text:
1924 in film

This is an overview of 1924 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1924 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Events

 * January 10 – CBC Distributions corp. is renamed and incorporated as Columbia Pictures.
 * D. W. Griffith, co-founder of United Artists, leaves the company.
 * April 17 – Entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gains control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to create Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
 * November 15 – In Los Angeles, director Thomas Ince ("The Father of the Western") meets publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst to work out a deal. When Ince dies a few days later, reportedly of a heart attack, rumors soon surface that he was murdered by Hearst.
 * Loews Theatres acquires the 4,000 seat Capitol Theatre in New York City becoming the flagship of the theatre chain and site of many future MGM premieres.
 * Joseph Schenck becomes president of United Artists.
 * Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) considers making a film of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. MGM and the estate of L. Frank Baum failed to come to an agreement so the rights were sold to Chadwick Pictures.

Notable films released in 1924
For the complete list of US film releases for the year, see United States films of 1924

A

 * Aelita, directed by Yakov Protazanov – (U.S.S.R.)
 * The Alaskan (lost), directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Thomas Meighan and Estelle Taylor
 * Along Came Ruth (lost), directed by Edward F. Cline, starring Viola Dana
 * America, directed by D. W. Griffith, Neil Hamilton and Lionel Barrymore
 * Au Secours! (Help!), directed by Abel Gance, starring Max Linder – (France)

B

 * Ballet Mécanique, directed by Fernand Léger and Dudley Murphy – (France)
 * Beau Brummel, directed by Harry Beaumont, starring John Barrymore and Mary Astor
 * Behind the Curtain, directed by Chester M. Franklin, based on a story by William J. Flynn

C

 * Captain January directed by Edward F. Cline, starring Baby Peggy and Hobart Bosworth
 * Carlos and Elisabeth, directed by Richard Oswald, starring Conrad Veidt – (Germany)
 * Claude Duval, directed by George A. Cooper, starring Fay Compton and Nigel Barrie – (GB)
 * The City Without Jews (Die Stadt ohne Juden), directed by Hans Karl Breslauer – (Austria)

D

 * Dante's Inferno, directed by Henry Otto
 * The Dixie Handicap (lost), directed by Reginald Barker

E

 * The Enchanted Cottage, directed by John S. Robertson, starring Richard Barthelmess and May McAvoy
 * Entr'acte, directed by René Clair – (France)
 * The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (Neobychainye priklyucheniya mistera Vesta v strane bolshevikov), directed by Lev Kuleshov – (U.S.S.R.)

F

 * Forbidden Paradise, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Pola Negri, Rod La Rocque and Adolphe Menjou
 * The Further Mysteries of Dr. Fu Manchu, eight-part series directed by A. E. Coleby – (GB)

G

 * Girl Shy, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston
 * The Grand Duke's Finances (Die Finanzen des Großherzogs), directed by F. W. Murnau – (Germany)
 * The Great Well, directed by Henry Kolker – (GB)
 * Greed, directed by Erich von Stroheim, starring Gibson Gowland and ZaSu Pitts

H

 * Happiness, directed by King Vidor, starring Laurette Taylor
 * The Hands of Orlac (Orlacs Hände), directed by Robert Wiene, starring Conrad Veidt, based on the 1920 novel by Maurice Renard – (Austria)
 * He Who Gets Slapped, directed by Victor Sjöström starring Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer and John Gilbert
 * Helena, directed by Manfred Noa – (Germany)
 * Helen's Babies, directed by William A. Seiter, starring Edward Everett Horton, Baby Peggy and Clara Bow
 * Her Night of Romance, directed by Sidney Franklin, starring Constance Talmadge and Ronald Colman
 * His Hour, directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert
 * Hot Water, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston
 * The Humming Bird, directed by Sidney Olcott, starring Gloria Swanson

I

 * Icebound (lost), directed by William C. deMille, starring Lois Wilson and Richard Dix
 * L'Inhumaine (The Inhuman Woman), directed by Marcel L'Herbier – (France)
 * The Iron Horse, directed by John Ford, starring George O'Brien and Madge Bellamy
 * Isn't Life Wonderful, directed by D. W. Griffith

J

 * Janice Meredith, directed by E. Mason Hopper, starring Marion Davies

L

 * The Last Laugh (Der Letzte Mann), directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Emil Jannings – (Germany)
 * Little Robinson Crusoe, directed by Edward F. Cline, starring Jackie Coogan

M

 * The Marriage Circle, directed by Ernst Lubitsch
 * Michael, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer – (Germany)
 * Monsieur Beaucaire, directed by Sidney Olcott, starring Rudolph Valentino, Bebe Daniels and Lois Wilson

N

 * The Navigator, a Buster Keaton film
 * Die Nibelungen: Siegfried, directed by Fritz Lang; starring Paul Richter – (Germany)
 * Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache, directed by Fritz Lang – (Germany)

O

 * On Time (lost), directed by Henry Lehrman, starring Richard Talmadge
 * Open All Night, directed by Paul Bern, starring Viola Dana

P

 * Paris Qui Dort (Paris Which Sleeps), directed by René Clair – (France)
 * The Passionate Adventure, directed by Graham Cutts, starring Alice Joyce, Clive Brook and Victor McLaglen – (GB)
 * Peter Pan, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Betty Bronson and Ernest Torrence

Q

 * Quo Vadis, directed by Gabriellino D'Annunzio and Georg Jacoby, starring Emil Jannings – (Italy)

S

 * The Saga of Gosta Berling (Gösta Berlings Saga), directed by Mauritz Stiller, starring Greta Garbo and Lars Hanson – (Sweden)
 * Sampaguita, directed by José Nepomuceno – (Philippines)
 * The Sea Hawk, directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Milton Sills
 * Secrets, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Norma Talmadge
 * The Shadow of the Desert (lost), directed by George Archainbaud, starring Mildred Harris and Norman Kerry
 * Sherlock Jr., a Buster Keaton film
 * A Son of Satan (lost), written and directed by Oscar Micheaux
 * Stupid, But Brave, directed by William Goodrich (Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle)
 * Symphonie diagonale, directed by Viking Eggeling – (Germany)

T

 * The Thief of Bagdad, directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Douglas Fairbanks
 * Those Who Dare (lost), directed by John B. O'Brien
 * Three Weeks, directed by Alan Crosland, starring Conrad Nagel and Aileen Pringle
 * Three Women, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring May McAvoy, Pauline Frederick and Marie Prevost

U

 * Unseen Hands, directed by Jacques Jaccard, starring Wallace Beery

W

 * Waxworks (Das Wachsfigurenkabinett), directed by Paul Leni, starring Emil Jannings, Conrad Veidt and Werner Krauss – (Germany)
 * What an Eye, written and directed by Edward Ludwig
 * Wild Oranges, directed by King Vidor
 * Wine (lost), directed by Louis J. Gasnier, starring Clara Bow
 * Wine of Youth, directed by King Vidor, starring Eleanor Boardman and William Haines

Y

 * Yolanda, directed by Robert G. Vignola, starring Marion Davies

Short film series

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

Animated short film series

 * Koko the Clown (1919–1934)
 * Felix the Cat (1919–1936)
 * Alice Comedies (1923–1927)
 * Alice's Day at Sea
 * Alice's Spooky Adventure
 * Alice's Wild West Show
 * Alice's Fishy Story
 * Alice and the Dog-Catcher
 * Alice the Peacemaker
 * Alice Gets in Dutch
 * Alice Hunting in Africa
 * Alice and the Three Bears
 * Alice the Piper

Births

 * January 8 - Ron Moody, English actor (died 2015)
 * January 9 – Anne Vernon, French actress
 * January 9 – Sergei Parajanov, Soviet director (died 1990)
 * January 14 – Carole Cook, American actress (died 2023)
 * January 16 – Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (died 2002)
 * January 21 - Benny Hill, English actor, comedian, singer and writer (died 1992)
 * January 26 – Armand Gatti, French filmmaker (died 2017)
 * January 29 – Dorothy Malone, American actress (died 2018)
 * February 12 – Louis Zorich, American actor (died 2018)
 * February 19 – Lee Marvin, American actor (died 1987)
 * March 5 - Harvey Bernhard, American producer (died 2014)
 * March 12 – Helen Parrish, American actress (died 1959)
 * March 13 - Norma Michaels, American actress (died 2020)
 * March 15 - Walter Gotell, German actor (died 1997)
 * March 24 - Norman Fell, American actor (died 1998)
 * March 25 – Machiko Kyō, Japanese actress (died 2019)
 * April 3 – Marlon Brando, American actor (died 2004)
 * April 4 - Noreen Nash, American actress (died 2023)
 * April 7
 * Astrid Lepa, Estonian actress and director (died 2015)
 * Espen Skjønberg, Norwegian actor (died 2022)
 * April 13 – Stanley Donen, American director and choreographer (died 2019)
 * April 14
 * Joseph Ruskin, American actor (died 2013)
 * Philip Stone, English actor (died 2003)
 * April 18 – Leida Rammo, Estonian actress (died 2020)
 * April 19 - Tatiana Farnese, Italian actress (died 2022)
 * April 20
 * Nina Foch, Dutch-American actress (died 2008)
 * Leslie Phillips, English comic actor (died 2022)
 * April 24
 * Ruth Kobart, American performer (died 2002)
 * Eric Pleskow, Austrian film producer (died 2019)
 * April 29 – Heikki Haravee, Estonian actor (died 2003)
 * May 1 – Dodo Abashidze, Soviet Georgian director (died 1990)
 * May 2 – Theodore Bikel, Austrian-American actor (died 2015)
 * May 3 - Jane Morgan, American actress and singer
 * May 6 - Laurie Webb, British actor
 * May 18 - Priscilla Pointer, American actress
 * May 23 - Bill McCutcheon, American character actor (died 2002)
 * June 2 - Al Ruscio, American character actor (died 2013)
 * June 4 – Dennis Weaver, American actor, SAG president (died 2006)
 * June 16 – Faith Domergue, American actress (died 1999)
 * June 21 – Ezzatolah Entezami, Iranian actor (died 2018)
 * June 25 – Sidney Lumet, American director (died 2011)
 * July 1 - Florence Stanley, American actress (died 2003)
 * July 3 - Amalia Aguilar, Cuban-born Mexican actress (died 2021)
 * July 4 – Eva Marie Saint, American actress
 * July 6 – Draga Ahačič, Slovene actress and director (died 2022)
 * July 14 - Val Avery, American actor (died 2009)
 * July 19 - Pat Hingle, American actor (died 2009)
 * July 20 – Lola Albright, American actress (died 2017)
 * July 21 – Don Knotts, American actor (died 2006)
 * July 29 - Lloyd Bochner, Canadian actor (died 2005)
 * August 1 – Marcia Mae Jones, American actress (died 2007)
 * August 2 - Carroll O'Connor, American actor (died 2001)
 * August 10 – Martha Hyer, American actress (died 2014)
 * August 14 – Eduardo Fajardo, Spanish actor (died 2019)
 * August 19 - William Marshall, American actor (died 2003)
 * August 21 - Jack Weston, American actor (died 1996)
 * August 24 – Jimmy Gardner, English actor (died 2010)
 * August 28 – Peggy Ryan, American actress and dancer (died 2004)
 * August 29 – Tanis Chandler, French-born American actress (died 2006)
 * August 31 - Buddy Hackett, American actor, comedian and singer (died 2003)
 * September 1 - Hal Douglas, American voice actor (died 2014)
 * September 2 – Knud Leif Thomsen, Danish director and screenwriter (died 2003)
 * September 6 – Riccardo Cucciolla, Italian actor and voice actor (died 1999)
 * September 8 – Denise Darcel, French actress (died 2011)
 * September 9
 * Jane Greer, American actress (died 2001)
 * Sylvia Miles, American actress (died 2019)
 * September 11 - David Morris, English actor (died 2007)
 * September 13
 * Norman Alden, American character actor (died 2012)
 * Scott Brady, American actor (died 1985)
 * September 16 – Lauren Bacall, American actress (died 2014)
 * September 21 – Gail Russell, American actress (died 1961)
 * September 23 – Bob Herron, American stuntman and actor (died 2021)
 * September 28 – Marcello Mastroianni, Italian actor (died 1996)
 * September 29 - Peter Arne, British character actor (died 1983)
 * September 30 – Truman Capote, American author (died 1984)
 * October 1 – Jose Corazon de Jesus Jr., Filipino actor (died 1970)
 * October 12 - Doris Grau, American script supervisor, actress and voice artist (died 1995)
 * October 21 - Joyce Randolph, American actress (died 2024)
 * October 24 - Mark Lenard, American actor (died 1996)
 * October 25 – Billy Barty, American actor (died 2000
 * November 8 - Joe Flynn (American actor), American actor (died 1974)
 * November 10
 * Russell Johnson, American actor (died 2014)
 * Paul Richards, American actor (died 1974)
 * November 16 - Remo Remotti, Italian actor (died 2015)
 * November 19 - William Russell, English actor (died 2024)
 * November 20 - Mark Miller, American actor (died 2022)
 * November 21 - Joseph Campanella, American actor (died 2018)
 * November 22 – Geraldine Page, American actress (died 1987)
 * December 2 – Vilgot Sjöman, Swedish director (died 2006)
 * December 5 - George Savalas, American actor (died 1985)
 * December 13 - Maria Riva, American actress and writer
 * December 14
 * John Franklyn-Robbins, English actor (died 2009)
 * Raj Kapoor, Indian actor, director and producer (died 1988)
 * December 19 - Cicely Tyson, American actress, model and author (died 2021)
 * December 19 - Edmund Purdom, English actor, voice artist and director (died 2009)
 * December 25 – Rod Serling, American screenwriter (died 1975)
 * December 31 - Taylor Mead, American actor (died 2013)

