1933 in film

Events

*British Film Institute founded.
*March 2 - "King Kong" premieres in New York City.
* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey.
*Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) once again expresses interest in the "Wizard of Oz" books for a series of animated cartoons, but they once again failed to make a deal with the estate of creator L. Frank Baum
*"Ecstasy", a Czechoslovak film, shocks audiences when actress Hedy Lamarr is seen naked in the film.
*"The Private Life of Henry VIII" becomes the first British film to win an American Academy Award.

Top grossing films (U.S.)

Academy Awards

*Best Picture: "Cavalcade" - Fox
*Best Actor: Charles Laughton - "The Private Life of Henry VIII"
*Best Actress: Katharine Hepburn - "Morning Glory"

Films released in 1933

*"42nd Street" - starring Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Ginger Rogers - Directed by Lloyd Bacon
*"Alice in Wonderland", starring Charlotte Henry and virtually every Paramount star at the time
*"Baby Face", starring Barbara Stanwyck
*"The Bitter Tea of General Yen", starring Barbara Stanwyck
*"Blood Money", starring George Bancroft
*"Bombshell", starring Jean Harlow
*"The Bowery", starring Wallace Beery and George Raft
*"Cavalcade", starring Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor and Herbert Mundin
*"Counsellor at Law", starring John Barrymore
*"Damaged Lives"
*"Dancing Lady", starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable
*"Deluge"
*"Design for Living", starring Fredric March and Gary Cooper
*"The Devil's Brother", starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
*"Dinner at Eight", featuring an all-star cast
*"Adventures of Don Quixote", starring Feodor Chaliapin
*"Dragnet Girl", starring Kinuyo Tanaka, directed by Yasujiro Ozu
*"Duck Soup", starring the Marx Brothers
*"Ecstasy"
*"Employees' Entrance", starring Warren William and Loretta Young
*"Flying Down to Rio", starring Dolores del Rio and Gene Raymond
*"Footlight Parade", starring James Cagney, Joan Blondell and Ruby Keeler
*"Gabriel Over the White House", starring Walter Huston. Produced by William Randolph Hearst
*"The Ghoul", starring Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke and Ernest Thesiger
* "Going Hollywood", starring Marion Davies and Bing Crosby
*"Gold Diggers of 1933", starring Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers and Warren William
*"Goodbye Again", starring Joan Blondell and Warren William
*"Hallelujah, I'm a Bum", starring Al Jolson
*"Hold Your Man", starring Clark Gable and Jean Harlow
*"I'm No Angel", starring Mae West and Cary Grant. West also wrote the story and screenplay.
*"In the Wake of the Bounty", starring Errol Flynn as Fletcher Christian.
*"The Invisible Man", starring Claude Rains in the title role.
*"Island of Lost Souls", an adaptation of H. G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau starring Charles Laughton
*"Każdemu wolno kochać", by Mieczysław Krawicz
*"King Kong", starring Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong
*"Ladies They Talk About", starring Barbara Stanwyck
*"Lady for a Day", starring Warren William and May Robson
*"Lady Killer", starring James Cagney
*"Liebelei"
*"Little Women", starring Katharine Hepburn
*"Lot in Sodom", starring Friedrich Haak
*"Man's Castle", starring Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young
*"The Mayor of Hell", starring James Cagney
*"The Midnight Patrol", starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
*"Morning Glory", starring Katharine Hepburn
*"Mystery of the Wax Museum", starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray
*"One Sunday Afternoon", starring Gary Cooper
*"Our Betters", starring Constance Bennett, Gilbert Roland, and Anita Louise
*"Parachute Jumper", starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Bette Davis, and Frank McHugh
* "Peg o' My Heart", starring Marion Davies
*"Penthouse", starring Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy
*"Picture Snatcher", starring James Cagney
*"The Power and the Glory", starring Spencer Tracy
*"The Private Life of Henry VIII", starring Charles Laughton
*"The Prizefighter and the Lady", starring Max Baer, Myrna Loy, Primo Carnera and Jack Dempsey
*"Professional Sweetheart", starring Ginger Rogers
*"Queen Christina", starring Greta Garbo
*"Secret of the Blue Room", starring Paul Lukas, Gloria Stuart and Lionel Atwill
*"Secrets", starring Mary Pickford in her last film
*"She Done Him Wrong", starring Cary Grant and Mae West
*"The Son of Kong", starring Robert Armstrong and Helen Mack
*"Sons of the Desert", starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
*"State Fair", starring Janet Gaynor, Will Rogers and Lew Ayres
*"The Story of Temple Drake", starring Miriam Hopkins and Jack La Rue
*"A Study in Scarlet", starring Reginald Owen (see A Study in Scarlet)
*"Supernatural", starring Carole Lombard, Alan Dinehart, Vivienne Osborne and Randolph Scott
*"The Testament of Dr. Mabuse", directed by Fritz Lang
*"This Day and Age", Cecil B. Demille's now cult-favorite, starring Richard Cromwell and featuring then-teenager: Baby Peggy Montgomery.
*"Three Little Pigs"
*"Tillie and Gus", starring Alison Skipworth and W.C. Fields
*"Tonight Is Ours", starring Fredric March and Claudette Colbert
*"Topaze", starring John Barrymore and Myrna Loy
*"Torch Singer", starring Claudette Colbert
*"Tugboat Annie", starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery
*"Turn Back the Clock", starring Lee Tracy and Mae Clarke
*"The Vampire Bat", starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray
*"When Ladies Meet", starring Ann Harding, Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy
*"Wild Boys of the Road", starring Frankie Darro and Edwin Phillips
*"The Working Man", starring George Arliss and Bette Davis

