1933 in film

The top ten 1933 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

The Film Daily Yearbook listed the following as the ten leading news events of the year in North America.[6]

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

Other notable events include:

• January 11 – Radio City Music Hall in New York City starts showing films.[7]
• March 2 – King Kong premieres at Radio City Music Hall.[8]
• March 9 - Punyal na Ginto (The Golden Dagger), the first Filipino-language film made in the Philippines, was released.[9]
• March 11 – 42nd Street sparks a comeback for musical film.[7]
• June 6 – The drive-in theater is patented in Camden, New Jersey.[10]
• September 6 – Daily Variety, a trade newspaper, is published for the first time in Hollywood.[11]
• October 10 – John Wayne appears as Singin' Sandy Saunders in Riders of Destiny.
• December 29 – Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appear on screen together for the first time in Flying Down to Rio.
• Ang Aswang, the first sound film made in the Philippines, was released.[12]
• British Film Institute founded.[13]
• GPO Film Unit established in the United Kingdom under John Grierson, taking over responsibility for documentary film making from the Empire Marketing Board.
• Makata At Paraluman (The Poet and the Maiden), the first talking film in vernacular made in the Philippines, was released.[14]
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) once again expresses interest in The Wizard of Oz books for a series of animated shorts, but once again fail to make a deal with the estate of creator L. Frank Baum.
• Ecstasy, a Czechoslovak film, shocks audiences when actress Hedy Lamarr is seen naked in it.
• The Private Life of Henry VIII becomes the first British film to win an American Academy Award. Featured actor Charles Laughton won the 1933 Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance. The film was the first British production to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
• The book Upton Sinclair Presents William Fox is published, detailing what William Fox considers to be the conspiracy that forced him from control of Fox Film in 1930.

The 6th Academy Awards were held on March 16, 1934, at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. They were hosted by Will Rogers and Rogers also presented all of the awards. This was the last time that the Oscars' eligibility period was spread over two different calendar years, creating the longest time frame for which films could be nominated: the seventeen months from August 1, 1932, to December 31, 1933.

Most nominations: Cavalcade (Fox Film); A Farewell to Arms (Paramount Pictures) and Lady for a Day (Columbia Pictures) – 4

Major awards:

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

Most Awards: Cavalcade – 3 (Outstanding Production; Best Director; Best Art Direction)

United States unless stated

United States unless stated

• Clancy of the Mounted
• Fighting with Kit Carson
• Gordon of Ghost City
• The Mystery Squadron
• The Perils of Pauline, starring Evalyn Knapp
• The Phantom of the Air
• The Return of Chandu
• Tarzan the Fearless, starring Buster Crabbe
• The Three Musketeers, starring Jack Mulhall and John Wayne
• The Whispering Shadow, starring Bela Lugosi
• The Wolf Dog, starring Rin Tin Tin

• Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)
• Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
• Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
• Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
• Laurel and Hardy (1921–1945)
  • Dirty Work
• Our Gang (1922–1944)
• Harry Langdon (1924–1936)
• Wheeler and Woolsey (1929–1937)
• Marx Brothers (1929–1946)
• The Three Stooges (1933–1962)

• Aesop's Film Fables (1921-1933)
• Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927–1938)
• Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
• Silly Symphonies
  • Birds in the Spring
  • Father Noah's Ark
  • Three Little Pigs
  • Old King Cole
  • Lullaby Land
  • The Pied Piper
  • The Night Before Christmas
• Screen Songs (1929–1938)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Flip the Frog (1930-1933)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Scrappy (1931–1941)
• Tom and Jerry (Van Beuren) (1931-1933)
• Betty Boop (1932–1939)
  • Betty Boop's Ker-Choo
  • Betty Boop's Crazy Inventions
  • Is My Palm Read?
  • Betty Boop's Penthouse
  • Snow White
  • Betty Boop's Birthday Party
  • Betty Boop's May Party
  • Betty Boop's Big Boss
  • Mother Goose Land
  • Popeye the Sailor (first Popeye cartoon)
  • The Old Man of the Mountain
  • I Heard
  • Morning, Noon and Night
  • Betty Boop's Hallowe'en Party
  • Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
• Popeye (1933–1957)
  • Popeye the Sailor (Betty Boop cartoon)
• Pooch the Pup (1932-1933)
• Willie Whopper (1933–1934)
• ComiColor Cartoons (1933–1936)
• Cubby Bear (1933–1934)
• The Little King (1933–1934)

