Michael Curtiz Movies

Want to know the best Michael Curtiz movies?  How about the worst Michael Curtiz movies?  Curious about Michael Curtiz box office grosses or which Michael Curtiz movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Michael Curtiz 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.

We recently read an internet article that proclaimed Michael Curtiz as the greatest, most productive director that time has forgotten.   After reading that article we began taking an informal poll of some knowledgeable movie friends….we asked the question…..”Ever heard of Michael Curtiz?”  After getting 5 answers of “no”….we figured it was time to give Mr. Curtiz some UMR sunshine.

Michael Curtiz (1886-1962) was an Oscar® winning Hungarian-born American film director. His IMDb page shows an incredible 178 directing credits from 1912-1967.  This page will rank 90 Michael Curtiz movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information.  Many of his silent movies, some early 1930s movies, shorts and uncredited directing jobs were not included in the rankings.

Michael Curtiz filming the little known Casablanca (1942)

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

Michael Curtiz 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 Michael Curtiz movies by co-stars of his movies
  • Sort Michael Curtiz movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Michael Curtiz movies by adjusted worldwide box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Michael Curtiz 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 Michael Curtiz movie received.
  • Sort Michael Curtiz 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 Michael Curtiz Table

  1. Forty-one Michael Curtiz movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 45.05% of his movies listed.  This Is The Army  (1943) was his biggest box office hit.
  2. An average Michael Curtiz movie grosses $112.80 million in adjusted box office gross.
  3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  58 Michael Curtiz movies are rated as good movies…or 63.73% of his movies.  Casablanca  (1942) is his highest rated movie while A Soldier’s Plaything (1930) is his lowest rated movie.
  4. Twenty Michael Curtiz movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 21.97% of his movies.
  5. Six Michael Curtiz movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 6.59% of his movies.
  6. A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings Score is 60.00.  61 Michael Curtiz movies scored higher that average….or 67.03% of his movies.  Casablanca  (1942) got the the highest UMR Score while A Soldier’s Plaything (1930) got the lowest UMR Score.
Michael Curtiz directing another little known movie…1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood

Possibly Interesting Facts About Michael Curtiz

1. Manó Kaminer was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary in 1886.  In 1905 he Hungaricised his name to Mihály Kertész.

2. Michael Curtiz became attracted to the theater when he was a child in Hungary.  He built a little theater in the cellar of his house when he was 8 years old, where he and five of his friends reenacted plays

3.  In 1912, Michael Curtiz directed Hungary’s first feature film, Ma és holnap (Today and Tomorrow).

4.  Also in 1912, Michael Curtiz was on the Hungarian fencing team at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm

5.  After directing almost 70 movies in Europe, Curtiz arrived in the United States in 1926.  He began directing at Warner Bros. under the anglicised name “Michael Curtiz”. This marked the beginning of his 28-year career at Warners, where he directed 86 films

6.  Michael Curtiz could be intensely absorbed, to the point of distraction. Once was hurt falling out of a moving car because he wanted to write down an idea. He was driving at the time.

7.  Michael Curtiz directed Errol Flynn 12 times and Humphrey Bogart 8 times.

8.  Michael Curtiz is credited with “discovering” Doris Day, whom he heard sing at a Hollywood party. At the time he was about to direct 1948’s  Romance on the High Seas   and was seeking a singer/actress to replace Betty Hutton, who had become pregnant and had to back out of the film.

9.  Michael Curtiz was married three times in his life and had one son.

10.  Michael Curtiz directed close to an average of 3 movies a year from 1930 to 1961.  He did slow up when he reached 60…..as he only directed 2 movies a year from 1947 to 1961.

Check out Michael Curtiz’s career compared to current and classic actors and directors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Steve’s Michael Curtiz You Tube Video

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48 thoughts on “Michael Curtiz Movies”

  1. Love Michael Curtiz, I have seen so many of his films that I have lost count. I’m thinking after looking over the list that I have probably seen at least thirty of his films. Favorites include CASABLANCA, ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, THE BREAKING POINT, FLAMINGO ROAD, ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS,FOUR DAUGHTERS, WHITE CHRISTMAS, ROUGHLY SPEAKING, KING CREOLE, and YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN. Other Curtiz films I have seen include YANKEE DOODLE DANDY, MIDRED PIERCE, MY DREAM IS YOURS, THE STORY OF WILL ROGERS, DODGE CITY, LIFE WITH FATHER, WE’RE NO ANGELS, THE COMANCHEROS, and ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES. Deserves credit for discovering both John Garfield and Doris Day in my opinion. Great Video, Steve!!! Great UMR Page, Bruce!!!

