1934 in film

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This is a list of films that were released in 1934.

Events

• January 26 - Samuel Goldwyn (formerly of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) purchases the film rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the L. Frank Baum estate for $40,000.
• February 19 - Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade
• April 19 - Fox Studios releases Stand Up and Cheer!, with five-year-old Shirley Temple in a relatively minor role. Shirley steals the film and Fox, which had been near bankruptcy, finds itself owning a goldmine.
• May 18 - Paramount releases Little Miss Marker, with Shirley Temple, on loan from Fox, in the title role.
• June 13 - An amendment to the Production Code establishes the Production Code Administration, and requires all films to obtain a certificate of approval before being released.
• November 12 - The musical Babes in Toyland debuts, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as comic relief.
• December 11 - Fox releases the Sol M. Wurtzel production of Bright Eyes, starring their hot new property, Shirley Temple. Shirley sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop", and wins the first Academy Award ever given to a child, for her endearing portrayal of Shirley Blake.

Top grossing films

Rank	Title	Studio	Actors
1.	Viva Villa!	MGM	Wallace Beery
2.	Cleopatra	Paramount	Claudette Colbert
3.	The Barretts of Wimpole Street	MGM	Norma Shearer
4.	It Happened One Night	Columbia	Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert
5.	The Thin Man	MGM	William Powell and Myrna Loy
6.	The Richest Girl in the World	RKO	Miriam Hopkins
7.	The Gay Divorcee	RKO	Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
8.	Imitation of Life	Universal	Claudette Colbert
9.	The Girl from Missouri	MGM	Jean Harlow
10.	The House of Rothschild	United Artists	George Arliss and Loretta Young

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: It Happened One Night - Columbia Pictures
• Best Actor: Clark Gable - It Happened One Night
• Best Actress: Claudette Colbert - It Happened One Night
• Academy Award for Best Director: Frank Capra - It Happened One Night

1934 film releases

U.S.A. unless stated

January–March

• January 1934
  • 6 January
    • The Big Shakedown
  • 22 January
    • The Lucky Texan
  • 26 January
    • You Can't Buy Everything
• February 1934
  • 1 February
    • All of Me
  • 2 February
    • Carolina
  • 3 February
    • Dark Hazard
    • I've Got Your Number
  • 9 February
    • Les Misérables (France)
    • The Rise of Catherine the Great (GB)
    • Six of a Kind
    • The Tars (Netherlands)
  • 10 February
    • Mandalay
  • 14 February
    • Fashions of 1934
  • 16 February
    • The Cat and the Fiddle
    • The Lost Patrol
  • 22 February
    • It Happened One Night
  • 23 February
    • Bolero
    • Death Takes a Holiday
  • 25 February
    • Managed Money
• March 1934
  • 17 March
    • Jimmy the Gent
  • 30 March
    • Riptide
    • Spitfire
  • 31 March
    • Gambling Lady
    • Wonder Bar

April–June

• April 1934
  • 5 April
    • You're Telling Me!
  • 7 April
    • The House of Rothschild
  • 10 April
    • Viva Villa!
    • Whirlpool
  • 15 April
    • City Limits
  • 16 April
    • Tarzan and His Mate
  • 26 April
    • We're Not Dressing
  • 27 April
    • Liliom
• May 1934
  • 1 May
    • The Last Round-Up
    • Little Man, What Now?
  • 2 May
    • Le Grand Jeu
  • 3 May
    • Twentieth Century
  • 4 May
    • Manhattan Melodrama
    • Stand Up and Cheer!
  • 9 May
    • Sadie McKee
  • 15 May
    • The Man from Utah
  • 18 May
    • The Black Cat
    • Born to Be Bad
    • Thirty-Day Princess
  • 25 May
    • The Thin Man
  • 26 May
    • Twenty Million Sweethearts
• June 1934
  • 1 June
    • Little Miss Marker
  • 2 June
    • Fog Over Frisco
    • Operator 13
  • 8 June
    • Now I'll Tell
  • 13 June
    • The Circus Clown
  • 28 June
    • Of Human Bondage
  • 30 June
    • Baby Take a Bow

