1931 IN FILM

Contents

Events

Top grossing films

Academy Awards

Films released in 1931

Serials

Short film series

Animated short film series

Births

Deaths

Events

Top grossing films

# ''Frankenstein'', starring Boris Karloff
# ''Ingagi'', starring Sir Hubert Winstead
# ''Mata Hari'', starring Greta Garbo and Lionel Barrymore
# ''City Lights'' starring Charles Chaplin

Academy Awards

★ Best Picture: ''Cimarron'' - MGM

★ Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - ''A Free Soul''

★ Best Actor: Wallace Beery - ''The Champ''

★ Best Actor: Fredric March - ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''

★ Best Actress: Marie Dressler - ''Min and Bill''

★ Best Actress: Helen Hayes - ''The Sin of Madelon Claudet''
Note: Prior to 1933, awards were not based on calendar years. And there were two awards given in 1932 for 'Best Actor'. That's how there are 3 'Best Actor', 2 'Best Actress' awards for 1931 films.

Films released in 1931

★ ''À nous la liberté''

★ ''The Champ'', starring Wallace Beery

★ ''Cimarron'', starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne

★ ''City Lights'', starring Charlie Chaplin

★ ''Dracula'', starring Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye

★ ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'', starring Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins

★ ''Frankenstein'', starring Boris Karloff and Colin Clive

★ ''A Free Soul'', starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore and Clark Gable

★ ''Indiscreet'', starring Gloria Swanson

★ ''Little Caesar'', starring Edward G. Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

★ ''Mädchen in Uniform''

★ ''M'', starring Peter Lorre

★ ''Mata Hari'', starring Greta Garbo and Lionel Barrymore

★ ''Monkey Business'', starring Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo Marx

★ ''Night Nurse'' starring Barbara Stanwyck and Clark Gable

★ ''No Limit'' starring Clara Bow and Norman Foster

★ ''Pardon Us'', starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy

★ ''Platinum Blonde'', starring Loretta Young, Robert Williams and Jean Harlow

★ ''Possessed'', starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable

★ ''The Public Enemy'', starring James Cagney, Jean Harlow and Joan Blondell

★ ''The Sin of Madelon Claudet'', starring Helen Hayes

★ ''Smart Money'', starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney

★ ''The Smiling Lieutenant'', starring Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert

★ ''The Stolen Jools'', starring Gary Cooper, Laurel and Hardy, and Norma Shearer

★ ''Tabu'', directed by F.W. Murnau

★ ''This Modern Age'', starring Joan Crawford

★ ''Waterloo Bridge'', directed by James Whale

Serials

★ ''Battling with Buffalo Bill''

★ ''Danger Island''

★ ''Finger Prints''

★ ''The Galloping Ghost'', starring Harold Grange

★ ''Heroes of the Flames''

★ ''King of the Wild''

★ ''The Lightning Warrior'', starring Rin Tin Tin

★ ''The Mystery Trooper''

★ ''The Phantom of the West''

★ ''The Sign of the Wolf''

★ ''The Spell of the Circus''

★ ''The Vanishing Legion''

Short film series

★ ''Buster Keaton'' (1917-1941)

★ ''Our Gang'' (1922-1944)

★ ''Laurel and Hardy'' (1921-1943)

Animated short film series

★ ''Aesop's Film Fables'' (1921-1933)

★ ''Krazy Kat'' (1925-1940)

★ ''Oswald the Lucky Rabbit'' (1927-1938)

★ ''Mickey Mouse'' (1928-1953)

★ ''Silly Symphonies'' (1929-1939)

★ ''Screen Songs'' (1929-1938)

★ ''Talkartoons'' (1929-1932)

★ ''Looney Tunes'' (1930-1969)

★ ''Flip the Frog'' (1930-1933)

★ ''Terrytoons'' (1930-1964)

★ ''Toby the Pup'' (1930-1931)

★ ''Merrie Melodies'' (1931-1969)

★ ''Scrappy'' (1931-1941)

★ ''Tom and Jerry (Van Beuren)'' (1931-1933)

Births

★ January 5 - Robert Duvall, actor and director

★ January 14 - Caterina Valente, singer, actress

★ January 17 - James Earl Jones, actor

★ January 19 - Tippi Hedren, actress

★ February 6 - Mamie Van Doren

★ February 8 - James Dean, actor

★ March 22 - William Shatner, actor

★ July 1 - Leslie Caron, French actress

★ September 17 - Anne Bancroft, actress (d. 2005)

★ Sylvia Lopez, European actress († 1959)

Deaths

★ November 27 - Lya De Putti, Hungarian actress (b. 1899)