The first (and not all that successful) screen version of The Quiet American, directed and written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Phillip Noyce’s 2002 version was much better written, more atmospheric, movingly acted and beautifully photographed.
Rudolph Mate’s D.O.A. opened at the Criterion on 4.30.50. Incredibly, United Artists distributors decided that they could open a film called D.O.A. without a significant portion of the moviegoing public knowing at the outset what those letters stood for. Would any film distributor today open any film with an obscure acronym for a title?
Two William Holden films opened in July 1953, and only a week apart — Billy Wilder’s Stalag 17 on 7.1.53, and Otto Preminger’s The Moon Is Blue on 7.8.53.
Rosemary’s Baby opened on 6.12.68 — seven days after Robert Kennedy’s assassination. It cost $2.3 million ($14,400,000 in 2011 dollars) to make. Domestic gross was $22,395,000 (roughly $140 million in 2011 dollars).