July–September

• July 1934
  • 6 July
    • Charlie Chan's Courage
  • 13 July
    • Kiss and Make-Up
    • The Old Fashioned Way
    • We're Rich Again
  • 15 July
    • The Clairvoyant (GB)
  • 20 July
    • Grand Canary
  • 21 July
    • Here Comes the Navy
  • 30 July
    • The Cat's-Paw
• August 1934
  • 3 August
    • The Girl from Missouri
  • 4 August
    • The Man with Two Faces
  • 6 August
    • One More River
  • 13 August
    • Everybody's Woman (Italy)
  • 15 August
    • Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
  • 16 August
    • Cleopatra
    • Dames
  • 17 August
    • Treasure Island
  • 19 August
    • The Count of Monte Cristo
  • 23 August
    • Unfinished Symphony
  • 24 August
    • Hide-Out
  • 30 August
    • Crime Without Passion
  • 31 August
    • Now and Forever
    • Peck's Bad Boy
    • She Loves Me Not
• September 1934
  • 1 September
    • Chained
  • 5 September
    • One Night of Love
  • 12 September
    • L'Atalante (France)
    • Charlie Chan in London
  • 14 September
    • Death on the Diamond
  • 15 September
    • The Scarlet Empress
  • 17 September
    • Young and Beautiful
  • 19 September
    • A Lost Lady
  • 21 September
    • The Barretts of Wimpole Street
    • Belle of the Nineties
    • The Richest Girl in the World
  • 22 September
    • The Case of the Howling Dog
  • 28 September
    • Judge Priest

October–December

• October 1934
  • 2 October
    • Our Daily Bread
  • 8 October
    • The Return of Bulldog Drummond
  • 12 October
    • The Gay Divorcee
  • 13 October
    • Madame Du Barry
  • 18 October
    • Man of Aran (GB)
  • 19 October
    • Forbidden Territory
    • What Every Woman Knows
  • 22 October
    • The Captain Hates the Sea
    • Great Expectations
    • The Trail Beyond
• November 1934
  • 2 November
    • The Merry Widow(France/USA)
  • 9 November
    • Evelyn Prentice
  • 10 November
    • The St. Louis Kid
  • 16 November
    • The White Parade
  • 17 November
    • Girl o' My Dreams
    • It's a Gift
  • 23 November
    • Anne of Green Gables
    • The Painted Veil
  • 26 November
    • Imitation of Life
  • 29 November
    • Road House(GB)
  • 30 November
    • Babes in Toyland
    • The Private Life of Don Juan (GB)
• December 1934
  • 7 December
    • A Wicked Woman
  • 9 December
    • Lieutenant Kijé
  • 10 December
    • Something Always Happens (GB)
  • 11 December
    • Limehouse Blues
    • Le Roi des Champs-Élysées (France)
  • 14 December
    • The Dream Car
    • The Gay Bride
  • 21 December
    • The Silver Streak
  • 23 December
    • Forsaking All Others
    • The Scarlet Pimpernel (GB)
  • 27 December
    • Broadway Bill
  • 28 December
    • Bright Eyes
    • Here is My Heart
    • Kid Millions
    • The Little Minister
  • 31 December
    • Evergreen (GB)

Notable films released in 1934

U.S.A. unless stated

• 1860 - (Italy)

ABC

• All of Me, starring Miriam Hopkins and Fredric March
• Amok, directed by Fedor Ozep - (France)
• Angèle, directed by Marcel Pagnol, starring Fernandel - (France)
• Anne of Green Gables, starring Anne Shirley
• L'Atalante, directed by Jean Vigo, starring Michel Simon - (France)
• Babes in Toyland, starring Laurel and Hardy
• Baby Take a Bow, starring Shirley Temple
• The Barretts of Wimpole Street, starring Norma Shearer, Fredric March and Charles Laughton
• The Battle, starring Merle Oberon, Charles Boyer and John Loder - (GB/France)
• Belle of the Nineties, starring Mae West and Johnny Mack Brown
• The Big Road (Dalu), directed by Sun Yu - (China)
• The Big Shakedown, starring Bette Davis and Charles Farrell
• The Black Cat, starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi
• Bolero, starring George Raft and Carole Lombard
• Born to Be Bad, starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, Jackie Kelk
• Bright Eyes, starring Shirley Temple
• Broadway Bill, directed by Frank Capra, starring Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy
• Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back, starring Ronald Colman
• The Captain Hates the Sea, starring Victor McLaglen and John Gilbert in his last film role
• Carolina, starring Janet Gaynor and Lionel Barrymore
• The Case of the Howling Dog, starring Warren William (as Perry Mason)
• The Cat and the Fiddle, starring Ramón Novarro and Jeanette MacDonald
• The Cat's-Paw, starring Harold Lloyd
• Chained, starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable
• Chapayev - winner of National Board of Review "Best Foreign Film" Award in 1935 - (U.S.S.R.)
• Charlie Chan in London, starring Warner Oland and Ray Milland
• Charlie Chan's Courage, starring Warner Oland
• The Circus Clown, starring Joe E. Brown
• City Limits
• The Clairvoyant, starring Claude Rains and Fay Wray - (GB)
• Cleopatra, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Claudette Colbert and Warren William
• The Count of Monte Cristo, starring Robert Donat
• Crime Without Passion, starring Claude Rains

