Want to know the best George Arliss movies? How about the worst George Arliss movies? Curious about George Arliss box office grosses or which George Arliss movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which George Arliss 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.
George Arliss (1868-1946) was an English Oscar® winning actor. Between 1921 and 1937 Arliss has 25 acting credits on his IMDb page. Sadly were not able to find box office grosses on many of his silent movies in the 1921 and 1924. We did find box office information on all of his movies from 1930 to 1937 which was 76% of his entire film career…. This page will rank 19 George Arliss movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. This page comes from a request by TCM’s Top Billed. Top Billed has been working on a weekly January blog that looks at select classic performers.
George Arliss Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
George Arliss 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 George Arliss movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort George Arliss movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort George Arliss movies by adjusted worldwide box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort George Arliss movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each George Arliss movie received and how many Oscar® wins each movie won.
- Sort George Arliss 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.
- Use the search and sort button to make this page very interactive.
Possibly Interesting Facts About George Arliss
1. Augustus George Andrews was born in London, England, in 1868. Arliss is a family name on his father’s side.
2. George Arliss was one of the most successful stage actors of the early 1900s. His first monster hit was 1908’s The Devil. In 1911 Arliss started playing Disraeli on stage. The success of his plays brought to movies. His first movie was 1921’s The Devil.
3. George Arliss played his roles in The Green Goddess and Disraeli on stage in the 1910s, in silent movies in the 1920s and in sound pictures in the 1930s.
4. George Arliss was the third ever actor to win a Best Actor Oscar®. He won for Disraeli.
5. George Arliss was the first English actor to win a Best Actor Oscar®. He is also the oldest born Best Actor Oscar® winner.
6. George Arliss is the earliest born movie star (born in 1868) to have an UltimateMovieRankings (UMR) page. Lionel Barrymore born in 1878 no longer has that title.
7. George Arliss is credited with getting Bette Davis’ career started. He cast her in two of his movies….and she never looked back.
8. George Arliss was married one time. He was married to actress, Florence Arliss from 1899 to her death in 1946.
Check out George Arliss‘ career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. Golden Globe® is a registered trademark of the Hollywood Foreign Press.
“George Arliss is credited with getting Bette Davis’ career started. He cast her in two of his movies….and she never looked back.” In fact, she kept praising him until her death. She was truly grateful and often said she learned more from him than from anybody else. She also had similar admiration for Claude Rains. I’ve actually seen a few of his movies, “House of Rothschild” and “The working Man ” as well as “The Man who played God”, which was remade with Liberace in the 50’s. Arliss’ acting style seems dated now and he may have been too old for some of the parts he took toward the end of his career, but I do understand why he had such a great reputation. As a huge fan of Margaret Lockwood, I would like to see “Dr. Syn”.
There is actually one film here I’ve seen and have in the collection – Transatlantic Tunnel – an ancient sci-fi movie from the UK.about the building of a tunnel under the Atlantic linking Britain with America. Very few SF films were made in the 30s and 40s and this was one of them, the most notable was Things to Come (1936), which was an expensive movie made in Britain. From 1950 onwards there was an explosion of sci-fi movies that has never let up, currently the most successful genre in unadjusted dollars.
Well that’s it. I hope you enjoyed my essay on the films of George Arliss. Thank you.
Good work as always Bruce. Vote Up.
Hey Steve…thanks for checking out this Arliss page…not thinking it is going to be a huge view getter….but he is an Oscar winner. My tally is 1 too…though it was his Oscar winning role in Disraeli….as for Transatlantic Tunnel….it actually sounds interesting. Is it any good?….or am I not missing anything?
You’re not missing much Bruce, it’s a slow moving film. A low-res copy is available on youtube if you want to sample a few minutes.
Hey Steve….thanks for the mini-review on Transatlantic Tunnel and letting me know where I can find it. If I get a strong desire to break our tie….I might watch the whole movie. 🙂
Did you honestly think an actor who made his last film in 1937 would have some actor on the current Oracle of Bacon top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe list and he didn’t appear with Mickey Rooney. There are very few people on the 2000 list who appeared with him and they are as follows with 2000 rank.
A Successful Calamity (1932) – 959 Leon Ames
Cardinal Richelieu (1935) – 14 John Carradine, 151 Cesar Romero
The Man Who Played God (1932) – 187 Ray Milland, 918 Bette Davis
That’s it!!!
He actually appeared with 8 Oscar winners without the benefit of an all-star musical at the dawn of sound.
A Successful Calamity (1932) – Mary Astor
The Devil (1921) – Fredric March
The House of Rothschild (1934) – Loretta Young
The Man Who Played God (1922) – Mary Astor
The Man Who Played God (1932) – Ray Milland, Bette Davis
The Millionaire (1931) – James Cagney
Twenty Dollars a Week (1924) – Ronald Colman
Believe it or not 5 of the current top 10 actors on the Oracle of Bacon list connect to him in 2 steps!
