1951 in film

Top-grossing films

United States

International

Worldwide gross

Events

• February 15 – new management takes over at United Artists with Arthur B. Krim, Robert Benjamin and Matty Fox now in charge.
• April – French magazine Cahiers du cinéma is first published.
• July 26 – Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland premieres; while a disappointment at first and hardly released in theaters, it would later become one of the biggest cult classics in the animation medium as well as make millions in television viewings and subsequent releases on home video.
• September 10 – Rashomon wins the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, bringing worldwide attention to Japanese film.
• September – The House Un-American Activities Committee investigation into Communism in the film industry starts to wind up after four years. They report in February 1952 that Hollywood has not done enough against Communist employees and hearings and blacklisting continues.
• December 29 – The Wilhelm scream, one of the most frequently-used stock sound effects, makes its first use in the film Distant Drums. The scream would not get its name until The Charge at Feather River in 1953.

  Awards

Top ten money making stars

Notable films released in 1951

#

• 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, 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 and Katharine Hepburn –
• 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
• Angels in the Outfield, starring Paul Douglas and Janet Leigh
• Anna, starring Silvana Mangano, Raf Vallone and Vittorio Gassman –
• Another Man's Poison, directed by Irving Rapper, starring Bette Davis, Gary Merrill, Emlyn Williams and Anthony Steel –
• Apache Drums, starring Stephen McNally and Coleen Gray
• Appointment with Danger, starring Alan Ladd, with future Dragnet co-stars Jack Webb and Harry Morgan
• Appointment with Venus, starring Glynis Johns and David Niven –
• As Young as You Feel, starring Monty Woolley
• Atoll K, starring Laurel and Hardy in their final film
• Awaara, directed by and starring Raj Kapoor –
• The Axe of Wandsbek –

  B

• Baazi, starring Dev Anand –
• Bedtime for Bonzo, starring Ronald Reagan
• Bellissima, directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Anna Magnani –
• Blackmailed, starring Mai Zetterling and Dirk Bogarde –
• The Blue Veil, starring Jane Wyman
• Bright Victory, starring Arthur Kennedy
• The Browning Version, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Michael Redgrave and Jean Kent –
• 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 –
• 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 –
• The Clouded Yellow, starring Trevor Howard and Jean Simmons –
• Come Fill the Cup, starring James Cagney and Gig Young
• Comin' Round The Mountain, starring Abbott and Costello
• Cops and Robbers, directed by Mario Monicelli –
• Cry Danger, starring Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming
• Cry, the Beloved Country, directed by Zoltan Korda, starring Sidney Poitier –

  D

• Darling, How Could You!, starring Joan Fontaine
• Daughter of Deceit, directed by Luis Buñuel –
• 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 –
• , starring James Mason
• Detective Story, starring Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Lee Grant, Horace McMahon, and George Macready
• Diary of a Country Priest, directed by Robert Bresson –
• Distant Drums, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Gary Cooper
• Double Dynamite, starring Jane Russell, Frank Sinatra and Groucho Marx
• Dream of a Cossack, starring Sergei Bondarchuk –
• Daar Doer in Die Bosveld, starring Jamie Uys –

  E-F

• Early Summer, directed by Yasujirō Ozu –
• Encore, starring Nigel Patrick and Kay Walsh –
• The Enforcer, 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, starring Lloyd Bridges
• Flying Leathernecks, starring John Wayne and Robert Ryan
• Follow the Sun, starring Glenn Ford
• The Forbidden Christ, starring Raf Vallone –
• Fort Worth, starring Randolph Scott
• Four in a Jeep, starring Ralph Meeker and Viveca Lindfors –
• Fourteen Hours, starring Paul Douglas, Richard Basehart, Jeffrey Hunter and Grace Kelly
• The Frogmen, starring Richard Widmark and Dana Andrews
• Furrows –

  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 –
• 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 –
• 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, directed by Akira Kurosawa –
• 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, directed by Marcel Carné –

  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 –
• The Last Outpost, starring Ronald Reagan
• Laughter in Paradise, starring Alastair Sim –
• 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 –
• The Lemon Drop Kid, starring Bob Hope, Marilyn Maxwell, William Frawley and Tor Johnson
• Let's Go Crazy, starring Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers –
• Leva på 'Hoppet', starring Ingrid Thulin –
• Lightning Strikes Twice, starring Ruth Roman and Mercedes McCambridge
• Little Egypt, starring Rhonda Fleming and Mark Stevens
• The Long Dark Hall, starring Rex Harrison –
• 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 –
• The Man with a Cloak, starring Joseph Cotten
• The Magnificent Yankee, starring Louis Calhern
• Malliswari, starring N.T. Rama Rao –
• The Man in the White Suit, directed by Alexander Mackendrick, starring Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough and Ernest Thesiger –
• The Mating Season, starring Gene Tierney, John Lund, Miriam Hopkins and Thelma Ritter
• The Medium, starring Marie Powers –
• Miracle in Milan, directed by Vittorio De Sica –
• Miss Julie, directed by Alf Sjöberg –
• 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 –
• No Highway in the Sky, starring James Stewart, Glynis Johns and Marlene Dietrich –
• Olivia, directed by Jacqueline Audry –
• 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 –
• 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 –
• Paris Vice Squad –
• Payment on Demand, starring Bette Davis and Barry Sullivan
• Penny Points to Paradise, starring Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan –
• 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 –
• 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, directed by Mikio Naruse, written by the novelist Yasunari Kawabata –
• El revoltoso –
• Rhubarb, starring Ray Milland, Jan Sterling, William Frawley and Leonard Nimoy
• Rich, Young and Pretty, starring Jane Powell
• The River, directed by Jean Renoir –
• Royal Wedding, starring Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford and Jane Powell

