Wilson (1944 film)

Wilson
Film poster
Directed by	Henry King
Written by	Lamar Trotti
Produced by	Darryl F. Zanuck
Starring	Alexander Knox Charles Coburn Geraldine Fitzgerald Thomas Mitchell Ruth Nelson Sir Cedric Hardwicke Vincent Price William Eythe Mary Anderson
Cinematography	Leon Shamroy
Edited by	Barbara McLean
Music by	Alfred Newman
Color process	Technicolor
Distributed by	20th Century-Fox
Release date	August 1, 1944 (1944-08-01)
Running time	154 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5.2 million[1]
Box office	$3.103 million (U.S. and Canada rentals)[2]

Wilson is a 1944 biographical film about Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States. Shot in Technicolor and directed by Henry King, the film stars Alexander Knox, Charles Coburn, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Thomas Mitchell, Ruth Nelson, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Vincent Price, William Eythe and Mary Anderson.

Darryl F. Zanuck, head of 20th Century-Fox was an ardent admirer of Wilson and personally oversaw production. Character actor Alexander Knox was cast in a rare leading role as Wilson.

Wilson received critical acclaim, earning ten nominations at the 17th Academy Awards and winning five, including Best Writing, Original Screenplay. However, it was a notorious box office bomb due to its unusually high $5,200,000 budget^[3] (about $90,000,000 in 2025 dollars) and the unusually high admission price that theaters were forced to charge because of the exorbitant rental price. In a day when it cost 20 to 25 cents to see a movie, Wilson cost a dollar, keeping the general public away. A small-town exhibitor wrote, "Wilson should rank as one of the greatest motion pictures ever made. Many small town exhibitors would not play it due to the price policy, but there is, I believe, in every hamlet a sufficient number of people who would be willing to part with a buck to see it."^[4] Darryl Zanuck was so disappointed over the failure of the film that for years he forbade Fox employees from mentioning the film in his presence.^[5]