1951 in film

Years in film
1870s
1880s 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890s 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900s 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s 2020

The year 1951 in film involved some significant events.

Events

• Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati
• United States of America - Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland premieres, while a disappointment at first it would later became one of the biggest cult classics in the animation medium.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

(*) After theatrical re-issue(s)

Top-grossing films (international)

The highest-grossing 1951 films from countries outside of North America.

Awards

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: An American in Paris - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Best Director: George Stevens - A Place in the Sun

Best Actor: Humphrey Bogart - The African Queen

Best Actress: Vivien Leigh - A Streetcar Named Desire

Best Supporting Actor: Karl Malden - A Streetcar Named Desire

Best Supporting Actress: Kim Hunter - A Streetcar Named Desire

Golden Globe Awards:

Drama:

Best Picture: A Place in the Sun

Best Actor: Fredric March - Death of a Salesman

Best Actress: Jane Wyman - The Blue Veil

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture: An American in Paris

Best Actor: Danny Kaye - On the Riviera

Best Actress: June Allyson - Too Young to Kiss

Other

Best Director: Laslo Benedek - Death of a Salesman

Special Award: Pictura: An Adventure in Art

Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival):

Miss Julie (Fröken Julie), directed by Alf Sjöberg, Sweden

Miracle in Milan (Miracolo a Milano), directed by Vittorio De Sica, Italy

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival)

Rashomon, directed by Akira Kurosawa, Japan

Top ten money making stars

Notable films released in 1951

U.S.A. release unless stated

#

• The 13th Letter, directed by Otto Preminger, starring Linda Darnell and Charles Boyer

A

• Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• Ace in the Hole (a.k.a. The Big Carnival), directed by Billy Wilder, starring Kirk Douglas and Jan Sterling
• Across the Wide Missouri, starring Clark Gable
• The African Queen, directed by John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart (Oscar for best actor) and Katharine Hepburn - (GB/U.S.A.)
• Air Cadet, starring Gail Russell and Stephen McNally
• Alice in Wonderland, an animated film by Walt Disney
• Along the Great Divide, starring Kirk Douglas
• An American in Paris, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron (Oscar for best picture)
• Angels in the Outfield, starring Paul Douglas and Janet Leigh
• Anna, starring Silvana Mangano, Raf Vallone and Vittorio Gassman - (Italy)
• Another Man's Poison, directed by Irving Rapper, starring Bette Davis, Gary Merrill, Emlyn Williams and Anthony Steel - (GB)
• Apache Drums, starring Stephen McNally and Coleen Gray
• Appointment with Danger, starring Alan Ladd, with future Dragnet (series) co-stars Jack Webb and Harry Morgan
• Appointment with Venus, starring Glynis Johns and David Niven - (U.K.)
• As Young as You Feel, starring Monty Woolley
• Atoll K, starring Laurel and Hardy in their final film
• Awaara (Tramp), directed by and starring Raj Kapoor - (India)
• The Axe of Wandsbek (Das Beil von Wandsbek) - (East Germany)

B

• Baazi (Gamble), starring Dev Anand - (India)
• Bedtime for Bonzo, starring Ronald Reagan (with a chimpanzee)
• Bellissima, directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Anna Magnani - (Italy)
• Blackmailed, starring Mai Zetterling and Dirk Bogarde - (GB)
• The Blue Veil, starring Jane Wyman
• Bright Victory, starring Arthur Kennedy
• The Browning Version, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Michael Redgrave and Jean Kent - (GB)
• Bullfighter and the Lady, starring Robert Stack and Joy Page

C

• Callaway Went Thataway, starring Fred MacMurray, Dorothy McGuire, Howard Keel
• Call Me Mister, starring Betty Grable
• Captain Horatio Hornblower, starring Gregory Peck - (GB)
• Cattle Drive, starring Joel McCrea, Dean Stockwell and Chill Wills
• Cause for Alarm!, starring Loretta Young and Barry Sullivan
• China Corsair, starring Jon Hall
• Circle of Danger, starring Ray Milland - (GB)
• The Clouded Yellow, starring Trevor Howard and Jean Simmons - (GB)
• Come Fill the Cup, starring James Cagney and Gig Young
• Comin' Round The Mountain, starring Abbott and Costello
• Cops and Robbers (Guardie e ladri), directed by Mario Monicelli - (Italy)
• Cry Danger, starring Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming
• Cry, the Beloved Country, directed by Zoltan Korda, starring Sidney Poitier - (GB)

