# 1925 in film

This is an overview of 1925 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

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

The top ten 1925 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
Highest-grossing films of 1925 :
| Rank | Title | Distributor | Domestic rentals |
| 1 | The Big Parade | MGM | $4,990,000 |
| 2 | Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ | MGM | $4,359,000 |
| 3 | The Freshman | Pathé Exchange | $2,600,000 |
| 4 | The Gold Rush | United Artists | $2,150,000 |
| 5 | The Phantom of the Opera | Universal | $1,550,000 |
| 6 | Don Q, Son of Zorro Stella Dallas | United Artists | $1,500,000 |
| 7 | The Lost World | First National | $1,300,000 |
| 8 | East Lynne Little Annie Rooney | Fox Film United Artists | $1,100,000 |
| 9 | The Merry Widow | MGM | $1,081,000 |
| 10 | The Eagle | United Artists | $820,000 |

## Events

* June 26: Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush premieres. It is voted the best film of the year by critics in The Film Daily annual poll
* September 25: Ufa-Palast am Zoo in Berlin rebuilt as Germany's largest cinema reopens.
* November 5: MGM's war drama film The Big Parade is released. It is a massive commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing picture of the 1920s in the United States.
* December 30: MGM's biblical epic Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ premieres in New York City. It is the most expensive silent film ever made, costing $4 million (around $70 million when adjusted for inflation)
* Hong Shen publishes the film script Mrs. Shentu in the Shanghai magazine Eastern Miscellany. It is never filmed, but is considered a milestone in film history for being the first published film script in China. Hong also directs his first film, Young Master Feng, at Mingxing (Star) Film Company in this year.

## Notable films released in 1925

For the complete list of US film releases for the year, see United States films of 1925

### A

* Ang Pagtitipid, directed by José Nepomuceno – (Philippines)
* Are Parents People?, directed by Malcolm St. Clair, starring Adolphe Menjou

### B

* The Battleship Potemkin (Bronyenosyets Potyomkin), directed by Sergei Eisenstein – (U.S.S.R.)
* The Bells (Le Juif Polonais), directed by and starring Harry Southwell
* Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, directed by Fred Niblo, starring Ramón Novarro, May McAvoy and Francis X. Bushman
* The Big Parade, directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert and Renée Adorée
* The Blackguard (Die Prinzessin und der Geiger), directed by Graham Cutts – (GB/Germany)
* Braveheart, directed by Alan Hale Sr., starring Rod La Rocque

### C

* Chess Fever (Shakhmatnaya goryachka), directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin – (U.S.S.R.)
* Chronicles of the Gray House, directed by Arthur von Gerlach, starring Lil Dagover (Germany)
* The Circle, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Eleanor Boardman
* Cobra, directed by Joseph Henabery, starring Rudolph Valentino and Nita Naldi
* Corazón Aymara (Aymara Heart) (lost), directed by Pedro Sambarino – (Bolivia)
* Curses!, directed by William Goodrich (Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle) and Grover Jones

### D

* The Dark Angel, directed by George Fitzmaurice, starring Ronald Colman and Vilma Bánky
* Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde, directed by Scott Pembroke and Joe Rock, starring Stan Laurel
* Don Q, Son of Zorro, directed by Donald Crisp, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Astor

### E

* The Eagle, directed by Clarence Brown, starring Rudolph Valentino and Vilma Bánky

### F

* The Farmer from Texas (Der Farmer aus Texas), directed by Joe May, starring Lillian Hall-Davis and Willy Fritsch – (Germany)
* Feu Mathias Pascal (The Late Mathias Pascal), directed by Marcel L'Herbier, starring Ivan Mosjoukine – (France)
* Fifty-Fifty (lost), directed by Henri Diamant-Berger, starring Hope Hampton, Lionel Barrymore and Louise Glaum
* The Freshman, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd

### G

* Go West, starring and directed by Buster Keaton
* The Gold Rush, a Charlie Chaplin film
* The Goose Woman, directed by Clarence Brown, starring Louise Dresser, Jack Pickford and Constance Bennett
* Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life, directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack
* The Green Archer, a 10-chapter (three chapters exist) serial directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet, starring Allene Ray and Walter Miller, based on the 1923 novel by Edgar Wallace

