Want to know the best Joan Bennett movies? How about the worst Joan Bennett movies? Curious about Joan Bennett box office grosses or which Joan Bennett movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Joan Bennett 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.
Joan Bennett (1910-1990) was an American stage, film and television actress. Bennett appeared in more than 70 motion pictures from the era of silent movies, well into the sound era. Her IMDb page shows 98 acting credits from 1916-1982. This page will rank 56 Joan Bennett movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Her television appearances and some movies made between 1928 and 1932 were not included in the rankings. This page comes from a request by Brando90.
Joan Bennett 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 Joan Bennett films by co-stars of her movies
- Sort Joan Bennett films by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Joan Bennett films by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Joan Bennett films 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 Joan Bennett film received.
- Sort Joan Bennett films by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Actual B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | B.O. Rank by Year | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | S |
| 1 | Father of the Bride (1950) AA Best Picture Nom |
Spencer Tracy & Elizabeth Taylor |
11.50 | 259.0 | 390.40 | 6 | 82 | 03 / 00 | 98.9 | |
| 2 | Little Women (1933) AA Best Picture Nom |
Katharine Hepburn | 4.00 | 187.1 | 277.20 | 13 | 82 | 03 / 01 | 98.7 | |
| 3 | Scarlet Street (1945) | Edward G. Robinson & Dan Duryea |
6.90 | 220.2 | 259.70 | 41 | 87 | 00 / 00 | 98.6 | |
| 4 | The Woman in the Window (1944) | Edward G. Robinson & Dan Duryea |
6.50 | 218.4 | 361.30 | 36 | 85 | 01 / 00 | 98.4 | |
| 5 | Father's Little Dividend (1951) | Spencer Tracy & Elizabeth Taylor |
9.10 | 197.1 | 289.50 | 13 | 72 | 00 / 00 | 95.5 | |
| 6 | We're No Angels (1955) | Humphrey Bogart & Peter Ustinov |
8.60 | 177.7 | 177.70 | 35 | 76 | 00 / 00 | 95.0 | |
| 8 | Man Hunt (1941) | Walter Pidgeon | 4.50 | 173.9 | 173.90 | 37 | 76 | 00 / 00 | 94.7 | |
| 10 | The Man In The Iron Mask (1939) | Louis Hayward | 4.40 | 169.4 | 169.40 | 44 | 71 | 01 / 00 | 93.1 | |
| 8 | Nob Hill (1945) | George Raft | 8.60 | 273.4 | 273.40 | 26 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 90.6 | |
| 11 | Vogues of 1938 (1937) | Warner Baxter | 4.40 | 182.7 | 182.70 | 29 | 58 | 02 / 00 | 90.3 | |
| 10 | Mississippi (1935) | Bing Crosby & W.C. Fields |
2.70 | 121.9 | 121.90 | 40 | 78 | 00 / 00 | 90.2 | |
| 12 | The Macomber Affair (1947) | Gregory Peck | 4.30 | 126.0 | 126.00 | 80 | 74 | 00 / 00 | 89.3 | |
| 14 | Trade Winds (1938) | Fredric March | 3.90 | 154.9 | 216.20 | 42 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 87.3 | |
| 15 | The Texans (1938) | Randolph Scott | 3.50 | 138.2 | 138.20 | 54 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 85.7 | |
| 15 | Disraeli (1929) AA Best Picture Nom |
George Arliss | 3.00 | 90.9 | 147.40 | 34 | 61 | 03 / 01 | 83.3 | |
| 16 | For Heaven's Sake (1950) | Clifton Webb | 4.90 | 109.1 | 109.10 | 55 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 80.3 | |
| 17 | There's Always Tomorrow (1955) | Barbara Stanwyck & Fred MacMurray |
2.90 | 59.2 | 59.20 | 109 | 73 | 00 / 00 | 79.0 | |
| 18 | Bulldog Drummond (1929) | Ronald Colman | 3.30 | 100.2 | 153.80 | 26 | 57 | 02 / 00 | 78.2 | |
| 19 | Wild Geese Calling (1941) | Henry Fonda | 2.40 | 93.1 | 93.10 | 98 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 77.9 | |
| 22 | 13 Hours By Air (1936) | Fred MacMurray | 2.40 | 104.2 | 104.20 | 82 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 77.1 | |
| 21 | Moby Dick (1930) | John Barrymore | 1.80 | 96.0 | 132.20 | 70 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 77.0 | |
