# 1921 in film

This is an overview of 1921 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

## Top-grossing films (U.S.)

The top nine films released in 1921 by U.S. gross are as follows:
Highest-grossing films of 1921 :
| Rank | Title | Distributor | Domestic rentals |
| 1 | The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse | Metro | $4,500,000 |
| 2 | The Kid | First National | $2,500,000 |
| 3/4 (tie) | The Three Musketeers The Sheik | United Artists Paramount | $1,500,000 |
| 5 | The Affairs of Anatol | Paramount | $1,191,789 |
| 6 | Fool's Paradise | Paramount | $906,937 |
| 7 | Forbidden Fruit | Paramount | $848,121 |
| 8 | School Days | Warner Bros. | $546,000 |
| 9 | Why Girls Leave Home | Warner Bros. | $410,000 |

## Events

* January 21 – The silent comedy drama The Kid, written by, produced by, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin (in his Tramp character) – his first full-length film as a director – and featuring Jackie Coogan, is released in the United States. It is the year's second-highest-grossing film.
* March 6 – The silent epic war film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, adapted for the screen by June Mathis, is released in the United States. It is the year's highest-grossing film (and the sixth-best-grossing silent film of all time), propels Rudolph Valentino to stardom and inspires a tango craze and a fashion for gaucho pants.
* July 1 – The silent crime docudrama Yan Ruisheng is the first full-length feature film made in China to be released; although commercially successful it is banned within 2 years and believed lost.
* August 29 – Broadway's first $1 million theatre, Loew's State opens.
* September 5 – Popular comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle attends a party at the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, during which actress Virginia Rappe is fatally injured; although he is eventually acquitted of rape and manslaughter, the scandal derails his career.
* October 21 – George Melford's silent film The Sheik, which enhances leading actor Rudolph Valentino's international reputation as a Latin lover, is premiered in Los Angeles. Within the first year of its release, it exceeds $1 million in ticket sales.
* October 26 – The Chicago Theatre, which will be the oldest surviving French-style Baroque Revival grand movie palace, opens.
* The experimental short documentary film Manhatta is shot by painter Charles Sheeler and photographer Paul Strand in New York City.

## Notable films released in 1921

United States unless stated.

### A

* The Ace of Hearts, directed by Wallace Worsley, starring Lon Chaney and Leatrice Joy
* Action (lost), directed by John Ford, starring Hoot Gibson
* The Adventures of Mr. Pickwick (lost), directed by Thomas Bentley, starring Frederick Volpe – (GB)
* The Adventures of Tarzan, 15-part serial directed by Robert F. Hill and Scott Sidney, starring Elmo Lincoln
* The Affairs of Anatol, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Wallace Reid and Gloria Swanson
* After Midnight, directed by Ralph Ince
* After Your Own Heart, directed by George Marshall, starring Tom Mix
* All Soul's Eve (lost), directed by Chester M. Franklin, starring Mary Miles Minter and Jack Holt, based on the 1920 stage play by Anne Crawford Flexner
* Among Those Present, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, starring Harold Lloyd
* L'Atlantide, directed by Jacques Feyder, based on the 1919 novel by Pierre Benoit – (France)

### B

* Die Bergkatze (The Wild Cat), directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Pola Negri and Paul Heidemann – (Germany)
* The Bigamist, starring and directed by Guy Newall with Ivy Duke – (GB)
* The Blot, directed by Lois Weber
* The Boat, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
* The Bonnie Brier Bush (lost), starring and directed by Donald Crisp – (GB)
* Brewster's Millions (lost), directed by Joseph Henabery, starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
* Brownie's Little Venus, directed by Fred Fishback, starring Baby Peggy
* Buried Treasure, directed by George D. Baker, starring Marion Davies and Norman Kerry

### C

* The Call of Youth (lost), directed by Hugh Ford
* Camille, directed by Ray C. Smallwood, starring Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino
* The Case of Becky, directed by Chester M. Franklin, starring Constance Binney, based on the 1912 stage play by David Belasco and Edward Locke
* A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (lost), directed by Emmett J. Flynn
* The Conquering Power, directed by Rex Ingram, starring Rudolph Valentino and Alice Terry

### D

* Desire (Sehnsucht) (lost), directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Conrad Veidt – (Germany)
* Destiny (Der müde Tod), directed by Fritz Lang, starring Lil Dagover and Rudolf Klein-Rogge – (Germany)
* The Devil, directed by James Young, starring George Arliss, based on the 1908 stage play by Ferenc Molnár
* Disraeli (lost), directed by Henry Kolker, starring George Arliss
* The Dollar-a-Year Man (lost), directed by James Cruze, starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle

### E

* El Capullo Marchito, directed by José Nepomuceno – (Philippines)
* El Dorado, directed by Marcel L'Herbier – (France)
* Enchantment, directed by Robert G. Vignola, starring Marion Davies
* Experience (lost), directed by George Fitzmaurice, starring Richard Barthelmess

### F

* The Fire Eater, directed by B. Reeves Eason, starring Hoot Gibson
* Fool's Paradise, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Conrad Nagel and Mildred Harris
* Forever (lost), directed by George Fitzmaurice, starring Elsie Ferguson and Wallace Reid
* The Four Feathers, directed by René Plaissetty – (GB)
* The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, directed by Rex Ingram, starring Rudolph Valentino

### G

* The Goat, directed by Mal St. Clair and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
* The Ghost in the Garret (lost), directed by F. Richard Jones, starring Dorothy Gish
* Godfather Death (Der Gevatter Tod), directed by Heinz Hanus, based on the 1884 short story Der Pate des Todes by Rudolf Baumbach – (Austria)
* Das grinsende Gesicht (transl. The Grinning Face), directed by Julius Herska, based on the 1869 novel The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo – (Austria)
* The Gunsaulus Mystery (lost), written and directed by Oscar Micheaux

### H

* Hail the Woman, directed by John Griffith Wray, starring Florence Vidor
* The Haunted Castle (Schloß Vogelöd), directed by F. W. Murnau, based on the novel by Rudolf Stratz – (Germany)
* The Haunted House, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
* The High Sign, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton
* His Brother's Keeper (lost), directed by Wilfrid North
* L'Homme qui vendit son âme au diable (The Man Who Sold His Soul to the Devil), directed by Pierre Caron – (France)
* The Hound of the Baskervilles, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Eille Norwood – (GB)
* Humor Risk (unreleased), directed by Dick Smith, starring the Marx Brothers

### I

* The Idle Class, a Charles Chaplin short
* The Indian Tomb (Das Indische Grabmal), directed by Joe May, starring Conrad Veidt – (Germany)
* The Island of the Lost (Die Insel der Verschollenen), directed by Urban Gad, based on the 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells without authorization – (Germany)

### J

* Jane Eyre, directed by Hugo Ballin, starring Norman Trevor and Mabel Ballin, based on the 1847 novel by Charlotte Brontë
* Jánošík, directed by Jaroslav Jerry Siakeľ – (Czechoslovakia)
* Jim the Penman, directed by Kenneth Webb, starring Lionel Barrymore
* Journey into the Night (Der Gang in die Nacht), directed by F. W. Murnau – (Germany)

### K

* The Kid, a Charlie Chaplin film, with Jackie Coogan
* Kipps, directed by Harold M. Shaw, starring George K. Arthur, based on the 1905 novel by H. G. Wells

### L

* Land of My Fathers directed by Fred Rains, starring John Stuart – (GB)
* Leaves from Satan's Book (Blade af Satans Bog), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer – (Denmark)
* Little Lord Fauntleroy, directed by Alfred E. Green and Jack Pickford, starring Mary Pickford
* The Lost Shadow (Der Verlorene Schatten) (lost), directed by Rochus Gliese, starring Paul Wegener – (Germany)
* The Lotus Eater (lost), directed by Marshall Neilan, starring John Barrymore and Colleen Moore
* The Love Light, directed by Frances Marion, starring Mary Pickford
* Lucky Carson (lost), directed by Wilfrid North, starring Earle Williams
* The Lucky Dog, directed by Jess Robbins, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy

### M

* Mathias Sandorf, directed by Henri Fescourt, starring Romuald Joubé – (France)
* The Mechanical Man (L'uomo meccanico) (lost), starring and directed by André Deed – (Italy)
* A Message From Mars, directed by Maxwell Karger, starring Bert Lytell
* A Midnight Bell (lost), starring and directed by Charles Ray, based on the 1889 stage play by Charles H. Hoyt
* Miss Lulu Bett, directed by William C. deMille, starring Lois Wilson and Milton Sills
* Il mostro di Frankenstein (The Monster of Frankenstein) (lost), directed by Eugenio Testa – (Italy)

### N

* Never Weaken, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd
* The Nut, directed by Theodore Reed, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Marguerite De La Motte

### O

* The Offenders (lost), directed by Fenwicke Holmes
* Orphans of the Storm, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish
* The Other Person (Onder spiritistischen dwang), directed by Maurits Binger and B. E. Doxat-Pratt, based on the 1920 novel by Fergus Hume – (Netherlands/GB)

### P

* The Painting of Osvaldo Mars (Il quadro di Osvaldo Mars), directed by Guido Brignone, starring Mercedes Brignone – (Italy)
* Pan Twardowski, directed by Wiktor Biegański – (Poland)
* The Passion Flower, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Norma Talmadge
* Peck's Bad Boy, directed by Sam Wood, starring Jackie Coogan
* The Phantom Carriage (aka Korkarlen/ The Wagoner), directed by Victor Sjostrom, starring Sjostrom, Hilda Borgstrom and Tore Svennberg, based on the 1912 novel Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! by Selma Lagerlof; this film influenced the later works of Ingmar Bergman – (Sweden)
* The Playhouse, directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton, starring Buster Keaton

