The year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with Ben-Hur winning a record 11 Academy Awards, as well as the releases of two acclaimed films, North by Northwest and Some Like It Hot.
Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1959 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
+ Highest-grossing films of 1959 Rank Title Distributor Domestic rentals 1 Ben-Hur MGM $36,000,000 2 The Shaggy Dog Buena Vista $9,600,000"All-time top film grossers", Variety 8 January 1964 p 37. 3 Operation Petticoat Universal $9,321,555 4 Some Like It Hot United Artists $8,127,835 5 Pillow TalkUniversal $7,669,713 6 Imitation of Life $6,417,807 7 Suddenly, Last Summer Columbia $6,375,000 8 Rio BravoThe Nun's Story Warner Bros. $5,750,000 9 North by Northwest MGM $5,740,000. 10 Anatomy of a Murder Columbia $5,500,000
Events January 23 – Republic Pictures releases its last production, Plunderers of Painted Flats. January 29 – Walt Disney releases his 16th animated film, Sleeping Beauty in Beverly Hills. It is Disney's first animated film to be shown in 70mm and modern 6-track stereophonic sound, but its last fairytale adaptation until 1985. Also on the program is Disney's new "pictorial interpretation" Grand Canyon, which uses the music of Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite. Grand Canyon wins an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). April 30 – François Truffaut's The 400 Blows opens the 1959 Cannes Film Festival bringing international attention to the French New Wave. June 4 – The Three Stooges release their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bull Fighters. June 7 – A contract between Paramount and Jerry Lewis Productions is signed specifying a payment of $10 million plus 60% of the profits for 14 films over a seven-year period. This contract makes Lewis the highest paid individual Hollywood talent to date and is unprecedented in that he has unlimited creative control, including final cut, and the return of film rights after 30 years. July 1 - Herbert J. Yates, founder of Republic Pictures, sells his controlling stake in the company. July – Les Cousins, another film of the French New Wave, wins the Golden Bear at the 9th Berlin International Film Festival. July 22 – Joseph E. Levine promotes the release of Hercules in the United States starring Steve Reeves which popularizes the sword and sandals genre. August 4 – The Big Fisherman is the first film released in Super Panavision 70. September 30 – The film of Mise Éire, made by George Morrison for Gael Linn, is premiered to close the Cork Film Festival, the first feature-length Irish language film. October 7 – Rock Hudson, who is later voted top in the Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll for the year, appears in Pillow Talk alongside Doris Day for the first time. October 14 – Legendary Australian-born actor Errol Flynn dies of a heart attack in Vancouver, Canada at the age of 50. November 18 – William Wyler's Ben-Hur, the most expensive film up to this date with a budget of $15,175,000, premieres at Loew's State Theatre (New York City). It goes on to win a record 11 Academy Awards. Principal photography had wrapped on January 7 with filming the last shots of the crucifixion scene at Cinecittà in Rome. December 2 – The battle of the smellies starts with the release of the documentary Behind the Great Wall in AromaRama, with scents pumped into the theater during the film.
