1953 Movies

Alan Ladd in 1953’s Shane

This movie page looks at The Top Grossing Movies of 1953.   Currently when you type in the search words….”Top Grossing Movies of 1953″ you do not get much information.  Wikipedia provides 10 movies.  The Numbers.com provides 10 movies.  Stats-a-mania offers up 7 movies.  You have to go to the 26th search result to find the next place that lists box office results….UMR’s (that’s us) Marilyn Monroe page which offers up her movies.  So in an effort to get more information out there…we have decided to unlock our 1953 movie database vault and share the information we have collected over the years.

To make this list a movie had to be made in 1953 (as listed on IMDB.com).  Obviously many movies made in 1952 earned box office dollars in 1953.  On the other side many movies made in 1953 made money in 1954 and later (it Tokyo Story almost 20 years to reach North America).  This page will looks at 173 Top Grossing Movies of 1953.  The movies are listed in a massive table that shows who starred in the movie, had much the movie grossed when it was released and how that gross means in today’s money.

Obviously this is not all of the 1953 movies…..but since our website is dynamic, ever time we add a 1953 movie….it will automatically be added to this page.

Top Grossing Movies of 1953 Can Be Sorted 6 Ways In This Table

Our UMR Top 50 of 1953

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

  • Sort Top Grossing Movies of 1953 by the stars or in some cases the director of the movie.
  • Sort Top Grossing Movies of 1953 by domestic actual box office grosses (in millions)
  • Sort Top Grossing Movies of 1953 by domestic adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Top Grossing Movies of 1953 by critic and audience rating
  • Sort Top Grossing Movies of 1953 by Oscar wins and Oscar nominations
  • Sort Top Grossing Movies of 1953 by it’s Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score

1951 Box Office Grosses – Adjusted World Wide

Our Other Yearly Review Movie Pages

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43 thoughts on “1953 Movies”

  1. Happy Thanksgiving Mr. Cogerson,

    I have reviewed 1953 and here are some others that I found that need to be reviewed,

    The Charge at Feather River, Guy Madison, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Variety,
    box office-3,650,000.
    Bright Road, Dorothy Dandridge, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Eddie Mannix Ledger,
    box office-252,000.
    Meet Me at the Fair, Dan Daily, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Variety,
    box office-1,300,000.
    The Lawless , Rock Hudson, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Variety,
    box office-1.300,000.
    The Treasure of the Golden Condor, Cornel Wilde, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Variety,
    box office-1,200,000.
    Fort Ti, George Montgomery, Location- Wikipedia, Source-?,
    box office-2,600,000.
    The Eddie Cantor Story, Keefe Brasselle, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Variety,
    box office-1,300,000.
    Down Among the Sheltering Palms, William Ludigan, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Variety,
    box office-1,000,000.
    So Big, Sterling Hayden, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Variety,
    box office-2,000,000.
    Man in the Dark, Ed O’Brien, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Variety,
    box office-1,400,000.
    I, the Jury, Preston Foster, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Variety,
    box office-1,400,000.
    Saddia, Cornel Wilde, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Eddie Mannix Ledger,
    box office-1,352,000.
    The Great Sioux Uprising, Jeff Chandler, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Variety,
    box office-1,350,000.
    The affairs of Dobie Gillis, Debbie Reynolds, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Eddie Mannix Ledger,box office-577,000.
    The I don’t Care Girl, Mitzi Gaynor, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Variety,
    box office-1,250,000.
    Frances Covers the Big Ton, Donald O’Connor, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Variety,
    box office-1,800,000.
    The Girl Next Door, Dan Daily, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Variety,
    box office-1,200,000.
    Powder River, Rory Calhoun, Location- IMDB/Wikipedia, Source-Variety,
    box office-1,000,000.
    Code Two, Ralph Meeker, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Eddie Mannix Ledger,
    box office-711,000.
    Rogue’s March, Peter Lawford, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Eddie Mannix Ledger,
    box office-707,000.
    Cry of the Hunted, Barry Sullivan, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Eddie Mannix Ledger,
    box office-625,000.
    The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T, Peter Hayes, Location- Wikipedia, Source-Eddie Mannix Ledger,
    box office-250,000.

    I am not sure if this is reliable source, but I feel it may be of concern,

    Thx

    Mike

    ;

    Reply

    1. Hey Mike….great stats on these movies….I will have to add them into the database. It looks like most of these movies are directly from sources I use. I was lazy when I did this page and the ones on 1954 and 1955. Sometimes I need to do a quick page due to time constraints….when I do a full yearly review…it takes almost an entire week to get a complete (or at least using all of my sources). Maybe if things are quiet on Friday…. will put all of these movies into the table. Thanks again for sharing this information.

      Reply

  2. I have seen 68 movies mentioned on the chart above…as diverse as From Here to Eternity and Robot Monster. 1953 brought one of my alltime favorite westerns, Shane, my most seen MM film Gentlemen prefer Blondes, the movie that introduced me to Montgomery Clift and Donna Reed (FHTE), and the one that introduced Audrey Hepburn to american audiences, Roman Holiday, also a favorite. “Smaller” films I really love are the 3D outings Second Chance, It Came From Outer Space and House of Wax. Add Deb Kerr, Jean Simmons and Charles Laughton in Young Bess, a heartbraking performance by Thelma Ritter as Mo in Pickup on South Street, Stanwyck’s demise into programmers in Jeopardy, Marilyn again in Niagara and How to Marry…, The Beast From 20 000 Fathoms with great effects by Ray Harryhausen, Ida Lupino directing Ida Lupino and slowly fading Joan Fontaine in The Bigamist, the inventive kiddie scifi movie Invaders From Mars in brilliant colors, but without any markee value in the leading parts, War of the Worlds and the european cut of Indescreation of an American Wife. Has anybody seen my Girl is a leightweight, but enjoyable piece of fluff with a great cast. So, thank you Bruce for bringing another classic box office year to our attention!

    Reply

  3. 1 HI BRUCE. 1953 is another one of my early very formative years as a movie buff and A list movies like Shane, From Here to Eternity, the Martin & Lewis films and of course The Duke’s Hondo drew me like a magnet. You’ve also come up with figures for many of the B movies that I devoured back then such as Chuck’s Arrowhead and Joseph Cotton’s A Blueprint for Murder. Nostalgia strongly kicks in when one sees so many of the flicks from 1953 listed in the way you have done. Very enjoyable

    2 By the way I had no interest at all in Julius Caesar in 1953 as I didn’t really become aware of Mr. M until 1954. However my school took us to a special educational showing of the film at the Ritz cinema and although it wasn’t the mumbling translation that only Steve Lensman appears to have seen I was still disappointed because if we had gone to a regular showing the supporting feature would have been the western Cattle Town starring Dennis Morgan which I DID want to see.

    3 When in front to all the whole class I told my bad-tempered teacher that I would prefer to watch Cattle Town he shouted “We’re not interested in Cattle Town,” and threw a piece of chalk at me. Teachers got away with that back then. I note that Julius Caesar’s Worldwide Adjusted Gross was $171 millions which quite healthy for that type of film in those days and earns the movie a place in the Top 10 of those movies for which you have been able to get WW grosses. Kinda makes me feel not too bad about the way you formerly savaged its domestic gross !!

    4 Anyway on top of the very informative 1930/40s stuff you have now completed 50% of the 1950s annual reviews and I look forward to the other 5 years when you get round to tackling them. PS Loved your coloured miniature of Laddie on the 1953 page. I vividly remember the night I first saw Shane, which was the first time I had actually seen Ladd himself and the scene that you have produced was therefore one of my first ever close-ups of Ladd in his prime. After that I ensured that I caught up on Laddie’s previous and subsequent flicks. Good stuff Bruce.

    Reply

    1. Hey Bob
      1. Thanks for checking out our 1953 movie page.
      2. Good to know that 1953 was an important movie year for you…..sounds like my 1981…when Raiders of the Lost Ark turned me into a movie fanatic for life.
      3. Funny that you were disappointed that a Brando movie bumped a Dennis Morgan movie….lol.
      4. The power of Brando got Julius that much box office….although I “savaged” it’s gross….an adjusted gross of $88 million is impressive for a stage play movie….if it was released today….it would be an art house movie….that would barely reach $20 million. So I bow to Brando’s power in 1953.
      5. Throwing chalk….would be automatic dismissal these days…so far I have not done that….but you never know….lol.
      6. Yep…1950, 1951, 1952, 1953 and 1959 done….five to go.
      7. Good memory on Shane, Ladd and little Bobby.
      8. Hope your weekend was awesome.

      Reply

  4. Hello Bruce,

    I hope WoC can solve the problem of your database. But I think she will not hurt too much…..

    Effectively, I didn’t see that my name is showing up in some UMR movie tables. Great ! And thank you.
    Between Ultimate Movie Rankings and IMDB, I’m starting to make a name for myself in the world. Lol. In this regard, we have just published the top 10 of 1925 on box office story

    Reply

  5. Hello Bruce,

    Another a good job. As you know I really like your table over years. I’ve seen 28 movies of this list, and I think 1953 was a very good year. My favorite of all is From Here To Eternity. I also love Shane, House Of Wax, Big Heat, Knights Of Round Table, Stalag 17, Wild One and Naked Spur.

    In France, the biggest hit of this list were Eternity by Zinneman, Peter Pan and Roman Holiday. Shane, and Robe were also big succes, of course.

    Steve, according my sources, Eternity made $18M in worldwide rentals, and The Robe $26.2M in his first release, and $32M in cumulative worldwide rentals.

    Reply

    1. Hey Laurent….between the two of our pages…your 1920s and my other ones….maybe we can get these pesky box office numbers out there….:) Your 28 puts you slightly above me and my 24. But we are both at the bottom when looking at the other totals. I have seen and like all of your favorites…with the exception of Knights of the Round Table….which I have not seen.

      I will have to add those rental numbers to my database….which is currently broken….sniff sniff. WoC has added so much stuff….that little gremlins keep getting in the works…..lol.

      Not sure if you have noticed…..but your name is showing up in some of the new UMR movie tables…..check out our Bette Davis https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/dead-ringer-1964/ page. You will see “Laurent Index Cards”…..that is the page I set up for the Warner Brothers ledgers that I wrote down on Index Cards….so you are part of the website. 🙂

      Reply

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