1933 in film

Years in film
1870s
1880s
1890s
1890 • 1891 • 1892 • 1893 • 1894 1895 • 1896 • 1897 • 1898 • 1899
1900s
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1910s
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1920s
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1930s
1930 • 1931 • 1932 • 1933 • 1934 1935 • 1936 • 1937 • 1938 • 1939
1940s
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1950s
1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1954 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959
1960s
1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969
1970s
1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979
1980s
1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989
1990s
1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999
2000s
2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009
2010s
2010 • 2011 • 2012 2013 and beyond

Events

• March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.
• June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey.
• British Film Institute founded.
• GPO Film Unit established in the United Kingdom under John Grierson, taking over responsibility for documentary film making from the Empire Marketing Board.
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) once again expresses interest in the Wizard of Oz books for a series of animated cartoons, but they once again failed 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 the film.
• The Private Life of Henry VIII becomes the first British film to win an American Academy Award.

Top grossing films (U.S.)

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Cavalcade - Fox
• Best Actor: Charles Laughton - The Private Life of Henry VIII
• Best Actress: Katharine Hepburn - Morning Glory

Select list of films released in 1933

U.S.A. unless stated

• 42nd Street, Directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Ginger Rogers
• Adventures of Don Quixote, directed by G.W. Pabst, starring Feodor Chaliapin - (France/U.K.)
• Alice in Wonderland, starring Charlotte Henry and virtually every Paramount star at the time
• Baby Face, starring Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent
• A Bedtime Story, starring Maurice Chevalier
• Bitter Sweet, starring Anna Neagle - (U.K.)
• The Bitter Tea of General Yen, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Blood Money, starring George Bancroft
• Bombshell, starring Jean Harlow
• The Bowery, starring Wallace Beery and George Raft
• Bureau of Missing Persons
• By Candlelight, directed by James Whale
• Cash starring Robert Donat - (U.K.)
• Cavalcade, starring Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor and Herbert Mundin
• Counsellor at Law, starring John Barrymore and Bebe Daniels
• Damaged Lives
• Dancing Lady, starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable
• Daybreak - (China)
• Deluge
• The Deserter - (U.S.S.R.)
• Design for Living, starring Fredric March, Gary Cooper and Miriam Hopkins
• The Devil's Brother, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• Dinner at Eight, directed by George Cukor and featuring an all-star cast
• Dora's Dunking Doughnuts
• Dragnet Girl, starring Kinuyo Tanaka, directed by Yasujirō Ozu - (Japan)
• Duck Soup, directed by Leo McCarey, starring the Marx Brothers
• The Eagle and the Hawk
• Ecstasy, starring Hedy Lamarr - (Czechoslovakia)
• The Emperor Jones, starring Paul Robeson
• Employees' Entrance, starring Warren William and Loretta Young
• Fast Workers, starring John Gilbert and Mae Clarke
• The Flower of Hawaii, directed by Richard Oswald (Germany)
• Flying Down to Rio, starring Dolores del Río and Gene Raymond. Also starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in their first of 10 films together
• Footlight Parade, starring James Cagney, Joan Blondell and Ruby Keeler
• Gabriel Over the White House, directed by Gregory La Cava, starring Walter Huston. Produced by William Randolph Hearst
• The Ghoul, starring Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke and Ernest Thesiger - (U.K.)
• Going Hollywood, starring Marion Davies and Bing Crosby
• Gold Diggers of 1933, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers and Warren William
• The Good Companions, directed by Victor Saville, starring Jessie Matthews, Edmund Gwenn and John Gielgud - (U.K.)
• Goodbye Again, starring Joan Blondell and Warren William
• Hallelujah, I'm a Bum, starring Al Jolson
• Hard to Handle, starring James Cagney
• Heroes for Sale, starring Loretta Young and Richard Barthelmess
• Hold Your Man, starring Jean Harlow and Clark Gable
• The House on 56th Street
• I'm No Angel, starring Mae West and Cary Grant. West also wrote the story and screenplay.
• In the Wake of the Bounty, starring Errol Flynn as Fletcher Christian - (Australia)
• International House
• The Invisible Man, starring Claude Rains in the title role with Gloria Stuart
• It's Great to Be Alive, directed by Alfred L. Werker and starring Raul Roulien and Gloria Stuart
• Każdemu wolno kochać, by Mieczysław Krawicz - (Poland)
• King Kong, starring Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong
• Ladies They Talk About, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Lady for a Day, starring Warren William and May Robson
• Lady Killer, starring James Cagney
• Liebelei, directed by Max Ophuls - (Germany)
• Little Women, starring Katharine Hepburn and Joan Bennett
• Lot in Sodom, starring Friedrich Haak
• Loyalties, starring Basil Rathbone - (U.K.)
• Man's Castle, starring Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young
• The Mayor of Hell, starring James Cagney
• Midnight Club, starring George Raft
• Midnight Mary, starring Loretta Young
• The Midnight Patrol, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• The Monkey's Paw
• Morning Glory, starring Katharine Hepburn
• Mystery of the Wax Museum, starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray
• Okraina - (U.S.S.R.)
• One Sunday Afternoon, starring Gary Cooper
• Only Yesterday
• Our Betters, starring Constance Bennett, Gilbert Roland, and Anita Louise
• Parachute Jumper, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Bette Davis, and Frank McHugh
• Passing Fancy (Dekigokoro), directed by Yasujirō Ozu - (Japan)
• Peg o' My Heart, starring Marion Davies
• Penthouse, starring Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy
• Perfect Understanding, starring Gloria Swanson and Laurence Olivier - (U.K.)
• Picture Snatcher, starring James Cagney
• Pilgrimage
• The Power and the Glory, starring Spencer Tracy
• The Private Life of Henry VIII, directed by Alexander Korda, starring Charles Laughton - (U.K.)
• The Prizefighter and the Lady, starring Max Baer, Myrna Loy, Primo Carnera and Jack Dempsey
• Professional Sweetheart, starring Ginger Rogers
• Queen Christina, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, starring Greta Garbo and John Gilbert
• Roman Scandals
• Secret of the Blue Room, starring Paul Lukas, Gloria Stuart and Lionel Atwill
• Secrets, starring Mary Pickford in her last film
• She Done Him Wrong, starring Mae West and Cary Grant in his first notable film role
• She Had to Say Yes, starring Loretta Young and Lyle Talbot, directed by Busby Berkeley and George Amy
• The Son of Kong, starring Robert Armstrong and Helen Mack
• Sons of the Desert, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• State Fair, starring Janet Gaynor, Will Rogers and Lew Ayres
• The Story of Temple Drake, starring Miriam Hopkins and Jack La Rue
• The Stranger's Return, starring Miriam Hopkins and Lionel Barrymore
• A Study in Scarlet, starring Reginald Owen
• Supernatural, starring Carole Lombard, Alan Dinehart, Vivienne Osborne and Randolph Scott
• The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Otto Wernicke - (Germany)
• This Day and Age, Cecil B. Demille's now cult-favorite, starring Richard Cromwell and featuring then-teenager: Baby Peggy Montgomery.
• This Week of Grace' directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Gracie Fields - (U.K.)
• Three Little Pigs
• Tillie and Gus, starring Alison Skipworth and W.C. Fields
• Tonight Is Ours, starring Fredric March and Claudette Colbert
• Topaze, starring John Barrymore and Myrna Loy
• Torch Singer, starring Claudette Colbert
• Tugboat Annie, starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery
• Turkey Time, directed by and starring Tom Walls (U.K.)
• Turn Back the Clock, starring Lee Tracy and Mae Clarke
• The Vampire Bat, starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray
• Viktor und Viktoria - (Germany)
• When Ladies Meet, starring Ann Harding, Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy
• We're in the Money , animation by Stephan Eichenberg
• Wild Boys of the Road, starring Frankie Darro and Edwin Phillips
• The Working Man, starring George Arliss and Bette Davis
• You Made Me Love You starring Stanley Lupino and Thelma Todd - (U.K.)
• Zero for Conduct (Zéro de conduite), directed by Jean Vigo - (France)