D

• Darling, How Could You!, starring Joan Fontaine
• Daughter of Deceit (La hija del engaño), directed by Luis Buñuel - (Mexico)
• David and Bathsheba, starring Gregory Peck and Susan Hayward
• The Day the Earth Stood Still, directed by Robert Wise, starring Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal
• Death of a Salesman, starring Fredric March
• Decision Before Dawn, starring Richard Basehart, Gary Merrill and Oskar Werner
• Deedar, starring Ashok Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Nargis - (India)
• The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel, starring James Mason
• Detective Story, starring Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Lee Grant, Horace McMahon, and George Macready
• Diary of a Country Priest (Journal d'un curé de campagne), directed by Robert Bresson - (France)
• Distant Drums, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Gary Cooper
• Double Dynamite, starring Jane Russell, Frank Sinatra and Groucho Marx
• Dream of a Cossack (Kavalier zolotoy zvezdy), starring Sergei Bondarchuk - (U.S.S.R.)
• Daar Doer in Die Bosveld (Far Away in the Bushveld), starring Jamie Uys - (South Africa)

E-F

• Early Summer (Bakushū), directed by Yasujirō Ozu - (Japan)
• Encore, starring Nigel Patrick and Kay Walsh - (GB)
• The Enforcer (Murder, Inc.), starring Humphrey Bogart and Zero Mostel
• FBI Girl, starring Audrey Totter and Cesar Romero
• The Family Secret, starring John Derek and Lee J. Cobb
• Father's Little Dividend, starring Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor
• The Fighting Seventh (a.k.a. Little Big Horn), starring Lloyd Bridges
• Flying Leathernecks, starring John Wayne and Robert Ryan
• Follow the Sun, starring Glenn Ford (as Ben Hogan)
• The Forbidden Christ (Il Cristo proibito), starring Raf Vallone - (Italy)
• Fort Worth, starring Randolph Scott
• Four in a Jeep (Die Vier im Jeep), starring Ralph Meeker and Viveca Lindfors - (Switzerland)
• Fourteen Hours, starring Paul Douglas, Richard Basehart, Jeffrey Hunter and Grace Kelly
• The Frogmen, starring Richard Widmark and Dana Andrews
• Furrows (Surcos) - (Spain)

G

• Go for Broke!, starring Van Johnson
• Golden Girl, starring Mitzi Gaynor, Dale Robertson, Dennis Day
• The Golden Horde, starring Ann Blyth
• Goodbye My Fancy, starring Joan Crawford and Robert Young
• The Great Caruso, starring Mario Lanza
• The Groom Wore Spurs, starring Ginger Rogers
• Grounds for Marriage, starring Kathryn Grayson and Van Johnson
• The Guy Who Came Back, starring Paul Douglas

H

• Half Angel, starring Loretta Young
• Happy Go Lovely, starring David Niven and Vera-Ellen - (GB)
• He Ran All the Way, starring John Garfield and Shelley Winters
• Here Comes the Groom, directed by Frank Capra, starring Bing Crosby
• His Kind of Woman, starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Vincent Price and Raymond Burr
• The House in Montevideo (Das Haus in Montevideo) - (West Germany)
• The House on Telegraph Hill, starring Richard Basehart

I-J

• I Can Get It for You Wholesale, starring Susan Hayward
• I'll Never Forget You
• I Want You, directed by Mark Robson, starring Dana Andrews
• The Idiot (Hakuchi), directed by Akira Kurosawa - (Japan)
• Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison, starring Steve Cochran
• Jim Thorpe – All-American, starring Burt Lancaster
• Journey Into Light, directed by Stuart Heisler, starring Sterling Hayden
• Juliette, or Key of Dreams (Juliette ou La clef des songes), directed by Marcel Carné - (France)