    Reply

    1. Hey Greg…..thanks for checking out our Michael Curtiz page. I think he is a great director that has been forgotten as time passes. Whenever I read a story about the greatest directors, the name Michael Curtiz rarely pops up. Thirty is a pretty impressive total…let’s see how many I have now seen….counting….20….so you have me easily beaten. I have seen most of your favorites….though Flamingo Road and Four Daughters have escaped me so far. Thanks for the kind words and thanks for the great comment.

      Reply

  2. STEVE Thanks for Part One feedback. You are usually able to get back to me the same day so when I saw nothing from you I was afraid that you were still sulking in your tent along with Mother Bates and that wonderful son of hers. Part 2 of my Curtiz reply later today

    Yes I meant the Danny Fisher role. The film was based on a Harold Robbins book about the Great Depression called A Stone for Danny Fisher so I gather that when Brando/Dean were in the frame for the role the concept was meant to be a much more serious one and some historians have described the ultimate Elvis vehicle as “very loosely” based on the Robbins novel.

    Once Elvis became involved there was always going to be an emphasis on the musical aspect and it begs the question of whether had Bing accepted the role of TV’s Columbo that was offered to Crosby first, the great detective would have burst into a song or one or two occasions. You know of course that Joel was once a nightclub singer but I gather that what sunk that career was that he couldn’t swivel his hips like Elvis. Anyway Elvis got some positive reviews for King Creole and his co-star and girlfriend at the time, Jan Shepard,who played Danny’;s sister.said that he was delighted to be praised for doing a part originally meant for one of his own movie idols Dean and Brando.

    You will see that I have taken the liberty of transferring to Bruce’s new Segal page OUR exchanges on your Segal video. I suppose that you and I as a team have at least acted as pathfinders for The Wise One on a couple of occasions. You much more than I of course and I wonder if Bruce ever sees you as an occasional trail-blazer for his own work.

    It was for example said of Mitt Romney the 2012 Republican Presidential candidate that he was so into the concept of the self-made man and his continuing self-sufficiency that had you slowed down to allow him into a lane on the motorway he wouldn’t have acknowledged the courtesy because as far as he was concerned he had made that opening for himself and it had nothing to do with you his getting into the lane that he desired.

    Reply

    1. Good trivia on Elvis Bob. I always enjoy Elvis trivia. Could it be I’m a fan? If the king was more careful in his film choices he might have become a respected actor in non-singing roles, who knows? Look at Mark Wahlberg and Will Smith, both rappers back in the 90s and later became Oscar nominated actors.

      I saw the George Segal transfers of our posts, good idea, but did you paste them on the right page? there are about a dozen George Segal pages on the UMR and you picked the ‘latest news’ page. Which Bruce deletes after a couple of days. 🙂

      Reply

      1. HI STEVE

        Glad you liked the Elvis trivia. He along with Brando. Wayne and Sinatra are stars that I like writing about because there is usually enough trivia in circulation about any of them for one to locate something new to impart.

        I have though already mentioned on this site how Jan Shepard the girlfriend/co-star to whom I alluded were in a Hollywood restaurant during the making of King Creole when Marlon walked in and according to Jan Elvis wanted to meet him but was too tongue-tied to approach The Great Mumbler. Jan therefore took the bull by the horns and went over to Marlon and told him Elvis was in the restaurant. Soon after Marlon called at their table and he and The King had a pleasant chat so that according to Jan Elvis sang and danced with excitement and joy all the way back to the King Creole set.

        Being a Dean/Brando fan Elvis felt no doubt the way The Work Horse would feel if Mr Willis called at a Cogerson family table for a chat in a restaurant! Even the Greats can get star-struck with other Greats and Marlon himself told of how he became tongue-tied when as a Hollywood newcomer he accidentally found himself at the same table as John Wayne. Brando also owned to developing stage fright when told that Clark Gable was in the audience for one of Marlon’s Streetcar stage performances.

