1929 in film - Definition and Overview

Events

The days of the silent film were numbered. A mad scramble to provide synchronized sound was on.

• January 20 - The movie In Old Arizona was released. The film was the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors.
• May 16 - The first Academy Awards, or Oscars, are distributed
• Hallelujah!, first Hollywood film to contain an entire black cast.

Top grossing films

1. The Broadway Melody
2. The Mysterious Island

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: The Broadway Melody - MGM
• Best Actor: Warner Baxter - In Old Arizona
• Best Actor: George Arliss - Disraeli
• Best Actress: Mary Pickford - Coquette

Note: Prior to 1933, awards were not based on calendar years, which is how there are 2 'Best Actor' awards for 1929 films.

Movies released

Movies released in 1929 include:

• An Andalusian Dog (Un chien andalou), a short film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí.
• Applause, starring Helen Morgan.
• Big Business, a Laurel and Hardy short.
• Blackmail, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
• The Broadway Melody, starring Charles King, Anita Page and Bessie Love.
• Bulldog Drummond, starring Ronald Colman.
• The Cocoanuts, starring the Marx Brothers.
• The Cameraman
• Coquette, starring Mary Pickford, Johnny Mack Brown, Matt Moore. Directed by Sam Taylor
• Disraeli, starring George Arliss.
• Hallelujah, directed by King Vidor.
• The Hollywood Revue of 1929, a showcase of talent under contract to MGM.
• In Old Arizona, starring Warner Baxter.
• The Iron Mask. starring Douglas Fairbanks.
• The Kiss, starring Greta Garbo and Conrad Nagel.
• The Love Parade, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald.
• The Man with a Movie Camera (Chelovek s kinoapparatom), a documentary.
• The Manxman, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
• The Mysterious Island, starring Lionel Barrymore.
• Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks.
• Queen Kelly, starring Gloria Swanson (this film was never actually finished because producers balked at releasing a silent film in a what was quickly becoming a sound film market)
• Saint Louis Blues, starring Bessie Smith.
• The Skeleton Dance, a Walt Disney animated short.
• Spite Marriage, a Buster Keaton film.
• The Virginian, starring Gary Cooper.
• Woman in the Moon (Frau im Mond), directed by Fritz Lang.

Births

• January 3 - Sergio Leone, director (+ 1989)
• April 28 - Carolyn Jones, actress (+1983)
• May 4 - Audrey Hepburn, actress
• December 6 – Alain Tanner, Swiss film director

Deaths

• July 2 – Gladys Brockwell, American actress
• October 3 - Jeanne Eagels, actress