The year 1943 in film featured various significant events for the film industry.
Events January 23 – The film Casablanca is released nationally in the United States and becomes one of the top-grossing pictures of 1943. It goes on to win the Best Picture and Best Director awards at the 16th Academy Awards. February 20 – American film studio executives agree to allow the United States Office of War Information to censor films. June 1 – Veteran English stage and screen actor Leslie Howard dies at the age of 50 in the crash of BOAC Flight 777 off the coast of Galicia, Spain. While best remembered for his role as Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, Howard had roles in many other notable films and was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. December 31 – New York City's Times Square greets Frank Sinatra at Paramount Theatre.
Awards Category/Organization 1st Golden Globe AwardsJanuary 20, 1944 16th Academy Awards March 2, 1944 Best Film The Song of Bernadette Casablanca Best Director Henry KingThe Song of Bernadette Michael CurtizCasablanca Best Actor Paul LukasWatch on the Rhine Best Actress Jennifer JonesThe Song of Bernadette Best Supporting Actor Akim TamiroffFor Whom the Bell Tolls Charles CoburnThe More the Merrier Best Supporting Actress Katina PaxinouFor Whom the Bell Tolls
Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1943 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
+ Highest-grossing films of 1943 Rank Title Distributor Domestic rentals 1 This is the Army Warner Bros. $8,301,000Warner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 28 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551 2For Whom the Bell Tolls Paramount $6,300,000 3The Song of Bernadette 20th Century Fox $4,700,000 4Stage Door CanteenUnited Artists $4,350,000 5Star Spangled Rhythm Paramount $3,850,000 6Thousands CheerMGM $3,751,000. 7 Casablanca Warner Bros. $3,398,000 8Coney Island 20th Century Fox $3,305,000 9Destination Tokyo Warner Bros. $3,237,000 10Dixie Paramount $3,100,000
Top Ten Money Making Stars RankActor/Actress1.Betty Grable2.Bob Hope3Abbott and Costello4.Bing Crosby5.Gary Cooper6.Greer Garson7.Humphrey Bogart8.James Cagney9.Mickey Rooney10.Clark Gable
Films by country/region
Notable films Films produced in the United States unless stated otherwise
A Above Suspicion, directed by Richard Thorpe, starring Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray Action in the North Atlantic, directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey The Adventures of Tartu, directed by Harold S. Bucquet, starring Robert Donat and Valerie Hobson – (GB) Air Force, directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Garfield and Harry Carey Angels of Sin (Les Anges du péché), directed by Robert Bresson, starring Renée Faure – (France)
B Background to Danger, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring George Raft, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre Bataan, directed by Tay Garnett, starring Robert Taylor, Thomas Mitchell and Lloyd Nolan The Bells Go Down, directed by Basil Dearden, starring Tommy Trinder and James Mason – (GB) Best Foot Forward, directed by Edward Buzzell, starring Lucille Ball and Harry James Bombardier, directed by Richard Wallace, starring Pat O'Brien and Randolph Scott
C Cabin in the Sky, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Ethel Waters, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and Lena Horne Calling Dr. Death, directed by Reginald LeBorg, starring Lon Chaney Jr. Coney Island, directed by Walter Lang, starring Betty Grable, George Montgomery and Cesar Romero The Constant Nymph, directed by Edmund Goulding, starring Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine, Alexis Smith and Charles Coburn Le Corbeau (The Raven), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Pierre Fresnay – (France) Crash Dive, directed by Archie Mayo, starring Tyrone Power, Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews Cry 'Havoc', directed by Richard Thorpe, starring Margaret Sullavan, Ann Sothern and Joan Blondell
D The Dancing Masters, directed by Malcolm St. Clair, starring Laurel and Hardy Day of Wrath (Vredens dag), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer – (Denmark) The Demi-Paradise, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Laurence Olivier – (GB) Destination Tokyo, directed by Delmer Daves, starring Cary Grant and John Garfield Destroyer, directed by William A. Seiter, starring Glenn Ford and Edward G. Robinson Dixie, directed by A. Edward Sutherland, starring Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour Du Barry Was a Lady, directed by Roy Del Ruth, starring Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly and Tommy Dorsey
E Edge of Darkness, directed by Lewis Milestone, starring Errol Flynn, Ann Sheridan and Walter Huston
F Five Graves to Cairo, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter and Erich von Stroheim Flesh and Fantasy, directed by Julien Duvivier, starring Edward G. Robinson, Charles Boyer, Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Cummings For Whom the Bell Tolls, directed by Sam Wood, starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, directed by Roy William Neill, starring Lon Chaney Jr. and Béla Lugosi Der Fuehrer's Face, animated propaganda film directed by Jack Kinney for Walt Disney Productions, featuring Donald Duck
G The Gang's All Here, directed by Busby Berkeley, starring Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda and Benny Goodman The Ghost Ship, directed by Mark Robson, starring Richard Dix Girl Crazy, directed by Norman Taurog and Busby Berkeley, starring Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland and Tommy Dorsey Guadalcanal Diary, directed by Lewis Seiler, starring Preston Foster, Lloyd Nolan, William Bendix, Richard Conte and Anthony Quinn A Guy Named Joe, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Spencer Tracy and Irene Dunne
