1945 in film

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The year 1945 in film involved some significant events.

Events

• January 30 - Restricted release of Kolberg, an historical epic which is one of the last Nazi Germany propaganda pieces, in war-torn Berlin. Given its cast of 187,000, probably fewer people view it than appear in it.
• April 20 - Release of Son of Lassie, the 2nd Lassie film and the first movie ever to be filmed using the Technicolor Monobook method, where a single magazine of film is used to record all of the primary colors. Prior to this method, the most popular recording method was 3-Strip Technicolor, which simultaneously used 3 individual film magazines to record the primary colors.
• August 10 - Animated Donald Duck short Duck Pimples is released.
• September 27 - Release of Roberto Rossellini's Roma Città aperta marks the beginning of Italian neorealism in film.
• October 5 - A strike between the set decorators' union and the studios boils over and became what comes to be considered Hollywood Black Friday.
• November 16 - Paramount Pictures releases theatrical short cartoon titled The Friendly Ghost, introducing a ghost named Casper.
• November 29 - At the Nuremberg trials a documentary on the Nazi concentration camps directed by John Ford is exhibited as evidence.
• December 28 - Release of Spellbound, a psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, across the United States.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)^[1]

Awards

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: The Lost Weekend - Paramount

Best Director: Billy Wilder - The Lost Weekend

Best Actor: Ray Milland - The Lost Weekend

Best Actress: Joan Crawford - Mildred Pierce

Best Supporting Actor: James Dunn - A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Revere - National Velvet

Golden Globe Awards:

Best Picture: The Lost Weekend

Best Director: Billy Wilder - The Lost Weekend

Best Actor: Ray Milland - The Lost Weekend

Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman - The Bells of St. Mary's

Best Film for Promoting International Good Will: The House I Live In (short film)

Top Ten Money Making Stars

1945 film releases

Notable films released in 1945

U.S.A. unless stated

A

• The Abandoned (Las Abandonadas), starring Dolores del Río and Pedro Armendáriz - (Mexico)
• Abbott and Costello in Hollywood, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• Allotment Wives, starring Kay Francis
• Along Came Jones, starring Gary Cooper and Loretta Young
• Amok - (Mexico)
• Anchors Aweigh, starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra
• And Then There Were None, starring Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward, Judith Anderson

B

• Back to Bataan, directed by Edward Dmytryk, with John Wayne
• A Bell For Adano, starring Gene Tierney and John Hodiak
• The Bells of St. Mary's, directed by Leo McCarey, starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman
• Blithe Spirit, directed by David Lean, starring Rex Harrison and Constance Cummings, based on the play by Noël Coward - (GB)
• Blood on the Sun, starring James Cagney
• The Body Snatcher, directed by Robert Wise, starring Boris Karloff
• Boule de suif (Angel and Sinner) - (France)
• Bougainvillea (Bugambilia), starring Pedro Armendariz and Dolores del Rio - (Mexico)
• Brewster's Millions, starring Dennis O'Keefe
• Brief Encounter, directed by David Lean, starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard- (GB)

C

• Caesar and Cleopatra, directed by Gabriel Pascal, starring Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains - (GB)
• Captain Kidd, starring Charles Laughton
• The Cheaters, starring Joseph Schildkraut and Billie Burke
• The Cherokee Flash, starring Sunset Carson and Linda Stirling
• Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis), by Marcel Carné, starring Arletty, released following the liberation of France
• Christmas in Connecticut, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Circus Cavalcade (La cabalgata del circo) - (Argentina)
• The Clock, starring Judy Garland
• Confidential Agent, starring Charles Boyer and Lauren Bacall
• Conflict, starring Humphrey Bogart
• Counter-Attack, starring Paul Muni and Marguerite Chapman
• The Corn Is Green, starring Bette Davis and John Dall
• Cornered, directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring Dick Powell

