Stanley Donen (1924-2019) was an American director and producer. Donen is best remembered for his many classic musicals like Singin’ In The Rain, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers and On The Town. In my world, he is best known for his work with Cary Grant. With Charade being one of my all-time favorite movies. His IMDb page shows 32 directing credits from 1949 to 2003. This page will rank 28 Stanley Donen Movies in 6 different statistical categories. Sadly this page was done after hearing of his passing. Rest in Peace Mr. Stanley Donen.
Stanley Donen 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
1952
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
1954
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
AA Best Picture Nom
1963
Charade (1963)
1949
On the Town (1949)
1958
Indiscreet (1958)
1951
Royal Wedding (1951)
1957
Funny Face (1957)
1957
The Pajama Game (1957)
1960
The Grass is Greener (1960)
1958
Damn Yankees (1958)
1975
Lucky Lady (1975)
1954
Deep In My Heart (1954)
1955
It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
1967
Two For The Road (1967)
1966
Arabesque (1966)
1955
Kismet (1955)
1967
Bedazzled (1967)
1960
Once More, with Feeling! (1960)
1953
Give a Girl a Break (1953)
1974
The Little Prince (1974)
1957
Kiss Them For Me (1957)
1960
Surprise Package (1960)
1952
Fearless Fagan (1952)
1978
Movie Movie (1978)
1969
Staircase (1969)
1952
Love Is Better Than Ever (1952)
1984
Blame it on Rio (1984)
1980
Saturn 3 (1980)
Stanley Donen 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 Stanley Donen movies by co-stars of his movies.
Sort Stanley Donen movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
Sort Stanley Donen movies by domestic yearly box office rank or trivia
Sort Stanley Donen 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 Stanley Donen movie received.
Sort Stanley Donen 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 sort and search buttons to make this a very interactive table.
| 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 | Singin' in the Rain (1952) | Gene Kelly & Debbie Reynolds |
12.40 | 242.4 | 371.30 | 6 | 93 | 02 / 00 | 99.1 | |
| 2 | Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) AA Best Picture Nom |
Howard Keel & Jane Powell |
15.80 | 370.0 | 629.60 | 8 | 78 | 05 / 01 | 98.9 | |
| 3 | Charade (1963) | Cary Grant & Audrey Hepburn |
18.70 | 235.0 | 235.00 | 8 | 88 | 01 / 00 | 98.7 | |
| 4 | On the Town (1949) | Frank Sinatra & Gene Kelly |
8.20 | 204.3 | 308.40 | 19 | 82 | 01 / 01 | 98.1 | |
| 5 | Indiscreet (1958) | Cary Grant & Ingrid Bergman |
9.80 | 175.4 | 291.20 | 15 | 79 | 00 / 00 | 95.5 | |
| 6 | Royal Wedding (1951) | Fred Astaire & Jane Powell |
7.30 | 157.0 | 240.40 | 27 | 77 | 01 / 00 | 93.6 | |
| 7 | Funny Face (1957) | Audrey Hepburn & Fred Astaire |
7.10 | 137.5 | 222.70 | 30 | 78 | 04 / 00 | 93.0 | |
| 9 | The Pajama Game (1957) | Doris Day & John Raitt |
7.70 | 147.5 | 219.90 | 26 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 91.8 | |
| 8 | The Grass is Greener (1960) | Cary Grant & Deborah Kerr |
8.60 | 133.9 | 133.90 | 32 | 77 | 00 / 00 | 91.1 | |
| 10 | Damn Yankees (1958) | Tab Hunter & Gwen Verdon |
7.40 | 133.5 | 133.50 | 30 | 75 | 01 / 00 | 90.7 | |
| 11 | Lucky Lady (1975) | Gene Hackman & Liza Minnelli |
38.50 | 202.3 | 202.30 | 14 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 90.1 | |
| 12 | Deep In My Heart (1954) | Gene Kelly & Walter Pidgeon |
7.10 | 165.4 | 266.40 | 47 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 87.9 | |
| 13 | It's Always Fair Weather (1955) | Gene Kelly & Dan Dailey |
3.90 | 81.7 | 140.60 | 85 | 78 | 02 / 00 | 86.0 | |
| 14 | Two For The Road (1967) | Audrey Hepburn & Albert Finney |
7.50 | 66.8 | 66.80 | 37 | 79 | 01 / 00 | 84.1 | |
| 15 | Arabesque (1966) | Gregory Peck & Sophia Loren |
