1929 in film

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.
• The Broadway Melody is released by MGM and becomes the first major musical film of the sound era, sparking a host of imitators as well as a series of Broadway Melody films that would run until 1940.

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.

Films released in 1929

• 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 Clue of the New Pin
• The Cocoanuts, starring the Marx Brothers.
• 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. -(film mentioned in article)
• The Kiss, starring Greta Garbo and Conrad Nagel.
• The Love Parade, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald.
• 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)
• St. Louis Blues, starring Bessie Smith. -(film mentioned in article)
• 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.

Short film series

• Buster Keaton (1917-1941)
• Our Gang (1922-1944)
• Laurel and Hardy (1926-1940)

Animated short film series

• Felix the Cat (1919-1930)
• Aesop's Film Fables (1921-1933)
• Krazy Kat (1925-1940)
• Inkwell Imps (1927-1929)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927-1938)
• Mickey Mouse (1928-1953)
• Silly Symphonies (1929-1939)
• Screen Songs (1929-1938)
• Talkartoons (1929-1932)

Births

• January 3 - Sergio Leone, director (+ 1989)
• January 31 - Jean Simmons, actress
• February 10 - Jerry Goldsmith, composer (+ 2004)
• April 28 - Carolyn Jones, actress (+1983)
• May 4 - Audrey Hepburn, actress
• August 23 - Vera Miles, actress
• September 2 - Hal Ashby, director
• November 12 - Grace Kelly, actress
• December 6 – Alain Tanner, Swiss film director
• December 9 - John Cassavetes, actor, director

Deaths

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

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