Thonet Chairs in Movies

Introduction | Thonet Chairs Extras | Thonet Chair Models

The films are listed in date order. You can search by using your browser’s search-on-page feature.


Title

Year

Stars and Director

Screenshot

Notes

Morocco

1930

Gary Cooper
Marlene Dietrich
Adolphe Menjou
Eve Southern
Ullrich Haupt

Director:
Josef von Sternberg

Madame Caesar, (Eve Southern), Adjutant Caesar (Ullrich Haupt), Monsieur La Bessiere (Adolphe Menjou) and a Thonet No. 18 in a cabaret scene.
Several other shots in this set show Thonet No. 18s.

For the Defense

1930

William Powell
Kay Francis

Director:
John Cromwell

Irene Manners (Kay Francis) and William Foster ( William Powell) in a restaurant scene.

 

Detail

The chairs at the tables are Thonet No. 18.

Street of Chance

1930

William Powell
Jean Arthur
Kay Francis

Director:
John Cromwell

In Larry’s Caterers — Preserves and Table Luxuries

The chairs are Thonet No. 18 on the left and back and Thonet No. 45½ on the right.

In Larry’s, later in the film.

John D. Marsden, aka Natural Davis (William Powell).

 

Detail

Chairs at many tables in Larry’s are variants of Thonet No. 440.

The Divorcee

1930

Norma Shearer
Chester Morris
Conrad Nagel

Director:
Robert Z. Leonard

At a New Year’s Eve party.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 18.
Other chairs glimpsed at the party are Thonet No. 45 or 45½.

At the hat check.

Detail

The empty chair in the forground is a Thonet No. 18 with optional back braces.

In a diner.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 45½. with optional back brace.

The Public Enemy

1931

James Cagney
Jean Harlow
Edward Woods
Joan Blondell

Director:
William A. Wellman

Tom Powers (James Cagney in his breakthrough role) walks into The Red Oaks Social Club and rests his hand on a Thonet No. 18 while looking over a pool game.

The sign on the wall reads “Don’t spit on the Floor! Remember the Jamestown Flood”

Powers and Kitty (Mae Clark) in a later restaurant scene.

Detail

Powers is sitting in a Thonet No. 18 (with a Thonet No. 45½ behind him) and Kitty is sitting in a Thonet No. 45½.

An American Tragedy

1931

Phillips Holmes
Sylvia Sidney
Frances Dee

Director:
Josef von Sternberg

Clyde Griffiths (Phillips Holmes) about to escape a pool hall through a window.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Platinum Blonde

1931

Loretta Young
Robert Williams
Jean Harlow

Director:
Frank R. Capra

Stew Smith (Robert Williams) and Gallagher (Loretta Young) in Joe’s Speakeasy.

Detail

Thonet No. 18

In a later scene, Stew Smith in Joe’s Speakeasy

Thonet No. 18 chairs

Scarface

1932

Paul Muni
Ann Dvorak
Osgood Perkins
Karen Morley
Boris Karloff

Director:
Howard Hawks
Richard Rosson
(co-director)


Scarface opens with a scene of Antonio “Tony” Camonte (Paul Muni) committing his first murder, in a resturant the morning after the 1st Ward Stag Party. The restaurant features Thonet No. 18 chairs, the variant with a narrow inner back loop.

A short time later, Tony Camonte is arrested in Pietro’s Barber Shop, which also has the same Thonet No. 18 variant.


Three Thonet chair models appear in the famous Columbia Café shootout scene. (Hawks includes a similar shootout scene in To Have and Have Not, 1944.)

Poppy (Karen Morley) and Tony Camonte just before the shooting starts.
Foreground: No. 45
middle: No. 18
background No. 18 variant.

Tony and Poppy dodging machine-gun bullets, framed by Thonet chairs.

Near the end of the shootout, this frame starkly features an empty No. 18 variant with optional back braces and the older-style circular leg brace.

Trouble in Paradise

1932

Miriam Hopkins
Kay Francis
Herbert Marshall

Director:
Ernst Lubitsch

Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall) and Lily (Miriam Hopkins) read newspapers in their apartment.

The camera zooms in on Lily,her face hidden by a newspaper.

Detail

The chair is similar to the Thonet No. 440.

Me and My Gal

1932

Spencer Tracy
Joan Bennett
Marion Burns
Will Stanton

Director:
Raoul Walsh

The Drunk (Will Stanton) escapes after creating a row and fighting back with a chair in Ed’s Chowder House.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 3
Writing Desk Armchair.

Taxi!

1932

James Cagney
Loretta Young
Leila Bennett

Director:
Roy Del Ruth

Two diners peruse the menu at Goldfarb’s Fish Grotto.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 45½ and No. 18.

Ruby (Leila Bennett) and Sue Riley Nolan (Loretta Young) in the ladies' room at Goldfarb’s Fish Grotto.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 45 variant
with rectangular seat and narrow inner back loop.

Wild Girl

1932

Charles Farrell
Joan Bennett
Ralph Bellamy
Eugene Pallette

Director:
Raoul Walsh

In a hotel/saloon. Yuba Bill (Eugene Pallette) is in the back right.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 3 Writing Desk Armchairs.

Billy (Charles Farrell) about to escape from an upstairs room.

Detail

The same No. 3 Writing Desk Armchairs.

If I Had a Million

1932

Gary Cooper
Charles Laughton
George Raft
W. C. Fields
Richard Bennett
Wynne Gibson

Directors:

Ernst Lubitsch
Norman Taurog
Stephen Roberts
Norman Z. McLeod
James Cruze
William A. Seiter
H. Bruce Humberstone
Lothar Mendes

The vignette entitled Violet, directed by Stephen Roberts, begins with a bar scene.
Violet Smith (Wynne Gibson) and John Glidden (Richard Bennett) prepare to sit at a table just before Glidden presents Violet with a million dollar check.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 45½. There are also Thonet No. 18 chairs visible at other tables.

Back Street

1932

Irene Dunne
John Boles

Director:
John M. Stahl

“Cincinnati: In the good old days before the Eighteenth Amendment”

The film opens in an outdoor drinking establishment...

In most of the shots of tables, an empty chair is in the foreground, between the camera and the drinkers.

Even children get a mug of beer

 

Detail

The chairs are all Thonet No. 18.

Dinner at Eight

1933

Marie Dressler
John Barrymore
Wallace Beery
Jean Harlow
Lionel Barrymore
Lee Tracy
Edmund Lowe
Billie Burke

Director:
George Cukor


Millicent Jordan (Billie Burke) and Mrs. Wendel, the cook (May Robson) in a kitchen scene with an unoccupied Thonet No. 18 in the background, complete with noir shadow.

Detail

The chair next to the stand mixer is a Thonet No. 18, casting a noir shadow.
In the foreground is a jello mold in the shape of a reclining lion. Farther back are heads of lettuce.

Dancing Lady

1933

Joan Crawford
Clark Gable
Franchot Tone
Fred Astaire
Robert Benchley
Moe Howard
Curly Howard
Larry Fine

Director:
Robert Z. Leonard

Steve (Ted Healy, in the dark suit and hat) and His Stooges in the Bradley Theater. He’s saying “Make with the chairs, boys!”
Curly (Curly Howard) is out of the frame to the left, holding a Thonet No. 45½, Moe (Moe Howard) is bent over with another Thonet No. 45½, and Harry (Larry Fine) is about to sit at the piano.

Curly Howard, Moe Howard and Larry Fine went on to become the Three Stooges.

Detail

Patch Gallagher (Clark Gable) in the Bradley Theater standing next to a Thonet No. 18.

Design for Living

1933

Fredric March
Gary Cooper
Miriam Hopkins

Director:
Ernst Lubitsch

George Curtis (Gary Cooper) leaves a café.

The chair in the foreground is a Thonet No. 45½.

A Study in Scarlet

1933

Reginald Owen
Anna May Wong
June Clyde
Alan Dinehart
John Warburton

Director:
Edwin L. Marin

A secret society meeting, chaired by lawyer Thaddeus Merrydew (Alan Dinehart), far right. Eileen Forrester (June Clyde) sits right of center.

Detail

The chairs in the secret society meeting room are Thonet No. 18.

Of Human Bondage

1934

Leslie Howard
Bette Davis
Frances Dee

Director:
John Cromwell

Philip Carey (Leslie Howard) and Mildred Rogers (Bette Davis) in a restaurant scene.

Detail

All the chairs in this scene are Thonet No. 18s, with the older-style circular leg brace.

The Woman Condemned

1934

Claudia Dell
Lola Lane
Richard Hemingway
Jason Robards Sr.
Paul Ellis

Director:
Dorothy Davenport

Thonet No. 45 in a restaurant scene.

Detail

The visible chair seems to be a Thonet No. 45.

The Man Who Knew Too Much

1934

Leslie Banks
Edna Best
Peter Lorre
Nova Pilbam
Frank Vosper
Henry Oscar

Director:
Alfred Hitchcock

Clive (Hugh Wakefield) and Bob Lawrence (Leslie Banks) enter Dentist George Barbor’s (Henry Oscar) office. 

Detail

The row of chairs, casting a row of noir shadows, are Thonet No. 14.

Manhattan Melodrama

1934

Clark Gable
William Powell
Myrna Loy

Director:
W. S. Van Dyke

Jim Wade (William Powell) and Eleanor Packer (Myrna Loy) celebrate election night at The Cotton Club.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Each table is supplied with mallets so celebrants can tap the table in rhythm with the band.

 

Mandalay

1934

Kay Francis
Ricardo Cortez
Warner Oland
Lyle Talbot

Tanya Borisoff, “Spot White” (Kay Francis) descends the stairs at Nick’s nightclub.

Detail

The chairs in the dining area are Thonet No. 18.

The Girl from Missouri

1934

Jean Harlow
Lionel Barrymore
Franchot Tone

Director:
Jack Conway

Edith ‘Eadie’ Chapman (Jean Harlow) sneaks out of a rehearsal past many Thonet chairs upside down on tables.
Thonet No. 18 and No. 45½ are visible.

A few minutes later, Eadie returns to the rehearsal.

Many Thonet chairs are visible around the dance floor.

Detail

Thonet No. 45½ in the left foreground and on top of the table in the middle. Thonet No 18 on the table at right.

The Mystery Man

1935

Robert Armstrong
Maxine Doyle

Director:
Ray McCarey

In this restaurant scene, the chairs are Thonet No. 18. The scene includes the trope of chairs turned upside down on tables to indicate closing time.

Whipsaw

1935

Myrna Loy
Spencer Tracy
John Sheehan

Director:
Sam Wood

Near the end of the film, Ross McBride (Spencer Tracy) and Vivian Palmer (Myrna Loy) walk in to a Beanery, welcomed by owner Joe (John Sheehan). Gang members are right behind them.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18 and No. 45.

McBride takes shelter behind an overturned table during the shootout with the gang members.
The chair is a Thonet No. 45 variant
with narrow inner back loop.

Fury

1936

Sylvia Sidney
Spencer Tracy
Walter Brennan

Director:
Fritz Lang


Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracy) drinks in a closed bar with Thonet No. 18s stacked on tables, complete with noir shadows.

There’s also a later restaurant scene featuring Thonet No. 18 and No. 45 chairs.

Katherine Grant (Sylvia Sidney) in the courtroom, which has Thonet No. 18s for lawyers and clients.

Swing Time

1936

Fred Astaire
Ginger Rogers
Victor Moore

Director:
George Stevens

Edwin “Pop” Cardetti (Victor Moore) tries a card trick on a skeptical stage hand.
A Thonet No. 18 stands in the left foreground of the shot.

John “Lucky” Garnent (Fred Astaire) and Cardetti discuss wardrobe.
A Thonet chair, model unknown, stands in the left foreground of the shot.

One Rainy Afternoon

1936

Francis Lederer
Ida Lupino

Director:
Rowland V. Lee

Thonet No. 18 at the piano, with noir shadow.

Thonet No. 18 during a reading scene.

Thonet No. 18 with the narrow back loop in the courtroom scene. (Publicity still with Francis Lederer and Ida Lupino, from Wikimedia Commons)

Come and Get It

1936

Edward Arnold
Joel McCrea
Frances Farmer
Walter Brennan

Director:
Howard Hawks
William Wyler

Swan Bostrom (Walter Brennan) and Barney Glasgow (Edward Arnold) enter the hotel restaurant.

Swan Bostrom, Barney Glasgow and Lotta (Frances Farmer).

The restaurant features Thonet No. 18 and No. 45 chairs.

Big Brown Eyes

1936

Cary Grant
Joan Bennett
Walter Pidgeon
Lloyd Nolan

Director:
Raoul Walsh

Russ Cortig (Lloyd Nolan) falls into a Thonet B34 (or similar) after being shot in a restroom.

Detail

The Devil is a Sissy

1936

Freddie Bartholomew
Jackie Cooper
Mickey Rooney

Director:
W.S. Van Dyke and Rowland Brown

Robert “Buck” Murphy (Jackie Cooper) leads the gang into the Charles Chop House.

Detail

The chairs at the tables are Thonet No. 18.

“Buck” Murphy at the counter, with Claude “Limey” Pierce (Freddie Bartholomew) on the left of the door, James “Gig” Stevens (Mickey Rooney) to his right, and a couple of gangsters just entering.

In the gang’s hideout, “Limey” Pierce falls though the torn cane seat of a Thonet No. 45½.

High Tension

1936

Brian Donlevy
Glenda Farrell
Norman Foster

Director:
Allan Dwan

Two hoods start a fight in order to steal Steve Reardon’s (Brian Donlevy) cash.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 18 with a narrow inner back loop, optional back supports and an old style ring-shaped leg brace.

In the pool room.

Detail

The chairs casting noir shadows are a natural wood Thonet No. 45 variant with rarrow inner back loop and a black Thonet No. 18.

Dead End

1937

Sylvia Sidney
Joel McCrea
Humphrey Bogart
Wendy Barrie
Claire Trevor
Allen Jenkins

Director:
William Wyler

Thonet No. 18s in Chez Pascagli (Famous Italian Dishes).

Bank Alarm

1937

Conrad Nagel
Eleanor Hunt
Vince Barnett
Wheeler Oakman

Director:
Louis J. Gasnier


Thonet bent steel chairs, similar to the B 34 armchair, in the Club Karlotti.

Detail

Easy Living

1937

Jean Arthur
Edward Arnold
Ray Milland

Director:
Mitchell Leisen

Thonet No. 18 chairs at the tables in the Automat.
The man on the floor just did a pratfall, slipping on spilled food.

The Automat in Film

Detail

Love Is News

1937

Tyrone Power
Loretta Young
Don Ameche
Elisha Cook Jr.

Director:
Tay Garnett

Newsmen watch as Stephen “Steve” Leyton (Tyrone Power) plays checkers on the bar floor with whiskey shots and mugs of beer.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18

In a later shot in the same bar, Leyton talks with Egbert Eggleston (Elisha Cook Jr.), who was a college checkers champion.

Stella Dallas

1937

Barbara Stanwyck
John Boles
Anne Shirley
Alan Hale

Director:
King Vidor

Ed Munn (Alan Hale) speaks to Stella Dallas (Barbara Stanwyck) (with her back turned to the camera) in a restaurant scene.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 29 or a similar model.

 

Young and Innocent

1937

Nova Pilbeam
Derrick De Marney
Jerry Verno

Director:
Alfred Hitchcock

Erica Burgoyne (Nova Pilbeam) at the counter and a Lorry Driver (Jerry Verno) in Tom’s Hat roadhouse.

Detail

The chairs at the tables are Thonet No. 52½ or a similar model.

Fast Company

1938

Melvyn Douglas
Florence Rice
Douglass Dumbrille
Shepperd Strudwick

Director:
Edward Buzzell

Lawyer Arnold Stamper, (Douglass Dumbrille), sits on a Thonet No. 45½ while talking to his client Ned Morgan (Shepperd Strudwick).

In Old Chicago

1938

Tyrone Power
Alice Faye
Don Ameche
Alice Brady
Phyllis Brooks
Berton Churchill

Director:
Henry King

Dion O'Leary (Tyrone Power) holds a chair for Ann Colby (Phyllis Brooks) in The Senate, Dion and Belle’s new saloon.

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Senator Brooks (Berton Churchill) leads Belle Fawcett (Alice Faye) to a table after her song.

Detail

A Thonet No. 18 (with optional back braces) and a Thonet No. 18 with narrow back loop are visible on the right.

 

Algiers

1938

Charles Boyer
Sigrid Gurie
Hedy Lamarr
Alan Hale Sr.

Director:
John Cromwell

A scene in a sitting room.

Detail

The chair in the background is a Thonet No. 18 with optional back-seat braces.

Holiday

1938

Katharine Hepburn
Cary Grant
Doris Nolan
Lew Ayres
Edward Everett Horton

Director:
George Cukor

Johnny Case (Cary Grant) and Julia Seton (Doris Nolan) in “the playroom,” an upstairs room originally designed for children.

Detail

Behind Johnny and Julia is a Thonet Kindersessel (children’s chair) No. 1 at a small table.

You and Me

1938

Sylvia Sidney
George Raft
Harry Carey
Robert Cummings

Director:
Fritz Lang

“The Mob” in a café/meeting place.

Detail

The chairs shown are two Thonet No. 18s (left and right), and a Thonet No. 45½ in the center.

Detail

The Thonet No. 45½ is an unusual model where the inner back loop extends down and attaches to the legs. (See Historical Photo 1906 in Extras, where the inner back loop extends down to become the legs.)

Ninotchka

1939

Greta Garbo
Melvyn Douglas
Ina Claire

Director:
Ernst Lubitsch

Thonet chairs appear in several scenes in Ninotchka.
The most visible chair in this screenshot is a Thonet No. 45.

Dust Be My Destiny

1939

John Garfield
Priscilla Lane
Alan Hale

Director:
Lewis Seiler

Joe Bell (John Garfield) and Mabel Alden (Priscilla Lane) embrace.

Detail

Thonet No. 14 with circular leg brace.

Two detectives leave Nick’s Diner.

Detail

The same Thonet No. 14 chairs.

Midnight

1939

Claudette Colbert
Don Ameche
John Barrymore
Francis Lederer
Mary Astor
Elaine Barrie

Director:
Mitchell Leisen

Tibor Czerny (Don Ameche) enters a café and greets Eve Peabody (Claudette Colbert).

Detail

The left chair is a Thonet No. 18. The lighter colored chair on the right is a Thonet No. 18 with narrow back loop.

Half a Sinner

1940

Heather Angel
John “Dusty” King
Constance Collier

Director:
Al Christie

The dénouement of this comedy noir takes place in Larry Cameron’s very modern kitchen with double stoves, double refrigerators and variations of the Thonet
S 533 bent steel chair.

A moment later, a bad guy looms in the kitchen doorway with both Larry Cameron and another S 533 caught unawares because they’re looking away from the door.

The Letter

1940

Bette Davis
Herbert Marshall
James Stephenson
Victor Sen Yung

Director:
William Wyler

In the trial scene, attorney Howard Joyce (James Stephenson) sits next to an empty Thonet No. 18, with  Ong Chi Seng (Victor Sen Yung) on the left and Leslie Crosbie (Bette Davis) in the near background.

Detail

The House Across the Bay

1940

George Raft
Joan Bennett
Lloyd Nolan
Walter Pidgeon

Director:
Archie Mayo

Three models of Thonet chair appear in Spot 61, a nightclub: a Thonet No. 18 with narrow back loop at a roulette wheel



A Thonet chair, model unknown, at a dining table (with noir shadow).

A Thonet No. 18 at a dining table

21 Days

1940

Vivien Leigh
Laurence Olivier
Leslie Banks

Director:
Basil Dean

A restaurant scene in which Larry Durrant (Laurence Olivier) and Wanda Wallen(Vivien Leigh) begin their last three weeks together.

The chairs are similar to the Thonet No. 12.

Saturday’s Children

1940

John Garfield
Anne Shirley
Claude Rains

Director:
Vincent Sherman

Dancing at a going-away party for Rims Rosson (John Garfield) in Martin's Social Club.

The chair is a Thonet No. 14 with a cane seat.