10.00 | 98.0 | 98.00 | 32 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 82.5 | |
| 16 | Kismet (1955) | Howard Keel & Ann Blyth |
3.50 | 72.1 | 108.20 | 94 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 70.9 | |
| 17 | Bedazzled (1967) | Peter Cook & Dudley Moore |
3.80 | 33.4 | 33.40 | 66 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 67.6 | |
| 19 | Once More, with Feeling! (1960) | Yul Brynner | 4.30 | 67.0 | 67.00 | 64 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 61.5 | |
| 18 | Give a Girl a Break (1953) | Marge Champion & Gower Champion |
2.30 | 42.0 | 42.00 | 150 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 60.7 | |
| 19 | The Little Prince (1974) | Richard Kiley & Steven Warner |
3.00 | 17.5 | 17.50 | 85 | 67 | 02 / 00 | 57.9 | |
| 22 | Kiss Them For Me (1957) | Cary Grant & Jayne Mansfield |
3.70 | 71.5 | 71.50 | 66 | 51 | 00 / 00 | 57.2 | |
| 24 | Surprise Package (1960) | Yul Brynner | 3.10 | 49.1 | 49.10 | 73 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 53.3 | |
| 23 | Fearless Fagan (1952) | Janet Leigh & Carleton Carpenter |
2.00 | 39.3 | 51.70 | 158 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 53.2 | |
| 24 | Movie Movie (1978) | George C. Scott & Trish Van Devere |
1.90 | 8.7 | 8.70 | 116 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 47.7 | |
| 25 | Staircase (1969) | Michael Rogers & Royston Starr |
5.30 | 40.1 | 40.10 | 51 | 47 | 00 / 00 | 29.4 | |
| 26 | Love Is Better Than Ever (1952) | Larry Parks & Elizabeth Taylor |
1.80 | 34.5 | 53.00 | 168 | 42 | 00 / 00 | 16.3 | |
| 27 | Blame it on Rio (1984) | Michael Caine & Michelle Johnson |
18.60 | 59.8 | 59.80 | 56 | 31 | 00 / 00 | 12.3 | |
| 28 | Saturn 3 (1980) | Farrah Fawcett & Kirk Douglas |
11.40 | 47.2 | 47.20 | 67 | 30 | 00 / 00 | 7.3 |
“Stanley Donen is highly respected by film historians; however his career is often compared to Gene Kelly’s, and there is debate over who deserves more credit for their collaborations. Donen and Kelly’s relationship was complicated, both professionally and personally, but Donen’s films as a solo director are generally better regarded by critics than Kelly’s. French film critic Jean-Pierre Coursodon has said that Donen’s contribution to the evolution of the Hollywood musical “outshines anybody else’s, including Vincente Minnelli’s”. David Quinlan called him Donen “the King of the Hollywood musicals”. [Wikipedia]
I give your Donen video a 98% satisfaction rating. Here is my pick of the best material. FL=foreign language entry: Best POSTERS 1/two for Saturn 3 2/saucy one for Blame it on Rio 3/Love is Better than ever [aka The Light Fantastic] 4/two for Fearless Fagan 5/two for Kiss them for Me 6/Give a Girl a Break [I saw that one back in 1953 on a double bill with Golden Holden’s western Escape from Fort Bravo ah Nostalgia!] 7/Arabesque 8/FL for Royal Wedding 9/Indiscreet 10/FL one for Damn Mancunians 11/FL for It’s Always Fair Weather 12/FL one for Funny Face.
Excellent STILLS: 1/Leach & Jayne 2/Mitch & your Tree Woman 3/a racy Bedazzled 4/my Greg and Sophia 5/Royal Wedding 6/Archie & Ingrid 7/Archibald and Audrey 8/Walt & Audrey 9/my leggy Doris in Pajamas 10/Always Fair Weather 11/On the Town
And ALL material from Singin in the Rain, especially the ‘Eugene likes hats – or legs’ still! I saw O’Connor interviewed not many years before his 2003 death and not only had he naturally aged but of course he had also put on a lot of weight. The interviewer showed the audience and him a montage of his musicals ending with his dancing acrobatics with Your Eugene in Singin’ and the interviewer asked what O’Connor thought about nowadays when he watched clips of himself back in those far off days. Donald laughed and immediately said “A thin guy!”
Hi Bob, thanks for reviewing my Stanley Donen video, the generous rating, info and trivia are very much appreciated. Happy you liked the picture gallery.
