The year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.
July 20 - Since You Went Away is released.
September 6 - Double Indemnity is released.
Box office numbers were reported at the time as a percentage compared to "normal" business at each theater. For example, Going My Way performed at a massive 264% while To Have and Have Not was a hit at 173%. This is why exact dollar grosses for the period are unreliable at best.
Academy Awards:
Best Picture:
Going My Way - Paramount
Best Director:
Leo McCarey -
Going My Way
Best Actor:
Bing Crosby -
Going My Way
Best Actress:
Ingrid Bergman -
Gaslight
Best Supporting Actor:
Barry Fitzgerald -
Going My Way
Best Supporting Actress:
Ethel Barrymore -
None but the Lonely Heart
Golden Globe Awards:
Best Picture:
Going My Way
Best Director:
Leo McCarey,
Going My Way
Best Actor:
Alexander Knox -
Wilson
Best Actress:
Ingrid Bergman -
Gaslight
U.S.A. unless stated
A
The Adventures of Mark Twain, starring Fredric March
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, starring Maria Montez and Jon Hall
And Now Tomorrow, starring Alan Ladd and Loretta Young
And the Angels Sing, starring Fred MacMurray and Dorothy Lamour
Army (陸軍, Rikugun), directed by Keisuke Kinoshita, starring Chishū Ryū and Kinuyo Tanaka - (Japan)
Arsenic and Old Lace, directed by Frank Capra, starring Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre; filmed in 1941 but not released until 1944
B
Bathing Beauty, starring Esther Williams and Red Skelton
Between Two Worlds, starring John Garfield, Eleanor Parker and Sydney Greenstreet
The Black Pirate (El corsario negro), starring Pedro Armendariz - (Mexico)
The Bridge of San Luis Rey, starring Lynn Bari
Buffalo Bill, starring Joel McCrea and Maureen O'Hara
A Bullet in the Heart (Rossassa Fel Qalb) - (Egypt)
C
Candlelight in Algeria, starring James Mason - (GB)
Can't Help Singing, starring Deanna Durbin
A Canterbury Tale, written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring Eric Portman - (GB)
The Canterville Ghost, starring Charles Laughton, Robert Young and Margaret O'Brien
Casanova Brown, starring Gary Cooper
Champagne Charlie, directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, starring Tommy Trinder and Stanley Holloway - (GB)
The Children Are Watching Us (I bambini ci guardano), directed by Vittorio De Sica - (Italy)
Christmas Holiday, starring Gene Kelly
The Climax, starring Susanna Foster and Boris Karloff
Cobra Woman, starring Maria Montez
The Conspirators, starring Paul Henreid and Hedy Lamarr
Cover Girl, starring Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly
Crime by Night, starring Jane Wyman
Cry of the Werewolf, starring Nina Foch
The Curse of the Cat People, starring Simone Simon
D
Don't Take It to Heart, directed by Jeffrey Dell, starring Richard Greene - (GB)
Double Indemnity, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson
Dragon Seed, starring Katharine Hepburn
Dream of the Red Chamber (Hong lou meng) - (China)
E-F
Experiment Perilous, starring Hedy Lamarr and George Brent
Fanny by Gaslight, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Phyllis Calvert, James Mason, Stewart Granger - (GB)
The Fighting Seabees, starring John Wayne and Susan Hayward
The Fighting Sullivans, directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Anne Baxter and Thomas Mitchell
For Those in Peril, directed by Charles Crichton - (GB)
Frenchman's Creek, starring Joan Fontaine and Basil Rathbone
Die Feuerzangenbowle (The Punch Bowl) - (Germany)
G
Gaslight, starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotten
Going My Way, directed by Leo McCarey, starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald - winner of 7 Oscars
Greenwich Village, starring Carmen Miranda and Don Ameche
The Great Sacrifice (Opfergang) - (Germany)
H
Hail the Conquering Hero, written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Eddie Bracken and Ella Raines
The Halfway House, directed by Basil Dearden, starring Mervyn Johns and Glynis Johns
To Have And Have Not, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
Henry V, directed by and starring Laurence Olivier - (GB)
Hollywood Canteen, starring Joan Leslie
Home in Indiana, starring Walter Brennan
The Hour Before the Dawn, starring Veronica Lake
House of Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr.