DEF

• Dames, choreographed by Busby Berkeley, starring Joan Blondell, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler
• Dark Hazard, starring Edward G. Robinson
• Death on the Diamond starring Robert Young
• Death Takes a Holiday, starring Fredric March
• The Dream Car - (Hungary)
• Don't Make Grandpa Angry (Nezlobte dědečka) - (Czechoslovakia)
• Evelyn Prentice, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy
• Evergreen, directed by Victor Saville, starring Jessie Matthews - (GB)
• Everybody's Woman (La signora di tutti), directed by Max Ophüls, starring Isa Miranda - (Italy)
• Fashions of 1934, starring William Powell and Bette Davis
• Ferdowsi, starring Abdolhossein Sepanta and Ardeshir Irani (Iran)
• Fog Over Frisco, starring Bette Davis
• Forbidden Territory, starring Gregory Ratoff, Ronald Squire, Binnie Barnes - (GB)
• Forsaking All Others, starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable and Robert Montgomery

GHI

• Gambling Lady, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• The Gay Bride, starring Carole Lombard
• The Gay Divorcee, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
• The Girl from Missouri, starring Jean Harlow
• Girl o' My Dreams, starring Mary Carlisle, Edward J. Nugent, Lon Chaney Jr., Sterling Holloway
• The Goddess (Shen nu) - (China)
• Grand Canary, starring Warner Baxter
• Le Grand Jeu (The Great Game), directed by Jacques Feyder - (France)
• Great Expectations, starring Henry Hull and Jane Wyatt
• Here Comes the Navy, starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brien
• Here is My Heart,starring Bing Crosby and Kitty Carlisle
• Hide-Out, starring Robert Montgomery and Margaret Sullivan
• The House of Rothschild, starring George Arliss and Loretta Young
• I've Got Your Number, starring Joan Blondell and Pat O'Brien
• Imitation of Life, starring Claudette Colbert and Warren William
• It Happened One Night, directed by Frank Capra, starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert - winner of 5 Academy Awards
• It's a Gift, starring W. C. Fields

JKL

• Jimmy the Gent, starring James Cagney and Bette Davis
• Jolly Fellows (Vesyolye rebyata) - the first Russian musical
• Juárez y Maximiliano (Juarez and Maximilian) - (Mexico)
• Judge Priest, starring Will Rogers
• Kid Millions, starring Eddie Cantor
• Kiss and Make-Up, starring Cary Grant, Helen Mack
• The Lady Is Willing, starring Leslie Howard and Cedric Hardwicke - (GB)
• The Last Round-Up, starring Randolph Scott
• Lieutenant Kijé - (U.S.S.R.)
• Liliom, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Charles Boyer - (France)
• Limehouse Blues, starring George Raft and Jean Parker
• Little Man, What Now?, starring Margaret Sullavan and Douglass Montgomery
• The Little Minister, starring Katharine Hepburn and John Beal
• Little Miss Marker, starring Shirley Temple
• A Lost Lady, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• The Lost Patrol, starring Victor McLaglen, Boris Karloff and Wallace Ford
• The Lucky Texan, starring John Wayne

