1934 in film explained
The following is an overview of 1934 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Top-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1934 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
Highest-grossing films of 1934| Rank | Title | Distributor | Domestic rentals |
|---|
| 1 | Kid Millions | United Artists | $2,000,000[1] |
|---|
| 2 | Cleopatra | Paramount | $1,929,161[2] |
|---|
| 3 | Forsaking All Others | MGM | $1,399,000[3] |
|---|
| 4 | It Happened One Night | Columbia | $1,366,000[4] |
|---|
| 5 | Chained | MGM | $1,301,000 |
|---|
| 6 | Wonder Bar | Warner Bros./First National | $1,264,000[5] |
|---|
| 7 | The Barretts of Wimpole Street | MGM | $1,258,000 |
|---|
| 8 | Here Comes the Navy | Warner Bros. | $1,183,000 |
|---|
| 9 | Judge Priest | Fox Film | $1,176,000 |
|---|
| 10 | Treasure Island | MGM | $1,164,000 | |
|---|
Events
- January 26 – Samuel Goldwyn (formerly of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) purchases the film rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the L. Frank Baum estate for $40,000.
- February 19 – Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade.
- April 19 – Fox Studios releases Stand Up and Cheer!, with five-year-old Shirley Temple in a relatively minor role. Shirley steals the film and Fox, which had been near bankruptcy, finds itself owning a goldmine.
- May 18 – Paramount releases Little Miss Marker, with Shirley Temple, on loan from Fox, in the title role.
- June 13 – An amendment to the Production Code establishes the Production Code Administration, and requires all films to obtain a certificate of approval before being released.
- July 28 – Canadian-born actress Marie Dressler, best known for starring in films such as Min and Bill and Emma, dies from cancer in Santa Barbara, California at the age of 65. For her performance in Min and Bill, Dressler received the Academy Award for Best Actress.
- October 19 – Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers wham audiences again with their first joint starring roles in The Gay Divorcee, grossing $1.8 million[6] to add to the $1.5 million[6] earned by Flying Down to Rio released at the end of 1933.
- November 12 – The musical Babes in Toyland debuts, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as comic relief.
- December 11 – Fox releases the Sol M. Wurtzel production of Bright Eyes, starring their hot new property, Shirley Temple. Shirley sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop", and wins the first Academy Award ever given to a child, for her endearing portrayal of Shirley Blake.
Academy Awards
See main article: 7th Academy Awards.
The 7th Academy Awards was held on February 27, 1935, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. They were hosted by Irvin S. Cobb. For the first time, the Academy standardized the practice – still in effect, notwithstanding changes to the 93rd and 94th Academy Awards as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic – that the award eligibility period for a film would be the preceding calendar year.
Most nominations: One Night of Love (Columbia Pictures) – 6
Major Awards
Most Awards: It Happened One Night – 5
It Happened One Night became the first film to perform a "clean sweep" of the top five award categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. This feat would later be duplicated by One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1976 and The Silence of the Lambs in 1992. It also was the first romantic comedy to be named Best Picture.
1934 film releases
United States unless stated
January–March
- January 1934
- 6 January
- 19 January
- 22 January
- 26 January
- Unknown
- February 1934
- 1 February
- 2 February
- 3 February
- 9 February
- 10 February
- 14 February
- 16 February
- 22 February
- 23 February
- 25 February
- March 1934
- 3 March
- 17 March
- 30 March
- 31 March
April–June
- April 1934
- 5 April
- 7 April
- 9 April
- 10 April
- 15 April
- 16 April
- 26 April
- 27 April
- May 1934
- 1 May
- 2 May
- 3 May
- 4 May
- 9 May
- 15 May
- 18 May
- 25 May
- 26 May
- 31 May
- June 1934
- 1 June
- 2 June