I
I'll Be Seeing You, starring Ginger Rogers and Shirley Temple
In Our Time, starring Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid
In Society, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
It Happened Tomorrow, starring Dick Powell
Ivan the Terrible (Ivan Grozniy), by director Sergei Eisenstein, starring Nikolai Cherkasov - (U.S.S.R.)
J-K
Janie, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Joyce Reynolds
Jwar Bhata - (India)
The Keys of the Kingdom, starring Gregory Peck, Cedric Hardwicke, Vincent Price and Roddy McDowall
Kismet, starring Ronald Colman and Marlene Dietrich
L
Lady in the Dark, starring Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland
Lady, Let's Dance, ice skating musical starring Belita and comedy ice team Frick and Frack
Lake Placid Serenade, starring Vera Ralston
Laura, directed by Otto Preminger, starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb and Vincent Price
Lifeboat, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Tallulah Bankhead, John Hodiak, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Henry Hull and Hume Cronyn
The Lodger, starring Merle Oberon and George Sanders
Lost in a Harem, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
M
Man from Frisco directed by Robert Florey, starring Michael O'Shea and Anne Shirley
The Mask of Dimitrios, starring Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet and Zachary Scott
Meet Me in St. Louis, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Judy Garland
Meet the People, starring Lucille Ball
Melody of Murder (Mordets Melodi) - (Denmark)
Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress, a documentary by William Wyler
Ministry of Fear, starring Ray Milland
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, directed by Preston Sturges, starring Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton
Mr. Skeffington, starring Bette Davis and Claude Rains
Mrs. Parkington, starring Greer Garson
The Mummy's Curse, starring Lon Chaney Jr.
The Mummy's Ghost, starring Lon Chaney Jr.
Murder, My Sweet (aka Farewell My Lovely), directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring Dick Powell and Claire Trevor
Music for Millions, starring Margaret O'Brien
N
The Nail (El clavo) - (Spain)
National Velvet, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney
None but the Lonely Heart, starring Cary Grant and Ethel Barrymore
None Shall Escape, starring Alexander Knox
O-P
On Approval, starring Clive Brook and Googie Withers - (GB)
Once Upon a Time, starring Cary Grant, Ted Donaldson, Janet Blair
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay, starring Gail Russell and Diana Lynn
Pardon My Rhythm, starring Gloria Jean
Passage to Marseille, starring Humphrey Bogart, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet
The Pearl of Death, a Sherlock Holmes mystery starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
Phantom Lady, starring Franchot Tone and Ella Raines
Pin Up Girl, starring Betty Grable
Port of Freedom (Große Freiheit Nr. 7) - (Germany)
Possession (Besættelse) - (Denmark)
The Princess and the Pirate, starring Bob Hope and Virginia Mayo
The Purple Heart, starring Dana Andrews, Richard Conte and Farley Granger
Q-R
Rainbow (Raduga) - (U.S.S.R.)
Rationing, starring Wallace Beery and Marjorie Main
The Rats of Tobruk (aka The Fighting Rats of Tobruk), starring Peter Finch and Chips Rafferty - (Australia)
The Respectable Ladies of Pardubice (Počestné paní pardubické), directed by Martin Frič - (Czechoslovakia)
S
The Scarlet Claw, a Sherlock Holmes mystery starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
The Seventh Cross, directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Spencer Tracy
Since You Went Away, starring Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple
Something for the Boys starring Carmen Miranda, Michael O'Shea and Vivian Blaine
Song of Russia, starring Robert Taylor
The Spider Woman, a Sherlock Holmes mystery featuring Gale Sondergaard
Storm Over Lisbon, starring Vera Ralston
The Story of Dr. Wassell, starring Gary Cooper
Sunday Dinner for a Soldier, starring Anne Baxter and John Hodiak
The Suspect, starring Charles Laughton
T-V
Tall in the Saddle, starring John Wayne
Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, starring Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson
This Happy Breed, directed by David Lean, starring John Mills and Celia Johnson - (GB)
The Three Caballeros, a Walt Disney animated film starring Donald Duck and Dora Luz (released in South America in 1944, but was released in 1945 in the U.S.)