Serials

• 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

Comedy film series

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

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
  • 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)
• Popeye (1933-1957)
• Pooch the Pup (1932-1933)
• Willie Whopper (1933-1934)
• ComiColor Cartoons (1933-1936)
• Cubby Bear (1933-1934)
• The Little King (1933-1934)

Births

• January 18 - John Boorman, English director
• January 23 - Chita Rivera, actress, dancer and singer
• February 13 - Kim Novak, actress
• February 18 - Mary Ure, Scottish actress (died 1975)
• March 14 - Michael Caine, English actor
• March 22 - May Britt, Swedish actress
• April 5 - Frank Gorshin, actor and comedian (died 2005)
• April 19 - Jayne Mansfield, actress (died 1967)
• May 23 - Joan Collins, English actress
• June 11 - Gene Wilder, actor
• June 20 - Danny Aiello, actor
• July 8 - Marty Feldman, English comedian and actor (died 1982)
• August - Dom DeLuise, actor and comedian (died 2009)
• August 2 - Tom Bell, English actor (died 2006)
• August 16 - Julie Newmar, actress, dancer and singer
• August 18 - Roman Polanski, Polish director
• August 25 - Tom Skerritt, actor
• November 3 - Jeremy Brett, English actor (died 1995)
• November 28 - Hope Lange, actress (died 2003)
• December 15 - Tim Conway, actor and comedian

Deaths

• January 3 - Jack Pickford, actor/director
• January 25 - Lewis J. Selznick, producer
• February 15 - Pat Sullivan, director/producer of animated films, alleged co-creator of Felix the Cat
• February 26 - Spottiswoode Aitken, actor
• February 23 - David Horsley, pioneer film executive
• March 8 - Albert Roscoe, silent screen star
• August 18 - James Williamson, film developer and film director
• August 28 - Helen Dunbar, actress
• October 5 - Renée Adorée, actress

Film debuts

• Morris Ankrum
• Dame Peggy Ashcroft
• Fred Astaire
• Lucille Ball
• Frances Drake
• Errol Flynn
• Margaret Hamilton
• Phil Harris
• Dorothy Lamour
• Cesar Romero
• Margaret Sullavan
• King Kong