Awards Category/Organization 17th Golden Globe AwardsMarch 10, 1960 12th BAFTA AwardsMarch 26, 1960 32nd Academy AwardsApril 4, 1960 Comedy or Musical Drama Best Film Some Like It Hot (Comedy) Porgy and Bess (Musical) Ben-Hur Room at the Top Ben-Hur Best Director William WylerBen-Hur - William WylerBen-Hur Best Actor Jack LemmonSome Like It Hot Anthony FranciosaCareer Sidney PoitierThe Defiant Ones Charlton HestonBen-Hur Best Actress Marilyn MonroeSome Like It Hot Elizabeth TaylorSuddenly, Last Summer Simone SignoretRoom at the Top Simone SignoretRoom at the Top Best Supporting Actor Stephen BoydBen-Hur - Hugh GriffithBen-Hur Best Supporting Actress Susan KohnerImitation of Life - Shelley WintersThe Diary of Anne Frank Best Screenplay, Adapted Room at the TopNeil Paterson Orders to KillPaul Dehn Room at the TopNeil Paterson Best Screenplay, Original Pillow TalkRussell Rouse, Clarence Greene, Stanley Shapiro, and Maurice Richlin
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival): Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro), directed by Marcel Camus, France
Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival): Il Generale della Rovere (General della Rovere), directed by Roberto Rossellini, Italy / France La grande guerra (The Great War), directed by Mario Monicelli, Italy / France
Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival): Les Cousins (The Cousins), directed by Claude Chabrol, France
1959 film releases United States unless stated
January–March January 1959 2 January Kaagaz Ke Phool (India) 6 January The Captain's Table 13 January Guns, Girls and Gangsters 16 January Anari (India) 22 January Room at the Top (Britain) The Tiger of Eschnapur (West Germany) 25 January The Law (Italy) 28 January The Trap 29 January Sleeping Beauty February 1959 11 February The Hanging Tree 12 February The Black Orchid 15 February No Name on the Bullet Ride Lonesome 17 February House on Haunted Hill 19 February The Journey 22 February Model for Murder 24 February Make Mine a Million (Britain) 26 February City of Fear March 1959 3 March The Giant Behemoth A Stranger in My Arms 4 March Up Periscope 5 March Carry On Nurse (Britain) 6 March Breakout 8 March Too Many Crooks (Britain) 10 March Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (Britain) 11 March Les Cousins (France) 12 March The 39 Steps 18 March The Diary of Anne Frank The Sad Horse 19 March Green Mansions The Shaggy Dog 20 March Alias Jesse James 25 March Al Capone Tiger Bay (Britain) 29 March Honeymoon (Britain/Spain) Some Like It Hot
April–June April 1959 1 April Compulsion Warlock 4 April Rio Bravo 6 April The Sound and the Fury 8 April Thunder in the Sun 10 April Gidget 14 April
16 April Court Martial (West Germany) 21 April Sapphire (Britain) 23 April Count Your Blessings The World, the Flesh and the Devil 25 April A Home for Tanya (USSR) Westbound 29 April The Mating Game 30 April Imitation of Life May 1959 1 May The World of Apu (India) 2 May The Sign of Leo (France) 4 May The 400 Blows (France) The Hound of the Baskervilles (Britain) 8 May These Thousand Hills 9 May There Will Be No Leave Today (USSR) 12 May Face of a Fugitive Good Morning (Japan) 14 May Serious Charge (Britain) 19 May The Young Philadelphians 21 May Ask Any Girl Shake Hands with the Devil (U.S./Ireland) 23 May Little Greaser 27 May The Wild and the Innocent Woman Obsessed 29 May The Man in the Net Pork Chop Hill June 1959 4 June Nazarín (Mexico) 10 June Hiroshima Mon Amour (France/Japan) 12 June Black Orpheus (Brazil/France/Italy) The Horse Soldiers 16 June Don't Give Up The Ship John Paul Jones Ten Seconds to Hell 17 June The Hangman Middle of the Night 18 June The Five Pennies Say One for Me Teenagers from Outer Space This Happy Feeling 24 June Porgy and Bess 25 June The Giant Gila Monster The Killer Shrews 26 June Darby O'Gill and the Little People (With Donald in Mathmagic Land released with it) This Earth Is Mine 27 June Letter Never Sent (USSR)
