The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.
Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1953 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
Events
January 16 – A new Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. is incorporated following a Consent Judgment to divest their Stanley Warner Theaters. February 5 – Walt Disney's production of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, starring Bobby Driscoll and Kathryn Beaumont, premieres to astounding acclaim from critics and audiences and quickly becomes one of the most beloved Disney films. This is the last Disney animated movie released in partnership RKO Pictures, becoming the last ever smash hit movie of the later company before it bankrupted in 1959. July 1 – Stalag 17, directed by Billy Wilder and starring William Holden, premieres and is considered by the critics and audiences to be one of the greatest WWII Prisoner of War films ever made. Holden wins the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film. August 5 – Fred Zinnemann's romantic and war masterpiece From Here to Eternity, starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra, and Donna Reed, premieres. August 27 – William Wyler's immortal romantic tale of Roman Holiday, starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, premieres and propels Hepburn to super stardom. September 16 – Religious epic The Robe, starring Richard Burton and Jean Simmons, debuts as the first widescreen anamorphic film in cinema history, filmed in CinemaScope grossing a record $36,000 for a single theatre in its first day. It went on to gross a record (for a single theater) $264,428 in its first week. November 21 – Monogram Pictures, which had stopped releasing pictures under that banner from the start of the year, changes its name to Allied Artists Pictures Corporation.
Awards
Notable films released in 1953
United States unless stated
#
99 River Street, starring John Payne and Evelyn Keyes
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, starring Tommy Rettig, screenplay by Dr. Seuss
A
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Act of Love (Un acte d'amour), starring Kirk Douglas – (US/France) The Actress, starring Spencer Tracy and Jean Simmons Albert R.N., directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Anthony Steel, Jack Warner, Robert Beatty, William Sylvester – (GB) The All-American, starring Tony Curtis All I Desire, starring Barbara Stanwyck All the Brothers Were Valiant, starring Ann Blyth Anarkali – (India) Appointment in Honduras, directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Ann Sheridan and Glenn Ford Arrowhead, starring Charlton Heston and Jack Palance
B
Baaz, directed by and starring Guru Dutt – (India) The Band Wagon, starring Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Jack Buchanan, Nanette Fabray, Oscar Levant The Bandit of Brazil (O Cangaceiro) – (Brazil) Barabbas, directed by Alf Sjöberg – (Sweden) The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, starring Paula Raymond and Cecil Kellaway Beat the Devil, directed by John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida – (Italy/GB/US) The Beggar's Opera, starring Laurence Olivier and Dorothy Tutin – (GB) Belinsky – (U.S.S.R.) Ben and Me, featuring the voices of Sterling Holloway and Charles Ruggles Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, starring Robert Wagner Bienvenido Mr. Marshall, directed by Luis García Berlanga, starring Fernando Rey – (Spain) The Big Heat, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Lee Marvin Big Leaguer, starring Edward G. Robinson The Bigamist, directed by and starring Ida Lupino, with Joan Fontaine, Edmond O'Brien Black Ermine – (Argentina) Blowing Wild, starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck The Blue Gardenia, starring Anne Baxter and Raymond Burr A Blueprint for Murder, starring Joseph Cotten and Jean Peters Bread, Love and Dreams (Pane, amore e fantasia), starring Vittorio De Sica and Gina Lollobrigida – (Italy) Bright Road, the first feature-film appearance of Harry Belafonte (US) The Brute (El Bruto), directed by Luis Buñuel, starring Pedro Armendáriz and Katy Jurado – (Mexico) By the Light of the Silvery Moon, starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae