1933 in film

Top-grossing films (U.S.)

Events

• Motion picture industry goes under National Recovery Administration code.
• Receivers appointed for Paramount Publix, RKO and Fox Theatres.
• Film industry takes eight week salary cut.
• Sirovich bill for sweeping probe of film industry is defeated.
• John D. Hertz withdraws as Paramount Publix finance chairman and Adolph Zukor appoints George J. Schaefer as general manager.
• Sidney Kent effects financial reorganization of Fox Film Corp., averting receivership, and company shows first profit since 1930.
• Ruling of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware creates "open market" for sound equipment.
• Nathan Nathanson regains control of Famous Players Canadian circuit.
• Darryl F. Zanuck quits Warner Bros-First National and with Joseph M. Schenck forms Twentieth Century Pictures, turning out eight productions in the first four months.
• Harold B. Franklin resigns as president of RKO Theaters.

• January 11 – Radio City Music Hall in New York City starts showing films.
• March 2 – King Kong premieres at Radio City Music Hall.
• March 11 – 42nd Street sparks a comeback for musical film.
• June 6 – The drive-in theater is patented in Camden, New Jersey.
• September 6 – Daily Variety, a trade newspaper, is published for the first time in Hollywood.
• October 10 – John Wayne appears as Singin' Sandy Saunders in Riders of Destiny.
• December 29 – Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appear on screen together for the first time in Flying Down to Rio.
• British Film Institute founded.
• GPO Film Unit established in the United Kingdom under John Grierson, taking over responsibility for documentary film making from the Empire Marketing Board.
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer once again expresses interest in The Wizard of Oz books for a series of animated shorts, but once again fail 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 it.
• The Private Life of Henry VIII becomes the first British film to win an American Academy Award. Featured actor Charles Laughton won the 1933 Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance. The film was the first British production to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
• The book Upton Sinclair Presents William Fox is published, detailing what William Fox considers to be the conspiracy that forced him from control of Fox Film in 1930.

  Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Cavalcade – Fox Film
• Best Director: Frank Lloyd – Cavalcade
• Best Actor: Charles Laughton – The Private Life of Henry VIII
• Best Actress: Katharine Hepburn – Morning Glory

1933 film releases

January–March

• January 1933
• *3 January
• **The Bitter Tea of General Yen
• *10 January
• **The Vampire Bat
• *12 January
• **Laughter in Hell
• *13 January
• **The Monkey's Paw
• *20 January
• **Ecstasy
• *21 January
• **Tonight Is Ours
• *27 January
• **She Done Him Wrong
• *28 January
• **Hard to Handle
• **Parachute Jumper
• February 1933
• *3 February
• **Hallelujah, I'm a Bum
• *4 February
• **Ladies They Talk About
• *10 February
• **State Fair
• **What! No Beer?
• *17 February
• **Men Must Fight
• *18 February
• **Mystery of the Wax Museum
• *22 February
• **The House of Dora Green
• *23 February
• **Our Betters
• *24 February
• **Perfect Understanding
• **Topaze
• *28 February
• **The Good Companions
• **Oliver Twist
• March 1933
• *2 March
• **King Kong
• *10 March
• **Fast Workers
• **King of the Jungle
• **Liebelei
• *11 March
• **42nd Street
• *15 March
• **In the Wake of the Bounty
• *21 March
• **The Flower of Hawaii
• *24 March
• **Pick-Up
• *25 March
• **Okraina
• *31 March
• **Gabriel Over the White House

  April–June

• April 1933
• *7 April
• **Zero for Conduct
• *14 April
• **Today We Live
• *15 April
• **Cavalcade
• *20 April
• **The Working Man
• *21 April
• **Supernatural
• *22 April
• **A Bedtime Story
• *27 April
• **Dragnet Girl
• *28 April
• **Looking Forward
• May 1933
• *5 May
• **The Devil's Brother
• *6 May
• **The Eagle and the Hawk
• **Picture Snatcher
• *12 May
• **The Story of Temple Drake
• *14 May
• **A Study in Scarlet
• *15 May
• **Ex-Lady
• *19 May
• **Adorable
• *25 May
• **Don Quixote
• *26 May
• **Peg o' My Heart
• *27 May
• **Gold Diggers of 1933
• **International House
• *29 May
• **Ganga Bruta
• June 1933
• *9 June
• **Professional Sweetheart
• *23 June
• **The Mayor of Hell
• **When Ladies Meet
• *30 June
• **Hold Your Man
• **Midnight Mary

