1934 in film

== Top-grossing films (U.S.) ==
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The top ten 1934 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:
Highest-grossing films of 1934
Rank	Title 	Distributor 	Domestic rentals
1 	Kid Millions 	United Artists 	$2,000,000
2 	Cleopatra 	Paramount 	$1,929,161
3 	Forsaking All Others 	MGM 	$1,399,000
4 	It Happened One Night 	Columbia 	$1,366,000
5 	Chained 	MGM 	$1,301,000
6 	Wonder Bar 	Warner Bros./First National	$1,264,000
7 	The Barretts of Wimpole Street	MGM 	$1,258,000
8 	Here Comes the Navy 	Warner Bros. 	$1,183,000
9 	Judge Priest 	Fox Film 	$1,176,000
10 	Treasure Island 	MGM 	$1,164,000
== Events ==
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* January 26 – Samuel Goldwyn (formerly of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) purchases the film rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the L. Frank Baum estate for $40,000.
* February 19 – Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade.
* April 19 – Fox Studios releases Stand Up and Cheer!, with five-year-old Shirley Temple in a relatively minor role. Shirley steals the film and Fox, which had been near bankruptcy, finds itself owning a goldmine.
* May 18 – Paramount releases Little Miss Marker, with Shirley Temple, on loan from Fox, in the title role.
* June 13 – An amendment to the Production Code establishes the Production Code Administration, and requires all films to obtain a certificate of approval before being released.
* July 28 – Canadian-born actress Marie Dressler, best known for starring in films such as Min and Bill and Emma, dies from cancer in Santa Barbara, California at the age of 65. For her performance in Min and Bill, Dressler received the Academy Award for Best Actress.
* October 19 – Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers wham audiences again with their first joint starring roles in The Gay Divorcee, grossing $1.8 million to add to the $1.5 million earned by Flying Down to Rio released at the end of 1933.
* November 12 – The musical Babes in Toyland debuts, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as comic relief.
* December 11 – Fox releases the Sol M. Wurtzel production of Bright Eyes, starring their hot new property, Shirley Temple. Shirley sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop", and wins the first Academy Award ever given to a child, for her endearing portrayal of Shirley Blake.
== Academy Awards ==
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Main article: 7th Academy Awards
The 7th Academy Awards was held on February 27, 1935, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. They were hosted by Irvin S. Cobb. For the first time, the Academy standardized the practice – still in effect, notwithstanding changes to the 93rd and 94th Academy Awards as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic – that the award eligibility period for a film would be the preceding calendar year.
Most nominations: One Night of Love (Columbia Pictures) – 6
Major Awards
* Best Picture: It Happened One Night – Columbia Pictures
* Best Director: Frank Capra – It Happened One Night
* Best Actor: Clark Gable – It Happened One Night
* Best Actress: Claudette Colbert – It Happened One Night
Most Awards: It Happened One Night – 5
It Happened One Night became the first film to perform a "clean sweep" of the top five award categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. This feat would later be duplicated by One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1976 and The Silence of the Lambs in 1992. It also was the first romantic comedy to be named Best Picture.