July–September July 1959 1 July North by Northwest 2 July Anatomy of a Murder 3 July The Beat Generation The Heart of a Man Return of the Fly 5 July The Big Circus 8 July Tarzan's Greatest Adventure 11 July Yesterday's Enemy 14 July The Legend of Tom Dooley 15 July A Hole in the Head 16 July The Alligator People 17 July The Mouse That Roared (Britain) 18 July The Nun's Story 20 July Day of the Outlaw 22 July Plan 9 from Outer Space 24 July Holiday for Lovers 29 July The Angry Hills Last Train from Gun Hill The Tingler 30 July Blue Denim August 1959 4 August The Big Fisherman 5 August It Happened to Jane 6 August The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock The Scapegoat (Britain) 9 August The Bat 11 August The Big Operator 13 August I'm All Right Jack (Britain) 19 August But Not for Me It Started with a Kiss 20 August The Devil's Disciple (U.S./Britain) 22 August Fate of a Man (USSR) 24 August Sampo (USSR/Finland) September 1959 3 September Carry On Teacher (Britain) 4 September The Blue Angel 9 September Les liaisons dangereuses (France) 10 September The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery 11 September That Kind of Woman 12 September Battle Beyond the Sun (USSR) 15 September Look Back in Anger (Britain) 16 September Jet Storm (Britain) 18 September Dil Deke Dekho (India) 24 September Killers of Kilimanjaro 25 September The Great War (Italy) The Mummy (Britain) 26 September General Della Rovere (Italy)
October–December October 1959 3 October A Bucket of Blood Girls Town 6 October Pillow Talk 7 October 4D Man Career North West Frontier 8 October The Nightingale's Prayer (Egypt) 9 October The Best of Everything 15 October Odds Against Tomorrow The Roots of Heaven 16 October Two Men in Manhattan (France) 18 October The Crimson Kimono 21 October The FBI Story They Came to Cordura The Wonderful Country 22 October The Bridge (West Germany) The Last Angry Man 23 October Libel (Britain) 25 October The Three Treasures (Japan) 27 October Solomon and Sheba 30 October Paigham (India) The Wasp Woman November 1959 2 November Edge of Eternity 3 November Fires on the Plain (Japan) 4 November Jet Over the Atlantic 6 November The Wreck of the Mary Deare (U.S./Britain) 10 November Happy Anniversary Third Man on the Mountain 11 November The Facts of Murder (Italy) Shadows Yellowstone Kelly 12 November The Miracle The Soldiers of Pancho Villa (Mexico) 13 November Estate Violenta (Italy/France) 14 November Bad Girls Don't Cry (Italy) Insan Jaag Utha (India) 17 November Beloved Infidel 18 November Ben-Hur A Summer Place 22 November Timbuktu 23 November The Angry Red Planet 29 November The Atomic Submarine 30 November The Man Who Could Cheat Death (Britain) December 1959 1 December 1001 Arabian Nights Ballad of a Soldier (USSR) The Rookie 5 December Republic of Sin (France/Mexico) Operation Petticoat 7 December Never So Few 11 December Expresso Bongo (Britain) Li'l Abner SOS Pacific (Britain) 12 December Hannibal (Italy) Terror Is a Man (U.S./Philippines) 15 December Follow a Star (Britain) 16 December Blessings of the Land (Philippines) The Gazebo Journey to the Center of the Earth Pickpocket (France) The Shakedown 17 December On the Beach 18 December We are Altogether Crazy (Denmark) 20 December A Dog's Best Friend Suddenly, Last Summer 21 December Tommy the Toreador (Britain) 25 December Magic Boy (Japan) 26 December Battle in Outer Space (Japan) 28 December Come Dance with Me (France/Italy) 30 December Our Man in Havana (Britain) 31 December The Adventures of Buratino (USSR)
Notable films released in 1959 United States unless stated
# 4D Man, starring Robert Lansing and Lee Meriwether The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock, starring Lou Costello and Dorothy Provine The 39 Steps, starring Kenneth More – (Britain) The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups), directed by François Truffaut, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud – (France)Nights 1001 Arabian Nights, animated film directed by Jack Kinney.
A The Adventures of Buratino (Priklyucheniya Buratino) – (USSR) Al Capone, starring Rod Steiger Alias Jesse James, starring Bob Hope The Alligator People, starring Beverly Garland Anari, starring Raj Kapoor – (India) Anatomy of a Murder, directed by Otto Preminger, starring James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Eve Arden, Arthur O'Connell, Kathryn Grant, George C. Scott The Angry Hills, starring Robert Mitchum and Gia Scala The Angry Red Planet (aka Invasion of Mars), starring Gerald Mohr Argument About Basia (Awantura o Basię) – (Poland)
B Bad Girls Don't Cry (La notte brava), starring Rosanna Schiaffino – (Italy) Ballad of a Soldier (Ballada o soldate), directed by Grigory Chukhray – (USSR) The Bat, starring Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead Battle Beyond the Sun () – (USSR)