Similar chairs show up in a café set.

The Great McGinty

1940

Brian Donlevy
Muriel Angelus
Akim Tamiroff
Jimmy Conlin

Director:
Preston Sturges

The Lookout (Jimmy Conlin) looks on in horror as Daniel McGinty (Brian Donlevy) throws a Thonet No. 18 with narrow inner back loop.

Detail

The chairs at the tables are Thonet No. 18 with narrow inner back loop.
In the background right is a Thonet No. 45½.

Blues in the Night

1941

Richard Whorf
Elia Kazan (acting)

Director:
Anatole Litvak

Thonet No. 18s in the probably fictional St. Louis Café.

Mr. District Attorney

1941

Dennis O'Keefe
Florence Rice
Peter Lorre
Stanley Ridges
Minor Watson
Charles Arnt

Director:
William Morgan

P. Cadwallader Jones (Dennis O'Keefe) and Terry Parker (Florence Rice) in a café scene. The chairs are like the Thonet No. 3 Writing Desk Armchair.

Detail

The Little Foxes

1941

Bette Davis
Herbert Marshall
Teresa Wright

Director:
William Wyler


David Hewitt (Richard Carlson) greets Alexandra Giddens (Teresa Wright) in a restaurant. A Thonet No. 18 casts a noir shadow.

A later shot in the same restaurant set also shows a Thonet No. 45 on the right at an empty table.

Citizen Kane

1941

Orson Welles
Joseph Cotten
Dorothy Comingore
Everett Sloane
Ray Collins
George Coulouris
Agnes Moorehead
Paul Stewart
Ruth Warrick
Erskine Sanford
William Alland

Director:
Orson Welles


Citizen Kane is full of remarkable shots and scenes.

In one crane shot, the camera moves through a neon sign (a miniature model built to open up for the camera), then down through a skylight (using a cross fade) to show a café scene below.

Susan Kane (Dorothy Comingore) gets drunk after a show and talks with the faceless journalist.
Three characters cast noir shadows:
Susan, the man in the doorway and a Thonet No. 18 at a table in the background.

Welles repeats this scene twice more, each time with changes in the set showing the passage of time.

The second time, the Thonet chairs behind Susan have been moved, as if they had been used. The two distinct noir shadows are Susan’s and a Thonet No. 18’s.

In the third repetition, late in the film, the El Rancho café appears ready to close, with the Thonet chairs stacked in pairs on the tables in the corner behind Susan. Thonet chairs stacked on tables is a trope of noir movies.

Thonet No. 18s with the older-style circular leg brace and some with the newer curved leg brace are shown.

A Woman’s Face

1941

Joan Crawford
Melvyn Douglas
Conrad Veidt
Donald Meek

Director:
George Cukor

Waiter Herman Rundvik (Donald Meek) leaves the room.

Detail

The chair looks like a Model 18 with added bentwood curls between the inner and outer back loop.

Detail

In a later shot, the same model Thonet chairs stacked on a table, a movie trope indicating closing time.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

1941

Carole Lombard
Robert Montgomery
Gene Raymond

Director:
Alfred Hitchcock

David Smith (Robert Montgomery) and Ann Krausheimer Smith (Carole Lombard) in Mama Lucy’s Restaurant

Detail

Thonet No. 18 chairs at all the tables.

Blonde Comet

1941

Virginia Vale
Robert Kent
Barney Oldfield
Vince Barnett
William Halligan
Joey Ray
Red Knight
Diana Hughes

Director:
William Beaudine
Arthur Hammons
Tiny Hamberger

Cannonball Blake (William Halligan) reads a paper while waiting for his daughter and old friend Barney Oldfield (played by himself).

The Blonde Comet, Beverly Blake (Virginia Vale), Cannonball Blake and Barney Oldfield discuss racing.

The chairs are Thonet No. 45½.

Rage in Heaven

1941

Robert Montgomery
Ingrid Bergman
George Sanders
Oskar Homolka

Director:
W.S. Van Dyke
Robert B. Sinclair
Richard Thorpe

Dr. Rameau (Oskar Homolka) and Stella Bergen (Ingrid Bergman) at a Parisian bookbinder’s shop recovering the last volume of the diary of Philip Monrell (Robert Montgomery).

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18 (left) and No. 45½ (right).

Detail

As Dr. Rameau and Stella leave the shop, two more Thonet No. 18 chairs are shown in the foreground.

Nazi Agent

1942

Conrad Veidt
Ann Ayars
Frank Reicher

Director:
Jules Dassin

In a scene in The Continental Restaurant, upholstered Thonet chairs are at the tables.

Moontide

1942

Jean Gabin
Ida Lupino
Thomas Mitchell
Claude Rains

Director:
Archie Mayo


Thonet bar stools in the Red Dot bar (featuring Eastside Beer).

Nutsy (Claude Rains), Bobo (Jean Gabin), Tiny (Thomas Mitchell) and a Thonet No. 45 in the “Shower Room.”

Casablanca

1942

Humphrey Bogart
Ingrid Bergman
Paul Henreid
Claude Rains
Conrad Veidt
Sydney Greenstreet
Peter Lorre

Director:
Michael Curtiz


It’s easy to miss, but the chairs in the Blue Parrot bar are Thonet No. 14, 16, or 18 with striped fabric back covers.

Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) walks into the Blue Parrot to cut a deal with owner Signor Ferrari (Sydney Greenstreet).

Also see fabric-covered Thonet chairs in Phantom Lady, 1944 and Peter Gunn, 1958-1960.

Detail

This Gun for Hire

1942

Veronica Lake
Robert Preston
Laird Cregar
Alan Ladd

Director:
Frank Tuttle

Willard Gates (Laird Cregar) and Philip Raven (Alan Ladd), background, in a restaurant scene.

A Thonet a Kleiderstock (clothes stand) is in the back left corner.

The camera closes in on Gates and Raven.

The chairs are Thonet No. 440.

All Through the Night

1942

Humphrey Bogart
Conrad Veidt
Kaaren Verne

Director:
Vincent Sherman

Alfred “Gloves” Donahue (Humphrey Bogart) enters Miller’s Home Bakery. The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Leda Hamilton (Kaaren Verne) enters Miller’s Home Bakery.

In a late scene, where the patriotic gangsters break up a Nazi fifth columnist’s meeting, Thonet No. 18 chairs appear again, some used as weapons.

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

1942

Basil Rathbone
Nigel Bruce
Lionel Atwill

Director:
Roy William Neill

In an early café scene, Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone)—center rear, in disguise—prepares to snooker two Nazi agents.

The agents with an empty Thonet No. 18 chair in the foreground.

The Glass Key

1942

Brian Donlevy
Veronica Lake
Alan Ladd
William Bendix

Director:
Stuart Heisler

Ed Beaumont (Alan Ladd) after being beaten and thrown into a room.

The chair is a Thonet No. 45½ with an extra leg-brace loop in the back.

Beaumont smashes his way out through a floor-level window with the chair.

Shadow of a Doubt

1943

Teresa Wright
Joseph Cotten
Macdonald Carey
Patricia Collinge
Henry Travers
Hume Cronyn

Director:
Alfred Hitchcock

Charlotte “Charlie” Newton (Teresa Wright) discovers the dark truth about her uncle Charlie in a newspaper in the Santa Rosa, California Free Public Library.

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Immediately after Charlie reads about her uncle Charlie comes a justifiably famous crane shot reminiscent of the ending of Citizen Kane. Charlie leaves the reading table passing through noir shadows cast by the chairs and the table.

The camera pulls farther away and Charlie casts her own noir shadow.

This scene marks the pivot in the film as it turns from a (supposedly) light film about a family into a dark murder mystery.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

1943

Deborah Kerr
Roger Livesey
Anton Walbrook

Director:
Michael Powell
Emeric Pressburger

Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff (Anton Walbrook) being questioned in an office furnished with Thonet No. 14 chairs.

Above Suspicion

1943

Joan Crawford
Fred MacMurray
Basil Rathbone

Director:
Richard Thorpe

In Salzburg, Austria,Richard Myles (Fred MacMurray) and Frances Myles (Joan Crawford) find the master bakery and café a clue led them to.

A Thonet chair seems to be hung up as a sign for the bakery-café.

Hi Diddle Diddle

1943

Adolphe Menjou
Martha Scott
Pola Negri
Dennis O'Keefe
Billie Burke

Director:
Andrew L. Stone

Benny (Sidney Miller), Leslie Quayle (June Havoc) and Col. Hector Phyffe (Adolphe Menjou) in a bar scene. The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

A Lady Takes a Chance

1943

Jean Arthur
John Wayne

Director:
William A. Seiter

A jive band (The Three Peppers), with the pianist (Oliver “Toy” Wilson) sitting on a Thonet No. 18.

Below, tables in the saloon scene are set with Thonet No. 18 chairs.

Stormy Weather

1943

Lena Horne
Bill Robinson
Cab Calloway
Katherine Dunham
Fats Waller
Nicholas Brothers
Ada Brown
Dooley Wilson

Director:
Andrew L. Stone

In Ada Brown’s Beale St. Café, Fats Waller and the Beale Street Boys play in the background while Ada Brown sings in the foreground.

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Several cast members around two tables. Lena Horne is seated; Katherine Dunham stands behind her.

Detail

Three models of Thonet chair are identifiable in this shot:

Thonet No. 45½ in the back, Thonet No. 18 at right and Thonet No 18 with narrow back loop at left.

Stage Door Canteen

1943

Cheryl Walker
Lon McCallister
Margaret Early
William Terry
Marjorie Riordan

Director:
Frank Borzage

Many Thonet chairs appear in this film. Most of the scenes were filmed in Hollywood, not at the real Stage Door Canteen in New York.

An opening scene in an office.
The chiar in the background is a Thonet 45½.

A late scene in a dressing room.
The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

A publicity still.
Two white-painted Thonet chairs appear in the foreground, a Thonet No. 18 and a No. 45½.

This photo was taken as entertainers waited to appear on a radio broadcast from the real Stage Door Canteen in New York.

From left: Connie Haines, Maxie Rosenbloom, Ben Lyon, Morton Downey and Joan Blondell.

The visible chairs are Thonet S 533 or similar.

The Hard Way

1943

Ida Lupino
Dennis Morgan
Joan Leslie

Director:
Vincent Sherman

Albert Runkel (Jack Carson) pulls out a chair to site down with Mrs. Helen Chernen (Ida Lupino).

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 18.

On a stage set, another Thonet No. 18.

Detail

Background to Danger

1943

George Raft
Brenda Marshall
Sydney Greenstreet
Peter Lorre

Director:
Raoul Walsh

Joe Barton (George Raft) in the Haliç Kabaresi (Golden Horn Cabaret).

The chair is a Thonet No. 18.

The aftermath of a fight in the cabaret.

Detail

The chairs are one Thonet No. 45½ and two Thonet No. 18s.

Note the noir shadow cast on the door by the right-hand chair.

The Woman of the Town

1943

Claire Trevor
Albert Dekker
Barry Sullivan
Henry Hull
Porter Hall
Percy Kilbride
Clem Bevans

Director:
George Archainbaud

Dora Hand (Claire Trevor)walks through a hotel door.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 18, casting a noir shadow.

The Leopard Man

1943

Dennis O'Keefe
Margo
Jean Brooks

Director:
Jacques Tourneur

Kiki Walker (Jean Brooks) at a makeup mirror.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 18. painted white.

In a later scene, with Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe), Kiki Walker has her feet up on the white Thonet chair.

Cover Girl

1944

Rita Hayworth
Gene Kelly
Phil Silvers

Director:
Charles Vidor

Cover Girl, a Technicolor musical, contains this remarkable after-hours nightclub set with many Thonet No. 18s and No. 45s (painted gold) casting larger-than-life noir shadows.

Maribelle Hicks (Rita Hayworth) and Danny talking through Thonet chairs stacked on tables to indicate closing time.

Laura

1944

Gene Tierney
Dana Andrews
Clifton Webb
Vincent Price
Judith Anderson

Director:
Otto Preminger

In the restaurant scene where Laura (Gene Tierney) introduces herself to Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), there’s a glimpse of Thonet chairs similar to the No. 321 in the 1904 Thonet Catalog (with the newer curved leg brace).
Other chairs on this restaurant set look like the same model with fabric back and seat covers.

Detail

The Woman in the Window

1944

Edward G. Robinson
Joan Bennett
Raymond Massey
Dan Duryea

Director:
Fritz Lang

The chairs around tables in the dining room of the club look like like a blond version of the Thonet No. 3 Writing Desk Armchair (Schreibtischfauteuils).

To Have and Have Not

1944

Humphrey Bogart
Walter Brennan
Lauren Bacall
Dolores Moran
Hoagy Carmichael
Marcel Dalio

Director:
Howard Hawks

This is the first, and most iconic, of three screen adaptations of Ernest Hemingway’s novel To Have and Have Not. All three include shots of Thonet chairs. This film also includes a shootout reminiscent of the famous Columbia Café shootout in Scarface, 1932, also directed by Hawks.

A lot of the important action takes place in the bar of The Marquis Hotel, where Frenchy (Marcel Dalio) is the manager.

The bar is furnished with Thonet No. 18 chairs, often shown prominently. A Thonet No. 52½ is visible in one shot.

Here Marie “Slim” Browning (Lauren Bacall) has coffee while Cricket (Hoagy Carmichael) works out a song on the piano.

Harry “Steve” Morgan (Humphrey Bogart) strides purposefully into the bar, with Thonet No. 18s prominently displayed in the foreground.

Late in the film, Cricket and Slim at the piano, framed by the legs of upside-down Thonet chairs.

Passage to Marseille

1944

Humphrey Bogart
Michèle Morgan
Claude Rains
Sydney Greenstreet
Peter Lorre

Director:
Michael Curtiz

A member of a pro-German street mob destroys the office and press of La Verité Francaise, a patriotic newspaper that Jean Matrac (Humphrey Bogart) publishes.

The man is using a Thonet No. 18 to smash glass office partitions. This action takes place during one of the several flashbacks in the film.

Murder, My Sweet

1944

Dick Powell
Claire Trevor
Anne Shirley
Mike Mazurki

Director:
Edward Dmytryk

In a scene at Florian’s Bar, Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki) approaches Velma Valento (Claire Trevor).

Thonet No. 18 chairs are piled up at the back of the bar, casting stark noir shadows on the back wall and ceiling.

The piano player looks over after Moose Malloy has thrown the new Florian’s boss across the room.

Detail

Ministry of Fear

1944

Ray Milland
Marjorie Reynolds
Dan Duryea
Percy Waram

Director:
Fritz Lang

Inspector Prentice (Percy Waram) waits in a hospital room for Stephen Neale (Ray Milland) to wake after nearly dying in a bomb blast.

The chair is similar to a model 56b, with a cutout middle back.
This is not a cropped screenshot; the camera has zoomed in on the chair and Prentice.

The Suspect

1944

Charles Laughton
Ella Raines
Dean Harens
Stanley C. Ridges
Henry Daniell
Rosalind Ivan
Keith Hitchcock

Director:
Robert Siodmak

Mary Gray (Ella Raines) in the breakroom of the shop where she works.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 18.

Philip Marshall (Charles Laughton) in a restaurant scene.

The chairs are Thonet No. 18 with a narrow inner back loop.

Experiment Perilous

1944

Hedy Lamarr
George Brent
Paul Lukas
Albert Dekker
Carl Esmond
Michael Visaroff

Director:
Jacques Tourneur

Allida Bederaux (Hedy Lamarr) and her Ballet Master (Michael Visaroff) at a lesson.

Detail

The chair at the piano is a Thonet No. 18, casting a noir shadow.

Phantom Lady

1944

Franchot Tone
Ella Raines
Alan Curtis
Thomas Gomez

Director:
Robert Siodmak

Jack Marlow (Franchot Tone) and Inspector Burgess (Thomas Gomez) in Marlow’s dressing room.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 18 with a fabric cover.

Similarly covered chairs are visible in the Blue Parrot bar in Casablanca, 1942 and Peter Gunn, 1958-1960.

When Strangers Marry

1944

Dean Jagger
Kim Hunter
Robert Mitchum

Director:
William Castle

Millie Baxter (Kim Hunter), at far left, enters a café.

The woman at the table in the foreground is sitting on a Thonet No. 18.
The empty Thonet No. 18 in the foregrount casts a noir shadow on the tablecloth.
A light-colored Thonet No. 45½ is across the table.

It Happened Tomorrow

1944

Dick Powell
Linda Darnell
Jack Oakie

Director:
René Clair

Sylvia Smith (Linda Darnell), part of a clairvoyant act with her uncle Oscar, in the audience of the Eden Gardens Theater.

Detail

The chair in the foreground is a Thonet No. 18.

Sylvia Smith pretends to be in a trance as a waiter swings a Thonet No. 18 over her head to place it at a table.

A later scene in a restaurant...

The chairs are Thonet No. 45½, casting noir shadows with lighting from two different directions.

The Great Flamarion

1945

Erich von Stroheim
Mary Beth Hughes
Dan Duryea

Director:
Anthony Mann

Thonet No. 18 chairs appear in dressing room scenes. Here Connie Wallace (Mary Beth Hughes) pours a drink.

Thonet No. 18s and No. 45s can also be seen on stage scenes.

Brief Encounter

1945

Celia Johnson,
Trevor Howard,
Stanley Holloway
Joyce Carey

Director:
David Lean


Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard) and Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) in the Refreshment Room at the Milford Junction train station.
This several second-long shot occurs less than three minutes into the film. The film returns again and again to the Refreshment Room.

 

Detail

Alec Harvey and Laura Jesson with Thonet No. 14s casting noir shadows.

Detail

Laura Jesson alone at a table in another shot. Thonet No. 14 chairs, casting noir shadows.

Laura Jesson enters the Refreshment Room, passing a Thonet No. 14.

Most of the chairs visible in The Refreshment Room are Thonet No. 14, but here, farther back, is a Thonet No. 54.

Detail

A Thonet No. 98 or similar behind Dr. Alec Harvey.

Fallen Angel

1945

Dana Andrews
Linda Darnell
Alice Faye
Charles Bickford
John Carradine

Director:
Otto Preminger

Within the first few minutes of Fallen Angel, Thonet chairs appear in Pop’s Eats, the diner that is central to the plot.

Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews) enters and drops his coat on a Thonet No. 18.

A bit later, Stella (Linda Darnell) enters and sits in a Thonet No. 18 to massage her aching feet.

Thonet chairs also appear in Tavern/Dance Hall scenes and in a café scene.

The Lost Weekend

1945

Ray Milland
Jane Wyman
Howard Da Silva

Director:
Billy Wilder

Don Birnam (Ray Milland) contemplates a shot of whisky in Nat’s Bar, withThonet No. 18s (with the older circular leg braces) and
Nat (Howard Da Silva) sets a table in the background.

In the far corner is a Thonet clothes stand.

Detail

Scarlet Street

1945

Edward G. Robinson
Joan Bennett
Dan Duryea

Director:
Fritz Lang

Thonet chairs appear in the opening scene, a reception where Christopher Cross (Edward G. Robinson) receives a gold watch for twenty-five years of service as a clerk.

The chairs in this scene are Thonet No. 440s. The one in the background in this shot is casting a noir shadow.

Christopher Cross and Katherine ‘Kitty’ March (Joan Bennet) eat at Tiny's (Lunch and Dinner). The café features Thonet No. 18s at the tables.

On an apartment deck, a padded version of the Thonet S533, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

In the last scene, Thonet No. 3 Writing Desk Armchairs in a bar scene.

Detour

1945

Tom Neal
Ann Savage
Claudia Drake

Director:
Edgar G. Ulmer

Al Roberts (Tom Neal) plays Piano, while Sue Harvey (Claudia Drake) sings in the Break O' Dawn Club. Roberts is using a Thonet No. 45½.

 

Detail of a later shot

The rest of the band members also have Thonet No. 45½s.

Cornered

1945

Dick Powell
Walter Slezak
Micheline Cheirel

Director:
Edward Dmytryk

Thonet No. 18s, some stacked on a table.

