Want to know the best John Mills movies? How about the worst John Mills movies? Curious about John Mills box office grosses or which John Mills movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which John Mills 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.
John Mills (1908-2005) was an Oscar®-winning English actor. Mills’s career spanned seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portrayed guileless, wounded war heroes. His IMDb page shows 131 acting credits from 1932 to 2005. This page will rank John Mills movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, uncredited roles, and movies that were not released in North American were not included in the rankings. And there are a lot of those movies.
John Mills Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
John Mills 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 any way you want.
- Sort John Mills movies by his co-stars
- Sort John Mills movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
- Sort John Mills movies by domestic yearly box office rank
- Sort John Mills 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 John Mills movie received.
- Sort John Mills 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.
Check out John Mills ‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
I saw Ryan’s Daughter when it was released (What was my mother thinking and 3 hours and 26 minutes long). It had a slight nude scene by Sarah Miles. I saw this is listed as an R rated movie but I’d swear Bluebeard with Richard Burton was the first, and it still is. In 1970 Ryan’s Daughter was rated GP (today’s PG) but in 1996 it re-rated to R (?). I thought this was the first film of Mr. Mills I had seen but it was not. For Mr. Mitchum, I saw Young Billy Young from 1969 on a double bill with a title long forgotten. Mr. Mills’ film I saw in another place outside of TV that I saw first was 1966’s The Wrong Box which they showed us in camp probably in 1968 or 70 (didn’t go in 69). This means not only is it the first John Mills film I saw but also of your idol Sir Michael.
John Mills is # 55 on the 2020 Oracle of Bacon Top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe list. These are the other actors on the list he appeared with.
1 CHRISTOPHER LEE Scott of the Antarctic (1948)
4 MICHAEL CAINE The Wrong Box (1966)
6 MARTIN SHEEN Gandhi (1982)
9 BEN KINGSLEY Gandhi (1982)
10 ANTHONY HOPKINS Young Winston (1972)
11 ERNEST BORGNINE Chuka (1967)
11 ERNEST BORGNINE Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959)
18 JOHN GIELGUD Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
18 JOHN GIELGUD Gandhi (1982)
18 JOHN GIELGUD Hamlet (1996)
18 JOHN GIELGUD Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
22 GERARD DEPARDIEU Hamlet (1996)
25 TREVOR HOWARD Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
25 TREVOR HOWARD Gandhi (1982)
25 TREVOR HOWARD Operation Crossbow (1965)
25 TREVOR HOWARD Ryan’s Daughter (1970/I)
25 TREVOR HOWARD So Well Remembered (1947)
25 TREVOR HOWARD The Way to the Stars (1945)
30 PETER O’TOOLE Bright Young Things (2003)
30 PETER O’TOOLE Zulu Dawn (1979)
32 DEREK JACOBI Hamlet (1996)
38 CHARLTON HESTON Hamlet (1996)
41 DONALD PLEASENCE The Big Freeze (1993)
41 DONALD PLEASENCE Trial by Combat (1976)
45 GEORGE KENNEDY The ‘Human’ Factor (1975)
46 VANESSA REDGRAVE Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
47 JOHN RHYS-DAVIES Sahara (1983)
60 MICHAEL HORDERN Gandhi (1982)
60 MICHAEL HORDERN The Baby and the Battleship (1956)
61 BURT REYNOLDS Bean (1997)
68 JOHN CARRADINE Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
81 ROBERT MITCHUM Ryan’s Daughter (1970/I)
81 ROBERT MITCHUM The Big Sleep (1978)
82 IAN BANNEN Gandhi (1982)
90 RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH Dunkirk (1958)