### Q

* The Queen of Sheba (lost), directed by J. Gordon Edwards, starring Betty Blythe

### S

* A Sailor-Made Man, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, starring Harold Lloyd
* School Days, directed by William Nigh, starring Wesley Barry
* Sentimental Tommy (lost), directed by John S. Robertson, starring Gareth Hughes
* Seven Years Bad Luck, a Max Linder film
* The Sheik, directed by George Melford, starring Agnes Ayres and Rudolph Valentino
* The Silver Lining, directed by Roland West, starring Jewel Carmen
* The Sky Pilot, directed by King Vidor, starring Colleen Moore
* Soul of the Cypress, directed by Dudley Murphy
* Squibs, directed by George Pearson, starring Betty Balfour – (GB)
* Sybil (lost), directed by Jack Denton, starring Evelyn Brent – (GB)

### T

* The Three Musketeers, directed by Fred Niblo, starring Douglas Fairbanks
* Through the Back Door, directed by Alfred E. Green and Jack Pickford, starring Mary Pickford
* Tol'able David, directed by Henry King, starring Richard Barthelmess
* Les Trois Mousquetaires (The Three Musketeers), directed by Henri Diamant-Berger – (France)

### W

* Whispering Shadows, directed by Émile Chautard
* White and Unmarried (lost), directed by Tom Forman, starring Thomas Meighan
* Why Girls Leave Home (lost), directed by William Nigh, starring Anna Q. Nilsson
* The Witching Hour, directed by William Desmond Taylor, starring Elliott Dexter, adapted from the 1907 stage play by Augustus Thomas
* Woman's Place, directed by Victor Fleming, starring Constance Talmadge
* The Wonderful Thing, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Norma Talmadge and Harrison Ford

## Comedy film series

* Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)
* Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
* Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
* Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
* Laurel and Hardy (1921–1945)

## Animated short film series

* Aesop's Film Fables (1921–1934)
* Felix the Cat (1919–1936)
* Koko the Clown (1919–1963)