The Clock

1945

Judy Garland
Robert Walker
James Gleason

Director:
Vincente Minnelli

Corporal Joe Allen (Robert Walker) and Alice Maybery (Judy Garland) in the background of a restaurant scene. The chairs in the foreground are Thonet No. 18 variant with narrow inner back loop.

Detail

The leftmost chair casts a noir shadow on the tablecloth.

Whistle Stop

1946

George Raft
Ava Gardner
Victor McLaglen
Tom Conway

Director:
Léonide Moguy


As Whistle Stop comes to a close, Gitlo (Victor McLaglen) drags badly wounded Kenny Veech (George Raft) to Estelle’s Road House after closing time.

The scene opens with Estelle (Carmel Myers) working on the books.

Though the road house is clearly closed and has no customers, the sign outside reads “Dine Dance Open All Night.”

 

The camera zooms in to shoot through the upturned legs of Thonet No. 18 chairs. This combines the trope of upturned Thonet chairs signalling a closed establishment (and the end of the plot) with shooting through Thonet chairs.

The Stranger

1946

Edward G. Robinson
Loretta Young
Orson Welles

Director:
Orson Welles


A scene at about minute two in The Stranger prominently features a Thonet No. 18 with the early circular leg brace. Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) is orating in the back right.

The Wikipedia entry on on this interesting film is well worth reading.

Detail

The inner back loop of the Thonet chair is missing one side, as if it was broken (Welles was on a severely restricted budget for this film) or modified.

Another broken Thonet chair appears in Billy Wilder’s The Apartment, 1960

The Best Years of our Lives

1946

Myrna Loy
Fredric March
Dana Andrews
Teresa Wright
Virginia Mayo
Harold Russell

Director:
William Wyler


Uncle Butch Engle (Hoagy Carmichael) and Homer Parrish (Harrold Russel) sit at the piano on Thonet No. 18s in Butch’s Bar.

A waiter serves Peggy Stephenson (Teresa Wright) and Fred Derry (Dana Andrews) seated in Thonet No. 18s in Lucia’s Restaurant.

The Killers

1946

Burt Lancaster
Ava Gardner
Edmond O'Brien
Sam Levene

Director:
Robert Siodmak

Thonet No. 18s in a café scene. No. 18s appear in another scene, as well.

The Razor’s Edge

1946

Tyrone Power
Gene Tierney
John Payne
Herbert Marshall
Anne Baxter
Clifton Webb

Director:
Edmund Goulding

Larry Darrell (Tyrone Power), W. Somerset Maugham (Herbert Marshall), Isabel Bradley (Gene Tierney) and Gray Maturin (John Payne) in a dance bar scene with Thonet No. 18 chairs at the tables.

Detail

After the café scene, at around 37 minutes, the characters go to a dance club.

The scene features a hot drum solo by real-life band leader Cee Pee Johnson.

Detail

The two visible chairs in the band are Thonet No. 18, with circular leg braces and optional back braces.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

1946

Barbara Stanwyck
Van Heflin
Lizabeth Scott
Kirk Douglas

Director:
Lewis Milestone
Byron Haskin (uncredited)
Hal B. Wallis (uncredited)

Sam Masterson (Van Heflin) and Antonia “Toni” Marachek (Lizabeth Scott) walk into Farone’s Café (Cucina Italiana).

Detail

The chairs at the tables are Thonet No. 3
Writing Desk Armchairs.

Abilene Town

1946

Randolph Scott
Ann Dvorak

Director:
Edwin L. Marin

The band at the Drovers’ Hotel, Est. 1867, uses Thonet No. 18 chairs.

Detail

The Blue Dahlia

1946

Alan Ladd
Veronica Lake
William Bendix

Director:
George Marshall

After a fight in Gus’s Steaks early in the film.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18 and Thonet No. 45, casting noir shadows.

That Brennan Girl
Tough Girl

1946

James Dunn
Mona Freeman
William Marshall
June Duprez

Director:
Alfred Santell

Martin J. “Mart” Neilson (William Marshall) and Ziggy Brennan (Mona Freeman) dine at Fisherman’s Grotto in San Francisco.

The chairs are Thonet No. 45½.

Later, in the ladies’ room.

The bent steel chairs are in the Thonet No. S 533 family.

Three Strangers

1946

Sydney Greenstreet
Geraldine Fitzgerald
Peter Lorre
Colin Kenny

Director:
Jean Negulesco

Johnny West (Peter Lorre) watches the bartender (Colin Kenny) close The Blue Crown bar and inn.

Detail

The chairs upside down on tables are Thonet No. 3
Writing Desk Armchairs.

Nobody Lives Forever

1946

John Garfield
Geraldine Fitzgerald
Faye Emerson

Director:
Jean Negulesco

In the Coast Café

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 45½.

Toni Blackburn (Faye Emerson) walks into Max’s Café.

Detail

A Thonet No. 18 on the left, a Thonet No. 45½ on the right

 

The Missing Lady

1946

Kane Richmond
Barbara Read

Director:
Phil Karlson

A bar scene

Detail

The chairs at the table are Thonet No. 3
Writing Desk Armchairs.

They Made Me a Fugitive

1947

Trevor Howard
Sally Gray
Griffith Jones
Rene Ray as Cora
Mary Merrall

Director:
Alberto Cavalcanti


Clem Morgan (Trevor Howard) and Aggie (Mary Merrall) in Narcy’s headquarters.
Morgan is sitting on a Thonet No. 18 and a No. 54 sits empty on his right.

 

In a later shot in the same set, the two Thonet chairs have been reversed, with the No. 54 now on the left and the No. 18 on the right. (cropped from screenshot).

It Always Rains on Sunday

1947

Googie Withers
John McCallum
Jack Warner

Director:
Robert Hamer

Thonet No. 14s.

The Bishop’s Wife

1947

Cary Grant
Loretta Young
David Niven
Elsa Lanchester

Director:
Henry Koster

In the choir scene, the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir (and the organist) are using two Thonet models, both very similar to the No. 124 shown in the 1904 Thonet Catalog.

Kiss of Death

1947

Victor Mature
Brian Donlevy
Coleen Gray
Richard Widmark

Director:
Henry Hathaway

In this ex-con going straight film noir, several clubs and restaurants figure prominently, but only the last one—where Nick Bianco (Victor Mature) confronts the killer Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark, in his first film)— features Thonet chairs.

In Luigi’s (Sea Food, Cocktails):
Thonet No. 18s and Thonet No. 45s.

Brute Force

1947

Burt Lancaster
Hume Cronyn
Charles Bickford

Director:
Jules Dassin

Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) confronts Gallagher (Charles Bickford) in the prison printing shop, with a No. 18.
The visitor’s room scene also has No. 18s.

Detail

Dark Passage

1947

Humphrey Bogart
Lauren Bacall
Houseley Stevenson

Director:
Delmer Daves


Dr. Walter Coley (Houseley Stevenson) sizes up Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart) before performing the plastic surgery that will change Parry’s appearance.

Detail

A Thonet chair (model unknown) casts a noir shadow in Dr. Coley’s surgery.

Daisy Kenyon

1947

Joan Crawford
Henry Fonda
Dana Andrews

Director:
Otto Preminger

Peter Lapham (Henry Fonda) in a restaurant scene with Thonet No. 45s and No. 18s.

Across the street from the restaurant, the Greenwich Theater is showing Mr. Lucky, a 1943 romance starring Cary Grant and Laraine Day.

Dancing with Crime

1947

Richard Attenborough
Barry K. Barnes
Sheila Sim

Director:
John Paddy Carstairs

In a restaurant scene (Fish Suppers Frying Nightly), Ted Peters (Richard Attenborough) center, with three models of Thonet chair visible:

Back left, a Thonet No. 52½ (missing one back bar) and a  No. 14
Front right, a Thonet No. 20.

Born to Kill

1947

Claire Trevor
Lawrence Tierney
Walter Slezak
Phillip Terry
Audrey Long
Elisha Cook, Jr.

Director:
Robert Wise

In Mrs. Kraft’s boarding house, Thonet No. 33 chairs at the table.
This model also appears in Rosemary’s Baby (1968).

Lured

1947

George Sanders
Lucille Ball
Charles Coburn
Boris Karloff

Director:
Douglas Sirk

At a taxi dance hall, three Thonet chair models appear in the taxi dancers’ gallery. Sandra Carpenter (Lucille Ball) has her hand on a No. 18, a No. 45½ sits on the left front row, and a No. 18 variant with a narrow inner back loop sits in the back row.

Detail

A later scene in the White Swan, with Thonet No. 18 chairs.

Out of the Past

1947

Robert Mitchum
Jane Greer
Kirk Douglas
Rhonda Fleming

Director:
Jacques Tourneur

Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) in a Harlem club scene with Thonet No. 18s at the tables.

I Walk Alone

1947

Burt Lancaster
Lizabeth Scott
Kirk Douglas
Wendell Corey

Director:
Byron Haskin

While walking through the kitchen in Dink Turner’s nightclub, Frankie Madison (Burt Lancaster) and Kay Lawrence (Lizabeth Scott) pass a Thonet No. 18 painted white.

This chair has the optional side braces.

The Lady from Shanghai

1947

Rita Hayworth
Orson Welles
Everett Sloane
Glenn Anders
Ted de Corsia

Director:
Orson Welles

A café scene featuring a Thonet No. 18.

Though the sign above the door of the café only reads “Liquors,” the scene was filmed in Sally Stanford’s Walhalla (Valhalla) waterfront bar and café in Sausalito, CA. The Walhalla sign is visible in other shots.

Johnny O'Clock

1947

Dick Powell
Evelyn Keyes
Lee J. Cobb

Director:
Robert Rossen

Johnny O'Clock (Dick Powell) enters the back room of the casino in which he’s a junior partner.

A short time later, Johnny and Nancy Hobson (Evelyn Keyes) in the same room.

Detail

The chairs at the round gambling table are Thonet No. 18 with narrow back loop.

Desert Fury

1947

John Hodiak
Lizabeth Scott
Burt Lancaster
Wendell Corey

Director:
Lewis Allen

In a pivotal scene near the end of the film, Johnny Ryan (Wendell Corey), Eddie Bendix (John Hodiak) and Paula Haller (Lizabeth Scott) walk into the back room of the Night Spot Cafe.

A Thonet No. 18 in the left foreground

Detail

In the right background, a Thonet No. 45½ casts a noir shadow.

Moss Rose

1947

Peggy Cummins
Victor Mature
Ethel Barrymore

Director:
Gregory Ratoff

A restaurant scene.

Detail

In the background, a Thonet No. 45½.
In the foreground, a Thonet No. 18.

Repeat Performance

1947

Louis Hayward
Joan Leslie
Tom Conway
Richard Basehart

Director:
Alfred L. Werker

In a very brief scene in a blues club...

Detail

The chairs at the tables in the background are Thonet No. 391.

In the asylum, Sheila Page (Joan Leslie) visits William Williams (Richard Basehart).

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Raw Deal

1948

Dennis O'Keefe
Claire Trevor
Marsha Hunt
Raymond Burr

Director:
Anthony Mann

In the back room of Grimshaw’s Taxidermy, an empty Thonet No. 18 in the foreground bears mute witness to the double cross.

Left to right: Grimshaw (Tom Fadden)
Joe Sullivan (Dennis O’Keefe)
Looming Bear (Stuffed Bear)
Fantail (John Ireland)

Another Thonet No. 18 can be seen in the background of the main room at Grimshaw’s.

Call Northside 777

1948

James Stewart
Richard Conte
Lee J. Cobb
Helen Walker

Director:
Henry Hathaway

Thonet No. 18s and No. 45s at the tables of a bar. This is the bar where P.J. McNeal (James Stewart) finds a woman who knows Wanda Skutnik. The newspaper reads “Where is Wanda Skutnik?”
The scene is part of a famous montage of bar scenes in the old Polish neighborhood of Chicago.

Highway 13

1948

Robert Lowery
Pamela Blake
Clem Bevans
Michael Whalen

Director:
William Berke


 

In the Clover garage and diner where trucker Hank Wilson (Robert Lowery) meets his fiance, the waitress (Pamela Blake).

The chairs at the tables—shown only in the background—are Thonet No. 124s, with the newer curved leg brace.

Detail

I Remember Mama

1948

Irene Dunne
Barbara Bel Geddes
Oskar Homolka
Ellen Corby
Philip Dorn
Rudy Vallee

Director:
George Stevens


Thonet No. 18 and noir shadow in a scene in the “Gentlemen’s.”

A later scene in a hospital room.

Sorry,
Wrong Number

1948

Barbara Stanwyck
Burt Lancaster
Ann Richards
Wendell Corey

Director:
Anatole Litvak


Only seen briefly as the camera pans past the door to the kitchen in the Stevenson apartment, Thonet No. 45 with narrow inner back loop.

Detail

A Song is Born

1948

Danny Kaye
Virginia Mayo
Benny Goodman
Tommy Dorsey
Louis Armstrong
Lionel Hampton
Charlie Barnet
Mel Powell
Steve Cochran

Director:
Howard Hawks


Hobart Frisbee (Danny Kaye) next to a Thonet No. 18 chair in the private musicology research institute.

Wikipedia entry on A Song is Born

The Golden Gate Quartet singing with a Thonet No. 18 as a prop.

The Fallen Idol

1948

Ralph Richardson
Bobby Henrey
Michèle Morgan
Denis O'Dea
Jack Hawkins

Director:
Carol Reed

Baines (Ralph Richardson) and Julie (Michèle Morgan) sit in Thonet No. 14s in an early scene in a restaurant. The empty chair on the left will soon be occupied by Philippe (Bobby Henrey), the third member of this tragic triangle.

On the right, the chairs cast noir shadows on the wall and, importantly, on Baines’s back.

No Orchids for Miss Blandish

1948

Jack La Rue
Hugh McDermott
Linden Travers
Walter Crisham

Director:
St John Legh Clowes

No Orchids for Miss Blandish is a remarkable  British ganster film noir, set in New York and featuring a mostly British cast (who sometimes forget their American accents).
At several points the film looks like a dark but loving pastiche of American film noir. Several of the characters are obvious stand-ins for American film noir actors or film noir trope characters. Several scenes are identifiable as homage to scenes from other noir films.
The film even includes a stand-up comedy routine in which the comic does a quick-change act imitating a conversation between Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. Part of the film’s pastiche is an amazing array of Thonet chair models, including one set with at least seven Thonet models.

A bar set with a Thonet No. 20 in the foreground, a Thonet No. 15 and two Thonet No. 14s in the background.

Five Thonet chairs appear in this scene:

Thonet No. 18 in the foreground
Thonet No. 14 just behind the 18
Thonet No. 124 right background
Thonet No. 54 at the piano
Thonet No. 118 against the wall left

A restaurant scene with Thonet No. B 34 bent steel armchairs.

The old codger who runs a country gas station is gunned down in his Thonet rocking chair.

A restaurant scene shot from overhead (reminiscent of the ending of Citizen Kane) contains many Thonet No. S 533 bent steel chairs, some upsidedown on tables.

They Live by Night

1948

Cathy O'Donnell
Farley Granger
Howard Da Silva
Jay C. Flippen

Director:
Nicholas Ray

Arthur “Bowie” Bowers (Farley Granger) and Catherine “Keechie” Mobley in a night club scene. Thonet No. 18 chairs at the tables.

Detail

A Foreign Affair

1948

Jean Arthur
Marlene Dietrich
John Lund
Millard Mitchell

Director:
Billy Wilder

At the military airport waiting for the fog to clear. Colonel Plummer (Millard Mitchell) is in the background.

Detail

Both Thonet No. 45½ and No. 18 chairs are visible in this set.

A romantic-comedy ending in the apartment of Erika von Schlütow (Marlene Dietrich).

Captain John Pringle (John Lund) fends off Congresswoman Phoebe Frost (Jean Arthur) with a Thonet No. 45½.

Force of Evil

1948

John Garfield
Thomas Gomez
Marie Windsor
Howland Chamberlain

Director:
Abraham Polonsky

Frederick “Freddie” Bauer backs away from a killer in a restaurant scene.

Detail

The chair, casting a noir shadow, is a Thonet No. 124 or similar, with a modern curved leg brace.

I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes

1948

Don Castle
Elyse Knox
Regis Toomey

Director:
William Nigh

Ann Quinn (Elyse Knox) and Inspector Clint Judd (Regis Toomey) have coffee at a diner counter.

Detail

In the background, a woman sits on a Thonet No. 18 chair at a table.

Homecoming

1948

Clark Gable
Lana Turner
Anne Baxter
John Hodiak

Director:
Mervyn LeRoy

Lt. Jane “Snapshot” McCall (Lana Turner) alone at a table of an outdoor mess.

Detail

In the background, soldiers on a Thonet No. 45½ (left) and Thonet No. 18 (right.)

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands

1948

Joan Fontaine
Burt Lancaster
Robert Newton

Director:
Norman Foster

In The Anchor and Dolphin pub.

Detail

The chairs at the tables are Thonet No. 18.

In a pool hall scene.

Detail

The chairs in the pool hall are Thonet No. 18. This empty chair casts a noir shadow on the brick wall.

On the Town

1949

Gene Kelly
Frank Sinatra
Betty Garrett
Ann Miller
Vera-Ellen

Director:
Gene Kelly

Gabey (Gene Kelly) ogles two women in Symphonic Hall. An empty Thonet No. 18 with modern leg brace stands mute witness.

Gabey and Ivy Smith (Vera-Ellen) in a dance routine in a later scene. A Thonet No. 18, with the old-style circular leg brace casts a noir shadow on the back wall. Another Thonet No. 18 sits on the far left.

In the Good Old Summertime

1949

Judy Garland
Van Johnson
S. Z. Sakall
Spring Byington
Clinton Sundberg
Buster Keaton
Liza Minnelli

Director:
Robert Z. Leonard
Buster Keaton (uncredited)


 

A restaurant set features Thonet No. 18 and No. 45 ½ chairs.

 

Whisky Galore!

1949

Basil Radford
Bruce Seton
Joan Greenwood
Gordon Jackson

Director:
Alexander Mackendrick

George Campbell (Gordon Jackson) escapes from his bedroom, with a Thonet No. 14 (with noir shadow) in the background.

Shockproof

1949

Cornel Wilde
Patricia Knight
John Baragrey
Esther Minciotti

Director:
Douglas Sirk

An early scene in a bookie joint. Thonet No. 18s at the tables.

Criss Cross

1949

Burt Lancaster
Yvonne De Carlo
Dan Duryea
Percy Helton

Director:
Robert Siodmak

Anna (Yvonne De Carlo) enters the Round-Up Bar in a dramatic shot with Thonet No. 18 and No. 45½ chairs casting noir shadows.

Steve Thompson (Burt Lancaster) seated at a table in the Round-Up Bar while Frank (Percy Helton) gives him a talking to.

Thonet No. 45½ in the foreground of a stark shot of a telephone booth in the Round-Up Bar.

Lust for Gold

1949

 

Julia Thomas (Ida Lupino) in the café section of her Phoenix, Arizona bakery.

Detail

The left chair is a Thonet No. 18, the right chair is a Thonet No. 45 variant with narrow inner back loop.

In a later shot the drunken Jacob Walz (Glenn Ford) falls on the sidewalk.
A Thonet No. 18 is shown through the bakery window.

Detail

The Third Man

1949

Joseph Cotten
Alida Valli
Orson Welles
Trevor Howard

Director:
Carol Reed

Harry Lime (Orson Welles) enters a bar.
Note Dutch Angle in this shot.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 221.

The Great Sinner

1949

Gregory Peck
Ava Gardner
Melvyn Douglas

Director:
Robert Siodmak

Pauline Ostrovsky (Ava Gardner) and Fedya (Gregory Peck) in the casino at Wiesbaden.

In an early shot in the casino, a Thonet chair is shown between the two, in the background, in another room, through a window.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 45½.

As Fedya sits down to order a drink, an empty Thonet No. 45½ is across the table from him.
Behind him, another empty Thonet chair is visible.

The chair at the table behind Fedya is a Thonet No. 18 casting a noir shadow.

Fedya and another Thonet No. 18. behind him, this time occupied.

