Film Data For 1951

The Film Daily's 10 Best of 1951

1) A Place in the Sun- 385 votes
2) A Streetcar Named Desire- 362
3) An American in Paris- 341
4) Detective Story- 298
5) Born Yesterday (1950)- 257
6) Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)- 221
7) Death of a Salesman- 188
8) Quo Vadis?- 181
9) Bright Victory- 164
10) The Great Caruso- 159

The Honor Roll

11) The Blue Veil- 156
12) Decision Before Dawn- 150
13) Show Boat- 142
14) The Red Badge of Courage- 135
15) The River- 113
16) David and Bathsheba- 102
17) Harvey (1950)- 93
18) Samson and Delilah (1949)- 92
19) Oliver Twist (1948)- 89
20) People Will Talk- 82
21) Strangers on a Train- 76
22) The Lavender Hill Mob- 72
23) Fourteen Hours- 69
24) The Well- 63
25) Here Comes the Groom- 61
26) The Big Carnival- 57
27) Tales of Hoffman- 52
28) The Brave Bulls- 51
Go for Broke- 51
30) Kon-Tiki- 50
31) The Day the Earth Stood Still- 46

"Filmdom's Famous Fives" (Selected by the critics of America in a poll conducted by The Film Daily- no vote counts given, but I think the results were listed in the order of preference)

Best Performances By Male Stars
1) Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire
2) Arthur Kennedy in Bright Victory
3) Jose Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
4) Kirk Douglas in Detective Story
5) Fredric March in Death of a Salesman

Best Performances By Feminine Stars
1) Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire
2) Shelley Winters in A Place in the Sun
3) Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday (1950)
4) Jan Wyman in The Blue Veil
5) Eleanor Parker in Detective Story

Best Performances By Supporting Actors
1) Karl Malden in A Streetcar Named Desire
2) Kevin McCarthy in Death of a Salesman
3) Peter Ustinov in Quo Vadis?
4) Leo Genn in Quo Vadis?
5) Eddie Mayehoff in That's My Boy

Best Performances By Supporting Actresses
1) Kim Hunter in A Streetcar Named Desire
2) Lee Grant in Detective Story
3) Thelma Ritter in The Mating Season
4) Josephine Hull in Harvey (1950)
5) Mildred Dunnock in Death of a Salesman

Best Performances By Juvenile Actors
1) John Howard Davies in Oliver Twist
2) Jackie Geneel in Here Comes the Groom
3) Billy Gray in The Day the Earth Stood Still
4) Peter Miles in Quo Vadis?
5) Dean Stockwell in Cattle Drive

Best Performances By Juvenile Actresses
1) Gigi Perreau in Weekend With Father
2) Donna Corcoran in Angels in the Outfield
3) Natalie Wood in The Blue Veil
4) Anna Maria Alberghetti in Here Comes the Groom
5) Beverly Washburn in Here Comes the Groom

The Year's Outstanding Photography
1) Alfred Gilks for An American in Paris
2) Robert Surtees for Quo Vadis?
3) William C. Mellor for A Place in the Sun
4) Claude Renoir for The River
5) Christopher Challis for Tales of Hoffman

The Year's Outstanding Directors
1) George Stevens for A Place in the Sun
2) Elia Kazan for A Streetcar Named Desire
3) William Wyler for Detective Story
4) John Huston for The Red Badge of Courage
5) Mervyn LeRoy for Quo Vadis?

Outstanding "Finds" of the Year

1) Leslie Caron in An American in Paris
2) Mitzi Gaynor in Golden Girl
3) Oskar Werner in Decision Before Dawn
4) Lee Grant in Detective Story
5) Kevin McCarthy in Death of a Salesman

The National Board of Review (Voting results announced on December 17, 1951)

The Top Ten Pictures (in order of preference)
1) A Place in the Sun
2) The Red Badge of Courage
3) An American in Paris
4) Death of a Salesman
5) Detective Story
6) A Streetcar Named Desire
7) Decision Before Dawn
8) Strangers on a Train
9) Quo Vadis?
10) Fourteen Hours

Best Director
Akira Kurosawa for Rashomon

Best Actor
Richard Basehart for Fourteen Hours

Best Actress
Jan Sterling for The Big Carnival

Best Screenplay
T. E. B. Clarke for The Lavender Hill Mob

Best Foreign Films (in order of preference)
Rashomon (Japan)
The River (India)
Miracle in Milan (Italy)
Kon-Tiki (Norway/Sweden)
The Browning Version (U.K.)

