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 |
I have seen 14 Stanley Donen movies. I have seen ten of the top ten listed along with four other movies. The highest rated movie I’ve seen is SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN. The lowest rated movie I have seen is KISMET. The highest rated movie I haven’t seen is LUCKY LADY. Favorites include CHARADE, THE PAJAMA GAME, ON THE TOWN, SINGIN THE RAIN, ROYAL WEDDING, DAMN YANKEES, and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS. Other Donen movies I have seen are INDISCREET, FUNNY FACE, THE GRASS IS GREENER, TWO FOR THE ROAD, KISMET, DEEP IN MY HEART, and IT’S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER. Just my opinion but Stanley Donen should have won the Oscar for Best Director in 1963 for CHARADE. He also deserved Oscar nominations for his work on such films as SINGIN IN THE RAIN, ON THE TOWN, and PAJAMA GAME. Stanley Donen was one of the greats who I will truly miss. Rest In Peace, Stanley.
Hey Greg
1. Thanks for the feedback on our Stanley Donen page.
2. I deleted your extra duplicate Donen page…as well as the request comment to delete the duplicate message.
3. No worries about that error….I think when using the edit button it sometimes causes that duplicate message.
4. Ok….now to Mr. Donen. Tally count: Flora 17, you 14, Steve 13 and me 12. Granted Flora nd Steve’s totals might be slightly higher since about 9 months have passed since their comment.
5. Glad to see Charade getting so much respect from you….that is one of my Top 100 movies….it is time to revisit that one.
6. His other Cary Grant movies are not favorites….with The Grass is Greener being one of my least favorite Grant movies…such a strange storyline to build a movie on.
7. WoC, myself and our two youngsters watched Singin’ In The Rain a few weekends ago.
8. Good feedback.
“Cogerson
October 25, 2019 at 6:57 am
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.”
HI WHYou have so many comments to reply to that, tripping one after the other and on the same subject (s) I often wonder that you don’t get them mixed up more often.
Above you are giving me credit for Steve’s trivia. Gratefully accepted though: it’s time I was cut a bit of slack on this site whereas The Mancunian gets too much credit here!
Please, please though don’t start giving me credit for some of Hirsch’s comments! Have a good weekend coming up and take care.
Just added Steve’s Stanley Donen video to this page. Our thoughts found on his You Tube channel follow.
“Overall I have seen 13 of the movies. Glad to see #24 Blame It On Rio make the Top 25…I thought it might just miss making the video. A fun movie…that some hate…but I enjoy Michael Caine in that one. Other favorites would include #4 Charade….one of my Top 100 movies. #1 Singin In The Rain….need to rewatch that one. #11 A Royal Wedding…..great dance sequences. Voted up and shared. Keep up the good work.”
Hi Bruce, nearly missed your comment on my video channel, sorry about that. I know how that feels. 😉
You already have a Stanley Donen page at the UMR which is cool, I think you can easily produce pages of charts and stats on all the directors I’ve uploaded in the past few weeks.
Your tally 13, mine 12 and Flora 17. Thanks for the comment, vote and share, always appreciated.