H Hangmen Also Die!, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Brian Donlevy and Walter Brennan The Hard Way, directed by Vincent Sherman, starring Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan and Joan Leslie Heaven Can Wait, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Gene Tierney, Don Ameche and Charles Coburn Hello, Frisco, Hello, directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, starring Alice Faye, John Payne and Jack Oakie Hit the Ice, directed by Charles Lamont, starring Abbott and Costello Holy Matrimony, directed by Charles Lamont, starring Monty Woolley and Gracie Fields The Human Comedy, directed by Clarence Brown, starring Mickey Rooney and Frank Morgan
I I Walked with a Zombie, directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Frances Dee and Tom Conway In Old Oklahoma (reissued as War of the Wildcats in 1947), directed by Albert S. Rogell, starring John Wayne and Martha Scott It Ain't Hay, directed by Erle C. Kenton, starring Abbott and Costello
J Jane Eyre, directed by Robert Stevenson, starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine Journey into Fear, directed by Norman Foster, starring Joseph Cotten, Dolores del Río and Orson Welles
K Kismet (Fate), directed by Gyan Mukherjee, starring Ashok Kumar – (India)
L Lassie Come Home, directed by Fred M. Wilcox, starring Roddy McDowall and Donald Crisp The Leopard Man, directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Dennis O'Keefe and Margo The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook and Roger Livesey – (GB)
M The Mad Ghoul, directed by James P. Hogan, starring Turhan Bey Madame Curie, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon The Man in Grey, directed by Leslie Arliss, starring Margaret Lockwood, James Mason, Phyllis Calvert and Stewart Granger – (GB) Meshes of the Afternoon, directed by and starring Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid Millions Like Us, directed by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, starring Patricia Roc – (GB) Mission to Moscow, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Walter Huston and Ann Harding The More the Merrier, directed by George Stevens, starring Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea and Charles Coburn Mr. Lucky, directed by H. C. Potter, starring Cary Grant and Laraine Day Münchhausen, directed by Josef von Báky, starring Hans Albers – (Germany)
N Nasreddin in Bukhara, directed by Yakov Protazanov – (USSR) No Time for Love, directed by Mitchell Leisen, starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray The North Star, directed by Lewis Milestone, starring Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews Northern Pursuit, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Errol Flynn
O Old Acquaintance, directed by Vincent Sherman, starring Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins and Gig Young Ossessione (Obsession), directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Clara Calamai and Massimo Girotti – (Italy) The Outlaw, directed by Howard Hughes, starring Jane Russell, Thomas Mitchell and Walter Huston The Ox-Bow Incident, directed by William A. Wellman, starring Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews
P Phantom of the Opera, directed by Arthur Lubin, starring Nelson Eddy and Claude Rains Prelude to War, propaganda film directed by Frank Capra Princess O'Rourke, directed by Norman Krasna, starring Olivia de Havilland, Robert Cummings and Charles Coburn
R The Return of the Vampire, directed by Lew Landers, starring Béla Lugosi
S Sahara, directed by Zoltan Korda, starring Humphrey Bogart Sanshiro Sugata, directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Susumu Fujita – (Japan) The Seventh Victim, directed by Mark Robson, starring Tom Conway Shadow of a Doubt, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten Sherlock Holmes Faces Death, directed by Roy William Neill, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes in Washington, directed by Roy William Neill, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce The Sky's the Limit, directed by Edward H. Griffith, starring Fred Astaire and Joan Leslie So Proudly We Hail!, directed by Mark Sandrich, starring Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard and Veronica Lake Son of Dracula, directed by Robert Siodmak, starring Lon Chaney Jr. The Song of Bernadette, directed by Henry King, starring Jennifer Jones and Charles Bickford Squadron Leader X (lost), directed by Lance Comfort, starring Eric Portman and Ann Dvorak – (GB) Stage Door Canteen, directed by Frank Borzage, featuring an ensemble cast Stormy Weather, directed by Andrew L. Stone, starring Lena Horne, Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway, Katherine Dunham, the Nicholas Brothers and Fats Waller
T Tender Comrade, directed by Edward Dmytryk, starring Ginger Rogers and Robert Ryan Thank Your Lucky Stars, directed by David Butler, starring Eddie Cantor, Joan Leslie and Dennis Morgan This is the Army, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring George Murphy, Joan Leslie and Ronald Reagan This Land Is Mine, directed by Jean Renoir, starring Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara and George Sanders Thousands Cheer, directed by George Sidney, starring Kathryn Grayson, Gene Kelly and Mary Astor Titanic, directed by Herbert Selpin and Werner Klingler – (Germany)
V Victory Through Air Power, animated propaganda film produced by Walt Disney Productions
W Watch on the Rhine, directed by Herman Shumlin, starring Bette Davis and Paul Lukas We Dive at Dawn, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring John Mills – (GB)
Release dates United States
January–March January 1943 12 January Shadow of a Doubt 23 January Casablanca February 1943 3 February Air Force 5 February The Outlaw 11 February No Place for a Lady 12 February Journey into Fear Star Spangled Rhythm 19 February Saludos Amigos 20 February The Hard Way March 1943 1 March Squadron Leader X (GB) 2 March The Human Comedy 3 March Münchhausen (Germany) 5 March Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man 10 March It Ain't Hay 11 March Hello, Frisco, Hello 15 March The Silver Fleet (GB) 19 March Hitler's Children 22 March Huella de luz (Spain) 25 March Sanshiro Sugata (Japan) 26 March Forever and a Day 27 March Hangmen Also Die!
April–June April 1943 2 April Border Patrol 9 April Cabin in the Sky It Comes Up Love 12 April Fires Were Started 15 April We Dive at Dawn 22 April Crash Dive 23 April Clancy Street Boys 24 April Edge of Darkness 30 April I Walked with a Zombie Sherlock Holmes in Washington May 1943