| 23 | The House Across The Bay (1940) | George Raft | 2.20 | 86.1 | 86.10 | 88 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 75.4 | |
| 22 | Suspiria (1977) | Jessica Harper | 4.90 | 23.5 | 23.50 | 85 | 80 | 00 / 00 | 75.2 | |
| 24 | Two For Tonight (1935) | Bing Crosby | 1.40 | 64.0 | 64.00 | 93 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 74.0 | |
| 25 | The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (1935) | Ronald Colman & Colin Clive |
1.50 | 67.6 | 67.60 | 83 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 72.7 | |
| 26 | The Woman on the Beach (1947) | Robert Ryan | 2.50 | 72.1 | 72.10 | 127 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 71.6 | |
| 27 | She Couldn't Take It (1935) | George Raft | 1.20 | 53.8 | 53.80 | 116 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 70.6 | |
| 29 | She Knew All The Answers (1941) | Franchot Tone | 2.00 | 75.6 | 75.60 | 121 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 70.5 | |
| 28 | The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1934) | Claude Rains | 1.20 | 58.3 | 58.30 | 93 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 70.1 | |
| 30 | Wedding Present (1936) | Cary Grant | 1.50 | 65.6 | 65.60 | 119 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 69.6 | |
| 31 | The Trial of Vivienne Ware (1932) | Zasu Pitts | 0.90 | 43.4 | 43.40 | 125 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 69.1 | |
| 31 | The Man I Married (1940) | Lloyd Nolan | 1.70 | 64.8 | 64.80 | 123 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 68.8 | |
| 32 | Girl Trouble (1942) | Don Ameche | 1.80 | 68.5 | 68.50 | 131 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 68.5 | |
| 33 | Hush Money (1931) | Myrna Loy & George Raft |
1.10 | 54.5 | 54.50 | 143 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 67.8 | |
| 35 | The Son Of Monte Cristo (1940) | Louis Hayward & George Sanders |
2.00 | 75.3 | 75.30 | 101 | 56 | 01 / 00 | 67.5 | |
| 35 | Big Brown Eyes (1936) | Cary Grabt | 1.20 | 51.6 | 69.60 | 134 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 67.3 | |
| 36 | Green Hell (1940) | Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. | 2.00 | 76.4 | 76.40 | 98 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 66.2 | |
| 38 | The Pursuit of Happiness (1934) | Francis Lederer | 1.20 | 55.6 | 55.60 | 99 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 66.2 | |
| 40 | Colonel Effingham's Raid (1946) | Charles Coburn | 2.20 | 67.8 | 67.80 | 117 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 64.1 | |
| 40 | Two In A Crowd (1936) | Joel McCrea | 1.00 | 42.4 | 42.40 | 148 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 62.5 | |
| 40 | House Of Dark Shadows (1970) | Jonathan Frid | 5.60 | 38.7 | 38.70 | 51 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 62.3 | |
| 43 | The Housekeeper's Daughter (1939) | Victor Mature | 1.60 | 63.4 | 63.40 | 142 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 61.1 | |
| 42 | Hollow Triumph (1948) | Paul Henreid | 1.40 | 38.4 | 38.40 | 155 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 59.9 | |
| 45 | I Met My Love Again (1938) | Henry Fonda | 1.70 | 69.6 | 95.10 | 135 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 59.6 | |
| 44 | Secret Beyond the Door... (1947) | Michael Redgrave | 1.10 | 33.5 | 33.50 | 156 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 59.6 | |
| 44 | Me And My Gal (1932) | Spencer Tracy | 0.50 | 24.6 | 24.60 | 163 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 57.3 | |
| 46 | Margin For Error (1943) | Milton Berle | 1.80 | 63.8 | 63.80 | 120 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 57.2 | |
| 49 | Artists and Models Abroad (1938) | Jack Benny | 1.70 | 67.3 | 67.30 | 141 | 52 | 00 / 00 | 56.6 | |
| 49 | The Reckless Moment (1949) | James Mason | 2.00 | 49.9 | 49.90 | 144 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 56.6 | |
| 50 | The Guy Who Came Back (1951) | Linda Darnell | 1.20 | 26.2 | 26.20 | 188 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 55.0 | |