- 4 June
- 6 June
- 8 June
- 13 June
- 28 June
- 30 June
July–September
- July 1934
- 6 July
- 13 July
- 20 July
- 21 July
- 30 July
- August 1934
- 3 August
- 4 August
- 6 August
- 13 August
- 15 August
- 16 August
- 17 August
- 23 August
- 24 August
- 30 August
- 31 August
- September 1934
- 5 September
- 7 September
- 11 September
- 12 September
- 14 September
- 15 September
- 17 September
- 19 September
- 21 September
- 22 September
- 28 September
October–December
- October 1934
- 1 October
- 2 October
- 4 October
- 5 October
- 8 October
- 13 October
- 18 October
- 19 October
- 22 October
- November 1934
- 2 November
- 3 November
- 9 November
- 10 November
- 16 November
- 17 November
- 23 November
- 26 November
- 29 November
- 30 November
- December 1934
- 1 December
- 7 December
- 9 December
- 10 December
- 11 December
- 14 December
- 21 December
- 23 December
- 28 December
- 31 December
Notable films released in 1934
United States unless stated
0-9
A
B
- Babes in Toyland, starring Laurel and Hardy
- Baby, Take a Bow, starring Shirley Temple
- The Barretts of Wimpole Street, starring Norma Shearer, Fredric March and Charles Laughton
- The Battle, starring Merle Oberon, Charles Boyer and John Loder – (GB/France)
- Belle of the Nineties, starring Mae West and Johnny Mack Brown
- The Big Road (Dalu), directed by Sun Yu – (China)
- The Big Shakedown, starring Bette Davis and Charles Farrell
- The Black Cat, starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi
- Bolero, starring George Raft and Carole Lombard
- Boots! Boots!, starring George Formby – (GB – first film by Blakeley's Productions)
- Born to Be Bad, starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, Jackie Kelk
- Bright Eyes, starring Shirley Temple
- Broadway Bill, directed by Frank Capra, starring Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy
- Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back, starring Ronald Colman
C
- The Captain Hates the Sea, starring Victor McLaglen and John Gilbert in his last film role
- Carolina, starring Janet Gaynor and Lionel Barrymore
- The Case of the Howling Dog, starring Warren William (as Perry Mason)
- The Cat and the Fiddle, starring Ramón Novarro and Jeanette MacDonald
- The Cat's-Paw, starring Harold Lloyd
- Chained, starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable
- Chapayev – winner of National Board of Review "Best Foreign Film" Award in 1935 – (U.S.S.R.)
- Charlie Chan in London, starring Warner Oland and Ray Milland
- Charlie Chan's Courage, starring Warner Oland
- The Circus Clown, starring Joe E. Brown
- City Limits
- Cleopatra, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Claudette Colbert and Warren William
- Colonel Blood, starring Frank Cellier
- The Count of Monte Cristo, starring Robert Donat
- Crime Without Passion, starring Claude Rains
D
- Dames, choreographed by Busby Berkeley, starring Joan Blondell, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler
- David Harum starring Will Rogers
- Dark Hazard, starring Edward G. Robinson
- Death on the Diamond, starring Robert Young
- Death Takes a Holiday, starring Fredric March
- The Dream Car (Meseautó), directed by Béla Gaál and starring Zita Perczel, Ella Gombaszögi and Klári Tolnay – (Hungary)
- Don't Make Grandpa Angry (Nezlobte dědečka), directed by Karel Lamač, starring Vlasta Burian, Čeněk Šlégl and Adina Mandlová – (Czechoslovakia)
E
F
G
- Gambling, starring George M. Cohan
- Gambling Lady, starring Barbara Stanwyck
- The Gay Bride, starring Carole Lombard
- The Gay Divorcee, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
- The Girl from Missouri, starring Jean Harlow
- Girl o' My Dreams, starring Mary Carlisle, Edward J. Nugent, Lon Chaney Jr., Sterling Holloway
- Glamour, starring Paul Lukas
- The Goddess (Shen nu) – (China)
- Grand Canary, starring Warner Baxter
- Le Grand Jeu (The Great Game), directed by Jacques Feyder – (France)
- Great Expectations, starring Henry Hull and Jane Wyatt
H
I
J
K
L
- The Lady Is Willing, starring Leslie Howard and Cedric Hardwicke – (GB)
- The Last Round-Up, starring Randolph Scott
- Lieutenant Kijé – (U.S.S.R.)