• January 8 – Jean-Marie Straub, French director (d. 2006)
• January 12 – Liliana Cavani, Italian director
• January 18 – John Boorman, English director
• January 23 – Chita Rivera, American actress, dancer and singer
• January 28 – Jack Hill, American director and screenwriter
• February 2 – Tony Jay, English-American actor, voice actor and singer (d. 2007)
• February 3 – Polde Bibič, Slovenian film and stage actor and memoir writer (d. 2012)
• February 13
  • Caroline Blakiston, English actress
  • Kim Novak, American actress
• February 14 – Madhubala, Indian actress (d. 1969)
• February 18
  • Željko Senečić, Croatian film, television production designer (d. 2018)
  • Mary Ure, Scottish actress (d. 1975)
• March 14 – Michael Caine, English actor
• March 19 – Richard Williams, Canadian-British animator (d. 2019)
• March 23 – Laura Soveral, Portuguese actress (d. 2018)
• April 5 – Frank Gorshin, American actor and comedian (d. 2005)
• April 9 – Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor
• April 15 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (d. 1995)
• April 19 – Jayne Mansfield, American actress (d. 1967)
• April 26 – Carol Burnett, American actress, television host and comedian
• May 10 – Francoise Fabian, French actress
• May 23 – Joan Collins, English actress
• June 11 – Gene Wilder, American actor (d. 2016)
• June 20 – Danny Aiello , American actor (d. 2019)
• July 29 – Lou Albano, Italian-born American professional wrestler and actor (d. 2009)
• August 1 – Dom DeLuise, American actor and comedian (d. 2009)
• August 2 – Tom Bell, English actor (d. 2006)
• August 16 – Julie Newmar, American actress, dancer and singer
• August 18 – Roman Polanski, Polish director
• August 21 – Barry Norman, English critic (d. 2017)
• August 25 – Tom Skerritt, American actor
• August 28 – Philip French, English critic (d. 2015)
• September 18
  • Fred Willard, American actor (d. 2020)
  • Robert Blake, American actor
• September 29 – Franca Parisi, Italian actress
• November 3 – Jeremy Brett, English actor (d. 1995)
• November 17 – Terry, American performing Cairn Terrier (d. 1945)
• November 28 – Hope Lange, American actress (d. 2003)
• December 15 – Tim Conway, American actor and comedian (d. 2019)

• January 3 – Jack Pickford, Canadian-born American actor and director (born 1896)
• January 25 – Lewis J. Selznick, Ukrainian-born American producer (born 1870)
• February 15 – Pat Sullivan, Australian-born American director/producer of animated films, alleged co-creator of Felix the Cat (born 1885/87)
• February 23 – David Horsley, English-born American film executive (born 1873)
• February 26 – Spottiswoode Aitken, American actor (born 1868)
• March 8 – Alan Roscoe, American actor (born 1886)
• March 23 – Francine Mussey, French actress (born 1897)
• June 29 – Roscoe Arbuckle, American actor (born 1887)
• June 30 – Georg Blomstedt, Swedish actor (born 1872)
• August 18 – James Williamson, Scottish film developer and film director (born 1855)
• August 28 – Helen Dunbar, American actress (born 1863)
• September 23 – Sime Silverman, 60, American newspaper publisher, founder of Variety
• September 24 – Ferdinand Bonn, German actor (born 1861)
• October 5 – Renée Adorée, French actress (born 1898)
• October 30 – Svend Kornbeck, Danish actor (born 1869)
• December 19 – Jimmie Adams, American comedian (born 1888)

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