K-L

• Kind Lady, directed by John Sturges, starring Ethel Barrymore, Maurice Evans, Keenan Wynn, Angela Lansbury
• Kon-Tiki, a documentary directed by and starring Thor Heyerdahl - (Norway)
• The Last Outpost, starring Ronald Reagan
• Laughter in Paradise, starring Alastair Sim - (GB)
• The Lavender Hill Mob, directed by Charles Crichton, starring Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sid James and Alfie Bass, with an early appearance by Audrey Hepburn - (GB)
• The Lemon Drop Kid, starring Bob Hope, Marilyn Maxwell, William Frawley and Tor Johnson
• Let's Go Crazy, starring Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers - (GB)
• Leva på 'Hoppet', starring Ingrid Thulin - (Sweden)
• Lightning Strikes Twice, starring Ruth Roman and Mercedes McCambridge
• Little Egypt, starring Rhonda Fleming and Mark Stevens
• The Long Dark Hall, starring Rex Harrison - (GB)
• Lost Continent, starring Cesar Romero
• Love Nest, starring June Haver and Marilyn Monroe

M

• The Magic Box, starring Robert Donat, a biopic of William Friese-Greene - (GB)
• The Magnificent Yankee, starring Louis Calhern
• Malliswari, starring N.T. Rama Rao - (India)
• The Man in the White Suit, directed by Alexander Mackendrick, starring Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough and Ernest Thesiger - (GB)
• The Mating Season, starring Gene Tierney, John Lund, Miriam Hopkins and Thelma Ritter
• The Medium, starring Marie Powers - (Italy)
• Miracle in Milan (Miracolo a Milano), directed by Vittorio De Sica - (Italy)
• Miss Julie (Fröken Julie), directed by Alf Sjöberg - (Sweden)
• The Model and the Marriage Broker, starring Jeanne Crain, Thelma Ritter, Scott Brady, Zero Mostel
• Mr. Imperium, starring Lana Turner and Ezio Pinza
• My Favorite Spy, starring Bob Hope and Hedy Lamarr

N-O

• New Mexico, starring Lew Ayres and Marilyn Maxwell
• The Night Before Christmas (Noch pered Rozhdestvom) - (U.S.S.R.)
• No Highway in the Sky (No Highway), starring James Stewart, Glynis Johns and Marlene Dietrich - (GB)
• Olivia, directed by Jacqueline Audry - (France)
• On Dangerous Ground, starring Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan
• On Moonlight Bay, starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae
• On the Riviera, starring Danny Kaye
• One Summer of Happiness (Hon dansade en sommar) - (Sweden)
• Only the Valiant, starring Gregory Peck

P-Q

• Painting the Clouds with Sunshine, starring Virginia Mayo
• Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, starring Ava Gardner and James Mason - (GB)
• Paris Vice Squad (Identité judiciaire) - (France)
• Payment on Demand, starring Bette Davis and Barry Sullivan
• Penny Points to Paradise, starring Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan - (GB)
• The People Against O'Hara, starring Spencer Tracy
• People Will Talk, starring Cary Grant, Jeanne Crain, Hume Cronyn and Finlay Currie
• A Place in the Sun, directed by George Stevens, starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters and Raymond Burr
• Pool of London, directed by Basil Dearden, starring Leslie Phillips, James Robertson Justice and Earl Cameron - (GB)
• The Prowler, directed by Joseph Losey, starring Van Heflin and Evelyn Keyes
• Quo Vadis, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinov and Leo Genn

R

• The Racket, starring Robert Mitchum
• The Raging Tide, starring Richard Conte and Shelley Winters
• Rawhide, starring Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward
• The Red Badge of Courage, directed by John Huston, starring Audie Murphy
• Red Mountain, starring Alan Ladd and Lizabeth Scott
• Repast (Meshi), directed by Mikio Naruse, written by the novelist Yasunari Kawabata - (Japan)
• El revoltoso (The Rebellious) - (Mexico)
• Rhubarb, starring Ray Milland, Jan Sterling, William Frawley and Leonard Nimoy
• Rich, Young and Pretty, starring Jane Powell
• The River (Le Fleuve), directed by Jean Renoir - (France/India/U.S.A.)
• Royal Wedding, starring Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford and Jane Powell

