1958 in film

The year 1958 in film involved some significant events, including the hit musicals South Pacific and Gigi.

Events

• February 16 - "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began in 1946.
• The second installment of Sergei Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible is officially released, having previously been shelved for political reasons. It would be the last of Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible trilogy as the director died during production on Part III.
• May 15 - As the twilight of the movie musical was declining from people's interest and taste, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released a film that ended the popularity of movie musicals with dignity, class, eloquence, and respect. Directed by Vincente Minnelli, produced by Arthur Freed, and written by Alan Jay Lerner, Gigi set a standard for future film musicals on how to appeal to audiences young and old, as well as to be taken seriously as a true art form of filmmaking (e.g. West Side Story, Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, The Jungle Book, Oliver!, Fiddler on the Roof, Beauty and the Beast, Moulin Rouge!, Chicago, Les Misérables, to name more worthy titles.) Gigi was released to tremendous critical and commercial success and became the highest-grossing musical ever made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, until That's Entertainment! in 1974.

Top grossing films (U.S.)

(*) After theatrical re-issue(s)

Awards

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: Gigi â€" Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Best Director: Vincente Minnelli â€" Gigi

Best Actor: David Niven â€" Separate Tables

Best Actress: Susan Hayward â€" I Want to Live!

Best Supporting Actor: Burl Ives â€" The Big Country

Best Supporting Actress: Wendy Hiller â€" Separate Tables

Best Foreign Language Film: Mon Oncle (My Uncle), directed by Jacques Tati, France

Golden Globe Awards:

Drama:

Best Picture: The Defiant Ones

Best Actor: David Niven â€" Separate Tables

Best Actress: Susan Hayward â€" I Want to Live!

Musical or comedy:

Best Picture: Gigi

Best Actor: Danny Kaye â€" Me and the Colonel

Best Actress: Rosalind Russell â€" Auntie Mame

Other

Best Director: Vincente Minnelli â€" Gigi

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

The Cranes Are Flying (Летят журавли, Letyat zhuravli), directed by Mikheil Kalatozishvili, Soviet Union

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):

The Rickshaw Man (Muhomatsu no issho), directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, Japan

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället), directed by Ingmar Bergman, Sweden

Notable films released in 1958

U.S.A. unless stated

A

• Amar Deep, remake of Amara Deepam, starring Dev Anand, Vyjayanthimala and Padmini - (India)
• Ambush at Cimarron Pass, starring Scott Brady and Clint Eastwood
• And Quiet Flows the Don (Tikhiy Don) - (U.S.S.R.)
• Andy Hardy Comes Home, starring Mickey Rooney
• Another Time, Another Place, starring Lana Turner and Sean Connery - (Britain)
• Apache Territory, starring Rory Calhoun
• Appu Chesi Pappu Koodu, starring N. T. Rama Rao - (India)
• Arms and the Man (Helden) - (West Germany)
• Ash Wednesday (Miércoles de ceniza), starring María Félix and Arturo de Córdova - (Mexico)
• Ashes and Diamonds (Popiół i diament), directed by Andrzej Wajda, starring Zbigniew Cybulski - (Poland)
• Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, starring Allison Hayes
• Auntie Mame, starring Rosalind Russell, Coral Browne, Forrest Tucker, Roger Smith, Peggy Cass

B

• The Ballad of Narayama (Narayama Bushiko) - (Japan)
• The Barbarian and the Geisha, starring John Wayne and Eiko Ando
• Le Beau Serge (Handsome Serge), directed by Claude Chabrol - (France)
• Bell, Book and Candle, starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs
• The Big Country, directed by William Wyler, starring Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Burl Ives, Charles Bickford, Chuck Connors
• Big Deal on Madonna Street (I soliti ignoti), starring Vittorio Gassman, Claudia Cardinale, Marcello Mastroianni - (Italy)
• The Black Orchid, starring Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn
• The Blob, starring Steve McQueen
• Bonjour Tristesse, directed by Otto Preminger, starring David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Jean Seberg
• The Bonnie Parker Story, starring Dorothy Provine
• The Bravados, starring Gregory Peck and Joan Collins
• Brink of Life (Nära livet), directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Eva Dahlbeck and Ingrid Thulin - (Sweden)
• The Brothers Karamazov, directed by Richard Brooks, starring Yul Brynner, Maria Schell, Lee J. Cobb, Claire Bloom
• The Buccaneer, directed by Anthony Quinn, starring Yul Brynner and Claire Bloom
• Buchanan Rides Alone, directed by Budd Boetticher, starring Randolph Scott and Craig Stevens

