1929 in film

The top ten 1929 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

The days of the silent film are numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound is on.

• February 1 – The Broadway Melody is released by MGM and becomes the first major musical film of the sound era, sparking a host of imitators as well as a series of Broadway Melody films that will run until 1940.
• February 18 – The first Academy Awards, or Oscars, are announced for the year ended August 1, 1928.
• March 3 – William Fox announces that he has taken control of Loews Inc., including its subsidiary Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, buying shares from Marcus Loew's widow and sons and Nicholas Schenck for $50 million. The acquisition eventually falls through.
• May 16 – The first Academy Awards are distributed at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles.
• May 26 – Fox Grandeur News is shown in Fox Film's new widescreen 70 mm Grandeur film format
• July 13 – The first all color talkie (in Technicolor), On with the Show, is released by Warner Bros. who lead the way in a new color revolution just as they had ushered in that of the talkies.
• July 17 – William Fox is badly injured in a car accident which kills his chauffeur.
• August 3 – The Cock-Eyed World beats every known gross for any box office attraction throughout the world with a reported first week gross of $173,391 at the Roxy Theatre (New York City).[5]
• August 20 – Hallelujah! is the first Hollywood film to contain an entire black cast.
• August 22 – First in the Walt Disney Productions' animated short Silly Symphony series, The Skeleton Dance, is released.
• September – Paramount Pictures acquires 49% of CBS.
• October 24 – Jean Harlow signs a five-year, $100 per week contract with Howard Hughes.
• October 30 – Entertainment newspaper Variety report that Wall Street Lays An Egg leading to many prominent showman and film stars losing money on their investments.
• November – Warner Bros. gain complete control of First National Pictures buying Fox Film's 36% stake for $10 million[6]
• November 10 – Première of John Grierson's documentary film Drifters about North Sea herring fishermen, made for the Empire Marketing Board, effectively inaugurating the British Documentary Film Movement. (It debuts at the private Film Society in London on a double-bill with the U.K. première of Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin.)[7]
• November 15 – U.K. release of Atlantic, a film about the sinking of the RMS Titanic which is one of the first British sound-on-film movies and, in its simultaneously-shot German-language version, the first to be released in Germany; also the first Titanic movie with sound.
• December – Anti-trust suits are filed against William Fox and Warner Bros. by the US Department of Justice for Fox's acquisition of Loews and Warners' acquisition of the Stanley Corporation of America and First National.

The 2nd Academy Awards honored the best films released between August 1, 1928, and July 31, 1929. They took place on April 3, 1930, at an awards banquet in the Cocoanut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

Most nominations: In Old Arizona (Fox Film Corporation) – 5

• Best Picture: The Broadway Melody (MGM)
• Best Director: Frank Lloyd – The Divine Lady
• Best Actor: Warner Baxter – In Old Arizona
• Best Actress: Mary Pickford – Coquette

Most awards – no film won more than 1 award

Note: Prior to 1933, awards were not based on calendar years. Best Picture, Actress and Director went to 1930 films.

United States unless stated otherwise.

• The Ace of Scotland Yard, 10 chapters (215 minutes)
• The Black Book, 10 chapters
• The Diamond Master, 10 chapters
• The Fatal Warning, 10 chapters (200 min)
• The Fire Detective, 10 chapters
• The King of the Kongo, 10 chapters (213 min)
• The Pirate of Panama, 12 chapters
• Queen of the Northwoods, 10 chapters
• Tarzan the Tiger, 15 chapters (266 min)

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

• Felix the Cat (1919–1936)
• Aesop's Film Fables (1921–1933)
• Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
  • Homeless Homer
  • Yanky Clippers
  • Hen Fruit
  • Sick Cylinders
  • Hold ‘em Ozzie
  • The Suicide Sheik
  • Alpine Antics
  • The Lumberjack
  • The Fishing Fool
  • Stage Stunts
  • Stripes and Stars
  • The Wicked West
  • Ice Man's Luck
  • Nuts and Jolts
  • Jungle Jingles
  • Weary Willies
  • Saucy Sausages
• Inkwell Imps (1927–1929)
• Mickey Mouse
  • The Opry House
  • When The Cat's Away
  • The Barnyard Battle
  • The Plow Boy
  • The Karnival Kid
  • Mickey's Follies
  • Mickey's Choo-Choo
  • The Jazz Fool
  • Wild Waves
  • Jungle Rhythm
  • The Haunted House
• Silly Symphonies
  • The Skeleton Dance
  • El Terrible Toreador
  • Springtime
  • Hell's Bells
  • The Merry Dwarfs
• Screen Songs (1929–1938)
• Talkartoons (1929–1932)