MNO

• Madame Du Barry, starring Dolores del Río
• The Man from Utah, starring John Wayne
• Man of Aran (documentary), directed by Robert Flaherty - (GB)
• The Man Who Knew Too Much, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Leslie Banks, Edna Best and Peter Lorre - (GB)
• The Man with Two Faces, starring Edward G. Robinson
• Managed Money, starring Shirley Temple
• Mandalay, starring Kay Francis
• Manhattan Melodrama, starring Clark Gable, William Powell and Myrna Loy
• The Merry Widow (La veuve joyeuse), directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald - (France/USA)
• Les Misérables, directed by Raymond Bernard, starring Harry Baur and Charles Vanel - (France)
• Murder at Monte Carlo, starring Errol Flynn - (GB)
• Now and Forever, starring Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard
• Now I'll Tell, starring Spencer Tracy
• Of Human Bondage, starring Leslie Howard and Bette Davis
• The Old Curiosity Shop, directed by Thomas Bentley - (GB)
• The Old Fashioned Way, starring W. C. Fields
• One More River, directed by James Whale
• One Night of Love, starring Grace Moore
• Operator 13, starring Marion Davies and Gary Cooper
• Our Daily Bread, directed by King Vidor, starring Karen Morley and Tom Keene

PQRS

• The Painted Veil, starring Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall
• Pardon My Pups, a Shirley Temple short
• Peck's Bad Boy, directed by Edward F. Cline, starring Jackie Cooper
• Plunder of Peach and Plum (Taoli Jie) - (China)
• The Private Life of Don Juan, directed by Alexander Korda, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Merle Oberon - (GB)
• Radio Parade of 1935, starring Will Hay - (GB)
• The Return of Bulldog Drummond, starring Ralph Richardson and Ann Todd - (GB)
• The Richest Girl in the World, starring Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea and Fay Wray
• Riptide, starring Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery
• The Rise of Catherine the Great, starring Elisabeth Bergner and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. - (GB)
• Road House, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Violet Loraine and Gordon Harker (GB)
• Le Roi des Champs-Élysées (The King of the Champs-Élysées), starring Buster Keaton - (France)
• Sadie McKee, starring Joan Crawford
• The Scarlet Empress, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich and John Lodge
• The Scarlet Pimpernel, starring Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon - (GB)
• She Loves Me Not, starring Miriam Hopkins and Bing Crosby
• Shirin and Farhad starring Roohangiz Saminejad. (Iran)
• The Silver Streak, starring Charles Starrett
• Sing as We Go, starring Gracie Fields and Stanley Holloway - (GB)
• Six of a Kind, starring Charles Ruggles, Mary Boland and W. C. Fields
• Something Always Happens, directed by Michael Powell, starring, Ian Hunter, Nance O'Neil, Peter Gawthorne, Muriel George - (GB)
• The Song of Ceylon, documentary directed by Basil Wright - (GB)
• Song of the Fishermen (Yu guang qu) - (China)
• Spitfire, starring Katharine Hepburn
• The St. Louis Kid, starring James Cagney
• Stand Up and Cheer! starring Warner Baxter and Madge Evans, featuring 5-year-old Shirley Temple.
• A Story of Floating Weeds (Ukikusa monogatari), directed by Yasujirō Ozu - (Japan)

TUV

• The Tars - (Netherlands)
• Tarzan and His Mate, starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan
• The Thin Man, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy
• Thirty-Day Princess, starring Sylvia Sydney and Cary Grant
• Those Were the Days, directed by Thomas Bentley, starring Will Hay and John Mills - (GB)
• The Trail Beyond, starring John Wayne
• Treasure Island, starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper
• Twentieth Century, directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Barrymore and Carole Lombard
• Twenty Million Sweethearts, starring Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers
• Unfinished Symphony, directed by Anthony Asquith (GB/Austria)
• Viva Villa!, starring Wallace Beery, Leo Carrillo and Fay Wray

WXYZ

• We're Not Dressing, starring Bing Crosby and Carole Lombard
• We're Rich Again, starring Edna May Oliver and Billie Burke
• What Every Woman Knows, starring Helen Hayes
• Whirlpool, starring Jack Holt and Jean Arthur
• The White Parade, starring Loretta Young
• A Wicked Woman, starring Mady Christians, Jean Parker and Charles Bickford
• The Woman of the Port (La Mujer del Puerto) - (Mexico)
• Wonder Bar, starring Al Jolson
• Workers, Let's Go (Hej rup!), directed by Martin Frič - (Czechoslovakia)
• You Can't Buy Everything, starring May Robson and Jean Parker
• You're Telling Me!, starring W. C. Fields
• Young and Beautiful
• Zouzou, directed by Marc Allégret, starring Jean Gabin and Josephine Baker - (France)