The New York Film Critics (Winners announced on December 27, 1951. Awards presented on January 20, 1952. Sources: Tom O'Neil's Movie Awards and Donald Lyons, "The Lights of New York," Film Comment, March-April, 1993)

Best Picture
A Streetcar Named Desire (8 votes on ballot VI)
Runner-up: The River (7 votes).

Best Director
Elia Kazan for A Streetcar Named Desire (9 votes on ballot VI)
Runner-up: George Stevens for A Place in the Sun (6 votes)

1st ballot: Kazan (6 votes), Stevens (4 votes), Jean Renoir for The River (4 votes)

Best Actor
Arthur Kennedy in Bright Victory (10 votes on ballot III)
Runner-up: Marlon Brando for A Streetcar Named Desire (5 votes)

Best Actress
Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire (10 votes on ballot V)
Runner-up: Shelley Winters in A Place in the Sun (5 votes)

Best Foreign Film
Miracle in Milan (Italy)

    
                                                

The Golden Globes (Nominations announced on January 31, 1952. Awards presented on February 21, 1952)

Winners in bold print

Best Drama Picture
Bright Victory
Detective Story
A Place in the Sun
Quo Vadis?
A Streetcar Named Desire

Best Comedy or Musical
An American in Paris

Best Picture Promoting International Understanding
The Day the Earth Stood Still

Best Director
Laslo Benedek for Death of a Salesman
Mervyn Leroy for Quo Vadis?
Vincente Minnelli for An American in Paris
George Stevens for A Place in the Sun

Best Actor, Drama
Kirk Douglas in Detective Story
Arthur Kennedy in Bright Victory
Fredric March in Death of a Salesman

Best Actress, Drama
Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire
Shelley Winters in A Place in the Sun
Jane Wyman in The Blue Veil

Best Actor, Comedy or Musical
Bing Crosby in Here Comes the Groom
Danny Kaye in On the Riviera
Gene Kelly in An American in Paris

Best Actress, Musical or Comedy
June Allyson in Too Young to Kiss

Best Supporting Actor
Peter Ustinov in Quo Vadis?

Best Supporting Actress
Lee Grant in Detective Story
Kim Hunter in A Streetcar Named Desire
Thelma Ritter in The Mating Season

Most Promising Newcomer- Male
Kevin McCarthy in Death of a Salesman

Most Promising Newcomer- Female
Pier Angeli in Teresa

Best Cinematography, Black and White
Frank Planer for Death of a Salesman

Best Cinematography, Color
William V. Skall and Robert Surtess for Quo Vadis?

Best Original Score
Victor Young for September Affair

Best Screenplay
Robert Buckner for Bright Victory

Special Achievement Award
Esther Williams, Henrietta Award for Most Popular Actress

Cecil B. DeMille Award
Cecil B. DeMille

The Academy Awards (Nominations announced February 11, 1952. Awards presented on March 20, 1952)

Winners in bold print

Best Picture
An American in Paris
Decision Before Dawn
A Place in the Sun
Quo Vadis?
A Streetcar Named Desire

Best Director
John Huston for The African Queen
Elia Kazan for A Streetcar Named Desire
Vincente Minnelli for An American in Paris
George Stevens for A Place in the Sun
William Wyler for Detective Story

Best Actor
Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen
Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire
Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun
Arthur Kennedy in Bright Victory
Fredric March in Death of a Salesman

Best Actress
Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen
Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire
Eleanor Parker in Detective Story
Shelley Winters in A Place in the Sun
Jane Wyman in The Blue Veil

Best Supporting Actor
Leo Genn in Quo Vadis?
Karl Malden in A Streetcar Named Desire
Kevin McCarthy in Death of a Salesman
Peter Ustinov in Quo Vadis?
Gig Young in Come Fill the Cup