### H

* The Haunted Honeymoon, directed by Fred Guiol and Ted Wilde, starring Glenn Tryon
* The Heart Breaker, directed by Benjamin Stoloff
* His People, directed by Edward Sloman, starring Rudolph Schildkraut
* His Supreme Moment (lost), directed by George Fitzmaurice, starring Blanche Sweet and Ronald Colman
* El Húsar de la Muerte (The Hussar of Death), starring and directed by Pedro Sienna – (Chile)

### I

* Isn't Life Terrible?, directed by Leo McCarey, starring Charley Chase and Oliver Hardy

### J

* Joyless Street (Die freudlose Gasse), directed by G. W. Pabst, starring Greta Garbo, Werner Krauss and Asta Nielsen – (Germany)

### K

* The King on Main Street, directed by Monta Bell, starring Adolphe Menjou and Bessie Love
* A Kiss For Cinderella, directed by Herbert Brenon, starring Esther Ralston

### L

* The Lady, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Norma Talmadge
* Lady of the Night, directed by Monta Bell, starring Norma Shearer
* Lazybones, directed by Frank Borzage, starring Madge Bellamy, Buck Jones and ZaSu Pitts
* Lady Windermere's Fan, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Ronald Colman and May McAvoy
* Lights of Old Broadway, directed by Monta Bell, starring Marion Davies and Conrad Nagel
* Little Annie Rooney, directed by William Beaudine, starring Mary Pickford and William Haines
* Living Buddhas (Lebende Buddhas) (lost), directed by Paul Wegener, starring Paul Wegener and Asta Nielsen
* The Lost World, directed by Harry O. Hoyt, starring Bessie Love, Lewis Stone and Wallace Beery, based on the 1912 novel by Arthur Conan Doyle
* Lovers in Quarantine, directed by Frank Tuttle, starring Bebe Daniels and Harrison Ford
* The Lucky Horseshoe, directed by John G. Blystone, starring Tom Mix

### M

* Maciste in Hell (Maciste all'inferno), directed by Guido Brignone – (Italy)
* Madame Behave (lost), directed by Scott Sidney, starring Julian Eltinge and Ann Pennington
* Madame Sans-Gêne (lost), directed by Léonce Perret, starring Gloria Swanson
* The Marriage of the Bear (Medvezhya Svadba), directed by Vladimir Gardin and Konstantin Eggert, based on the 1869 novella Lokis by Prosper Mérimée – (U.S.S.R.)
* Master of the House (Du skal ære din hustru), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer – (Denmark)
* Men and Women (lost), directed by William C. deMille, starring Richard Dix
* The Merry Widow, directed by Erich von Stroheim, starring Mae Murray and John Gilbert
* Miracles of Love, directed by Vicente Salumbides, starring Dimples Cooper – (Philippines)
* Les Misérables, directed by Henri Fescourt – (France)
* The Monster, directed by Roland West, starring Lon Chaney and Johnny Arthur, based on the 1924 play by Crane Wilbur
* The Mystic, directed by Tod Browning, starring Aileen Pringle and Conway Tearle

### O

* Old Clothes, directed by Edward F. Cline, starring Jackie Coogan and Joan Crawford
* Orochi, directed by Buntarō Futagawa, starring Tsumasaburō Bandō – (Japan)

### P

* Pampered Youth (lost), directed by David Smith
* The Phantom of the Moulin-Rouge (Le fantôme du Moulin-Rouge), written and directed by René Clair – (France)
* The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Rupert Julian, starring Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry and Mary Philbin, based on the 1910 novel by Gaston Leroux
* The Plastic Age – directed by Wesley Ruggles, starring Clara Bow and Gilbert Roland
* The Pleasure Garden, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Virginia Valli and Carmelita Geraghty – (GB)
* Prem Sanyas (Die Leuchte Asiens | The Light of Asia), directed by Franz Osten and Himanshu Rai – (Germany/India)
* Pretty Ladies, directed by Monta Bell, starring ZaSu Pitts
* Proud Flesh, directed by King Vidor, starring Eleanor Boardman and Harrison Ford

### R

* The Rag Man, directed by Edward F. Cline, starring Jackie Coogan
* The Rat, directed by Graham Cutts, starring Ivor Novello, Mae Marsh and Isabel Jeans – (GB)
* The Red Head (Poil de Carotte), directed by Julien Duvivier – (France)
* Red Heels (Das Spielzeug von Paris), directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Lili Damita – (Austria)
* The Road to Yesterday, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Joseph Schildkraut and William Boyd