Yep Donen collaborated with Gene Kelly on three of his best films but he was a more than capable director in his own right. Charade was a highly rated and highly enjoyable comedy thriller, Arabesque was fun too.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was a big hit, I remember reading that MGM were far more interested in promoting Brigadoon as their big musical of 1954, cutting the budget of Seven Brides and increasing the budget of Brigadoon. The end result was that Brigadoon flopped and Seven Brides was one of the years biggest grossers.
Four Stanley Donen films scored 10 out of 10 from my sources – Charade, Seven Brides, On the Town and Singin’ in the Rain.
Two more scored 9 out of 10 – Funny Face and The Pajama Game.
The top 5 on the video –
Singin’ in the Rain 9.3
On the Town 8.8
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 8.7
Charade 8.5
Funny Face 7.8
Bruce’s critics top 5 –
Singin’ in the Rain 9.3
Charade 8.8
On the Town 8.2
Indiscreet 7.9
Two for the Road 7.9
“If we remade Singin’ in the Rain today, when Gene Kelly sings in the rain, I think he’d be looking around to make sure he wasn’t going to get mugged.”
HI STEVE:
Thanks for the usual comprehensive reply and interesting additional information.
I vividly remember going to see 7 Brides when I was just 13 and because I had hitherto mostly watched B movies and/or double bills at children’s matinees 7 brides seemed enormous in scope to me and a real ‘special event’ movie.
Take care.
Good stuff from Bob and Steve on Stanley Donen. Best piece of trivia from Bob was the Seven Brothers versus Brigadoon..just another example of studio executives backing the wrong horse.
TCM is airing a memorial tribute to Stanley Donen on Monday, March 18th:
8pmEST/5pmPST: Private Screenings interview
9pm/6pm: Singin’ in the Rain
11pm/8pm: On the Town
1am/10pm: Seven Brides For Seven Brothers
3am/12am: Royal Wedding
5am/2am: It’s Always Fair Weather
Hey Flora…thanks for the information on TCM’s Stanley Donen tribute. Looks like they picked the best of his musicals to show. It would have nice to see one of the 4 Cary Grant movies make the listings….but you can’t have everything.
I saw 12 including 10 of top 11. good for last place. 10 and favourite: indiscrete. 10s not favorites: singing in the rain, charade. no hidden gems
Sad News. Stanley Donen co-directed my favorite musical, Singin’ in the Rain, with Gene Kelly. Rest in peace.
Looking at the chart I’ve seen 13 of the 28 films listed. Other favorites – On the Town, It’s Always Fair Weather, Kismet, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Charade and Saturn 3.
Good to see Singin’ in the Rain doing well on the charts, box office was good too. I watched it again at Xmas for the zillionth time, practically memorised it by now.
A nice tribute Bruce. Vote Up!
Hey Steve…..I had plans to do a page on him….and had researched almost all of his movies…heck the only two I had to do some work on were his two Yul Brynner movies. Tally count. 13 for you…and 13 for me…..tying at 13. I would put Charade, Singin’ In The Rain and Blame It On Rio as my Top 3. I actually did not like his other Cary Grant movies. Indiscreet is ok….but Kiss Them For Me and The Grass Is Greener are weak Grant vehicles. Still…Donen, had a wonderful career. I am sure tonight….they will say they did not have enough time to include him in the memoriam.
Speaking of the Oscars….not sure I am going to watch them tonight. No hosts…the winners seem locked up….and the speeches are all so political…..they are driving me away. I feel strong about the winners….I went ahead and added them to our Oscar pages….the only that seems in doubt is Best Supporting Actor….as Sam Elliott has a chance to surprise. Good stuff.
Excellent recollection of the man and his fine work, ecarle! You obviously have taken a lot of time to craft all your thoughts together. I am not familiar with Mr. Donen or was aware of the level of his involvement in the entertainment scene but recognize a lot of iconic names you list.
Not long ago, I saw “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” with my family. It was vey enchanting with the relationships the family displayed and the challenges they faced. Thank you for creating a personalized approach to his filmography. This is one of the reasons I enjoy exchanges about movies; very knowledgeable people who bring attention to influential filmmakers who do not always necessarily get their due.
Hey twinA…..Donen was a one of the biggest directors working for 20 plus years….he career fizzled out in the late 1970s (Saturn 3) and early 1980s (Blame it on Rio)…but I liked those movies too. Good stuff.