1933 in film

Events

• British Film Institute founded.
• March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.
• June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey.
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) once again expresses interest in the Wizard of Oz books for a series of animated cartoons, but they once again failed to make a deal with the estate of creator L. Frank Baum
• Ecstasy, a Czechoslovak film, shocks audiences when actress Hedy Lamarr is seen naked in the film.
• The Private Life of Henry VIII becomes the first British film to win an American Academy Award.

Top grossing films (U.S.)

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Cavalcade - Fox
• Best Actor: Charles Laughton - The Private Life of Henry VIII
• Best Actress: Katharine Hepburn - Morning Glory

Films released in 1933

• 42nd Street - starring Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Ginger Rogers - Directed by Lloyd Bacon
• Alice in Wonderland, starring Charlotte Henry and virtually every Paramount star at the time
• Baby Face, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• The Bitter Tea of General Yen, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Blood Money, starring George Bancroft
• Bombshell, starring Jean Harlow
• The Bowery, starring Wallace Beery and George Raft
• Cavalcade, starring Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor and Herbert Mundin
• Counsellor at Law, starring John Barrymore
• Damaged Lives
• Dancing Lady, starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable
• Deluge
• Design for Living, starring Fredric March and Gary Cooper
• The Devil's Brother, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• Dinner at Eight, featuring an all-star cast
• Adventures of Don Quixote, starring Feodor Chaliapin
• Dragnet Girl, starring Kinuyo Tanaka, directed by Yasujiro Ozu
• Duck Soup, starring the Marx Brothers
• Ecstasy
• Employees' Entrance, starring Warren William and Loretta Young
• Flying Down to Rio, starring Dolores del Rio and Gene Raymond
• Footlight Parade, starring James Cagney, Joan Blondell and Ruby Keeler
• Gabriel Over the White House, starring Walter Huston. Produced by William Randolph Hearst
• The Ghoul, starring Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke and Ernest Thesiger
• Going Hollywood, starring Marion Davies and Bing Crosby
• Gold Diggers of 1933, starring Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers and Warren William
• Goodbye Again, starring Joan Blondell and Warren William
• Hallelujah, I'm a Bum, starring Al Jolson
• Hold Your Man, starring Clark Gable and Jean Harlow
• I'm No Angel, starring Mae West and Cary Grant. West also wrote the story and screenplay.
• In the Wake of the Bounty, starring Errol Flynn as Fletcher Christian.
• The Invisible Man, starring Claude Rains in the title role.
• Island of Lost Souls, an adaptation of H. G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau starring Charles Laughton
• Każdemu wolno kochać, by Mieczysław Krawicz
• King Kong, starring Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong
• Ladies They Talk About, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Lady for a Day, starring Warren William and May Robson
• Lady Killer, starring James Cagney
• Liebelei
• Little Women, starring Katharine Hepburn
• Lot in Sodom, starring Friedrich Haak
• Man's Castle, starring Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young
• The Mayor of Hell, starring James Cagney
• The Midnight Patrol, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• Morning Glory, starring Katharine Hepburn
• Mystery of the Wax Museum, starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray
• One Sunday Afternoon, starring Gary Cooper
• Our Betters, starring Constance Bennett, Gilbert Roland, and Anita Louise
• Parachute Jumper, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Bette Davis, and Frank McHugh
• Peg o' My Heart, starring Marion Davies
• Penthouse, starring Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy
• Picture Snatcher, starring James Cagney
• The Power and the Glory, starring Spencer Tracy
• The Private Life of Henry VIII, starring Charles Laughton
• The Prizefighter and the Lady, starring Max Baer, Myrna Loy, Primo Carnera and Jack Dempsey
• Professional Sweetheart, starring Ginger Rogers
• Queen Christina, starring Greta Garbo
• Secret of the Blue Room, starring Paul Lukas, Gloria Stuart and Lionel Atwill
• Secrets, starring Mary Pickford in her last film
• She Done Him Wrong, starring Cary Grant and Mae West
• The Son of Kong, starring Robert Armstrong and Helen Mack
• Sons of the Desert, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• State Fair, starring Janet Gaynor, Will Rogers and Lew Ayres
• The Story of Temple Drake, starring Miriam Hopkins and Jack La Rue
• A Study in Scarlet, starring Reginald Owen (see A Study in Scarlet)
• Supernatural, starring Carole Lombard, Alan Dinehart, Vivienne Osborne and Randolph Scott
• The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, directed by Fritz Lang
• This Day and Age, Cecil B. Demille's now cult-favorite, starring Richard Cromwell and featuring then-teenager: Baby Peggy Montgomery.
• Three Little Pigs
• Tillie and Gus, starring Alison Skipworth and W.C. Fields
• Tonight Is Ours, starring Fredric March and Claudette Colbert
• Topaze, starring John Barrymore and Myrna Loy
• Torch Singer, starring Claudette Colbert
• Tugboat Annie, starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery
• Turn Back the Clock, starring Lee Tracy and Mae Clarke
• The Vampire Bat, starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray
• When Ladies Meet, starring Ann Harding, Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy
• Wild Boys of the Road, starring Frankie Darro and Edwin Phillips
• The Working Man, starring George Arliss and Bette Davis

Serials

• Clancy of the Mounted
• Fighting with Kit Carson
• Gordon of Ghost City
• The Mystery Squadron
• The Perils of Pauline, starring Evalyn Knapp
• The Phantom of the Air
• The Return of Chandu
• Tarzan the Fearless, starring Buster Crabbe
• The Three Musketeers, starring Jack Mulhall and John Wayne
• The Whispering Shadow, starring Béla Lugosi
• The Wolf Dog, starring Rin Tin Tin

Short film series

• Buster Keaton (1917-1941)
• Our Gang (1922-1944)
• Laurel and Hardy (1926- 1935)
• Ted Healey and the Three Stooges (1933-1934)

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)
• Looney Tunes (1930-1969)
• Flip the Frog (1930-1933)
• Terrytoons (1930-1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931-1969)
• Scrappy (1931-1941)
• Tom and Jerry (Van Beuren) (1931-1933)
• Betty Boop (1932-1939)
• Popeye (1933-1957)
• Pooch the Pup (1932-1933)
• Willie Whopper (1933-1934)
• ComiColor Cartoons (1933-1936)
• Cubby Bear (1933-1934)
• The Little King (1933-1934)

Births

• January 18 - John Boorman, director
• February 18 - Mary Ure, actress
• March 22 - May Britt, Swedish actress
• April 7 - Wayne Rogers, American actor
• April 19 - Jayne Mansfield, actress
• May 20 - Danny Aiello, American actor
• June 11 - Gene Wilder, American actor
• October 9 - Judy Tyler, actress

Film Debuts

• Morris Ankrum
• Dame Peggy Ashcroft
• Fred Astaire
• Frances Drake
• Errol Flynn
• Margaret Hamilton
• Cesar Romero
• Phil Harris
• Lucille Ball

Deaths

• January 3 - Jack Pickford, actor/director
• January 25 - Lewis J. Selznick, producer
• February 15 - Pat Sullivan, director/producer of animated films, alleged co-creator of Felix the Cat
• February 26 - Spottiswoode Aitken, actor
• February 23 - David Horsley, pioneer film executive
• March 8 - Albert Roscoe, silent screen star
• August 18 - James Williamson, film developer and film director
• August 28 - Helen Dunbar, actress
• October 5 - Renée Adorée, actress