90 RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH Hamlet (1996)
90 RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH In Which We Serve (1942)
90 RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH Morning Departure (1950)
90 RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH The Baby and the Battleship (1956)
91 EDWARD FOX Gandhi (1982)
91 EDWARD FOX Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
91 EDWARD FOX The Big Sleep (1978)
95 IAN HOLM Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
95 IAN HOLM Young Winston (1972)
96 JACK PALANCE Oklahoma Crude (1973)
98 DAVID NIVEN Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
106 SHIRLEY MACLAINE Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
108 JAMES MASON Tiara Tahiti (1962)
111 STACY KEACH Oklahoma Crude (1973)
119 JIM BROADBENT Bright Young Things (2003)
126 HENRY FONDA War and Peace (1956)
127 DENHOLM ELLIOTT King Rat (1965)
127 DENHOLM ELLIOTT Zulu Dawn (1979)
128 ROBERT MORLEY Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
128 ROBERT MORLEY The Big Blockade (1942)
128 ROBERT MORLEY The Young Mr. Pitt (1942)
131 BURT LANCASTER Zulu Dawn (1979)
136 SHANE RIMMER Gandhi (1982)
136 SHANE RIMMER The ‘Human’ Factor (1975)
138 FAYE DUNAWAY Oklahoma Crude (1973)
141 CANDICE BERGEN Gandhi (1982)
145 BOB HOSKINS The Big Freeze (1993)
145 BOB HOSKINS Zulu Dawn (1979)
175 GEORGE SEGAL King Rat (1965)
178 JUDI DENCH Hamlet (1996)
179 RICHARD GRIFFITHS Gandhi (1982)
183 DAVID WARNER The Thirty Nine Steps (1978)
184 HARRY ANDREWS The Big Sleep (1978)
184 HARRY ANDREWS The Truth About Spring (1965)
190 HERBERT LOM Mr. Denning Drives North (1952)
190 HERBERT LOM The Young Mr. Pitt (1942)
190 HERBERT LOM Tiara Tahiti (1962)
190 HERBERT LOM War and Peace (1956)
192 STANLEY TUCCI Who’s That Girl (1987)
204 MIKE STARR Who’s That Girl (1987)
208 ROBIN WILLIAMS Hamlet (1996)
213 JULIE CHRISTIE Hamlet (1996)
218 JONATHAN PRYCE Deadly Advice (1994)
219 OLIVER REED The Big Sleep (1978)
222 MAGGIE SMITH Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
228 JOHN RATZENBERGER Gandhi (1982)
239 BEAU BRIDGES Adam’s Woman (1970)
240 OM PURI GANDHI (1982)
242 DAN AYKROYD Bright Young Things (2003)
247 RICHARD E. GRANT Bright Young Things (2003)
248 ANGELA LANSBURY Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959)
258 SOPHIA LOREN Operation Crossbow (1965)
266 PETER CUSHING The End of the Affair (1955)
284 WALTER GOTELL Above Us the Waves (1955)
284 WALTER GOTELL We Dive at Dawn (1943)
295 DANIEL DAY-LEWIS Gandhi (1982)
310 JACK LEMMON Hamlet (1996)
316 SIMON CALLOW BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS (2003)
321 LAURENCE OLIVIER Lady Caroline Lamb (1972)
321 LAURENCE OLIVIER Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
321 LAURENCE OLIVIER This Happy Breed (1944)
325 ANNE BANCROFT Young Winston (1972)
331 EMILY MORTIMER BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS (2003)
351 BERNARD HILL GANDHI (1982)
355 JAMES COSMO YOUNG WINSTON (1972)
356 STOCKARD CHANNING Bright Young Things (2003)
360 NIGEL HAWTHORNE Gandhi (1982)
360 NIGEL HAWTHORNE Young Winston (1972)
361 DANNY HUSTON The ‘Human’ Factor (1975)
363 JEAN-PIERRE CASSEL Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
367 JOHN STANDING KING RAT (1965)
368 CESAR ROMERO Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
373 FERDY MAYNE Operation Crossbow (1965)
373 FERDY MAYNE The Baby and the Battleship (1956)
380 SAEED JAFFREY GANDHI (1982)
387 PETER VAUGHAN Zulu Dawn (1979)
395 ROSHAN SETH GANDHI (1982)
398 MEL FERRER War and Peace (1956)
400 SAM WANAMAKER Mr. Denning Drives North (1952)
416 JIM CARTER BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS (2003)
419 ALEC GUINNESS Great Expectations (1946)