Best Supporting Actress
Joan Blondell in The Blue Veil
Mildred Dunnock in Death of a Salesman
Kim Hunter in A Streetcar Named Desire
Lee Grant in Detective Story
Thelma Ritter in The Mating Season

Best Writing (Motion Picture Story)
Budd Boetticher and Ray Nazarro for The Bullfighter and the Lady
Oscar Millard for The Frogmen
Liam O'Brien and Robert Riskin for Here Comes the Groom
James Bernard and Paul Dehn for Seven Days to Noon
Alfred Hayes and Stewart Stern for Teresa

Best Screenplay
James Agee and John Huston for The African Queen
Philip Yordan and Robert Wyler for Detective Story
Jacques Natanson and Max Ophuls for La Ronde
Michael Wilson and Harry Brown for A Place in the Sun
Tennessee Williams for A Streetcar Named Desire

Best Story and Screenplay
Alan Jay Lerner for An American in Paris
Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels, and Walter Newman for The Big Carnival
Philip Dunne for David and Bathsheba
Robert Pirosh for Go for Broke!
Clarence Greene and Russell Rouse for The Well

Best Cinematography (Black and White)
Frank Planer for Death of a Salesman
Norbert Brodine for The Frogmen
William C. Mellor for A Place in the Sun
Robert Burks for Strangers on a Train
Harry Stradling for A Streetcar Named Desire

Best Cinematography (Color)
Alfred Gilks and John Alton for An American in Paris
Leon Shamroy for David and Bathsheba
Robert Surtees and William V. Skall for Quo Vadis?
Charles Rosher for Show Boat
John F. Seitz and W. Howard Greene for When Worlds Collide

Screen Directors Guild of America (Award for Best Director presented January 27, 1952)

Best Director
George Stevens for A Place in the Sun

Quaterly Winners for Best Director (only three winners, due to early presentation of Best Director prize)
Alfred Hitchcock for Strangers on a Train
Vincente Minnelli for An American in Paris
George Stevens for A Place in the Sun

Other directors mentioned:
Laslo Benedek for Death of a Salesman
Michael Gordon for Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
Elia Kazan for A Streetcar Named Desire
Henry King for David and Bathsheba
Mervyn LeRoy for Quo Vadis?
Anatole Litvak for Decision Before Dawn
George Sidney for Show Boat
Richard Thorpe for The Great Caruso
William Wyler for Detective Story

Screen Writers Guild of America (Winners announced February 18, 1951. Awards presented February 25, 1952)

Winners in bold print

Best Written Drama
Stanley Roberts for Death of a Salesman (based on a play by Arthur Miller)
Philip Yordan and Robert Wyler for Detective Story (based on the play by Sidney Kingsley)
John Paxton and Joel Sayre for Fourteen Hours
Michael Wilson and Harry Brown for A Place in the Sun (based on the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and the play adapted by Patrick Kearney)
Tennessee Williams for A Streetcar Named Desire (based on the Williams play, as adapted by Oscar Saul)

Best Written Comedy
Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett for Father's Little Dividend
Joseph L. Mankiewicz for People Will Talk (based on the play Dr. Praetorius by Curt Goetz)
Cy Howard for That's My Boy
Richard Murphy for You're in the Navy Now (based on a New Yorker Magazine article by John W. Hazard)

Best Written Musical
Alan Jay Lerner for An American in Paris
Sonya Levien and William Ludwig for The Great Caruso
Virginia Van Upp, Liam O'Brien, Myles Connolly, and Robert Riskin for Here Comes the Groom
Valentine Davies, Phoebe Ephron, and Henry Ephron for On the Riviera (based on the play by Rudolph Lothar and Hans Adler, adapted by Jessie Ernst)
John Lee Mahin for Show Boat (adapted from the musical play by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel by Edna Ferber)