Deaths

 * April 16 – Amleto Novelli, Italian stage and screen actor (born in 1885)
 * April 21 – Eleonora Duse, Italian veteran stage actress, who made one film in 1916 (born in 1858)
 * August 9 – L. Rogers Lytton, American stage and screen actor (born in 1867)
 * September 23 – Ben Deeley, film actor married to Barbara La Marr (born in 1878)
 * October 12 – Kate Lester, English veteran stage and film actress (born in 1857)
 * November 19 – Thomas Ince, American actor and pioneer film producer (born in 1880)

Film debuts

 * Brian Aherne – The Eleventh Commandment
 * Mary Brian – Peter Pan
 * Kay Deslys – Tarnish
 * W. C. Fields – Janice Meredith
 * Clark Gable – White Man
 * Janet Gaynor – Cupid's Rustler
 * John Gielgud – Who Is the Man?
 * Johannes Heesters – Cirque hollandais
 * Olin Howland – The Great White Way
 * Ian Hunter – Not for Sale
 * Leila Hyams – Sandra
 * Ian Keith – Manhandled
 * Robert Keith – The Other Kind of Love
 * Lois Moran – La Galerie des monstres
 * Grete Mosheim – Michael
 * Rafaela Ottiano – The Law and the Lady
 * Nat Pendleton – The Hoosier Schoolmaster
 * Jane Pierson – Mandrin
 * Michel Simon – La Galerie des monstres
 * Camilla Spira – Mutter und Sohn
 * Tom Tyler – Three Weeks
 * Ellinor Vanderveer – Married Flirts
 * Pierre Watkin – He Who Gets Slapped

title: 1924 in film


text:
1923 in film

This is an overview of 1923 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top eight films released in 1923 by U.S. gross are as follows:

Events

 * April 4 – Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. incorporated in the United States.
 * April 15 – Lee De Forest demonstrates the Phonofilm sound-on-film system at the Rivoli Theater in New York with a series of short musical films featuring vaudeville performers.
 * Henry Roussel's Les Opprimés is released, introducing mattes (painted by W. Percy Day) to French cinema.
 * October 16 – Brothers Walt and Roy O. Disney establish Disney Brothers Studio (later to be known as Walt Disney Productions).

Notable films released in 1923
American films unless stated otherwise

A

 * Adam's Rib, directed by Cecil B. DeMille
 * The Ancient Law (Das alte Gesetz), directed by E. A. Dupont, starring Henny Porten – (Germany)
 * Ashes of Vengeance, directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Norma Talmadge and Wallace Beery
 * The Audacious Mr. Squire, directed by Edwin Greenwood, starring Jack Buchanan – (GB)

B

 * The Balloonatic, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
 * Barsoum Looking for a Job, directed by Mohammed Bayoumi, starring Bishara Wakim – (Egypt)
 * The Bells, directed by Edwin Greenwood, based on the 1867 play The Polish Jew by Erckmann-Chatrian – (GB)
 * The Bishop of the Ozarks (lost), directed by Finis Fox
 * Black Oxen, directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Corinne Griffith
 * The Blizzard (lost), directed by Mauritz Stiller – (Sweden)
 * Blood and Soul (Chi to Rei), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi – (Japan)
 * The Blue Lagoon (lost), directed by William Bowden and Dick Cruikshanks, starring Molly Adair and Arthur Pusey - (GB / South Africa)
 * Bonnie Prince Charlie (lost), directed by Charles Calvert, starring Ivor Novello and Gladys Cooper – (GB)
 * The Brass Bottle (lost), directed by Maurice Tourneur

C

 * Cameo Kirby, directed by John Ford, starring John Gilbert
 * Circus Days, directed by Edward F. Cline, starring Jackie Coogan
 * Cœur fidèle (Faithful Heart), directed by Jean Epstein – (France)
 * The Courtship of Miles Standish, directed by Frederic Sullivan
 * The Covered Wagon, directed by James Cruze, starring J. Warren Kerrigan and Lois Wilson

D

 * The Daring Years (lost), directed by Kenneth Webb, starring Mildred Harris and Clara Bow
 * The Doll Maker of Kiang-Ning (Der Puppenmacher von Kiang-Ning), directed by Robert Wiene, starring Werner Krauss – (Germany)
 * Drakula halála (Dracula's Death) (lost), directed by Károly Lajthay – (Hungary)
 * The Drums of Jeopardy, directed by Edward Dillon, starring Elaine Hammerstein and Wallace Beery, based on the 1920 novel by Harold MacGrath

E

 * The Extra Girl, directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Mabel Normand

F

 * Faust, directed by Bertram Phillips, based on the 1808 play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – (GB)
 * Frozen Hearts, directed by J. A. Howe, starring Stan Laurel

G

 * The Gold Diggers (lost), directed by Harry Beaumont
 * The Grub-Stake, directed by Bert Van Tuyle, starring Nell Shipman

H

 * The Harbour Lights, directed by Tom Terriss, starring Tom Moore and Isobel Elsom – (GB)
 * Hoy o Nuca, Bésame, directed by José Nepomuceno – (Philippines)
 * The Hunchback of Notre Dame, directed by Wallace Worsley, starring Lon Chaney, Patsy Ruth Miller and Norman Kerry, based on the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo

I

 * I Will Repay, directed by Henry Kolker, starring Holmes Herbert and Flora Le Breton – (GB)
 * I.N.R.I., directed by Robert Wiene – (Germany)
 * The Isle of Lost Ships (lost), directed by Maurice Tourneur
 * Itching Palms, directed by James W. Horne, based on the play When Jerry Comes Home by Roy Briant

L

 * The Lady Owner, directed by Walter West – (GB)
 * The Last Moment (lost), directed by J. Parker Read Jr., starring Henry Hull, Doris Kenyon and Louis Wolheim
 * Little Old New York, directed by Sidney Olcott, starring Marion Davies
 * The Lost Soul, directed by Hugo Werner-Kahle – (Austria)
 * The Love Nest, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
 * The Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots, directed by Denison Clift, starring Fay Compton – (GB)

M

 * Main Street (lost), directed by Harry Beaumont
 * The Man in the Iron Mask (Der Mann mit der eisernen Maske), directed by Max Glass – (Germany)
 * The Merchant of Venice (Der Kaufmann von Venedig), directed by Peter Paul Felner, starring Werner Krauss and Henny Porten – (Germany)
 * Merry-Go-Round, directed by Erich von Stroheim, starring Mary Philbin and Norman Kerry
 * Miss Suwanna of Siam (Nang Sao Suwan) (lost), directed by Henry MacRae
 * The Monkey's Paw, directed by Manning Haynes, based on the 1902 short story by W. W. Jacobs – (GB)
 * Mysteries of a Barbershop (Mysterien eines Friseursalons), directed by Erich Engel – (Germany)
 * The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu, 15-part serial directed by A. E. Coleby – (GB)

O

 * On the Banks of the Wabash, directed by J. Stuart Blackton
 * Our Hospitality, directed by John G. Blystone and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
 * Out to Win, directed by Denison Clift, starring Catherine Calvert and Clive Brook – (GB)

P

 * Paddy the Next Best Thing (lost), directed by Graham Cutts, starring Mae Marsh – (GB)
 * The Pilgrim, a Charlie Chaplin film
 * Puritan Passions (lost), directed by Frank Tuttle, starring Glenn Hunter and Mary Astor, based on the 1908 play The Scarecrow by Percy MacKaye
 * The Purple Highway (lost), directed by Henry Kolker, starring Madge Kennedy

R

 * Raskolnikow, directed by Robert Wiene – (Germany)
 * The Red Inn (L'auberge rouge), directed by Jean Epstein, based on the 1831 short story by Honoré de Balzac (remade in 1951) – (France)
 * Red Lights, directed by Clarence G. Badger, starring Marie Prevost, based on the play The Rear Car by Edward Everett Rose
 * Le Retour à la Raison (Return to Reason), directed by Man Ray – (France)
 * Rosita, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Mary Pickford
 * La Roue (The Wheel), directed by Abel Gance – (France)
 * Rupert of Hentzau (lost), directed by Victor Heerman

S

 * Safety Last!, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd
 * Salomé, directed by Charles Bryant, starring Alla Nazimova
 * Scaramouche, directed by Rex Ingram, Starring Ramón Novarro, Alice Terry and Lewis Stone
 * Schatten – Eine nächtliche Halluzination (Shadows - a Nocturnal Hallucination), directed by Arthur Robison – (Germany)
 * The Shock, directed by Lambert Hillyer, starring Lon Chaney
 * The Shriek of Araby, directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Ben Turpin
 * The Sign of Four, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Eille Norwood, based on the 1890 novel by Arthur Conan Doyle – (GB)
 * Slave of Desire, directed by George D. Baker, starring Bessie Love, based on the 1831 novel La Peau de chagrin by Honoré de Balzac
 * Souls for Sale, directed by Rupert Hughes, starring Eleanor Boardman, Mae Busch and Richard Dix
 * A Spectre Haunts Europe, directed by Vladimir Gardin, based on the 1842 short story The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe – (U.S.S.R.)
 * Squibs M.P., directed by George Pearson, starring Betty Balfour – (GB)
 * The Street (Die Straße), directed by Karl Grune – (Germany)
 * Suzanna, directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Mabel Normand