| 50 | Confirm Or Deny (1941) | Don Ameche | 1.10 | 42.1 | 42.10 | 166 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 54.1 | |
| 51 | Private Worlds (1935) | Claudette Colbert | 1.50 | 68.3 | 105.10 | 81 | 49 | 00 / 00 | 52.9 | |
| 51 | Maybe It's Love (1930) | Joe E. Brown | 1.40 | 76.6 | 84.70 | 88 | 47 | 00 / 00 | 52.8 | |
| 55 | The Wife Takes A Flyer (1942) | Franchot Tone | 1.10 | 39.5 | 39.50 | 174 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 48.3 | |
| 53 | Careless Lady (1932) | Josephine Hull | 0.40 | 22.0 | 22.00 | 170 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 48.3 | |
| 55 | Highway Dragnet (1954) | Richard Conte | 1.00 | 22.4 | 22.40 | 152 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 46.6 | |
| 57 | Desire In The Dust (1960) | Raymond Burr | 1.20 | 19.3 | 19.30 | 119 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 40.5 | |
| 57 | Arizona to Broadway (1933) | James Dunn | 0.60 | 29.4 | 29.40 | 158 | 52 | 00 / 00 | 31.6 | |
| 57 | Twin Beds (1942) | George Brent | 1.20 | 44.8 | 44.80 | 165 | 40 | 00 / 00 | 18.9 | |
| 58 | Navy Wife (1956) | Gary Merrill | 1.10 | 22.2 | 22.20 | 174 | 47 | 00 / 00 | 17.9 |
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Joan Bennett Table
- Thirteen Joan Bennett movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 23.21% of her movies listed. Her biggest hit was Nob Hill (1945)
- An average Joan Bennett movie grosses an average of $74.02 million in adjusted domestic gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 30 Joan Bennett movies are rated as good movies…or 53.57% of her movies. Scarlet Street (1945) was her highest rated movie while Twin Beds (1942) was her lowest rated movie.
- Eight Joan Bennett movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 14.28% of her movies.
- Two Joan Bennett movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 3.57% of her movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 40.00. 20 Joan Bennett movies scored higher than that average….or 35.71% of her movies. Father of the Bride (1950) got the the highest UMR Score while Twin Beds (1942) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Joan Bennett
- Joan Geraldine Bennett was born in Fort Lee, New Jersey in 1910.
2. Joan Bennett was born into a theatrical family. Her father, mother and two older sisters (Constance & Barbara) were all involved in acting…so real surprise when Joan followed their footprints.
3. Filming on 1932’s She Wanted a Millionaire was interrupted for 6 months when Joan Bennett broke her leg in a fall from a horse.
4. Joan Bennett made five films for Fritz Lang, more than any other American actor or actress who worked with him.
5. Joan Bennett was a finalist for the part of Scarlett O’Hara in 1939’s Gone with the Wind. Vivien Leigh got the role at the last minute. Her thoughts on that? “I wish Vivien would have stayed in England.”
6. Joan Bennett was married four times and had four children. Her second marriage was to producer Walter Wanger.
7. In 1951 Walter Wanger was convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of talent agent Jennings Lang. Lang was the agent of Joan Bennett, then Wanger’s wife, and Wanger discovered the two of them were having an affair. He caught them in the act, and wound up shooting Lang. Wanger served a four-month sentence.
8. Billy Wilder came up with the idea for 1960’s The Apartment after reading all the details of Wanger and Bennett’s personal lives that were revealed in the scandal in interesting fact #7. Some of the details revealed included how executives were using people’s apartments as “meeting places”. So the next time you see The Apartment….think of Joan Bennett.
9. Joan Bennett’s movies from 1930 to 1939 earned $1.81 billion in adjusted domestic gross. That puts him in 47th place when looking at all the stars of that decade. 1930’s Top Box Office Stars.