419 ALEC GUINNESS Tunes of Glory (1960)
436 BARBARA HERSHEY Trial by Combat (1976)
443 LESLIE PHILLIPS I Was Monty’s Double (1958)
448 HARRIS YULIN Bean (1997)
451 GRAHAM STARK The Wrong Box (1966)
458 VITTORIO GASSMAN War and Peace (1956)
470 LAMBERT WILSON SAHARA (1983)
497 HORST BUCHHOLZ Sahara (1983)
497 HORST BUCHHOLZ Tiger Bay (1959)
515 TIMOTHY SPALL HAMLET (1996)
539 ALAN BATES The Grotesque (1995)
547 ALLAN CUTHBERTSON OPERATION CROSSBOW (1965)
547 ALLAN CUTHBERTSON TUNES OF GLORY (1960)
553 KATE WINSLET Hamlet (1996)
555 SUSANNAH YORK Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
555 SUSANNAH YORK Tunes of Glory (1960)
562 WILFRID HYDE-WHITE Mr. Denning Drives North (1952)
565 MICHAEL MEDWIN Above Us the Waves (1955)
567 MAURICE DENHAM Operation Crossbow (1965)
568 ERIC POHLMANN The Singer Not the Song (1961)
579 GEORGE C. SCOTT Oklahoma Crude (1973)
596 ROY KINNEAR Tiara Tahiti (1962)
601 FREDDIE JONES Zulu Dawn (1979)
618 RICHARD JOHNSON Emma Hamilton (1968)
618 RICHARD JOHNSON Operation Crossbow (1965)
634 JOAN COLLINS The Big Sleep (1978)
642 GEOFFREY KEEN The Long Memory (1953)
642 GEOFFREY KEEN Town on Trial (1957)
643 JAMES WHITMORE Chuka (1967)
661 JACK HAWKINS Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
661 JACK HAWKINS Young Winston (1972)
681 STEPHEN FRY BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS (2003)
697 JANE SEYMOUR Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
697 JANE SEYMOUR Young Winston (1972)
703 ROLAND CULVER Old Bill and Son (1941)
707 RAF VALLONE The Devil’s Advocate (1977)
707 RAF VALLONE The ‘Human’ Factor (1975)
713 MARNE MAITLAND Tiger Bay (1959)
716 KENNETH GRIFFITH THE BABY AND THE BATTLESHIP (1956)
716 KENNETH GRIFFITH TIGER BAY (1959)
723 NIGEL DAVENPORT Zulu Dawn (1979)
751 RALPH RICHARDSON Lady Caroline Lamb (1972)
751 RALPH RICHARDSON Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
751 RALPH RICHARDSON The Wrong Box (1966)
759 CHARLES BOYER Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
769 RONALD PICKUP THE THIRTY NINE STEPS (1978)
769 RONALD PICKUP ZULU DAWN (1979)
792 GERALDINE JAMES GANDHI (1982)
797 ANTHONY QUAYLE Operation Crossbow (1965)
805 KEYE LUKE Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
807 PERCY HERBERT Tunes of Glory (1960)
813 ROD TAYLOR Chuka (1967)
832 GRIFFIN DUNNE WHO’S THAT GIRL (1987)
839 KENNETH BRANAGH HAMLET (1996)
840 ROBERT STEPHENS War and Peace (1956)
842 MARIANNE STONE Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
842 MARIANNE STONE The Wrong Box (1966)
842 MARIANNE STONE Tiger Bay (1959)
843 RICHARD VERNON GANDHI (1982)
860 MIKE MAZURKI Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
868 STUART WILSON DULCIMA (1971)
882 ANTON DIFFRING Operation Crossbow (1965)
882 ANTON DIFFRING The Colditz Story (1955)
906 PRUNELLA SCALES HOBSON’S CHOICE (1954)
913 ROBERT BROWN Operation Crossbow (1965)
914 GLYNIS JOHNS Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
923 RONALD LACEY (I) SAHARA (1983)
923 RONALD LACEY (I) ZULU DAWN (1979)
926 PATRICK O’NEAL King Rat (1965)
931 JOHN LE MESURIER Operation Crossbow (1965)
931 JOHN LE MESURIER The Baby and the Battleship (1956)
931 JOHN LE MESURIER The Wrong Box (1966)
942 BILLY CRYSTAL Hamlet (1996)
948 FRANK SINATRA Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
952 BRIAN KEITH The Parent Trap (1961)
957 BERNARD LEE Dulcima (1971)
957 BERNARD LEE Dunkirk (1958)
957 BERNARD LEE Mr. Denning Drives North (1952)
968 PATRICK MAGEE Young Winston (1972)
990 BROOKE SHIELDS Sahara (1983)
991 LILLI PALMER Operation Crossbow (1965)
996 DIRK BOGARDE Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
996 DIRK BOGARDE The Gentle Gunman (1952)
996 DIRK BOGARDE The Singer Not the Song (1961)
998 GEOFFREY BAYLDON KING RAT (1965)
John appeared with 38 Oscar winners.