T

 * The Ten Commandments, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Theodore Roberts
 * This Freedom, directed by Denison Clift, starring Fay Compton and Clive Brook – (GB)
 * Three Ages, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton and Wallace Beery
 * Three Wise Fools, directed by King Vidor
 * Through Fire and Water, directed by Thomas Bentley, starring Clive Brook and Flora Le Breton – (GB)
 * Tiger Rose, directed by Sidney Franklin (director), starring Lenore Ulric
 * The Treasure (Der Schatz), directed by G. W. Pabst – (Germany)
 * Trilby, directed by James Young, based on the 1894 novel by George du Maurier
 * Tut-Tut and his Terrible Tomb, directed by Bertram Phillips – (GB)

U

 * Under the Red Robe, directed by Alan Crosland, starring Robert B. Mantell
 * The Unknown Tomorrow (Das unbekannte Morgen), directed by Alexander Korda, starring Werner Krauss – (Germany)

W

 * While Paris Sleeps (lost), directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Lon Chaney and John Gilbert, based on a novelThe Glory of Love by Leslie Beresford
 * The White Shadow, directed by Graham Cutts, starring Betty Compson and Clive Brook – (GB)
 * The White Sister, directed by Henry King, starring Lillian Gish and Ronald Colman
 * Why Worry?, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston
 * Wild Bill Hickok, directed by Clifford Smith, starring William S. Hart
 * Within the Law, directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Norma Talmadge
 * A Woman of Paris, written and directed by Charles Chaplin, starring Edna Purviance
 * Woman to Woman (lost), directed by Graham Cutts, starring Betty Compson and Clive Brook – (GB)

Short film series

 * Charlie Chaplin (1914–23)
 * Buster Keaton (1917–41)
 * Laurel and Hardy (1921–43)
 * Our Gang (1922–44)

Animated short film series

 * Felix the Cat (1919–36)
 * Koko the Clown (1919–34)
 * Aesop's Film Fables (1921–34)
 * Alice Comedies
 * Alice's Wonderland
 * The Red Head Comedies (1923).

Births

 * January 1 – Valentina Cortese, Italian actress (died 2019)
 * January 3 - Bud Tingwell, Australian actor (died 2009)
 * January 5 - Boris Leskin, Soviet-American actor (died 2020)
 * January 7 – Pinkas Braun, Swiss actor, director (died 2008)
 * January 8 – Larry Storch, American actor (died 2022)
 * January 17 - Carol Raye, British-born Australian actress, comedian and singer (died 2022)
 * January 19 – Jean Stapleton, American actress (died 2013)
 * January 22 - Diana Douglas, American actress (died 2015)
 * January 23 – Silvano Campeggi, Italian poster designer (died 2018)
 * January 26 – Anne Jeffreys, American actress (died 2017)
 * January 29 – Paddy Chayefsky, American screenwriter (died 1981)
 * February 2 – Bonita Granville, American actress (died 1988)
 * February 12 – Franco Zeffirelli, Italian director (died 2019)
 * February 18 - Allan Melvin, American actor and impressionist (died 2008)
 * February 21 – Lola Flores, Spanish actress (died 1995)
 * February 28 – Charles Durning, American actor (died 2012)
 * March 10 – Dolores Fuller, American actress (died 2011)
 * March 12 - Vladek Sheybal, Polish character actor, singer and director (died 1992)
 * March 19 – Pamela Britton, American actress (died 1974)
 * March 24 - Murray Hamilton, American actor (died 1986)
 * April 2 – Gloria Henry, American actress (died 2021)
 * April 4
 * Gene Reynolds, American actor, producer (died 2020)
 * Peter Vaughan, English character actor (died 2016)
 * April 5 - Michael V. Gazzo, American actor (died 1995)
 * April 6 - Chang Feng, Chinese actor (died 2022)
 * April 12 – Ann Miller, American dancer, singer, actress (died 2004)
 * April 13 - Don Adams, American actor, comedian and director (died 2005)
 * April 17
 * Lindsay Anderson, British director and actor (died 1994)
 * Lon McCallister, American actor (died 2005)
 * April 28 – Adele Mara, American actress (died 2010)
 * April 29 - Irvin Kershner, American director, actor and producer (died 2010)
 * May 4 – Eric Sykes, British actor and comedian (died 2012)
 * May 7 – Anne Baxter, actress (died 1985)
 * May 14 – Mrinal Sen, Bengali director (died 2018)
 * May 20 – Edith Fellows, American actress (died 2011)
 * May 26
 * James Arness, American actor (died 2011)
 * Roy Dotrice, British actor (died 2017)
 * May 30 - Jimmy Lydon, American actor and producer (died 2022)
 * June 5 - Peggy Stewart, American actress (died 2019)
 * June 8 – Peggy Maley, American actress (died 2007)
 * June 12 – Herta Elviste, Estonian actress (died 2015)
 * June 18 - Robert Ellenstein, American actor (died 2010)
 * June 20 - Jerzy Nowak, Polish actor (died 2013)
 * June 28 - Ray Boyle, American actor (died 2022)
 * July 6 – Cathy O'Donnell, American actress (died 1970)
 * July 8 - Val Bettin, American actor (died 2021)
 * July 14 – Dale Robertson, American actor (died 2013)
 * July 18 – Michael Medwin, English actor and producer (died 2020)
 * July 22 – Mukesh, Indian singer (died 1976)
 * July 25
 * Estelle Getty, American actress and comedian (died 2008)
 * Allan Lurie, American voice actor (died 2015)
 * August 3 – Jean Hagen, American actress (died 1977)
 * August 9 - John Stephenson, American actor (died 2015)
 * August 10
 * Rhonda Fleming, American actress (died 2020)
 * Vernon Washington, American character actor (died 1988)
 * August 14 – Alice Ghostley, American actress (died 2007)
 * August 15 – Rose Marie, American actress, singer (died 2017)
 * August 24 - June Dayton, American actress (died 1994)
 * August 28 - Alexander Doré, British actor, director and screenwriter (died 2002)
 * August 29 – Richard Attenborough, English actor and director (died 2014)
 * August 31 - Ed Grady, American actor (died 2012)
 * September 7 – Peter Lawford, British-American actor (died 1984)
 * September 9 - Cliff Robertson, American actor (died 2011)
 * September 11 - Betsy Drake, American actress, writer (died 2015)
 * September 23
 * Margaret Pellegrini, American actress (died 2013)
 * Jimmy Weldon, American actor, ventriloquist and television host (died 2023)
 * September 27
 * Tony Giorgio, American actor (died 2012)
 * Mary McCarty, American actress (died 1980)
 * September 28 - William Windom, American actor (died 2012)
 * October 1 – Kim Yaroshevskaya, Russian-born Canadian actress
 * October 4 – Charlton Heston, American actor (died 2008)
 * October 5 – Glynis Johns, British actress (died 2024)
 * October 10 - Patrick Jordan, British actor (died 2020)
 * October 16 – Linda Darnell, American actress (died 1965)
 * October 23 - Frank Sutton, American actor (died 1974)
 * November 12 - Richard Venture, American actor (died 2017)
 * November 13 – Linda Christian, Mexican-American actress (died 2011)
 * November 21 - Helen Horton, American actress (died 2007)
 * November 28
 * Gloria Grahame, American actress (died 1981)
 * James Karen, American actor (died 2018)
 * December 10 – Harold Gould, American actor (died 2010)
 * December 11 – Betsy Blair, American actress (died 2009)
 * December 12 - Bob Barker, American television game show host (died 2023)
 * December 29
 * Dina Merrill, American actress (died 2017)
 * Mike Nussbaum, American actor and director (died 2023)

Deaths

 * January 18 – Wallace Reid, American actor (born 1892)
 * March 3 – Dante Testa, Italian actor and director (born 1861)
 * March 26 – Sarah Bernhardt, French actress (born 1844)
 * May 21 – Charles Kent, veteran actor and director (born 1852)
 * June 11 – Porter Strong, American silent film actor
 * June 17 – Macey Harlam, screen actor (born 1873)
 * July 12 – Harry Lonsdale, stage and screen actor (born 1865)
 * July 30 – Charles Hawtrey, veteran British actor (born 1858)
 * August 29 – Bernard Durning, American actor and director, (born 1893)
 * September 11 – Siegmund Lubin, American motion picture pioneer (born 1851)
 * September 26 – Jerome Patrick, Broadway stage and silent film leading man (born 1883)
 * October 28 – Joe Roberts, American actor (born 1871)
 * November 20 – Allen Holubar, American actor and director (born 1888)
 * November 30 – Martha Mansfield, American actress (born 1899)
 * December 28 – Frank Hayes, American actor and comedian (born 1871)

Film debuts

 * Frank Albertson – The Covered Wagon
 * Mariska Aldrich – Souls for Sale
 * Jean Arthur – Cameo Kirby
 * Irving Bacon – Anna Christie
 * Julie Bishop – Children of Jazz
 * Olive Borden – Ponjola
 * Mary Carlisle – Long Live the King
 * Marlene Dietrich – The Little Napoleon
 * Charles Farrell – The Cheat
 * Leslie Fenton – Gentle Julia
 * Bess Flowers – Hollywood
 * Carmelita Geraghty – Jealous Husbands
 * Gloria Grey – Bag and Baggage
 * James Hall – Man Alone
 * Carmencita Johnson – The Courtship of Miles Standish
 * Mary Kid – Avalanche
 * Helen Mack – Success
 * June Marlowe – Fighting Blood
 * Ken Maynard – Brass Commandments
 * Donald Meek – Six Cylinder Love
 * Thomas Mitchell – Six Cylinder Love
 * Jack Oakie – His Children's Children
 * Edna May Oliver – Wife in Name Only
 * Marjorie Reynolds – Trilby
 * Stanley Ridges – Success
 * Gilbert Roland – The Hunchback of Notre Dame
 * Martha Sleeper – The Mailman
 * Suzy Vernon – The Portrait
 * Erika von Thellmann – The Stone Rider
 * Harry Woods – Don Quickshot of the Rio Grande

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: 1923 in film


text:
1922 in film

This is an overview of 1922 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten films released in 1922 by U.S. gross are as follows:

Events

 * June 11 – United States première of Robert J. Flaherty's Nanook of the North, the first commercially successful feature length documentary film.
 * November 26 – The Toll of the Sea, starring Anna May Wong and Kenneth Harlan, debuts as the first general release film to use two-tone Technicolor (The Gulf Between was the first film to do so but it was not widely distributed).