== 1934 film releases ==
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United States unless stated
=== January–March ===
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* January 1934
** 6 January
*** The Big Shakedown
** 19 January
*** Frontier Marshal
** 22 January
*** The Lucky Texan
** 26 January
*** Four Frightened People
*** You Can't Buy Everything
** Unknown
*** Colonel Blood
* February 1934
** 1 February
*** All of Me
** 2 February
*** Carolina
** 3 February
*** Dark Hazard
*** I've Got Your Number
** 9 February
*** Les Misérables (France)
*** The Rise of Catherine the Great (GB)
*** Six of a Kind
*** The Tars (Netherlands)
** 10 February
*** Mandalay
** 14 February
*** Fashions of 1934
** 16 February
*** The Cat and the Fiddle
*** The Lost Patrol
** 22 February
*** It Happened One Night
** 23 February
*** Bolero
*** Death Takes a Holiday
** 25 February
*** Managed Money
* March 1934
** 3 March
*** David Harum
** 17 March
*** Jimmy the Gent
** 30 March
*** Riptide
*** Spitfire
** 31 March
*** Gambling Lady
*** Wonder Bar
=== April–June ===
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* April 1934
** 5 April
*** You're Telling Me!
** 7 April
*** The House of Rothschild
** 9 April
*** Glamour
** 10 April
*** Viva Villa!
*** Whirlpool
** 15 April
*** City Limits
** 16 April
*** Tarzan and His Mate
** 26 April
*** We're Not Dressing
** 27 April
*** Liliom
* May 1934
** 1 May
*** The Last Round-Up
*** Little Man, What Now?
** 2 May
*** Le Grand Jeu
** 3 May
*** Twentieth Century
** 4 May
*** Manhattan Melodrama
*** Stand Up and Cheer!
** 9 May
*** Sadie McKee
** 15 May
*** The Man from Utah
** 18 May
*** The Black Cat
*** Born to Be Bad
*** Thirty-Day Princess
** 25 May
*** The Thin Man
** 26 May
*** Twenty Million Sweethearts
** 31 May
*** The Key
* June 1934
** 1 June
*** Little Miss Marker
** 2 June
*** Fog Over Frisco
*** Operator 13
** 4 June
*** Red Ensign
** 6 June
*** Are We Civilized?
** 8 June
*** Now I'll Tell
** 13 June
*** The Circus Clown
** 28 June
*** Of Human Bondage
*** The World Moves On
** 30 June
*** Baby Take a Bow
=== July–September ===
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* July 1934
** 6 July
*** Charlie Chan's Courage
** 13 July
*** Kiss and Make-Up
*** The Old Fashioned Way
*** We're Rich Again
** 20 July
*** Grand Canary
** 21 July
*** Here Comes the Navy
** 30 July
*** The Cat's-Paw
* August 1934
** 3 August
*** The Girl from Missouri
** 4 August
*** The Man with Two Faces
** 6 August
*** One More River
** 13 August
*** Everybody's Woman (Italy)
** 15 August
*** Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
*** Jane Eyre
** 16 August
*** Dames
** 17 August
*** Treasure Island
** 23 August
*** Unfinished Symphony
** 24 August
*** Hide-Out
** 30 August
*** Crime Without Passion
** 31 August
*** Chained
*** Now and Forever
*** Peck's Bad Boy
*** She Loves Me Not
* September 1934
** 5 September
*** One Night of Love
** 7 September
*** The Count of Monte Cristo
** 11 September
*** Maniac
** 12 September
*** L'Atalante (France)
*** Charlie Chan in London
** 14 September
*** The Barretts of Wimpole Street
*** Death on the Diamond
** 15 September
*** The Scarlet Empress
** 17 September
*** Young and Beautiful
** 19 September
*** A Lost Lady
** 21 September
*** Belle of the Nineties
*** The Richest Girl in the World
** 22 September
*** The Case of the Howling Dog
** 28 September
*** Judge Priest
*** The Pursuit of Happiness
=== October–December ===
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* October 1934
** 1 October
*** She Had to Choose
** 2 October
*** Our Daily Bread
** 4 October
*** Jew Süss
** 5 October
*** Cleopatra
** 8 October
*** The Return of Bulldog Drummond
** 13 October
*** Madame Du Barry
** 18 October
*** Man of Aran (GB)
** 19 October
*** Forbidden Territory
*** The Gay Divorcee
*** What Every Woman Knows
** 22 October
*** The Captain Hates the Sea
*** Great Expectations
*** The Trail Beyond
* November 1934
** 2 November
*** The Merry Widow(France/US)
** 3 November
*** Gambling
** 9 November
*** Evelyn Prentice
** 10 November
*** Kid Millions
*** The St. Louis Kid
** 16 November
*** The White Parade
** 17 November
*** Girl o' My Dreams
*** It's a Gift
** 23 November
*** Anne of Green Gables
*** The Painted Veil
** 26 November
*** Imitation of Life
** 29 November
*** Road House(GB)
** 30 November
*** Babes in Toyland
*** Broadway Bill
*** The Iron Duke
*** The Private Life of Don Juan (GB)
* December 1934
** 1 December
*** Flirtation Walk
** 7 December
*** A Wicked Woman
** 9 December
*** Lieutenant Kijé
** 10 December
*** Something Always Happens (GB)
** 11 December
*** Limehouse Blues
*** Le Roi des Champs-Élysées (France)
** 14 December
*** The Dream Car
*** The Gay Bride
** 21 December
*** The Silver Streak
** 23 December
*** Forsaking All Others
*** The Mighty Barnum
*** The Scarlet Pimpernel (GB)
** 28 December
*** Bright Eyes
*** Here is My Heart
*** The Little Minister
** 31 December
*** Evergreen (GB)
== Notable films released in 1934 ==
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United States unless stated
=== 0-9 ===
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* 1860 – (Italy)
=== A ===
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* All of Me, starring Miriam Hopkins and Fredric March
* Amok, directed by Fedor Ozep – (France)
* Angèle, directed by Marcel Pagnol, starring Fernandel – (France)
* Anne of Green Gables, starring Anne Shirley
* Are We Civilized?, starring William Farnum
* L'Atalante, directed by Jean Vigo, starring Michel Simon – (France)
=== B ===
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* Babes in Toyland, starring Laurel and Hardy
* Baby, Take a Bow, starring Shirley Temple
* The Barretts of Wimpole Street, starring Norma Shearer, Fredric March and Charles Laughton
* The Battle, starring Merle Oberon, Charles Boyer and John Loder – (GB/France)
* Belle of the Nineties, starring Mae West and Johnny Mack Brown
* The Big Road (Dalu), directed by Sun Yu – (China)
* The Big Shakedown, starring Bette Davis and Charles Farrell
* The Black Cat, starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi
* Bolero, starring George Raft and Carole Lombard
* Boots! Boots!, starring George Formby – (GB – first film by Blakeley's Productions)
* Born to Be Bad, starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, Jackie Kelk
* Bright Eyes, starring Shirley Temple
* Broadway Bill, directed by Frank Capra, starring Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy
* Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back, starring Ronald Colman
=== C ===
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* The Captain Hates the Sea, starring Victor McLaglen and John Gilbert in his last film role
* Carolina, starring Janet Gaynor and Lionel Barrymore
* The Case of the Howling Dog, starring Warren William (as Perry Mason)
* The Cat and the Fiddle, starring Ramón Novarro and Jeanette MacDonald
* The Cat's-Paw, starring Harold Lloyd
* Chained, starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable
* Chapayev – winner of National Board of Review "Best Foreign Film" Award in 1935 – (U.S.S.R.)
