1949 in film

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Events

• April 26 – June 21 – Ealing comedies Passport to Pimlico, Whisky Galore! and Kind Hearts and Coronets are released in the UK, leading to 1949 being remembered as one of the peak years of the Ealing comedies.
• November 15 – Following the prior year's Supreme Court decision in United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., Paramount Pictures is split into two separate companies with the creation of Paramount Pictures Corporation for production-distribution and United Paramount Theaters for the theater operations.
• December 21 – Cecil B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah, starring Hedy Lamarr, Victor Mature, George Sanders, Angela Lansbury, and Henry Wilcoxon, receives its televised world premiere at the Paramount and Rivoli theatres in New York City. The film opens in Los Angeles on January 13, 1950, and becomes a massive commercial success. At the 23rd Academy Awards, the film wins the awards for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.

  Awards

Top ten money making stars

Notable films released in 1949

A

• Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• The Accused, starring Loretta Young and Robert Cummings
• Adam's Rib, directed by George Cukor, starring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, David Wayne, Tom Ewell, Judy Holliday
• The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, narrated by Basil Rathbone and Bing Crosby
• Africa Screams, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
• Alexander Popov, starring Nikolai Cherkasov –
• Alias Nick Beal, starring Ray Milland and Audrey Totter
• All the King's Men, directed by Robert Rossen, starring Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Mercedes McCambridge
• Always Leave Them Laughing, starring Milton Berle and Bert Lahr
• Andaz, starring Dilip Kumar and Nargis –
• Any Number Can Play, starring Clark Gable, Alexis Smith, Audrey Totter
• Aventurera –

  B

• The Bad Lord Byron, starring Dennis Price
• The Barkleys of Broadway, the last of 10 films starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
• Barsaat, directed by and starring Raj Kapoor –
• Battleground, starring Van Johnson, Ricardo Montalbán, George Murphy
• The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend, starring Betty Grable
• Begone Dull Care, experimental animated film featuring music of Oscar Peterson –
• Beyond the Forest, starring Bette Davis
• The Big Cat, starring Lon McCallister, Preston Foster, Forrest Tucker, Peggy Ann Garner
• The Big Steal, starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Patric Knowles
• Bitter Rice, starring Vittorio Gassman and Silvana Mangano –
• The Blue Lagoon, directed by Frank Launder, starring Jean Simmons and Donald Houston –
• The Blue Swords, directed by Wolfgang Schleif
• Border Incident, starring Ricardo Montalbán
• Boys from the Streets –
• The Bribe, starring Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Charles Laughton, Vincent Price, John Hodiak
• Bride for Sale, starring Claudette Colbert and Robert Young

  C

• Canadian Pacific, starring Randolph Scott and Jane Wyatt
• Caught, directed by Max Ophüls, starring Barbara Bel Geddes and Robert Ryan
• Chains –
• Champion, starring Kirk Douglas, Arthur Kennedy, Marilyn Maxwell
• Chicken Every Sunday, directed by George Seaton, starring Dan Dailey and Celeste Holm
• The Chiltern Hundreds, directed by John Paddy Carstairs –
• Christopher Columbus, directed by David MacDonald, starring Fredric March –
• Colorado Territory, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Joel McCrea and Virginia Mayo
• Come to the Stable, starring Loretta Young and Celeste Holm
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, starring Bing Crosby and Rhonda Fleming
• Criss Cross, starring Burt Lancaster and Yvonne De Carlo
• The Crooked Way, starring John Payne and Sonny Tufts
• Crows and Sparrows, directed by Zheng Junli –

  D

• Dancing in the Dark, starring William Powell and Betsy Drake
• A Dangerous Profession, starring George Raft and Ella Raines
• Distant Journey –
• Down to the Sea in Ships, starring Richard Widmark and Lionel Barrymore
• Dulari, starring Madhubala and Geeta Bali

