1932 in film

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The following is an overview of 1932 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)[]

The top ten 1932 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Highest-grossing films of 1932
Rank Title Studio Box office gross rental
1 The Kid from Spain United Artists/Samuel Goldwyn Productions $2,621,000[1]
2 Emma Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $1,409,000[2]
3 Hell Divers $1,244,000[2]
4 Grand Hotel $1,235,000[2]
5 Prosperity $1,166,000[2]
6 Tarzan the Ape Man $1,112,000[2]
7 One Hour with You Paramount Pictures $1,100,000[3]
8 Smilin' Through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $1,004,000[2]
9 Strange Interlude $957,000[2]
10 Back Street Universal Pictures $900,000[4]

Events[]

The Film Daily Yearbook listed the following as the ten leading headline events of the year.[5]

  • Sidney Kent leaves Paramount Pictures and joins Fox Film.
  • Merlin H Aylesworth succeeds Hiram S Brown as president of RKO.
  • Jesse L. Lasky leaves Paramount and becomes an independent producer for Fox.
  • Sam Katz leaves Paramount.
  • James R Grainger leaves Fox and is succeeded by John D Clark, formerly of Paramount.
  • Publix and Fox decentralization of cinemas.
  • New industry program, including standard exhibition contract along lines of 5-5-5, proposed by Motion Picture Theater Owners of America and Allied.
  • Joe Brandt retires from Columbia Pictures joins World-Wide and later resigns again.
  • Two Radio City theaters open, under direction of "Roxy", with coincident acquisition of the Rockefeller interests of 100,000 shares of RKO stock and 100,000 shares of RCA stock.
  • Experimentation with exclusive runs.

Other notable events include:

  • Ingrid Bergman's film career begins
  • Cary Grant's film career begins
  • Katharine Hepburn's film career begins
  • Shirley Temple's film career begins
  • Disney releases Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor
  • Santa, first sound film made in Mexico, released
  • The term "Tollywood" is first used to describe the cinema of West Bengal, based at Tollygunge

Top Ten Money Making Stars[]

Exhibitors selected the following as the Top Ten Money Making Stars for 1931–1932 in Quigley Publishing Company's first annual poll.[6]

Rank Actor/Actress
1. Marie Dressler
2. Janet Gaynor
3. Joan Crawford
4. Charles Farrell
5. Greta Garbo
6. Norma Shearer
7. Wallace Beery
8. Clark Gable
9. Will Rogers
10. Joe E. Brown

Academy Awards[]

Main article: 5th Academy Awards

The 5th Academy Awards were conducted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on November 18, 1932,[7] at a ceremony held at The Ambassador Hotel[7] in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was hosted by Conrad Nagel.[7] Films screened in Los Angeles between August 1, 1931, and July 31, 1932, were eligible to receive awards.[7]

Major awards:

  • Best Picture: Grand Hotel – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
  • Best Director: Frank Borzage – Bad Girl
  • Best Actor: Fredric March – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde & Wallace Beery – The Champ
  • Best Actress: Helen Hayes – The Sin of Madelon Claudet

Note: Prior to 1933 awards were not based on calendar years, which is how there are no Best Actor, Best Actress or Best Director awards for 1932 films. The 1931–32 awards went to 1931 films.

1932 film releases[]

United States unless stated

January–March[]

April–June[]

July–September[]

October–December[]

Notable films released in 1932[]

United States unless stated

0–9[]

  • 20,000 Years in Sing Sing, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis

A[]

B[]

  • Back Street, starring Irene Dunne and John Boles
  • The Bartered Bride (Die verkaufte Braut), directed by Max Ophüls – (Germany)
  • The Beast of the City, starring Walter Huston, Jean Harlow and Wallace Ford
  • The Big Broadcast, starring Bing Crosby
  • Big City Blues, starring Eric Linden and Joan Blondell
  • The Big Stampede, starring John Wayne
  • A Bill of Divorcement, starring John Barrymore, Billie Burke and Katharine Hepburn in her film debut
  • Bird of Paradise, starring Dolores del Río, Joel McCrea and Lon Chaney Jr.
  • Das blaue Licht (The Blue Light), starring and directed by Leni Riefenstahl – (Germany)
  • A Blonde Dream, starring Lilian Harvey, Willy Fritsch and Willi Forst – (Germany)
  • Blonde Venus, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich and Cary Grant
  • Blondie of the Follies, directed by Edmund Goulding; starring Marion Davies, Billie Dove, and Robert Montgomery
  • Boudu Saved from Drowning (Boudu sauvé des eaux), directed by Jean Renoir, starring Michel Simon – (France)
  • Broken Lullaby, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Lionel Barrymore
  • Business and Pleasure, starring Will Rogers