C

• Cairo Station (Bab el Hadid), directed by Youssef Chahine - (Egypt)
• Carry On Sergeant, the first in the Carry On film series, directed by Gerald Thomas, starring William Hartnell, Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor - (Britain)
• Carve Her Name with Pride, starring Virginia McKenna and Paul Scofield - (Britain)
• The Castle of the Monsters (El Castillo de los Monstruos) - (Mexico)
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Richard Brooks, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Jack Carson, Judith Anderson
• A Certain Smile, starring Rossano Brazzi and Joan Fontaine
• Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (That which runs is a car), starring Ashok Kumar and Madhubala - (India)
• Chase a Crooked Shadow, starring Richard Todd and Anne Baxter - (Britain)
• China Doll, starring Victor Mature
• The Colossus of New York, starring Ross Martin and Mala Powers
• Cowboy, starring Glenn Ford and Jack Lemmon
• The Crawling Eye (The Trollenberg Terror), directed by Quentin Lawrence, starring Forrest Tucker and Janet Munro - (Britain)
• The Cry Baby Killer, directed by Roger Corman, featuring Jack Nicholson in his film debut
• Cry Terror!, starring James Mason, Inger Stevens, Rod Steiger, Angie Dickinson

D-F

• Damn Yankees, directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen, starring Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon, Ray Walston
• Darby's Rangers, directed by William Wellman, starring James Garner
• The Deep Six, starring Alan Ladd, Dianne Foster, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
• The Defiant Ones, directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier
• Desire (Touha) - (Czechoslovakia)
• Desire Under the Elms, starring Sophia Loren, Anthony Perkins, Burl Ives
• The Doctor's Dilemma, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Dirk Bogarde (Britain)
• Dunkirk, starring John Mills and Richard Attenborough - (Britain)
• Édes Anna, directed by Zoltán Fábri - (Hungary)
• Elevator to the Gallows (Ascenseur pour l'échafaud), directed by Louis Malle, starring Jeanne Moreau - (France)
• Endless Desire (Hateshinaki yokubo), directed by Shōhei Imamura - (Japan)
• Equinox Flower (Higanbana), directed by Yasujirō Ozu - (Japan)
• The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (aka Vynález zkázy) - (Czechoslovakia)
• Fanfare - (Netherlands)
• A Flower in Hell (Jiokhwa) - (South Korea)
• The Fly, starring Vincent Price
• Fort Massacre, starring Joel McCrea
• From Hell to Texas, starring Don Murray, Diane Varsi, Dennis Hopper
• From the Earth to the Moon, starring Joseph Cotten

G-H

• The Geisha Boy, starring Jerry Lewis
• Giants and Toys (Kyojin to gangu) - (Japan)
• The Gift of Love, directed by Jean Negulesco, starring Lauren Bacall and Robert Stack
• Gigi, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier
• Girl on the Run, starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
• God's Little Acre, directed by Anthony Mann, starring Robert Ryan, Aldo Ray, Fay Spain, Tina Louise
• The Goddess, starring Kim Stanley
• Goha, starring Omar Sharif - (France/Tunisia)
• Gunman's Walk, starring Van Heflin, Tab Hunter, Kathryn Grant
• H8 - (Yugoslavia)
• The H-Man, directed by Ishirō Honda - (Japan)
• Harry Black (film), directed by Hugo Fregonese, starring Stewart Granger, Barbara Rush, Anthony Steel & I. S. Johar - (U.K./USA)
• Hercules (Le fatiche di Ercole), starring Steve Reeves - (Italy)
• The Hidden Fortress (Kakushi toride no san akunin), directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune - (Japan)
• High School Confidential, starring Russ Tamblyn, Jan Sterling, Mamie Van Doren
• The Horror of Dracula, starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing - (Britain)
• The Horse's Mouth, starring Alec Guinness - (Britain)
• Houseboat, starring Cary Grant and Sophia Loren
• The Hunters, starring Robert Mitchum

