Sydney Greenstreet Movies

screen-shot-2012-11-17-at-1-33-39-amWant to know the best Sydney Greenstreet movies?  How about the worst Sidney Greenstreet movies?  Curious about Sydney Greenstreet box office grosses or which Sydney Greenstreet movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Sydney Greenstreet movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

Sydney Greenstreet (1879-1954) was a British-born American Oscar® nominated actor. His IMDb page shows 24 acting credits from 1941-1949. This page ranks 24 Sydney Greenstreet movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information.  This one of the few UMR pages that has every IMDb credit listed in the following table.  This page was suggested by Flora many moons ago….we always say better late than never.

Sydney Greenstreet and Humphrey Bogart in a movie you might know...1942's Casablanca

Sydney Greenstreet and Humphrey Bogart in a movie you might know…1942’s Casablanca

Sydney Greenstreet Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Sydney Greenstreet Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Sydney Greenstreet movies by co-stars of his movies
  • Sort Sydney Greenstreet movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Sydney Greenstreet movies by adjusted worldwide box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Sydney Greenstreet movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Sydney Greenstreet movie received.
  • Sort Sydney Greenstreet movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.

Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Sidney Greenstreet Table

  1. Fourteen Sidney Greenstreet movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 58.33% of his movies listed. Casablanca (1942) was his biggest box office hit.
  2. An average Sidney Greenstreet movie grossed $126.50 million in adjusted domestic box office gross.
  3. That translates to a career adjusted box office of $3.03 billion.
  4. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  22 Sidney Greenstreet movies are rated as good movies…or 91.66% of his movies. Casablanca (1942) is his highest rated movie while It’s A Great Feeling (1949) is his lowest rated movie.
  5. Four Sidney Greenstreet movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 16.66% of his movies.
  6. One Sidney Greenstreet movie won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 4.16% of his movies.
  7. An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 40.00. 20 Sidney Greenstreet movies scored higher that average….or 83.33% of his movies.  Casablanca (1942) got the the highest UMR Score while Ruthless (1948) got the lowest UMR Score.

Getting to know Mr. Sydney Greenstreet

62-anosSydney Greenstreet was 62 when he appeared in his first film.  That film was 1941’s The Maltese Falcon.  Greenstreet earned his first and only Oscar nomination for that movie.  So I guess I still have a few years to become a famous actor.

Sydney Greenstreet started his movie career playing The Fat Man in 1941’s The Maltese Falcon and ended his movie career playing The DutchMan in 1950’s Malaya.

photoSydney Greenstreet appeared in 20 Warner Brothers movies, 2 MGM movies, 1 RKO movie and 1 Eagle Lion movie.  We were able to find worldwide box office grosses on 21 of his 24 movies.

Two of Sydney Greenstreet’s first 4 movies are considered all-time classics…..1941’s The Maltese Falcon and 1942’s Casablanca.  Seems he could have “mic dropped” after those two movies and he would still be remembered today.

Sydney Greenstreet acted in every majorShakespearean play and committed 12,000 lines of Shakepearean verse to memory.

sydney-greenstreet-peter-lorreSydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre appeared in 9 movies….pretty amazing when you realize Greenstreet only appeared in 24 movies.

If there was a Hall of Fame for supporting/character actors…without a doubt Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre would be proud members….joining Walter Brennan, Lionel Barrymore, Thelma Ritter, Barry Fitzgerald, George Sanders and the current Christopher Walken….just to name a few.

jabba-greenstreet

Sydney Greenstreet’s characters in The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca‘ were the inspiration for the Star Wars character Jabba The Hutt.

Check out Sydney Greensheet ‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

How well do you know your Sydney Greensheet movie quotes? Take this little quiz…answers at the bottom.  And yes his Casablanca and Maltese Falcon have two quotes each

Greenstreet Movie Quote Greenstreet Movie
"As the leader of all illegal activities, I am an influential and respected man."A. Malaya
" I don't want anything to happen to that baby. It will ruin my circulation. "B. Three Strangers
"You'd better let me do the talking. Probably the only thing standing between you and eternity is my vocabulary. "C. Maltese Falcon
"This may seem to you melodramatic, but indulge me, please, I like melodrama. "D. Casablanca
"With refugees alone we can make a fortune if you work with me through the black market. "E. The Mask of Dimitrios
"I couldn't be fonder of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son, it's possible to get another."F. The Conspirators
"Who me? I believe in what I can see... what I can get my hands on." G. Maltese Falcon
"You wanted to write a book. Send me a copy. I'll have lots of time to read it. "H. Conflict
"Now, sir. We'll talk, if you like. I'll tell you right out, I am a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk. "I. Casablanca
"Certainly, as a psychologist I can assure you a happy marriage is indeed a rare achievement. "J. Christmas In Connecticut

Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.