C[]

D[]

  • Dance Pretty Lady, directed by Anthony Asquith (Britain)
  • Dancers in the Dark, starring Miriam Hopkins and Jack Oakie
  • The Dark Horse, starring Warren William and Bette Davis
  • The Dentist, a W. C. Fields short produced by Mack Sennett
  • Destry Rides Again, starring Tom Mix
  • Devil and the Deep, starring Tallulah Bankhead, Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton and Cary Grant
  • Downstairs, starring John Gilbert, Paul Lukas, Virginia Bruce and Hedda Hopper

E–F[]

  • Emma, starring Marie Dressler
  • F.P.1 (F.P.1 antwortet nicht) – (Germany)
  • Faithless, starring Tallulah Bankhead and Robert Montgomery
  • Fanny, directed by Marc Allégret, starring Raimu – (France)
  • A Farewell to Arms, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes
  • Fast Life, starring William Haines and Madge Evans
  • Flesh, directed by John Ford, starring Wallace Beery and Karen Morley
  • Flowers and Trees, a Walt Disney animated short
  • Forbidden, directed by Frank Capra, starring Barbara Stanwyck
  • Freaks, directed by Tod Browning

G–H[]

  • Goodnight, Vienna, directed by Herbert Wilcox, starring Jack Buchanan and Anna Neagle – (GB)
  • Grand Hotel, starring Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery and Lionel Barrymore
  • Horse Feathers, starring the Marx Brothers with Thelma Todd
  • Hotel Splendide, directed by Michael Powell – (GB)

I[]

  • I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Paul Muni
  • I Was Born, But... (Otona no miru ehon – Umarete wa mita keredo), directed by Yasujirō Ozu – (Japan)
  • If I Had a Million, an anthology comedy film with an all-star cast including W. C. Fields, May Robson, George Raft, Charles Laughton and Gary Cooper
  • The Impatient Maiden, starring Lew Ayres and Mae Clarke
  • Island of Lost Souls, an adaptation of H. G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau starring Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen and Bela Lugosi
  • Ivan – directed by Alexander Dovzhenko – (U.S.S.R.)

J–K[]

  • Jack's the Boy directed by Walter Forde, starring Jack Hulbert – (GB)
  • Jewel Robbery, starring William Powell and Kay Francis
  • Kuhle Wampe oder: Wem gehört die Welt? (To Whom Does the World Belong?) – (Germany)

L[]

  • The Last Mile, starring Preston Foster
  • The Last of the Mohicans, starring Harry Carey
  • Law and Order, starring Walter Huston and Harry Carey
  • Lord Camber's Ladies, starring Gerald du Maurier, produced by Alfred Hitchcock
  • The Local Bad Man, starring Hoot Gibson
  • Love Me Tonight, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald (as Jeanette Mac Donald)
  • The Lucky Number, directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Gordon Harker – (GB)

M[]

  • The Man Who Played God (aka The Silent Voice), starring George Arliss and Bette Davis
  • Me and My Gal, starring Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett
  • Merrily We Go to Hell, directed by Dorothy Arzner, starring Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney
  • The Midshipmaid, starring Jessie Matthews – (GB)
  • Million Dollar Legs, starring Jack Oakie and W. C. Fields
  • The Most Dangerous Game, starring Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Leslie Banks and Robert Armstrong, involving much of the same cast and crew of the following year's King Kong.
  • The Mouthpiece, starring Warren William
  • Movie Crazy, a comedy starring Harold Lloyd
  • Mr. Robinson Crusoe, starring Douglas Fairbanks
  • The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff
  • Murders in the Rue Morgue, starring Bela Lugosi, Sidney Fox and Leon Ames

N–O[]