Black Hand

1950

Gene Kelly
J. Carrol Naish
Teresa Celli

Director:
Richard Thorpe

A meeting room with three Thonet models visible: No. 45½, No. 18 variant with narrow inner loop, No. 18.

In the Naples restaurant in Naples, Italy, Louis Lorelli (J. Carrol Naish) speaks with a waiter. The camera looks down a line of No. 45½, No. 18 variant with narrow inner loop and No. 18 Thonet chairs.

Detail showing the chairs and their noir shadows.

Lorelli in an office standing next to a Thonet No. 18 variant with narrow inner back loop.

Stage Fright

1950

Jane Wyman
Marlene Dietrich
Michael Wilding
Richard Todd
Alastair Sim
Patricia Hitchcock

Director:
Alfred Hitchcock

On stage during a rehearsal at RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Eve Gill (Jane Wyman) in the hoop skirt.

Detail

The chairs stacked in the background left are Thonet No. 14s.

Another camera angle during the rehearsal.

Detail

The chair at the table is a Thonet No. 14.

The File on Thelma Jordon

1950

Barbara Stanwyck
Wendell Corey
Paul Kelly

Director:
Robert Siodmak

A restaurant scene early in the film.

Detail

The Thonet chairs may be examples of the dining chair designed by Gustav Siegel for Thonet in the early 1900s.

Also see Teacher’s Pet 1958.

Woman on the Run

1950

Ann Sheridan
Dennis O'Keefe

Director:
Norman Foster

Woman on the Run declares its noir sensibility with a Thonet No. 18 right at the beginining, when Eleanor Johnson (Ann Sheridan) lifts Rembrandt (actor uncredited) off of a Thonet No. 18.

Thonet No. 18s show up in later scenes as well, for example, this one with the Thonet No. 18 in the foreground, used as a stand for a painting.

Young Man with a Horn

1950

Kirk Douglas
Lauren Bacall
Doris Day
Hoagy Carmichael

Director:
Michael Curtiz

Doris Day, Hoagy Carmichael and Kirk Douglas in a hospital room scene.  Thonet No. 45s in the background.
Many other Thonet Chairs shown very briefly or barely visible, especially in Galba's Club.

Caged

1950

Eleanor Parker
Agnes Moorehead
Ellen Corby
Hope Emerson

Director:
John Cromwell

Unknown model Thonet chair.

Quicksand

1950

Mickey Rooney
Jeanne Cagney
Barbara Bates
Peter Lorre
Bert Stevens

Director:
Irving Pichel

In the backroom of Gus’ Place, tables are set with Thonet No. 18 chairs.

 

A customer (Bert Stevens, uncredited extra) leaves his table.

The chair casts a noir shadow on the door.

Dan Brady (Mickey Rooney) is just entering the scene at the far right down the bar hall.

The Asphalt Jungle

1950

Sterling Hayden
Louis Calhern
Jean Hagen
James Whitmore
Sam Jaffe
John McIntire

Director:
John Huston


“Doc” Erwin Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe) sits next to an empty Thonet No. 18, which is casting a noir shadow.

Detail

In a separate shot, Dix Handley (Sterling Hayden) stands next to a Thonet No. 18, also casting a noir shadow.

A No. 45½ can be seen in other shots.

The Happy Years

1950

Dean Stockwell
Darryl Hickman
Scotty Beckett
Leo G. Carroll
Elinor Donahue

Director:
William Wellman

A shot during a pancake-eating contest features a Thonet No. 45½ and a Thonet No. 18.

The Breaking Point

1950

John Garfield
Patricia Neal
Phyllis Thaxter
Juano Hernandez

Director:
Michael Curtiz

The Breaking Point is the second of three screen adaptations of Ernest Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not. All three have shots of Thonet chairs.

In the dance bar scene, in Christian’s Hut, Leona Charles (Patricia Neal) sings among the tables.

Detail

The tables are set with simple ladder-back Thonet chairs with the Loop-shaped leg brace.
Similar chairs appear in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, below.

Golden Salamander

1950

Trevor Howard
Anouk Aimée
Herbert Lom
Jacques Sernas

Director:
Ronald Neame

Agno (Wilfrid Hyde-White) walks toward a table where a waiter lifts a Thonet No. 18 chair.

Borderline

1950

Fred MacMurray
Claire Trevor
Raymond Burr

Director:
William A. Seiter

Pete Ritchie (Raymond Burr) frowns at his beer while Madeleine Haley, posing as Gladys LaRue (Claire Trevor) gets up close during a dance routine in La Gran Fiesta (6 señoritas).

The café tables all have Thonet No. 18 chairs.

No Man of Her Own

1950

Barbara Stanwyck
John Lund
Phyllis Thaxter
Jane Cowl
Lyle Bettger

Director:
Mitchell Leisen

A restaurant scene

Detail

Thonet No. 3 Writing Desk Armchairs at the tables.

Dark City

1950

Charlton Heston
Lizabeth Scott
Viveca Lindfors
Dean Jagger
Don DeFore

Director:
William Dieterle

At least three models of Thonet chairs are visible in Danny Haley’s gambling establishment.

Arthur Winant (Don DeFore) smiles as the gamblers let him win.

Detail

Thonet No. 18

 

Barney (Ed Begley) nurses his ulcer.

Detail

Thonet No. 45

Fran Garland (Lizabeth Scott) looks fearfully at Danny Haley (off screen).

Detail

Thonet No. 440 or similar

No Way Out

1950

Richard Widmark
Sidney Poitier
Linda Darnell
Stephen McNally

Director:
Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Edie Johnson (Linda Darnell) waits and smokes in a pool hall.

Detail

Some of the chairs at tables in the pool hall are Thonet No. 18.

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman

1951

Ava Gardner
James Mason
Nigel Patrick
Sheila Sim
Harold Warrender
Mario Cabré
Marius Goring

Director:
Albert Lewin

Pandora (Ava Gardner) appears early in a bar called Las Dos Tortugas (the two turtles). The bar’s chairs are Thonet No. 14s, with the older circular lower leg brace and optional back braces. Some have an added cane insert.

Bullfighter Juan Montalvo (Mario Cabré) makes his dramatic entrance to Las Dos Tortugas later in the film(image cropped slightly).

Pool of London

1951

Bonar Colleano
Earl Cameron
Susan Shaw

Director:
Basil Dearden

Thonet No. 18 chairs in a dressing-room scene.

Detail

A noir shadow is barely visible on the left.

The Big Night

1951

John Drew Barrymore
Preston Foster
Joan Lorring

Director:
Joseph Losey

Thonet No. 3 Writing Desk Armchairs in Tuffy's Tavern.

Detail

On Dangerous Ground

1951

Ida Lupino
Robert Ryan
Ward Bond

Director:
Nicholas Ray
Ida Lupino (uncredited)

Just glimpsed in a restaurant scene: a Melnikov Roundback café chair designed by Michael Thonet, or a variant.

His Kind of Woman

1951

Robert Mitchum
Jane Russell
Vincent Price

Directors:
John Farrow
Richard Fleischer

Thonet No. 18s and No. 45½s in a diner.

The Mob

1951

Broderick Crawford
Betty Buehler
Richard Kiley
Neville Brand
Ernest Borgnine
Charles Bronson

Director:
Robert Parrish

Johnny Damico, under cover as Tim Flynn (Broderick Crawford) nurses a beer in The Black Kitten bar, with an unoccupied Thonet No. 18 in the far background.

Detail

Thunder on the Hill

1951

Claudette Colbert
Ann Blyth
Robert Douglas
Michael Pate

Director:
Douglas Sirk

Willie (Michael Pate) climbs the stairs in the hospital ward of the convent.

Detail

The chair on the landing is a Thonet No. 18, casting a noir shadow.

Dr. Jeffreys (Robert Douglas) in the hospital lab.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet chair of unknown model number, also casting a noir shadow.

This same model (or at least similar ones) can be seen in Swing Time, 1936, Dark Passage, 1947 and Caged, 1950.

The Prowler

1951

Van Heflin
Evelyn Keyes

Director:
Joseph Losey

Susan Gilvray at center at a Coroner’s Inquest. The witness chair is at front left.

Detail

The witness chair is a Thonet No. 18. The shot through the chair shows a jury member’s hat.

The Coroner’s Jury returns to deliver a death bty misadventure verdict.

Detail

The jury chairs are all Thonet No. 18.

The Scarf

1951

John Ireland
Mercedes McCambridge
James Barton
Emlyn Williams

Director:
Ewald André Dupont

Connie Carter (Mercedes McCambridge) walks off camera in Level Louie’s bar/café.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 18.

Ezra Thompson (James Barton) and Connie Carter talking at a table in Level Louie’s bar/café.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 124 or similar, with the modern loop-shaped leg brace.

Come Back, Little Sheba

1952

Burt Lancaster
Shirley Booth
Terry Moore

Director:
Daniel Mann

Marie Buckholder (Terry Moore) and Turk Fisher (Richard Jaeckel) in The Ram bar, where tables are set with Thonet No. 18 and No. 45½ chairs.

Sudden Fear

1952

Joan Crawford
Jack Palance
Gloria Grahame

Director:
David Miller

The opening scene of Sudden Fear shows a rehearsal of Halfway to Heaven, a new Myra Hudson (Joan Crawford) play, with Thonet No. 18s on the stage set.

Detail

The Greatest Show on Earth

1952

Betty Hutton
Cornel Wilde
Charlton Heston
James Stewart
Dorothy Lamour
Gloria Grahame
Lyle Bettger

Director:
Cecil B. DeMille

Four clowns and a Thonet chair.

Clown two sits in the chair but clown one grabs clown two’s leg and jerks him off the chair into the air.
As each of the next two clowns try to sit, the next clown in line jerks the chair away.
The last clown attempts to sit in the chair flamboyantly, but accidentally knocks the chair over and falls to the mat.

(Images cropped)

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 18 variant in which the inner loop extends below the seat to become leg braces.

Affair in Trinidad

1952

Rita Hayworth
Glenn Ford
Alexander Scourby
Mort Mills

Director:
Vincent Sherman


Steve Emery (Glen Ford) and Martin, Wittol’s Henchman (Mort Mills) converse in The Caribe, Wittol’s nightclub.

The right-side up chair is a Thonet No. 18 variant with a narrow back loop. The upside down chair is the usual No. 18.

Detail

Moulin Rouge

1952

José Ferrer
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Suzanne Flon

Director:
John Huston

Houston’s Moulin Rouge is based on a 1950 novel by Pierre La Mure.

In the Moulin Rouge, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (José Ferrer) finishes a bottle of cognac.

Detail

Henri’s table is set with Thonet No. 14 chairs. (See At the Moulin Rouge in Thonet Chairs in Art.)
A Thonet No. 54 is at the table in the background.

As the Moulin Rouge closes, and partons leave, Thonet No. 14 chairs are stacked on tables, a movie trope denoting closing time. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is in the center of the frame.

Loan Shark

1952

George Raft
Dorothy Hart
Paul Stewart
John Hoyt
Henry Slate

Director:
Seymour Friedman

In a bar scene, Joe Gargen (George Raft) discusses his new loan with Paul Nelson (Henry Slate, facing camera) and other workers from the tire factory.

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.
Thonet chairs are also visible in other scenes.

Carbine Williams

 

1952

 

James Stewart
Jean Hagen
Wendell Corey

Director:
Richard Thorpe

Marsh Williams (James Stewart) in bed with appendicitis.

A Thonet No. 45½ is next to his bed.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

1952

Gregory Peck
Ava Gardner
Susan Hayward
Marcel Dalio

Director:
Henry King

Harry Street (Gregory Peck) greets Emile, owner of Café Emile.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18 and Thonet No. 45, in dark brown and blond stains.

The Green Glove

1952

Glenn Ford
Geraldine Brooks
Sir Cedric Hardwicke
George Macready

Director:
Rudolph Maté

Christine 'Chris' Kenneth (Geraldine Brooks) and Mike Blake (Glenn Ford) eat at a café while they're on the run.

A closer shot from a different angle.

Detail

The chairs at the café are Thonet No. 54.

Vicki

1953

Jeanne Crain
Jean Peters
Elliott Reid
Richard Boone

Director:
Harry Horner

Jill (Jeanne Crain) and Vicki (Jean Peters) in Webster’s Cafeteria. The chairs are Thonet No. 391 or similar, with the more modern curved leg braces.

Jill packing in Club Capri, with upholstered Thonet chairs.

From Here to Eternity

1953

Burt Lancaster
Montgomery Clift
Deborah Kerr
Frank Sinatra
Donna Reed
Ernest Borgnine

Director:
Fred Zinnemann

In a bar fight, Staff Sergeant James R. “Fatso” Judson (Ernest Borgnine) threatens Private Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra) with a knife.

A Thonet No. 45½ is prominent in the foreground.

The Band Wagon

1953

Fred Astaire
Cyd Charisse
Oscar Levant
Nanette Fabray
Jack Buchanan

Director:
Vincente Minnelli

This is the final segment of the musical within a musical. The segment has a noir (ganster) motif, is set in “Dem Bones Café,” and features both Thonet No. 18s and No. 45s.

Other scenes also feature Thonet chairs.

Innocents in Paris

1953

Alastair Sim
Ronald Shiner
Claire Bloom
Margaret Rutherford
Claude Dauphin
Jimmy Edwards

Director:
Gordon Parry

Susan Robbins (Claire Bloom) and Dickie Bird (Ronald Shiner) in Bal Du Moulin Rouge.

Thonet No. 18 and No. 45 are visible at tables.

Detail

A different view of Thonet No. 18 chairs in Bal Du Moulin Rouge.

Thonet No. 54 chairs at an outdoor café.

The Fake

1953

Dennis O'Keefe
Coleen Gray
Hugh Williams
Guy Middleton
John Laurie
Eliot Makeham
and many others

Director:
Godfrey Grayson

Thonet No. 14

The Blue Gardenia

1953

Anne Baxter
Richard Conte
Ann Sothern
Raymond Burr
Jeff Donnell
Richard Erdman
George Reeves
Nat King Cole
Frank Kreig
Frank Ferguson

Director:
Fritz Lang

Norah Larkin (Anne Baxter), Casey Mayo (Richard Conte), Drunk Reporter 1 (Frank Kreig) Drunk Reporter 2 (Frank Ferguson) in Bill’s Beanery.

Detail

The chairs at the table in the background are Thonet No. 391.

Journey to Italy

1954

Ingrid Bergman
George Sanders
Paul Muller

Director:
Roberto Rossellini

Paul Dupont (Paul Muller) moves a chair in La Bersagliera - Fish restaurant and typical cuisine.

Background center, Katherine Joyce (Ingrid Bergman).

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 18 with four arc leg braces.

Paul Dupont seated at the end of the table nearest the camera.

Background center, Alexander Joyce (George Sanders).

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 18, but not the same model as the one he moved earlier. This chair has a ring-shaped leg brace.
This shot comes after a cut in the film.

Sabrina

1954

Humphrey Bogart
Audrey Hepburn
William Holden
John Williams

Director:
Billy Wilder

Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn) walks into her room above the garage.
The room is furnished almost entirely in Thonet furniture:

Thonet No. 18 chairs at the table and desk, a Thonet rocking chair, a Thonet table and a Thonet bed headboard and footboard.

Detail

Thonet No. 18 chair at the table.

Detail

Thonet table.

Detail

Thonet Headboard and footboard.

A similar headboard design appears in Billy Wilder’s The Apartment, 1960.

The Last Time I Saw Paris

1954

Elizabeth Taylor
Van Johnson
Walter Pidgeon
Donna Reed
Eva Gabor
Kurt Kasznar

Director:
Richard Brooks

Charles Wills (Van Johnson) enters the Dhingo Café after returning to Paris..

At least three models of Thonet chairs are visible at tables. In this frame, two Thonet No. 18 with narrow inner back loop are stacked on a table.

The Dhingo Café features heavily in the film, with characters returning there several times.

In a flashback, Marion Ellswirth (Donna Reed) watches Charles from a back corner of the Dhingo.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18. The drawing on the wall also features a Thonet No. 18.

Helen Ellswirth (Elizabeth Taylor) in a late scene in the film. She’s framed between a glass of whiskey and a Thonet No. 18 chair.

Detail

The Far Country

1954

James Stewart
Ruth Roman
Corinne Calvet
Walter Brennan
John McIntire
Jay C. Flippen

Director:
Anthony Mann

Judge Gannon (John McIntire) at a saloon table. Shown over his left shoulder is a Thonet No. 3 Writing Desk Armchair.

Detail

In a similarly laid out shot from a later scene, Marshal Rube Morris (Jay C. Flippen), Ben Tatem (Walter Brennan) and Jeff Webster (James Stewart) have drinks at a saloon table.

In the background are another Thonet No. 3 Writing Desk Armchair and Renee Vallon (Corinne Calvet) heading for the door.

Detail

The Glenn Miller Story

1954

James Stewart
June Allyson
Harry Morgan
Nino Tempo

Director:
Anthony Mann

Wilbur Schwartz (Nino Tempo) auditions for the band.

The chair is a Thonet No. 18, painted red.

River of No Return

1954

Robert Mitchum
Marilyn Monroe
Tommy Rettig
Rory Calhoun

Director:
Otto Preminger

Harry Weston (Rory Calhoun) sweet talking Kay Weston (Marilyn Monroe) in the Black Nugget Saloon.

Detail

The piano player is sitting on a Thonet No. 18 chair.

It Should Happen to You

1954

Judy Holliday
Peter Lawford
Jack Lemmon
Michael O'Shea

Director:
George Cukor

Gladys Glover (Judy Holliday) and Pete Sheppard (Jack Lemmon) in the 1029 Restaurant.

Detail

The chair at right is a Thonet No. 18 with narrow back loop. In the background, there's a Thonet No. 45 or 45½.

Phffft

1954

Judy Holliday
Jack Lemmon
Jack Carson
Kim Novak

Director:
Mark Robson

Robert Tracey (Jack Lemmon) and Nina Tracey (Judy Holliday out of the frame to the left) in an unnamed restaurant.

Detail

The chair at left is a Thonet No. 18 with narrow back loop.

The chair (at right in the background above) is a Thonet No. 18.

(The same restaurant set may have been used in Phffft and It Should Happen to You, above.)

The Big Knife

1955

Jack Palance
Ida Lupino
Wendell Corey
Jean Hagen
Rod Steiger
Shelley Winters

Director:
Robert Aldrich

Hollywood actor Charlie Castle (Jack Palance) on a set for studio publicity stills.

The chair is a Thonet No. 18 variant with narrow inner back loop.

Detail

The Big Combo

1955

Cornel Wilde
Richard Conte
Brian Donlevy
Jean Wallace

Director:
Joseph H. Lewis

Mr. Brown (Richard Conte) walks behind a light-colored Thonet No. 18.

The only recognizable chair and the only unoccupied chair was intended for Nils Dreyer (John Hoyt), who’s just been murdered by Joe McClure (Brian Donlevy), left.

Mr. Brown addresses the three henchmen:
“I wanted him here alive.... I told you to go without guns. Which one of you changed my mind?”

I'll Cry Tomorrow

1955

Susan Hayward
Richard Conte
Eddie Albert
Margo
Jo Van Fleet

Director:
Daniel Mann


An early scene in I’ll Cry Tomorrow shows girls hoping to be chosen for a movie role—and their mothers—sitting on Thonet chairs.

An empty Thonet No. 18 with narrow back loop sits in between the two girls.

Detail

Three Cases of Murder

1955

Alan Badel
Orson Welles
John Gregson
André Morell
Patrick Macnee

Three Cases of Murder is a so-called omnibus movie with three separate stories.

This scene is in the middle segment “You Killed Elizabeth,” directed by David Eady.

The chairs look like a more modern version of the No.12 or No. 393 shown in the 1904 Thonet Illustrated Catalogue.

French Cancan

1955

Jean Gabin
Françoise Arnoul
María Félix
Édith Piaf

Director:
Jean Renoir

Café scenes feature Thonet chairs, as befits this consciously painterly film.

Here two models appear to have the backs of the Thonet No. 14 and Thonet No. 18 models, but with trapezoidal seats. These chairs also have unusual leg bracing.