- Liliom, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Charles Boyer – (France)
- Limehouse Blues, starring George Raft and Jean Parker
- Little Man, What Now?, starring Margaret Sullavan and Douglass Montgomery
- The Little Minister, starring Katharine Hepburn and John Beal
- Little Miss Marker, starring Shirley Temple
- A Lost Lady, starring Barbara Stanwyck
- The Lost Patrol, starring Victor McLaglen, Boris Karloff and Wallace Ford
- The Lucky Texan, starring John Wayne
M-N
- Madame Du Barry, starring Dolores del Río
- The Man from Utah, starring John Wayne
- Man of Aran (documentary), directed by Robert Flaherty – (GB)
- The Man Who Knew Too Much, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Leslie Banks, Edna Best and Peter Lorre – (GB)
- The Man with Two Faces, starring Edward G. Robinson
- Managed Money, starring Shirley Temple
- Mandalay, starring Kay Francis
- Manhattan Melodrama, starring Clark Gable, William Powell and Myrna Loy
- Maniac, starring Horace B. Carpenter
- Mauvaise Graine, directed by Billy Wilder – (FR)
- The Merry Widow (La veuve joyeuse), directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald – (France/US)
- Les Misérables, directed by Raymond Bernard, starring Harry Baur and Charles Vanel – (France)
- Now and Forever, starring Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard
- Now I'll Tell, starring Spencer Tracy
O
P
R
- Radio Parade of 1935, starring Will Hay – (GB)
- Red Ensign, starring Leslie Banks – (GB)
- The Return of Bulldog Drummond, starring Ralph Richardson and Ann Todd – (GB)
- The Richest Girl in the World, starring Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea and Fay Wray
- Riptide, starring Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery
- The Rise of Catherine the Great, starring Elisabeth Bergner and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. – (GB)
- Road House, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Violet Loraine and Gordon Harker (GB)
- Le Roi des Champs-Élysées (The King of the Champs-Élysées), starring Buster Keaton – (France)
S
- Sadie McKee, starring Joan Crawford
- The Scarlet Empress, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich and John Lodge
- The Scarlet Pimpernel, starring Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon – (GB)
- Shirin and Farhad, starring Roohangiz Saminejad (Iran)
- The Silver Streak, starring Charles Starrett
- Sing as We Go, starring Gracie Fields and Stanley Holloway – (GB)
- Six of a Kind, starring Charles Ruggles, Mary Boland and W. C. Fields
- Something Always Happens, directed by Michael Powell, starring, Ian Hunter, Nance O'Neil, Peter Gawthorne, Muriel George – (GB)
- The Song of Ceylon, documentary directed by Basil Wright – (GB)
- Song of the Fishermen (Yu guang qu) – (China)
- Spitfire, starring Katharine Hepburn
- The St. Louis Kid, starring James Cagney
- Stand Up and Cheer!, starring Warner Baxter and Madge Evans, featuring 5-year-old Shirley Temple
- A Story of Floating Weeds (Ukikusa monogatari), directed by Yasujirō Ozu – (Japan)
T
- The Tars – (Netherlands)
- Tarzan and His Mate, starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan
- The Thin Man, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy
- Thirty-Day Princess, starring Sylvia Sidney and Cary Grant
- Those Were the Days, directed by Thomas Bentley, starring Will Hay and John Mills – (GB)
- The Trail Beyond, starring John Wayne
- Treasure Island, starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper
- Twentieth Century, directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Barrymore and Carole Lombard
- Twenty Million Sweethearts, starring Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers
U-V
W
- Waltzes from Vienna, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Esmond Knight and Jessie Matthews – (GB)
- We're Not Dressing, starring Bing Crosby and Carole Lombard
- We're Rich Again, starring Edna May Oliver and Billie Burke
- What Every Woman Knows, starring Helen Hayes
- Whirlpool, starring Jack Holt and Jean Arthur
- The White Parade, starring Loretta Young
- A Wicked Woman, starring Mady Christians, Jean Parker and Charles Bickford
- The Woman of the Port (La Mujer del Puerto) – (Mexico)
- Wonder Bar, starring Al Jolson
- Workers, Let's Go (Hej rup!), directed by Martin Frič – (Czechoslovakia)
Y-Z
Serials
Comedy film series and shorts
Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)
Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
Laurel and Hardy (1921–1945)
Our Gang (1922–1944)
Harry Langdon (1924–1936)
- Circus Hoodoo (short)
- Petting Preferred (short)
- Counsel on De Fence (short) as Darrow Langdon
- Shivers (short) as Ichabod Somerset Crop
Wheeler & Woolsey (1929–1937)
Ted Healy and His Stooges (1933–1934)
The Three Stooges (1934–1959)
Animated short film series
Births
- January 6 – Sylvia Syms, English actress (d. 2023)
- January 8 – Roy Kinnear, British character actor (d. 1988)
- January 11 – Mitchell Ryan, American actor (d. 2022)
- January 14
- January 20 – Tom Baker, English actor and writer
- January 21
- January 22 – Bill Bixby, American actor (d. 1993)
- January 23 – Carmine Caridi, American actor (d. 2019)