S

• ...Sans laisser d'adresse (No Forwarding Address), starring Bernard Blier and Danièle Delorme - (France)
• Santa Fe, starring Randolph Scott
• Saturday's Hero, starring John Derek and Donna Reed
• Scrooge (A Christmas Carol), starring Alastair Sim - (GB)
• The Secret of Convict Lake, starring Glenn Ford and Gene Tierney
• Selamat Berdjuang, Masku!, starring Raden Sukarno and Marlia Hardi - (Indonesia)
• Show Boat, a remake of the hit musical, starring Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, and Ava Gardner, with songs by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern
• Silver City, starring Edmond O'Brien and Yvonne De Carlo
• Sirocco, starring Humphrey Bogart and Marta Toren
• Slaughter Trail, starring Gig Young and Virginia Grey
• Smuggler's Island, starring Jeff Chandler and Evelyn Keyes
• Spring Season (Bahar), first Hindi film of Vyjayanthimala and the producer A. V. Meiyappan - (India)
• Starlift, starring Janice Rule and Ruth Roman
• The Steel Helmet, directed by Samuel Fuller
• Storm Warning, starring Ginger Rogers, Ronald Reagan and Doris Day
• The Strange Door, starring Charles Laughton and Boris Karloff
• Strangers on a Train, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Farley Granger and Robert Walker
• A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan, starring Vivien Leigh (Oscar for best actress), Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden
• Strictly Dishonorable, starring Ezio Pinza and Janet Leigh
• The Strip, starring Mickey Rooney and Sally Forrest
• Sugarfoot, starring Randolph Scott
• Summer Interlude (Sommarlek), directed by Ingmar Bergman - (Sweden)
• Superman and the Mole Men, starring George Reeves
• Susana (a.k.a. The Devil and the Flesh), directed by Luis Buñuel - (Mexico)

T-V

• Take Care of My Little Girl, directed by Jean Negulesco, starring Jeanne Crain and Mitzi Gaynor
• A Tale of Five Cities (Passaporto per l'oriente) - (Italy/GB)
• The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari) - (Japan)
• The Tales of Hoffmann, a cinematic opera directed by Powell and Pressburger and starring Moira Shearer - (GB)
• The Tall Target, starring Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Marshall Thompson and Ruby Dee
• That Happy Couple (Esa pareja feliz), directed by Juan Antonio Bardem and Luis García Berlanga - (Spain)
• That's My Boy, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
• The Thing from Another World, produced by Howard Hawks, starring Kenneth Tobey and James Arness as the title creature
• Three Guys Named Mike, starring Jane Wyman
• Thunder on the Hill, directed by Douglas Sirk, starring Claudette Colbert and Ann Blyth
• Tom Brown's Schooldays, starring John Howard Davies and Robert Newton - (GB)
• Tomahawk, starring Van Heflin and Yvonne De Carlo
• Two of a Kind, starring Edmond O'Brien and Lizabeth Scott
• Two Tickets to Broadway, starring Janet Leigh, Tony Martin, Gloria DeHaven
• Vengeance Valley, starring Burt Lancaster and Joanne Dru
• Victimas del Pecado (Victims of Sin) - (Mexico)

W-Z

• Warpath, starring Edmond O'Brien, Forrest Tucker, Polly Bergen
• Warsaw Premiere, directed by Jan Rybkowski (Poland)
• The Well, starring Harry Morgan
• Westward the Women, starring Robert Taylor
• When Worlds Collide, starring Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, Larry Keating, John Hoyt and Hayden Rorke
• Where No Vultures Fly, directed by Harry Watt, starring Anthony Steel, Dinah Sheridan, Harold Warrender and Meredith Edwards - (U.K.)
• Young Wives' Tale, starring Joan Greenwood - (GB)
• You're in the Navy Now, starring Gary Cooper
• Your Day Will Come (Lak Yawm Ya Zalem) - (Egypt)

Serials

• Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere, starring Judd Holdren
• Don Daredevil Rides Again, starring Ken Curtis and Aline Towne
• Government Agents vs Phantom Legion, starring Walter Reed
• Mysterious Island, starring Richard Crane
• Roar of the Iron Horse, starring Buster Crabbe

Short film series

• Mickey Mouse (1928–1956)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Popeye (1933–1957)
• The Three Stooges (1934–1959)
• Donald Duck (1936–1956)
• Pluto (1937-1951)
• Goofy (1939–1953)
• Tom and Jerry (1940–1958)
• Bugs Bunny (1940–1964)
• Mighty Mouse (1942–1955)
• Chip and Dale (1943–1956)
• Yosemite Sam (1945–1963)
• Terrytoons (1930–1971)
• Noveltoons (1944–1967)