I-K

• I Accuse!, directed by and starring José Ferrer - (Britain)
• I Want to Live!, starring Susan Hayward (winner of Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actress)
• I Was Monty's Double, starring M. E. Clifton James and John Mills - (Britain)
• Ice Cold in Alex, directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring John Mills and Sylvia Syms - (Britain)
• The Idiot - (USSR)
• Imitation General, directed by George Marshall, starring Glenn Ford, Red Buttons, Taina Elg
• In Case of Adversity (En Cas de Malheur), starring Jean Gabin and Brigitte Bardot - (France)
• In the Money, starring the Bowery Boys
• Indiscreet, starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman - (Britain)
• The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, directed by Mark Robson, starring Ingrid Bergman, Curd Jürgens, Robert Donat
• Intent to Kill, starring Richard Todd, Betsy Drake, Herbert Lom
• Iron Flower (Vasvirág) - (Hungary)
• It Happened in Broad Daylight (Es geschah am hellichten Tag) - (West Germany)
• It! The Terror from Beyond Space, directed by Edward L. Cahn, starring Marshall Thompson, Paul Langton and Ray Corrigan as the monster of the title
• Ivan the Terrible, Part Two (Ivan Grozniy), directed by Sergei Eisenstein, starring Nikolay Cherkasov - (U.S.S.R.)
• Jalsaghar (The Music Room), directed by Satyajit Ray - (India)
• Kala Pani (Life Sentence), starring Dev Anand and Madhubala - (India)
• The Key, starring William Holden and Sophia Loren, based on Jan de Hartog novel - (Britain)
• King Creole, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Elvis Presley, Dean Jagger, Vic Morrow, Walter Matthau

L

• Lafayette Escadrille, World War I film starring Tab Hunter, with an early appearance by Clint Eastwood
• Lake of the Dead (De dødes tjern) - (Norway)
• The Last Hurrah, starring Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Pat O'Brien, Basil Rathbone
• The Law and Jake Wade, starring Robert Taylor and Richard Widmark
• The Law Is the Law (La loi, c'est la loi), starring Totò and Fernandel - (France/Italy)
• The Left Handed Gun, starring Paul Newman
• The Light in the Forest, starring Fess Parker
• The Lineup, starring Eli Wallach
• Lonelyhearts, starring Montgomery Clift, Robert Ryan, Myrna Loy, Maureen Stapleton
• The Long, Hot Summer, directed by Martin Ritt, starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Orson Welles, Tony Franciosa, Lee Remick
• The Lovers (Les amants), directed by Louis Malle, starring Jeanne Moreau and Alain Cuny - (France)
• The Lovers of Montparnasse (Les Amants de Montparnasse), directed by Jacques Becker and Max Ophüls - (France)

M

• Machine-Gun Kelly, starring Charles Bronson, Susan Cabot and Morey Amsterdam
• Mädchen in Uniform (Girls in Uniform), starring Lilli Palmer and Romy Schneider (West Germany)
• Madhumati, directed by Bimal Roy, starring Vyjayanthimala in triple role and Dilip Kumar - (India)
• The Magician (Ansiktet), directed by Ingmar Bergman, starring Max von Sydow - (Sweden)
• Maigret Sets a Trap (Maigret tend un piège), starring Jean Gabin - (France)
• The Man Inside, starring Jack Palance and Anita Ekberg - (Britain)
• A Man of Straw (L'uomo di paglia), directed by and starring Pietro Germi - (Italy)
• Man of the West, directed by Anthony Mann, starring Gary Cooper, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Lord, Julie London
• Marjorie Morningstar, starring Natalie Wood and Gene Kelly
• The Matchmaker, starring Shirley MacLaine
• Me and the Colonel, starring Danny Kaye
• Merry Andrew, starring Danny Kaye
• Les Misérables, starring Jean Gabin - (France)
• Mon Oncle, directed by and starring Jacques Tati - (France)
• Monster on the Campus, directed by Jack Arnold
• Murder by Contract, starring Vince Edwards

