1927 in film - Definition and Overview

Events

• January 10 - The film Metropolis by Fritz Lang premieres.
• April 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx marries Marion Benda.
• May 11 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was formed. The first Academy Awards (Oscars) went to films released in 1927 or 1928.
• October 6 - The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, is released. Although not the first 'talkie', The Jazz Singer is the first big hit and popularizes sound motion pictures.
• FOX Films acquires the rights to the Tri Ergon sound-on-film technology, which had been developed in 1919 by three German inventors, Josef Engl, Hans Vogt, and Joseph Massole.
• Italian Alberto Rabagliati wins a Rudolph Valentino look-alike contest and moves to Hollywood to start his acting career.

Top grossing films

1. The Jazz Singer

Academy Awards

• Best Production: Wings
• Best Artistic Quality: Sunrise
• Best Actor: Emil Jannings for The Way of All Flesh and the 1928 movie The Last Command
• Best Actress: Janet Gaynor for Seventh Heaven and Sunrise, as well as the 1928 movie Street Angel

Movies released

Movies released in 1927 include:

• The General, starring Buster Keaton
• The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson
• Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang
• Napoléon
• Seventh Heaven, starring starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell
• Sunrise, starring George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor, directed by F.W. Murnau
• The Way of All Flesh, starring Emil Jannings
• Wings, starring Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen and Jobyna Ralston

Births

• January 17 - Eartha Kitt, actress, singer
• February 20 - Sidney Poitier, actor
• March 20 - Cairbre (aka Leo), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's lion mascot, born in Dublin Zoo
• July 4 - Gina Lollobrigida, actress
• July 6 - Janet Leigh, actress (d. 2004)
• October 14 - Roger Moore, actor
• October 18 - George C. Scott, film and stage actor
• October 31 - Lee Grant, actress

Deaths