Want to know the best Lewis Milestone movies? How about the worst Lewis Milestone movies? Curious about Lewis Milestone box office grosses or which Lewis Milestone movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Lewis Milestone 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.
Lewis Milestone (1895-1980) was a 2-time Oscar® winning Russian-American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Milestone is known for directing Two Arabian Knights (1927) and All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), both of which received Academy Awards® for Best Director. He also directed The Front Page , The General Died at Dawn (1936), Of Mice and Men (1939), Ocean’s 11 (1960), and Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). His IMDb page shows 53 directing credits from 1918 to 1964. This page will rank Lewis Milestone 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.
Lewis Milestone Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews, and awards.
Year
Movie (Year)
Rating
S
Year Movie (Year) Rating S
1930
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
AA Best Picture Win
AA Best Director Win
1962
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
AA Best Picture Nom
1946
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
Director
1945
A Walk in the Sun (1945)
1943
Edge of Darkness (1943)
1951
Halls of Montezuma (1951)
1939
Of Mice and Men (1939)
AA Best Picture Nom
1936
The General Died at Dawn (1936)
1931
The Front Page (1931)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Director Nom
1960
Ocean's 11 (1960)
1928
The Racket (1928)
AA Best Picture Nom
1927
Two Arabian Knights (1927)
AA Best Director Win
1932
Rain (1932)
1940
Lucky Partners (1940)
1948
Arch of Triumph (1948)
1959
Pork Chop Hill (1959)
1934
The Captain Hates The Sea (1934)
Director
1936
Anything Goes (1936)
1941
My Life with Caroline (1941)
1952
Les Miserables (1952)
1928
The Garden of Eden (1928)
1933
Hallelujah I'm a Bum (1933)
1952
Kangaroo (1952)
1949
The Red Pony (1949)
Director
1935
Paris In Spring (1935)
Director
1926
The New Klondike (1926)
1948
No Minor Vices (1948)
1939
The Night of Nights (1939)
1953
Melba (1953)
1929
Betrayal (1929)
1955
La vedova X/The Widow (1955)
Lewis Milestone 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 Lewis Milestone movies by his co-stars
- Sort Lewis Milestone movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Lewis Milestone movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Lewis Milestone 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 Lewis Milestone movie received.
- Sort Lewis Milestone movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR 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 | All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) AA Best Picture Win AA Best Director Win |
Lew Ayres | 4.60 | 248.8 | 248.80 | 7 | 84 | 04 / 02 | 99.8 | |
| 2 | Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) AA Best Picture Nom |
Marlon Brando & Trevor Howard |
28.00 | 402.5 | 402.50 | 4 | 70 | 07 / 00 | 97.8 | |
| 3 | The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) Director |
Barbara Stanwyck & Kirk Douglas |
8.90 | 274.7 | 274.70 | 28 | 80 | 01 / 00 | 97.5 | |
| 5 | A Walk in the Sun (1945) | Dana Andrews | 6.20 | 198.2 | 198.20 | 51 | 78 | 00 / 00 | 96.9 | |
| 6 | Edge of Darkness (1943) | Errol Flynn & Ann Sheridan |
5.80 | 209.3 | 376.70 | 45 | 74 | 00 / 00 | 96.1 | |
| 6 | Halls of Montezuma (1951) | Richard Widmark & Robert Wagner |
7.60 | 163.2 | 163.20 | 20 | 74 | 00 / 00 | 93.2 | |
| 7 | Of Mice and Men (1939) AA Best Picture Nom |
Burgess Meredith | 2.60 | 100.1 | 100.10 | 92 | 85 | 04 / 00 | 93.1 | |
| 10 | The General Died at Dawn (1936) | Gary Cooper | 4.50 | 193.3 | 193.30 | 24 | 62 | 03 / 00 | 93.0 | |
| 7 | The Front Page (1931) AA Best Picture Nom AA Best Director Nom |
Adolphe Menjou | 2.10 | 107.0 | 107.00 | 52 | 80 | 03 / 00 | 92.0 | |
| 8 | Ocean's 11 (1960) | Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin |
16.10 | 252.2 | 252.20 | 10 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 91.3 | |
| 11 | The Racket (1928) AA Best Picture Nom |
Produced by Howard Hughes | 3.20 | 101.7 | 101.70 | 19 | 70 | 01 / 00 | 87.4 | |
| 12 | Two Arabian Knights (1927) AA Best Director Win |
