The year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.
Events March 16 – MGM's supernatural romantic drama A Guy Named Joe, starring Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne, opens in Los Angeles. May 3 – The musical comedy drama Going My Way, directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald, premieres in New York City. It opens in Los Angeles on August 16. The highest-grossing picture of the year, it goes on to win a total of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture; Best Director for McCarey; Best Actor for Crosby; Best Supporting Actor for Fitzgerald (who, in an anomaly, was also nominated in lead, prompting a rule change); and Best Original Song for "Swinging on a Star". May 13 – Dale Evans appears in her first film with future husband, Roy Rogers – Cowboy and the Senorita. July 20 – Home front drama Since You Went Away is released in the United States. August 16–September 11 – Nazi propaganda documentary Theresienstadt is filmed in the Theresienstadt Ghetto. Following completion of filming, co-director Kurt Gerron and many of those featured are transported to Auschwitz concentration camp and murdered; although completed in 1945, the film is never released. September 6 – Crime thriller film noir Double Indemnity is released in the United States. September – Around 640 motion picture actors, writers and directors are included on the Gottbegnadeten list in Nazi Germany, protecting them from military conscription. November 22 – MGM's musical Meet Me in St. Louis, starring Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien, premieres. Hugely popular with both audiences and critics, the film is nominated for four Academy Awards.
Awards Category/Organization 2nd Golden Globe AwardsApril 16, 1945 17th Academy Awards March 15, 1945 Best Film Going My Way Best Director Leo McCareyGoing My Way Best Actor Alexander KnoxWilson Bing CrosbyGoing My Way Best Actress Ingrid BergmanGaslight Best Supporting Actor Barry FitzgeraldGoing My Way Best Supporting Actress Agnes MooreheadMrs. Parkington Ethel BarrymoreNone but the Lonely Heart
Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1944 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
+ Highest-grossing films of 1944 Rank Title Distributor Domestic rentals 1 Going My Way Paramount $6,500,000 2Meet Me in St. LouisMGM $5,016,000. 3Since You Went Away United Artists/Selznick International $4,950,000 4Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo MGM $4,297,000 5 The Story of Dr. Wassell Paramount $4,209,968 6The White Cliffs of DoverMGM $4,045,000 7A Guy Named Joe $3,970,000 8 Hollywood Canteen Warner Bros. $3,831,000 9To Have and Have Not $3,652,000 10Bathing Beauty MGM $3,284,000
Top Ten Money Making Stars RankActor/Actress1.Bing Crosby2.Gary Cooper3.Bob Hope4.Betty Grable5.Spencer Tracy6.Greer Garson7.Humphrey Bogart8.Abbott and Costello9.Cary Grant10.Bette Davis
Notable films Films produced in the United States unless stated otherwise
A The Adventures of Mark Twain, starring Fredric March Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, starring Maria Montez and Jon Hall And Now Tomorrow, starring Alan Ladd and Loretta Young And the Angels Sing, starring Fred MacMurray and Dorothy Lamour Army (陸軍, Rikugun), directed by Keisuke Kinoshita, starring Chishū Ryū and Kinuyo Tanaka – (Japan) Arsenic and Old Lace, directed by Frank Capra, starring Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre; filmed in 1941 but not released until 1944 At Land, directed by Maya Deren
B Bathing Beauty, starring Esther Williams and Red Skelton Berlanti, directed by and starring Youssef Wahbi – (Egypt) Between Two Worlds, starring John Garfield, Eleanor Parker and Sydney Greenstreet The Black Pirate (El corsario negro), starring Pedro Armendariz – (Mexico) The Bridge of San Luis Rey, starring Lynn Bari Buffalo Bill, starring Joel McCrea and Maureen O'Hara A Bullet in the Heart (Rossassa Fel Qalb) – (Egypt)
C Candlelight in Algeria, starring James Mason – (GB) Can't Help Singing, starring Deanna Durbin A Canterbury Tale, written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring Eric Portman – (GB) The Canterville Ghost, starring Charles Laughton, Robert Young and Margaret O'Brien Casanova Brown, starring Gary Cooper Champagne Charlie, directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, starring Tommy Trinder and Stanley Holloway – (GB) The Children Are Watching Us (I bambini ci guardano), directed by Vittorio De Sica – (Italy) Christmas Holiday, starring Gene Kelly The Climax, starring Susanna Foster and Boris Karloff Cobra Woman, starring Maria Montez The Conspirators, starring Paul Henreid and Hedy Lamarr Cover Girl, starring Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly Cowboy and the Senorita, starring Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Crime by Night, starring Jane Wyman Cry of the Werewolf, starring Nina Foch The Curse of the Cat People, starring Simone Simon
D Days of Glory, starring Gregory Peck Don't Take It to Heart, directed by Jeffrey Dell, starring Richard Greene – (GB) Double Indemnity, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson Dragon Seed, starring Katharine Hepburn Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng) – (China)
E Enemy of Women, starring Paul Andor Experiment Perilous, starring Hedy Lamarr and George Brent
F Fanny by Gaslight, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Phyllis Calvert, James Mason, Stewart Granger – (GB) Fiddlers Three, starring Tommy Trinder (GB) The Fighting Seabees, starring John Wayne and Susan Hayward The Fighting Sullivans, directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Anne Baxter and Thomas Mitchell For Those in Peril, directed by Charles Crichton – (GB) Frenchman's Creek, starring Joan Fontaine and Basil Rathbone Die Feuerzangenbowle (The Punch Bowl) – (Germany)
G Gaslight, starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotten Going My Way, directed by Leo McCarey, starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald – winner of 7 Oscars The Great Moment, starring Joel McCrea and Betty Field Greenwich Village, starring Carmen Miranda and Don Ameche The Great Sacrifice (Opfergang) – (Germany)
H Hail the Conquering Hero, written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Eddie Bracken and Ella Raines The Halfway House, directed by Basil Dearden, starring Mervyn Johns and Glynis Johns The Heavenly Body, starring William Powell and Hedy Lamarr Henry V, directed by and starring Laurence Olivier – (GB) The Hitler Gang, starring Robert Watson Hollywood Canteen, starring Joan Leslie Home in Indiana, starring Walter Brennan The Hour Before the Dawn, starring Veronica Lake House of Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr.