  July–September

• July 1933
• *1 July
• **Baby Face
• *3 July
• **Loyalties
• *8 July
• **It's Great to Be Alive
• *14 July
• **Bed of Roses
• **Storm at Daybreak
• *15 July
• **She Done Him Wrong
• *17 June
• **Heroes for Sale
• *20 July
• **Secret of the Blue Room
• *28 July
• **The Stranger's Return
• *29 July
• **Midnight Club
• August 1933
• *1 August
• **Employees' Entrance
• *5 August
• **Voltaire
• *8 August
• **Three-Cornered Moon
• *13 August
• **Deluge
• *16 August
• **The Power and the Glory
• *17 August
• **The Private Life of Henry VIII
• *18 August
• **Morning Glory
• **Pilgrimage
• *25 August
• **This Day and Age
• **Turn Back the Clock
• *29 August
• **Dinner at Eight
• *30 August
• **S.O.S Iceberg
• *31 August
• **Bitter Sweet
• September 1933
• *1 September
• **Beauty for Sale
• **One Sunday Afternoon
• *7 September
• **Passing Fancy
• *8 September
• **Penthouse
• **Torch Singer
• *13 September
• **Lady for a Day
• *15 September
• **Berkeley Square
• *16 September
• **Bureau of Missing Persons
• *20 September
• **Footlight Parade
• *22 September
• **Doctor Bull
• *23 September
• **I Loved a Woman
• *26 September
• **Ann Vickers
• *29 September
• **The Emperor Jones

  October–December

• October 1933
• *6 October
• **I'm No Angel
• *7 October
• **The Bowery
• **Wild Boys of the Road
• *13 October
• **Bombshell
• **Tillie and Gus
• *26 October
• **After Tonight
• *27 October
• **Man's Castle
• *28 October
• **Ever in My Heart
• November 1933
• *1 November
• **Only Yesterday
• *10 November
• **The Prizefighter and the Lady
• *13 November
• **The Invisible Man
• *16 November
• **Little Women
• *17 November
• **Blood Money
• **Duck Soup
• *November 20
• **The Wandering Jew
• *24 November
• **Dancing Lady
• *25 November
• **The World Changes
• December 1933
• *3 December
• **Lady Killer
• *11 December
• **Counsellor at Law
• *14 December
• **Convention City
• *18 December
• **By Candlelight
• *22 December
• **Alice in Wonderland
• **Going Hollywood
• *22 December
• **Mr. Skitch
• **The Son of Kong
• *23 December
• **The House on 56th Street
• **Viktor und Viktoria
• *25 December
• **Roman Scandals
• *26 December
• **Queen Christina
• *29 December
• **Design for Living
• **Flying Down to Rio
• **Sons of the Desert

  Notable films released in 1933

0-9

• 42nd Street, directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Ginger Rogers

  A

• Adorable, directed by William Dieterle, starring Janet Gaynor
• After Tonight, starring Constance Bennett
• Alice in Wonderland, starring Charlotte Henry and virtually every Paramount star at the time
• Ann Vickers, starring Walter Huston and Irene Dunne

  B

• Baby Face, starring Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent
• Beauty for Sale, starring Madge Evans and Alice Brady
• Bed of Roses, starring Constance Bennett and Joel McCrea
• A Bedtime Story, starring Maurice Chevalier
• Berkeley Square, starring Leslie Howard
• Bitter Sweet, starring Anna Neagle –
• 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
• Bureau of Missing Persons, starring Bette Davis and Pat O'Brien
• By Candlelight, directed by James Whale

  C

• Cash, directed by Zoltan Korda, starring Robert Donat –
• Cavalcade, starring Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor and Herbert Mundin
• Counsellor at Law, starring John Barrymore and Bebe Daniels
• Convention City, starring Joan Blondell, Adolphe Menjou, Dick Powell and Mary Astor
• Dancing Lady, starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable

  D

• Daybreak –
• Deluge, starring Sidney Blackmer
• The Deserter –
• Design for Living, starring Fredric March, Gary Cooper and Miriam Hopkins
• The Devil's Brother, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• Dick Turpin, directed by Victor Hanbury, starring Victor McLaglen
• Dinner at Eight, directed by George Cukor and featuring an all-star cast
• Doctor Bull, starring Will Rogers
• Don Quixote, directed by G.W. Pabst, starring Feodor Chaliapin –
• Dora's Dunking Doughnuts, starring Shirley Temple
• Dragnet Girl, starring Kinuyo Tanaka, directed by Yasujirō Ozu –
• Duck Soup, directed by Leo McCarey, starring the Marx Brothers

  E

• The Eagle and the Hawk, starring Fredric March, Cary Grant, Carole Lombard
• Ecstasy, starring Hedy Lamarr –
• The Emperor Jones, starring Paul Robeson
• Employees' Entrance, starring Warren William and Loretta Young
• Ever in My Heart, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Ex-Lady, starring Bette Davis

  F

• Fast Workers, starring John Gilbert and Mae Clarke
• The Flower of Hawaii, directed by Richard Oswald –
• Flying Down to Rio, starring Dolores del Río and Gene Raymond. Also starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in their first of 10 films together
• Footlight Parade, starring James Cagney, Joan Blondell and Ruby Keeler
• Friday the Thirteenth, directed by Victor Saville, starring Jessie Matthews –

  G

• Gabriel Over the White House, directed by Gregory La Cava, starring Walter Huston, Produced by William Randolph Hearst
• Ganga Bruta, directed by Humberto Mauro, starring Durval Bellini and Déa Selva
• The Ghoul, starring Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke and Ernest Thesiger –
• The Ghost Camera, directed by Bernard Vorhaus, starring Ida Lupino, John Mills –
• Going Hollywood, starring Marion Davies, Bing Crosby, Patsy Kelly, Fifi D'Orsay, and Sterling Holloway
• Gold Diggers of 1933, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers and Warren William
• The Good Companions, directed by Victor Saville, starring Jessie Matthews, Edmund Gwenn and John Gielgud –
• Goodbye Again, starring Joan Blondell and Warren William

  H

• Hallelujah, I'm a Bum, starring Al Jolson
• Hard to Handle, starring James Cagney
• Heroes for Sale, starring Loretta Young and Richard Barthelmess
• Hold Your Man, starring Jean Harlow and Clark Gable
• The House on 56th Street, starring Kay Francis
• The House of Dora Green, directed by Henrik Galeen, starring Mady Christians –
• The Hymn of Leuthen, directed by Carl Froelich –

  I

• 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 –
• International House, starring W. C. Fields, George Burns, Gracie Allen
• The Invisible Man, starring Claude Rains in the title role with Gloria Stuart
• It's Great to Be Alive, directed by Alfred L. Werker and starring Raul Roulien and Gloria Stuart

  K

• Każdemu wolno kochać, by Mieczysław Krawicz –
• King Kong, starring Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong
• King of the Jungle, starring Buster Crabbe

  L

• Ladies They Talk About, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Lady for a Day, directed by Frank Capra, starring Warren William and May Robson
• Lady Killer, starring James Cagney
• Liebelei, directed by Max Ophüls –
• Life Is a Dog, directed by Martin Frič –
• Little Toys, directed by Sun Yu –
• Little Women, directed by George Cukor, starring Katharine Hepburn and Joan Bennett
• Looking Forward, directed by Clarence Brown, starring Lionel Barrymore
• Lot in Sodom, starring Friedrich Haak
• I Loved a Woman, starring Edward G, Robinson and Kay Francis
• Loyalties, starring Basil Rathbone –

  M

• Man's Castle, starring Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young
• The Mayor of Hell, starring James Cagney
• Men Must Fight, starring Diana Wynyard
• Midnight Club, starring George Raft and Clive Brook
• Midnight Mary, directed by William A. Wellman, starring Loretta Young
• The Midnight Patrol, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• Money for Speed, directed by Bernard Vorhaus, starring John Loder and Ida Lupino –
• The Monkey's Paw, directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack
• Morning Glory, starring Katharine Hepburn and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
• Mr. Skitch, starring Will Rogers
• Mystery of the Wax Museum, starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray

  O

• Okraina –
• Oliver Twist, starring Dickie Moore
• One Sunday Afternoon, starring Gary Cooper and Fay Wray
• Only Yesterday, starring Margaret Sullavan
• Our Betters, starring Constance Bennett, Gilbert Roland, and Anita Louise

  P

• Parachute Jumper, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Bette Davis, and Frank McHugh
• Passing Fancy, directed by Yasujirō Ozu –
• Peg o' My Heart, starring Marion Davies, Onslow Stevens, and J. Farrell MacDonald
• Penthouse, starring Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy
• Perfect Understanding, starring Gloria Swanson and Laurence Olivier –
• Pick-Up, starring Sylvia Sydney and George Raft
• Picture Snatcher, starring James Cagney
• Pilgrimage, directed by John Ford
• The Power and the Glory, starring Spencer Tracy
• The Private Life of Henry VIII, directed by Alexander Korda, starring Charles Laughton –
• The Prizefighter and the Lady, starring Max Baer, Myrna Loy, Primo Carnera and Jack Dempsey
• Professional Sweetheart, starring Ginger Rogers

  Q-R

• Queen Christina, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Greta Garbo and John Gilbert
• Refugees –
• Roman Scandals, starring Eddie Cantor, Ruth Etting, Gloria Stuart

  S

• S.O.S Iceberg, starring Leni Riefenstahl –
• 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 Mae West and Cary Grant in his first notable film role
• She Had to Say Yes, starring Loretta Young and Lyle Talbot, directed by Busby Berkeley and George Amy
• The Son of Kong, starring Robert Armstrong and Helen Mack
• Sons of the Desert, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• A Southern Maid, starring Bebe Daniels and Clifford Mollison –
• Spring Silkworms –
• State Fair, starring Janet Gaynor, Will Rogers and Lew Ayres
• Storm at Daybreak, starring Walter Huston and Kay Francis
• The Story of Temple Drake, starring Miriam Hopkins and Jack La Rue
• The Stranger's Return, starring Miriam Hopkins and Lionel Barrymore
• A Study in Scarlet, starring Reginald Owen
• Supernatural, starring Carole Lombard, Alan Dinehart, Vivienne Osborne and Randolph Scott

  T

• The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Otto Wernicke –
• This Day and Age, Cecil B. Demille's now cult-favorite, starring Richard Cromwell and featuring then-teenager: Baby Peggy.
• This Is America the first full-length documentary feature film ever made.
• This Week of Grace' directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Gracie Fields –
• Three-Cornered Moon, starring Claudette Colbert and Richard Arlen
• Three Little Pigs, an animated short
• Tillie and Gus, starring Alison Skipworth and W. C. Fields
• Today We Live, starring Joan Crawford and Gary Cooper
• 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

  V-W

• The Vampire Bat, starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray
• Viktor und Viktoria –
• Voltaire, starring George Arliss
• When Ladies Meet, starring Ann Harding, Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy
• The Wandering Jew, starring Conrad Veidt
• What! No Beer?, starring Buster Keaton
• The World Changes, starring Mary Astor and Paul Muni
• Wild Boys of the Road, starring Frankie Darro and Edwin Phillips
• The Working Man, starring George Arliss and Bette Davis

  Y-Z

• You Made Me Love You starring Stanley Lupino and Thelma Todd –
• Zero for Conduct, directed by Jean Vigo –

  Serials

• 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 Bela Lugosi
• The Wolf Dog, starring Rin Tin Tin

  Comedy film series

• Harold Lloyd
• Charlie Chaplin
• Lupino Lane
• Buster Keaton
• Laurel and Hardy
• * Dirty Work
• Our Gang
• Harry Langdon
• Wheeler and Woolsey
• Marx Brothers
• The Three Stooges

  Animated short film series

• Aesop's Film Fables
• Krazy Kat
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
• Mickey Mouse
• Silly Symphonies
• * Birds in the Spring
• * Father Noah's Ark
• * Three Little Pigs
• * Old King Cole
• * Lullaby Land
• * The Pied Piper
• * The Night Before Christmas
• Screen Songs
• Looney Tunes
• Flip the Frog
• Terrytoons
• Merrie Melodies
• Scrappy
• Tom and Jerry
• Betty Boop
• * Betty Boop's Ker-Choo
• * Betty Boop's Crazy Inventions
• * Is My Palm Read?
• * Betty Boop's Penthouse
• * Snow White
• * Betty Boop's Birthday Party
• * Betty Boop's May Party
• * Betty Boop's Big Boss
• * Mother Goose Land
• * Popeye the Sailor
• * The Old Man of the Mountain
• * I Heard
• * Morning, Noon and Night
• * Betty Boop's Hallowe'en Party
• * Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
• Popeye
• * Popeye the Sailor
• Pooch the Pup
• Willie Whopper
• ComiColor Cartoons
• Cubby Bear
• The Little King