ALEC GUINNESS Great Expectations (1946)
ALEC GUINNESS Tunes of Glory (1960)
ANNE BANCROFT Young Winston (1972)
ANNE BAXTER Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959)
ANTHONY HOPKINS Young Winston (1972)
AUDREY HEPBURN War and Peace (1956)
BEN KINGSLEY Gandhi (1982)
BURT LANCASTER Zulu Dawn (1979)
CHARLES COBURN Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
CHARLES COBURN Town on Trial (1957)
CHARLES LAUGHTON Hobson’s Choice (1954)
CHARLTON HESTON Hamlet (1996)
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS Gandhi (1982)
DAVID NIVEN Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
ERNEST BORGNINE Chuka (1967)
ERNEST BORGNINE Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959)
FAYE DUNAWAY Oklahoma Crude (1973)
FRANK SINATRA Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
GEORGE C. SCOTT Oklahoma Crude (1973)
GEORGE KENNEDY The ‘Human’ Factor (1975)
GREER GARSON Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
HENRY FONDA War and Peace (1956)
JACK LEMMON Hamlet (1996)
JACK PALANCE Oklahoma Crude (1973)
JAMES STEWART The Big Sleep (1978)
JIM BROADBENT Bright Young Things (2003)
JOHN GIELGUD Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
JOHN GIELGUD Gandhi (1982)
JOHN GIELGUD Hamlet (1996)
JOHN GIELGUD Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
JUDI DENCH Hamlet (1996)
JULIE CHRISTIE Hamlet (1996)
KATE WINSLET Hamlet (1996)
LAURENCE OLIVIER Lady Caroline Lamb (1972)
LAURENCE OLIVIER Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
LAURENCE OLIVIER This Happy Breed (1944)
MAGGIE SMITH Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
MICHAEL CAINE The Wrong Box (1966)
PEGGY ASHCROFT When the Wind Blows (1986)
ROBERT DONAT Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
ROBERT DONAT The Young Mr. Pitt (1942)
ROBIN WILLIAMS Hamlet (1996)
RONALD COLMAN Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
SHIRLEY MACLAINE Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
SOPHIA LOREN Operation Crossbow (1965)
VANESSA REDGRAVE Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
VICTOR MCLAGLEN Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
Bluebeard is the first R rated movie I saw. The film industry rated films as R since 1968.
Hey Dan……thanks for the clarification.
Hey Dan. As always thanks for the great information on your movie watching days of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Did you buy your ticket to Bluebeard or did your parent’s take you? As for Ryan’s Daughter…when WoC and I saw it, she put Ireland on her wish list of places to visit. As awesome as that movie looked…I have read that it has become a huge tourist attraction and those areas now look nothing like how they did in the movie.
Wow…John Mills is almost in the Top 50…that is amazing. I would have guessed he was not in the Top 1000. Both lists you attached are massive….Trevor Howard looks like the most frequent Oracle co-star. As for the second list….38 is actually lower than I would have guessed. I guess I did not really know enough about Sir John Mills…lol. Good stuff as always.
I have seen 20 John Mills movies in the table plus another: The Colditz Story.
The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is Around the World in 80 Days.
The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is The Chalk Garden.
The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is The Big Sleep.