Notable films released in 1922
United States unless stated

A

 * At the Sign of the Jack O'Lantern (lost), directed by Lloyd Ingraham, based on the 1905 novel by Myrtle Reed

B

 * The Bachelor Daddy (lost), directed by Alfred E. Green, starring Thomas Meighan
 * The Beautiful and Damned (lost), directed by William A. Seiter, starring Marie Prevost
 * Beauty's Worth, directed by Robert G. Vignola, starring Marion Davies
 * Beyond the Rocks, directed by Sam Wood, starring Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino
 * A Bill of Divorcement, directed by Denison Clift, starring Constance Binney and Fay Compton – (GB)
 * The Blacksmith, directed by Mal St. Clair and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
 * A Blind Bargain (lost), directed by Wallace Worsley, starring Lon Chaney, based on the 1897 novel The Octive of Claudius by Barry Pain
 * Blood and Sand, directed by Fred Niblo, starring Rudolph Valentino, Lila Lee and Nita Naldi
 * The Bohemian Girl, directed by Harley Knoles, Starring Ivor Novello and Gladys Cooper – (GB)
 * The Bride's Play, directed by George Terwilliger, starring Marion Davies
 * The Burning Soil (Der brennende Acker), directed by F. W. Murnau – (Germany)

C

 * The Card, directed by A. V. Bramble – (GB)
 * Clarence (lost), directed by William C. deMille, starring Wallace Reid, Agnes Ayres and May McAvoy
 * Cocaine, directed by Graham Cutts – (GB)
 * Cops, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
 * Crainquebille (Coster Bill of Paris), directed by Jacques Feyder – (France)

D

 * A Dangerous Adventure, 15-part serial directed by Sam Warner and Jack L. Warner, starring Grace Darmond
 * Danse Macabre, directed by Dudley Murphy
 * Day Dreams, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, Starring Buster Keaton and Renée Adorée
 * A Debt of Honour, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Isobel Elsom and Clive Brook – (GB)
 * The Dictator (lost), directed by James Cruze, starring Wallace Reid and Lila Lee
 * Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (Dr. Mabuse the Gambler), directed by Fritz Lang, starring Rudolf Klein-Rogge, based on the 1921 novel by Norbert Jacques – (Germany)
 * Dr. Jack, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, starring Harold Lloyd
 * Don Juan et Faust, directed by Marcel L'Herbier, based on an 1828 play by Christian Dietrich Grabbe – (France)
 * The Dungeon (lost), written and directed by Oscar Micheaux

E

 * Estrellita del Cine, directed by José Nepomuceno – (Philippines)
 * The Electric House, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
 * Esmeralda (lost), directed by Edwin J. Collins, starring Sybil Thorndike, based on the 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo – (GB)

F

 * Fair Lady, directed by Kenneth Webb
 * Faust, directed by Challis Sanderson, based on the 1808 play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – (GB)
 * Faust, directed by Gérard Bourgeois, based on the 1808 play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – (France)
 * La Femme de nulle part (The Woman from Nowhere), directed by Louis Delluc – (France)
 * Flames of Passion, directed by Graham Cutts, starring Mae Marsh and C. Aubrey Smith – (GB)
 * Flesh and Blood, directed by Irving Cummings, starring Lon Chaney and Noah Beery Sr.
 * Foolish Wives, starring and directed by Erich von Stroheim
 * The Frozen North, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton

G

 * The Ghost Breaker (lost), directed by Alfred E. Green, starring Wallace Reid and Lila Lee, based on the 1909 play by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard
 * A Gipsy Cavalier, directed by J. Stuart Blackton, starring Georges Carpentier and Flora le Breton – (GB)
 * Grandma's Boy, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, starring Harold Lloyd
 * The Grass Orphan, directed by Frank Hall Crane – (GB)

H

 * The Haunted House, directed by Erle C. Kenton
 * Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages, starring and directed by Benjamin Christensen – (Sweden/Denmark)
 * The Headless Horseman, directed by Edward D. Venturini, starring Will Rogers, based of the 1820 short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
 * Heroes of the Street, directed by William Beaudine, starring Wesley Barry and Marie Prevost

I

 * In the Name of the Law (lost), directed by Emory Johnson, starring Ralph Lewis and Claire McDowell

L

 * Laborer's Love (láogōng zhī àiqíng), directed by Zhang Shichuan – (China)
 * Lorna Doone, directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Madge Bellamy
 * The Loves of Pharaoh (Das Weib des Pharao), directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Emil Jannings – (Germany)
 * Lucrezia Borgia, directed by Richard Oswald, starring Conrad Veidt and Liane Haid – (Germany)

M

 * The Man from Beyond, directed by Burton L. King, starring Harry Houdini
 * Manslaughter, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Thomas Meighan and Lois Wilson
 * Marizza (lost), directed by F. W. Murnau – (Germany)
 * The Marriage Chance, written and directed by Hampton Del Ruth
 * Money To Burn (lost), directed by Rowland V. Lee
 * Moran of the Lady Letty, directed by George Melford, starring Dorothy Dalton and Rudolph Valentino
 * More to Be Pitied Than Scorned (lost), directed by Edward LeSaint
 * Mud and Sand, directed by Gilbert Pratt, starring Stan Laurel
 * My Boy, directed by Victor Heerman and Albert Austin, starring Jackie Coogan
 * My Wife's Relations, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton

N

 * Nanook of the North, a documentary directed by Robert J. Flaherty
 * Nathan the Wise (Nathan der Weise), directed by Manfred Noa – (Germany)
 * Nice People (lost), directed by William C. deMille, starring Wallace Reid, Bebe Daniels and Conrad Nagel
 * Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens (Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror), directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Max Schreck, based on the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker without authorization – (Germany)
 * Number 13 (lost), directed by Alfred Hitchcock – (GB)

O

 * Oliver Twist, directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Jackie Coogan and Lon Chaney
 * One Exciting Night, written and directed by D. W. Griffith
 * One Glorious Day (lost), directed by James Cruze, starring Will Rogers and Lila Lee

P

 * The Paleface, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
 * Pay Day, a Charles Chaplin short
 * Peg o' My Heart, directed by King Vidor, starring Laurette Taylor
 * Phantom, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Alfred Abel, Lil Dagover and Lya De Putti – (Germany)
 * Polikushka (Поликушка), directed by Alexander Sanin – (U.S.S.R.)
 * The Primitive Lover, directed by Sidney Franklin, starring Constance Talmadge and Harrison Ford
 * The Prisoner of Zenda, directed by Rex Ingram, starring Lewis Stone and Alice Terry

R

 * Rags to Riches, directed by Wallace Worsley, starring Wesley Barry
 * Rent Free (lost), directed by Howard Higgin, starring Wallace Reid and Lila Lee
 * Robin Hood, directed by Allan Dwan, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Wallace Beery
 * Rob Roy, directed by W. P. Kellino – (GB)

S

 * Saturday Night, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Leatrice Joy and Conrad Nagel
 * The Scarlet Letter, directed by Challis Sanderson, starring Sybil Thorndike – (GB)
 * Shadows, directed by Tom Forman, starring Lon Chaney, Marguerite De La Motte and Harrison Ford
 * Sherlock Holmes, directed by Albert Parker, starring John Barrymore, based on the 1899 stage play by William Gillette and Arthur Conan Doyle – (GB)
 * Smilin' Through, directed by Sidney Franklin, starring Norma Talmadge
 * Sodom and Gomorrah, directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Lucy Doraine – (Austria)
 * La Souriante Madame Beudet (The Smiling Madame Beudet), directed by Germaine Dulac – (France)
 * Squibs Wins the Calcutta Sweep, directed by George Pearson, starring Betty Balfour – (GB)
 * The Suram Fortress (Suramis tsikhe), directed by Ivan Perestiani – (U.S.S.R.)

T

 * Tess of the Storm Country, directed by John S. Robertson, starring Mary Pickford
 * The Three Must-Get-Theres, a Max Linder film
 * The Toll of the Sea, directed by Chester M. Franklin, starring Anna May Wong

W

 * What's Wrong with the Women? (lost), directed by Roy William Neill, starring Constance Bennett
 * When Knighthood Was in Flower, directed by Robert G. Vignola, starring Marion Davies
 * Wildness of Youth, directed by Ivan Abramson

Y

 * The Young Diana (lost), directed by Albert Capellani and Robert G. Vignola, starring Marion Davies
 * The Young Rajah. directed by Phil Rosen, starring Rudolph Valentino
 * Your Best Friend, written and directed by William Nigh, starring Vera Gordon

Short film series

 * Charlie Chaplin (1914–1923)
 * Buster Keaton (1917–1941)
 * Laurel and Hardy (1921–1943)
 * Our Gang (1922–1944)

Animated short film series

 * Felix the Cat (1919–1936)
 * Koko the Clown (1919–1963)
 * Aesop's Film Fables (1921–1934)

Births

 * January 2 – Jason Evers, actor (died 2005)
 * January 3 – Bill Travers, British actor, screenwriter and director (died 1994)
 * January 10 – Hannelore Schroth, actress (died 1987)
 * January 13 – Albert Lamorisse, director (died 1970)
 * January 16 – Irene Vernon, actress (died 1998)
 * January 17 – Betty White, American actress (died 2021)
 * January 19 – Guy Madison, actor (died 1996)
 * January 20 – Ray Anthony, bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter and actor
 * January 21
 * Telly Savalas, actor (died 1994)
 * Paul Scofield, actor (died 2008)
 * January 31 – Joanne Dru, actress (died 1996)
 * February 4 –
 * William Edward Phipps, American actor and producer (died 2018)
 * Qin Yi, Chinese actress (died 2022)
 * February 6 – Patrick Macnee, actor (died 2015)
 * February 7 – Hattie Jacques, actress (died 1980)
 * February 8 – Audrey Meadows, actress (died 1996)
 * February 9 – Kathryn Grayson, singer, actress (died 2010)
 * February 24 – Steven Hill, actor (died 2016)
 * February 26 – Margaret Leighton, actress (died 1976)
 * March 5 – Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian film director (died 1975)
 * March 8 – Cyd Charisse, actress, dancer (died 2008)
 * March 20 – Carl Reiner, comic actor, director and screenwriter (died 2020)
 * March 21 – Russ Meyer, director, producer (died 2004)
 * March 31
 * Richard Kiley, American actor and singer (died 1999)
 * Patrick Magee, Northern Irish actor (died 1982)
 * April 3 – Doris Day, actress, singer (died 2019)
 * April 4 - Elmer Bernstein, American composer and conductor (died 2004)
 * April 5 – Gale Storm, singer, actress (died 2009)
 * April 7 – Margia Dean, American beauty queen and actress (died 2023)
 * April 15 – Michael Ansara, American stage, screen, and voice actor (died 2013)
 * April 18 – Barbara Hale, American actress (died 2017)
 * April 24 – J. D. Cannon, American actor (died 2005)
 * April 26 – Mike Kellin, American actor (died 1983)
 * April 27 – Jack Klugman, American actor (died 2012)
 * May 2 – Roscoe Lee Browne, American actor and director (died 2007)
 * May 7
 * Rolands Kalniņš, Latvian director, screenwriter and producer (died 2022)
 * Darren McGavin, American actor (died 2006)
 * May 10 – Nancy Walker, American actress (died 1992)
 * May 13 - Truus Dekker, Dutch actress (died 2022)
 * May 17 - Wei Wei, Chinese actress (died 2023)
 * May 18 - Bill Macy, American actor (died 2019)
 * May 25 - Syd Heylen, Australian character actor and comedian (died 2007)
 * May 27 – Christopher Lee, English actor (died 2015)
 * May 31 – Denholm Elliott, English actor (died 1992)
 * June 1
 * Joan Caulfield, American actress (died 1991)
 * Joan Copeland, American actress (died 2022)
 * June 9 – George Axelrod, American scriptwriter and director (died 2003)
 * June 10
 * Judy Garland, American singer, actress (died 1969)
 * Bill Kerr, British-Australian actor and comedian (died 2014)
 * June 16 – Frances Rafferty, American actress (died 2004)
 * June 22 – Mona Lisa, Filipina actress (died 2019)
 * June 26 – Eleanor Parker, American actress (died 2013)
 * June 28 - Erik Bauersfeld, American voice actor (died 2016)
 * July 6 – William Schallert, American actor (died 2016)
 * July 19 - Bess Meisler, American actress
 * July 21 – Demeter Bitenc, Slovenian actor (died 2018)
 * July 26
 * Blake Edwards, American director (died 2010)
 * Jason Robards, American actor (died 2000)
 * July 27
 * Adolfo Celi, Italian film actor and director (died 1986)
 * Norman Lear, American writer and producer (died 2023)
 * August 1
 * Arthur Hill, Canadian actor (died 2006)
 * Paul Lambert, American actor (died 1997)
 * August 8 – Rory Calhoun, American actor (died 1999)
 * August 22 – Micheline Presle, French actress (died 2024)
 * August 25 - Gloria Dea, American actress and musician (died 2023)
 * September 1
 * Vittorio Gassman, Italian actor, director (died 2000)
 * Yvonne De Carlo, American actress (died 2007)
 * September 6 – Elizabeth Lawrence, American actress (died 2000)
 * September 8
 * Sid Caesar, American comedian, actor (died 2014)
 * Annabel Maule, British actress
 * September 10 – Barbara Chilcott, Canadian actress (died 2022)
 * September 14 – Michel Auclair, European actor (died 1988)
 * September 15 – Jackie Cooper, American actor, director (died 2011)
 * September 16
 * Guy Hamilton, English director (died 2016)
 * Janis Paige, American actress (died 2024)
 * September 23 – Louise Latham, American actress (died 2018)
 * September 24 – Bert I. Gordon, American filmmaker and visual effects artist (died 2023)
 * September 29 – Lizabeth Scott, American actress (died 2015)
 * October 5 – Woodrow Parfrey, American actor (died 1984)
 * October 7 – Martha Stewart, American actress (died 2021)
 * October 8 – Eileen Essell, English actress (died 2015)
 * October 20 – John Anderson, American actor (died 1992)
 * October 23 – Coleen Gray, American actress (died 2015)
 * October 27 – Ruby Dee, American actress (died 2014)
 * October 28 - Jack Murdock, American actor (died 2001)
 * October 31 – Barbara Bel Geddes, American actress (died 2005)
 * November 9 – Dorothy Dandridge, American actress, singer (died 1965)
 * November 12 – Kim Hunter, actress (died 2002)
 * November 13
 * Madeleine Sherwood, actress (died 2016)
 * Oskar Werner, actor (died 1984)
 * November 14 – Veronica Lake, American actress (died 1973)
 * November 15 – Francesco Rosi, film director (died 2015)
 * November 16 – Royal Dano, American actor (died 1994)
 * November 22 – Lynne Roberts, American actress (died 1978)
 * November 26 – Adam Williams, American actor (died 2005)
 * November 27 - Jacqueline White, American former actress
 * November 29 – Laurie Main, Australian actor (died 2012)
 * December 2
 * Don Fellows, American actor (died 2007)
 * Leo Gordon, American actor and screenplay writer (died 2000)
 * December 3 - Len Lesser, American character actor (died 2011)
 * December 4 – Gérard Philipe, French actor (died 1959)
 * December 9 – Redd Foxx, American comedian and actor (died 1991)
 * December 11 – Dilip Kumar, Indian actor (died 2021)
 * December 21 – Paul Winchell, American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, voice artist, humanitarian and inventor (died 2005)
 * December 22 – Ruth Roman, actress (died 1999)
 * December 24 – Ava Gardner, American actress (died 1990)
 * December 26 – Alfred Dennis, American actor (died 2016)
 * December 28
 * Ivan Desny, Swiss actor (died 2002)
 * Stan Lee, American comic-book writer, producer and actor (died 2018)

Deaths

 * February 1 – William Desmond Taylor, film director, victim of an unsolved and widely publicised murder which provoked a great scandal. (born 1872)
 * February 4 – Florence Deshon, American actress (born 1893)
 * March 4 – Bert Williams, American actor and singer (born 1874)
 * May 21 – Sidney Ainsworth, actor (born 1872)
 * May 26 – Walter Jones, American actor (b.1874)
 * June 6 – Lillian Russell, stage and screen actress (born 1860/61)
 * June 15 – Howard Crampton, actor (born 1865)
 * July 5 – Bobby Connelly, child star (born 1909)
 * September 23 – W. Chrystie Miller, veteran stage & screen actor (born 1843)
 * November 30 – René Cresté, actor and director (born 1881)

Film debuts

 * Clara Bow – Beyond the Rainbow
 * Betty Bronson – Anna Ascends
 * Lon Chaney Jr. – The Trap
 * Ann Doran – Robin Hood
 * Louise Dresser – The Glory of Clementina
 * James Gleason – Polly of the Follies
 * William Haines – Brothers Under the Skin
 * Edward Everett Horton – Too Much Business
 * Hazel Keener – Penrod
 * Walter Kingsford – Sherlock Holmes
 * Gene Lockhart – Smilin' Through
 * Anita Louise – Down to the Sea in Ships
 * Jeanne Loury – Triplepatte
 * Garry Marsh – Long Odds
 * George O'Brien – White Hands
 * William Powell – Sherlock Holmes
 * David Sharpe – Sherlock Holmes
 * Anne Shirley – The Hidden Woman
 * Warren William – The Town That Forgot God
 * Roland Young – Sherlock Holmes

title: 1922 in film


text:
1921 in film

This is an overview of 1921 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top nine films released in 1921 by U.S. gross are as follows:

Events

 * January 21 – The silent comedy drama The Kid, written by, produced by, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin (in his Tramp character) – his first full-length film as a director – and featuring Jackie Coogan, is released in the United States. It is the year's second-highest-grossing film.
 * March 6 – The silent epic war film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, adapted for the screen by June Mathis, is released in the United States. It is the year's highest-grossing film (and the sixth-best-grossing silent film of all time), propels Rudolph Valentino to stardom and inspires a tango craze and a fashion for gaucho pants.
 * August 29 – Broadway's first $1 million theatre, Loew's State opens.
 * September 5 – Popular comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle attends a party at the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, during which actress Virginia Rappe is fatally injured; although he is eventually acquitted of rape and manslaughter, the scandal derails his career.
 * October 21 – George Melford's silent film The Sheik, which enhances leading actor Rudolph Valentino's international reputation as a Latin lover, is premiered in Los Angeles. Within the first year of its release, it exceeds $1 million in ticket sales.
 * October 26 – The Chicago Theatre, which will be the oldest surviving French-style Baroque Revival grand movie palace, opens.
 * The experimental short documentary film Manhatta is shot by painter Charles Sheeler and photographer Paul Strand in New York City.

Notable films released in 1921
United States unless stated.

A

 * The Ace of Hearts, directed by Wallace Worsley, starring Lon Chaney and Leatrice Joy
 * Action (lost), directed by John Ford, starring Hoot Gibson
 * The Adventures of Mr. Pickwick (lost), directed by Thomas Bentley, starring Frederick Volpe – (GB)
 * The Adventures of Tarzan, 15-part serial directed by Robert F. Hill and Scott Sidney, starring Elmo Lincoln
 * The Affairs of Anatol, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Wallace Reid and Gloria Swanson
 * After Midnight, directed by Ralph Ince
 * After Your Own Heart, directed by George Marshall, starring Tom Mix
 * All Soul's Eve (lost), directed by Chester M. Franklin, starring Mary Miles Minter and Jack Holt, based on the 1920 stage play by Anne Crawford Flexner
 * Among Those Present, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, starring Harold Lloyd
 * L'Atlantide, directed by Jacques Feyder, based on the 1919 novel by Pierre Benoit – (France)

B

 * Die Bergkatze (The Wild Cat), directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Pola Negri and Paul Heidemann – (Germany)
 * The Bigamist, starring and directed by Guy Newall with Ivy Duke – (GB)
 * The Blot, directed by Lois Weber
 * The Boat, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
 * The Bonnie Brier Bush (lost), starring and directed by Donald Crisp – (GB)
 * Brewster's Millions (lost), directed by Joseph Henabery, starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
 * Brownie's Little Venus, directed by Fred Fishback, starring Baby Peggy
 * Buried Treasure, directed by George D. Baker, starring Marion Davies and Norman Kerry

C

 * The Call of Youth (lost), directed by Hugh Ford
 * Camille, directed by Ray C. Smallwood, starring Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino
 * The Case of Becky, directed by Chester M. Franklin, starring Constance Binney, based on the 1912 stage play by David Belasco and Edward Locke
 * A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (lost), directed by Emmett J. Flynn
 * The Conquering Power, directed by Rex Ingram, starring Rudolph Valentino and Alice Terry

D

 * Desire (Sehnsucht) (lost), directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Conrad Veidt – (Germany)
 * Destiny (Der müde Tod), directed by Fritz Lang, starring Lil Dagover and Rudolf Klein-Rogge – (Germany)
 * The Devil, directed by James Young, starring George Arliss, based on the 1908 stage play by Ferenc Molnár
 * Disraeli (lost), directed by Henry Kolker, starring George Arliss
 * The Dollar-a-Year Man (lost), directed by James Cruze, starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle

E

 * El Capullo Marchito, directed by José Nepomuceno – (Philippines)
 * El Dorado, directed by Marcel L'Herbier – (France)
 * Enchantment, directed by Robert G. Vignola, starring Marion Davies
 * Experience (lost), directed by George Fitzmaurice, starring Richard Barthelmess

F

 * The Fire Eater, directed by B. Reeves Eason, starring Hoot Gibson
 * Fool's Paradise, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Conrad Nagel and Mildred Harris
 * Forever (lost), directed by George Fitzmaurice, starring Elsie Ferguson and Wallace Reid
 * The Four Feathers, directed by René Plaissetty – (GB)
 * The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, directed by Rex Ingram, starring Rudolph Valentino

G

 * The Goat, directed by Mal St. Clair and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
 * The Ghost in the Garret (lost), directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Dorothy Gish
 * Godfather Death (Der Gevatter Tod), directed by Heinz Hanus, based on the 1884 short story Der Pate des Todes by Rudolf Baumbach – (Austria)
 * The Grinning Face (Das grinsende Gesicht), directed by Julius Herska, based on the 1869 novel The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo – (Austria/Germany)
 * The Gunsaulus Mystery (lost), written and directed by Oscar Micheaux

H

 * Hail the Woman, directed by John Griffith Wray, starring Florence Vidor
 * The Haunted Castle (Schloß Vogelöd), directed by F. W. Murnau, based on the novel by Rudolf Stratz – (Germany)
 * The Haunted House, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
 * The High Sign, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
 * His Brother's Keeper (lost), directed by Wilfrid North
 * L'Homme qui vendit son âme au diable (The Man Who Sold His Soul to the Devil), directed by Pierre Caron – (France)
 * The Hound of the Baskervilles, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Eille Norwood – (GB)
 * Humor Risk (unreleased), directed by Dick Smith, starring the Marx Brothers

I

 * The Idle Class, a Charles Chaplin short
 * The Indian Tomb (Das Indische Grabmal), directed by Joe May, starring Conrad Veidt – (Germany)
 * The Island of the Lost (Die Insel der Verschollenen), directed by Urban Gad, based on the 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells without authorization – (Germany)

J

 * Jane Eyre, directed by Hugo Ballin, starring Norman Trevor and Mabel Ballin, based on the 1847 novel by Charlotte Brontë
 * Jánošík, directed by Jaroslav Jerry Siakeľ – (Czechoslovakia)
 * Jim the Penman, directed by Kenneth Webb, starring Lionel Barrymore
 * Journey into the Night (Der Gang in die Nacht), directed by F. W. Murnau – (Germany)

K

 * The Kid, a Charlie Chaplin film, with Jackie Coogan
 * Kipps, directed by Harold M. Shaw, starring George K. Arthur, based on the 1905 novel by H. G. Wells

L

 * Land of My Fathers directed by Fred Rains, starring John Stuart – (GB)
 * Leaves from Satan's Book (Blade af Satans Bog), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer – (Denmark)
 * Little Lord Fauntleroy, directed by Alfred E. Green and Jack Pickford, starring Mary Pickford
 * The Lost Shadow (Der Verlorene Schatten) (lost), directed by Rochus Gliese, starring Paul Wegener – (Germany)
 * The Lotus Eater (lost), directed by Marshall Neilan, starring John Barrymore and Colleen Moore
 * The Love Light, directed by Frances Marion, starring Mary Pickford
 * Lucky Carson (lost), directed by Wilfrid North, starring Earle Williams
 * The Lucky Dog, directed by Jess Robbins, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy

M

 * Mathias Sandorf, directed by Henri Fescourt, starring Romuald Joubé – (France)
 * The Mechanical Man (L'uomo meccanico) (lost), starring and directed by André Deed – (Italy)
 * A Message From Mars, directed by Maxwell Karger, starring Bert Lytell
 * A Midnight Bell (lost), starring and directed by Charles Ray, based on the 1889 stage play by Charles H. Hoyt
 * Miss Lulu Bett, directed by William C. deMille, starring Lois Wilson and Milton Sills
 * Il mostro di Frankenstein (The Monster of Frankenstein) (lost), directed by Eugenio Testa – (Italy)

N

 * Never Weaken, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd
 * The Nut, directed by Theodore Reed, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Marguerite De La Motte

O

 * The Offenders (lost), directed by Fenwicke Holmes
 * Orphans of the Storm, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish
 * The Other Person (Onder spiritistischen dwang), directed by Maurits Binger and B. E. Doxat-Pratt, based on the 1920 novel by Fergus Hume – (Netherlands/GB)

P

 * The Painting of Osvaldo Mars (Il quadro di Osvaldo Mars), directed by Guido Brignone, starring Mercedes Brignone – (Italy)
 * Pan Twardowski, directed by Wiktor Biegański – (Poland)
 * The Passion Flower, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Norma Talmadge
 * Peck's Bad Boy, directed by Sam Wood, starring Jackie Coogan
 * The Phantom Carriage (aka Korkarlen/ The Wagoner), directed by Victor Sjostrom, starring Sjostrom, Hilda Borgstrom and Tore Svennberg, based on the 1912 novel Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! by Selma Lagerlof; this film influenced the later works of Ingmar Bergman – (Sweden)
 * The Playhouse, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton

Q

 * The Queen of Sheba (lost), directed by J. Gordon Edwards, starring Betty Blythe

S

 * A Sailor-Made Man, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, starring Harold Lloyd
 * School Days, directed by William Nigh, starring Wesley Barry
 * Sentimental Tommy (lost), directed by John S. Robertson, starring Gareth Hughes
 * Seven Years Bad Luck, a Max Linder film
 * The Sheik, directed by George Melford, starring Agnes Ayres and Rudolph Valentino
 * The Silver Lining, directed by Roland West, starring Jewel Carmen
 * The Sky Pilot, directed by King Vidor, starring Colleen Moore
 * Soul of the Cypress, directed by Dudley Murphy
 * Squibs, directed by George Pearson, starring Betty Balfour – (GB)
 * Sybil (lost), directed by Jack Denton, starring Evelyn Brent – (GB)

T

 * The Three Musketeers, directed by Fred Niblo, starring Douglas Fairbanks
 * Through the Back Door, directed by Alfred E. Green and Jack Pickford, starring Mary Pickford
 * Tol'able David, directed by Henry King, starring Richard Barthelmess
 * Les Trois Mousquetaires (The Three Musketeers), directed by Henri Diamant-Berger – (France)

W

 * Whispering Shadows, directed by Émile Chautard
 * White and Unmarried (lost), directed by Tom Forman, starring Thomas Meighan
 * Why Girls Leave Home (lost), directed by William Nigh, starring Anna Q. Nilsson
 * The Witching Hour, directed by William Desmond Taylor, starring Elliott Dexter, adapted from the 1907 stage play by Augustus Thomas
 * Woman's Place, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Constance Talmadge
 * The Wonderful Thing, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Norma Talmadge and Harrison Ford

Comedy film series

 * Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)
 * Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
 * Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
 * Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
 * Laurel and Hardy (1921–1945)

Animated short film series

 * Aesop's Film Fables (1921–1934)
 * Felix the Cat (1919–1936)
 * Koko the Clown (1919–1963)

Births

 * January 3 – John Russell, actor (died 1991)
 * January 10 - George Robotham, American stuntman and actor (died 2007)
 * January 11 - Kathleen Byron, English actress (died 2009)
 * January 17 - Herb Ellis, American character actor (died 2018)
 * January 26 – Elisabeth Kirkby, British-born Australian actress, producer and director
 * January 27 – Donna Reed, actress (died 1986)
 * January 31
 * Carol Channing, musical actress (died 2019)
 * Mario Lanza, singer and actor (died 1959)
 * February 1 – Peter Sallis, actor (died 2017)
 * February 8 – Lana Turner, actress (died 1995)
 * February 16 – Vera-Ellen, actress, dancer (died 1981)
 * February 19 – Ann Savage, actress (died 2008)
 * February 22 – Giulietta Masina, actress (died 1994)
 * February 23 - Jack Rader, American actor
 * February 24 – Abe Vigoda, actor (died 2016)
 * February 26 – Betty Hutton, actress (died 2007)
 * March 3 – Diana Barrymore, actress (died 1960)
 * March 4 – Joan Greenwood, actress (died 1987)
 * March 5 - Jo de Winter, American actress (died 2016)
 * March 8 – Alan Hale Jr., actor, restaurateur (died 1990)
 * March 10 – Charlotte Zucker, actress, mother of Jerry Zucker and David Zucker (died 2007)
 * March 12 – Gordon MacRae, actor, singer (died 1986)
 * March 21 - Logan Ramsey, American character actor (died 2000)
 * March 23 – Geoffrey Chater, English actor (died 2021)
 * March 25
 * Nancy Kelly, American actress (died 1995)
 * Simone Signoret, French actress (died 1985)
 * March 26 – Julie Harris, English costume designer (died 2015)
 * March 28 – Dirk Bogarde, English actor (died 1999)
 * April 1 – Arieh Elias, Israeli actor (died 2015)
 * April 3 – Jan Sterling, American actress (died 2004)
 * April 7 – Bill Butler, American cinematographer (died 2023)
 * April 10 – Chuck Connors, American actor (died 1992)
 * April 16 – Peter Ustinov, British actor (died 2004)
 * April 23
 * Janet Blair, American actress (died 2007)
 * Gerald Campion, English actor (died 2002)
 * April 29 – Tommy Noonan, American actor, screenwriter, producer (died 1968)
 * May 2 – Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker (died 1992)
 * May 16 - Harry Carey Jr., American actor (died 2012)
 * May 23
 * Grigori Chukhrai, Ukrainian film director (died 2001)
 * Ray Lawler, Australian actor
 * May 30 - Jamie Uys, South African film director (died 1996)
 * May 31 – Alida Valli, actress (died 2006)
 * June 8
 * Sheila Ryan, actress (died 1975)
 * Alexis Smith, actress (died 1993)
 * June 18 – Wesley Lau, actor (died 1984)
 * June 19 – Louis Jourdan, actor (died 2015)
 * June 21
 * Judy Holliday, born Judith Tuvim, actress (died 1965)
 * Jane Russell, actress (died 2011)
 * July 2 - Maria Britneva, Russian-British actress (died 1994)
 * July 3 – Susan Peters, actress (died 1952)
 * July 5 – Patricia Wright, American former actress
 * July 6
 * Nancy Reagan, born Anne Robbins, actress and First Lady of the United States (died 2016)
 * Bill Shirley, American actor and singer (died 1989)
 * July 10 – Jeff Donnell, American actress (died 1988)
 * July 17 – František Zvarík, Slovakian actor (died 2008)
 * July 21 - Al Checco, American actor (died 2015)
 * July 23 – Robert Brown, actor (died 2003)
 * August 3 – Marilyn Maxwell, actress (died 1972)
 * August 8 – Esther Williams, actress, swimmer (died 2013)
 * August 11 - Tad Horino, American actor (died 2002)
 * August 19
 * Pasquale Cajano, Italian-American actor (died 2000)
 * Gene Roddenberry, screenwriter and producer (died 1991)
 * August 28 – Nancy Kulp, actress, comedienne (died 1991)
 * September 8 – Harry Secombe, actor, singer (died 2001)
 * September 27 – Miklós Jancsó, Hungarian director (died 2014)
 * September 30 – Deborah Kerr, actress (died 2007)
 * October 1 - James Whitmore, American actor (died 2009)
 * October 5 - Nikolay Dupak, Soviet-Russian actor (died 2023)
 * October 12 - Kenneth Griffith, Welsh actor and documentary filmmaker (died 2006)
 * October 13 – Yves Montand, singer, actor (died 1991)
 * November 3 – Charles Bronson, actor (died 2003)
 * November 5 – Moritz Yomtov, screenwriter (died 1992)
 * November 8 – Walter Mirisch, American film producer (died 2023)
 * November 14 - Brian Keith, American actor (died 1997)
 * November 21 – Vivian Blaine, actor, singer (died 1995)
 * November 22 – Rodney Dangerfield, actor, comedian (died 2004)
 * November 23 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian actor and singer (died 1960)
 * December 1 - Sylvia Kauders, American actress (died 2016)
 * December 4 – Deanna Durbin, actress (died 2013)
 * December 11 - Liz Smith, English character actress (died 2016)
 * December 15 - Nikolai Lebedev, Soviet-Russian actor (died 2022)
 * December 24 - Mickey Knox, American actor (died 2013)
 * December 26 – Steve Allen, actor, composer, comedian, author (died 2000)

Deaths

 * February 8 – George Formby Sr, 45, British music hall entertainer who appeared in one film (pulmonary tuberculosis)
 * May 17 – Karl Mantzius, 61, Danish actor, theatre director, writer
 * June 5 – Georges Feydeau, 58, French playwright, many of whose plays were adapted for the screen (syphilis)
 * June 11 - Frank R. Mills, 50, American stage and screen actor
 * June 20 – George Loane Tucker, 49, American actor, screenwriter and director
 * July 9 – Robert Broderick, 56, American stage and film actor
 * September 9 – Virginia Rappe, 30, American actress
 * September 17 – Van Dyke Brooke, 62, American actor, screenwriter and film director

Film debuts

 * Richard Arlen – Ladies Must Live
 * George Arliss – The Devil
 * Mary Astor – Bullets or Ballots
 * George Bancroft – The Journey's End
 * Leslie Banks – Experience
 * Anna-Lisa Baude – The Phantom Carriage
 * Helga Brofeldt – The Phantom Carriage
 * Julia Cæsar – The Phantom Carriage
 * Louis Calhern – What's Worth While?
 * Harry Carey Jr. – Desperate Trails
 * Billie Dove – Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford
 * Camilla Horn – Kean
 * Selmer Jackson – The Supreme Passion
 * Roger Livesey – The Four Feathers
 * Carole Lombard – A Perfect Crime
 * Fredric March – The Great Adventure
 * Patsy Ruth Miller – One a Minute
 * Mary Philbin – The Blazing Trail
 * Basil Rathbone – Innocent
 * Dorothy Revier – Life's Greatest Question
 * Frances Robinson – Orphans of the Storm
 * Athene Seyler – The Adventures of Mr. Pickwick
 * Lilyan Tashman – Experience
 * Fred Thomson – The Love Light
 * Coy Watson Jr. – While the Devil Laughs

title: 1921 in film


text:
1920 in film

The year 1920 in film involved some significant events.

Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top five films released in 1920 by U.S. gross are as follows:

Events

 * March 28 – "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford and "Everybody's Hero" Douglas Fairbanks marry, becoming the first supercouple of Hollywood.
 * August – Jack Cohn, Joe Brandt and Harry Cohn form C. B. C. Film Sales Corporation which would later become Columbia Pictures.
 * August 15 – Robert J. Flaherty arrives in northern Canada to begin filming Nanook of the North (1922).
 * November 27 – The Mark of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks, opens.