The Phenix City Story

1955

John McIntire
Richard Kiley
Kathryn Grant

Director:
Phil Karlson

Just the top of a Thonet No. 18 (lower right) in a bar scene.

Guys and Dolls

1955

Marlon Brando
Jean Simmons
Frank Sinatra
Vivian Blaine

Director:
Joseph L. Mankiewicz

In the gangster-romance musical Guys and Dolls, tables at Mindy’s are furnished with Thonet No. 18 chairs, with the optional back braces.

Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra) tries to sucker Sky Masterson (Marlon Brando) into betting on whether Mindy’s sold more cheesecake or strudel the previous day.

Nathan sings to Miss Adelaide (Vivian Blaine) using one of the Thonet No. 18s as a prop.

Also see Cover Girl, The Band Wagon and Cabaret.

Illegal

1955

Edward G. Robinson
Nina Foch
Hugh Marlowe
Jayne Mansfield
DeForest Kelley

Director:
Lewis Allen

Victor Scott (Edward G. Robinson)—in Joe’s Bar.

Detail

Thonet No. 18 chairs.

Detail

Thonet No. 45½ Chairs, with more Thonet No. 18s in the background.

A Thonet No. 45½ appears in another scene, in the office of D.F. Jarvis Bail Bonds, where Victor Scott is getting his stomach pumped after drinking poison in a courtroom.

Man with the Gun

1955

Robert Mitchum
Jan Sterling
Henry Hull
Barbara Lawrence
Leo Gordon
Claude Akins

Director:
Richard Wilson

Criterion Channel includes Man with the Gun in their collection labelled Western Noir.

A woman mocking a gunfighter who shot a boy’s dog.

 

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 24 or similar.

Wichita

1955

Joel McCrea
Vera Miles
Lloyd Bridges
Peter Graves
Sam Peckinpah

Director:
Jacques Tourneur


 

Detail

In the bar of the Keno House, Gyp Clements (Lloyd Bridges) is knocked out of a Thonet No. 18, with narrow back loop.

 

Detail

The arm chairs at the bar’s tables are Thonet No. 3 office chairs, or similar.

The Catered Affair

1956

Bette Davis
Ernest Borgnine
Debbie Reynolds
Barry Fitzgerald
Rod Taylor

Director:
Richard Brooks

Ralph Halloran (Rod Taylor) and Jane Hurley (Debbie Reynolds) meeting in a diner, with Thonet No. 45s (variant with narrow inner back loop).

 

A later restaurant and dance hall scene with Thonet No. 18s.

The Killer Is Loose

1956

Joseph Cotten
Rhonda Fleming
Wendell Corey
Alan Hale Jr.

Director:
Budd Boetticher

The room in which police are recording a tapped phone is furnished with Thonet No. 18 chairs. Here the shot is over the back of an empty chair.

The Killing

1956

Sterling Hayden
Coleen Gray
Vince Edwards

Director:
Stanley Kubrick

Maurice Oboukhoff (Kola Kwariani) and Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) in the “Academy of Chess and Checkers.” A Thonet No. 45 seems like a third party to the conversation in this shot.

Both Thonet No. 18s and No. 45s are visible in several shots in the academy.

Time Table

1956

Mark Stevens
King Calder
Felicia Farr

Director:
Mark Stevens

A restaurant scene with Thonet No. 18 chairs.

Around the World in 80 Days

1956

David Niven
Cantinflas
many cameos including
Marlene Dietrich

Director:
Michael Anderson

Marlene Dietrich between Thonet No. 18s.

Storm Center

1956

Bette Davis
Brian Keith
Kim Hunter
Paul Kelly

Director:
Daniel Taradash

Thonet No. 18 chairs in the Free Public Library.

 

 

The chair shown close up during the fire at the end of the film is a Thonet No. 18 variant with a narrow back loop.

The Man Who Knew Too Much

1956

James Stewart
Doris Day
Brenda de Banzie
Bernard Miles
Christopher Olsen
Daniel Gélin
Reggie Nalder

Director:
Alfred Hitchcock

The Ambrose Chapel figures importantly in the film. Jo Conway McKenna (Doris Day) initially thinks the name refers to a man, Ambrose Chappell.

Instead of pews, the main floor contains rows of Thonet chairs, something like 90 chairs in all.

Detail

Two Thonet No. 18 with narrow back loop and one No. 18 are empty in the front rows.

After the parishoners leave, Ben McKenna (James Stewart) confronts Edward Drayton (Bernard Miles) who led the service.

Detail

Four models of Thonet chair can be identified on the floor, Thonet No. 18, No. 18 with narrow back loop, No. 45 and No. 45½.

Previous shots show Ben McKenna through Thonet chair backs.

Bus Stop

1956

Marilyn Monroe
Don Murray
Arthur O'Connell
Betty Field
Eileen Heckart

Director:
Joshua Logan

Chérie (Marilyn Monroe) in her dressing room at the Blue Dragon Café.

Detail

A Thonet No. 18 casts a noir shadow on Chérie’s dress.

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

1956

Dana Andrews
Joan Fontaine
Barbara Nichols

Director:
Fritz Lang

Dolly Moore (Barbara Nichols) and Tom Garrett (Dana Andrews) in a dressing room.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 45½.

Top Secret Affair

1957

Susan Hayward
Kirk Douglas
Jim Backus

Director:
H.C. Potter

A nightclub scene, with Thonet No. 18s at the tables.

Witness for the Prosecution

1957

Tyrone Power
Marlene Dietrich
Charles Laughton

Director:
Billy Wilder

After a brawl in Die Blaue Laterne (The Blue Lantern), Thonet No. 18 chairs are among the wreckage.
According to IMDB: “In order to show just one of Marlene Dietrich's famous legs, an entire scene was written that required 145 extras, 38 stunt men and $90,000.”

In a back room, where Christine Helm (Marlene Dietrich) lives, Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power) reaches for a Thonet No. 18 that holds up the ceiling. He later knocks the chair over, bringing the ceiling down.

Sweet Smell of Success

1957

Burt Lancaster
Tony Curtis
Susan Harrison
Martin Milner

Director:
Alexander Mackendrick

Early in the film, Joe Robard (Joseph Leon) in Robard’s Jazz Club, with Thonet No. 18s at the tables.

Thonet No. 18 chairs are also visible (barely) in later shots in 21 Club.

Detail

The Smallest Show on Earth

1957

Bill Travers
Virginia McKenna
Peter Sellers
Margaret Rutherford
Bernard Miles

Director:
Basil Dearden


 

The Smallest Show on Earth is a British comedy in the tradition of American screwball comedies, with no hint of noir in the plot.

The presence of Thonet No. 14 chairs in the Private Office of the Bijou Kinema (the “flea pit”) is a reference to the golden past of film (and film noir), as the Bijou is part of that past.

Robin Carter (Leslie Phillips), Matt Spenser (Bill Travers) and Jean Spenser (Virginia McKenna) in the office.

 

Jean Spenser in the the office with a noir shadow of the No. 14 she’s sitting on.

Fire Down Below

1957

Rita Hayworth
Robert Mitchum
Jack Lemmon

Director:
Robert Parrish

Near the end of the movie, in a bar, Felix sits in a Thonet No. 391 or similar, while Irena sits in another model, with a flat inner back panel.

Detail

The model with a flat inner back panel also appears in a later scene in a barber shop.

Nightfall

1957

Aldo Ray
Brian Keith
Anne Bancroft

Director:
Jacques Tourneur


In an early café scene, Thonet No. 18s, some with the narrow back loop.

Detail

A Face in the Crowd

1957

Andy Griffith
Patricia Neal
Anthony Franciosa
Walter Matthau
Lee Remick

Director:
Elia Kazan

Thonet chairs In the background of a bar scene.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18 variant with a narrow inner back loop.

The Garment Jungle

1957

Lee J. Cobb
Kerwin Mathews
Gia Scala
Richard Boone
Valerie French

Director:
Vincent Sherman

Alan Mitchell (Kerwin Mathews) finds his father Walter Mitchell (Lee J. Cobb) murdered in the dress shop.

Detail

An empty Thonet No. 18 at a desk in the near background.

The Tarnished Angels

1957

Rock Hudson
Robert Stack
Dorothy Malone
Jack Carson

Director:
Douglas Sirk

Left to right, Jiggs (Jack Carson), Burke Devlin (Rock Hudson), Roger Shumann (Robert Stack) and LaVerne Shumann (Dorothy Malone) in the Airport Café.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18

Near the end of the film, a wake for Roger Shumann is held at the Claude Mollet Café and Seafood Cellar.

On the outdoor dining patio, Thonet No. 18 chairs are placed upside down on tables, a trope indicating the ending of a scene or film.

Jiggs sits with a bottle of whisky as a drunk man approaches.

Detail

Thonet No. 18 with the older circular leg brace.

The Incredible Shrinking Man

1957

Grant Williams
Randy Stuart
April Kent
Paul Langton
Raymond Bailey

Director:
Jack Arnold

Robert “Scott” Carey (Grant Williams) speaks with Dr. Bramson (William Schallert) in the doctor’s office.

The chair in the background is an unknown Thonet model.

This same model (or at least similar ones) can be seen in Swing Time, 1936, Dark Passage, 1947, Caged, 1950 and Thunder on the Hill, 1951.

Touch of Evil

1958

Charlton Heston
Janet Leigh
Orson Welles
Joseph Calleia
Akim Tamiroff
Marlene Dietrich
Zsa Zsa Gabor

Director:
Orson Welles

Uncle Joe Grandi (Akim Tamiroff) in his bar.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

The Gun Runners

1958

Audie Murphy
Eddie Albert
Patricia Owens
Everett Sloane

Director:
Don Siegel

Sam Martin (Audie Murphy) rushes into the dance bar, using Thonet No. 18s to keep his balance.

The Gun Runners is the third film version of Ernest Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not. All three have shots of Thonet chairs.

Teacher’s Pet

1958

Clark Gable
Doris Day
Gig Young
Mamie Van Doren

Director:
George Seaton

The Thonet chairs in this scene look like examples of the dining chair designed by Gustav Siegel for Thonet in the early 1900s, in this case with decorative nails.

Also see The File on Thelma Jordon (1950).

Party Girl

1958

Robert Taylor
Cyd Charisse
Lee J. Cobb

Director:
Nicholas Ray

In Party Girl, Thonet chairs appear in a dressing room set, and in several bar scenes but are barely visible.

The violent, climactic scene features a Thonet No. 18 in a corner, casting a noir shadow on the wall. Rico Angelo (Lee J. Cobb) realizes that the game is up, while the chair looks on.

Orders to Kill

1958

Eddie Albert
Paul Massie
Lillian Gish
James Robertson Justice
Irene Worth
Philip Bond
Leslie French
John Crawford

Director:
Anthony Asquith

Thonet No. 54s (or similar) in a restaurant scene.

 

Hong Kong Confidential

1958

Gene Barry
Beverly Tyler
Allison Hayes

Director:
Edward L. Cahn

Fay Wells (Beverly Tyler) at a nightclub piano, sitting on a Thonet No. 18 that casts a noir shadow.

Some Came Running

1958

Frank Sinatra
Dean Martin
Shirley MacLaine

Director:
Vincente Minnelli

Two Thonet No. 18s in a hotel room.

Bonjour Tristesse

1958

Deborah Kerr
David Niven
Jean Seberg
Mylène Demongeot
Geoffrey Horne

Director:
Otto Preminger

Cécile (Jean Seberg), Philippe (Geoffrey Horne) and Anne Larsen (Deborah Kerr) enter a casino.

Detail

I  the background a man is sitting on a painted Thonet No. 18 chair.

Peter Gunn
3 Seasons
114 Episodes

Many episodes show Tonet chairs.

In Season 2 Episode  2, Mother’s interior was wrecked by a riot started by protection racket hoodlums. In Season 2 Episode 3 and later, Mother’s has new decor, with no Thonet No. 18 chairs.

Season 3
Episode 3,
Mother’s was changed to “Edie’s,” with new decor.
Maybe Mother retired and Edie Hart bought the business.

Set Decoration for most episodes is credited to
H. Web Arrowsmith and
Henry Grace

1958 - 1961

Craig Stevens
Lola Albright
Bill Chadney

Director:
Blake Edwards

Season 1 Episode 2
“Street Car Jones”

Peter Gunn (Craig Stevens) enters Mother’s, a jazz club that Gunn uses an an office.

Emmett (Bill Chadney), the resident piano player at Mother’s, plays while Gunn’s girlfriend Edie Hart (Lola Albright) looks over her shoulder.

Detail

The chairs in Mother’s—seen in many episodes—are Thonet No.18 or No. 45 with fabric back covers. (In some shots, chairs without covers are visible.)
See also the covered chairs in The Blue Parrot, Casablanca, 1942 and in Phantom Lady, 1944.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Season 1 Episode 11
“Death House Testament”

Peter Gunn (Craig Stevens) and Edie Hart (Lola Albright) enter Joe’s Café, unaware that a hoodlum is holding a gun on customers.

Detail

The chairs in Joe’s Café are Thonet No. 18.


Thonet No. 18 and other Thonet models  appear in many episodes not set in Mother’s.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

S1 E28 “Skin Deep”

Peter Gunn (Craig Stevens) enters Mother’s by the back door. He’s carefully framed by Thonet No. 18 chairs, some upside down on tables.

In another carefully framed shot, Helena Mears (Katharine Bard) waits for Gunn in Mother’s.

Detail

The chair casting the noir shadow in the background is a Thonet No. 45.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

S3 E3 “The Maître D'”

This shot, in Edie’s jazz club, combines two tropes of film noir, filming through Thonet chairs and Thonet chairs upside down on tables after closing time.

In the background, Lieutenant Jacoby (Herschel Bernardi) is on the phone.

S3 E12 “Sepi”

Detail

The Thonet chairs in Edie’s jazz club are similar to a No. 321, with a caned back insert.

S3 E12 “Sepi”

Detail

The Thonet chairs in Edie’s jazz club are similar to a No. 321, with a caned back insert.

The Crimson Kimono

1959

Victoria Shaw
Glenn Corbett
James Shigeta

Director:
Samuel Fuller


A Thonet No. 18 in Sugar Torchs’ (Gloria Pall) dressing room at the 258 Club.

Shuto (played by the Japanese-American wrestler and stuntman Fuji) throws a Thonet No. 18 at Det. Sgt. Charlie Bancroft (Glenn Corbett) in a Pool Hall.

Thonet No. 18s and No. 45s stacked on tables.

The Nun's Story

1959

Audrey Hepburn
Peter Finch
Edith Evans
Peggy Ashcroft

Director:
Fred Zinnemann

This set, the day room in a mental hospital, is furnished with Thonet chairs, model unknown. There are also Thonet No. 18s barely visible, as well as a Thonet Kanapee.

Middle of the Night

1959

Fredric March
Kim Novak

Director:
Delbert Mann


Jerry Kingsley (Fredric March), with his back to the camera, Betty Preisser (Kim Novak) and Walter Lockman (Albert Dekker) in the office of Kingsley’s garment factory.

Detail

Thonet No. 23 Writing Desk Armchair

Some Like It Hot

1959

Marilyn Monroe
Tony Curtis
Jack Lemmon
George Raft
Joe E. Brown

Director:
Billy Wilder


Chicago, 1929

In Mozarella’s Funeral Parlor (24 Hour Service), “Spats” Colombo (George Raft) cleans his spat after a drunk spilled “coffee” on it.

Most of the chairs in Mozarella’s are Thonet No. 18s, some with the optional back brace like the one Spats’s henchman (Mike Mazurki) is sitting in.
A Thonet No. 45 is visible in one shot.

The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery

1959

Steve McQueen
David Clarke
Crahan Denton
Molly McCarthy

Director:
Charles Guggenheim
John Stix

George Fowler (Steve McQueen) and Ann (Molly McCarthy) in a restaurant scene.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 45½.

The Journey

1959

Deborah Kerr
Yul Brynner
Jason Robards

Director:
Anatole Litvak

A russian soldier sets up chairs for passengers.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. Thonet No. 54.

A later scene in a restaurant.

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

North by Northwest

1959

Cary Grant
Eva Marie Saint
James Mason
Jessie Royce Landis

Director:
Alfred Hitchcock

Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) enters a cafeteria (apparently filmed in the Buffalo Room of the Memorial View Building at Mount Rushmore).

Detail

Detail

The chairs are similar to a Thonet No. 52½, with the modern Loop-shaped leg brace.

The Apartment

1960

Jack Lemmon
Shirley MacLaine
Fred MacMurray
Jack Kruschen
Edie Adams

Director:
Billy Wilder

About 6 minutes into The Apartment, C. C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) enters his apartment, which is furnished with four Thonet chairs.
(Also see Irma la Douce, 1963. Edward G. Boyle was a set decorator for both movies, and for others directed by Wilder.)

Detail

Two Thonet No. 4 Café Daum chairs sit at a circular table with one half folded down.
Two Thonet No. 15 armchairs also appear iacross the living room.

Detail

The right-hand Thonet No. 4 at the table casts a noir shadow on the tablecloth.

Detail

In a later scene, C. C. Baxter has his hand on the right-hand Thonet No. 4 chair, which is now missing part of the inner loop.

See also another broken Thonet chair in The Stranger, 1946.

In a late scene, Fran Kubelik is reclining in Baxter’s bed, which has an ornate Thonet bentwood headboard similar to the one in Billy Wilder’s Sabrina, 1954.

The Sundowners

1960

Deborah Kerr
Robert Mitchum
Peter Ustinov
Dina Merrill
Michael Anderson Jr.

Director:
Fred Zinnemann


 

While Zinnemann insisted on filming much of The Sundowners on location in Australia, interiors were filmed in Elstree Studios in England.

Several sets feature Thonet chairs. The first is in a kitchen. A Thonet No. 14 is in the back right. (Cropped screenshot)

 

A house Ida Carmody (Deborah Kerr) hopes to move into includes two Thonet chairs. The first, a Thonet No. 18 with optional arms, appears in two scenes. Here the chair awaits Bluey Brown’s wife, who’s about to have a baby.

In another scene in the house, a Thonet No. 19 sits empty but prominently shown in the left foreground. It awaits Jean Halstead (Dina Merrill), who’s just entering.

Jean Halstead carries the No. 19 to the table.

Ocean's 11

1960

Frank Sinatra
Dean Martin
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Peter Lawford
Joey Bishop
Angie Dickinson

Director:
Lewis Milestone


In Burlesque Phoenix’s Finest, Thonet No.45½ and No. 18 chairs.

Detail

One, Two, Three

1961

James Cagney
Horst Buchholz
Pamela Tiffin
Arlene Francis

Director:
Billy Wilder

 

The “Grand Hotel Potemkin,” in East Germany, is furnished with Thonet chairs, No. 14, No 507 or similar, and other models.

According to the script, the Grand Hotel Potemkin used to be the Great Hotel Göring, and before that, the Great Hotel Bismarck.

The name “Grand Hotel Potemkin,” may refer to the 1925 Eisenstein film Battleship Potemkin, but seems at least as likely to refer to a Potemkin village—a fake village—and the “Grand Hotel Potemkin,” is a fake “grand” hotel.

 

Both images cropped from widescreen screenshots.

 

Paris Blues

1961

Paul Newman
Joanne Woodward
Sidney Poitier
Louis Armstrong
Diahann Carroll
Serge Reggiani

Director:
Martin Ritt


The first view of a Thonet chair in Paris Blues—a No. 14—comes at just 45 seconds into the credits, behind guitarist Michel “Gypsy” Devigne (Serge Reggiani).

Ram Bowen (Paul Newman) seated behind the piano player on a Thonet No. 18.

Detail

The piano player’s Thonet No. 18 has optional back braces and four curved leg braces, as shown in the bottom row of Thonet Chair Models.

Some band practice scenes show Thonet chairs and stools jumbled upside down on tables.

The Hustler

1961

Paul Newman
Jackie Gleason
Piper Laurie
George C. Scott

Director:
Robert Rossen

Thonet No. 45 in a bar scene.

Thonet No. 18 upstairs in the pool hall.

