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The History of American Cinema: 1938

January - December

1/2 -

Norman Taurog’s Mad About Music, starring Deanna Durbin and Herbert Marshall, and featuring Gail Patrick, Arthur Treacher and William Frawley, is released. [ADD]

17/2 -

David Selznick’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is released.   Shot in Technicolor by James Wong Howe, the film stars Tommy Kelly in the title role and Victor Jory as Injun Joe, and is directed by Norman Taurog. [ADD]

18/2 -

Howard Hawks’ Bringing Up Baby, starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn is released. [ADD]

24/2 -

MGM buy the rights to L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz. [ADD]

10/3 -

Warner Bros.’ Jezebel is released.   Directed by William Wyler, it stars a tempestuous Bette Davis as Julie Marston, a Southern Belle described by the film’s posters as “half-angel, half-siren, all woman!”   Henry Fonda also stars, and George Brent, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Crisp, and Fay Bainter give solid support. [ADD]

10/3 -

After winning Best Actress Oscar last year for her performance in The Great Ziegfeld, Luise Rainer becomes the first star to win two Oscars in succession when she wins the Best Actress award again for her role in The Good Earth at the 10th Annual Academy Awards ceremony. [MORE]

7/4 -

Archie Mayo’s The Adventures of Marco Polo, starring Gary Cooper in the title role and Basil Rathbone, is released. [ADD]

11/4 -

Former child star Jackie Coogan sues his mother and stepfather to recover earnings he made as a child.   Coogan wins the case, but the money is eaten up by legal bills.   The result is ‘The Coogan Act,’ – The Californian Child Actors’ Bill.  [ADD]

25/4 -

Warner Brothers’ The Adventures of Robin Hood.is premiered before going on general release on the 14^th May.   Directed by Michael Curtiz in three-strip Technicolor, the rollicking adventure stars Errol Flynn in the title role (in a part originally earmarked for James Cagney until he ran into a dispute with the studio) and a supporting cast that includes Olivia de Havilland, Alan Hale, Basil Rathbone and Eugene Pallette. [ADD]

30/4 -

An early version of Bugs Bunny appears in the Porky Pig cartoon, Porky’s Hare Hunt.   It will be two years before Bugs will make his official debut. [ADD]

3/6 -

Frank Borzage’s screen adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s novel Three Comrades is released.   Co-written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it stars Robert Taylor, Margaret Sullavan, Franchot Tone and Robert Young. [ADD]

23/6 -

Press reports claim that Norma Shearer has been cast in the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind. [ADD]

28/6 -

Algiers, John Cromwell’s remake of Pepe le Moko, starring Charles Boyer, Sigrid Gurie and Hedy Lamarr is released.   Boyer’s (in)famous line, “come with me to the Casbah,” never actually appeared in the film, although it was in the trailer. [ADD]

History of Cinema: 1938