• January 1 – Haruo Nakajima, Japanese actor (died 2017)
• January 3 – Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer and screenwriter (died 1989)
• January 7 – Terry Moore, American actress
• January 31 – Jean Simmons, English-American actress (died 2010)
• February 10 – Jerry Goldsmith, American composer (died 2004)
• February 14 – Roman Kłosowski, Polish actor (died 2018)
• February 22 - James Hong, American actor, voice actor, producer and director of Chinese descent
• April 1 – Jane Powell, American actress, singer, dancer
• April 5 – Nigel Hawthorne, English actor (died 2001)
• April 10 – Max von Sydow, Swedish-born actor (died 2020)
• April 28 – Bhanu Athaiya, Indian costume designer (died 2020)
• May 2 – Eddie Garcia, Filipino actor
• May 4 – Audrey Hepburn, British actress (died 1993)
• May 31 – Menahem Golan, Israeli director and producer (died 2014)
• July 5 – Katherine Helmond, American actress (died 2019)
• July 21 – Asta Vihandi, Estonian opera singer, actress, and dancer (died 1993)
• September 2 – Hal Ashby, American director (died 1988)
• September 20
  • Kurt Kren, Austrian experimental director (died 1998)
  • Vittorio Taviani, Italian director (died 2018)
• October 14 – Norbert Gastell, German voice actor (died 2015)
• October 28 – Joan Plowright, English actress
• November 12
  • Etchika Choureau, French actress
  • Grace Kelly, American-Monégasque actress (died 1982)[8]
• November 15 – Ed Asner, American actor
• December 1 – David Doyle, American actor (died 1997)
• December 6 – Alain Tanner, Swiss film director
• December 9 – John Cassavetes, American actor, director (died 1989)
• December 13 – Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor (died 2021)

• January 5 – Marc McDermott, Australian actor (born 1881)
• February 18
  • Hardee Kirkland, American stage and screen actor (born 1868)
  • William Russell, American actor (born 1884)
• February 24 – Frank Keenan, American actor (born 1858)
• May 9 – Fred C. Truesdell, stage & film actor (born 1870)
• May 12 – Charles Swickard, German-American director and actor (born 1861)
• July 2 – Gladys Brockwell, American actress (born 1894)
• July 3 – Dustin Farnum, American stage & silent screen star (born 1874)
• July 6 – Cliff Bowes, American comedian (born 1894)
• August 2 – Mae Costello, American actress (born 1882)
• September 2 – Paul Leni, German film and art director (born 1885)
• October 3 – Jeanne Eagels, American actress (born 1890)
• October 31 – Norman Trevor, actor, Olympic athlete (born 1877)
• November 2 – Leo D. Maloney, actor and director (born 1888)
• November 24 – Raymond Hitchcock, American actor (born 1865)

Lobby card of Berth Marks.

• Lew Ayres – The Sophomore
• Jackie Cooper – Fox Movietone Follies of 1929
• Brian Donlevy – Gentlemen of the Press
• James Dunn – In the Nick of Time
• Glenda Farrell – Lucky Boy
• Kay Francis – Gentlemen of the Press
• Judy Garland – The Big Revue
• Paulette Goddard – Berth Marks
• Betty Grable – Happy Days
• John Huston – The Shakedown
• Walter Huston – Gentlemen of the Press
• Dean Jagger – The Woman from Hell
• Peter Lorre – Die verschwundene Frau
• Jeanette MacDonald – The Love Parade
• Fred MacMurray – Girls Gone Wild
• Marx Brothers – The Cocoanuts
• Ray Milland – Piccadilly
• Robert Montgomery – The Single Standard
• Paul Muni – The Valiant
• George Raft – Queen of the Night Clubs
• Ginger Rogers – A Day of a Man of Affairs
• Sylvia Sydney – Thru Different Eyes
• Johnny Weissmuller – Glorifying the American Girl