One-Eyed Jacks

1961

Marlon Brando
Karl Malden
Katy Jurado
Ben Johnson
Pina Pellicer
Slim Pickens
Elisha Cook, Jr.

Director:
Marlon Brando

In a barroom shootout scene, three models of Thonet chairs are visible:
No. 18, No. 45 variant with narrow inner back loop and No. 18 variant with
narrow inner back loop.

Hauling the body, shot through two Thonet chairs.

The Children's Hour

1961

Audrey Hepburn
Shirley MacLaine
James Garner
Miriam Hopkins
Fay Bainter
Karen Balkin

Director:
William Wyler

A piano recital at the Wright-Dobie School for Girls.

Detail

The chair at the piano is a Thonet No. 18.

In the foreground, with her back to the camerra, Karen Wright (Audrey Hepburn)

In the background, Martha Dobie (Shirley MacLaine)

Detail

In the background, right, a Thonet No. 18 casts a noir shadow.

Lover Come Back 1962

 

Rock Hudson
Doris Day
Tony Randall

Director:
Delbert Mann

Carol Templeton (Doris Day) and Jerry Webster (Rock Hudson) in a seafood restaurant.

Detail

The chiars are all Thonet No. 18, painted seafoam blue or seafoam green.

David and Lisa

1962

Keir Dullea
Janet Margolin
Howard Da Silva

Director:
Frank Perry

Thonet No. 18 in a single scene in the dining room of the residential psychiatric treatment center. Some other chairs in this set may be Thonet No. 18s with cloth back and seat covers.

Two Weeks in Another Town

1962

Kirk Douglas
Edward G. Robinson
Cyd Charisse
George Hamilton
Claire Trevor
Daliah Lavi
Rosanna Schiaffino

Director:
Vincente Minnelli


This empty Thonet No. 18 sits in front of the first row in a studio screening room, between director Maurice Kruger (Edward G. Robinson) and the screen. Kruger seems to be resting his feet on the chair.

(The movie they’re watching is The Bad and the Beautiful, also starring Kirk Douglas and directed by Vincente Minnelli.)

Detail

Detail from the shot as Kruger is leaving the screening room.

Hell Is for Heroes

1962

Steve McQueen
Bobby Darin
Fess Parker
Michele Montau

Director:
Don Siegel



The Manchurian Candidate

1962

Frank Sinatra
Laurence Harvey
Janet Leigh
Angela Lansbury
Henry Silva
James Gregory

Director:
John Frankenheimer

The famous Ladies’ Garden Club scene in The Manchurian Candidate shows the ladies sitting in a wide variety of chairs, including Thonet No. 18 chairs painted white.

 

 

Detail

The point of view of the soldiers also shows a Thonet No. 18.

Requiem for a Heavyweight

1962

Anthony Quinn
Jackie Gleason
Mickey Rooney
Julie Harris

Director:
Ralph Nelson

Probably a Thonet No. 18 that Luis "Mountain" Rivera (Anthony Quinn) is sitting on.

From a television script by Rod Serling.

Walk on the Wild Side

1962

Laurence Harvey
Capucine
Jane Fonda
Anne Baxter
Barbara Stanwyck

Director:
Edward Dmytryk

Kitty Twist (Jane Fonda) walks into Teresina’s Cafe, run by Teresina Vidaverri (Anne Baxter).

Detail

The chairs at the table near the pay phone are a Thonet No. 18 with narrow inner back loop nearest the camera, and a Thonet No. 98 variant in the background.

Dove Linkhorn (Laurence Harvey) in earnest conversation with Teresina (offscreen left, behind the counter).

Detail

The same Thonet No. 18 with narrow inner back loop casting a noir shadow.

 

Sherlock Holmes and the
Deadly Necklace

1962

Christopher Lee
Thorley Walters
Senta Berger
Hans Söhnker
Ivan Desny
and others

Director:
Terence Fisher

Sherlock Holmes (Christopher Lee) and Dr. Watson in the Inspector’s office.

Detail

Behind Holmes is a Thonet No. 18 chair casting a noir shadow on the far wall.

The same set from another angle.

The empty chair in the foreground left is a Thonet No. 18, probably the same one as in the shot above.

Irma la Douce

1963

Jack Lemmon
Shirley MacLaine
Lou Jacobi
Herschel Bernardi

Director:
Billy Wilder


Irma la Douce (Irma the Sweet) features Thonet chairs and other Thonet furniture more than any movie I’ve seen.

Detail

Irma enters Chez Moustache (bar and poolroom).

Chez Moustache has Thonet No. 45s at the  tables and at least one Thonet bar stool at the bar.

Near the end of the movie, as Moustache mops the floor, Thonet chairs are shown stacked on tables, a noir trope.
One shot is through the chairs with important action—a police car arriving— outside the bar.

Irma’s “office” (bedroom), contains at least three styles of Thonet chair, including a Thonet armchair very similar to a No. 3.

The inspector’s office includes a Kanapee (sofa), similar to No. 12, a Kleiderstock (clothes stand) similar to No. 4 in the 1904 Thonet catalog, or the Café Daum coatstand, and what looks like a red upholstered Thonet chair.

(See The Apartment, 1960
Edward G. Boyle was a set decorator for both movies, and for others directed by Wilder.)

Donovan's Reef

1963

John Wayne
Lee Marvin
Elizabeth Allen
Jack Warden
Cesar Romero
Dick Foran
Dorothy Lamour
Marcel Dalio

Marquis Andre de Lage (Cesar Romero) shows off his telescope, with a Thonet office stool based on the No. 3 Writing Desk Armchair.

Detail

Thonet office stool based on the No. 3 Writing Desk Armchair. Note the combined footrest and lower leg brace loop.

Thomas Aloysius ‘Boats’ Gilhooley (Lee Marvin) in a restaurant scene.

The chairs are Thonet No. 3 Writing Desk Armchairs, often seen in restaurant scenes.

The Train

1964

Burt Lancaster
Paul Scofield
Jeanne Moreau
Michel Simon

Direcor:
John Frankenheimer


Thonet No. 54s appear in several restaurant scenes—Paul Labiche (Burt Lancaster) center.

Another scene briefly shows the top of a Thonet No. 18.

Detail

Fanfare for a Death Scene

1964

Richard Egan
Al Hirt
Viveca Lindfors
Tina Louise
Telly Savalas
Burgess Meredith
Edward Asner
Khigh Dhiegh

Director:
Leslie Stevens


Fanfare for a Death Scene, a made-for-TV pilot for an unsold series to be titled “Stryker,” ends with an extravaganza of Thonet No. 18 chairs during a shootout at an orchestra concert. Some of the chairs appear to have been painted.

John Stryker (Richard Egan) shoots between Thonet chairs at a henchman (Khigh Dhiegh), in a shot framed by Thonet chairs.

Stryker rolls over, knocking down one Thonet chair, and shoots again,

Below, the dying henchman falls into the orchestra pit, also full of Thonet chairs, including a No. 18 casting a noir shadow.

The World of
Henry Orient

1964

Peter Sellers
Paula Prentiss
Merrie Spaeth
Tippy Walker
Tom Bosley
Angela Lansbury

Director:
George Roy Hill

Henry Orient (Peter Sellers) and Stella Dunnworthy (Paula Prentiss) in Gino’s, a “spaghetti joint.”

Thonet No. 18s at the tables.

Man’s Favorite Sport?

1964

Rock Hudson
Paula Prentiss
Maria Perschy
Charlene Holt

Director:
Howard Hawks

Roger Willoughby (Rock Hudson) and Abigail Page (Paula Prentiss) in a seafood restaurant.

Detail

Most of the chairs at tables are Thonet No. 18.

 

A shot from another angle

Detail

One of the chairs in the background (on the right) is a Thonet No. 45½.

Bunny Lake Is Missing

1965

Laurence Olivier
Carol Lynley
Keir Dullea

Director:
Otto Preminger


Ann Lake (Carol Lynley) escapes from a hospital through the dark basement, passing behind a prominently displayed Thonet No. 14.

Detail

The Big Valley
Season 1
Episode 1
“Palms of Glory”

1965

Barbara Stanwyck
Richard Long
Lee Majors
Linda Evans
Peter Breck

Director:
William Graham

The Barkley Ranch in Stockton, California.

Detail

Two Thonet No. 15 armchairs and a Thonet No. 3
writing desk armchair on the porch.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

1966

Elizabeth Taylor
Richard Burton
George Segal
Sandy Dennis

Director:
Mike Nichols


In the Red Basket Roadhouse “Cocktails - Dancing,” two models of Thonet chairs appear on camera:

Thonet No. 18 chairs, the variant with a narrow inner back loop, behind Martha (Elizabeth Taylor).

 

 

Another No. 18 variant, with noir shadow, behind George (Richard Burton), under the Squirt sign.

Detail

Detail

A ladder-back Thonet chair, complete with noir shadow.

Torn Curtain

1966

Paul Newman
Julie Andrews

Director:
Alfred Hitchcock

Near the end of the film, Professor Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman), background, and Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews) enter an East Berllin café with exiled Polish countess Kuchinska (Lila Kedrova), who wants them to sponsor her to emigrate to the United States.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18 and No. 45½.

Gambit

1966

Shirley MacLaine
Michael Caine
John Abbott
Herbert Lom
Roger C. Carmel
Arnold Moss

Director:
Ronald Neame

Harry Tristan Dean (Michael Caine) and Emile Fournier (John Abbott) in a Hong Kong nightclub.

The chair, featured in the foreground in several shots, is a Thonet No. 18 with narrow back loop.

The two discover Nicole Chang (Shirley MacLaine) at a table.

Detail

The chairs at the tables are mostly Thonet No. 18.

Wait Until Dark

1967

Audrey Hepburn
Alan Arkin
Richard Crenna
Jack Weston

Director:
Terence Young

Carlino (Jack Weston) and Roat (Alan Arkin) walk toward the kitchen of Susy Hendrix’s (Audrey Hepburn) apartment.

Detail

The chairs at the kitchen table are Thonet No. 19 with the older circular leg brace.

Mike Talman (Richard Crenna) and Carlino attack Roat in the living room of the apartment.

The chairs in the living room are Thonet No. 20, with the older circular leg brace.

Tallman’s stance looks remarkably like that of lion tamer Clyde Beatty, but Tallman is swinging a 35mm camera by its strap instead of brandishing a bullwhip. (See Taming Trump at the end of Thonet Chairs Extras.)

Susy Hendrix staggers when she realizes the danger she's in. Between her and the kitchen is the living room Thonet rocking chair shown in several shots. There's not enough of the rocker shown in the film to determine the model.

The Killing of Sister George

1968

Beryl Reid
Susannah York
Coral Browne

Director:
Robert Aldrich

Thonet No. 18 in a restroom.

Bullitt

1968

Steve McQueen
Robert Vaughn
Jacqueline Bisset
Robert Duvall

Director:
Peter Yates


In one scene, Lt. Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) meeets an informant at Enrico's Restaurant, a famous resturant in San Francisco from 1959 to 2006.

Bullitt is in the background left, just entering the restaurant.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 45½ and Thonet No. 18, the variant with the narrow back loop.

Rosemary's Baby

1968

Mia Farrow
John Cassavetes
Ruth Gordon
Sidney Blackmer
Maurice Evans
Ralph Bellamy
Angela Dorian

Director:
Roman Polanski

Thonet No. 33 chairs show up in several shots of the kitchen.  Another Thonet chair can be seen in a bedroom scene.

The Sergeant

1968

Rod Steiger
John Phillip Law
Ludmila Mikaël

Director:
John Flynn

This screenshot is from the climactic scene where Sgt. Callan (Rod Steiger) kisses PFC Swanson (John Phillip Law) in a bar.

The chairs are Thonet No. 56 (1904 catalog) with the newer arched lower braces.

Detail

The Wild Bunch

1969

William Holden
Ernest Borgnine
Robert Ryan
Edmond O'Brien
Warren Oates
Jaime Sánchez
Ben Johnson

Director:
Sam Peckinpah

Two Thonet chairs appear in this scene. They look like part of the No. 19 - No. 31 series shown in the 1904 Thonet Illustrated Catalogue.

Detail

Detail

The Cheyenne Social Club

1970

James Stewart
Henry Fonda
Shirley Jones
Sue Ane Langdon

Director:
Gene Kelly

The bar set in The Cheyenne Social Club includes Thonet No. 18 chairs and at least one No. 18 variant with the narrow inner loop.

Detail

Rio Lobo

1970

John Wayne
Jorge Rivero
Jennifer O'Neill
Jack Elam
Christopher Mitchum

Director:
Howard Hawks


In a saloon scene, there are Thonet No. 18s at the table near the stairs and on stage.  The closer tables have No. 3 writing desk armchairs.

Detail

The Phantom Tollbooth

1970

Butch Patrick
Mel Blanc
Chuck Jones

Director:
Chuck Jones
Abe Levitow
Dave Monahan (live action)

Thonet No. 18 chairs at a table early in the live action segment of the film.

The Looking Glass War

1970

Christopher Jones
Pia Degermark
Ralph Richardson
Anthony Hopkins
Paul Rogers

Director:
Frank Pierson

John Avery (Anthony Hopkins) and Haldane (Paul Rogers) enter an apartment/office.

Detail

The chair in the background is a Thonet No. 14.

Detail

A room upstairs contains two more Thonet No. 14 chairs.

The Girl (Pia Degermark) in her apartment sitting in a Thonet Rocking Chair.

McCabe & Mrs. Miller

1971

Warren Beatty
Julie Christie
René Auberjonois
Michael Murphy
Shelley Duvall
Keith Carradine

Director:
Robert Altman

The bar set in McCabe & Mrs. Miller includes at least two Thonet models.

Detail

A Thonet No. 45½ in front of John McCabe (Warren Beatty) and Constance Miller (Julie Christie) and a Thonet No. 18 to the left.

Thonet No. 18 variants with narrow inner loop at a gambling table.

Detail

Doc

1971

Stacy Keach
Faye Dunaway
Harris Yulin
Michael Witney
Denver John Collins
Dan Greenburg

Director:
Frank Perry

Wyatt Earp (Harris Yulin) walks into a bar.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18 with narrow inner back loop.

Doc Holliday (Stacy Keach) talks with The Kid (Denver John Collins).

Detail

The chair in the background is similar to a Thonet No. 68 with a single inner back loop.

Cabaret

1972

Liza Minnelli
Michael York
Joel Grey

Director:
Bob Fosse

The famous opening scene of Cabaret is full of Thonet chairs, mostly No. 18s.

A Doll’s House

1973

Jane Fonda
Edward Fox
Trevor Howard

Director:
Joseph Losey

Thonet No. 18s In the Kaffe Salon.

Detail

Emergency!
Season 3
Episode 18
“How Green Was My Thumb?”

1974

Kevin Tighe
Randolph Mantooth

Director:
Christian I. Nyby II

Fire in a winery.

The Front Page

1974

Jack Lemmon
Walter Matthau
Charles Durning
David Wayne
Susan Sarandon
Austin Pendleton
Carol Burnett

Director:
Billy Wilder

In Wilder’s widescreen take on The Front Page, a Thonet No. 18 sits outside the office of Walter Burns’ (Walter Mathau).

Detail

Hildebrand ‘Hildy’ Johnson (Jack Lemmon) walks out after telling Burns he’s quitting and getting married.

In a later scene, Mollie Malloy (Carol Burnett) fights off a crowd of journalists with a Thonet chair (unknown model).
(Burnet’s action pose is reminiscent of Clyde Beatty taming lions with a Thonet No. 18. See Thonet Chairs in Art.)

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

1974

Warren Oates
Isela Vega
Robert Webber
Gig Young
Helmut Dantine

Director:
Sam Peckinpah


Thonet No. 14s in a restaurant scene.

The Cars That Ate Paris

1974

John Meillon
Terry Camilleri
Kevin Miles

Director:
Peter Weir

A resident of Paris, Australia working on a craft project involving parts of wrecked cars.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 18.

Russian Roulette

1975

George Segal
Cristina Raines
Denholm Elliott
Louise Fletcher

Director:
Lou Lombardo

Cpl. Timothy Shaver (George Segal) walks by a bathroom while checking out an apartment.

Detail

The chair in the bathroom is a Thonet No. 18 painted white.

Shampoo

1975

Warren Beatty
Julie Christie
Goldie Hawn
Lee Grant
Jack Warden
Tony Bill

Director:
Hal Ashby

Detail

George Roundy (Warren Beatty) and Felicia Karpf (Lee Grant) at a Republican election-night party.

The chair in the foreground is a Thonet No. 18.

Jill Haynes (Goldie Hawn) and Dennis Lolly (Randy Scheer) in another room at the party.

Detail

The chair looks like a No. 45 with the inner loop extending down to the rear legs.

Columbo
Season 2
Episode 1
“Étude in Black”

1976

Peter Falk

Director:
Nicholas Colasanto

Thonet No. 18s at a ballet school.

A Star is Born

1976

Barbra Streisand
Kris Kristofferson
Gary Busey

Director:
Frank Pierson

In this third version of A Star is Born, John Norman Howard (Kris Kristofferson) first sees Esther Hoffman (Barbra Streisand) singing in a bar, and a fight breaks out. The bar’s tables are furnished with Thonet No. 18 chairs.

Emergency!
Season 6
Episode 10
“Welcome to Santa Rosa County”

1976

Kevin Tighe
Randolph Mantooth

Director:
Christian I. Nyby II

Thonet No. 45 and No. 18

Emergency!
Season 6
Episode 3
“The Unlikely Heirs"

1976

Kevin Tighe
Randolph Mantooth

Director:
Georg Fenady

A fire at a stage set.

Julia

1977

Jane Fonda
Vanessa Redgrave
Jason Robards
Hal Holbrook
Rosemary Murphy
Maximilian Schell

Director:
Fred Zinnemann

Thonet No. 18s in a restaurant scene.

Columbo
Season 7
Episode 1
“Try and Catch Me”

1977

Peter Falk

Director:
James Frawley

Thonet No. 18 with narrow back loop in a restaurant.

The Turning Point

1977

Shirley MacLaine
Anne Bancroft
Tom Skerritt
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Leslie Browne

Director:
Herbert Ross

Emilia Rodgers (Leslie Browne) and DeeDee Rodgers (Shirley MacLaine)

Detail

Thonet No. 18

Despair

1978

Dirk Bogarde
Andréa Ferréol
Klaus Löwitsch
Volker Spengler

Director:
Rainer Werner Fassbinder

An outdoor café table.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

The Cat from Outer Space

1978

Ken Berry
Sandy Duncan
Harry Morgan
Ronnie Schell
Roddy McDowall
McLean Stevenson

Director:
Norman Tokar

Jake / Zunar-J-5/9 Doric-4-7 (Rumpler or Amber)

Detail

Jake is perched—complete with noir shadow—on a Thonet-style office stool with a back similar to a No. 3 Writing Desk Armchair.

Time After Time

1979

Malcolm McDowell
David Warner
Mary Steenburgen

Director:
Nicholas Meyer

Detail

H. G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) i the apartment of Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen).

Her table has two chrome
Thonet No. 16–style chairs.

Airplane!

1980

Robert Hays
Julie Hagerty
Leslie Nielsen
Peter Graves
Lloyd Bridges
Robert Stack
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Barbara Billingsley

Director:
Jim Abrahams
David Zucker
Jerry Zucker

Thonet chairs appear in a flashback scene in an old-timey bar.

Detail
Thonet No. 18 with narrow back loop.

Still in the flashback, two “girl scouts” start a barroom brawl after one cheats at poker.

Detail

The chair might be a Thonet No. 24.

Later, as the “girl scouts”continue their brawl, Thonet bar stools are shown at the bar.

Detail

See Irma La Douce, 1963.

The Ninth Configuration

1980

Stacy Keach
Scott Wilson
Jason Miller
Ed Flanders

Director:
William Peter Blatty


Early scenes in The Ninth Configuration feature a Thonet No. 14 painted green.

Detail

Later, in Kane’s office in the castle, there are two Thonet No. 14s for visitors.

