1948 in film
The year 1948 in film involved some significant events.
Events
Top grossing films (U.S.)
| Rank |
Title |
Studio |
Actors |
Gross |
| 1. |
The Red Shoes |
Eagle-Lion |
Moira Shearer |
$5,000,000 |
| 2. |
The Three Musketeers |
MGM |
Lana Turner and Gene Kelly |
$4,507,000 |
| 3. |
Red River |
United Artists |
John Wayne and Montgomery Clift |
$4,500,000 |
| 4. |
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre |
Warner Bros. |
Humphrey Bogart |
$4,307,000 |
| 5. |
When My Baby Smiles at Me |
20th Century Fox |
Betty Grable and Dan Dailey |
$4,200,000 |
| 6. |
Easter Parade |
MGM |
Judy Garland and Fred Astaire |
$4,100,000 |
| 7. |
Johnny Belinda
The Snake Pit |
Warner Bros.
20th Century Fox |
Jane Wyman and Lew Ayres
Olivia de Havilland |
$4,089,000 |
| 8. |
Joan of Arc |
RKO |
Ingrid Bergman |
$4,000,000 |
| 9. |
Adventures of Don Juan |
Warner Bros. |
Errol Flynn |
$3,700,000 |
| 10. |
Homecoming |
MGM |
Clark Gable and Lana Turner |
$3,420,000 |
| 11. |
The Loves of Carmen |
Columbia |
Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford |
$3,395,000 |
| 12. |
Key Largo |
Warner Bros. |
Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson and Lauren Bacall |
$3,289,000 |
| 13. |
That Lady in Ermine |
20th Century Fox |
Betty Grable |
$3,250,000 |
| 14. |
The Emperor Waltz |
Paramount |
Bing Crosby and Joan Fontaine |
$3,209,000 |
| 15. |
The Search |
MGM |
Montgomery Clift |
$3,191,000 |
| 16. |
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House |
RKO |
Cary Grant and Myrna Loy |
$3,140,000 |
| 17. |
Hamlet |
Rank Film |
Laurence Olivier |
$3,075,000 |
| 18. |
State of the Union |
MGM |
Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn |
$2,745,000 |
| 19. |
A Foreign Affair |
Paramount |
Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich and John Lund |
$2,450,000 |
| 20. |
Sorry, Wrong Number |
Paramount |
Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster |
$2,200,000 |
(*) After theatrical re-issue(s)
Awards
Academy Awards:
- Best Picture: Hamlet - Two Cities Films
- Best Director: John Huston - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- Best Actor: Laurence Olivier - Hamlet
- Best Actress: Jane Wyman - Johnny Belinda
- Best Supporting Actor: Walter Huston - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- Best Supporting Actress: Claire Trevor - Key Largo
Golden Globe Awards:
- Best Picture (tie): Johnny Belinda
- Best Picture (tie): The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- Best Director: John Huston - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- Best Actor: Laurence Olivier - Hamlet
- Best Actress: Jane Wyman - Johnny Belinda
Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival): not held
Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival)
- Hamlet, directed by Laurence Olivier (United Kingdom)
- Best Actor: Ernst Deutsch in Der Prozess
- Best Actress: Jean Simmons in Hamlet
Films released in 1948
U.S.A. unless stated
- 3 Godfathers, starring John Wayne
- Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
- Act of Violence, starring Van Heflin, Robert Ryan and Janet Leigh
- Adventures of Don Juan
- L'Amore, directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Anna Magnani - (Italy)
- Anna Karenina, starring Vivien Leigh and Ralph Richardson - (U.K.)
- Another Part of the Forest, starring Fredric March
- Arch of Triumph
- B.F.'s Daughter
- Beast of the East (1948 film, re-released in 1959 as Atrocities of the Orient)
- Berlin Express, starring Merle Oberon and Robert Ryan
- Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette), directed by Vittorio De Sica - (Italy)
- The Big Clock, starring Ray Milland, Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Sullivan
- Bodyguard
- Call Northside 777, starring James Stewart
- Command Decision, starring Clark Gable
- Cry of the City, starring Victor Mature and Richard Conte
- The Countess of Monte Cristo, starring Sonja Henie
- Dédée d'Anvers, starring Simone Signoret - (France)
- Drunken Angel (Yoidore tenshi), directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune - (Japan)
- Easter Parade, starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire
- The Emperor Waltz, starring Bing Crosby
- Escape, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Rex Harrison - (U.K./U.S.)
- Eva - (Sweden)
- Every Girl Should Be Married, starring Cary Grant
- The Fallen Idol, written by Graham Greene and directed by Carol Reed, starring Ralph Richardson - (U.K.)
- Fighter Squadron, directed by Raoul Walsh
- Force of Evil, starring John Garfield
- A Foreign Affair, starring Jean Arthur and Marlene Dietrich
- Fort Apache, directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne, Henry Fonda and Shirley Temple
- Germany Year Zero (Germania anno zero), directed by Roberto Rossellini - (Italy)
- Good-Time Girl - (U.K.)
- Green Grass of Wyoming
- Hamlet, directed by and starring Laurence Olivier with Basil Sydney and Jean Simmons - (U.K.)