  S

• ...Sans laisser d'adresse, starring Bernard Blier and Danièle Delorme –
• Santa Fe, starring Randolph Scott
• Saturday's Hero, starring John Derek and Donna Reed
• Scrooge, starring Alastair Sim –
• The Secret of Convict Lake, starring Glenn Ford and Gene Tierney
• Selamat Berdjuang, Masku!, starring Raden Sukarno and Marlia Hardi –
• 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
• The Sinner, directed by Willi Forst, starring Hildegard Knef and Gustav Fröhlich
• Sirocco, starring Humphrey Bogart and Märta Torén
• Slaughter Trail, starring Gig Young and Virginia Grey
• Smuggler's Island, starring Jeff Chandler and Evelyn Keyes
• Spring Season, first Hindi film of Vyjayanthimala and the producer A. V. Meiyappan –
• 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, 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, directed by Ingmar Bergman –
• Superman and the Mole Men, starring George Reeves
• Susana, directed by Luis Buñuel –
• The Sword of Monte Cristo, starring George Montgomery

  T-V

• Take Care of My Little Girl, directed by Jean Negulesco, starring Jeanne Crain and Mitzi Gaynor
• A Tale of Five Cities –
• The Tale of Genji –
• The Tales of Hoffmann, a cinematic opera directed by Powell and Pressburger and starring Moira Shearer –
• The Tall Target, starring *** Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Marshall Thompson and Ruby Dee
• That Happy Couple, directed by Juan Antonio Bardem and Luis García Berlanga –
• 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 –
• 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 –

  W-Z

• Warpath, starring Edmond O'Brien, Forrest Tucker, Polly Bergen
• Warsaw Premiere, directed by Jan Rybkowski
• 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 –
• You Never Can Tell, starring Dick Powell
• Young Wives' Tale, starring Joan Greenwood –
• You're in the Navy Now, starring Gary Cooper
• Your Day Will Come –

  Serials

• , 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
• Looney Tunes
• Merrie Melodies
• Popeye
• The Three Stooges
• Donald Duck
• Pluto
• Goofy
• Tom and Jerry
• Bugs Bunny
• Mighty Mouse
• Chip and Dale
• Yosemite Sam
• Terrytoons
• Noveltoons

  Births

• January 1 – Nana Patekar, Indian actor, screenwriter, and film director
• 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 actor
• April 17 – Olivia Hussey, Argentine-born English actress
• April 21 – Tony Danza, American actor and boxer
• May 30 – Stephen Tobolowsky, American actor
• June 9 – James Newton Howard, American film composer
• June 20 - Tress MacNeille, American voice actress, and singer
• July 4 – Vincent Marzello, American-born 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 12 – Cheryl Ladd, American actress
• July 21 – Robin Williams, American actor & comedian
• July 24 – Lynda Carter, American actress & singer
• August 6 – Catherine Hicks, American actress
• August 14 – Carl Lumbly, American actor
• August 30 – Timothy Bottoms, 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 9 – Lou Ferrigno, American actor
• November 15 – Beverly D'Angelo, American actress
• November 17 – Stephen Root, American actor and voice actor
• November 20 – Rodger Bumpass, American actor & voice actor
• November 27 – Kathryn Bigelow, American director
• December 1 – Treat Williams, American actor

  Deaths

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

  Film Debuts

• Ernest Borgnine – China Corsair
• Jeff Bridges – The Company She Keeps
• Charles Bronson – You're in the Navy Now
• Leslie Caron – An American in Paris
• John Cassavetes – Fourteen Hours
• Scatman Crothers – Yes Sir, Mr. Bones
• James Dean – Fixed Bayonets!
• Mamie Van Doren – Footlight Varieties
• Lee Grant – Detective Story
• Jeffrey Hunter – Fourteen Hours
• Grace Kelly – Fourteen Hours
• Harvey Lembeck – You're in the Navy Now
• Lee Marvin – You're in the Navy Now
• Patty McCormack – Two Gals and a Guy
• Leonard Nimoy – Queen for a Day
• William Shatner – The Butler's Night Off
• Robert Shaw – The Lavender Hill Mob
• Rod Steiger – Teresa
• Jack Warden – You're in the Navy Now
• Joseph Wiseman – Detective Story