1928 in film

Events

Although some movies released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent.

* July 31 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's mascot Leo the Lion roars for the very first time, creating one of the most popular American film logos.
* November 18 - Disney's "Steamboat Willie" premieres. This animated short was the first film to include a soundtrack, completely created in post production, including sound effects, music, and dialogue.

Top grossing films

# "The Singing Fool"
# "Lights of New York"
# "Street Angel"
# "West of Zanzibar"
# "Four Sons"
# "Noah's Ark"
# "Red Dance"
# "The Terror"
# "While the City Sleeps"
# "Laugh, Clown, Laugh"
# "The Road to Ruin"
# "The Big City"
# "Sadie Thompson"
# "A Woman of Affairs"
# "The Mysterious Lady"
# "The Divine Woman"

Academy Awards

*Best Actor: Emil Jannings for "The Last Command" and the 1927 movie "The Way of All Flesh"
*Best Actress: Janet Gaynor for "Street Angel" and the 1927 movies "Seventh Heaven" and "Sunrise"Note: Prior to 1933, awards were not based on calendar years, which is why there is no 'Best Picture' for a 1928 film.

Films released in 1928

*"Across to Singapore"
*"Alraune"
*"L'Argent"
*"Beggars of Life"
*"The Big City", starring Lon Chaney
*"The Cameraman", a Buster Keaton film.
*"Champagne", directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
*"The Circus", starring, directed and written by Charles Chaplin.
*"The Crowd", directed by King Vidor.
*"The Docks of New York", starring George Bancroft, Betty Compson and Olga Baclanova.
*"Easy Virtue", directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
*"The Farmer's Wife", directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
*"Four Sons", directed by John Ford
*"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", starring Ruth Taylor and Alice White, subtitles written by Anita Loos
*"A Girl in Every Port"
*"Hangman's House
*"In Old Arizona" 12/25/28 First 'Outdoor/Western' full length talkie, apparent FIRST sound-on-film (Movietone; Not sep. discs) feature length talkie.
*"Ladies of the Mob"
*"The Last Command", starring Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent and William Powell.
*"Laugh, Clown, Laugh", starring Lon Chaney.
*"Lights of New York", 7/28/28 (First true 'talkie'; all sound for full length in feature film. Vitaphone sound, i.e. on separate discs)
*"The Man Who Laughs", starring Mary Philbin and Conrad Veidt.
*"The Matinee Idol", starring Bessie Love and Johnnie Walker; directed by Frank Capra.
*"Mother Machree", directed by John Ford
*"The Mysterious Lady", starring Greta Garbo and Conrad Nagel.
*"Noah's Ark", starring George O'Brien
*"Our Dancing Daughters", starring Joan Crawford.
*"The Passion of Joan of Arc", directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer.
*"The Red Dance"
*"Red Hair", starring Clara Bow
*"Sadie Thompson", starring Gloria Swanson and Lionel Barrymore.
*"Sex in Chains", starring and directed by William Dieterle.
*"Show People", starring Marion Davies.
*"The Singing Fool", starring Al Jolson and Betty Bronson.
*"Speedy", starring Harold Lloyd.
*"Steamboat Bill Jr.", a Buster Keaton film.
*"Steamboat Willie", a Walt Disney Mickey Mouse short.
*"Storm Over Asia"
*"Street Angel", starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell.
*"The Terror"., starring May McAvoy, Edward Everett Horton, and Louise Fazenda
*"The Wedding March", starring Erich von Stroheim and Fay Wray.
*"West of Zanzibar", starring Lon Chaney and Lionel Barrymore.
*"West Point", starring William Haines and Joan Crawford.
*"The Wind", starring Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson.
*"We Faw Down, starring Laurel and Hardy.
*"A Woman of Affairs", starring Greta Garbo.

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)
*"Newslaffs" (1927-1928)
*"Mickey Mouse" (1928-1953)

Births

*January 7 - William Peter Blatty, screenwriter
*January 26 - Roger Vadim, director, screenwriter, actor
*February 11 - Conrad Janis, actor.
*February 29 - Tempest Storm, burlesque performer, actress
*March 1 - Jacques Rivette, film director
*March 24 - Vanessa Brown (+ 1999)
*April 23 - Shirley Temple, actress
*July 26 - Stanley Kubrick, director
*August 6 - Andy Warhol, artist, director
*August 15 - Nicolas Roeg, director
*August 16 - Ann Blyth, actress
*August 31 - James Coburn, actor
*September 17 - Roddy McDowall, actor
*September 19 - Adam West, actor
*October 1 - George Peppard, actor
*October 2 - George 'Spanky' McFarland, actor
*November 3 - Wanda Hendrix, actress (+1981)

Film Debuts

*Charles Laughton

Deaths

*January 2 - Emily Stevens, stage & film actress, cousin of Minnie Maddern Fiske
*January 26 - Earle Metcalfe, silent film actor (b 1889)
*April 22 - Frank Currier, veteran stage & silent screen actor.
*June 22 - George Siegmann, silent film actor
*June 24 - Holbrook Blinn, American stage & silent film actor.
*August 10 - Rex Cherryman, American actor (b. 1897)
*October 8 - Larry Semon, Silent film comedian
*December 14 - Theodore Roberts, Silent actor
*December 25 - Fred Thomson, silent film cowboy