Austria

 * For a complete list see: List of Austrian films of the 1920s

 * Anita (aka Trance), directed by Luise Kolm and Jakob Fleck; an obscure adaptation of George Du Maurier's novel Trilby
 * Boccaccio, directed by Michael Curtiz.
 * The Prince and the Pauper directed by Alexander Korda.
 * The Scourge of God directed by Michael Curtiz.
 * The Star of Damascus directed by Michael Curtiz.

France

 * For a complete list see: French films of 1920

 * Barrabas, a 12-chapter serial/ crime drama directed by Louis Feuillade
 * The Man Who Sold His Soul to the Devil, directed by Pierre Caron
 * Les Morts qui parlent/ The Dead Who Speak, directed by Pierre Marodon
 * Narayana (translates as Vishnu), directed by Leon Poirier, starring Laurence Myrga and Edmon Van Daele; based on the 1831 novel "Le Peau de Chagrin" by Honore de Balzac, with some story elements lifted from Wilkie Collins' novel The Moonstone
 * The Silence, ghost film directed by Louis Delluc, starring Gabriel Signoret and Eve Francis (Delluc's wife)

Germany

 * For a complete list see: List of German films of 1920

 * Algol: Tragedy of Power, science fiction film directed by Hans Werckmeister, starring Emil Jannings
 * Anna Boleyn directed by Ernst Lubitsch
 * The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari directed by Robert Wiene; starring Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt and Lil Dagover
 * Cagliostro, directed by Reinhold Schuenzel, starred Schuenzel and Conrad Veidt (a lost film)
 * The Devil Worshippers/ Die Teufelsanbeter, A 6-part serial directed by Marie Louise Droop, starring Carl de Vogt and Bela Lugosi, based on the novel by Carl May
 * Evening – Night – Morning (Abend – Nacht – Morgen) directed by F. W. Murnau
 * Genuine: A Tale of a Vampire, directed by Robert Wiene, starring Fern Andra; only a 43-minute condensation of the much longer original film exists
 * The Golem: How He Came into the World (Der Golem, Wie Er in die Welt Kam), directed by and starring Paul Wegener based on the old Jewish folktale, photographed by Karl Freund
 * The Head of Janus (Der Januskopf), directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Conrad Veidt and Bela Lugosi, photographed by Karl Freund; based (without authorization) on the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
 * Hound of the Baskervilles, directed by Willy Zehn, released in two parts (Dr. MacDonald's Sanitorium and The House Without Windows); Willy Keyser-Heyl played Sherlock Holmes
 * The House Without Windows, directed by Friedrich Feher, not to be confused with the above Hound of the Baskervilles
 * The Hunchback and the Dancer (Der Bucklige und die Tänzerin), directed by F. W. Murnau, photographed by Karl Freund
 * Kohlhiesels Töchter (Kohlhiesel's Daughter) directed by Ernst Lubitsch
 * Kurfurstendamm, a horror-comedy written and directed by Richard Oswald, starring Conrad Veidt as The Devil, photographed by Carl Hoffmann
 * The Last of the Mohicans (Der Letzte der Mohikaner), starring Bela Lugosi
 * Nachtgestalten (aka Eleagable Kuperus), directed by Richard Oswald, starring Conrad Veidt and Paul Wegener, photographed by Carl Hoffmann, based on the Karl Hans Strobl short story Eleagable Kuperus
 * Satan (Satanas) directed by F. W. Murnau, starred Conrad Veidt, filmed in 1919
 * Sumurun (One Arabian Night) directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Paul Wegener and Pola Negri
 * Die Todeskarawane, starring Dora Gerson and Bela Lugosi
 * Torgus, the Coffin Maker, directed by Hans Kobe

Hungary

 * Lord Arthur Saville's Crime (aka The Mark of the Phantom), written and directed by Paul Fejos, starring Margit Lux, based on the 1891 story by Oscar Wilde

Ireland

 * Willy Reilly and his Colleen Bawn, directed by John MacDonagh, featuring Brian Magowan and Frances Alexander, based on the 1855 novel Willy Reilly and his dear Colleen Bawn by William Carleton

Italy

 * The Last of the Borgias, directed by Armando Carbone
 * Monella Street, directed by Umberto Fracchia and starring Carmen Boni
 * The Power of the Borgias, directed by Luigi Caramba for Medusa Film, starring Irene Saffo-Nomo and Enrico Piacentini
 * Spiritism (aka Spiritismo), starring Francesca Bettina

Japan

 * Akakabe Myojin/ The Red Wall God, a ghost-cat film directed by Jiro Yoshino for Kokkatsu Films, starring Shirogoro Sawamura
 * Arima no neko/ The Cat in Arima, a ghost-cat film directed by Shozo Makino for Nikkatsu Films, starring Matsumosuke Onoe and Sentaro Nakamura

Philippines

 * For a complete list see: List of Philippine films before 1940

 * La Mariposa Negra directed by Jose Nepomuceno

Sweden

 * For a complete list see: Swedish films before 1930

 * Erotikon directed by Mauritz Stiller
 * Herr och fru Stockholm (How Not to Dress), starring Greta Garbo
 * Karin Daughter of Ingmar (Karin Ingmarsdotter) directed by & starring Victor Sjöström
 * The Monastery of Sendomir (Klostret i Sendomir) directed by Victor Sjöström
 * The Parson's Widow (Prästänkan) directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer

United Kingdom

 * For a complete list see: British films of 1920

 * At the Villa Rose, directed by Maurice Elvey, based on the 1910 novel by A.E.W. Mason
 * The Barton Mystery, directed by Harry (Henry) Roberts, starred Lyn Harding; based on the 1917 stage play by Walter Hackett
 * Bleak House directed by Maurice Elvey
 * Build Thy House directed by Fred Goodwins, starring Henry Ainley
 * Colonel Newcome directed by Fred Goodwins' starring Milton Rosmer, Joyce Carey
 * Desire (aka The Magic Skin) directed by George Edwardes-Hall, starring Dennis Neilson-Terry, based on the 1831 novel Le Peau de Chagrin by Honore de Balzac
 * Ernest Maltravers directed by Jack Denton; starring Lillian Hall-Davis
 * The Ever Open Door directed by Fred Goodwins; starring Hayford Hobbs
 * The Face at the Window, directed by Wilfred Noy, starring C. Aubrey Smith and Gladys Jennings, based on the stage play by F. Brooke Warren
 * The Fordington Twins directed by W.P. Kellino
 * General Post directed by Thomas Bentley; starring Douglas Munro, Lilian Braithwaite
 * The Great London Mystery, a 12-chapter serial directed by Charles Raymond for T&P Films, starring David Devant and Lady Doris Stapleton; features a Yellow Peril menace called Ching Ling Fu.
 * The Lure of Crooning Water directed by Arthur Rooke; starring Guy Newall and Ivy Duke
 * Mr. Gilfil's Love Story directed by A.V. Bramble; starring Mary Odette
 * The Price of Silence (aka At the Mercy of Tiberius), directed by Fred Leroy Granville, starring Peggy Hyland and Campbell Gullan
 * A Son of David directed by Hay Plumb; starring Ronald Colman
 * Trent's Last Case directed by Richard Garrick; starring Gregory Scott, Pauline Peters and Clive Brook
 * The Twelve Pound Look directed by Jack Denton; starring Milton Rosmer
 * The Yellow Claw, directed by Rene Plaisetty, starring Arthur Cullin and Cyril Percival; based on the 1915 novel by Sax Rohmer featuring a criminal Asian menace named Mr. King.

United States

 * For a complete list see: American films of 1920

A

 * Along the Moonbeam Trail, contained animated dinosaur sequences by Willis O'Brien
 * April Folly, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, starring Marion Davies and Conway Tearle

B

 * Black Shadows, directed by Howard M. Mitchell

C

 * The Copperhead, directed by Charles Maigne, starring Lionel Barrymore

D

 * The Dark Mirror, directed by Charles Giblyn, starring Dorothy Dalton, based on the story by Louis Joseph Vance
 * The Devil's Pass Key (lost), directed by Erich von Stroheim, starring Mae Busch
 * The Devil to Pay, directed by Ernest C. Warde, based on a 1917 novel by Frances Nimmo Greene
 * Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, directed by John S. Robertson, starring John Barrymore
 * Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, directed by J. Charles Haydon, starring Sheldon Lewis
 * The Dream Cheater, directed by Ernest C. Warde, starring J. Warren Kerrigan, based on the 1831 novel La Peau de chagrin by Honoré de Balzac

F

 * The Flapper, directed by Alan Crosland, starring Olive Thomas

G

 * The Girl in Number 29 (lost), directed by John Ford, starring Frank Mayo
 * Go and Get It, directed by Marshall Neilan and Henry Roberts Symonds

H

 * Haunted Spooks, directed by Alfred J. Goulding and Hal Roach, starring Harold Lloyd
 * His Brother's Keeper (lost), directed by Wilfred North
 * The House of the Tolling Bell, directed by J. Stuart Blackton, starring May McAvoy and Bruce Gordon, based on the novel by Edith Sessions Tupper
 * The House of Whispers (lost), directed by Ernest C. Warde, starring J. Warren Kerrigan, based on the 1918 novel by William Andrew Johnston
 * Huckleberry Finn, directed by William Desmond Taylor, starring Lewis Sargent

I

 * If I Were King, directed by J. Gordon Edwards, starring William Farnum

J

 * The Jack-Knife Man, directed by King Vidor
 * Judy of Rogue's Harbor (lost), directed by William Desmond Taylor, starring Mary Miles Minter

L

 * Lady Rose's Daughter (lost), directed by Hugh Ford, starring Elsie Ferguson
 * The Last of the Mohicans, directed by Maurice Tourneur and Clarence Brown, starring Wallace Beery and Barbara Bedford
 * The Love Flower, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Richard Barthelmess and Carol Dempster
 * Love Without Question (lost), directed by B. A. Rolfe, starring Olive tell, based on the 1917 novel The Abandoned Room by Charles Wadsworth Camp
 * Luring Shadows, directed by Joseph Levering

M

 * The Mark of Zorro, directed by Fred Niblo, starring Douglas Fairbanks, Marguerite De La Motte and Noah Beery Sr.
 * The Master Mind, directed by Kenneth Webb, starring Lionel Barrymore
 * The Mollycoddle, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Wallace Beery
 * The Mystery Mind, a 15-chapter serial directed by William S. Davis and Fred Sittenham

N

 * Nomads of the North, directed by David Hartford and James Oliver Curwood, starring Lon Chaney, Betty Blythe and Lewis Stone

O

 * Old Lady 31, directed by John Ince, starring Emma Dunn
 * One Hour Before Dawn, directed by Henry King, starring H. B. Warner and Anna Q. Nilsson
 * Outside the Law, directed by Tod Browning, starring Priscilla Dean and Lon Chaney
 * Over the Hill to the Poorhouse, directed by Harry F. Millarde

P

 * The Penalty, directed by Wallace Worsley, starring Lon Chaney, based on the pulp novel by Gouverneur Morris
 * The Phantom Foe, a 15-chapter serial directed by Bertram Millhauser, starring Juanita Hansen and Warner Oland
 * The Phantom Melody (lost), directed by Douglas Gerrard, starring Monroe Salisbury
 * Pollyanna, directed by Paul Powell, starring Mary Pickford

R

 * The Restless Sex, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, starring Marion Davies
 * Romance (lost), directed by Chester Withey

S

 * The Screaming Shadow (lost), a 15-chapter serial directed by Ben F. Wilson and Duke Worne
 * Sex, directed by Fred Niblo, starring Louise Glaum
 * Shipwrecked Among Cannibals (lost), documentary film directed by William F. Adler
 * Something to Think About, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Gloria Swanson
 * Stolen Moments, directed by James Vincent, starring Marguerite Namara and Rudolph Valentino
 * Suds, directed by John Francis Dillon, starring Mary Pickford