N-Q

• The Naked Maja, starring Ava Gardner and Anthony Franciosa - (Italy/France/U.S.)
• The Night Heaven Fell (Les Bijoutiers du Clair de Lune), directed by Roger Vadim, starring Brigitte Bardot - (France)
• A Night to Remember, directed by Roy Baker, starring Kenneth More - (Britain)
• No Time for Sergeants, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Andy Griffith, Myron McCormick, Murray Hamilton, Nick Adams
• The Old Man and the Sea â€" based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway, starring Spencer Tracy
• Onionhead, starring Andy Griffith, Walter Matthau, Felicia Farr, Joey Bishop
• Orders to Kill, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Eddie Albert - (Britain)
• The Outlaws (Oi paranomoi) - (Greece)
• Party Girl, starring Cyd Charisse and Robert Taylor
• The Proud Rebel, starring Alan Ladd and Olivia de Havilland
• A Question of Adultery, directed by Don Chaffey, starring Julie London, Anthony Steel, Basil Sydney & Donald Houston - (U.K.)
• The Quiet American, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Audie Murphy and Michael Redgrave

R

• Raj Tilak, remake of Vanjikottai Valiban, starring Gemini Ganesan, Vyjayanthimala and Padmini - (India)
• Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!, starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Joan Collins
• The Reluctant Debutante, starring Rex Harrison, Kay Kendall, Sandra Dee
• The Revenge of Frankenstein, starring Peter Cushing - (Britain)
• The Rickshaw Man (Muhomatsu no issho), starring Toshiro Mifune - (Japan)
• Ride a Crooked Trail, starring Audie Murphy, Gia Scala, Walter Matthau
• Rock-A-Bye Baby, starring Jerry Lewis
• Rosaura at 10 O'Clock (Rosaura a las 10) - (Argentina)
• Run Silent, Run Deep, directed by Robert Wise, starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster

S

• Saddle the Wind, starring Robert Taylor, Julie London, John Cassavetes
• Sadhna, starring Vyjayanthimala and Sunil Dutt - (India)
• Screaming Mimi, starring Anita Ekberg
• Separate Tables, starring Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster, David Niven
• The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, starring Kerwin Mathews
• The Sheepman, starring Glenn Ford and Shirley MacLaine
• The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw, starring Jayne Mansfield and Kenneth More - (Britain)
• Sing, Boy, Sing, directed by Henry Ephron, starring Tommy Sands
• Solva Saal (Sixteenth Year), starring Dev Anand - (India)
• Some Came Running, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine
• South Pacific, directed by Joshua Logan, starring Mitzi Gaynor, Rossano Brazzi, John Kerr, Ray Walston
• Stage Struck, starring Henry Fonda and Susan Strasberg
• St. Louis Blues, featuring Nat King Cole, Eartha Kitt, Cab Calloway and Ella Fitzgerald
• St. Peter's Umbrella (Szent Péter esernyöje) - (Hungary/Czechoslovakia)
• Summer Love, starring John Saxon and Jill St. John

T

• A Tale of Two Cities, starring Dirk Bogarde - (Britain)
• Tamango, starring Dorothy Dandridge
• The Tarnished Angels, starring Rock Hudson and Dorothy Malone
• Teacher's Pet, starring Clark Gable, Doris Day, Gig Young, Mamie Van Doren
• Ten North Frederick, starring Gary Cooper and Suzy Parker
• Terror in a Texas Town, starring Sterling Hayden
• This Happy Feeling, starring Debbie Reynolds, John Saxon, Alexis Smith
• Thunder Road, starring Robert Mitchum, Gene Barry, Keely Smith
• A Time to Love and a Time to Die, starring John Gavin
• The Tinder Box (Das Feuerzeug) - (East Germany)
• Tom Thumb, starring Russ Tamblyn and Terry-Thomas - (Britain/USA)
• Too Much, Too Soon, starring Dorothy Malone, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Errol Flynn
• Torpedo Run, starring Glenn Ford and Ernest Borgnine
• Touch of Evil, directed by and starring Orson Welles, with Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Marlene Dietrich
• Tread Softly Stranger, starring Diana Dors - (Britain)
• The True Story of Lynn Stuart, starring Betsy Palmer
• The Tunnel of Love, starring Doris Day and Richard Widmark
• Twilight for the Gods, starring Rock Hudson and Cyd Charisse