Serials

• Burn 'Em Up Barnes (released June 16) (12-chapter Mascot Pictures action), starring Frankie Darro and (as Barnes) Jack Mulhall
• Mystery Mountain (released December 3) (12-chapter Mascot Pictures western), starring Ken Maynard
• The Lost Jungle
• The Law of the Wild, starring Rin Tin Tin
• Pirate Treasure
• The Red Rider (released July 16) (15-chapter Universal Pictures western), starring Buck Jones
• Tailspin Tommy (released October 29) (12-chapter Universal Pictures action), starring Maurice Murphy
• The Vanishing Shadow
• Young Eagles

Comedy film series

• Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)
• Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
• Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
• Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
• Laurel and Hardy (1921–1945)
• Our Gang (1922–1944)
• Harry Langdon (1924–1936)
• Wheeler and Woolsey (1929–1937)
• The Marx Brothers ' (1929–1946)
• The Three Stooges (1933–1962)

Animated short film series

• Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927–1938)
• Mickey Mouse (1928–1953)
• Silly Symphonies
  • The China Shop
  • The Grasshopper and the Ants
  • Funny Little Bunnies
  • The Wise Little Hen
  • The Flying Mouse
  • Peculiar Penguins
  • The Goddess of Spring
• Screen Songs (1929–1938)
• Looney Tunes (1930–1969)
• Terrytoons (1930–1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931–1969)
• Scrappy (1931–1941)
• Betty Boop (1932–1939)
  • She Wronged Him Right
  • Red Hot Mamma
  • Ha! Ha! Ha!
  • Betty in Blunderland
  • Betty Boop's Rise to Fame
  • Betty Boop's Trial
  • Betty Boop's Lifeguard
  • Poor Cinderella (first and only Betty Boop cartoon in colour)
  • There's Something About a Soldier
  • Betty Boop's Little Pal
  • Betty Boop's Prize Show
  • Keep in Style
  • When My Ship Comes In
• Popeye (1933–1957)
• Willie Whopper (1933-1934)
• ComiColor Cartoons (1933–1936)
• Cubby Bear (1933-1934)
• The Little King (1933-1934)
• Happy Harmonies (1934-1938)
• Cartune Classics (1934-1935)
• Color Rhapsodies (1934-1949)
• Amos 'n' Andy (1934)

Births

• January 22 - Bill Bixby, American actor (died 1993)
• February 11 - Tina Louise, American actress
• March 22 - May Britt, Swedish actress
• March 26 - Alan Arkin, American actor
• March 27 - Peter Schamoni, German director (died 2011)
• March 31 - Shirley Jones, American singer and actress
• April 24 - Shirley MacLaine, American actress
• May 3 - Ivan Andonov, Bulgarian film director (died 2011)
• May 10 - Jeanine Basinger, American film historian
• May 24 - Kiril Gospodinov, Bulgarian actor
• June 1 - Pat Boone, American singer and actor
• July 1
  • Jamie Farr, United States actor
  • Jean Marsh, English actress of Upstairs, Downstairs fame
• July 5 - Nikolay Binev, Bulgarian actor
• July 8 - Marty Feldman, English comedian and actor (died 1982)
• September 20 - Sophia Loren, Italian actress
• September 28 - Brigitte Bardot, French actress
• November 5 - Kira Muratova, Russian director
• November 11 - Nadine Trintignant
• December 9 - Judi Dench, English actress
• December 28 - Maggie Smith, English actress

Deaths

• March 21 - Lilyan Tashman, 34, American actress (cancer)
• May 31 - Lew Cody, 50, American actor
• June 8 - Dorothy Dell, 19, American actress (road accident)
• July 6 - Harry A. Pollard, 55, American actor & director
• July 28 - Marie Dressler, (born 1868), Canadian-born American Academy Award winning actress (cancer)

Debuts

• Gene Autry - In Old Santa Fe
• Alice Faye - George White's Scandals
• Greer Garson - Inasmuch...
• Alec Guinness - Evensong
• Rita Hayworth - Cruz Diablo
• Bob Hope - Going Spanish
• Margaret Lockwood - Lorna Doone
• Rosalind Russell - Evelyn Prentice
• Jimmy Stewart - Art Trouble
• Robert Taylor - Handy Andy