Best Screenplay Dealing Most Ably with Problems of the American Scene
Robert Buckner for Bright Victory (based on the novel Lights Out by Baynard Kendrick)
Stanley Roberts for Death of a Salesman (based on a play by Arthur Miller)
Michael Wilson and Harry Brown for A Place in the Sun (based on the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and the play adapted by Patrick Kearney)
Millard Lampell and Sidney Buchman for Saturday's Hero (based on the novel The Hero by Millard Lampell)
Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene for The Well

Best Written Low-Budget Film
Emmet Lavery for The First Legion
Arch Oboler for Five
Charles Marquis Warren and Harold Shumate for Little Big Horn
Hugo Haas and Arnold Phillips for Pick-Up (based on the novel by Joseph Kopta)
Samuel Fuller for The Steel Helmet

Robert Meltzer Award
Robert Buckner for Bright Victory

The Top Box-Office Hits of 1951 (According to Variety, January 2, 1952. Includes actual and estimated domestic rentals to theaters in U.S. and Canada, not box-office takes, which would be higher. If the final first-run rental take for films gaining $4,000,000 or more in rentals varies from the total originally listed in 1952, I'm showing that figure after the 1952 total. Final first-run rentals data comes from Variety's January 9, 1957 "All-Time Top Film Grosses" list (only films taking $4,000,000 or more in rentals were mentioned on the "All-Time" list; unfortunately, I have no data for films with a final gross under $4,000,000 that may have ended up with a higher take than shown below). Occasionally a film will end up on the "All-Time" list with a lower rental box-office take than when the film originally appeared on the yearly list of top box-office films. This is due to the estimated rentals, which were sometimes revised to a lower amount for the All-Time list).


1) David and Bathsheba $7,000,000 (final first-run rentals of $7,100,000)
2) Showboat $5,200,000
3) An American in Paris $4,500,000 (final first-run rentals of $4,000,000)
The Great Caruso $4,500,000
5) A Streetcar Named Desire $4,250,000
6) Born Yesterday $4,150,000
7) That's My Boy $3,800,000
8) A Place in the Sun $3,500,000
9) At War With the Army $3,350,000
10) Father's Little Dividend $3,100,000
11) Detective Story $2,800,000
Kim $2,800,000
13) Across the Wide Missouri $2,750,000
Captain Horatio Hornblower $2,750,000
15) Halls of Montezuma $2,650,000
16) Flying Leathernecks $2,600,000
Harvey $2,600,000
Royal Wedding $2,600,000
19) Here Comes the Groom $2,550,000
20) Go for Broke $2,500,000
On Moonlight Bay $2,500,000
On the Riviera $2,500,000
23) Operation Pacific $2,450,000
24) Alice in Wonderland $2,400,000
The Desert Fox $2,400,000
26) Ma and Pa Kettle on the Farm $2,350,000
27) Francis Goes to the Races $2,300,000
The Lemon Drop Kid $2,300,000
Mr. Music $2,300,000
30) Texas Carnival $2,250,000
31) Lullaby of Broadway $2,225,000


32) The Blue Veil $2,200,000
Branded $2,200,000
Dallas $2,200,000
35) Call Me Mister $2,175,000
36) I'd Climb the Highest Mountain $2,150,000
37) The Frogmen $2,100,000
People Will Talk $2,100,000
39) Elopement $2,000,000
The Enforcer $2,000,000
His Kind of Woman $2,000,000
Meet Me After the Show $2,000,000
Only the Valiant $2,000,000
Tomahawk $2,000,000
Two Tickets to Broadway $2,000,000
46) Rawhide $1,950,000
The Thing $1,950,000
Up Front $1,950,000
49) Come Fill the Cup $1,900,000
Cyrano de Bergerac $1,900,000
Starlift $1,900,000


52) The Day the Earth Stood Still $1,850,000
Take Care of My Little Girl $1,850,000
54) Painting the Clouds With Sunshine $1,800,000
Strangers on a Train $1,800,000
Ten Tall Men $1,800,000
Vengeance Valley $1,800,000
West Point Story $1,800,000
59) Excuse My Dust $1,750,000
I'll Never Forget You $1,750,000
Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell $1,750,000
The Racket $1,750,000
Rich, Young, and Pretty $1,750,000
Too Young to Kiss $1,750,000
65) For Heaven's Sake $1,700,000
Three Guys Named Mike $1,700,000
67) Bird of Paradise $1,650,000


