The 20th Century Fox Story (1945-1949)

Throughout the second half of the 1940's, 20th Century Fox remained prosperous. In addition to its consistently popular musicals, film noir thrillers, family melodramas and romantic comedies, the studio also scored with critics and at the box office with its many high profile topical dramas which often were considered more daring and adult than most of the similar fare at the other studios. Among the biggest highlights during these years were "State Fair" (1945), "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (1945), "Leave Her to Heaven" (1946), "My Darling Clementine" (1946), "The Razor's Edge" (1946), "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947), "Kiss of Death" (1947), "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947), "The Snake Pit" (1948), "A Letter to Three Wives" (1949) and "Pinky" (1949). Veteran Fox stars like Betty Grable, Clifton Webb, Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Henry Fonda, Jeanne Crain, John Payne, Linda Darnell, Maureen O'Hara, Tyrone Power and Victor Mature would continue to remain big box office draws for the rest of the decade. New rising stars like Gregory Peck and Richard Widmark were quickly becoming popular leading men at Fox while child star Natalie Wood was being groomed for potential future stardom and a certain iconic blonde bombshell with the initials "MM" would begin her long association with Fox at this time with a series of obscure (and often uncredited) bit parts in random movies before studio management gradually began to realize her potential. Even despite a decline in theater attendance and the rising popularity of television, Fox remained financially stable during these years and looked forward to entering the 1950's with high hopes.

The complete 20th Century Fox theatrical feature film release slate for 1945-1949 is listed here. Five more years and 156 more releases that trace the great history of a legendary Hollywood studio.

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