Mary Astor | 2.90 | 96.5 | 96.50 | 15 | 72 | 01 / 01 | 85.7 | |
| 13 | Rain (1932) | Joan Crawford & Walter Huston |
1.50 | 75.3 | 98.60 | 55 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 83.2 | |
| 14 | Lucky Partners (1940) | Ronald Colman & Ginger Rogers |
2.50 | 96.8 | 152.90 | 76 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 80.0 | |
| 15 | Arch of Triumph (1948) | Ingrid Bergman & Charles Boyer |
4.50 | 120.6 | 120.60 | 81 | 52 | 00 / 00 | 77.6 | |
| 16 | Pork Chop Hill (1959) | Gregory Peck & Harry Guardino |
5.60 | 100.1 | 100.10 | 44 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 74.6 | |
| 17 | The Captain Hates The Sea (1934) Director |
Victor McLaglen & The Three Stooges |
0.90 | 43.7 | 43.70 | 117 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 67.8 | |
| 18 | Anything Goes (1936) | Bing Crosby & Ethel Merman |
1.20 | 51.6 | 51.60 | 133 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 67.3 | |
| 19 | My Life with Caroline (1941) | Ronald Colman & Anna Lee |
1.70 | 65.8 | 103.10 | 138 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 67.3 | |
| 20 | Les Miserables (1952) | Michael Rennie & Robert Newton |
3.10 | 59.9 | 59.90 | 117 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 66.7 | |
| 21 | The Garden of Eden (1928) | Louise Dresser | 1.30 | 41.5 | 41.50 | 70 | 65 | 01 / 00 | 65.2 | |
| 22 | Hallelujah I'm a Bum (1933) | Al Jolson | 0.80 | 36.1 | 36.10 | 136 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 62.6 | |
| 23 | Kangaroo (1952) | Maureen O'Hara | 3.50 | 68.1 | 68.10 | 101 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 62.2 | |
| 24 | The Red Pony (1949) Director |
Robert Mitchum & Myrna Loy |
3.30 | 83.6 | 83.60 | 109 | 48 | 00 / 00 | 58.5 | |
| 25 | Paris In Spring (1935) Director |
Ida Lupino | 0.90 | 41.3 | 41.30 | 142 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 50.2 | |
| 26 | The New Klondike (1926) | Thomas Meighan | 1.50 | 53.3 | 53.30 | 28 | 52 | 00 / 00 | 48.1 | |
| 27 | No Minor Vices (1948) | Dana Andrews | 1.30 | 34.0 | 45.60 | 163 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 39.5 | |
| 29 | The Night of Nights (1939) | Pat O'Brien | 0.80 | 29.2 | 29.20 | 194 | 52 | 00 / 00 | 31.5 | |
| 28 | Melba (1953) | Robert Morley | 1.10 | 19.1 | 19.10 | 210 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 31.3 | |
| 30 | Betrayal (1929) | Gary Cooper | 1.00 | 31.1 | 31.10 | 113 | 49 | 00 / 00 | 26.9 | |
| 31 | La vedova X/The Widow (1955) | Leonardo Botta | 0.60 | 13.2 | 13.20 | 187 | 41 | 00 / 00 | 7.7 |
Possibly Interesting Facts About Lewis Milestone
1. Leib Milstein was born in the Bessarabia Governorate of the Russian Empire in 1895.
2. Lewis Milestone arrived in the United States on 14 November 1913, just prior to World War I. He held a number of odd jobs before enlisting in the U.S. Signal Corps, where he worked as an assistant director on Army training films during the war.
3. A device Lewis Milestone used in most of his war films–i.e., All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Edge of Darkness (1943), A Walk in the Sun (1945) and Pork Chop Hill (1959)–is the dolly shot that moves across infantry attacking toward the camera in echelon and being felled one at a time by machine-gun fire.
4. Lewis Milestone directed five Oscar® Best Picture nominees: The Racket (1928), All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), The Front Page (1931), Of Mice and Men (1939) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), with All Quiet on the Western Front winning Best Picture in 1930.
5. Lewis Milestone was a founding member of the Directors Guild.
Check out Lewis Milestone’s 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 Globes® are the registered trademark and service mark of the Hollywood Foreign Press. Emmy® is a registered trademark.
Okay… I’ve seen 5 of the 31 films on the chart, not impressive. They are – Mutiny on the Bounty, Halls of Montezuma, Edge of Darkness, Ocean’s Eleven and All Quiet on the Western Front.
Lewis Milestone’s troubled remake of Mutiny on the Bounty is my favorite from that list, and my most watched Bounty film.
Surprised to see Of Mice and Men top All Quiet on the Western Front on the critics list, the latter is one of the all time great anti-war films. But it does top the UMR chart.