  • Night After Night, starring George Raft and Mae West in her film debut
  • Night at the Crossroads (La Nuit du carrefour), directed by Jean Renoir – (France)
  • No Man Of Her Own, directed by Wesley Ruggles, starring Clark Gable and Carole Lombard
  • Odds 777 – (Denmark)
  • The Old Dark House, directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Ernest Thesiger and Raymond Massey
  • One Hour with You, starring Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Genevieve Tobin and Charles Ruggles
  • One Way Passage, directed by Tay Garnett, starring William Powell and Kay Francis

P[]

R[]

  • Rain, starring Joan Crawford and Walter Huston
  • Rasputin and the Empress, starring John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore
  • Rasputin, Demon with Women, starring Conrad Veidt and Brigitte Horney – (Germany)
  • Raid in St. Pauli (Raid in St. Pauli) – (Germany)
  • Red Dust, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Jean Harlow and Clark Gable
  • The Red-Haired Alibi, starring Merna Kennedy Theodore von Eltz Grant Withers and Shirley Temple
  • Red-Headed Woman, starring Jean Harlow
  • Rome Express, directed by Walter Forde, starring Conrad Veidt and Esther Ralston – (GB)

S[]

  • Santa – (Mexico)
  • Scarface, directed by Howard Hawks, starring Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, George Raft and Boris Karloff
  • Scarlet Dawn, directed by William Dieterle, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Nancy Carroll
  • Shanghai Express, starring Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong and Warner Oland
  • Sherlock Holmes, starring Clive Brook
  • The Sign of the Cross, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Fredric March and Claudette Colbert
  • The Sign of Four, starring Arthur Wontner
  • Silver Dollar (1932), starring Edward G. Robinson and Bebe Daniels
  • A Simple Case (Prostoy sloochay) – (U.S.S.R.)
  • Smilin' Through, starring Norma Shearer
  • Speak Easily, starring Buster Keaton
  • Spring Shower (Tavaszi zápor) – (Hungary/France)

T[]

U–V[]

W–Y[]

Serials[]

The Shadow of the Eagle poster.

Ordered by release date:

Short film series[]

Lobby card for the 1932 Laurel and Hardy short film Any Old Port!.

Ordered by release date:

  • Buster Keaton (1917–1923, 1934–1937, 1939–1941)
  • Laurel and Hardy (1927–1935); the team later made one instructional short subject, released nontheatrically in 1943
  • Our Gang (1922–1944) The series was officially called both Our Gang and Hal Roach's Rascals until 1932, when Our Gang became the sole title of the series.
  • Shirley Temple (1932–1934)

Animated short film series[]

Ordered by release date of the film series. This list only includes shorts released in 1932:

Births[]