### S

* Sally, Irene and Mary directed by Edmund Goulding, starring Constance Bennett, Joan Crawford, Sally O'Neil and William Haines
* Sally of the Sawdust, directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Carol Dempster and W. C. Fields
* Seven Chances, a Buster Keaton film
* Seven Keys to Baldpate (lost), directed by Fred C. Newmeyer, starring Douglas MacLean, based on the 1913 novel by Earl Derr Biggers
* She, directed by Leander de Cordova and G. B. Samuelson, starring Betty Blythe – (GB/Germany)
* Smouldering Fires, directed by Clarence Brown, starring Pauline Frederick and Laura La Plante
* Spook Ranch, directed by Edward Laemmle, starring Hoot Gibson
* Stella Dallas, directed by Henry King, starring Ronald Colman, Belle Bennett and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
* The Street of Forgotten Men (lost), directed by Herbert Brenon
* Strike (Stachka), directed by Sergei Eisenstein – (U.S.S.R.)
* The Swan, directed by Dimitri Buchowetzki, starring Frances Howard, Adolphe Menjou and Ricardo Cortez

### T

* The Tailor from Torzhok (Zakroyshchik iz Torzhka), directed by Yakov Protazanov – (U.S.S.R.)
* The Third Round, directed by Sidney Morgan, starring Jack Buchanan – (GB)
* Three Weeks in Paris (lost), directed by Roy Del Ruth, starring Matt Moore
* Too Many Kisses, directed by Paul Sloane, starring Richard Dix and William Powell
* Tumbleweeds, directed by King Baggot, starring William S. Hart

### U

* The Unholy Three, directed by Tod Browning, starring Lon Chaney, Mae Busch, Matt Moore and Victor McLaglen, based on the 1917 novel by Tod Robbins

### V

* Vampires of Warsaw (Wampiry Warszawy) (lost), written and directed by Wiktor Biegański – (Poland)
* Variety (Varieté), directed by Ewald André Dupont, starring Emil Jannings – (Germany)
* Visages d'enfants (Faces of Children), directed by Jacques Feyder – (France)

### W

* The Whirlpool of Fate (La Fille de l'eau), directed by Jean Renoir – (France)
* The White Lily Laments (Shirayuri wa nageku), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi – (Japan)
* The Wizard of Oz, directed by Larry Semon
* Wolf Blood: A Tale of the Forest, directed by George Chesebro and Bruce M. Mitchell
* Womanhandled, directed by Gregory La Cava, starring Richard Dix and Esther Ralston
* A Woman of the World, directed by Mal St. Clair, starring Pola Negri

### Z

* Zander the Great, directed by George W. Hill, starring Marion Davies and Harrison Ford

## Comedy film series

* Charlie Chaplin (1914–1940)
* Harold Lloyd (1913–1938)
* Lupino Lane (1915–1939)
* Buster Keaton (1917–1944)
* Laurel and Hardy (1921–1943)
* Our Gang (1922–1944)
* Harry Langdon (1924–1936)

## Animated short film series

* Felix the Cat (1919–1936)
* Koko the Clown (1919–1963)
* Aesop's Film Fables (1921–1934)
* Alice Comedies
** Alice Cans the Cannibals
** Alice the Toreador
** Alice Gets Stung
** Alice Solves the Puzzle
** Alice's Egg Plant
** Alice Loses Out
** Alice is Stage Struck
** Alice Wins the Derby
** Alice Picks the Champ
** Alice's Tin Pony
** Alice Chops the Suey
** Alice the Jail Bird
** Alice Plays Cupid
** Alice Rattled by Rats
** Alice in the Jungle
* Koko's Song Car Tunes (1924–1927)
* Krazy Kat (1925–1940)
* Un-Natural History (1925–1927)

## Births

* January 1 - Matthew Beard, American actor (died 1981)
* January 6 – Enrique Carreras, Peruvian-born director and producer (died 1995)
* January 9 – Lee Van Cleef, American actor (died 1989)
* January 13 – Gwen Verdon, American actress and dancer (died 2000)
* January 15 - Ignacio López Tarso, Mexican actor (died 2023)
* January 21 – Charles Aidman, American actor (died 1993)
* January 24 – Helen Stenborg, American actress (died 2011)
* January 26
** Joan Leslie, American actress (died 2015)
** Paul Newman, American actor (died 2008)
* February 2 – Elaine Stritch, American actress (died 2014)
* February 3
** Shelley Berman, American comedian, actor, and writer (died 2017)
** John Fiedler, American actor and voice actor (died 2005)
* February 8 – Jack Lemmon, American actor (died 2001)
* February 11 – Kim Stanley, American actress (died 2001)
* February 17
** Ron Goodwin, English film composer (died 2003)
** Hal Holbrook, American actor (died 2021)
* February 18 – George Kennedy, American actor (died 2016)
* February 20 – Robert Altman, American director (died 2006)
* February 21 – Sam Peckinpah, American director (died 1984)
* February 25 – Aino Seep, Estonian singer and actress (died 1982)
* February 26 – Selma Archerd, American actress (died 2023)
* March 11 – Peter R. Hunt, British director, editor and producer (died 2002)
* March 13 – Corrado Gaipa, Italian actor and voice actor (died 1989)
* March 17 - Gabriele Ferzetti, Italian actor (died 2015)
* March 23 - Thelma Ruby, British actress
* March 29 - Frederick Treves, English actor (died 2012)
* April 14 – Rod Steiger, American actor (died 2002)
* April 18 – Bob Hastings, American actor (died 2014)
* April 19 – Hugh O'Brian, American actor (died 2016)
* April 28 – Bruce Kirby, American character actor (died 2021)
* May 2 – John Neville, English-Canadian actor (died 2011)
* May 25 – Jeanne Crain, American actress (died 2003)
* May 26 – Alec McCowen, English actor (died 2017)
* May 28 – Martha Vickers, American model, actress (died 1971)
* June 3 – Tony Curtis, American actor (died 2010)
* June 4 - Joe Hale, American animator, layout artist, and producer (died 2025)
* June 5 - Henny Orri, Dutch actress (died 2022)
* June 7 – John Biddle, American yachting cinematographer (died 2008)
* June 8 – Charles Tyner, American actor (died 2017)
* June 10 - Diana Maggi, Italian-born Argentine actress (died 2022)
* June 13 – Kristine Miller, American actress (died 2015)
* June 16 – Otto Muehl, Austrian experimental director (died 2013)
* June 20 – Audie Murphy, American soldier, actor, songwriter, rancher (died 1971)
* June 21 – Maureen Stapleton, American actress (died 2006)
* June 25
** June Lockhart, American actress
** Virginia Patton, American actress (died 2022)
* June 29
** John Fujioka, American actor of Japanese descent (died 2018)
** Cara Williams, American actress (died 2021)
* July 1 – Farley Granger, American actor (died 2011)
* July 6 – Ruth Cracknell, Australian actress (died 2002)
* July 10 – Mildred Kornman, American actress (died 2022)
* July 11 – David Graham, British actor (died 2024)
* July 13 – Huang Zongying, Chinese actress and scriptwriter (died 2020)
* July 14 – Pip Freedman, South African radio comedian and actor (died 2003)
* July 15 – D. A. Pennebaker, American documentary filmmaker (died 2019)
* July 23 – Gloria DeHaven, American actress (died 2016)
* July 24 – Miiko Taka, American actress (died 2023)
* July 25 – Jerry Paris, American actor and director (died 1986)
* August 6 – Barbara Bates, American singer, actress (died 1969)
* August 11 – Arlene Dahl, American actress (died 2021)
* August 13
** Carlos Balá, Argentine actor (died 2022)
** Asao Sano, Japanese actor (died 2022)
* August 15 – Mike Connors, American actor (died 2017)
* August 22 – Honor Blackman, English actress (died 2020)
* August 23 – Robert Mulligan, American director (died 2008)
* August 27 - Susan Willis, American actress (died 2009)
* August 29 - Dick Cusack, American actor and filmmaker (died 2003)
* August 30 - Frank Ray Perilli, American actor and screenwriter (died 2018)
* September 2 - Ronnie Stevens, English character actor and voice artist (died 2006)
* September 3 - Anne Jackson, American actress (died 2016)
* September 8 – Peter Sellers, English comedian and actor (died 1980)
* September 12
** James Garbutt, British actor (died 2020)
** Dickie Moore, American actor (died 2015)
* September 21 – Noor Jehan, Indian actress (died 2000)
* September 22 - Virginia Capers, American actress (died 2004)
* September 29 - Steve Forrest, American actor (died 2013)
* October 3 – Gore Vidal, American writer and actor (died 2012)
* October 4 - Edmund Lyndeck, American actor (died 2015)
* October 5 – Gail Davis, American actress (died 1997)
* October 11 – Nancy Guild, American actress (died 1999)
* October 16
** Angela Lansbury, English-American actress (died 2022)
** Lenka Peterson, American actress (died 2021)
* October 29
** Geraldine Brooks, American actress (died 1977)
** Robert Hardy, English actor (died 2017)
* October 31 – Lee Grant, American actress, documentarian, and director
* November 4 – Doris Roberts, American actress (died 2016)
* November 6 - Michel Bouquet, French actor (died 2022)
* November 10 – Richard Burton, Welsh actor (died 1984)
* November 11 - Jonathan Winters, American comedian, actor, author, television host and artist (died 2013)
* November 17 – Rock Hudson, American actor (died 1985)
* November 22 - Carla Balenda, American actress (died 2024)
* November 25 – June Whitfield, English comic actress (died 2018)
* December 2 – Julie Harris, American Broadway and film actress (died 2013)
* December 3 – Kaljo Kiisk, Estonian actor and director (died 2007)
* December 7 – Sydney Samuelson, English cinematographer (died 2022)
* December 8 – Sammy Davis Jr., American singer, dancer, musician and actor (died 1990)
* December 12 – Anne V. Coates, English film editor (died 2018)
* December 13 – Dick Van Dyke, American actor
* December 18 – Peggy Cummins, Welsh-born Irish actress (died 2017)
* December 23 – Harry Guardino, American actor (died 1995)
* December 28 – Hildegard Knef, German actress, singer and writer (died 2002)

## Deaths

* January 24 - Wilton Taylor, American actor (born 1869)
* February 4 - William Haggar, British cinema pioneer (born 1851)
* February 6 - James Kenyon, English businessman and cinema pioneer (born 1850)
* February 7 – Edward Jobson, American actor (born 1860)
* February 25 – Louis Feuillade, French director (born 1873)
* March 13 – Lucille Ricksen, American actress (born 1910)
* April 8 – Thecla Åhlander, Swedish actress (born 1855)
* April 13 – Frederik Buch, Danish actor (born 1875)
* April 16 – David Powell, Scottish actor (born 1883)
* July 29 – Mark Fenton, American actor (born 1866)
* September 28 – Paul Vermoyal, French actor (born 1888)
* October 21 – Orme Caldara, American stage and film actor (born 1875)
* October 31 – Max Linder, French actor (born 1883)
* November 1 – Lester Cuneo American actor (born 1888)
* November 3 – Lucile McVey, American actress (born 1890)
* December 8 – Marguerite Marsh, American actress (born 1888)
* December 9 – Harry Rattenberry, American actor (born 1857)
* December 21 – Lottie Lyell, Australian director/producer (born 1890)
* December 22 – Mary Thurman, American actress (born 1895)
* December 24 - James O. Barrows, American stage and screen actor (born 1855)
* December 31 – J. Gordon Edwards American director (born 1867)

## Film debuts

* Barbara Barondess – A Kiss for Cinderella
* Walter Brennan – Webs of Steel
* Iron Eyes Cody – The Road to Yesterday
* Gary Cooper – Dick Turpin
* Harry Cording – The Shock Punch
* Joan Crawford – Lady of the Night
* Yola d'Avril – The Dressmaker from Paris
* Dolores del Río – Joanna
* Wild Bill Elliott – The Plastic Age
* Stepin Fetchit – The Mysterious Stranger
* Paul Fix – The Perfect Clown
* Joyzelle Joyner – Ben-Hur
* Jack La Rue – The Lucky Devil
* René Lefèvre – Knock
* Myrna Loy – Pretty Ladies
* Mona Maris – The Apache
* Maximilienne – Le Double Amour
* Tim McCoy – The Thundering Herd
* Anita Page – A Kiss for Cinderella
* Bodil Rosing – Pretty Ladies
* Dorothy Sebastian – Sackcloth and Scarlet
* Nicholas Soussanin – The Swan
* Grady Sutton – The Mad Whirl
* Michael Visaroff – The Swan
* Fay Wray – The Coast Patrol