I I'll Be Seeing You, starring Ginger Rogers and Shirley Temple In Our Time, starring Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid In Society, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello It Happened Tomorrow, starring Dick Powell
J Janie, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Joyce Reynolds Jwar Bhata – (India)
K The Keys of the Kingdom, starring Gregory Peck, Cedric Hardwicke, Vincent Price and Roddy McDowall Knickerbocker Holiday, starring Nelson Eddy Kismet, starring Ronald Colman and Marlene Dietrich
L Lady in the Dark, starring Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland Lady, Let's Dance, ice skating musical starring Belita and comedy ice team Frick and Frack Lake Placid Serenade, starring Vera Ralston Laura, directed by Otto Preminger, starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb and Vincent Price Lifeboat, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Tallulah Bankhead, John Hodiak, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Henry Hull and Hume Cronyn The Lodger, starring Merle Oberon and George Sanders Lost in a Harem, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Love Story, starring Margaret Lockwood and Stewart Granger – (GB)
M Man from Frisco directed by Robert Florey, starring Michael O'Shea and Anne Shirley María Candelaria, starring Dolores del Río and Pedro Armendáriz – (Mexico) Marie-Louise directed by Leopold Lindtberg and an uncredited Franz Schnyder The Mask of Dimitrios, starring Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet and Zachary Scott Meet Me in St. Louis, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Judy Garland Meet the People, starring Lucille Ball Melody of Murder (Mordets Melodi) – (Denmark) Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress, a documentary by William Wyler Ministry of Fear, starring Ray Milland The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, directed by Preston Sturges, starring Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton Mr. Skeffington, starring Bette Davis and Claude Rains Mrs. Parkington, starring Greer Garson The Mummy's Curse, starring Lon Chaney Jr. The Mummy's Ghost, starring Lon Chaney Jr. Murder, My Sweet (aka Farewell My Lovely), directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring Dick Powell and Claire Trevor Music for Millions, starring Margaret O'Brien
N The Nail (El clavo) – (Spain) National Velvet, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney None but the Lonely Heart, starring Cary Grant and Ethel Barrymore None Shall Escape, starring Alexander Knox
O On Approval, starring Clive Brook and Googie Withers – (GB) Once Upon a Time, starring Cary Grant, Ted Donaldson, Janet Blair Our Hearts Were Young and Gay, starring Gail Russell and Diana Lynn
P Pardon My Rhythm, starring Gloria Jean Passage to Marseille, starring Humphrey Bogart, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet The Pearl of Death, a Sherlock Holmes mystery directed by Roy William Neill, starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes, and Nigel Bruce as Watson; co-starring Rondo Hatton and Evelyn Ankers Phantom Lady, starring Franchot Tone and Ella Raines Pin Up Girl, starring Betty Grable Port of Freedom (Große Freiheit Nr. 7) – (Germany) Possession (Besættelse) – (Denmark) The Princess and the Pirate, starring Bob Hope and Virginia Mayo The Purple Heart, starring Dana Andrews, Richard Conte and Farley Granger
R Rainbow (Raduga) – (U.S.S.R.) Rationing, starring Wallace Beery and Marjorie Main The Rats of Tobruk (aka The Fighting Rats of Tobruk), starring Peter Finch and Chips Rafferty – (Australia) The Respectable Ladies of Pardubice (Počestné paní pardubické), directed by Martin Frič – (Czechoslovakia)
S The Scarlet Claw, a Sherlock Holmes mystery directed by Roy William Neill, starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes, and Nigel Bruce as Watson The Seventh Cross, directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Spencer Tracy Sherlock Holmes and The Spider Woman, a Sherlock Holmes mystery directed by Roy William Neill, starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson; co-starring Gale Sondergaard Since You Went Away, starring Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple Something for the Boys starring Carmen Miranda, Michael O'Shea and Vivian Blaine Song of Russia, starring Robert Taylor The Soul of a Monster, starring George Macready Storm Over Lisbon, starring Vera Ralston The Story of Dr. Wassell, starring Gary Cooper Sunday Dinner for a Soldier, starring Anne Baxter and John Hodiak The Suspect, starring Charles Laughton
T Tall in the Saddle, starring John Wayne Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, starring Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson This Happy Breed, directed by David Lean, starring John Mills and Celia Johnson – (GB) The Three Caballeros, a Walt Disney animated film starring Donald Duck and Dora Luz (released in South America in 1944, but was released in 1945 in the U.S.) Time Flies, starring Tommy Handley (GB) To Have And Have Not, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall Torment (Hets), directed by Alf Sjoberg – (Sweden) The Tower of the Seven Hunchbacks (La Torre de los Siete Jorobados) – (Spain) Tunisian Victory, directed by Frank Capra, Hugh Stewart and John Huston – (US/GB) Two Thousand Women, starring Flora Robson and Phyllis Calvert – (GB)
U The Uninvited, starring Ray Milland Up in Arms, starring Danny Kaye and Dinah Shore
W The Way Ahead (Immortal Battalion), directed by Carol Reed, starring David Niven and Stanley Holloway – (GB)