Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Saturday 4 March 1944, page 3


WHICH CINEMA FILMS HAVE EARNED THE MOST MONEY SINCE 1914?

"The Wind" Heads the List, and Only 59 Have Returned More Than $1,500,000

I By LON JONES

! HOLLYWOOD.

OF the thousands of feature

length motion pictures produced in Hollywood since. 1914, only 59,have earned more than $1,500,000 at the box office, according to the latest edition of the Motion Picture Almanac, bible of the industry.

This means that there has been an average of less than 2 really outstand-ing pictures each year, which is strange indeed when it is considered more than 500 are produced in USA alone each year.

Of the 59 all-time box-office cham-pions 25 were silent films! This would seem to indicate that since the introduction of sound in 1927 motion pictures have not shown any great dramatic or story improvement wer the silent era. For instance, ,Birth of a Nation," produced in 1914 the sum of $100,000, grossed $3 500 000 and is-still ninth on the list after 29 years.

'Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," made in 1921 with Rudolph Valen-

tino is way up in sixth place with a total of $4,500,000, while yet an-other famous silent picture, "Ben Hur, is seventh with $4,000,000. Two other great silents, "The Covered Wagon" 'and "The Big Parade'', share ninth place with

Birth of a Nation." | Charles Chaplin has won no fewer than 4 places on the coveted list with ''The Gold Rush " "The Kid," Modem Times," and "The Great Dictator." The first 2 earned

$2,500,000 each and the last $2,000,000. "The Gold Rush" was recently reissued with an added sound track, and is again earning big money, while "The Great Dic-tator" is still in circulation.

"Gone With the Wind" is, of course, the champion of champions with a record of $32,000,000 to date and still running in theatres all over the world. The figures quoted, how-ever, do not include receipts from countries outside USA.

David Work Griffith made "Birth of a Nation" in 1914, and it is still ninth on the list of profit

making films

Running second to this epic of the Civil War, but a long way behind it, is Wait Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," which has grossed $8,000,000. This is rather astonishing and must be a blow to Hollywood's star system, because all of the players in "Snow White" were cartoon characters and had never been seen by the public before that picture. Disney has proved that it is not the star who makes the pic-ture, but the story and subject mat-ter.

"Mrs Miniver," with $5,500,000 to its credit already, is third on the list of "best sellers," while another Greer Garson vehicle. "Random Har-vest," with a gross to date of $4,500,000, shares fifth place with "Four Horsemen." The success of "Mrs Miniver" gives the lie to those who claim that war pictures do not sell at the box office.

AL JOLSON'S "The Singing Fool,"

made way back in 1928, is in fourth place with a total of $5,000,000. It was the first 100% all-talkie.

Not all of the box-office champions are memorable pictures by any means. Mae West's "She Done Him Wrong", and "I'm No Angel," for example, share 31st place with $2,200,000 apiece. No one can claim that these were good pictures. These were Mae's early offerings, and theatres cashed in on the novelty of her unique personality' and the tre-mendous publicity campaign launched by her studio to sell her to the public.

Fifteen of the 59 top money-makers were musicals, which is also a rather significant fact. .. ;> We all have our own ideas of what we consider the greatest pictures of all time, but Hollywood' has only one standard-box-office receipts.

You will not find such memorable

"Gone With the Wind," which has earned $32,000,000 and is still being shown, is easily the most profitable film ever made. Here are the 2 leading characters -Clark Gable as Rhett Butler and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara.

films as "Make Way for Tomorrow," "The Informer," "A Man to Remem-ber," "Stage Coach," or "The Crowd" among the best-selling films. They appealed only to the few evidently.

See if your favourite films of all time are among the 59 box-office champions listed below in their order of earnings:

"Gone With the Wind " $32,000,000 "Snow White and the *

Seven Dwarfs" .. .. 8,000,000

"Mrs Miniver". $5,500,000 "The Singing Fool" .... 5,000,000 "Random Harvest" .. .. 4,500,000 "Four Horsemen of the

Apocalypse". 4,500,000 "Ben Hur". 4,000,000 "Yankee Doodle Dandy" 4,000,000 "Sergeant York". 4,000,000 "The Big Parade" .. .. 3,500,000 "Birth of a Nation" .... 3,500,000 "Cavalcade". 3,500,000 "Covered Wagon" .. .. 3,500,000 "Jazz Singer". 3,500,000 "Hitler's Children" .... 3,500,000 "Sunny Side Up" .. .. 3,300,000 "Broadway Melody" .. 3,000,000 "Cock-eyed World" .... 2,700,000 "San Francisco". 2,700,000 "Whoopee". 2,655,000 "Kid From Spain" .. .. 2,621,000 "The Freshman" .. .. 2,600,000 "The Gold Rush". 2,500,000 "The Kid". 2,500,000 "The 10 Commandments" 2,500,000 "Roman Scandals" .. .. 2,443,000 "42nd Street. 2,250,000 ' Gold Diggers of Broad-

way" . 2,250,000 "Grand Hotel". 2,250,000 "I'm No Angel". 2,250,000 "Little Women". 2,250,002 "She Done Him Wrong" 2,200,000 "Cimarrón". 2,000,000 "Emma". 2,000,000 "The Great Dictator" .. 2,000,000 "How Green Was My

Valley". 2,000,000 "Min and Bill" ...;.... 2,000,000 "My Gal Sal". 2,000,000 "Rio Rita". 2,000,000 "Saratoga". 2,000,000 "The Sea Hawk". 2,000,000 "To the Shores of Tripoli" 2,000,000 "Way Down East" .. .. 2,000,000 "What Price Glory" .... 2,000,000 "State Fair". 1,800,000 "Modern Times". 1,800,000 "Footlight Parade" .... 1,750,000 "Seventh Heaven" . / .. 1,750,000 "Common Clay". 1,700,000

i "Street Angel". $1,700,000

"Strike Me Pink". 1,700,000 "The Crusades". . 1,700,000 "Philadelphia Story" .. 1,700,000 "Falmy Days". 1,601,000 "Trail of the Lonesome

Pine". 1,600,000 "Dodsworth". 1,600,000 "Road to ^Singapore" .. 1,600,000 "Girl Shy". 1,550,000 "A Midsummer Night's

Dream". 1,543,000

Four of Charlie Chaplin's films are included in the 59 most profit-able films -"The Gold Rush," "The Kid," "Modern Times," and "The Great Dictator." This is a

scene from "The Gold Rush."