1931 in film

Events

Top grossing films

1. Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff
2. Ingagi, starring Sir Hubert Winstead
3. Palmy Days
4. Trader Horn
5. City Lights
6. Daddy Long Legs
7. The Man Who Came Back
8. Mata Hari
9. The Champ
10. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
11. Arrowsmith (film)
12. A Connecticut Yankee
13. Merely Mary Ann
14. Cimarron starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne
15. Bad Girl
16. Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise)
17. Inspiration
18. Kiki
19. Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye
20. The Sin of Madelon Claudet, starring Helen Hayes and Lewis Stone
21. The Public Enemy starring James Cagney

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM
• Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul
• Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ
• Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Best Actress: Marie Dressler - Min and Bill
• Best Actress: Helen Hayes - The Sin of Madelon Claudet

Note: Prior to 1933, awards were not based on calendar years. And there were two awards given in 1932 for 'Best Actor'. That's how there are 3 'Best Actor', 2 'Best Actress' awards for 1931 films.

Films released in 1931

• À nous la liberté
• Berlin Alexanderplatz film of the novel by Alfred Döblin
• The Champ, starring Wallace Beery
• Cimarron, starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne
• City Lights, starring Charlie Chaplin
• Daughter of the Dragon
• Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, starring Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins
• Emil und die Detektive, starring Rolf Wenkhaus, Käthe Haack and Fritz Rasp
• Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff and Colin Clive
• A Free Soul, starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore and Clark Gable
• Honor Among Lovers
• Indiscreet, starring Gloria Swanson
• Ingagi
• I Take This Woman, starring Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard
• Little Caesar, starring Edward G. Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
• Mädchen in Uniform
• M, starring Peter Lorre
• Mata Hari, starring Greta Garbo and Lionel Barrymore
• The Millionaire, starring George Arliss
• Monkey Business, starring Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo Marx
• Night Nurse starring Barbara Stanwyck
• No Limit starring Clara Bow and Norman Foster
• Pardon Us, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• Platinum Blonde, starring Loretta Young, Robert Williams and Jean Harlow
• Possessed, starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable
• The Public Enemy, starring James Cagney, Jean Harlow and Joan Blondell
• The Sin of Madelon Claudet, starring Helen Hayes
• Smart Money, starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney
• The Smiling Lieutenant, starring Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert
• The Stolen Jools, starring Gary Cooper, Laurel and Hardy, and Norma Shearer
• Tabu, directed by F.W. Murnau
• This Modern Age, starring Joan Crawford
• Waterloo Bridge, directed by James Whale

Serials

• Battling with Buffalo Bill
• Danger Island
• Finger Prints
• The Galloping Ghost, starring Harold Grange
• Heroes of the Flames
• King of the Wild
• The Lightning Warrior, starring Rin Tin Tin
• The Mystery Trooper
• The Phantom of the West
• The Sign of the Wolf
• The Spell of the Circus
• The Vanishing Legion

Short film series

• Buster Keaton (1917-1941)
• Our Gang (1922-1944)
• Laurel and Hardy (1921-1943)

Animated short film series

• Aesop's Film Fables (1921-1933)
• Krazy Kat (1925-1940)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1927-1938)
• Mickey Mouse (1928-1953)
• Silly Symphonies (1929-1939)
• Screen Songs (1929-1938)
• Talkartoons (1929-1932)
• Looney Tunes (1930-1969)
• Flip the Frog (1930-1933)
• Terrytoons (1930-1964)
• Toby the Pup (1930-1931)
• Merrie Melodies (1931-1969)
• Scrappy (1931-1941)
• Tom and Jerry (Van Beuren) (1931-1933)

Births

• January 5 - Robert Duvall, actor and director
• January 14 - Caterina Valente, singer, actress
• January 17 - James Earl Jones, actor
• January 19 - Tippi Hedren, actress
• February 6 - Mamie Van Doren
• February 8 - James Dean, actor
• March 22 - William Shatner, actor
• July 1 - Leslie Caron, French actress
• September 17 - Anne Bancroft, actress (d. 2005)
• Sylvia Lopez, European actress († 1959)

Film Debuts

• Bruce Cabot
• Otto Preminger director, producer

Deaths

• November 27 - Lya De Putti, Hungarian actress (b. 1899)