T

 * Treasure Island (lost), directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Lon Chaney and Shirley Mason

W

 * Way Down East, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess
 * Within Our Gates, directed by Oscar Micheaux, starring Evelyn Preer
 * Why Change Your Wife?, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Gloria Swanson, Thomas Meighan and Bebe Daniels

Film serials

 * The Son of Tarzan, a 15-chapter film series

Short film series

 * Harold Lloyd (1913–1951)
 * An Eastern Westerner
 * Get Out and Get Under
 * Haunted Spooks
 * High and Dizzy
 * His Royal Slyness
 * Number, Please?
 * Buster Keaton (1917–1941)
 * The Garage
 * One Week
 * The Saphead
 * Convict 13
 * The Scarecrow
 * Neighbors

Animated short film series
The following is a list of animated shorts of the year 1920 that belong to series that lasted several years. A major animated series of the silent era produced by Max Fleischer from 1918 to 1929 in which it appeared Koko the Clown:
 * Felix the Cat (1919–1936)
 * A Frolic with Felix (January 25, 1920)
 * Felix the Big Game Hunter (February 22, 1920)
 * Wrecking a Romeo (March 7, 1920)
 * Felix the Food Controller (April 11, 1920)
 * Felix the Pinch Hitter (April 18, 1920)
 * Foxy Felix (May 16, 1920)
 * A Hungry Hoodoo (June 6, 1920)
 * The Great Cheese Robbery (June 13, 1920)
 * Felix and the Feed Bag (July 18, 1920)
 * Nifty Nurse (August 22, 1920)
 * The Circus (September 26, 1920)
 * My Hero (October 24, 1920)
 * Felix the Landlord (November 21, 1920)
 * Felix's Fish Story (December 26, 1920)
 * Out of the Inkwell (1918–1929)
 * The Boxing Kangaroo
 * The Chinaman
 * The Circus
 * The Ouija Board
 * The Clown's Little Brother
 * Perpetual Motion
 * Poker
 * The Restaurant

Births

 * January 4 - Rosalie Crutchley, British actress (died 1997)
 * January 6 - Henry Corden, Canadian-American actor (died 2005)
 * January 7
 * Vincent Gardenia, actor (died 1992)
 * Witold Sadowy, Polish actor (died 2020)
 * January 9 - Clive Dunn, English actor (died 2012)
 * January 16 - Elliott Reid, American actor (died 2013)
 * January 19 - Johnny Haymer, American actor (died 1989)
 * January 20
 * DeForest Kelley, actor (died 1999)
 * Federico Fellini, film director (died 1993)
 * January 24 - Jerry Maren, American actor (died 2018)
 * January 27 – John Box, production designer, four-time Oscar winner (died 2005)
 * January 30
 * Michael Anderson, director (died 2018)
 * Delbert Mann, director (died 2007)
 * February 8 – Bengt Ekerot, Swedish actor and director (died 1971)
 * February 11 – Billy Halop, actor (died 1976)
 * February 26 – Tony Randall, actor (died 2004)
 * February 29 – Michèle Morgan, actress (died 2016)
 * March 3 – James Doohan, actor (died 2005)
 * March 6 – Lewis Gilbert, director (died 2018)
 * March 16 – Leo McKern, actor (died 2002)
 * March 19 – Paul Hagen, Danish actor (died 2003)
 * March 22
 * Werner Klemperer, German actor (died 2000)
 * Ross Martin, Polish-American actor (died 1981)
 * April 1
 * Toshiro Mifune, actor (died 1997)
 * Susanna Ramel, Swedish actress (died 2020)
 * April 2 – Jack Webb, actor (died 1982)
 * April 17 - Arnold Yarrow, British actor and screenwriter
 * April 20 – Gianrico Tedeschi, actor (died 2020)
 * May 2
 * John Boswall, British actor (died 2011)
 * Preben Neergaard, Danish actor (died 1990)
 * May 7 – Rendra Karno, Indonesian actor (died 1985)
 * May 11 – Denver Pyle, actor (died 1997)
 * May 16 – Martine Carol, actress (died 1967)
 * May 20 – Virginia Vale, actress (died 2006)
 * May 26
 * John Dall, American actor (died 1971)
 * Peggy Lee, singer, songwriter, actress (died 2002)
 * May 29 – Clifton James, actor (died 2017)
 * June 1 - Alethea McGrath, Australian actress and comedian (died 2016)
 * June 12 – Jim Siedow, American actor (died 2003)
 * June 13 – Rex Everhart, American actor (died 2000)
 * June 15 – Alberto Sordi, Italian actor (died 2003)
 * June 17 – Setsuko Hara, Japanese film actress (died 2015)
 * June 18 – Ian Carmichael, English stage, film and television actor (died 2010)
 * June 25 - Lassie Lou Ahern, American actress (died 2018)
 * June 29 – Ray Harryhausen, producer, visual effects artist (died 2013)
 * July 1 – Harold Sakata, American film actor (died 1982)
 * July 5 - Viola Harris, American actress (died 2017)
 * July 11 – Yul Brynner, actor (died 1985)
 * July 12 – Keith Andes, American actor (died 2005)
 * July 16 – Phillip Pine, American actor (died 2006)
 * July 28 – Andrew V. McLaglen, film & TV director, son of Victor McLaglen (died 2014)
 * July 29 – Rodolfo Acosta, actor (died 1974)
 * July 31 – Franca Valeri, actress (died 2020)
 * August 6 – Ella Raines, actress (died 1988)
 * August 8 - Dominique Marcas, French actress (died 2022)
 * August 11 - Mike Douglas, American singer, television host and actor (died 2006)
 * August 13 – Neville Brand, actor (died 1992)
 * August 17 – Maureen O'Hara, actress (died 2015)
 * August 18 – Shelley Winters, actress (died 2006)
 * August 22 – Ray Bradbury, writer (died 2012)
 * August 30 - Leonid Shvartsman, Russian animator (died 2022)
 * August 31
 * James Lanphier, American actor (died 1969)
 * G. D. Spradlin, American actor (died 2011)
 * September 1 - Richard Farnsworth, American actor and stuntman (died 2000)
 * September 13 - John Crawford, American actor (died 2010)
 * September 18 – Jack Warden, actor (died 2006)
 * September 23 – Mickey Rooney, actor (died 2014)
 * September 26 – Barbara Britton, actress (died 1980)
 * September 27 – William Conrad, actor (died 1994)
 * October 1 – Walter Matthau, actor (died 2000)
 * October 9 - Jason Wingreen, American actor (died 2015)
 * October 10 - Noah Keen, actor (died 2019)
 * October 13 – Laraine Day, actress (died 2007)
 * October 15 - Mario Puzo, American author and screenwriter (died 1999)
 * October 17 – Montgomery Clift, actor (died 1966)
 * October 18 – Melina Mercouri, actress (died 1994)
 * October 19 - LaWanda Page, American actress and comedian (died 2002)
 * October 21
 * Hy Averback, actor (died 1997)
 * Ruth Terry, actress, singer (died 2016)
 * October 22 – Mitzi Green, actress (died 1969)
 * October 27 – Nanette Fabray, actress (died 2018)
 * October 29 - Hilda Bernard, Argentine actress (died 2022)
 * November 10 – Jennifer Holt, actress (died 1997)
 * November 13 – Jack Elam, actor (died 2003)
 * November 19 – Gene Tierney, actress (died 1991)
 * November 21 – Ralph Meeker, actor (died 1988)
 * November 25
 * Shelagh Fraser, English actress (died 2000)
 * Ricardo Montalbán, actor (died 2009)
 * Noel Neill, actress (died 2016)
 * November 30 – Virginia Mayo, actress (died 2005)
 * December 7 – Frances Gifford, actress (died 1994)
 * December 29 – Viveca Lindfors, actress (died 1995)
 * December 30 – Jack Lord, actor (died 1998)
 * December 31 – Rex Allen, American cowboy actor, singer (died 1999)

Deaths

 * January 31 – Gilda Langer, 23, German actress
 * February 11 – Gaby Deslys, 38, French actress, dancer, singer
 * February 17 – Thomas Commerford, 64, American veteran character actor
 * March 2 – Harry Solter, 46, American actor
 * April 12 – Walter Edwards, 50, American director
 * April 25 – Clarine Seymour, 21, American actress
 * May 22 – Hal Reid, 59, American actor & director (father of Wallace Reid)
 * June 14 – Gabrielle Réjane, 64, stage and film actress
 * August 1 – Eugene Gaudio, 33, Italian born cinematographer (brother of Tony Gaudio)
 * August 2 – Ormer Locklear, 29, American stunt flier
 * August 13 – Gladys Field, 31, actress (died in childbirth)
 * August 28 – Suzanne Grandais, 27, French actress
 * September 5 – Robert Harron, 27, American actor
 * September 10 – Olive Thomas, 25, American actress
 * November 19 – Will S. Davis, 38, American film director
 * December 9 – Mollie McConnell, 55, American actress

Film debuts

 * Madge Bellamy – The Riddle: Woman
 * Noah Beery Jr. – The Mark of Zorro
 * Charles Boyer – L'homme du large
 * Edward Brophy – Yes or No?
 * Bud Geary – What Would You Do?
 * Vera Gordon – Humoresque
 * Ralf Harolde – Headin' Home
 * Buster Keaton – The Saphead
 * Barbara La Marr – Harriet and the Piper
 * Cyril McLaglen – The Call of the Road
 * Victor McLaglen – The Call of the Road
 * Charles Middleton – Wits vs. Wits
 * Eva Moore – The Law Divine
 * Margaret Morris – Her First Elopement
 * Nita Naldi – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
 * Claude Rains – Build Thy House
 * Max Schreck – The Mayor of Zalamea
 * Bob Steele – The Adventures of Bill and Bob
 * Clarence Wilson – Duds

Films set in 1920
There are films released in later years whose plot is developed totally or partially in 1920:

 * Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
 * Winterset (1936)
 * The Road Back (1937)
 * Clash of Loyalties (1938)
 * Three Comrades (1938)
 * Hostile Whirlwinds (1953): Film portrays the first years of Soviet government, biography of Felix Dzerzhinsky in 1918–1921.
 * Kappalottiya Thamizhan (1961)
 * The Ball of Count Orgel (1970): Set in 1920, the Comte hosts a soirée and dance for the upper echelons of Parisian society.
 * Vengeance (1970): The film is set in 1920 Peking, and centers on a revenge plight of Chiang.
 * Reds (1981)
 * Once Upon a Time in America (1984): David "Noodles" Aaronson struggles as a street kid in Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1920.
 * The Man Who Planted Trees (1987)
 * A Month in the Country (1987): Set in rural Yorkshire during the summer of 1920, the film follows a destitute World War I veteran employed to carry out restoration work on a Medieval mural discovered in a rural church while coming to terms with the after-effects of the war.
 * Life and Nothing But (1989): Set in October 1920, it tells the story of Major Delaplane, a man whose job is to find the identities of unknown dead soldiers after World War I.
 * The Treaty (1991): The film is about the Anglo-Irish Treaty that Michael Collins bargained for with the British government in 1921.
 * Michael Collins (1996)
 * The Image Makers (2000): The drama is set in the year 1920 at Filmstaden where the film director Victor Sjöström is shooting the film The Phantom Carriage.
 * The Admiral (2008)
 * 1920 film series (2008–2016)
 * 1920 (2008)
 * 1920: The Evil Returns (2012)
 * 1920: London (2016)

 * Battle of Warsaw 1920 (2011)
 * Sunstroke (2014)

title: 1920 in film