erials

*"Clancy of the Mounted"
*"Fighting with Kit Carson"
*"Gordon of Ghost City"
*"The Mystery Squadron"
*"The Perils of Pauline", starring Evalyn Knapp
*"The Phantom of the Air"
*"The Return of Chandu"
*"Tarzan the Fearless", starring Buster Crabbe
*"The Three Musketeers", starring Jack Mulhall and John Wayne
*"The Whispering Shadow", starring Béla Lugosi
*"The Wolf Dog", starring Rin Tin Tin

hort film series

*"Buster Keaton" (1917-1941)
*"Our Gang" (1922-1944)
*"Laurel and Hardy" (1926- 1935)
*"Ted Healey and the Three Stooges" (1933-1934)

Animated short film series

*"Aesop's Film Fables" (1921-1933)
*"Krazy Kat" (1925-1940)
*"Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" (1927-1938)
*"Mickey Mouse" (1928-1953)
*"Silly Symphonies" (1929-1939)
*"Screen Songs" (1929-1938)
*"Looney Tunes" (1930-1969)
*"Flip the Frog" (1930-1933)
*"Terrytoons" (1930-1964)
*"Merrie Melodies" (1931-1969)
*"Scrappy" (1931-1941)
*"Tom and Jerry (Van Beuren)" (1931-1933)
*"Betty Boop" (1932-1939)
*"Popeye" (1933-1957)
*"Pooch the Pup" (1932-1933)
*"Willie Whopper" (1933-1934)
*"ComiColor Cartoons" (1933-1936)
*"Cubby Bear" (1933-1934)
*"The Little King" (1933-1934)

Births

*January 18 - John Boorman, director
*February 18 - Mary Ure, actress
*March 22 - May Britt, Swedish actress
* April 7 - Wayne Rogers, American actor
*April 19 - Jayne Mansfield, actress
*May 20 - Danny Aiello, American actor
*June 11 - Gene Wilder, American actor
*October 9 - Judy Tyler, actress

Film Debuts

* Morris Ankrum
* Dame Peggy Ashcroft
* Fred Astaire
* Frances Drake
* Errol Flynn
* Margaret Hamilton
* Cesar Romero
* Phil Harris
* Lucille Ball

Deaths

*January 3 - Jack Pickford, actor/director
*January 25 - Lewis J. Selznick, producer
*February 15 - Pat Sullivan, director/producer of animated films, alleged co-creator of Felix the Cat
*February 26 - Spottiswoode Aitken, actor
*February 23 - David Horsley, pioneer film executive
*March 8 - Albert Roscoe, silent screen star
*August 18 - James Williamson, film developer and film director
*August 28 - Helen Dunbar, actress
*October 5 - Renée Adorée, actress