Time Flies
Torment (Hets), directed by Alf Sjoberg - (Sweden)
The Tower of the Seven Hunchbacks (La Torre de los Siete Jorobados) - (Spain)
Tunisian Victory, directed by Frank Capra, Hugh Stewart and John Huston - (USA/GB)
Two Thousand Women, starring Flora Robson and Phyllis Calvert - (GB)
The Uninvited, starring Ray Milland
Up in Arms, starring Danny Kaye and Dinah Shore
W-Z
The Way Ahead (Immortal Battalion), directed by Carol Reed, starring David Niven and Stanley Holloway - (GB)
Weird Woman, starring Lon Chaney, Jr. and Anne Gwynne
When Strangers Marry, starring Dean Jagger, Kim Hunter, Robert Mitchum
The White Cliffs of Dover, starring Irene Dunne
Wilson, a biopic of President Woodrow Wilson, starring Alexander Knox and Charles Coburn
Wing and a Prayer, directed by Henry Hathaway, starring Dana Andrews and Don Ameche
The Woman in the Window, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett
The Yellow Rose of Texas, starring Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
Black Arrow
Captain America, starring Dick Purcell
The Desert Hawk, starring Gilbert Roland and Charles Middleton
The Great Alaskan Mystery
Haunted Harbor, starring Kane Richmond
Mystery of the River Boat
Raiders of Ghost City
The Tiger Woman, starring Linda Stirling
Zorro's Black Whip, starring Linda Stirling
Our Gang (1922-1944)
The Three Stooges (1934–1959)
Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
Terrytoons (1930–1964)
Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
Scrappy (1931–1941)
Popeye (1933–1957)
Color Rhapsodies (1934–1949)
Donald Duck (1934–1956)
Goofy (1939–1955)
Andy Panda (1939–1949)
Tom and Jerry (1940–1958)
Bugs Bunny (1940–1962)
Woody Woodpecker (1941–1949)
Swing Symphonies (1941–1945)
The Fox and the Crow (1941–1950)
Red Hot Riding Hood (1943–1949)
Droopy (1943–1958)
Screwball Squirrel (1944-1946)
Sylvester the Cat (1944-1966)
January 9 – Harun Farocki, German filmmaker (died 2014)
January 23 - Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor
February 3 - Trisha Noble, Australian singer and actress
February 13 - Stockard Channing, American actress
February 14 - Alan Parker, English director, producer and screenwriter
February 22 - Jonathan Demme, American director, producer and screenwriter
February 29 - Dennis Farina, American actor (died 2013)
March 5 - Peter Weibel, Ukrainian-born Austrian experimental filmmaker
March 26 - Diana Ross, American singer and actress
April 13 - Charles Burnett, American director
April 30 - Jill Clayburgh, American actress (died 2010)
May 4 - Russi Taylor, American voice actress
May 5 - John Rhys-Davies, English actor
May 10 - Jim Abrahams, American director, producer and screenwriter
May 14 - George Lucas, American director, producer and screenwriter
May 25 - Frank Oz, English director and puppeteer
June 23 - Ingrīda Andriņa, Latvian actress (died 2015)
June 29 - Gary Busey, American actor
July 8- Jeffrey Tambor, American actor
July 31 - Geraldine Chaplin, American actress
August 7 - John Glover, American actor
August 9 - Sam Elliott, American actor
August 11 - Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor
August 21 - Peter Weir, Australian director, producer and screenwriter
September 13 - Jacqueline Bisset, English actress
September 25 - Michael Douglas, American actor and producer
November 17 - Danny DeVito, American actor, comedian, producer and director
November 21 - Harold Ramis, American actor, director and screenwriter (died 2014)
December 5 - Jeroen Krabbe, Dutch actor and director
December 17 - Bernard Hill, English actor
July 14 - Emil Fjellström, Swedish actor (born 1884)
July 20 - Mildred Harris, American actress (born 1901)
December 9 - Laird Cregar, American actor (born 1913)
December 13 - Lupe Vélez, Mexican actress (born 1908)
December 15 - Glenn Miller, American musician, actor (born 1904)
Lauren Bacall - To Have and Have Not
Shashi Kapoor - Meena
Angela Lansbury - Gaslight
Gregory Peck - Days of Glory
Jean Simmons - Give Us the Moon