68) The Mating Season $1,625,000
69) Payment on Demand $1,600,000
The People Against O'Hara $1,600,000
Sugarfoot $1,600,000
When Worlds Collide $1,600,000
You're in the Navy Now $1,600,000
74) Abbott & Costello Meet the Invisible Man $1,550,000
Anne of the Indies $1,550,000
Jim Thorpe- All American $1,550,000
Valentino $1,550,000
Comin' Round the Mountain $1,550,000
79) Golden Girl $1,500,000
The Golden Horde $1,500,000
Half-Angel $1,500,000
82) The Prince Who Was a Thief $1,475,000
83) Appointment With Danger $1,450,000
Fixed Bayonets $1,450,000
Fort Worth $1,450,000
Frenchie $1,450,000
Rhubarb $1,450,000
88) I Can Get it For You Wholesale $1,425,000
Never a Dull Moment $1,425,000
September Affair $1,425,000
91) Along the Great Divide $1,400,000
Angels in the Outfield $1,400,000
Apache Drums $1,400,000
94) The Secret of Convict Lake $1,350,000


95) Ace in the Hole $1,300,000
Goodbye, My Fancy $1,300,000
I Was a Communist for the FBI $1,300,000
Raton Pass $1,300,000
Sirocco $1,300,000
The Tanks are Coming $1,300,000
101) Crosswinds $1,250,000
Hong Kong $1,250,000
Let's Make it Legal $1,250,000
The Redhead and the Cowboy $1,250,000
Storm Warning $1,250,000
Warpath $1,250,000
Watch the Birdie $1,250,000
108) The Last Outpost $1,225,000
109) Bedtime for Bonzo $1,200,000
Force of Arms $1,200,000
Kansas Raiders $1,200,000
112) Follow the Sun $1,150,000
My Forbidden Past $1,150,000
No Highway in the Sky $1,150,000
Saturday's Hero $1,150,000
116) Grounds for Marriage $1,100,000
The Light Touch $1,100,000
Little Eygpt $1,100,000
Peking Express $1,100,000
120) Sante Fe $1,075,000
121) Fabiola $1,050,000
The Mob $1,050,000
Smuggler's Island $1,050,000
Soldier's Three $1,050,000
125) Passage West $1,025,000
126) Behave Yourself $1,000,000
He Ran All the Way $1,000,000
Iron Man $1,000,000
A Millionaire for Christy $1,000,000
The Mudlark $1,000,000
Teresa $1,000,000

The Top Ten Box Office Stars of 1951 (according to Quigley Publishing's poll of film exhibitors found in The Motion Picture Herald)

1) John Wayne
2) Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis
3) Betty Grable
4) Abbott & Costello
5) Bing Crosby
6) Bob Hope
7) Randolph Scott
8) Gary Cooper
9) Doris Day
10) Spencer Tracy

The Next Fifteen:
11) Gregory Peck
12) Esther Williams
13) Mario Lanza
14) Red Skelton
15) Marjorie Main
16) James Stewart
17) Alan Ladd
18) Clark Gable
19) Susan Hayward
20) Jane Powell
21) Clifton Webb
22) Cary Grant
23) Jeanne Crain
24) Van Johnson
25) Burt Lancaster

Britain's Top Ten British Box-Office Stars of 1951 (according to Quigley Publishing's poll of Britain's film exhibitors)
1) Alec Guinness
2) Anna Neagle
3) Jean Simmons
4) Michael Wilding
5) Trevor Howard
6) Alastair Sim
7) Robert Newton
8) Jean Kent
9) Michael Redgrave
10) Glynis Johns

Britain's Top Ten International Box-Office Stars of 1951 (according to the Quigley Publishing's poll of Britain's film exhibitors)
1) Bob Hope
2) James Stewart
3) John Wayne
4) Abbott & Costello
5) Alec Guinness
6) Anna Neagle
7) Bette Davis
8) Alan Ladd
9) Betty Hutton
10) Mario Lanza