10. Joan Bennett’s movies from 1940 to 1949 earned $1.56 billion in adjusted domestic gross. That puts him in 86th place when looking at all the stars of that decade. 1940’s Top Box Office Stars.
Check out Joan Bennett’s movie career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Check Out Steve’s Joan Bennett You Tube Video
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
STEVE It’s understandable enough to confuse Joan Bennett with her sister Constance but I used to confuse Joan with Myrna Loy too and always thought they looked a bit alike. Of course I wouldn’t get Joan and Myrna mixed up now as it has since been explained to me that one is just a mortal and the other is a Goddess! Joan was professionally active overall for 66 years according to Wikipedia and her movie career ran for 61 years from 1916 until 1977.
After the two “father” pictures with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor in 1950 and 1951 that career went quickly downhill and in the next 26 years she made just 8 movies, and was the star of only one of them, a minor comedy in 1956 called Navy Wife co-starring “Mr Bette Davis” [Gary Merrill]
In the other 7 films Joan played 2nd fiddle or less to relatively minor performers such as Raymond Burr [an important star on just TV back then because of Perry Mason] Richard Conte [later the lead villain in The Godfather], Paul Douglas and Martha Hyer. In 1955’s We’re No Angels with Bogie Joan could no longer command equal billing with the 3 above the title stars [though weirdly one of your posters bills Ustinov and Aldo Ray before Bogie. That would NEVER have happened in reality].
I liked most the following POSTERS. Nob Hill [one of my fave Raft movies] The Texans[teaming Joan with a young Randy] House across The Bay, both for Secret Beyond the Door, a scrumptious one for Mississippi [teaming Joan with Bing and W C Fields who was the neighbour of my Deanna and put In a complaint about her practising her singing giving him headaches] Me and MY Gal, Wedding Present with Archie Leach, both for We’re No Angels, 1st one for Man in the Iron Mask, entire set for Woman in the Window, and a really stunning one for Suspiria.
STILLS that most pleased me are (1) Joan with Doug Jr (2) her with Fred Mac (3) lobby card for Wedding Present [young Arch was stunning looking when young. No wonder Mae West decided to captivate and possess him!] (4) a very scrumptious one for Mississippi (5) Joan with my Greg and Bob Preston (6) her watching Old cantankerous shave [I’ll bet the old scene hogger milked that shot for all it was worth. Apparently Gable once banged Spence’s head on the ground to make him stop his scene-dominating antics] (7) the Little Women ensemble (8) Joan showing a leg in Scarlet Street and (9) a great one from Suspiria .
A solid 97% presentation in my book. You and the Big Boy agree on 5 of Joan’s Top 6 best reviewed in a slightly different order but make the 2 Eddie Robinson ones your Top 2. Your 6 includes There’s always Tomorrow whilst WH goes instead for the Crosby/Fields Mississippi in his own 6. I’m backing your choice because of W C’s antagonism towards my darling Deanna.
Team Cogerson should also take note that your opening quote from Joan illustrates that she supports W o C’s finding that Hollywood discriminated in favour of men.
Hey Bob…good breakdown of Steve’s new video and Joan Bennett’s movie career. I will have to check that new video out in a little bit. Glad me and Steve agree on 5 of the Top 6 when looking at critics and audiences. As for the 6th movie….well…we can not agree all the time…what fun would that be. Good feedback as always.
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, rating, info, trivia and comparison, much appreciated.
Happy you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.
Joan’s sister Constance Bennett’s filmography isn’t as impressive as Joan’s but it might make an interesting video some day, I’ll add her to my files. Her top rated film at IMDB is the ghost comedy Topper and she shares a movie with our Totty Audrey – The Unsuspected.
I did notice the odd billing on the foreign poster for We’re No Angels, maybe it was a late 50’s rerelease and Ustinov was a bigger attraction than Bogart in that country? I know it doesn’t make any sense.
It could be the poster artist just didn’t care which order the actors were billed as long as their names were somewhere on the poster. I can imagine Bob trying to explain the importance of billing to that person and his eyes glazing over while stifling a yawn. [snorts] 😉
Two Bennett films scored 10 out of 10 from my sources and they’re not the top two – Little Women and Father of the Bride. Two scored 9 – Man Hunt and Woman in the Window. Six films scored 8 including Scarlet Street and Suspiria.