Nice work Bruce. Vote Up!
Hey Steve. Thanks for sharing your Milestone thoughts. Tally count: Flora 13, Bob 12, me 6 and you 5. I have seen 4 of the 5 you have seen. Edge of Darkness is an Errol Flynn movie that has escaped me. One day I will check that one out. All Quiet on the Western Front just barely lost the critic/audience award to Of Mice and Men. Of Mice and Men actually earned a Best Picture nomination…probably the least known 1939 Best Picture nominated film. As for Mutiny on the Bounty…I liked it too. Movie looks amazing….Trevor Howard is top notch in the movie. Brando is good in the movie as well. Good stuff.
I have seen 13 Lewis Milestone movies.
The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is All Quiet on the Western Front
The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is Mutiny on the Bounty.
The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is My Life with Caroline
Favourite Lewis Milestone Movies:
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
A Walk in the Sun
The Front Page
Ocean’s 11
Halls of Montezuma
Pork Chop Hill
Other Lewis Milestone Movies I Have Seen:
Of Mice and Men
Edge of Darkness
Rain
Lucky Partners
Anything Goes
My Life With Caroline
Hey Flora
1. Thanks for checking out our Lewis Milestone Movie Ranking Page.
2. Tally count: Flora 13, Bob 12, me 6 and Steve 5. A close one…but a win is a win.
3. I have seen all of yor favorites with the exception of A Walk In The Sun. I would say Ocean’s Eleven and Strange Love of Martha Ivers would be the two I like the most.
4. I have not seen any of the other movies you have seen…..though Edge of Darkness is an Errol Flynn movie that I want to watch.
Good stuff as always.
Me just one “have seen” movie behind the REAL Cogerson Queen Flora Breen Robison -wow! [Myrna who?] As I’ve said in other situations: somebody should be taking a note of that for posterity!
9/Continued. Our Girl Friday was I thought a waste of two otherwise excellent performers though to be fair I don’t really regard it as a personal “have seen” but rather a “half seen” as I was just in the room when my family were watching it. However I would still probably have preferred Al Leach and his own pal Randy Scott in the leads. The 4th version was 1988’s Switching Channels with Kathleen Turner and Burt Reynolds. I never saw that; but critics say that the strained relationship between Kate and Burt showed through in the finished movie
10/Port Chop Hill-my Greg successfully sharing the direction honours with Lewis. By contrast it is claimed that Mr Mumbles upset the applecart by informally taking over the directorial reins from Lewis on occasions on Mutiny on The Bounty. Similar antics from Mr M drove the young Stanley Kubrick out of the director’s chair for One Eyed Jacks with The Great Mumbler ultimately taking directorial control himself.
DeNiro joined his acting soulmate Brando in making life unbearable for director Franz Oz when they all teamed up for Brando’s final cinematic release The Score in 2001. Edward Norton: “I just let the two Legends get on with it and I kept out of the rows.” Which apparently involved Brando appearing on the set naked to humiliate Oz.
11/The Strange Love of Myrna Ivers-early Kirk Douglas 4th fiddle movie. The below the title [4th billed] Kirk was on the cusp of mega-stardom though with his 1st teaming with Burt not far away [1948’s I Walk Alone] and Champion set to be out in 1949- a boxing flick that makes the Rocky films seem like the kind of pretend stuff that we get on US wrestling channels and Sly looking like the popular real-life pretty-boy wrestler The Model. The latter holds the record for being in the wrestling ring the longest at the WWA annual big event The Royal Rumble by virtue of The Model clinging onto the ropes for the 2-hour duration of the final with heavies like Hulk Hogan and Jake the Snake Roberts and The Triangle of Terror led by Sgt Slaughter feverishly trying to dislodge him! The Model [aka Rick Martel] is also noted for his blindfold wrestling match in the ring against Jake the Snake.
12/Les Miserables.
This paragraph replaces the existing one in Part 3 which was full of tiny mistakes that may have made it partially unclear. As always my apologies.
11/The Strange Love of Myrna Ivers-early Kirk Douglas 4th fiddle movie. The below the title [4th billed] Kirk was on the cusp of mega-stardom though with his 1st teaming with Burt not far away [1948’s I Walk Alone] and Champion set to be out in 1949- a boxing flick that makes the Rocky films seem like the kind of pretend stuff that we get on US wrestling channels and Sly looking like the popular real-life pretty-boy wrestler The Model. The latter holds the record for being in the wrestling ring the longest at the WWA annual big event The Royal Rumble by virtue of The Model clinging onto the ropes for the 2-hour duration of the final with heavies like Hulk Hogan and Jake the Snake Roberts and The Triangle of Terror led by Sgt Slaughter feverishly trying to dislodge him! The Model [aka Rick Martel] is also noted for his blindfold wrestling match in the ring against Jake the Snake.