  E

• East Side, West Side, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Ava Gardner, James Mason, Van Heflin, Nancy Davis
• Easy Living, starring Victor Mature and Lucille Ball
• Edward, My Son, directed by George Cukor, starring Spencer Tracy and Deborah Kerr –
• The Emperor of Capri, directed by Luigi Comencini –
• The Emperor's Nightingale, an animated film narrated by Boris Karloff –
• Everybody Does It, starring Paul Douglas and Linda Darnell

  F

• Father Was a Fullback, starring Fred MacMurray
• The Fighting Kentuckian, starring John Wayne and Oliver Hardy
• Flamingo Road, starring Joan Crawford
• Flaxy Martin, starring Virginia Mayo
• The Flirtation of Girls, directed by Anwar Wagdi, starring Naguib El-Rihani and Leila Mourad –
• The Forbidden Street, starring Maureen O'Hara
• For Them That Trespass, directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, starring Richard Todd –
• The Fountainhead, directed by King Vidor, starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal

  G

• Give Us This Day, directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring Sam Wanamaker –
• The Great Gatsby, starring Alan Ladd, Betty Field, Ruth Hussey
• The Great Madcap, directed by Luis Buñuel, starring Fernando Soler –

  H

• Hardly a Criminal, directed by Hugo Fregonese –
• The Hasty Heart, starring Ronald Reagan and Patricia Neal –
• The Heiress, directed by William Wyler, starring Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Miriam Hopkins
• Holiday Affair, starring Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh
• Home of the Brave, starring Jeff Corey
• House of Strangers, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Edward G. Robinson, Richard Conte, Susan Hayward

  I

• I Married a Communist, starring Laraine Day and Robert Ryan
• I Shot Jesse James, starring Preston Foster and John Ireland
• I Was a Male War Bride, starring Cary Grant
• Impact, starring Brian Donlevy and Ella Raines
• In the Good Old Summertime, starring Judy Garland and Van Johnson
• In the Name of the Law, directed by Pietro Germi –
• The Inspector General, starring Danny Kaye
• The Interrupted Journey, starring Richard Todd and Valerie Hobson –
• Intruder in the Dust, directed by Clarence Brown
• It Happens Every Spring, starring Ray Milland
• It's Not Cricket directed by Alfred Roome, starring Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne –

  J

• Janika –
• Johnny Stool Pigeon, starring Shelley Winters and Howard Duff
• Jolson Sings Again, starring Larry Parks and Barbara Hale
• Jour de fête, directed by and starring Jacques Tati –

  K

• Kind Hearts and Coronets, directed by Robert Hamer, starring Alec Guinness, Dennis Price, Valerie Hobson –
• A Kiss in the Dark, starring Jane Wyman and David Niven
• Knock on Any Door, directed by Nicholas Ray, starring Humphrey Bogart

  L

• Late Spring, directed by Yasujirō Ozu –
• Life, directed by A. V. Meiyappan, starring Vyjayanthimala in her screen debut –
• A Letter to Three Wives, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Paul Douglas, Kirk Douglas
• Little Women, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Margaret O'Brien, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor
• Love Happy, starring the Marx Brothers
• The Lucky Stiff, starring Dorothy Lamour and Claire Trevor
• Lust for Gold, starring Ida Lupino and Glenn Ford

  M

• Ma and Pa Kettle, starring Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride
• Madame Bovary, starring Jennifer Jones and James Mason
• Mahal, starring Ashok Kumar and Madhubala –
• Malaya, starring Spencer Tracy and James Stewart
• La Malquerida, starring Dolores del Río and Pedro Armendáriz –
• The Man from Colorado, starring Glenn Ford and William Holden
• Manhandled, starring Dorothy Lamour, Dan Duryea, Sterling Hayden
• Manon, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot –
• The Marriage of Figaro –
• Mighty Joe Young, directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack, starring Terry Moore and Ben Johnson
• Miss Mink of 1949, starring Lois Collier
• Mother Is a Freshman, starring Loretta Young and Van Johnson
• My Foolish Heart, starring Susan Hayward and Dana Andrews
• My Friend Irma, film debut of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis