Harvard Lampoon’s Worst Movies 1939 to 1949

Before the Razzies, before the Golden Turkey Awards, there was The Harvard Lampoon worst movies of the year.   This page will look at all the movies they picked from 1939 to 1949.   You will find many movies that starred Hollywood legends.  Clark Gable has five movies on this table.  Bette Davis has two movies.  One of my all-time favorites, Cary Grant, has two movies and Flora and Steve’s Alfred Hitchcock has two movies.  Are these movies really bad?  That is for you to decide.

Some quick things to know before scanning through these movies.  (1) They did not have a list for 1942, 1943 or 1947.  (2) Sadly, we were not able to find box office grosses on all of their picks.  (3) So you will not find the following movies:  Five Little Peppers, Bad Little Angel, 20,000 Men A Year and Uncle Harry.

Harvard Lampoon’s Worst Movies 1939 to 1949 Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Harvard Lampoon’s Worst Movies 1939 to 1949 Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

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

  • Sort Harvard Lampoon’s Worst movies by the stars of the movie
  • Sort Harvard Lampoon’s Worst movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Harvard Lampoon’s Worst movies by yearly domestic box office rank
  • Sort Harvard Lampoon’s Worst movies by 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 Harvard Lampoon’s Worst movie received.
  • Sort Harvard Lampoon’s Worst movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.

Harvard Lampoon’s Worst Movies Adjusted World Wide Box Office Grosses 

 

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2 thoughts on “Harvard Lampoon’s Worst Movies 1939 to 1949”

  1. I have seen most of those films above and outside of Winter Meeting the rest at their worst are okay.

    I used to and still love to read bad reviews of films. I bought the 50 Worst Films of All Time book when it came out. I bought their 2 follow-up books on the subject. I went to 7 films at the worst films off all time festival that Michael Medved and his brother hosted. I remember seeing Robot Monster, Plan 9 from Outer Space and White Pongo There. I don’t remember the other 4.

    A few other selected winners from those Harvard Lampoon awards for those years you covered.

    Worst Actor

    1939 Tyrone Power The Rains Came
    1945 Van Johnson The Thrill of Romance
    1946 Orson Welles The Stranger
    1948 Burt Lancaster I Walk Alone
    1949 Gregory Peck The Great Sinner
    Honorable mention was Gregory Peck in anything

    Worst Actress
    1939 Norma Shearer Idiot’s Delight
    1941 Betty Grable Listed as worst performance overall. No film listed
    1945 June Allyson Her Highness and the Bellboy
    1946 Alexis Smith Night and Day
    1948 Lana Turner The Three Musketeers
    Shirley Temple (2 actresses listed) Fort Apache
    1949 Shirley Temple Mr. Belvedere Goes to College

    They actually gave out the worst supporting actors in 1946

    Actor Andy Devine Canyon Passage
    Actress Linda Darnell Anna and the King of Siam

    Other interesting awards they gave in that time frame.

    1939 Most Consistently Bad Performances Dorothy Lamour / Don Ameche
    Most Colossal Flop The Wizard of Oz

    1941 Worst Discovery Veronica Lake
    Most Unattractive Actress Jeanette Macdonald
    Fastest on the Downward Pass Alice Faye and Nelson Eddy

    1944 Worst Discovery Maria Montez, also Frank Sinatra and/or Van Johnson.
    Most in Need of Retirement Paul Muni
    Fastest on the Downward Pass Don Ameche
    Most Unattractive Andrews Sisters in anything but a total blackout.

    1945 Oldest Actress of the Year Joan Crawford (honorable mention – Joan Bennett)

    1946 Most Miscast – Female Ginny Simms as Ethel Merman in Night and Day
    Worst Juvenile Performance Jane Powell in Holiday in Mexico

    1948 Worst Duo Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson (alone, together, in any combination)
    Worst Reincarnation Jeanette MacDonald in Three Daring Daughters
    Due for a Pension Deanna Durbin
    Career up in Smoke Robert Mitchum (Wasn’t he busted at this time for pot?)

    1949 Special Award for Worst Film of the Century Joan of Arc
    Most Sickening Combination Claude Jarman Jr. & Lassie
    Least Deserving but Most Due for a Pension Barry Fitzgerald
    Also Overdue for Retirement Margaret O’Brien

    Did you know Roger Ebert gave over 60 films 0 stars?

    Some of my worst films of the 30’s and 40’s era are;

    AND BABY MAKES THREE 1949
    BEDTIME STORY 1941
    BEYOND THE FOREST 1949
    BLACK DRAGONS 1942
    CAPTURED IN CHINATOWN 1935
    CHINATOWN AFTER DARK 1931
    DAUGHTER OF THE TONG 1939 (there seems to be an unfortunate trend her)
    ELIZABETH OF LADYMEAD (U.K.) 1948
    FARMER IN THE DELL 1936
    FATHER’S SON 1941
    GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE 1942
    GREAT MOMENT 1944
    GREEKS HAD A WORD FOR THEM 1932
    MORE THAN A SECRETARY 1936
    WRONG DIRECTION (SHORT) 1934
    YOU BELONG TO ME 1941

    Reply

  2. I have seen 47 films on this list. The lowest on this list I have seen i number 60 – Of Human Bondage.

    I think this list is ridiculous. Although not all of these movies are great, I would not say that ANY of the films I have seen are the worst movies.

    Take for instance the two Hitchcock movies on the table, since you point out that Steve and I love his films. Spellbound is a classic. The Paradine Case is, I admit, okay. But the list misses Under Capricorn starring Bergman and Cotten. That was a belabored movie that is hard to sit through.

    and of course, the fact that the top 57 movies of a list of 76 movies get a UMR rating of 80 or higher shows that the authors of the list are either biased, or that in these years the films are so excellent , good films are considered bad in a comparison

    For me, what this list gives is some titles for me to seek out if possible.

    Reply

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