Favourite John Mills Movies:
Around the World in 80 Days
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
In Which We Serve
Great Expectations
Swiss Family Robinson
Hobson’s Choice
Operation Crossbow
This Happy Breed
Tunes of Glory
The Wrong Box
The Colditz Story
Oh! What a Lovely War
Other John Mills Movies I Have Seen:
Gandhi
The Parent Trap
Ryan’s Daughter
War and Peace
The End of the affair
So Well Remembered
Young Winston
Run Wild, Run Free
The Big Sleep
Oh! Mom reminded me of another John Mills movie I have seen that is not in the table: Tiger Bay. It is good, but not a favourite. So that is 22 I have seen.
Hey Flora….thanks for the additional movie for your tally count.
Hey Flora. Thanks for the thoughts on John Mills. Tally count: Bob 25, Flora 22 and me at 11. Sorry that The Colditz Story and Tiger Bay did not make the list…..those pesky English movies with no record of how they did at the box office. I have seen 5 of your favorites and 3 of your “other” movies. Good stuff as always.
During the period 1950 until 1972 I saw at least 25 John Mills films mostly in the fifties and early sixties. Here in no particular order are the 25 that I can recall seeing.
Waterloo Road [1940 – saw on rerun
Great Expectations [1946 – saw on rerun]
The Long memory
Colditz Story
Above Us the Waves
The Baby and the Battleship
War and Peace
It’s Great to be Young
The Vicious Circle
Town on Trial-my second favourite Mills film.
Dunkirk
I was Monty’s Double
Ice Cold in Alex-my own favourite Mills film
The Singer Not the Song
Flame in the Streets
Summer of the 17th Doll [aka Season of Passion]
Ryan’s Daughter – my LEAST fave Mills film
Lady Caroline Lamb
The Family Way
Scott of the Antarctic
King Rat
Operation Crossbow
Mr Denning Drives North
Tunes of Glory – Guinness and Mills were great social friends.***
Chuka.
***Good miniature still above of John and Alec as young men.
Hey Bob. That is a tally count that should win our tally contest. At least 25 for you, 20 for Flora and 11 for me. Of the 25 you listed, I only have about 60% of the table….just not acceptable. I will see if I can find anything on your favorite Ice Cold In Alex and your second favorite Town on Trial. Thanks for sharing the ones you had seen. Good stuff as always.
Sir Maurice Micklewhite not arriving as a star until Zulu/the Harry Palmer films/Alfie in the 1960s John Mills was my favourite Brit actor throughout the 1950s and early 1960s after Dirk Bogarde; and I saw virtually every one of the films of both John and Dirk in the fifties and continued to take an interest in their work even after their heyday had passed. See Part 2.
For a number of years, British film exhibitors voted Sir John among the top ten British stars at the box office via an annual poll in the Motion Picture Herald. The first figures quoted in the table below are Sir John’s and the ones in square brackets are Sir Dirk’s. Sir Dirk also appeared in the Brit charts without Sir John in the years 1953/1959/1960 and finally in 1963.
I think it is fair to say that Sir John and Sir Dirk along with Sir Alec Guinness were Britain’s 3 most prestigious MOVIE stars of the popular British cinema in the period concerned Olivier for example being associated as much with Shakespeare; the stage; and/or Hollywood films as he was with the popular British film industry and anyway he was nowhere near as prolific in his film output as were the other 3. Soon though Sir Sean [via Bond] and Sir Maurice would take over as the Big 2 when popularity and artistic prestige were combined.
1945– 4th
1946– 8th
1947 – 4th
1948 – 3rd
1949 – 3rd
1950 – 4th
1954 – 10th [2nd]
1955 – 2nd [1st]
1956 – 10th [3rd]
1957 – 6th [1st]
1958 – 6th [2nd]
1961 – 5th [8th]
Hey Bob. Thanks for the thoughts on Sir John Mills. Seems I have been sitting on these 54 John Mills movies for awhile….so I figured it was time to finally publish a page on him, even though there are more “missing” movies than I generally like. Thanks for sharing his British box office rankings…..if only you had British box office information. Good to know that Sir John is right there with Sir Dirk as your favorites. Replacing them with Sir Sean and Sir Michael seems like a good choice. Good stuff as always.
Great UMR Page
Thank you Mike.