Hey Bob…I replaced the paragraphs.
HI WH:
Thanks for fixing the error and for the feedback.
Hey Bob….thanks for sharing the behind the scenes stories of some of Lewis Milestone’s movies. His movies are filled with lots of stories of being fired, quitting or demoted before he finished them…so those stories seem to back up that his sets had lots of drama. I actually rented Champion for my local library today….I will be watching it soon. Tonight WoC and I watched and enjoyed The Current War. Good breakdowns.
MY LEWIS MILESTONE FILMS
1/Of Joels and Men
2/All Quiet on the Western Front-not MY top fave as I don’t like war films
3/Ocean’s 11-Frankie’s Clan/Rat Pack in full flow; good behind the scenes still as I have said. It doesn’t bring out of course that Sinatra mistreated cast and crew alike throwing tantrums that involved kicking over tables and chairs and swearing like a trooper at co-workers.
4/Edge of Darkness-Heyday Flynn
5/Halls of Montezuma-popular with me just because Dickie was its star
6/Mutiny on The Bounty-maybe my fave Milestone film
7/Kangaroo-one of the few films where Mo O’Hara got top billing.
8/Anything Goes-Bing and Donald always relaxing to watch even in nonsense but O’Conner joined Bing in just the very loose remake in 1956 which coincidentally was directed by a Robert LEWIS.
9/1931’s The Front Page- for my money the 2nd best of the 4 versions; the top spot going to Lemmon/Matthau’s 1974 offering; with in my own reckoning the 1940 His Girl Friday being unfunny as it was to me just another by-the-numbers Leach screwball comedy. Because Archibald was going through his matinee-idol phase they had to make the leads a woman [Rosalind Russell] and a man [Archie] instead of two men and the unisex treatment didn’t work for me and I saw it as another Archibald Alexander Leach “sissy” film.
Hey Bob….thanks for sharing your thoughts on the movies you have seen that Lewis Milestone directed. I enjoyed reading your thoughts when you think about those movies. I have memories attached to so many movies. For example. Joel Schumacher passed away today….I remember seeing St. Elmo’s Fire with a friend after we had just graduated from high school. As for His Girl Friday…we agree to disagree…lol.
If you had quickly asked me to name any of Lewis’ movies I would off the top of my head have been able to mention just All Quiet on the Western Front which many historians consider THE definitive war movie [which I agree with if you discount 1958’s The Young Lions].
Looking down Bruce’s as always comprehensive lists above I find that in fact I was familiar with 11 of Lewis’ other movies [see Parts 2 and 3]. It is surprising that I had forgotten about even Mutiny on the Bounty because on reflection I had long been aware of the considerable negative publicity it received back in the early 1960s owing to quarrelling between Lewis and Marlon with The Great Mumbler’s feuds with Lewis being partially blamed for the film going way over budget. See also Part 2.
All Quiet will of course long be regarded as Lewis’ great milestone movie [no pun intended] and was the influence for other war movies such as Universal’s big budget 1958 A Time to Love and a Time To Die. I remember the great fanfare with which THAT was released amidst the hype about how it would make Universal then-contract star John Gavin who bore a broad resemblance to Hudson the “new Rock”.
That ploy worked to a limited extent in the short term thanks to Psycho but John never achieved the stardom that Hudson did- “Rock became so popular that even dogs followed him about.” – quote from late 1950s film critic. Gavin’s A Time to Love—- was very popular in France and England [where they seem to watch just about EVERYTHING if those Carry On films are anything to go by].
However as Bruce’s John Gavin page faithfully records A Time to Love was massive flop in the domestic market where to recoup its huge cost it badly needed to be successful but has an adjusted Cogerson domestic gross of a paltry $40 million. Excellent still from All Quiet above; and I loved the two ‘behind the scenes’ miniatures. Overall this new page is “Voted Up!”
Hey Bob…thanks for the feedback on our Lewis Milestone page. 12 of his movies seen…..well that has me and Steve topped but not Flora. I think I could have only named 2 before writting this page…..Mutiny on Western Front. Good behind the scenes information on A Time To Live a Time To Die. Glad you like the behind the scenes photos….it was not easy finding Milestone photos that would work on the page….but we succeeded. Good stuff as always.