        Reply

        1. MICHAEL CURTIZ VIDEO 1-25 May I open my Part 2 response by saying generally that for a posters/stills fanatic like myself your videos are a huge breath of fresh air. Most posters in the public domain that I saw were usually the original release posters which whilst very good had been reproduced so often that they had lost their magic for me. You now every week produce an astonishing array of posters/stills and are both original and high in content. Your Curtiz video is no exception and easily worth a 98% rating in my book You and the Work Horse agree on 5 of Curtiz’s Top 6 best reviewed films and in the exact same order though you round off your 6 with my Joan’s Mildred Pierce whereas WH plumps for Flynn’s Captain Blood. Now I wonder whose 6th choice should I support!

          Great range of POSTERS with my pick being an exceptional two for We’re No Angels, “leggy” ones for Dodge City, Virginia City and The Sea Wolf, Life with Father, Captain Blood, foreign language ones for Sea Hawk and Mildred Pierce, both foreign language ones for Angels with Dirty Faces, the happy ones for Robin Hood and a very un1que classy one for Casablanca. However for me the par excellence one was Flamingo Road with Joan in raunchy form.

          STILLS to be admired most by probably any connoisseur of the art form are in my view (1) Dodge City (2) a still and I think a lobby card for White Christmas – is this another classical gem that WH has never seen? (3) Sea Wolf (4)and (5) Errol as Captain Blood and then as The Sea Hawk (6) Yankee Doodle Dandy himself! (7) my Joan iconic and menacing as Mildred Pierce and (8) another of my 3 favourite Hollywood ladies Doris with Kirk. I must add that the photo there fills me with bitter-sweet nostalgia. How young they both were back then, yet unfortunately today Kirk whilst obviously doing very well to pass 100 and one has had a series of strokes whereas I saw a photograph of my Doris at a celebration of her 96th birthday recently and sadly she didn’t seem to know where she was.

          ADDITIONAL UNRELATED TITILATING TRIVIA.I have just watched a 1998 episode of the TV detective series Columbo and it opens with the funeral of a deceased cowboy movies superstar whose ashes are spread from a helicopter over Hollywood hills. His name is Chuck Houston. Is that name totally fictitious for the plot of the episode or a play on the name a then real life movie Legend?

          Reply

          1. Hi Bob, thanks for the review, rating, info, trivia and comparison, much appreciated. Glad you enjoyed the posters, stills and lobby cards.

            I think Mildred Pierce was placed higher than 6 on my chart, probably no.4.

            It is sad seeing photos of these great stars when they were young, knowing they’re barely alive or have been dead for decades.

            I remember when I was commentating live on the Oscar Awards for my forum years ago, Peter O’Toole walked on stage looking very old and thin. I said something like “folks the mummified remains of Peter O’Toole have been brought up on stage” everyone laughed but it was quite sad seeing El Orence looking like that.

            Six Michael Curtiz films have scored 10 out of 10 from my sources –

            Casablanca
            Adventures of Robin Hood
            Angels With Dirty Faces
            Mildred Pierce
            Sea Hawk ,The
            Yankee Doodle Dandy

            8 more have scored 9 out of 10 including – Sea Wolf, Charge of the Light Brigade, Elizabeth and Essex and White Christmas.

            Casablanca tops all the charts, no surprises there. Including Bruce’s critics and UMR charts. This is the Army was Curtiz’s biggest hit followed by White Christmas.

          2. As always…..great points and stories in this conversation by two people with a vast knowledge of movies. Thanks for sharing that knowledge Bob and Steve or Steve and Bob.

          3. Great comments from both you and Steve about the bittersweet feelings of being a fan of classic Hollywood. Most of my favourites were either already dead or very old by the time I became fans of them. I am very aware of how old Kirk and Doris and others are. I remember when Gregory Peck was very old, I found that I could not watch him in anything sentimental anymore, just war films. It was only after he was dead for a long time that I started watching all his films again.

        2. beautiful, well done bob. up the greats, up the rebels, LOL. still reading and enjoying . another bob

          Reply

      2. STEVE
        Thanks for the feedback and additional information

        You’re are right about Mildred Pierce being your No 4 but i knew that and what I meant was that Bruce and you are agreed on 5 of the Top 6 and that your 6th one -but not actually your NO 6- is Mildred Pierce whereas his 6th is Captain Blood which by coincidence is actually in BRUCE’s No 4 slot. It’s probably clearer, if more time consuming, to set out in full the two Top 6’s in the post rather than try to explain positions. Mildred is Bruce’s No 7

        Reply

    2. Bob, for joel to learn to swivel his hips he should have visited the gump boarding house and been tutored by young forest(in braces) as the movie implied the king did. one of over 30 historical and social events forest gump was integral to in my number one favourite film alltime.

