Film Data For 1953

The Film Daily's Top Ten Pictures of 1953 (in order of preference)

1) From Here to Eternity- 274 votes
2) Shane- 226
3) The Robe- 210
4) Roman Holiday- 202
5) Moulin Rouge (1952)- 195
6) Lili- 189
7) Stalag 17- 152
8) The Moon is Blue- 129
9) Little Boy Lost- 89
10) The Cruel Sea- 87

The Honor Roll
11) Call Me Madam- 84
12) The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)- 83
13) Hans Christian Andersen (1952)- 74
14) The Captain's Paradise- 61
15) Man on a Tightrope- 54
16) How to Marry a Millionaire- 53
17) Ivanhoe (1952)- 52
18) Kiss Me Kate- 50
19) Hondo- 48
20) Limelight- 46
21) Titanic- 44
22) A Queen is Crowded- 42
23) Mogambo- 38
24) Young Bess- 37
25) Above and Beyond (1952)- 32
So Big- 32
27) The Actress- 31
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes- 31
29) Peter Pan- 30
30) The Bandwagon- 28
31) The Story of Three Loves- 25
32) I Confess- 23
33) Julius Caesar- 22
34) The Four Poster- 21
The War of the Worlds- 21
36) The Sea Around Us- 20
37) Calamity Jane- 16
My Cousin Rachel- 16
39) House of Wax- 13
40) Gilbert & Sullivan- 12

The Best Performances By a Male Star (no vote count, but listed in the order of preference)
1) Jose Ferrer in Moulin Rouge (1952)
2) Montgomery Clift in From Here to Eternity
3) William Holden in Stalag 17
4) Alan Ladd in Shane
5) Richard Burton in The Robe


The Best Performances By a Female Star
1) Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday
2) Leslie Caron in Lili
3) Jane Wyman in So Big
4) Deborah Kerr in Young Bess
5) Jean Simmons in Young Bess

Best Performances By Supporting Actors
1) Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity
2) David Niven in The Moon is Blue
3) Jack Palance in Shane
4) Eddie Albert in Roman Holiday
5) Van Heflin in Shane

Best Performances By Supporting Actresses
1) Gloria Grahame in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
2) Donna Reed in From Here to Eternity
3) Thelma Ritter in Titanic
4) Grace Kelly in Mogambo
5) Colette Marchand in Moulin Rouge (1952)

Best Performances By Juvenile Actors
1) Brandon de Wilde in Shane
2) Christian Fourcade in Little Boy Lost
3) George Winslow in Mr. Scoutmaster
4) Joey Walsh in The Juggler
5) Bobby Driscoll as the voice of Peter Pan

Best Performances By Juvenile Actresses
1) Natalie Wood in The Star
2) Kathryn Beaumont as the voice of Wendy in Peter Pan
3) Donna Corcoran in Scandal at Scourie
4) Noreen Corcoran in Young Bess
5) Sherry Jackson in Trouble Along the Way

The Year's Outstanding Directors
1) Fred Zinnemann for From Here to Eternity
2) John Huston for Moulin Rouge (1952)
3) Henry Koster for The Robe
4) George Stevens for Shane
5) William Wyler for Roman Holiday

The Best Photographed Pictures of the Year
1) Oswald Morris for Moulin Rouge (1952)
2) Leon Shamroy for The Robe
3) Loyal Griggs for Shane
4) J. Arthur Rank's camera crew for A Queen is Crowded
5) Harry Stradling for Hans Christian Andersen (1952)

The Best Screenplays for the Year
1) Daniel Taradash for From Here to Eternity
2) F. Hugh Herbert for The Moon is Blue
3) Helen Deutsch for Lili
4) Philip Dunn for The Robe
5) John Dighton and Ian McLellan Hunter for Roman Holiday (story by Dalton Trumbo)

Outstanding "Finds" of the Year
1) Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday
2) Maggie McNamara in The Moon is Blue
3) Christian Fourcade in Little Boy Lost
4) Jack Palance in Shane
5) Richard Burton in The Robe

Outstanding Western Stars
1) Roy Rogers in his television film series
2) Alan Ladd in Shane
3) Rex Allen in Republic's Western series
4) Gene Autry in Columbia Westerns and in television film series
5) Willian Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy in television film series

The National Board of Review

The Ten Best Pictures (in order of preference)

1) Julius Caesar
2) Shane
3) From Here to Eternity
4) Martin Luther
5) Lili
6) Roman Holiday
7) Stalag 17
8) The Little Fugitive
9) Mogambo
10) The Robe

Best Director
George Stevens for Shane

Best Actor
James Mason in Face to Face, The Desert Rats,
The Man Between, and Julius Caesar

Best Actress
Jean Simmons in Young Bess, The Robe, and The Actress

Best Foreign Film (in order of preference)
A Queen is Crowded (U.K.)
Moulin Rouge (1952) (U.K.)
The Little World of Don Camillo (France/Italy)
Strange Deception (Italy)
The Conquest of Everest (U.K.)