D-F

• Dakota, starring John Wayne
• Les dames du Bois de Boulogne, directed by Robert Bresson - (France)
• Dead of Night, Ealing Studios chiller compendium starring Mervyn Johns and Googie Withers - (GB)
• Death Mills, directed by Billy Wilder
• Detour, starring Tom Neal and Ann Savage
• Diamond Horseshoe, starring Betty Grable
• Dick Tracy, starring Morgan Conway and Mike Mazurki
• Dillinger, starring Lawrence Tierney
• Docks of New York, starring The East Side Kids
• Doll Face, starring Vivian Blaine
• The Dolly Sisters, starring Betty Grable
• The Enchanted Cottage, starring Dorothy McGuire and Robert Young
• Fallen Angel, directed by Otto Preminger, starring Alice Faye in her last major film role, Dana Andrews and Linda Darnell
• Flame of Barbary Coast, starring John Wayne

G-H

• The Great Flamarion, directed by Anthony Mann, starring Erich von Stroheim
• Guest Wife, starring Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche
• Gun Smoke, starring Johnny Mack Brown and Jennifer Holt
• Hangover Square, starring Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell and George Sanders
• Here Come the Co-Eds, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• High Powered, starring Phyllis Brooks and Robert Lowery
• Hotel Berlin, starring Faye Emerson and Raymond Massey
• The House I Live In, a short film starring Frank Sinatra
• House of Dracula, starring Lon Chaney, Jr. and John Carradine
• The House on 92nd Street, produced by Louis de Rochemont, starring Lloyd Nolan and Signe Hasso
• Humayun, starring Ashok Kumar - (India)

I-J

• I Know Where I'm Going!, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey - (GB)
• I Live in Grosvenor Square, starring Anna Neagle, Rex Harrison and Robert Morley - (GB)
• I'll Be Your Sweetheart, directed by Val Guest, starring Margaret Lockwood (GB)
• Incendiary Blonde, starring Betty Hutton
• The Invisible Army (Den usynlige hær) - (Denmark)
• Isle of the Dead, starring Boris Karloff and Ellen Drew
• It's in the Bag!, starring Fred Allen, Jack Benny, Don Ameche
• Johnny Angel, starring George Raft and Claire Trevor

K-L

• Kiss and Tell, starring Shirley Temple
• Kitty, directed by Mitchell Leisen, starring Paulette Goddard and Ray Milland
• Lady on a Train, starring Deanna Durbin and Ralph Bellamy
• The Last Chance (Die letzte Chance) - (Switzerland)
• Leave Her to Heaven, starring Gene Tierney and Cornel Wilde
• Life Begins Anew, directed by Mario Mattoli starring Alida Valli, Fosco Giachetti (Italy)
• The Lost Letter (Propavshaya gramota) - (USSR)
• The Lost Weekend, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman
• Love Letters, starring Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten

M-N

• Madonna of the Seven Moons, starring Phyllis Calvert and Stewart Granger - (GB)
• The Man in Half Moon Street, starring Nils Asther
• A Medal for Benny, starring Dorothy Lamour
• The Men who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (Tora no o wo fumu otokotachi), directed by Akira Kurosawa - (Japan)
• Mildred Pierce, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden
• Mom and Dad, a hygiene documentary
• Momotaro, Sacred Sailors (Momotarō: Umi no Shinpei), the first feature-length animated film from Japan
• My Name is Julia Ross, starring Nina Foch
• The Naughty Nineties, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello

O-Q

• Objective, Burma!, starring Errol Flynn
• Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, starring Edward G. Robinson and Margaret O'Brien
• Pardon My Past, starring Fred MacMurray and Marguerite Chapman
• Perfect Strangers, starring Robert Donat and Deborah Kerr - (GB)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray, starring George Sanders and Hurd Hatfield
• Pink String and Sealing Wax, starring Googie Withers and Mervyn Johns - (GB)
• La porta del cielo (The Gate of Heaven), directed by Vittorio De Sica - (Italy)
• Pride of the Marines, starring John Garfield
• Pursuit to Algiers, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce

R

• The Rake's Progress, starring Rex Harrison - (GB)
• The Red Meadows (De røde enge) - (Denmark)
• Rhapsody in Blue, a biopic of George Gershwin starring Robert Alda
• Roll Call in Heaven (Cuando en el cielo pasen lista) - (Argentina)
• Rome, Open City (Roma Città aperta), directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Anna Magnani and Aldo Fabrizi - (Italy)
• A Royal Scandal, starring Tallulah Bankhead
• Rustlers' Hideout, starring Buster Crabbe and Al St. John

S

• Salome Where She Danced, starring Yvonne De Carlo
• San Antonio, starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith
• Saratoga Trunk, starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman
• Scarlett Street, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett
• La selva de fuego (The Forest Fire), starring Dolores del Río and Arturo de Córdova - (Mexico)
• The Seventh Veil, starring James Mason and Ann Todd - (GB)
• Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
• Son of Lassie, starring Peter Lawford
• A Song to Remember, a biopic of Frédéric Chopin starring Cornel Wilde
• The Southerner, starring Zachary Scott
• The Spanish Main, starring Maureen O'Hara and Paul Henreid
• Spellbound, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck
• State Fair, starring Dana Andrews and Jeanne Crain
• The Stork Club, starring Betty Hutton
• The Story of G.I. Joe, directed by William Wellman, starring Burgess Meredith and Robert Mitchum
• The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry, starring George Sanders

T-V

• They Were Expendable, directed by John Ford, starring Robert Montgomery and John Wayne
• The Thin Man Goes Home, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy
• The Three Caballeros, a Walt Disney animated film starring Donald Duck and Dora Luz
• Thrill of a Romance, directed by Richard Thorpe, starring Esther Williams and Van Johnson
• Thunderhead, Son of Flicka, starring Roddy McDowall
• Tonight and Every Night, starring Rita Hayworth
• A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, directed by Elia Kazan, starring Dorothy McGuire
• Twice Blessed, starring Lee and Lyn Wilde
• Two O'Clock Courage, starring Ann Rutherford and Tom Conway
• The Unseen, starring Joel McCrea and Gail Russell
• The Valley of Decision, starring Greer Garson and Gregory Peck
• La vida en un hilo (Life on a Wire) - (Spain)

W-Z

• A Walk in the Sun, starring Dana Andrews
• War Comes to America, directed by Frank Capra and Anatole Litvak
• Waterloo Road, starring John Mills and Stewart Granger - (GB)
• The Way to the Stars, starring John Mills and Michael Redgrave, written by Terence Rattigan - (GB)
• The Wicked Lady, starring Margaret Lockwood and James Mason - (GB)
• Without Love, starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball
• The Woman in Green, starring Basil Rathbone (as Sherlock Holmes) and Nigel Bruce
• Wonder Man, starring Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo
• Yolanda and the Thief, starring Fred Astaire and Lucille Bremer
• Ziegfeld Follies, with an MGM all-star cast

Serials

• Brenda Starr, Reporter, starring Joan Woodbury
• Federal Operator 99, starring Marten Lamont
• Jungle Queen, starring Edward Norris and Eddie Quillan
• Jungle Raiders
• Manhunt on Mystery Island, starring Richard Bailey and Linda Stirling
• The Master Key, starring Dennis Moore
• The Monster and the Ape, starring Robert Lowery
• The Purple Monster Strikes, starring Dennis Moore and Linda Stirling
• The Royal Mounted Rides Again
• Secret Agent X-9, starring Lloyd Bridges
• Who's Guilty?