- January 25 – Donald W. Ernst, American editor and producer (d. 2023)
- February 5 - Jimmy Flynn, American actor (d. 2022)
- February 10 – Tatyana Lolova, Bulgarian actress (d. 2021)
- February 11 – Tina Louise, American actress
- February 12
- February 13 – George Segal, American actor and musician (d. 2021)
- February 14 - Florence Henderson, American actress (d. 2016)
- February 17
- Alan Bates, English actor (d. 2003)
- Barry Humphries, Australian comedian, actor, satirist, artist and author (d. 2023)
- February 21 – Rue McClanahan, American actress (d. 2010)
- March 4 – Anne Haney, American actress (d. 2001)
- March 5
- March 9
- March 12 - Henryk Bista, Polish actor (d. 1997)
- March 22 – May Britt, Swedish actress
- March 26
- March 27 – Peter Schamoni, German director (d. 2011)
- March 30 - Count Prince Miller, British actor and musician (d. 2018)
- March 31
- April 2 – Shirley Douglas, Canadian actress (d. 2020)
- April 4 - Helen Hanft, American actress (d. 2013)
- April 7 – Ian Richardson, Scottish actor (d. 2007)
- April 14 – Josef Somr, Czech actor (d. 2022)
- April 16 – Robert Stigwood, Australian-born British producer (d. 2016)
- April 24 – Shirley MacLaine, American actress
- April 25 – Denny Miller, American actor (d. 2014)
- May 1 – John Meillon, Australian character actor (d. 1989)
- May 3 – Ivan Andonov, Bulgarian film director (d. 2011)
- May 11 – André Gregory, French-born American director, writer and actor
- May 18 – Dwayne Hickman, American actor, producer and director (d. 2022)
- May 22 – Fred Roos, American film producer (d. 2024)
- May 24 – Kiril Gospodinov, Bulgarian actor (d. 2003)
- May 29 – Marina Cicogna, Italian producer (d. 2023)
- June 1
- June 8 – Millicent Martin, English actress, singer and comedian
- June 15
- June 16
- June 21
- June 26 – Josef Sommer, German-American actor
- July 1
- July 5 – Nikolay Binev, Bulgarian actor (d. 2003)
- July 8 – Marty Feldman, English comedian and actor (d. 1982)
- July 9 - John Clegg (actor), English actor (d. 2024)
- July 10 – Jerry Nelson, American puppeteer (d. 2012)
- July 15 – Eva Krížiková, Slovak actress (d. 2020)
- July 22
- July 23 – Silvana Bosi, Italian actress (d. 2020)
- July 26 – Ken Pogue, Canadian actor (d. 2015)
- July 29 – Sergio Fiorentini, Italian actor and voice actor (d. 2014)
- August 5 – Zakes Mokae, South African-American actor (d. 2009)
- August 7 – Marija Kohn, Croatian actress (d. 2018)
- August 14 – Vernon Dobtcheff, British actor
- August 24 – Kenny Baker, English-born actor (d. 2016)
- August 30 – Helen Craig, English children's author and illustrator (Angelina Ballerina)
- September 2 - Chuck McCann, American actor, comedian, puppeteer and television host (d. 2018)
- September 5 - Dennis Letts, American actor (d. 2008)
- September 11 – Ian Abercrombie, English-American actor and comedian (d. 2012)
- September 18 - Eddie Jones, American actor (d. 2019)
- September 20
- September 24 - Robert Lang, English actor (d. 2004)
- September 27
- September 28 – Brigitte Bardot, French actress
- September 29 – Alan Hopgood, Australian actor (d. 2022)
- October 13 – Savely Kramarov, Russian-American actor (d. 1995)
- October 15 – Peter Haskell, American actor (d. 2010)
- October 19 – Glória Menezes, Brazilian actress
- October 20 – Timothy West, English actor
- October 28 - Charles A. Gargano, Italian-American actor
- October 31 - Suzanne Shepherd, American actress (d. 2023)
- November 5 – Kira Muratova, Russian director (d. 2018)
- November 10
- November 11
- November 13 – Garry Marshall, American director, actor, producer, writer and voice artist (d. 2016)
- November 15 – Joanna Barnes, American actress (d. 2022)
- November 21
- November 23
- November 25 – Ann Davies, English actress (d. 2022)
- November 28 – Jaakko Pakkasvirta, Finnish film director and screenwriter (d. 2018)
- December 9 – Judi Dench, English actress
- December 16 – Pete Schrum, American actor (d. 2003)
- December 26 – Matt Zimmerman, Canadian actor (d. 2022)
- December 28 – Maggie Smith, English actress
- December 29 – Forugh Farrokhzad, Iranian poet and film director (d. 1967)
- December 30 – Russ Tamblyn, American actor
Deaths
- March 21 – Lilyan Tashman, 34, American actress (cancer)
- May 31 – Lew Cody, 50, American actor
- June 8 – Dorothy Dell, 19, American actress (road accident)
- July 6 – Harry A. Pollard, 55, American actor & director
- July 28 – Marie Dressler, 65, Canadian-born American Academy Award winning actress (cancer)
Debuts
External links
Notes and References
- Book: Sterling, Christopher H.. Biographical Dictionary of Radio. 2011. 978-0-415-99549-8. He also continued appearing in movies; in 1934 Kid Millions grossed more than $2 million even though America was in the midst of the Depression..
- Book: Birchard, Robert S.. 2004. Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. 9780813123240.
- .
- News: Variety. All-Time Film Rental Champs. October 15, 1990. M150.
- Warner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 15 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
- Richard Jewel, "RKO Film Grosses: 1931–1951", Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1994, p.55
- http://www.draamateater.ee/ester-pajusoo Eesti Draamateater