Escape from New York

1981

Kurt Russell
Lee Van Cleef
Ernest Borgnine
Donald Pleasence
Isaac Hayes
Harry Dean Stanton
Adrienne Barbeau

Director:
John Carpenter

A pit band in the theater scene is seated on Thonet No. 45 variant, and Thonet No. 18 chairs, painted light gray.
Some of the chairs have the optional back braces and some have the older-style circular leg brace.

The violinist, center right, is played by the director, John Carpenter.

Detail

Rich and Famous

1981

Jacqueline Bisset
Candice Bergen
David Selby
Hart Bochner

Director:
George Cukor

In Rich and Famous, George Cuckor’s final film, Thonet No.16 chairs at a dining table in the home of Merry Noel Blake’s (Candice Bergen).

Tootsie

1982

Dustin Hoffman
Jessica Lange
Teri Garr
Dabney Coleman
Charles Durning
Bill Murray
Sydney Pollack as George Fields, Michael's agent

Director:
Sydney Pollack

Jeff Slater (Bill Murray) exits stage left.

The kitchen table, with wig and makeup.

The left chair is a Thonet No. 54. In a later scene, Jeff circles the table, grabbing the Thonet chair as he goes around.

Gallipoli

1981

Mark Lee
Mel Gibson
Bill Ker
Harold Hopkins

Director:
Peter Weir

A café scene early in the film.

Detail

Thonet No. 31 chairs at the tables.

Detail

Thonet No. 14 chairs (with solid seat) in a later café scene.

Absence of Malice

1981

Paul Newman
Sally Field

Director:
Sydney Pollack

Megan Carter (Sally Field) and Gallagher (Paul Newman) dine in Caramba’s.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 16.

The Year of Living Dangerously

1982

Mel Gibson
Sigourney Weaver
Bill Kerr
Michael Murphy
Linda Hunt
Noel Ferrier

Director:
Peter Weir

Jill Bryant (Sigourney Weaver) and Guy Hamilton (Mel Gibson) having drinks at a dockside outdoor café.

From the screenplay: “They sit outside at a small, nondescript bar overlooking the harbour.”

Detail

The chairs are in the style of Thonet No. 14, in bent bamboo or faux bamboo.

A later indoor scene.

Thonet No. 14 chair with a solid or plywood seat.

The Verdict

1982

Paul Newman
Charlotte Rampling
Jack Warden
James Mason
Milo O'Shea

Director:
Sidney Lumet

 

Buffalo Bill
Season 1
Episode 2 “Buffalo Beat”

1983

Dabney Coleman
Max Wright
Joanna Cassidy
Geena Davis
John Fiedler

Director:
Tom Patchett

No. 18 and No. 16

L'argent

1983

Christian Patey
Béatrice Tabourin
Didier Baussy
Vincent Visterucci

Director:
Robert Bresson

Thonet No. 54 (or similar) in a restaurant scene near the end of the film.

Lianna

1983

Linda Griffiths
Jane Hallaren
Jon DeVries

Director:
John Sayles

 

WarGames

1983

Matthew Broderick
Dabney Coleman
John Wood
Ally Sheedy

Director:
John Badham

Thonet No. 18 chairs (with narrow inner loop) in 20 Grand Palace game arcade.

The Trip to Bountiful

1985

Geraldine Page
John Heard
Carlin Glynn
Richard Bradford
Rebecca De Mornay

Director:
Peter Masterson

Jessie Mae (Carlin Glynn) sits on a Thonet No. 19 in Sam’s Pharmacy.

In a late scene in a bus station,  Mrs. Watts (Geraldine Page) and an unocupied Thonet No. 98, or a similar model in the 90 series.

The Key to Rebecca
(TV movie)

1985

Cliff Robertson
David Soul
Season Hubley
Elene Fontana
Lina Raymond
Anthony Quayle
David Hemmings
Robert Culp

Director:
David Hemmings

Elene Fontana (Season Hubley) and Maj. William Vandam (Cliff Robertson) in an outdoor café scene.

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Alex Wolff (David Soul) and Abdullah (Anthony Quayle) at another table.

Detail

In a later scene in a club, Thonet No. 391 chairs at the tables.

Clue

1985

Eileen Brennan
Tim Curry
Madeline Kahn
Christopher Lloyd
Michael McKean
Martin Mull
Lesley Ann Warren

Director:
Jonathan Lynn

Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd)
in the basement
with the Thonet chair!

The chair in the background is a Thonet No. 18 with narrow back loop.

Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart

1985

Laureen Chew
Kim Chew
Victor Wong
Ida F. O. Chung
Cora Miao
Joan Chen
Amy Hill

Director:
Wayne Wang

Uncle Tam (Victor Wong) in his room.

The chair in the center of the frame is a Thonet No. 18, casting a noir shadow.

Crossroads

1986

Ralph Macchio
Joe Seneca
Jami Gertz
Steve Vai
Tim Russ

Director:
Walter Hill

In a bar scene.

Detail

The visible Thonet chairs are No. 16

A slightly later shot in the same set.

Detail

Thonet No. 16

The Quick and the Dead

1987

Sam Elliott
Tom Conti
Kate Capshaw
Kenny Morrison
Matt Clark

Director:
Robert Day

A Thonet No. 18 with narrow inner loop.

Best Seller

1987

James Woods
Brian Dennehy
Victoria Tennant

Director:
John Flynn

Thonet No. 18 chairs in a restaurant scene.

Another Woman

1988

Philip Bosco
Betty Buckley
Blythe Danner Sandy Dennis
Mia Farrow
Gene Hackman
and many others

Director:
Woody Allen

Thonet No. 18 chairs in a bar.

Coming to America

1988

Eddie Murphy
Arsenio Hall
James Earl Jones
John Amos
Madge Sinclair
Shari Headley

Director:
John Landis

Thonet No. 18 chairs in McDowell’s restaurant.

Detail

The Presidio

1988

Sean Connery
Mark Harmon
Meg Ryan
Jack Warden
Rick Zumwalt

Director:
Peter Hyams

After Lt. Col. Alan Caldwell (Sean Connery) knocks down a bully (Rick Zumwalt) in Nicky’s Oyser Bar and Restaurant.

Detail

The Thonet chairs in Nicky’s are an unknown model.

The bully gets up and throws a chair at Lt. Col. Caldwell.

The Tenth Man

1988

Anthony Hopkins
Kristin Scott Thomas
Derek Jacobi

Director:
Jack Gold

Jean Louis Chavel (Anthony Hopkins) emerges from the Caveau Du Palais (Palace Cellar Café).

Detail

The chairs at the outdoor tables are Thonet No. 18, with a squared seat.

The Freshman

1990

Marlon Brando
Matthew Broderick
Bruno Kirby
Penelope Ann Miller
Frank Whaley

Director:
Andrew Bergman

Detail

Carmine Sabatini, “Jimmy The Toucan,” (Marlon Brando, parodying his own role as Vito Corleone in The Godfather) operates out of a headquarters furnished with Thonet No. 18 chairs.

It’s not a coincidence that a film satirizing filmmaking includes this reference to so many past films.

The Russia House

1990

Sean Connery
Michelle Pfeiffer
Roy Scheider
James Fox
John Mahoney
Klaus Maria Brandauer

Director:
Fred Schepisi

Barley Scott Blair meets with a group of Russians. The chairs at the meeting table are Thonet No. 17 (or similar).

Detail from another shot in the same set.

A Tale of Springtime

1990

Anne Teyssèdre
Hugues Quester
Florence Darel

Director:
Éric Rohmer

Jeanne (Anne Teyssèdre) in an apartment.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

The Committments

1991

Robert Arkins
Michael Aherne
Angeline Ball
Maria Doyle
and many others

Director:
Alan Parker

Thonet No. 14 in the background.

More Thonet chairs appear in other scenes.

Miss Marple:
Episode 11
“They Do It with Mirrors”

1991

Joan Hickson
Jean Simmons
Joss Ackland
and many others

Director:
Norman Stone

Thonet No. 14.

Howards End

1992

Anthony Hopkins
Vanessa Redgrave
Helena Bonham Carter
Emma Thompson
James Wilby
Samuel West
Jemma Redgrave
Prunella Scales

The wedding party tent is furnished with Thonet No. 18 chairs.
The penultimate shot of the party looks through one chair.

Detail

The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries Season 1
Episode 5
“Death at the Bar”

1993

Patrick Malahide
Anna Cropper

Director:
Michael Winterbottom

Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn (Patrick Malahide) talks to Miss Duffy (Anna Cropper) at a restaurant.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Citizen X

1995

Stephen Rea
Donald Sutherland
Max von Sydow

Director:
Chris Gerolmo

The chair is a Thonet No. 54, with a plywood seat.

Devil in a Blue Dress

1995

Denzel Washington
Tom Sizemore
Jennifer Beals
Don Cheadle
Maury Chaykin

Director:
Carl Franklin

A dance club scene

Detail

Thonet No. 18 chairs at the tables

Shanghai Triad

1995

Gong Li
Li Baotian
Li Xuejian
Sun Chun
Wang Xiaoxiao

Director:
Zhang Yimou

Thonet No. 18.
Thonet chairs also appear in other scenes.

Big Night

1996

Minnie Driver
Ian Holm
Isabella Rossellini
Tony Shalhoub
Stanley Tucci

Director:
Campbell Scott
Stanley Tucci

Paradise, the restaurant run by Primo and Secondo—and the location of much of the action in Big Night—contains four models of Thonet chairs.

Thonet No. 18 and 18 variant with narrow inner back loop


a model similar to Thonet No. 98
a model similar to ThonetNo. 124

A Summer’s Tale
Conte d'été

1996

Melvil Poupaud
Amanda Langlet
Gwenaëlle Simon
Aurelia Nolin
Aimé Lefèvre
Alain Guellaff
Evelyne Lahana
Yves Guérin
Franck Cabot

Director:
Éric Rohmer

Thonet No. 18.

Primal Fear

1996

Richard Gere
Laura Linney
John Mahoney
Alfre Woodard
Frances McDormand
Edward Norton

Director:
Gregory Hoblit

Martin Vail (Richard Gere) in John Barleycorn’s Memorial Pub (a real bar where the bar scenes were shot).

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

L.A. Confidential

1997

Kevin Spacey
Russell Crowe
Guy Pearce
James Cromwell
David Strathairn
Kim Basinger
Danny DeVito

Director:
Curtis Hanson

A restaurant scene behind the opening credits.

Detail

Thonet No. 18 with narrow back loop.

Tea with Mussolini

1999

Cher
Judi Dench
Joan Plowright
Maggie Smith
Lily Tomlin
Charlie Lucas
Baird Wallace
Massimo Ghini
Paolo Seganti
Michael Williams

Director:
Franco Zeffirelli

Some of the Scorpioni in a restaurant scene.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Detail

In a kitchen scene, Lady Hester Random (Maggie Smith) appears to contemplate a Thonet No. 375 or similar.

In a late scene, Luca Innocente (Baird Wallace) leans on a piano.

 

Detail

Thonet No. 18 chairs upside down on a table, a trope indicating closing time or the beginning of the end of the film.

Black Books

2000 to 2004

Dylan Moran
Bill Bailey
Tamsin Greig

Bernard Black (Dylan Moran) in a restaurant featured in several episodes.

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

America's Sweethearts

2001

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Director:
Joe Roth

The scene is from “Time Over Time,” a film made by Hal Weidmann (Christopher Walken), reworking the opening of Cabaret.
Zeta-Jones is sitting on a No. 16. A No. 18 is in the background.

The Quiet American

2002

Michael Caine
Brendan Fraser
Do Thi Hai Yen

Director:
Phillip Noyce

Thonet No. 14 chairs at an outdoor café scene.

Till Human Voices Wake Us

2002

Guy Pearce
Helena Bonham Carter

Director:
Michael Petroni

Thonet No. 14.

Evelyn

2002

Sophie Vavasseur
Pierce Brosnan
Stephen Rea
Alan Bates
Julianna Margulies
Aidan Quinn

Director:
Bruce Beresford

Thonet No. 14 on the right, the top of a No. 18 on the left.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

2002

Drew Barrymore
George Clooney
Julia Roberts
Sam Rockwell

Director:
George Clooney


In a break-room scene, the chairs look like a variant of the Melnikov Roundback café chair designed by Michael Thonet.

In the background of a bar scene, a Thonet writing desk armchair No. 3.

Speakeasy

2002

David Strathairn
Nicky Katt
Stacy Edwards
Arthur Hiller
Lake Bell
Christopher McDonald

Director:
Brendan Murphy

A restaurant set
There are Thonet chairs in at least one other set.

Chicago

2002

Renée Zellweger
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Richard Gere
Queen Latifah
John C. Reilly
Christine Baranski
Taye Diggs
Lucy Liu
Colm Feore
Dominic West

Director:
Rob Marshall

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

In the Cut

2003

Meg Ryan
Mark Ruffalo
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Kevin Bacon (uncredited)

Director:
Jane Campion

In a restaurant scene most chairs are the usual Thonet No. 18s. One, barely seen early in this set is a Thonet No. 16.

Monarch of the Glen
Season 5

2003

Lloyd Owen
Alastair Mackenzie
Dawn Steele

Director:
Robert Knights

Thonet No. 16s and Thonet No. 18s in a restaurant scene.

Coffee and Cigarettes

2003

Roberto Benigni
Steven Wright
Joie Lee
Cinqué Lee
Steve Buscemi
Iggy Pop
Tom Waits
Joseph Rigano
Vinny Vella
Vinny Vella Jr.
Renée French
E.J. Rodriguez
Alex Descas
Isaach De Bankolé
Cate Blanchett
Meg White
Jack White
Alfred Molina
Steve Coogan
GZA
RZA
Bill Murray
William Rice
Taylor Mead

Director:
Jim Jarmusch

Coffee and Cigarettes consists of eleven shorts, with some themes connecting the shorts. Thonet chairs appear in several segments.

At the end of the first segment, Strange to Meet You, Roberto Benigni exits.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18

In Those Things’ll Kill Ya, the fourth segment, Joseph Rigano and Vinny Vella talk about the dangers of cigarettes in a coffee shop.

The empty Thonet chair between the two actors will be filled by Vella's son later in the scene.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

In the final segment, Champagne, William Rice and Taylor Mead chat during a coffee break.

Detail

In the background, several chairs are jumbled, some on a table, a trope indicating the end of a plot or scene.
The foreground chair and one on the table are Thonet No. 18.

The Recruit

2003

Al Pacino
Colin Farrell
Bridget Moynahan
Gabriel Macht

Director:
Roger Donaldson

James Douglas Clayton (Colin Farrell) and Layla Moore (Bridget Moynahan) at her kitchen table.
The chairs are Thonet No. 16 painted white.

Detail

Ray

2004

Jamie Foxx
Kerry Washington
Clifton Powell
Harry Lennix
Terrence Howard
Larenz Tate
Richard Schiff
Regina King

Director:
Taylor Hackford

After hours.

Thonet chairs upside down on restaurant tables (or stacked) is a trope of noir movies.
The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Sideways

2004

Paul Giamatti
Thomas Haden Church
Virginia Madsen
Sandra Oh

Director:
Alexander Payne

Maya Randall (Virginia Madsen) in a wine café.

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Chaos

2005

Jason Statham
Ryan Phillippe
Wesley Snipes
Justine Waddell
Keegan Connor Tracy
Henry Czerny

Director:
Tony Giglio

Thonet No. 18 chairs in a café scene.

Detail

Good Night, and Good Luck.

2005

David Strathairn
Patricia Clarkson
George Clooney
Jeff Daniels
Robert Downey Jr.
Frank Langella

Director:
George Clooney

Thonet No. 16 chiars in a restaurant scene.

The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen)

2006

Ulrich Mühe
Martina Gedeck
Sebastian Koch
Ulrich Tukur

Director:
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Thonet No. 23, Writing Desk Armchair (Schreibtischfauteuil), centered in the frame of a bar scene.

 

Detail

Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck) in the foreground, Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) in the background.

The Prestige

2006

Christian Bale
Hugh Jackman
Michael Caine
Scarlett Johansson
Rebecca Hall
Andy Serkis
David Bowie
Piper Perabo

Director:
Christopher Nolan

Sarah Borden (Rebecca Hall) and her nephew watch a magic show at The Strand Theater.

This set uses at least five models of Thonet chair: No. 14, No. 16, No. 18, No 18 with narrow back loop, and No. 20.

Detail

Sarah sits in a Thonet No 16. An emptyThonet No 16 is in the middle back, next to the man in the hat.

In front of the empty Thonet No. 16 is an empty Thonet No. 18 with narrow back loop and in front of that an empty Thonet No. 18.

Detail

At the far right of the screen shot above is an empty Thonet No. 20. This chair has the older-style circular leg brace.
Behind and to the right is a Thonet No. 14.

Last Chance Cafe

2006

Kevin Sorbo
Kate Vernon
Jessica Amlee
Samantha Ferris

Director:
Jorge Montesi

Madge Beardsley (Samantha Farris) looks for love online in her place, the Last Chance Cafe.

Detail

The chairs in the café are Thonet No. 18 with narrow inner back loop.

Once

2007

Glen Hansard
Markéta Irglová

Director:
John Carney

Guy (Glen Hansard) and Girl (Markéta Irglová) at the dining table in Girl’s apartment.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 14.

In a late scene, Girl is using a Thonet No. 14 at her new piano.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

2008

Frances McDormand
Amy Adams
Ciarán Hinds
Lee Pace

Director:
Bharat Nalluri

Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) walks through a dressing room.

Detail

Thonet No. 18 and No. 16 chairs.

I’ve Loved You So Long

2008

Kristin Scott Thomas
Elsa Zylberstein
Pascal Demolon

Director:
Philippe Claudel

An unnamed man (Pascal Demolon) meets Juliette Fontaine (Kristin Scott Thomas) in a bar with rows of Thonet No. 18 chairs, their curves echoed by the curves at the top of the windows on the right.

Me and Orson Welles

2008

Zac Efron
Christian McKay
Claire Danes
Ben Chaplin

Director:
Richard Linklater

Sonja Jones (Claire Danes) serving wine in her apartment.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 18.

Coco Before Chanel

2009

Audrey Tautou,
Benoît Poelvoorde,
Alessandro Nivola,
Marie Gillain,
Emmanuelle Devos

Director:
Anne Fontaine

Thonet No. 18.

Today's Special

2009

Aasif Mandvi

Director:
David Kaplan

Three models are shown:
No. 18, No. 16 and No.14

Georgia O'Keeffe

2009

Joan Allen
Jeremy Irons

Director:
Bob Balaban

A Thonet No. 16 in a hospital room.

Grey’s Anatomy
Season 5
Episode 22
“What a Difference a Day Makes”

2009

Ellen Pompeo
Sandra Oh
Katherine Heigl
and many others

Director:
Rob Corn

Thonet No. 14 (?) in a bar scene.

Julie & Julia

2009

Meryl Streep
Amy Adams
Stanley Tucci
Chris Messina
Linda Emond

Director:
Nora Ephron

A restaurant scene. Julia and Paul Child (Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci) are seated at the far left rear.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 16.

At Le Cordon Bleu. Julia Child (Meryl Streep) is on the right.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

The American

2010

George Clooney

Director:
Anton Corbijn

Thonet No. 18s in the Bar Del Monte.

Foyle’s War
Season 6
Episode 1
“The Russian House”

2010

Michael Kitchen
Honeysuckle Weeks
Anthony Howell

Thonet No. 18 chairs in a bar scene.

Detail

Foyle’s War
Season 6
Episode 3
“The Hide”

2010

Michael Kitchen
Honeysuckle Weeks
Anthony Howell


In an early scene in Der Alte Palast Dresden Café, one room has many Thonet No. 18s. In the background is a tall stool with a back, possibly a Thonet No. 10/14 or No. 20.

 

Shanghai

2010

John Cusack
Gong Li
Chow Yun-fat
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
David Morse
Ken Watanabe

Director:
Mikael Håfström


A restaurtant scene with Anna Lan-Ting (Gong Li).

Detail

The Thonet chairs are similar to No. 391, but with a shaped flat panel in the back instead of a bent inner loop.