The New York Film Critics (Winners announced on December 28, 1953. Awards presented on January 23, 1954. Sources: Tom O'Neill's Movie Awards, 2001 and Donald Lyons, "The Lights of New York," Film Comment, March-April, 1993).

Best Picture
From Here to Eternity (11 votes on the ballot II).
Runner-up: The Conquest of Everest (2 votes)
3rd Place: Roman Holiday (1 vote)

Best Director
Fred Zinnemann for From Here to Eternity (10 votes on ballot II)
Runner-up: George Stevens for Shane (3 votes ballot)

Best Actor
Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity (11 votes on ballot V)
Runner-up: John Gielgud in Julius Caesar (2 votes)
3rd Place: William Holden in Stalag 17 (1 vote)

Ballot I: Lancaster (7 votes), Holden (2 votes), James Mason in Julius Caesar (2 votes)

Best Actress
Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday (11 votes on ballot III)
Runner-up: Ava Gardner in Mogambo (3 votes)

Best Foreign Film
Justice is Done (France)


Golden Globes (Awards presented on January 22, 1954)

Best Drama
The Robe

Best Motion Picture Promoting International Understanding
Little Boy Lost

Best Actor, Drama
Spencer Tracy in The Actress

Best Actress, Drama
Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday

Best Actor, Musical or Comedy
David Niven in The Moon is Blue

Best Actress, Musical or Comedy
Ethel Merman in Call Me Madam

Best Supporting Actor
Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity

Best Supporting Actress
Grace Kelly in Mogambo

Best Screenplay
Hellen Deutsch for Lili

World Film Favorites
Alan Ladd
Marilyn Monroe
Robert Taylor

Most Promising Newcomer- Male
Richard Egan
Steve Forrest
Hugh O'Brien

Most Promising Newcomer- Female
Pat Crowley
Bella Darvi
Barbara Rush

Cecil B. DeMille Award
Darryl F. Zanuck

Special Achievement Awards
Jack Cummings
Walt Disney for The Living Desert
Guy Madison

The Academy Awards (Nominations announced on February 15, 1954. Wards presented on March 24, 1954)

Winners in bold print

Best Picture
From Here to Eternity
Julius Caesar
The Robe
Roman Holiday
Shane

Best Director
George Stevens for Shane
Charles Walters for Lili
Billy Wilder for Stalag 17
William Wyler for Roman Holiday
Fred Zinnemann for From Here to Eternity

Best Actor
Marlon Brando in Julius Caesar
Richard Burton in The Robe
Montgomery Clift in From Here to Eternity
William Holden in Stalag 17
Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity

Best Actress
Leslie Caron in Lili
Ava Gardner in Mogambo
Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday
Deborah Kerr in From Here to Eternity
Maggie McNamara in The Moon is Blue

Best Supporting Actor
Eddie Albert in Roman Holiday
Brandon de Wilde in Shane
Jack Palance in Shane
Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity
Robert Strauss in Stalag 17

Best Supporting Actress
Grace Kelly in Mogambo
Geraldine Page in Hondo
Marjorie Rambeau in Torch Song
Donna Reed in From Here to Eternity
Thelma Ritter in Pickup on South Street

Best Motion Picture Story
Beirne Lay, Jr. for Above and Beyond
Alec Coppel for The Captain's Paradise
Ray Ashley, Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin for The Little Fugitive
Dalton Trumbo for Roman Holiday (Trumbo was blacklisted at the time, so the story was attributed to Ian McKellan Hunter- Trumbo received the Oscar posthumously, in 1993)
Hondo was deemed ineligible after it was found the story was not an original

Best Screenplay
Eric Ambler for The Cruel Sea
Daniel Taradash for From Here to Eternity
Helen Deutsch for Lili
Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton for Roman Holiday
A. B. Guthrie, Jr. for Shane

Best Story and Screenplay
Betty Comden and Adolph Green for The Band Wagon
Richard Murphy for The Desert Rats
Sam Rolfe and Harold Jack Bloom for The Naked Spur
Millard Kaufman for Take the High Ground
Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch and Richard Breen for Titanic