## Births

* January 3 – John Russell, actor (died 1991)
* January 10 - George Robotham, American stuntman and actor (died 2007)
* January 11 - Kathleen Byron, English actress (died 2009)
* January 17 - Herb Ellis, American character actor (died 2018)
* January 26 – Elisabeth Kirkby, British-born Australian actress, producer and director
* January 27 – Donna Reed, actress (died 1986)
* January 31
** Carol Channing, musical actress (died 2019)
** Mario Lanza, singer and actor (died 1959)
* February 1 – Peter Sallis, actor (died 2017)
* February 8 – Lana Turner, actress (died 1995)
* February 16 – Vera-Ellen, actress, dancer (died 1981)
* February 19 – Ann Savage, actress (died 2008)
* February 22 – Giulietta Masina, actress (died 1994)
* February 23 - Jack Rader, American actor
* February 24 – Abe Vigoda, actor (died 2016)
* February 26 – Betty Hutton, actress (died 2007)
* March 3 – Diana Barrymore, actress (died 1960)
* March 4 – Joan Greenwood, actress (died 1987)
* March 5 - Jo de Winter, American actress (died 2016)
* March 8 – Alan Hale Jr., actor, restaurateur (died 1990)
* March 10 – Charlotte Zucker, actress, mother of Jerry Zucker and David Zucker (died 2007)
* March 12 – Gordon MacRae, actor, singer (died 1986)
* March 21 - Logan Ramsey, American character actor (died 2000)
* March 23 – Geoffrey Chater, English actor (died 2021)
* March 25
** Nancy Kelly, American actress (died 1995)
** Simone Signoret, French actress (died 1985)
* March 26 – Julie Harris, English costume designer (died 2015)
* March 28 – Dirk Bogarde, English actor (died 1999)
* April 1 – Arieh Elias, Israeli actor (died 2015)
* April 3 – Jan Sterling, American actress (died 2004)
* April 4 - Elizabeth Wilson, American actress (died 2015)
* April 7 – Bill Butler, American cinematographer (died 2023)
* April 10 – Chuck Connors, American actor (died 1992)
* April 16 – Peter Ustinov, British actor (died 2004)
* April 23
** Janet Blair, American actress (died 2007)
** Gerald Campion, English actor (died 2002)
* April 29 – Tommy Noonan, American actor, screenwriter, producer (died 1968)
* May 2 – Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker (died 1992)
* May 16 - Harry Carey Jr., American actor (died 2012)
* May 23
** Grigori Chukhrai, Ukrainian film director (died 2001)
** Ray Lawler, Australian actor (died 2024)
* May 30 - Jamie Uys, South African film director (died 1996)
* May 31 – Alida Valli, actress (died 2006)
* June 8
** Sheila Ryan, actress (died 1975)
** Alexis Smith, actress (died 1993)
* June 18 – Wesley Lau, actor (died 1984)
* June 19 – Louis Jourdan, actor (died 2015)
* June 21
** Judy Holliday, born Judith Tuvim, actress (died 1965)
** Jane Russell, actress (died 2011)
* July 2 - Maria Britneva, Russian-British actress (died 1994)
* July 3 – Susan Peters, actress (died 1952)
* July 5 – Patricia Wright, American former actress
* July 6
** Nancy Reagan, born Anne Robbins, actress and First Lady of the United States (died 2016)
** Bill Shirley, American actor and singer (died 1989)
* July 10 – Jeff Donnell, American actress (died 1988)
* July 17 – František Zvarík, Slovakian actor (died 2008)
* July 21 - Al Checco, American actor (died 2015)
* July 23 – Robert Brown, actor (died 2003)
* August 3 – Marilyn Maxwell, actress (died 1972)
* August 8 – Esther Williams, actress, swimmer (died 2013)
* August 11 - Tad Horino, American actor (died 2002)
* August 19
** Pasquale Cajano, Italian-American actor (died 2000)
** Gene Roddenberry, screenwriter and producer (died 1991)
* August 28 – Nancy Kulp, actress, comedienne (died 1991)
* September 8 – Harry Secombe, actor, singer (died 2001)
* September 27 – Miklós Jancsó, Hungarian director (died 2014)
* September 30 – Deborah Kerr, actress (died 2007)
* October 1 - James Whitmore, American actor (died 2009)
* October 5 - Nikolay Dupak, Soviet-Russian actor (died 2023)
* October 12 - Kenneth Griffith, Welsh actor and documentary filmmaker (died 2006)
* October 13 – Yves Montand, singer, actor (died 1991)
* November 3 – Charles Bronson, actor (died 2003)
* November 5 – Moritz Yomtov, screenwriter (died 1992)
* November 8 – Walter Mirisch, American film producer (died 2023)
* November 14 - Brian Keith, American actor (died 1997)
* November 21 – Vivian Blaine, actor, singer (died 1995)
* November 22 – Rodney Dangerfield, actor, comedian (died 2004)
* November 23 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian actor and singer (died 1960)
* December 1 - Sylvia Kauders, American actress (died 2016)
* December 4 – Deanna Durbin, actress (died 2013)
* December 11 - Liz Smith, English character actress (died 2016)
* December 15 - Nikolai Lebedev, Soviet-Russian actor (died 2022)
* December 24 - Mickey Knox, American actor (died 2013)
* December 26
** Steve Allen, actor, composer, comedian, author (died 2000)
** Sean Sullivan, Canadian actor (died 1985)

## Deaths

* February 8 – George Formby Sr, 45, British music hall entertainer who appeared in one film (pulmonary tuberculosis)
* May 17 – Karl Mantzius, 61, Danish actor, theatre director, writer
* June 5 – Georges Feydeau, 58, French playwright, many of whose plays were adapted for the screen (syphilis)
* June 11 - Frank R. Mills, 50, American stage and screen actor
* June 20 – George Loane Tucker, 49, American actor, screenwriter and director
* July 9 – Robert Broderick, 56, American stage and film actor
* September 9 – Virginia Rappe, 30, American actress
* September 17 – Van Dyke Brooke, 62, American actor, screenwriter and film director

## Film debuts

* Richard Arlen – Ladies Must Live
* George Arliss – The Devil
* Mary Astor – Bullets or Ballots
* George Bancroft – The Journey's End
* Leslie Banks – Experience
* Anna-Lisa Baude – The Phantom Carriage
* Helga Brofeldt – The Phantom Carriage
* Julia Cæsar – The Phantom Carriage
* Louis Calhern – What's Worth While?
* Harry Carey Jr. – Desperate Trails
* Billie Dove – Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford
* Camilla Horn – Kean
* Selmer Jackson – The Supreme Passion
* Roger Livesey – The Four Feathers
* Carole Lombard – A Perfect Crime
* Fredric March – The Great Adventure
* Patsy Ruth Miller – One a Minute
* Mary Philbin – The Blazing Trail
* Basil Rathbone – Innocent
* Dorothy Revier – Life's Greatest Question
* Frances Robinson – Orphans of the Storm
* Athene Seyler – The Adventures of Mr. Pickwick
* Lilyan Tashman – Experience
* Fred Thomson – The Love Light
* Coy Watson Jr. – While the Devil Laughs