George Arliss connects to Samuel L. Jackson (#4) in 2 steps. James Cagney and Jackson were both in Ragtime (1981) and Cagney was with Arliss 50 years earlier in the Millionaire.
George Arliss connects to Robert De Niro (#6) in 2 steps . De Niro was in the Last Tycoon in 1976 with Ray Milland who was with Arliss in The Man Who Played God in 1932. John Carradine is also in The Last Tycoon and appears with Arliss in Cardinal Richeieu.
George Arliss connects to Malcolm McDowell (#8) in 2 steps. Both McDowell and Ray Milland were in 1969’s Aces High. You know where this one is going.
George Arliss connects to Donald Sutherland (#9) in 2 steps. Sutherland and one Patrick Barr appeared in 1979’s The First Great Train Robbery. Barr was in 1936’s East West with Arliss. Sutherland also appeared in 1963’s The World Ten Times Over with one William Hartell who was with Arliss in 1935’s The Guv’Nor.
Lastly, Michael Caine (#10) links to Arliss in 2 steps
Caine appeared with
Cyril Smith in Sailor Beware (1956) who appeared in The Tunnel (1935) with Arliss
George Merritt in the Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961) who appeared in Doctor Syn (1937) with Arliss
Patrick Barr in The Black Windmill (1974) and was in 1936’s East West with Arliss
Other actors for Caine with the Caine Picture first then the Arliss
Desmond Roberts – The Two-Headed Spy (1958) / The King’s Vacation (1933)
Henry Oscar – Foxhole in Cairo (1960) / The Tunnel (1935)
Howard Marion – Crawford – Foxhole in Cairo (1960 / The Guv’nor (1935)
George Merritt – The Battle of Britain (1969) / Doctor Syn (1937)
Felix Aylmer – The Two-Headed Spy (1958) / The Iron Duke (1934)
Eliot Makeham – Sailor Beware (1956) / East Meets West (1936)
Maureen O’Sullivan – Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) / Cardinal Richelieu (1935)
You know I have a complete 100 tobacco card set from the U.K. in the mid 30’s of movie stars. About half are British but Arliss and Dick Powell are in it. The set unfortunately isn’t worth very much even with all these actors all on their rookie cards (hah).
Hey Dan.
1. That is one of the lowest amount of actors in the 2000 Oracle list. Just 5 people….but two of them were stars…Milland and Davis…..and John Carradine is the man….plus his kids are still appearing in movies.
2. I think 8 is pretty stellar….for two reasons…the Oscars were not even ten years old when he stopped making movies….and he really only has a handful of movies.
3. I agree that is cool that Arliss is connected to half of the Top 10 in two steps.
4. With all of those connections to Caine…I bet he has a Arliss story….which would be amazing since 20 plus years passed from Arliss last movie and Caine’s first movie.
5. Wow….a George Arliss rookie card is not worth much?……I guess he and Dick Powell were good but far from great players……they most have been Gold Glove winners with weak bats…..lol.
An enjoyable comment….thanks for sharing all of this information….who would have thought it.
Never even heard of this guy. But I did find this full George movie on You Tube. Not sure I will watch it but I found it interesting that found it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfsqmfRyT_I
Hey Helakoski….thanks for the You Tube video link. If I watch The House of Rothchild….that will double the amount of George Arliss movies that I have watched. Thanks for the visit and the comment.
Oh that’s wonderful. It’s not too late. I won’t be posting my write-up about Arliss until later on this week.
Thank you!
Next week I am doing stars of the 60s & 70s…could you do one for Lee Van Cleef? If you’re too busy, I will understand but thought I’d ask.
Hey TopBilled…Lee Van Cleef should not be an issue..just did a quick check..this is what I have right now in my database…and I really only looked at the 1950s…..not going to be able to find all of them…but I think 50 to 70 is within reason.
Arena (1953) $32.40 adjusted domestic gross
Barquero (1970) $10.80
Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, The (1953) $95.80
Bravados, The (1958) $88.30
Conqueror, The (1956) $197.10
Day of the Badman (1958) $12.00
Escape From New York (1981) $76.60
For a Few Dollars More (1965) $88.80
Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The (1966) $191.60
Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) $202.10
Gypsy Colt (1954) $37.80
High Noon (1952) $144.80
It Conquered The Word (1956) $26.30
Kansas City Confidential (1952) $23.00
Lonely Man, The (1957) $34.40
Pardners (1956) $157.70
Posse From Hell (1961) $15.80
Ride Lonesome (1959) $38.10
Ten Wanted Men (1955) $46.30
Tin Star, The (1957) $40.90
Tribute to a Bad Man (1956) $52.20
Tumbleweed (1953) $36.00
Untamed Frontier (1952) $63.90
Vice Squad (1953) $16.00
Young Lions , The (1958) $179.80
This man was born almost 150 years ago. Look for to the page on Angel Eyes.
Hey Stein…..yep Mr. Arliss was born right after the Civil War ended. Lee Van Cleef will probably be sometime this weekend…thanks for the visit.