- He Walked by Night, starring Richard Basehart and Jack Webb
- A Hen in the Wind (Kaze no naka no mendori), directed by Yasujiro Ozu - (Japan)
- Hollow Triumph, starring Paul Henreid and Joan Bennett
- Homecoming, starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner, also starring Anne Baxter and John Hodiak
- I Remember Mama, directed by George Stevens, starring Irene Dunne
- I Walk Alone, starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas
- Joan of Arc, starring Ingrid Bergman
- Johnny Belinda, starring Jane Wyman and Lew Ayres
- June Bride, starring Bette Davis
- Jungle Goddess, starring George Reeves
- Key Largo, directed by John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore and Claire Trevor
- Ladies of the Chorus, starring Marilyn Monroe
- The Lame Devil (Le Diable boiteux), directed by and starring Sacha Guitry - (France)
- Last of the Wild Horses, starring Jane Frazee and Douglass Dumbrille
- Letter from an Unknown Woman, directed by Max Ophuls, starring Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdan
- Louisiana Story, documentary by Robert J. Flaherty
- The Loves of Carmen, starring Rita Hayworth
- The Luck of the Irish
- Macbeth, directed by and starring Orson Welles
- The Man from Colorado, starring William Holden and Glenn Ford
- Melody Time
- Mexican Hayride, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
- Michurin, directed by Alexander Dovzhenko - (U.S.S.R.)
- The Monkey's Paw starring Milton Rosmer - (U.K.)
- Moonrise
- Morituri - (Germany)
- Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, starring Cary Grant
- Myriad of Lights - (China)
- The Naked City, directed by Jules Dassin, starring Barry Fitzgerald
- Night Has a Thousand Eyes, starring Edward G. Robinson
- The Noose Hangs High, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
- Nosotros los pobres (We the Poor), starring Pedro Infante - (Mexico)
- Oliver Twist, directed by David Lean, starring Alec Guinness and Robert Newton - (U.K.)
- On Our Own Land (Na svoji zemlji) - (Yugoslavia)
- The Paleface, starring Bob Hope
- Les Parents terribles, directed by Jean Cocteau, starring Jean Marais - (France)
- The Pirate, starring Gene Kelly and Judy Garland
- Pitfall, starring Dick Powell and Lizabeth Scott
- Portrait of Jennie, starring Jennifer Jones
- Raw Deal, directed by Anthony Mann
- Red River, directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in his film debut
- The Red Shoes, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring Moira Shearer and Anton Walbrook - (U.K.)
- Road House, starring Ida Lupino
- Rogues' Regiment, directed by Robert Florey and starring Dick Powell, Märta Torén and Vincent Price
- Romance on the High Seas
- Rope, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart, John Dall and Farley Granger
- Saigon, the final of 4 films starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake
- The Sainted Sisters, starring Veronica Lake
- Saraband for Dead Lovers, starring Stewart Granger and Joan Greenwood - (U.K.)
- Scott of the Antarctic, starring John Mills - (U.K.)
- The Search, directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Montgomery Clift
- Secret Beyond the Door
- Senza pietà (Without Pity) - (Italy)
- Shaheed, starring Dilip Kumar - (India)
- Sitting Pretty
- Sleeping Car to Trieste - (U.K.)
- The Snake Pit, starring Olivia de Havilland
- A Song Is Born, starring Danny Kaye
- Sorry, Wrong Number, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster
- Spring in a Small Town (Xiǎochéng zhī chūn) - (China)
- Spring in Park Lane, starring Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding - (U.K.)
- State of the Union, starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn
- The Street with No Name, starring Richard Widmark
- La Terra Trema (The Earth Will Tremble), directed by Luchino Visconti - (Italy)
- The Three Muskteers, starring Lana Turner and Gene Kelly
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, directed by John Huston (Oscars for best director and best screenplay), starring Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston (best supporting actor)
- Los tres huastecos, starring Pedro Infante - (Mexico)
- Unfaithfully Yours, starring Linda Darnell and Rex Harrison
- Up in Central Park, directed by William A. Seiter and starring Deanna Durbin and Vincent Price
- Ustedes los ricos (you the Rich), starring Pedro Infante - (Mexico)
- Waverley Steps: A Visit to Edinburgh - (U.K.) documentary
- When My Baby Smiles at Me, starring Betty Grable and Dan Dailey
- The Winslow Boy, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Robert Donat and Margaret Leighton - (U.K.)
- Yellow Sky, starring Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter and Richard Widmark
Serials
Short film series
Births
- January 14 - Carl Weathers, actor and football player
- January 16 - John Carpenter, director, producer and screenwriter
- January 29 - Marc Singer, Canadian actor
- February 5 - Barbara Hershey, actress
- February 20 - Jennifer O'Neill, actress
- February 22 - John Ashton, actor
- February 28 - Mike Figgis, English director and screenwriter
- March 11 - Dominique Sanda, French actress
- March 14 - Billy Crystal, actor and comedian
- March 25 - Bonnie Bedelia, actress
- March 28 - Dianne Wiest, actress
- March 29 - Bud Cort, actor
- May 21 - Jonathan Hyde, Australian-born English actor
- June 28 - Kathy Bates, actress
- July 30 - Jean Reno, French actor
- September 7 - Susan Blakely, actress
- September 19 - Jeremy Irons, English actor
- October 2 - Persis Khambatta, Indian actress and model (d. 1998)
- October 17 - Margot Kidder, Canadian actress
- November 10 - Vincent Schiavelli, actor (d. 2005)
- November 28 - Agnieszka Holland, Polish director and screenwriter
- December 6 - JoBeth Williams, actress and director
- December 12 - Tom Wilkinson, English actor
- December 14 - Dee Wallace, actress
- December 21 - Samuel L. Jackson, actor and producer
- December 27 - Gérard Depardieu, French actor and filmmaker
Deaths
Film debuts