      Reply

      1. HI BOB COX

        When I was in the US in 1999 I visited the Forrest Gump bench in Savannah. That’s the bench that Forrest sat on waiting for the bus in the movie though nobody seems sure whether it’s the Real McCoy or just a replica.that’s there now.

        Reply

  3. “Slacker….lol. Our Curtiz page ranks over 90 of his movies. Curtiz is sadly a forgotten man when it comes to great directors. I have seen 19 of the Top 50 and additional 2 that did not make your video. What a Top 10.! What a Top 2! Robin Hood and Casablanca battling it out for The Top Spot….two of the greatest movies ever made. Amazingly almost every poster shown in the video has an all-star cast on it. From Cagney to Bogart to Flynn to Robinson to Crawford….the stars are amazing. Favorites not in the Top 10 include #21 Young Man With A Horn, #17 King Creole….Elvis at his best and #31 Jim Thorpe. Two movies were the stars’ least favorite movies….Cary Grant did not like #34 Night And Day at all….and Bogart almost quit acting after making #34 Doctor X. Good video….voted up…..and shared at UMR.”

    My thoughts on Steve’s latest video….which has been added to this page.

    Reply

    1. Hello Bruce, glad you liked the video. 19 films out of this 50, not bad, my tally was 24 and Flora’s an epic 39. What a wide variety of great films eh and few people know who the director was. He even worked with Elvis on one of his best films. John Wayne is in there too. Robin Hood and Casablanca are two of my all time favorites. Thanks for sharing, always appreciated.

      Reply

  5. Curtiz directed undoubtedly two of the most celebrated films in movie history, Casablanca and White Christmas. His chief protégé seemed to be Flynn [the Nazi spy who was outed on your site by a patriotic citizen whom I hope you commended at the time]. I have seen 12 films that Michael made with Errol including Flynn classics Robin Hood, Sea Hawk and Captain Blood. Curtiz was of course responsible for many successful films with other stars such as Yankee Doodle Dandy and Mildred Pierce , two which earned Best Actor/Actress Oscars for his stars Cagney and Crawford respectively. Michael seemed fond of working with my Doris too and I have seen 4 films they made together.l

    Indeed Michael’s work stretched across the ages and he got to direct Elvis in 1958’s King Creole, which means that he almost got to direct Dean or Brando because each of them was pencilled in for the role at one stage. Elvis will be glad though that HE was the ultimate pick because the King of Rock n Roll regarded it as his favourite film among his own movies

    CURTIZ VIDEO 50-26
    Fine POSTERS were Helen Morgan Story [aka Both Ends of the Candle] Night & Day, Robert Taylor in iconic form in the first two for The Hangman, Santa Fe Trail, Dr X, Captains of the Clouds, Jim Thorpe All American [aka Man of Bronze] Romance on the High Seas [aka It’s Magic] The Walking Dead, and The Egyptian. Once again Michael and Brando were like ships that passed in the night. Marlon was signed for the movie but walked out, was sued by Fox and compensated them by doing Desiree, which apparently he joined Joel Hirschhorn in hating. Dirk Bogarde was then offered the part but turned it down , so I missed the opportunity of seeing Michael direct one of two of my own idols on that occasion.

    In 50-26 my notes record just a lobby card for Noah’s Ark and two stills, one of Cagney and Davis and the other of the cameras shooting Wayne’s Trouble along the Way. All 3 pictorials were fine though. To be continued———–

    Reply

    1. Hi Bob, thanks for reviewing the first half of my Michael Curtiz long play video, it is to be appreciated. Happy the picture gallery met with your approval.

      I was suprised that he made so many Doris Day movies, including her first. I associate Curtiz mostly with Flynn swashbucklers and of course the greatest black and white film of them all, ‘here’s looking at you kid’. 🙂

      In your second paragraph when you said ‘the role’ did you mean ‘Danny Fisher’ in King Creole? I can’t quite picture Brando as a hip-swiveling New Orleans nightclub singer. Jimmy Dean would have been okay with vocals dubbed of course. It was a mean and moody role for Elvis, his best IMO.

      Looking forward to p.2 of your review

      Reply

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