Castle
Season 3
Episode 1
“A Deadly Affair”

2010

Nathan Fillion
Stana Katic
Susan Sullivan
Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Molly C. Quinn
Jon Huertas

Director:
Rob Bowman

Detective Javier “Javi” Esposito (Jon Huertas) and Detective Kevin Ryan (Seamus Dever) in a warehouse with manequins.

Detail

Behind the two detectives is a stack of Thonet chairs.
The top chair is a Thonet No. 19. The chair below is probably a Thonet No. 16.

Another view of the warehouse.

Detail

The chair behind the manequin in the middle of the frame is a Thonet No. 16.

Castle
Season 3
Episode 10
“Last Call”

 

Nathan Fillion
Stana Katic
Susan Sullivan
Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Molly C. Quinn
Jon Huertas

Director:
Bryan Spicer

Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) and a bar worker enter The Old Haunt.

Detail

The chair is a Thonet No. 18.

The Adventures of Tintin

2011

Director:
Steven Spielberg

Captain Haddock, Snowy and Tintin, with Thonet No. 18s in the background.

Detail

Hugo

2011

Ben Kingsley
Sacha Baron Cohen
Asa Butterfield
Chloë Grace Moretz
Ray Winstone
Emily Mortimer
Christopher Lee
Jude Law

Director:
Martin Scorsese

Thonet No. 18.

Mildred Pierce

2011

Kate Winslet
Guy Pearce
Evan Rachel Wood
Melissa Leo

Director:
Todd Haynes

Mildred’s Restaurant is furnished with Thonet No. 16 chairs.

 

Two scenes feature the Thonet No. 16s upside down on tables:
This scene is at a turning point in the plot.  

A later, similar scene comes toward the end of the plot.

Community
Season 3
Episode 10
“Regional
Holiday Music”

2011

Joel McHale
Gillian Jacobs
Danny Pudi
Yvette Nicole Brow
Alison Brie
Donald Glover
Jim Rash
Ken Jeong
Chevy Chase

Director:
Tristram Shapeero

Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) sitting near a Thonet stool based on the No. 18 chair.

Detail

This stool is similar to the Bureausessel (office stool) No. 10 and No. 20 in the 1904 Thonet catalog.

A model apparently identical to the one in this set is listed today as the No. 18 Barstool in the Thonet Australia website, which notes that it “has been adapted from the classic No. 18 chair.”

Renoir

2012

Michel Bouquet
Christa Theret
Vincent Rottiers
Thomas Doret

Director:
Gilles Bourdos

A Thonet No. 14 in the background.

Not Fade Away

2012

James Gandolfini
John Magaro
Jack Huston
Bella Heathcote

Director:
David Chase

Detail

Grace Dietz (Bella Heathcote) packs her car.
The chair is a Thonet No. 16.

The Bletchley Circle
Season 1
Episode 3
“Cracking a Killer’s Code” (p 3)

2012

Anna Maxwell Martin
Rachael Stirling
Sophie Rundle
Julie Graham
Hattie Morahan

Director:
Andy De Emmony

In an apartment.

Detail
The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Much Ado
About Nothing

2012

Amy Acker
Alexis Denisof
Reed Diamond
Nathan Fillion
Clark Gregg
Fran Kranz
Sean Maher
Jillian Morgese

Director:
Joss Whedon

Beatrice (Amy Acker) hides under a kitchen counter.

The chairs in the background are similar to the Melnikov Café Chair, with four arc leg braces.

Downton Abbey
Season 4
Episode 8

2013

Michelle Dockery
Gary Carr

Director:
Ed Hall

Lady Mary Crawley (Michelle Dockery) and Jack Ross (Gary Carr) in Jack’s practice studio.

The chairs are Thonet No. 18, with optional back braces and the modern curved leg brace.

Foyle’s War
Season 7
Episode 3
“Sunflower”

2013

Michael Kitchen
Honeysuckle Weeks

Looking through a Thonet No. 14, with Foyle’s hat on the seat, at another Thonet No. 14, an echo of the over-the-shoulder shot from Foyle to Thomas Nelson.

Other episodes in Season 7 also show Thonet chairs.

The Best Offer

2013

Geoffrey Rush
Jim Sturgess
Sylvia Hoeks
Donald Sutherland

Director:
Giuseppe Tornatore

The Best Offer—a film about an art collector—includes Thonet No. 18s in some scenes.

A Thonet No. 18 in a painting (which was apparently made for the film).

Inside Llewyn Davis

2013

Oscar Isaac
Carey Mulligan
John Goodman
Justin Timberlake
Adam Driver

Director:
Joel Coen
Ethan Coen

Thonet chairs upside down on restaurant tables and noir shadows of Thonet chairs are tropes of noir movies.

Detail

Thonet No 18s on restaurant tables.

Detail

In the far background, the chairs cast noir shadows.

American Hustle

2013

Christian Bale
Bradley Cooper
Amy Adams
Jeremy Renner
Jennifer Lawrence

Director:
David O. Russell

Thonet No.14 appears in an outdoor cafe scene.

Jimi:
All Is by My Side

2013

André Benjamin
Imogen Poots
Hayley Atwell
Burn Gorman

Director:
John Ridley

Thonet No. 18 in a dressing room.

Saving Mr. Banks

2013

Emma Thompson
Tom Hanks
Paul Giamatti
Jason Schwartzman
Bradley Whitford
Colin Farrell

Director:
John Lee Hancock

Unknown model with looped leg braces.

Phantom

2013

Ed Harris
David Duchovny
William Fichtner
Lance Henriksen
Johnathon Schaech
Julian Adams

Director:
Todd Robinson


Thonet chair in background.

Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself

2013

George Plimpton

Director:
Tom Bean
Luke Poling

In a Paris café, Thonet No. 18.

Days and Nights

2013

Jean Reno
Katie Holmes
William Hurt
and many more


and Director:
Christian Camargo

Thonet No. 18 with the more modern leg brace.

Blood Ties

2013

Clive Owen
Billy Crudup
Marion Cotillard
Mila Kunis
Zoe Saldana
Matthias Schoenaerts
James Caan

Director:
Guilleaume Canet

Thonet chairs in an outdoor snack shop. The chairs appear to be painted white.

Good People

2013

James Franco
Kate Hudson
Omar Sy
Tom Wilkinson
Sam Spruell

Director:
Henrik Ruben Genz

Thonet No. 14, painted.

The Last of Robin Hood

2013

Kevin Kline
Dakota Fanning
Susan Sarandon
Matthew Kane
Max Casella

Director:
Richard Glatzer
Wash West

Florence Aadland (Susan Sarandon) sits beside a makeup table as her daughter Beverly Aadland (Dakota Fanning) leaves, seen in the mirror.

Detail

A white-painted Thonet No. 18 is seen both at the makeup table and in the mirror.

Broadchurch
Season 1
Episode 3

2013

David Tennant
Olivia Colman
Vicky McClure

Director:
Euros Lyn

Thonet No. 18s in the pub of The Traders Hotel, with journalist Karen White (Vicky McClure).

Downton Abbey
Season 5
Episode 8

2014

Rob James-Collier

Director:
Michael Engler


Thomas Barrow (Rob James-Collier) in The Underground London Club The Velvet Violin.

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Detail

Testament of Youth

2014

Alicia Vikander
Kit Harington
Taron Egerton
Colin Morgan
Emily Watson
Hayley Atwell
Dominic West
Miranda Richardson

Director:
James Kent

Thonet No. 18 chairs in a hospital scene.

Detail

An Honest Liar

2014

James Randi
Alice Cooper
Bill Nye
Adam Savage
Penn & Teller
Michael Shermer

Director:
Justin Weinstein
Tyler Measom

This documentary shows Thonet chairs in several scenes, including this one, with Harry Houdini ringing a bell with his toes. Other scenes show stage escapes from being tied in a Thonet chair.

Houdini

2014

Adrien Brody
Kristen Connolly

Director:
Uli Edel

 

To Be Takei

2014

George Takei

Director:
Jennifer M. Kroot

This is a scene from Takei’s musical Allegiance, which shown in the documentary. The chair is a Thonet No. 18 with narrow inner back loop.

Klondike

2014

Richard Madden
Abbie Cornish
Marton Csokas
Ian Hart
Greg Lawson
Conor Leslie
Tim Blake Nelson
Augustus Prew
Johnny Simmons
Tim Roth
Sam Shepard

Director:
Simon Cellan Jones

Thonet chairs appear in other scenes as well.

The Crimson Field

Episode 2

2014

Rupert Graves
Oona Chaplin
Hermione Norris
Suranne Jones
Kevin Doyle
and many others

Director:
David Evans

The field hospital set in The Crimson Field includes several Thonet Chair models. This screenshot highlights a Thonet No. 54.

Castles in the Sky

2014

Eddie Izzard
Laura Fraser
Alex Jennings

Director:
Gillies MacKinnon

Robert Watson-Watt (Eddie Izzard) makes notes next to a Thonet No. 98 chair with four arc leg braces. The table is also at least in the Thonet style.

Detail

Bosch
Season 1
Episode 6
“Donkey’s Years”

2014

Titus Welliver
Jamie Hector
Amy Aquino
Annie Wersching

Director:
Jim McKay

 Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) in a restaurant scene.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Grandma

2015

Lily Tomlin
Julia Garner
Marcia Gay Harden
Judy Greer
Laverne Cox
Sam Elliott

Director:
Paul Weitz

A Thonet No. 391 in the Bonobo Café.

Danny Collins

2015

Al Pacino
Annette Bening
Jennifer Garner
Bobby Cannavale
Christopher Plummer

Director:
Dan Fogelman

A Thonet No. 18 chair.

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Season 3
Episode 2
“Murder & the Maiden”

2015

Essie Davis
Nathan Page
Hugo Johnstone-Burt
Ashleigh Cummings

Director:
Tony Tilse

Thonet chairs also appear in other episodes.

An Inspector Calls

2015

David Thewlis
Sophie Rundle
Chloe Pirrie
Finn Cole
Miranda Richardson
Ken Stott
Kyle Soller

Director:
Aisling Walsh

Alice Grey (Sophie Rundle) appeals for help to Sybil Birling’s women’s aid society board members.

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

 

Bartender

2016

Don Cheadle

Director:
Gina Prince-Bythewood
Set Decorator:
Marisa Collins

One of nine short black-and-white virtual-reality films set in the world of “L.A. Noir,” Bartender takes place in a dimly lit bar.

Presented by The New York Times

Detail

In the background, Thonet No. 18 chairs, some upside down on top of tables.

Don Cheadle in a publicity still with Thonet No. 18 chairs. Noir tropes used in this still include Thonet chairs casting noir shadows and chairs upside down on tables,

The Crown

2016

Claire Foy
Matt Smith
Vanessa Kirby
Eileen Atkins
John Lithgow
and many others

Thonet No. 18s in a “gentleman's club.”

Another shot in the same set shows a Thonet No. 14 from the back.

Café Society

2016

Jeannie Berlin
Steve Carell
Jesse Eisenberg
Blake Lively
Parker Posey
Kristen Stewart
Corey Stoll
Ken Stott

Director:
Woody Allen

Thonet No. 18s and 45s.

Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You

2016

Norman Lear
George Clooney
Bill Moyers

Director:
Heidi Ewing
Rachel Grady

This is a movie set shown in the documentary. Lear is sitting in a No. 18, the other three chairs are No. 16s.

La La Land

2016

Ryan Gosling
Emma Stone
John Legend
Rosemarie DeWitt

Director:
Damien Chazelle


Thonet No. 18s in the jazz club scenes, echoing many movies with jazz club scenes, including musicals Cabaret and The Band Wagon.

This is not surprising, as La La Land is full of homage to earlier musicals and other classic movies.

Detail

The Magnificent Seven

2016

Denzel Washington
Chris Pratt
Ethan Hawke
Vincent D'Onofrio
and others

Director:
Antoine Fuqua

Detail

A Thonet No. 18 in a very brief cameo in the background of one shot.

The Exception

2016

Lily James
Jai Courtney
Janet McTeer
Christopher Plummer

Director:
David Leveaux

Captain Stefan Brandt (Jai Courtney) in the bedroom of Mieke de Jong (Lily James).

The chair is a Thonet No. 45½. His pistol is on the seat.

Call the Midwife
Season 6
Episode 8

2017

Created by Heidi Thomas

Thonet No. 18s in a restaurant scene with, left to right, dentist Christopher Dockerill (Jack Hawkins), his daughter Alexandra Dockerill (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland), and nurse Beatrix “Trixie” Franklin (Helen George).

The Sense of an Ending

2017

Jim Broadbent
Charlotte Rampling
Harriet Walter
Emily Mortimer
Michelle Dockery

Director:
Ritesh Batra


At a boys’ assembly, in the foreground left to right:
Adrian Finn Jr. (Andrew Buckley), Tony Webster (Billy Howle) and Joseph Dobson’s empty chair, a Thonet No. 18.

The Lost City of Z

2017

Charlie Hunnam
Robert Pattinson
Sienna Miller
Tom Holland

Director:
James Gray

Detail

Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) sends a telegram in an office (a consulate?) next to a Thonet No. 18 with optional back braces.

Frankie Drake Mysteries:
Season 1
Episode 5
“Out of Focus”

2017

Lauren Lee Smith
Chantel Riley
Rebecca Liddiard
Sharron Matthews

Director:
Sudz Sutherland

“Out of Focus” concerns a murder on a silent movie set, ostensibly directed by Mack Sennett.

Thonet No. 18 chairs are featured on the movie set, and seen in both black and white silent clips from the movie and in several scenes on the set.

Above: filming a stunt where Frankie Drake (Lauren Lee Smith) gets hit with a stool.

A scene filmed through the legs of a Thonet chair.

The Cotton Club: Encore

2017

Richard Gere
Gregory Hines
Diane Lane
Lonette McKee
Bob Hoskins
James Remar
Nicolas Cag
Allen Garfield
Fred Gwynne

Director:
Francis Ford Coppola

The Cotton Club, 1984, has many scenes with Thonet chairs of several models. These screenshots are from the 2017 Director’s Cut called The Cotton Club: Encore.

Dutch angle shot of The Cotton Club, showing tables with Thonet No. 18 chairs.

Detail

Owney Madden (Bob Hoskins) at a table in The Cotton Club.

Thonet No. 391 chairs at a table.
Dutch Schultz (James Remar) center back.

Detail
Thonet No. 18-style barstools.

Frankie Drake Mysteries:
Season 2
Episode 9
“Dealer’s Choice”

2018

Lauren Lee Smith
Chantel Riley
Rebecca Liddiard
Sharron Matthews

Director:
Ruba Nadda

In a bar scene, a Thonet No. 16.

Detail

Madam Secretary
Season 5
Episode 4
“Requiem”

2018

Téa Leoni
Tim Daly
Patina Miller
Geoffrey Arend
and many others

Director:
Eric Stoltz

Mickey Kensington (Quentin Earl Darrington) and Jay Whitman (Sebastian Arcelus) have lunch. Thonet No. 18s in the background.

Ladies in Black

2018

Angourie Rice
Rachael Taylor
Julia Ormond

Director:
Bruce Beresford


Thonet No. 14 chairs in a dining-room scene.

Detail

Press
Season 1
Episode 3
“Don’t Take My Heart, Don’t Break My Heart”

2018

Charlotte Riley
Ben Chaplin
Priyanga Burford
Brendan Cowell

Director:
Tom Vaughan

Peter Langly (Brendan Cowell) and Amina Chaudury (Priyanga Burford) walk past an outdoor café.

Detail

Thonet No. 18 chairs

Vienna Blood
Episode 1
“The Last Seance”

2019

Matthew Beard
Jürgen Maurer

Director:
Robert Dornhelm

Vienna Blood, a PBS TV series, is set in Vienna in 1900, so it’s not surprising to see Thonet chairs on set in many episodes. Here’s just one example.

Max Liebermann (Matthew Beard) in a police station interview room. This same room is shown in several other episodes.

Detail

Thonet No. 98 (with a solid-wood seat).

Toy Story 4

2019

Tom Hanks
Tim Allen
Keanu Reeves
Joan Cusack
and many others

Director:
Josh Cooley

In Second Chance Antiques: Thonet No. 18.

Detail

World on Fire
Season 1
Episode 1

2019

Jonah Hauer-King
Helen Hunt

Director:
Adam Smith

In a café, Harry Chase (Jonah Hauer-King), Nancy Campbell (Helen Hunt) and Thonet No. 18 chairs. A Thonet kliederstock is in the background.

Detail

A Call to Spy

2019

Sarah Megan Thomas
Stana Katic
Radhika Apte

Director:
Sarah Megan Thomas

A café scene with Thonet No. 16 chairs at some tables.

Detail

The Highwaymen

2019

Kevin Costner
Woody Harrelson
Kathy Bates
John Carroll Lynch
Kim Dickens
Thomas Mann
William Sadler

Director:
John Lee Hancock

Maney Gault (Woody Harrelson) and Frank Hamer (Kevin Costner) at a café stop in Oklahoma, with Thonet No. 18 chairs at the tables.

Detail

Note how Hamer’s coffee cup is framed by the chair in this shot.

Crossword Mysteries:
A Puzzle to Die For

2019

Lacey Chabert
Brennan Elliott
John Kapelos

Director:
Don McCutcheon

Detective Logan (Brennan Elliott) and Chief Chauncey Logan (John Kapelos) in the hotel where the annual crossword championship is being held.

Detail

The table at the back right has Thonet No. 18 chairs, casting noir shadows.

Agatha and the Midnight Murders

2020

Helen Baxendale
Blake Harrison
Jacqueline Boatswain
Gina Bramhill
Daniel Caltagirone
Thomas Chaanhing
Scott Chambers

Director:
Joe Stephenson

A Thonet No. 18 in the basement where the characters took refuge during an air raid.

Detail

Note circular leg brace and cane seat.

Virgin River
Several Episodes

2020

Alexandra Breckenridge
Colin Lawrence
Martin Henderson
And many others

Director:
Andy Mikita

John “Preacher” Middleton (Colin Lawrence), the chef at Jack’s Bar.
Chairs upside down on a table represent a film noir trope indicating after hours.

S2 E1 “New Beginnings”

Melinda “Mel” Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge) walks into Jack’s Bar after closing time.

S2 E10: "Blown Away"

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 23 Writing Desk Armchairs.

Upside down Thonet chairs are shown in many episodes of Virgin River.

Miss Scarlet and The Duke
Season 1
Episode 3
“Deeds Not Words”

2020

Kate Phillips
Stuart Martin
Ansu Kabia

Director:
Declan O’Dwyer

Eliza Scarlet (Kate Phillips) waits to observe a women’s suffrage group.

The chairs are Thonet No. 14 and No. 18.

Coda

2020

Patrick Stewart
Katie Holmes
Giancarlo Esposito

Claude Lalonde

Helen Morrison (Katie Holmes) and Sir Henry Cole (Patrick Stewart) in Arthur’s Restaurant.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

The man at far right is sitting on a Thonet bar stool.

 

Detail

Frankie Drake Mysteries:
Season 4
Episode 7
“Life is a Cabaret”

2021

Lauren Lee Smith
Chantel Riley
Rebecca Liddiard
Sharron Matthews
Thom Allison

Director:
Bosede Williams

Roger LeBlanc (Thom Allison) strides into a room.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 18.

Operation Mincemeat

2021

Colin Firth
Matthew Macfadyen
Kelly Macdonald
Penelope Wilton
Johnny Flynn
Jason Isaacs

Director:
John Madden

An outdoor café scene in Spain.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 54, with the more modern loop-shaped leg brace.

A Jazzman's Blues

2022

Joshua Boone
Amirah Vann
Solea Pfeiffer
Austin Scott
Ryan Eggold
E. Roger Mitchell

Director:
Tyler Perry

Bayou (Joshua Boone) enters his dressing room to find Buster (E. Roger Mitchell) waiting.

Detail

The chairs are Thonet No. 45½.

Slow Horses:
Season 4
Episode 2
“A Stranger Comes to Town”

2024

Gary Oldman
Jack Lowden
Kristin Scott Thomas
Sophie Okonedo
Jonathan Pryce
Hugo Weaving

Director:
Adam Randall

River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) enters Le Blanc Russe, a café in France.

The chairs are Thonet No. 54.

© 2024 Stephen Hart