Quiz answers: 1: D or I    2: J     3: A    4: F    5: D or I     6: C or G    7: B     8: E   9: C or G   10: H

 

20 thoughts on “Sydney Greenstreet Movies

    1. Hey Dylan….all is good….just re-watched Casablanca last night….I always forget how small Peter Lorre’s part in the movie is….too bad we do not get a Greenstreet/Lorre scene. Thanks for stopping by.

  1. Bruce:

    Thanks for completing my requested page on Sydney Greenstreet. I have seen 21 of his movies.

    My top 5 are:
    The Maltese Falcon
    Casablsanca
    Christmas in Connecticut
    Passage to Marsailles
    They Died with Their Boots On

    1. Hey Flora…..I actually went to California to see the Warner Brothers ledgers with my own eyes….I secured box office grosses on almost 1000 WB movies…..that made doing pages on WB alumni like Sidney Greenstreet much easier. So you are at 21….Steve is 8….I am at 5….so Flora 21….Bruce Lensman 13….good job again. As for your Top 5….I have seen and enjoyed 4 of the 5 you mentioned….with Passage to Marsailles being the one that I have not seen. Thanks for the SG feedback….good to see your comment.

  2. 1 Bruce shows above that Greenstreet did not enter movies until he was 62 and that is a pity because the screen was long denied a great and highly experienced talent. However the upside of that is that he carved out a career at an age when others of his generation were in decline or had gone and so he cheated one of the “curses” later identified in the project of W o C .

    2 It is possible that because he was fresh to audiences he was able to belatedly succeed as he did, and it may also be that he emerged in just the right era when his chemistry with the likes of the then fashionable Bogart and the in-form Lorre was most likely to appeal to moviegoers.

    3 Bruce highlights 9 Lorre/Greenstreet films and yet it has always seemed to me that those two have never got a lot of mention as a screen team, maybe because the scripts did not ‘join them at the hip’ as it did with for example Abbott & Costello and possibly also because their roles were normally supporting.

    4 Nevertheless their collaborations WERE appreciated in some quarters and I recall years ago when repeats of their movies had not been on TV for some time and The Mask of Dimitrios was suddenly announced for impending viewing a TV critic’s review said “It’s great that we’ll see the OLD FIRM back on our television sets again.”

    5 Indeed The Mask of Dimitrios and The Verdict (1946) were two films in which the “old firm”
    were the stars with the great Sydney topping the bill in each. Anyway full marks to the Cogerson site for tipping its hat to this wonderful character actor from a bygone age. Never have I seen an actor with such capacity to instantly and seamlessly move from feigned avuncular joviality to frightening menace. For me this page is truly a collector’s item.

    1. Hey Bob.
      1. Yep Mr. Greenstreet looked the curse of 59 in the face and laughed at it….lol.
      2. Greenstreet seemed to make every movie he appeared in better…and the fact that he worked with the same people ….probably means he was a good one to work with.
      3. Yep the Greenstreet/Lorre team did not get much respect at all…..I actually did a Top Screen Duo page….and I did not even include them.
      4. I have not seen either Mask of Dimitrios or The Verdict….but they are on my list of movies to watch.
      Glad you enjoyed a look at one of the great supporting actors….the book Rating The Movie Stars…listed 400 people….at this rate I might get them all done….Greenstreet was one of those 400.
      As always….thanks for the visit and the comment.

  3. Hey Chris.
    1. As always…thanks for sharing your thoughts on Mr. Greenstreet.
    2. I agree his part in Maltese Falcon is much better than his part in Casablanca…though it was very cool that he appeared in two all-time classics at the beginning of his career.
    3. I have not seen Flamingo Road…but I want to….sounds like watching Crawford and Greenstreet together would make for a fun movie to watch.
    4. All of those Shakespeare plays had to help him when he started making movies.
    5. I have always thought a movie Hall of Fame would be a great idea…..a place that Los Angeles would be perfect for…all the tourist there….it would give them another place to visit….maybe one day…..and maybe one day…supporting actors will have their own wing.
    Thanks for the visit.

  4. Hi

    An unforgettable character actor. Definitely one of my favourites. I don’t think I’ve seen him in a bad film or give a bad performance. Although Casablanca is number one, I think he had a better role in the Maltese Falcon. In fact his part in Casablanca is quite small. One of his best films was Flamingo Road with Crawford. He’s the crooked Sheriff who runs the town. Him and Crawford have some great dialogue.
    Christmas in Connecticut was also another great part. It’s hard to believe that it took him til 1941 to enter the movies. But I like the idea that he spent all those years on the stage and then in late life he got his chance at international stardom and he grabbed it with both hands.
    He definitely belongs in that Hall of Fame you mentioned.
    I can’t even imagine anyone this day who could touch him. Thanks for the page.

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