Short film series

• Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Scrappy (1931–1941)
• Popeye (1933–1957)
• Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
• Donald Duck (1937–1956)
• Goofy (1939–1955)
• Andy Panda (1939–1949)
• Tom and Jerry (1940–1958)
• Bugs Bunny (1940–1962)
• Woody Woodpecker (1941–1949)
• Swing Symphonies (1941-1945)
• The Fox and the Crow (1941–1950)
• Red Hot Riding Hood (1943–1949)
• Droopy (1943–1958)
• Screwball Squirrel (1944–1946)
• Yosemite Sam (1945-1963)

Births

• January 25 - Leigh Taylor-Young, American actress
• January 29 - Tom Selleck, American actor
• February 9 - Mia Farrow, American actress
• February 12 - Maud Adams, Swedish actress
• February 16 - Jeremy Bulloch, English actor
• February 17 - Brenda Fricker, Irish actress
• February 20 - Brion James, American actor (died 1999)
• February 24 - Barry Bostwick, American actor
• February 28 - Bubba Smith, American professional football player and actor (died 2011)
• April 2 - Linda Hunt, American actress
• March 28 - Raine Loo, Estonian actress
• May 24 - Priscilla Presley, American actress
• May 31 - Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German director, producer and screenwriter (died 1982)
• June 2 - Jon Peters, American producer
• June 6 - David Dukes, American actor (died 2000)
• June 11 - Adrienne Barbeau, American actress
• July 26 - Helen Mirren, English actress
• August 2 - Joanna Cassidy, American actress
• August 5 - Loni Anderson, American actress
• August 14
  • Steve Martin, American actor and comedian
  • Wim Wenders, German director, producer and screenwriter
• August 21 - Patty McCormack, American actress
• August 23 - Bob Peck, English actor (died 1999)
• September 17 - Bruce Spence, New Zealand actor
• September 22 - Paul Le Mat, American actor
• October 18 - Huell Howser, American actor, television personality, host, comedian (died 2013)
• October 19 - John Lithgow, American actor
• October 26 - Jaclyn Smith, American actress
• October 27 - Carrie Snodgress, American actress (died 2004)
• October 30 - Henry Winkler, American actor
• October 31 - Brian Doyle-Murray, American actor and comedian
• November 21 - Goldie Hawn, American actress
• November 27 - James Avery, American actor (died 2013)
• December 1 - Bette Midler, American actress, comedian and singer
• December 17 - Ernie Hudson, American actor
• December 21 - Mari Lill, Estonian actress
• December 24 - Nicholas Meyer, American screenwriter, director and producer
• December 31 - Barbara Carrera, Nicaraguan-born American actress

Deaths

• January 14 - Heinrich Schroth, 73, German actor, Dr. Hart's Diary, Melody of a Great City, Die Entlassung, Rembrandt
• February 23 - Reginald Barker, 58, American director, Civilization, The Bargain, The Coward, The Moonstone
• March 4 - Lucille La Verne, 72, American actress, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Abraham Lincoln, Orphans of the Storm, A Tale of Two Cities
• March 4 - Mark Sandrich, 44, American director, The Gay Divorcee, Follow the Fleet, Holiday Inn
• March 30 - Béla Balogh, 60, Hungarian director
• April 10 - Gloria Dickson, 27, American actress, Lady of Burlesque, They Won't Forget
• April 29 - Malcolm McGregor, 52, American silent screen star, Lady of the Night, The Circle, The Whispering Shadow, The Ladybird
• May 4 - Anna Dodge, 77, American actress, The Extra Girl, Ride for Your Life
• July 13 - Alla Nazimova, 66, Ukrainian-born stage and film actress, Blood and Sand, Salomé, Since You Went Away, Madame Peacock
• August 11 - Stefan Jaracz, 61, Polish actor, Countess Walewska
• September 1 - Terry, 11, American performing Cairn Terrier, The Wizard of Oz
• November 11 - Jerome Kern, 60, American composer, Show Boat, Swing Time
• November 12 - Jaro Fürth, 74, Austrian actor, Diary of a Lost Girl, Joyless Street
• November 21 - Robert Benchley, 56, American writer and actor, Foreign Correspondent, You'll Never Get Rich, Road to Utopia

Debuts

• Vittorio Gassman - Inconto con Laura
• Jane Greer - Pan-Americana
• Silvana Mangano - The Last Judgment
• Dean Stockwell - The Horn Blows at Midnight
• Lizabeth Scott - You Came Along
• Betty White - Time to Kill

Notes