U-Z

• Underworld Beauty (Ankokugai no bijo) - (Japan)
• Vanjikottai Valiban (The Youth from Vanji Fort), starring Gemini Ganesan, Vyjayanthimala and Padmini - (India)
• Varan the Unbelievable (DaikaijÅ« Baran), directed by Ishirō Honda - (Japan)
• Vengeance (La venganza), directed by Juan Antonio Bardem, starring Raf Vallone - (Spain)
• Vertigo, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Kim Novak
• The Vikings, starring Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh
• The Village on the River (Dorp aan de rivier) - (Netherlands)
• White Wilderness, a Disney nature film
• The Young Lions, directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin

film series

Carry On series (1958â€"1992)

Short film series

• Looney Tunes (1930â€"1969)
• Terrytoons (1930â€"1969)
• Merrie Melodies (1931â€"1969)
• The Three Stooges (1934â€"1959)
• Bugs Bunny (1940â€"1962)
• Yosemite Sam (1945â€"1963)
• Speedy Gonzales (1953â€"1968)

Ending this year

• Droopy (1943-1958)
• Tom and Jerry (1940-1958)

Births

• January 4 â€" Julian Sands, English actor
• February 13 â€" Pernilla August, Swedish actress
• March 3 â€" Miranda Richardson, English actress
• March 10 â€" Sharon Stone, actress & producer
• March 20 â€" Holly Hunter, actress
• March 21 â€" Gary Oldman, English actor & filmmaker
• April 3 â€" Alec Baldwin, actor
• April 21 â€" Andie MacDowell, actress
• April 29 â€" Michelle Pfeiffer, actress
• May 12 - Tony Oliver, voice actor
• May 29 â€" Annette Bening, actress
• June 22 â€" Bruce Campbell, actor & director
• July 8 â€" Kevin Bacon, actor
• August 3 â€" Lambert Wilson, actor
• August 16
  • Angela Bassett, actress
  • Madonna, pop singer & actress
  • Toby Sedgwick, English actor and theatre director
• August 18 â€" Madeleine Stowe, actress
• August 24 â€" Steve Guttenberg, actor & comedian
• August 25 â€" Tim Burton, director, producer & screenwriter
• August 29 - Michael Jackson, pop singer & actor (died in 2009)
• September 10 â€" Chris Columbus, director, producer & screenwriter
• September 16 â€" Jennifer Tilly, Canadian-American actress
• October 9 â€" Michael Paré, actor
• October 16 â€" Tim Robbins, actor, screenwriter, producer & director
• October 20 â€" Viggo Mortensen, actor
• November 16 â€" Marg Helgenberger, actress
• November 17 â€" Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, actress & singer
• November 22 â€" Jamie Lee Curtis, actress

Deaths

• January 11 â€" Edna Purviance, 62, American actress, The Kid, A Woman of Paris
• January 13 â€" Jesse L. Lasky, 77, American producer, Wings, The Cocoanuts
• February 27 â€" Harry Cohn, 66, American film executive, co-founder of CBS Sales Association (Columbia Pictures), Platinum Blonde, American Madness
• March 22 â€" Mike Todd, 48, American producer, Around the World in 80 Days, This Is Cinerama
• April 15 â€" Estelle Taylor, 63, American actress, Cimarron, The Ten Commandments
• May 19 â€" Ronald Colman, 67, British actor, Lost Horizon, Random Harvest
• June 9 - Robert Donat, 53, British actor, The 39 Steps, Goodbye, Mr. Chips
• July 20 - Franklin Pangborn, 69, American actor, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, The Bank Dick
• August 21 - Kurt Neumann, 50, German director, The Fly, Mohawk
• October 4 â€" Ida Wüst, 74, German actress
• November 15 â€" Tyrone Power, 44, American actor, Witness for the Prosecution, The Mark of Zorro

Film debuts

• Claudia Cardinale - Goha
• Ian Holm - Girls at Sea
• Jack Nicholson - The Cry Baby Killer
• Suzanne Pleshette - The Geisha Boy
• Christopher Plummer - Stage Struck
• Vanessa Redgrave - Behind the Mask
• Oliver Reed - The Square Peg

References