nicholas Ray, starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame

J

The Jackie Robinson Story, starring Robinson as himself, with Ruby Dee

Jogan, starring Dilip Kumar and Nargis – (India)

Johnny One-Eye, starring Pat O'Brien

Julius Caesar, starring Charlton Heston

Justice is Done (Justice est faite) – (France)

K

Key to the City, starring Clark Gable and Loretta Young

The Kid (Xi lu xiang), starring 10-year-old Bruce Lee – (Hong Kong)

Kill the Umpire, starring William Bendix, William Frawley, Una Merkel

The Killer That Stalked New York, starring Evelyn Keyes

Kim, starring Errol Flynn

King Solomon's Mines, starring Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, starring James Cagney

L

A Lady Without Passport, starring Hedy Lamarr and John Hodiak

Last Holiday, starring Alec Guinness – (GB)

The Lawless, directed by Joseph Losey, starring Macdonald Carey

Let's Dance, starring Fred Astaire and Betty Hutton

Life (Jeevitham), directed by A. V. Meiyappan, starring Vyjayanthimala in her Telugu film debut – (India)

A Life of Her Own, starring Lana Turner and Ray Milland

The Life of Wu Xun (Wu Xun zhuan) – (China)

Louisa, starring Ronald Reagan

Love Happy, starring the Marx Brothers and, in a small role, Marilyn Monroe

M

The Magnificent Yankee, starring Louis Calhern

The Man Who Cheated Himself, starring Lee J. Cobb and Jane Wyatt

The Men, starring Marlon Brando in his film debut, with Teresa Wright, Everett Sloane, Jack Webb and, in a bit part, DeForest Kelley

The Miniver Story, starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon and John Hodiak

Mirror of Holland (Spiegel van Holland) – (Netherlands) winner of Short Film Palme d'Or

Mister 880, starring Burt Lancaster and Edmund Gwenn

Montana, starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith

Morning Departure (aka Operation Disaster), starring John Mills and Richard Attenborough – (GB)

Mrs. O'Malley and Mr.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “1950 in film” is overview of the events of 1950 in film. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through film, overview and events, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1950, 1119—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, film, overview and events is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “overview of the events of 1950 in film” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q238738. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1950 and 1119.

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This entry incorporates text from “1950 in film” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.