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1933 |
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| 2/1 - | Louis B. Mayer hires his son-in-law, RKO Radio production chief David Selznick as a producer following the recent illness of Irving Thalberg. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 3/1 - | Frank Capra’s The Bitter Tea of General Yen starring Barbara Stanwyck and Nils Asther, becomes the first film to be screened at the newly-opened Radio City Music Hall in the Rockefeller Centre, New York. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 5/1 - | The New York premiere takes place of Noel Coward’s Cavalcade, the story of a privileged English family from the Boer War to the present day. Directed by Frank Lloyd for the Fox studio, the film stars Clive Brook and Diana Wynyard. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 23/1 - | RKO declares itself bankrupt and is placed under judicial supervision. Large numbers of employees are dismissed and spending is drastically cut back. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 27/1 - | She Done Him Wrong, in which Mae West stars opposite a young Cary Grant, premieres. The film helps keep debt-ridden Paramount afloat. The film is based on her smash-hit Broadway play, Diamond Lil, and features the famous (and oft misquoted) line, “Why don’t you come up sometime and see me.” [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 2/2 - | Louis B. Mayer, the President of MGM, cancels former silent star Buster Keaton’s contract citing “a valid and sufficient reason.” [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 4/2 - | Barbara Stanwyck stars in Howard Bretherton and William Keighley’s Ladies They Talk About with Preston Foster, Lyle Talbot and Dorothy Burgess. She plays a gangster’s moll who is imprisoned in San Quentin. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| Feb - | All German films – with the exception of Madschen in Uniform – are withdrawn from cinemas in New York when Adolf Hitler is elected German Chancellor. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 2/3 - | Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack’s King Kong is released, introducing the world to some unforgettable scenes – and an equally unforgettable monster. Fay Wray and Bruce Cabot are the leads, but it is Kong, in the form of six 18-inch high models and one giant bust, who is the star of the film. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 6/3 - | Controversy grows over what many see as the decline of moral standards in contemporary films, despite the existence of a code of self-censorship to which all studios agreed in 1930. Even cartoons, in the comely shape of Betty Boop, are criticised. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 9/3 - | Lloyd Bacon’s 42nd Street, starring Warner Baxter, Dick Powell and Myrna Loy, is released. The backstage musical includes the immortal line, “You’re going out a youngster but you’ve got to come back a star!” [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 27/4 - | Darryl F. Zanuck forms 20th Century Pictures in partnership with producer Joseph M. Schenck following a dispute over studio policy at Warner Brothers. The new company’s films will be distributed through United Artists – of which Schenck is president. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| Spring - | Warner Brothers’ Baby Face is rejected by the New York State board of Censors who demand a number of cuts and changes. The uncensored version is not publicly screened until November 2004 when it is shown at the London Film Festival. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 27/5 - | Walt Disney’s Three Little Pigs cartoon is released. Its signature tune ‘Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf’ becomes an optimistic antidote to the hardships of the depression (the wolf, in some circles, is actually seen as a metaphor for the depression). [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 1/6 - | A statistical report from the Government’s Commerce department states that American movie attendance has dropped by 56% since 1928. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 6/6 - | Garage owner Richard Hollingshead opens the first drive-in cinema on a 10-acre site off Wilson Boulevard in Camden, NJ. The site has capacity for 400 cars parked in semi-circular rows facing a 40ft x 30ft screen. The first film shown is Fred Niblo’s Two White Arms (screened under the title Wife Beware) starring Adolphe Menjou. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 29/6 - | Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle dies of a heart attack in New York at the age of 46. Arbuckle’s career never recovered following his acquittal for the manslaughter of Virginia Rappe in 1921. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| Jun - | The Screen Actors Guild is founded by a group of 21 actors to prevent exploitation by studios. Ralph Morgan is its first president. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 1/7 - | Warner Brothers’ notorious Baby Face, in which Barbara Stanwyck sleeps her way to the top, from basement speakeasy bartender to penthouse chief executive, is released. The sexual innuendo contained in the film, which also features George Brent and John Wayne, causes an uproar and is largely responsible for the enforcement of the Hays Code. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 14/7 - | Popeye makes his screen debut in Popeye the Sailor Man. Although she only makes a brief cameo appearance, the film is actually marketed as a Betty Boop cartoon to ensure it receives the widest possible audience. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 31/7 - | The MPPDA introduces a 40-hour working week for movie industry employees in accordance with the National Recovery Act. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 8/8 - | Movie studio bosses begin a series of talks to agree on the enforcement of the Motion Picture Code in accordance with the NRA. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 7/9 - | The premiere takes place in New York of Frank Capra’s Lady for a Day, starring Warren William and May Robson. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 21/9 - | Alexander Korda’s The Private Life of Henry VIII sets a world record for a single day’s box office revenue when it takes $18,400 on its first day of release at Radio City Music Hall in New York. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 22/9 - | The release of Sergei Eisenstein’s ‘American film’, Thunder Over Mexico, starring Martin Hernandez and Isabel Villsenor, causes controversy when novelist Upton Sinclair accuses the Russian director of using negatives from Que Viva Mexico!, the unfinished Eisenstein film that was financially backed by the writer. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 25/9 - | Silent cowboy film star Tom Mix appears in the first of his radio shows – which will run until June 1950. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 30/9 - | Lloyd Bacon’s Footlight Parade, featuring the choreography of Busby Berkeley and the footwork of former song-and-dance man James Cagney, is released. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 6/10 - | Premiere of I’m No Angel, in which Mae West and Cary Grant once again play opposite one another. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 7/10 - | 20th Century’s first film, The Bowery, directed by Raoul Walsh and starring George Raft, Jackie Cooper and Wallace Beery, is released. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 31/10 - | 13-year-old Joseph Yule Jr. signs a contract with MGM and changes his name to Mickey Rooney. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 13/11 - | James Whales’ The Invisible Man, starring Claude Rains in the title role (employed at the director’s’ request when the Universal earmarked Boris Karloff for the role), is released. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 16/11 - | George Cukor’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, starring Katharine Hepburn as Jo, is released. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 17/11 - | The Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup, directed by Leo McCarey, is released. It is the last film to feature Zeppo, who announces his retirement from the movies at the completion of filming. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 31/11 - | After meeting Paulette Goddard on the yacht of 20th Century president Joseph M. Schenck, Charlie Chaplin signs her as the female lead for his forthcoming film, Modern Times. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| Nov - | A committee of archbishops, led by the papal delegate Amleto Cicognani, founds the National Legion of Decency with the aim of preventing all forms of ‘incitement to moral depravity.’ [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| 22/12 - | Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are paired for the first time in Thornton Freeland’s Flying Down to Rio for RKO. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
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25/12 - |
The premiere of Roman Scandals, starring Eddie Cantor, takes place in New York. [MORE] [ADD] | |||
| – 547 films are produced in the US in 1933, but gross cinema revenue is down to $480m, and Hollywood studios suffer a combined net loss of $55m. [MORE] [ADD] | ||||
| – The Screen Writers Guild becomes affiliated with the Authors League. [MORE] [ADD] | ||||
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Top Ten Money-making Stars
of 1933 2. Will Rogers 3. Janet Gaynor 4. Eddie Cantor 6. Jean Harlow 7. Clark Gable 8. Mae West 10. Joan Crawford Source: Quigley Poll |
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| Other Films of Note | ||||
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| Alice in Wonderland (Norman Z. McLeod) [MORE] [ADD] | ||||
| Christopher Strong (Dorothy Arzner) [MORE] [ADD] | ||||
| Cradle Song (Mitchell Leisen) [MORE] [ADD] | ||||
| Hallejulah, I’m a Bum (Lewis Milestone) [MORE] [ADD] | ||||
| Mystery of the Wax Museum (Michael Curtiz) [MORE] [ADD] | ||||
| Sons of the Desert (William A. Seiter) [MORE] [ADD] | ||||
| Wild Boys of the Road (William Wellman) [MORE] [ADD] | ||||
| Zoo in Budapest (Rowland V. Lee) [MORE] [ADD] |