  • January 3 – Dabney Coleman, American character actor
  • January 4
    • Carlos Saura, Spanish director
    • Richard Stahl, American comic actor (died 2006)
  • January 19 – Richard Lester, American-born director working in England
  • January 22 – Piper Laurie, American actress
  • February 6 – François Truffaut, French director (died 1984)
  • February 13
    • Susan Oliver, American actress (died 1990)
    • Barbara Shelley, English actress, "The First Leading Lady of British Horror" (died 2021)
  • February 14
    • Harriet Andersson, Swedish actress
    • Alexander Kluge, German director
  • February 18 – Miloš Forman, Czech-born director (died 2018)
  • February 23 – Majel Barrett, American actress (died 2008)
  • February 24 – Michel Legrand, French film composer (died 2019)
  • February 27 – Elizabeth Taylor, English-American actress (died 2011)
  • February 28 – Francisco Colmenero, Mexican voice actor and voice director
  • March 31 – Nagisa Oshima, Japanese director (died 2013)
  • April 1 – Debbie Reynolds, American singer, actress and dancer (died 2016)[14]
  • April 4
    • Anthony Perkins, American actor (died 1992)
    • Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian director (died 1986)
  • April 10
    • Delphine Seyrig, French actress (died 1990)
    • Omar Sharif, Egyptian actor (died 2015)
  • April 11 - Joel Grey, American actor, singer, dancer and director
  • April 21 - Elaine May, American comedian, director, screenwriter, playwright and actor
  • April 25 - William Roache, English actor
  • April 26 – Francis Lai, French film composer (died 2018)
  • April 27
    • Anouk Aimée, French actress
    • Casey Kasem, American disc jockey, music historian, radio personality, actor and voice actor (died 2014)
  • June 6 – Anne Claire Poirier, Canadian director, producer and screenwriter
  • May 2 - Bruce Glover, American character actor
  • May 8 - Phyllida Law, Scottish actress
  • June 6 - Billie Whitelaw, English actress (died 2014)
  • June 10 – Branko Lustig, Croatian-born producer (died 2019)
  • June 11 - Athol Fugard, South African playwright, actor and director
  • June 17 - Peter Lupus, American bodybuilder and actor
  • June 18
  • June 19 - Marisa Pavan, Italian actress
  • June 22
    • Amrish Puri, Indian actor (died 2005)
    • Prunella Scales, English actress
  • July 10 - Neile Adams, Filipino-American actress, singer and dancer
  • August 2 – Peter O'Toole, Anglo-Irish actor (died 2013)
  • August 5 – Ja'Net DuBois, American actress, singer and dancer (Good Times) (died 2020)
  • August 24 – W. Morgan Sheppard, English actor and voice actor (died 2019)
  • September 5 - Carol Lawrence, American actress
  • September 21 - Mickey Kuhn, American actor
  • September 29 – Mehmood Ali, Indian actor, director and producer (died 2004)
  • October 4 - Felicia Farr, American former actress and model
  • October 13 – Dušan Makavejev, Serbian director (died 2019)
  • October 20 – William Christopher, American actor (died 2016)
  • November 1 - John Clark (actor), English actor, director, producer and writer
  • November 10 – Roy Scheider, American actor (died 2008)
  • November 12 - Jerry Douglas (actor), American actor (died 2021)
  • November 13
    • Richard Mulligan, American actor (died 2000)
    • J. A. Preston, American actor
  • November 15 – Petula Clark, English singer, actress and film composer
  • November 20 - Richard Dawson, English-American actor, comedian and game-show host (died 2012)
  • November 22 – Robert Vaughn, American actor (died 2016)
  • December 7 – Ellen Burstyn, American actress
  • December 14 - Abbe Lane, American singer and actress
  • December 28 – Nichelle Nichols, American actress

Deaths[]

  • February 15 – Minnie Maddern Fiske, American stage star, also appeared in silent films (born 1865)
  • June 30 – Bruno Kastner, German actor (born 1890)
  • July 17 – Rasmus Rasmussen, Norwegian actor (born 1862)
  • August 1 – James R. Quirk, American editor and publisher of Photoplay magazine (born 1884)
  • August 10 – Rin Tin Tin, canine actor (born 1918)
  • September 1 – Guy Oliver, American actor (born 1878)
  • September 16 – Peg Entwistle, British-born American actress (born 1908)
  • November 27 – Evelyn Preer, American actress, singer (born 1896)

Film debuts[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jones, Lon (March 4, 1944). "Which Cinema Films Have Earned the Most Money Since 1914?". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 3 Supplement: The Argus Weekend magazine. Retrieved August 6, 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles, California: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  3. ^ "All-Time Film Rental Champs". Variety. October 15, 1990.
  4. ^ Fragias, Leonidas (2017). Annual US Top Film Rentals 1912 - 1979 (Kindle ed.). Leonidas Fragias.
  5. ^ "Ten Leading Headline Events". Film Daily Year Book (1933). p. 47.
  6. ^ "The Ten Biggest Money Makers". Motion Picture Herald. August 6, 1932. p. 10. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d "The 5th Academy Awards – 1933". Archived from the original on September 4, 2012.
  8. ^ a b c d e "The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia: 1932". Archived from the original on March 25, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  9. ^ The Athlete (1932) – from the Pooch the Pup Theatrical Cartoon Series
  10. ^ The Butcher Boy (1932) – from the Pooch the Pup Theatrical Cartoon Series
  11. ^ The Crowd Snores (1932) – from the Pooch the Pup Theatrical Cartoon Series
  12. ^ The Underdog (The Under Dog) (1932) – from the Pooch the Pup Theatrical Cartoon Series
  13. ^ Cats And Dogs (1932) – from the Pooch the Pup Theatrical Cartoon Series
  14. ^ "Debbie Reynolds obituary". the Guardian. December 29, 2016. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
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