Scarlet Street tops Bennetts IMDB chart and Suspiria is no.1 at Rotten Tomatoes.
Good to see Bruce and I have the same top two and in the same order.
Joan Bennett starred in 5 films directed by Fritz Lang – “To me, Fritz Lang remains one of the great directors in the history of the business, and working with him was a fascinating exercise in the art of making motion pictures. On occasion, whenever he makes a trip to New York from his home in California, we still get together for a delightful evening of do-you-remember-when, and the-trouble-with-you-was.”
“The “Golden Age” is gone, and with it most of the people of great taste. It doesn’t seem to be any fun any more.”
HI STEVE Thanks for the usual thoughtful feedback and the explanations and quotes. You’re not trying to tell me that there’s somebody apart from you and The Work Horse who deals with film matters and is not interested in billing? Amazing! If that’s so I would agree with you that the fun is going out of being a film fan.
By the way I have just learnt that last year Daniel [sorry Sir Daniel Michael Blake] Day-Lewis announced his retirement. I have not seen it mentioned on this site – were you aware of it?
He’s just 61 now [puts Arnie, Sly and those other ancient action idols of you and WH to shame, doesn’t it?] but Sir Dan always did seem to have a half-hearted interest in his career for he would disappear from the screen for lengthy periods and has made only 6 movies in the past 21 years.
People wondered where he had gotten to during those absences but I have mentioned before on this site that a newspaper reporter traveling through the South of Ireland one summer stopped at a small village to have a shoe repaired in a tiny cobbler’s shop there and claimed to have seen Sir Dan repairing shoes in a small corner. Apparently his grandfather owned the shop and Sir Dan found it therapeutic to get away from it all and use his hands creatively.
Maybe that’s where has gone back to. His place of residence is officially listed by Wiki as Annamoe, County Wicklow in Ireland. Certainly if he’s mending shoes again it must be just as a labour of love because he is said to have retired with a net $50 million fortune the bank. But is it proper and the done thing for an English actor knight to sully his hands by actually working? He apparently has joint English/Irish citizenship so maybe that explains it all. We folk on this island don’t really go in for snobbery!
Right there with you Steve with regards to Bob’s excellent breakdown.
Just updating my Katharine Hepburn page….when I realized the rental total for Little Women was worldwide rentals….when fixed….Little Women lost almost $100 million in adjusted domestic gross….which knock Little Women from numerous Top Spots in Joan’ Rankings.
Now her biggest hit is 1945’s Nob Hill
Now her best UMR movie is Father of the Bride
Meanwhile….Little Women comes from first on the UMR rankings to 4th…..still one of her best movies….just not the top dog anymore.
🙂
Cogerson
I was watching films of the 1950’s TV panel show I’ve Got a Secret on you tube the other night, and was surprised to find that Joan Bennett was a regular panelist for one year, apparently 1953 to 1954. A surprising gig for a real movie star of that era (at least as a regular). I assume it reflects the negative impact of the shooting scandal on her career.
Hey John…I agree back then movie stars looked down on television. So it is indeed interesting to see her on I’ve Got A Secret.
Hello Bruce.
It’s good to see this new page on Joan Bennett. She has never been one of my favorite film stars but I think she was quite a good actress. I’ve seen many of her films and recently I saw for the first time two she did with Cary Grant in 1936, “Wedding Present” and “Big Brown Eyes” which I enjoyed. I like 1933’s “Little Women” very much. But my favorite Joan Bennett film is Fritz Lang’s 1944 film noir classic “The Woman in the Window”. Thank you for another classic film star page.
Hey Lyle. I have seen both of the Cary Grant/Joan Bennett movies. They are decent…especially for early Grant movies. I have not seen Little Women….at least that version. I agree that Woman In The Window is a classic. The next year the people behind Woman in the Window…made Scarlett Street. Robinson, Bennett, Duryea and Lang, not to mentioned a lot of the sets were the same. Glad you liked this latest classic page….thanks for the comment.