1937 in film

Events

• April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US.
• May 7 - Shall We Dance premieres in the US.

Top grossing films

North America

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
2. Maytime
3. Saratoga
4. One Hundred Men and a Girl
5. Stella Dallas
6. Parnell
7. The Good Earth
8. Lost Horizon
9. The Life of Emile Zola
10. Dead End
11. The Hurricane
12. Wells Fargo
13. In Old Chicago
14. Conquest
15. Damaged Lives
16. La Grande Illusion
17. Annapolis Salute
18. Pépé le Moko
19. Green Fields

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: The Life of Emile Zola - Warner Bros.
• Best Director: Leo McCarey - The Awful Truth
• Best Actor: Spencer Tracy - Captains Courageous
• Best Actress: Luise Rainer - The Good Earth

Films released in 1937

• Annapolis Salute -(remake of 1933 Midshipman Jack)
• Artists and Models (Paramount)
• The Awful Truth, starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant
• Bizarre, Bizarre
• Broadway Melody of 1938, starring Eleanor Powell and Judy Garland
• Captains Courageous, starring Spencer Tracy
• Conquest, starring Greta Garbo and Charles Boyer
• A Day at the Races, starring the Marx Brothers
• Daughter of Shanghai
• Dead End, starring Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea and Humphrey Bogart
• Ever Since Eve, starring Marion Davies and Robert Montgomery
• A Family Affair Starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, and Fay Holden
• The Firefly, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Allan Jones
• The Good Earth, starring Luise Rainer and Paul Muni
• Good Morning, Boys, starring Will Hay
• Grand Illusion, starring Jean Gabin and Dita Parlo; directed by Jean Renoir
• Green Fields
• The Hurricane, starring Dorothy Lamour
• Lancashire Luck, film debut of Wendy Hiller
• The Life of Emile Zola
• Lost Horizon, starring Ronald Colman and Jane Wyatt; directed by Frank Capra
• Maytime, starring Jeanette Macdonald and Nelson Eddy
• Nothing Sacred, starring Carole Lombard and Fredric March
• Oh, Mr Porter!, starring Will Hay
• The Old Mill
• One Hundred Men and a Girl, starring Deanna Durbin
• Parnell, starring Clark Gable and Myrna Loy
• Pépé le Moko, starring Jean Gabin
• The Perfect Specimen, starring Errol Flynn, screenplay by the playwright Lawrence Riley et al. (film mentioned in article)
• The Prisoner of Zenda, starring Ronald Colman
• Shall We Dance, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
• Slim, starring Henry Fonda
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, first American feature-length animated movie (Walt Disney Productions)
• Stage Door, starring Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers
• A Star Is Born, starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March
• Stella Dallas, starring Barbara Stanwyck
• Topper, starring Cary Grant, and Constance Bennett
• Tovarich, starring Claudette Colbert and Charles Boyer
• Way Out West, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• You Only Live Once, starring Henry Fonda
• You're Only Young Once starring Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, and Fay Holden
• Young and Innocent, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Something to Sing About, directed by Victor Schertzinger

Serials

• Blake of Scotland Yard, starring Ralph Byrd and Herbert Rawlinson
• Dick Tracy, starring Ralph Byrd
• ''Jungle Jim
• Jungle Menace, starring Frank Buck
• The Mysterious Pilot, starring Frank Hawks
• The Painted Stallion, starring Ray Corrigan
• Radio Patrol
• Secret Agent X-9, starring Scott Kolk
• S.O.S. Coast Guard, starring Ralph Byrd and Bela Lugosi
• Tim Tyler's Luck, starring Frankie Thomas
• Wild West Days
• Zorro Rides Again, starring John Carroll

Short film series

• Buster Keaton (1917–1941)
• Laurel and Hardy (1921-1943)
• Our Gang (1922-1944)
• Charley Chase (1924-1940)
• The Three Stooges (1934-1959)

Animated short film series

• 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)
• Terrytoons (1930-1964)
• Merrie Melodies (1931-1969)
• Scrappy (1931-1941)
• Betty Boop (1932-1939)
• Popeye (1933-1957)
• Happy Harmonies (1934-1938)
• Color Rhapsodies (1934-1949)
• Meany, Miny, and Moe (1936-1937)
• Donald Duck (1937-1956)

Births

• January 4 - Dyan Cannon, American actress
• January 15 - Margaret O'Brien, American actress
• January 30 - Vanessa Redgrave, English actress
• February 27 - Barbara Babcock, American actress
• June 1 - Morgan Freeman, actor
• August 8 - Dustin Hoffman, American actor
• September 4 - Mikk Mikiver, Estonian actor
• November 4 - Loretta Swit, American actress
• November 21 - Ingrid Pitt, Polish-born British actress
• December 9 - Darwin Joston, American actor
• December 21 - Jane Fonda, American actress

Deaths

• January 2 - Ross Alexander, American actor
• January 23 - Marie Prevost, Canadian-born American actress
• February 3 - Marija Leiko, Latvian film actress
• May 1 - Snitz Edwards, Austro-Hungarian-born American actor
• June 7 - Jean Harlow, American actress
• November 13 - Mrs. Leslie Carter, stage & screen actress