1929 in film

Events

The days of the silent film were numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound was on.
*January 20 - The movie "In Old Arizona" was released. The film was the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors.
*May 16 - The first Academy Awards, or Oscars, are distributed
*July 13, The first all color talkie (in Technicolor), "On With the Show" is released by Warner. Bros. who the led in a new color revolution, just as they had ushered in that of the talkies.
*"Hallelujah!", first Hollywood film to contain an entire black cast.
*"Atlantic (1929 film)" is the first sound on film movie made in Germany. It is also the first Titanic movie with sound.
*"The Broadway Melody" is released by MGM and becomes the first major musical film of the sound era, sparking a host of imitators as well as a series of "Broadway Melody" films that would run until 1940.

Top grossing films

# "Gold Diggers of Broadway"
# "The Broadway Melody"(#1 for year 1929 alone)
# "Sunny Side Up"
# "Welcome Danger"
# "The Cock-Eyed World"
# "Rio Rita"
# "Hollywood Revue of 1929"
# "In Old Arizona"
# "Coquette"
# "Syncopation"
# "Disraeli"
# "The Taming of the Shrew"
# "The Single Standards"
# "Wild Orchids"
# "Paris"
# "The Kiss"
# "The Mysterious Island"
# "Pandora's Box"
# "On With the Show"
# "The Love Parade"
# "The Four Feathers"
# "Sally"
# "Redskin"
# "The Pagan"
# "Marriage Playground"
# "Say It With Songs"
# "They Had to See Paris"
# "Navy Blues"
# "Their Own Desire"
# "Divine Lady"
# "The Trespasser"
# "Madame X"
# "The Last of Mrs. Cheyney"
# "Bulldog Drummond"

Academy Awards

*Best Picture: "The Broadway Melody" - MGM
*Best Actor: Warner Baxter - "In Old Arizona"
*Best Actor: George Arliss - "Disraeli"
*Best Actress: Mary Pickford - "Coquette"Note: Prior to 1933, awards were not based on calendar years, which is how there are 2 'Best Actor' awards for 1929 films.

Films released in 1929

*"An Andalusian Dog" ("Un chien andalou"), a short film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí
*"Applause", starring Helen Morgan
*"Asphalt"
*"Atlantic", the first sound on film made in Germany and the first sound Titanic movie
*"The Awful Truth"
*"Big Business", a Laurel and Hardy short
*"Big Time"
*"Blackmail", directed by Alfred Hitchcock
*"Broadway", a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
*"The Broadway Melody", musical comedy starring Charles King, Anita Page and Bessie Love
*"Bulldog Drummond", starring Ronald Colman
*"The Canary Murder Case"
*"The Clue of the New Pin"
*"The Cocoanuts", starring the Marx Brothers
*"Coquette", starring Mary Pickford, Johnny Mack Brown, Matt Moore. Directed by Sam Taylor
*"Dance of Life", a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
*"The Desert Song", a musical operetta with Technicolor sequences
*"Devil May Care", a musical romance with Technicolor sequences
*"Disraeli", starring George Arliss
*"Dynamite"
*"The Flying Fleet", starring Ramon Navarro, Ralph Graves, Anita Page, and Edward Nugent
*"Footlights and Fools", a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
*"Fox Movietone Follies", a musical revue with Multicolor sequences
*"Glorifying the American Girl", a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
*"Gold Diggers of Broadway", a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
*"The Great Gabbo", a musical comedy with Multicolor sequences
*"Hallelujah!", directed by King Vidor
*"Hearts in Dixie", starring Clarence Muse, drama/musical
*"His First Command", a musical drama with Technicolor sequences
*"The Hole in the Wall"
*"The Hollywood Revue of 1929", a showcase of talent under contract to MGM
*"In Old Arizona", starring Warner Baxter
*"It's A Great Life", a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
*"The Iron Mask", starring Douglas Fairbanks
*"The Kiss", starring Greta Garbo and Conrad Nagel
*"The Lady Lies", starring Walter Huston and Claudette Colbert
*"The Love Parade", starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald
*"Lucky Star
*"Man with a Movie Camera" (Chelovek s kinoapparatom), a documentary
*"The Manxman", directed by Alfred Hitchcock
*"Married In Hollywood", a musical romance with Multicolor sequences
*"The Mysterious Island", starring Lionel Barrymore
*"On With the Show", a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
*"Pandora's Box", starring Louise Brooks
*"Paris (1929 film)", a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
*"Piccadilly", a melodrama starring Anna May Wong and Gilda Gray
*"Pointed Heels", a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
*"Queen Kelly", starring Gloria Swanson (this film was never finished because producers balked at releasing a silent film in what was quickly becoming a sound film market)
*"Redskin", a drama with Technicolor sequences
*"Red Hot Rhythm", a musical comedy with Multicolor sequences
*"The Rescue"
*"Rio Rita", a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
*"The River"
*"Sally", a musical comedy entirely in Technicolor
*"Show Boat", a part-talkie based not on the famous musical, but on the Edna Ferber novel that inspired it
*"The Show of Shows", a musical revue with Technicolor sequences
*"St. Louis Blues", starring Bessie Smith
*"The Skeleton Dance", a Walt Disney animated short
*"Spite Marriage", a Buster Keaton film
*"Street Girl", RKO's first "official" film
*"Sunny Side Up", a musical comedy with Technicolor sequences
*"This Thing Called Love", a musical romance with Technicolor sequences
*"Thunder", directed by William Nigh, starring Lon Chaney, Sr. and Phyllis Haver
*"The Virginian", starring Gary Cooper
*"Woman in the Moon" ("Frau im Mond"), directed by Fritz Lang

erials

*"The Ace of Scotland Yard"
*"The Black Book"
*"The Diamond Master"
*"The Fatal Warning"
*"The Fire Detective"
*"The King of the Kongo", starring Jacqueline Logan
*"The Pirate of Panama"
*"Police Reporter"
*"Queen of the Northwoods"
*"Tarzan the Tiger", starring Frank Merrill and Natalie Kingston

hort film series

*"Buster Keaton" (1917-1941)
*"Our Gang" (1922-1944)
*"Laurel and Hardy" (1921-1943)

Animated short film series

*"Felix the Cat" (1919-1930)
*"Aesop's Film Fables" (1921-1933)
*"Krazy Kat" (1925-1940)
*"Inkwell Imps" (1927-1929)
*"Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" (1927-1938)
*"Mickey Mouse" (1928-1953)
*"Silly Symphonies" (1929-1939)
*"Screen Songs" (1929-1938)
*"Talkartoons" (1929-1932)

Births

*January 3 - Sergio Leone, director (+ 1989)
*January 31 - Jean Simmons, actress
*February 10 - Jerry Goldsmith, composer (+ 2004)
*May 4 - Audrey Hepburn, actress
*August 23 - Vera Miles, actress
*September 2 - Hal Ashby, director
*November 12 - Grace Kelly, actress
*December 6 – Alain Tanner, Swiss film director
*December 9 - John Cassavetes, actor, director

Film Debuts

* Judy Garland
* Betty Grable
* Paulette Goddard
* Ginger Rogers

Deaths

*January 5 - Marc McDermott
*February 18 - William Russell, American actor
*May 9 - Fred C. Truesdell, stage & film actor(b. 1870)
*July 2 – Gladys Brockwell, American actress
*July 3 - Dustin Farnum, American stage & silent screen star.
*August 2 - Mae Costello, American actress
*October 3 - Jeanne Eagels, American actress
*October 31 - Norman Trevor, actor, Olympic athlete (b.1877)