British Academy Awards


Best Film From Any Source and Best British Film
The Bad and the Beautiful (U.S.)
Come Back, Little Sheba (U.S.- 1952)
The Cruel Sea (Great Britain)
From Here to Eternity (U.S.)
Genevieve (G.B.)- won for Best British Film
The Heart of the Matter (G.B.)
Julius Caesar (U.S.)
The Kidnappers (G.B.)
Lili (U.S.)
The Little World of Don Camillo (France/Italy)
The Medium (Italy)
Mogambo (U.S.)
Moulin Rouge (U.S.)
Nous Sommes Tous des Assassins (France)
Roman Holiday (U.S.)
The Secret Game (Jeux Interdits- Forbidden Games)- won for Best Film From Any Source
Shane (U.S.)
The Sun Shines Bright (U.S.)
Two Pennyworth of Hope (Italy)

Best British Actor
John Gielgud in Julius Caesar
Jack Hawkins in The Cruel Sea
Trevor Howard in The Heart of the Matter
Duncan Macrae in The Kidnappers
Kenneth More in Genevieve

Best Britsh Actress
Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday
Celia Johnson in The Captain's Paradise


Best Foreign Actor
Eddie Albert in Roman Holiday
Marlon Brando in Julius Caesar
Van Heflin in Shane
Claude Laydu in Journal D-un Cure de Campagne
Marcel Mouloudji in Nous Sommes Tous des Assassins
Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday
Spencer Tracy in The Actress

Best Foreign Actress
Shirley Booth in Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)
Leslie Caron in Lili
Marie Powers in The Medium
Maria Schell in The Heart of the Matter

Most Promising Newcomer
Colette Marchand in Moulin Rouge
Norman Wisdom in Trouble in Store

Best Documentary
The Conquest of Everest
Crin Blanc (France)
Elizabeth is Queen (G.B.)
Images Medievales (France)
Kumak, The Sleppy Hunter (Canada)
Life in the Arctic (USSR)
Mille Miglia (G.B.)
Operation Hurricane (G.B.)
A Queen is Crowned (G.B.)
Teeth of the Wind (G.B.)
Water Birds (U.S.)
World Without End (G.B.)

Elizabeth is Queen and A Queen is Crowned each received Certificates of Meriot as historical records of exceptional quality of the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Also Awarded Certificates of Merit:
Thomas Stobart for his work as director-cameraman for the first film of the 1953 Everest Expedition

Erich von Stroheim for his great services to film as director and actor, on the occasion of the revival of Greed and other films of his at the National Film Theatre

Special Award
The Dog and the Diamonds (G.B.)
The Figurehead (G.B.)
Full Circle (G.B.)
Johnny on the Run (G.B.)
Little Boy Blew (U.S.)
The Moving Spirit (G.B.)
The Pleasure Garden (G.B.)
The Romance of Transportation (Canada)

United Nations Award
Johnny on the Run (G.B.)
Teeth of the Wind (G.B.)
World Without End (G.B.)

The Top Box-Office Hits of 1953 (According to Variety, January 13, 1954. 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 1953, I'm showing that figure after the 1953 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). Ocassionally 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) The Robe 17,500,000
2) From Here to Eternity $12,500,000
3) Shane $8,000,000
4) How to Marry a Millionaire $7,500,000 (Final first-run rentals of $7,200,000)
5) Peter Pan $7,000,000 (Final first-run rentals of $6,000,000)
6) Hans Christian Andersen $6,000,000
7) House of Wax $5,500,000
8) Mogambo $5,200,000
9) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes $5,100,000
10) Moulin Rouge $5,000,000
11) Salome $4,750,000
12) The Charge at Feather River $3,650,000
13) The Caddy $3,500,000
Come Back, Little Sheba $3,500,000
The Moon is Blue $3,500,000
Scared Stiff $3,500,000
The Stooge $3,500,000
18) Stalag 17 $3,300,000
19) Little Boy Lost $3,000,000
Mississippi Gambler $3,000,000
Road to Bali $3,000,000
Roman Holiday $3,000,000


23) Call Me Madam $2,850,000
24) April in Paris $2,750,000
Island in the Sky $2,750,000
26) Bwana Devil $2,700,000
27) Fort Ti $$2,600,000
28) The Band Wagon $2,550,000
29) Above and Beyond $2,500,000
Easy to Love $2,500,000
Kiss Me Kate $2,500,000
Off Limits $2,500,000
Springfield Rifle $2,500,000
White Witch Doctor $2,500,000
35) Because You're Mine $2,450,000
Trouble Along the Way $2,450,000
37) Thunder Bay $2,400,000


38) The Bad and the Beautiful $2,350,000
Niagara $2,350,000
40) The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms $2,250,000
Dangerous When Wet $2,250,000
The Naked Spur $2,250,000
Titanic $2,250,000
44) The Kettles on Vacation $2,200,000
The Merry Widow $2,200,000
46) By the Light of the Silvery Moon $2,125,000
47) All the Brothers Were Valiant $2,100,000
The Prisoner of Zenda $2,100,000
49) Blowing Wind $2,000,000
The Desert Song $2,000,000
Fort Bravo $2,000,000
I Confess $2,000,000
The Jazz Singer $2,000,000
The Man Behind the Gun $2,000,000
The Master of Ballantrae $2,000,000
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd $2,000,000
Second Chance $2,000,000
So Big $2,000,000
South Sea Woman $2,000,000
Thunder in the East $2,000,000
War of the Worlds $2,000,000