  Births

• January 8 – Jean-Marie Straub, French director
• January 12 – Liliana Cavani, Italian director
• January 18 – John Boorman, English director
• January 23 – Chita Rivera, American actress, dancer and singer
• January 28 – Jack Hill, American director and screenwriter
• February 2 – Tony Jay, English-American actor, voice actor and singer
• February 3 – Polde Bibič, Slovenian film and stage actor and memoir writer
• February 13
• *Caroline Blakiston, English actress
• *Kim Novak, American actress
• February 14 – Madhubala, Indian actress
• February 18
• *Željko Senečić, Croatian film, television production designer
• *Mary Ure, Scottish actress
• March 14 – Michael Caine, English actor
• March 19 – Richard Williams, Canadian-British animator
• March 23 – Laura Soveral, Portuguese actress
• April 5 – Frank Gorshin, American actor and comedian
• April 9 – Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor
• April 15 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress
• April 19 – Jayne Mansfield, American actress
• April 26 – Carol Burnett, American actress, television host and comedian
• May 10 – Francoise Fabian, French actress
• May 23 – Joan Collins, English actress
• June 11 – Gene Wilder, American actor
• June 20 – Danny Aiello, American actor
• July 29 – Lou Albano, Italian-born American professional wrestler and actor
• August 1 – Dom DeLuise, American actor and comedian
• August 2 – Tom Bell, English actor
• August 16 – Julie Newmar, American actress, dancer and singer
• August 18 – Roman Polanski, Polish director
• August 21 – Barry Norman, English critic
• August 25 – Tom Skerritt, American actor
• August 28 – Philip French, English critic
• September 18
• *Fred Willard, American actor
• *Robert Blake, American actor
• September 29 – Franca Parisi, Italian actress
• November 3 – Jeremy Brett, English actor
• November 17 – Terry, American performing Cairn Terrier
• November 28 – Hope Lange, American actress
• December 15 – Tim Conway, American actor and comedian

  Deaths

• January 3 – Jack Pickford, Canadian-born American actor and director
• January 25 – Lewis J. Selznick, Ukrainian-born American producer
• February 15 – Pat Sullivan, Australian-born American director/producer of animated films, alleged co-creator of Felix the Cat
• February 23 – David Horsley, English-born American film executive
• February 26 – Spottiswoode Aitken, American actor
• March 8 – Alan Roscoe, American actor
• March 23 – Francine Mussey, French actress
• June 29 – Roscoe Arbuckle, American actor
• June 30 – Georg Blomstedt, Swedish actor
• August 18 – James Williamson, Scottish film developer and film director
• August 28 – Helen Dunbar, American actress
• September 23 – Sime Silverman, 60, American newspaper publisher, founder of Variety
• September 24 – Ferdinand Bonn, German actor
• October 5 – Renée Adorée, French actress
• October 30 – Svend Kornbeck, Danish actor
• December 19 – Jimmie Adams, American comedian

  Film debuts

• Morris Ankrum – Reunion in Vienna
• Dame Peggy Ashcroft – The Wandering Jew
• Fred Astaire – Dancing Lady
• Lucille Ball – The Bowery
• Billy Barty – Gold Diggers of 1933
• Frances Drake – The Jewel
• Nelson Eddy – Broadway to Hollywood
• Errol Flynn – In the Wake of the Bounty
• Betty Furness – Lucky Devils
• Margaret Hamilton – Another Language
• Phil Harris – Melody Cruise
• Will Hay – Know Your Apples
• King Kong
• Dorothy Lamour – Footlight Parade
• Ralph Richardson – The Ghoul
• Cesar Romero – The Shadow Laughs
• Margaret Sullavan – Only Yesterday
• Claire Trevor – Life in the Raw
• Orson Welles – Twelfth Night