Births

• January 8 - John McTiernan, American director
• January 12 - Kirstie Alley, American actress
• January 15 - Charo, Spanish American actress, singer and comedian
• February 13 - David Naughton, American actor & singer
• February 15 - Jane Seymour, English actress
• February 16 - William Katt, American actor
• February 22 - Ellen Greene, American singer and actress
• March 17 - Kurt Russell, American actor
• April 6 - Rita Raave, Estonian actress
• April 12 - Tom Noonan, American director
• April 17 - Olivia Hussey, Argentine-born English actress
• April 21 - Tony Danza, actor
• May 30 - Stephen Tobolowsky, American actor
• July 6 - Geoffrey Rush, Australian actor
• July 8 - Anjelica Huston, American actress
• July 9 - Chris Cooper, American actor
• July 10 - Phyllis Smith, American actress
• July 21 - Robin Williams, American actor & comedian (died 2014)
• July 24 - Lynda Carter, American actress & singer
• August 6 - Catherine Hicks, American actress
• August 14 - Carl Lumbly, American actor
• September 5 - Michael Keaton, American actor
• September 12 - Joe Pantoliano, American actor
• September 17 - Cassandra Peterson, American actress
• September 25 - Mark Hamill, American actor
• October 30 - Harry Hamlin, American actor
• November 20 - Rodger Bumpass, American actor & voice actor
• November 27 - Kathryn Bigelow, American director
• December 1 - Treat Williams, American actor

Deaths

The Oscar winner Warner Baxter publicity photo.

• January 11 – Charles W. Goddard, American playwright, screenwriter (born 1879), The Exploits of Elaine
• January 18 - Jack Holt, American actor (born 1888), Flight, San Francisco
• March 6 - Ivor Novello, Welsh actor, singer, composer (born 1893), The Lodger, I Lived with You
• March 14 - Val Lewton, Russian-American director (born 1904), Cat People, The Body Snatcher
• March 25 - Oscar Micheaux, American director, author (born 1884), The Girl From Chicago
• April 4 - Al Christie, Canadian-born director, producer (born 1881), Charley's Aunt
• April 22 - Stanley Ridges, British actor (born 1890), To Be or Not to Be, Sergeant York
• May 2 - Edwin L. Marin, American director (born 1899), Fort Worth, Maisie
• May 2 - Paul L. Stein, Austrian director (born 1892), Red Wagon, The Twenty Questions Murder Mystery
• May 7 - Warner Baxter, American actor (born 1882), 42nd Street, Crime Doctor
• May 17 - S. Sylvan Simon, American director (born 1910), The Fuller Brush Man, I Love Trouble
• May 29 - Fanny Brice, American entertainer and actress, My Man, Everybody Sing
• June 2 - Ernst Pittschau, German actor (born 1883), The Picture of Dorian Gray
• June 6 - Olive Tell, American actress (born 1894), The Trap
• June 9 - Mayo Methot, American actress (born 1904), Marked Woman
• July 23 - Robert J. Flaherty, American documentary filmmaker (born 1884), Nanook of the North
• August 28 - Robert Walker, American actor (born 1918), Strangers on a Train, The Clock
• August 30 - Konstantin Märska, Estonian cinematographer (born 1896)
• September 7 - Maria Montez, Dominican-born actress (born 1912), Arabian Nights, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
• October 12 - Leon Errol, Australian-born actor (born 1881), Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, Joe Palooka
• October 22 - Phil Rosen, Polish-American director (born 1876), Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat, Roar of the Press
• November 3 - Richard Wallace, American director (born 1894), Tycoon, Framed

Film Debuts

• Jeff Bridges - The Company She Keeps
• Charles Bronson - You're in the Navy Now
• Leslie Caron - An American in Paris
• John Cassavetes - Fourteen Hours
• James Dean - Fixed Bayonets!
• Lee Grant - Detective Story
• Audrey Hepburn - One Wild Oat
• Grace Kelly - Fourteen Hours
• Leonard Nimoy - Queen for a Day
• William Shatner - The Butler's Night Off
• Rod Steiger - Teresa

Notes

References