62) Botany Bay $1,900,000
Pickup on South Street $1,900,000
She's Back on Broadway $1,900,000
65) Young Bess $1,850,000
66) Francis Covers the Big Town $1,800,000
Houdini $1,800,000
Return to Paradise $1,800,000
Sangaree $1,800,000
70) Never Let Me Go $1,750,000
Ruby Gentry $1,750,000
So This is Love $1,750,000
73) Desert Legion $1,650,000
Ride, Vanquero! $1,650,000
75) Against All Flags $1,600,000
It Came From Outer Space $1,600,000
Mr. Scoutmaster $1,600,000
Never Wave at a WAC $1,600,000
The Stars are Singing $1,600,000
The Stranger Wore a Gun $1,600,000
81) Battle Circus $1,525,000
82) The Clown $1,500,00
Latin Lovers $1,500,000
Lili $1,500,000
84) Man in the Dark $1,450,000


85) I, the Jury $1,400,000
Pony Express $1,400,000
Seminole $1,400,000
88) The Great Sioux Uprising $1,350,000
The President's Lady $1,350,000
The Story of Three Loves $1,350,000
91) Everything I Have is Yours $1,325,000
92) Fair Wind to Java $1,300,000
Gun Smoke $1,300,000
The Lawless Breed $1,300,000
Meet Me at the Fair $1,300,000
My Cousin Rachel $1,300,000
Small Town Girl $1,300,000
Take the High Ground $1,300,000


99) The Big Heat $1,250,000
Blackbeard the Pirate $1,250,000
The City Beneath the Sea $1,250,000
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars $1,250,000
Hangman's Knot $1,250,000
The I Don't Care Girl $1,250,000
I Love Melvin $1,250,000
Let's Do it Again $1,250,000
107) All I Desire $1,200,000
Arrowhead $1,200,000
Destination Gobi $1,200,000
The Girl Next Door $1,200,000
Jeopardy $1,200,000
Abbott & Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde $1,200,000
Torch Song $1,200,000
Treasure of the Golden Condor $1,200,000
115) The Farmer Takes a Wife $1,150,000
Lone Hand $1,150,000
The Man From the Alamo $1,150,000
118) Column South $1,100,000
The Desert Rats $1,100,000
The Redhead From Wyoming $1,100,000
121) Sombrero $1,000,000
The Devil's Canyon $1,000,000
Down Among the Sheltering Palms $1,000,000
The Girl Who Had Everything $1,000,000
Law & Order $1,000,000
Moonlighter $1,000,000
Montana Belle $1,000,000
Plunder of the Sun $1,000,000
Powder River $1,000,000
The Star $1,000,000
The Sword and the Rose $1,000,000
Take Me to Town $1,000,000
Thunderbirds $1,000,000

The Top Ten Box Office Stars of 1953 (according to Quigley Publishing's poll of film exhibitors  found in The Motion Picture Herald)

1) Gary Cooper
2) Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis
3) John Wayne
4) Alan Ladd
5) Bing Crosby
6) Marilyn Monroe
7) James Stewart
8) Bob Hope
9) Susan Hayward
10) Randolph Scott

The Next Fifteen:
11) Doris Day
12) Esther Williams
13) Marjorie Main & Percy Kilbride
14) Gregory Peck
15) Ava Gardner
16) Clark Gable
17) Burt Lancaster
18) Jeff Chandler
19) Jane Wyman
20) Abbott & Costello
21) Stewart Granger
22) Jane Russell
23) Charlton Heston
24) Humphrey Bogart
25) Rita Hayworth

Britain's Top Ten British Box-Office Stars of 1953 (according to Quigley Publishing's poll of Britain's film exhibitors)
1) Jack Hawkins
2) Alec Guinness
3) Ronald Shiner
4) Alastair Sim
5) Dirk Bogarde
6) Dinah Sheridan
7) Jack Warner
8) Nigel Patrick
9) Ralph Richardson
10) Anthony Steel

Britain's Top Ten International Box-Office Stars of 1953 (according to Quigley Publishing's poll of Britain's film exhibitors)
1) Jack Hawkins
2) Bob Hope
3) Alan Ladd
4) Gregory Peck
5) Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis
6) Bing Crosby
7) John Wayne
8) Stewart Granger
9) Doris Day
10) Danny Kaye