* Charlie Chan in London, starring Warner Oland and Ray Milland
* Charlie Chan's Courage, starring Warner Oland
* The Circus Clown, starring Joe E. Brown
* City Limits
* Cleopatra, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Claudette Colbert and Warren William
* Colonel Blood, starring Frank Cellier
* The Count of Monte Cristo, starring Robert Donat
* Crime Without Passion, starring Claude Rains
=== D ===
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* Dames, choreographed by Busby Berkeley, starring Joan Blondell, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler
* David Harum starring Will Rogers
* Dark Hazard, starring Edward G. Robinson
* Death on the Diamond, starring Robert Young
* Death Takes a Holiday, starring Fredric March
* The Dream Car (Meseautó), directed by Béla Gaál and starring Zita Perczel, Ella Gombaszögi and Klári Tolnay – (Hungary)
* Don't Make Grandpa Angry (Nezlobte dědečka), directed by Karel Lamač, starring Vlasta Burian, Čeněk Šlégl and Adina Mandlová – (Czechoslovakia)
=== E ===
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* Evelyn Prentice, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy
* Evergreen, directed by Victor Saville, starring Jessie Matthews – (GB)
* Everybody's Woman (La signora di tutti), directed by Max Ophüls, starring Isa Miranda – (Italy)
=== F ===
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* Fashions of 1934, starring William Powell and Bette Davis
* Ferdowsi, starring Abdolhossein Sepanta and Ardeshir Irani (Iran)
* Frontier Marshal, starring George O' Brien
* Fog Over Frisco, starring Bette Davis
* Forbidden Territory, starring Gregory Ratoff, Ronald Squire, Binnie Barnes – (GB)
* Forsaking All Others, starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable and Robert Montgomery
=== G ===
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* Gambling, starring George M. Cohan
* Gambling Lady, starring Barbara Stanwyck
* The Gay Bride, starring Carole Lombard
* The Gay Divorcee, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
* The Girl from Missouri, starring Jean Harlow
* Girl o' My Dreams, starring Mary Carlisle, Edward J. Nugent, Lon Chaney Jr., Sterling Holloway
* Glamour, starring Paul Lukas
* The Goddess (Shen nu) – (China)
* Grand Canary, starring Warner Baxter
* Le Grand Jeu (The Great Game), directed by Jacques Feyder – (France)
* Great Expectations, starring Henry Hull and Jane Wyatt
=== H ===
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* Here Comes the Navy, starring James Cagney and Pat O'Brien
* Here is My Heart, starring Bing Crosby and Kitty Carlisle
* Hide-Out, starring Robert Montgomery and Margaret Sullavan
* Hollywood Party, starring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Jimmy Durante and Lupe Vélez
* The House of Rothschild, starring George Arliss and Loretta Young
=== I ===
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* I've Got Your Number, starring Joan Blondell and Pat O'Brien
* Imitation of Life, starring Claudette Colbert and Warren William
* The Iron Duke, starring George Arliss
* It Happened One Night, directed by Frank Capra, starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert – winner of 5 Academy Awards
* It's a Gift, starring W. C. Fields
=== J ===
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* Jane Eyre, starring Virginia Bruce and Colin Clive
* Jew Suss, starring Conrad Veidt
* Jimmy the Gent, starring James Cagney and Bette Davis
* Jolly Fellows (Vesyolye rebyata) – the first Russian musical
* Juárez y Maximiliano (Juarez and Maximilian) – (Mexico)
* Judge Priest, starring Will Rogers
=== K ===
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* The Key, starring William Powell and Edna Best
* Kid Millions, starring Eddie Cantor
* Kiss and Make-Up, starring Cary Grant, Helen Mack
=== L ===
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* The Lady Is Willing, starring Leslie Howard and Cedric Hardwicke – (GB)
* The Last Round-Up, starring Randolph Scott
* Lieutenant Kijé – (U.S.S.R.)
* Liliom, directed by Fritz Lang, starring Charles Boyer – (France)
* Limehouse Blues, starring George Raft and Jean Parker
* Little Man, What Now?, starring Margaret Sullavan and Douglass Montgomery
* The Little Minister, starring Katharine Hepburn and John Beal
* Little Miss Marker, starring Shirley Temple
* A Lost Lady, starring Barbara Stanwyck
* The Lost Patrol, starring Victor McLaglen, Boris Karloff and Wallace Ford
* The Lucky Texan, starring John Wayne
=== M-N ===
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* Madame Du Barry, starring Dolores del Río
* The Man from Utah, starring John Wayne
* Man of Aran (documentary), directed by Robert Flaherty – (GB)
* The Man Who Knew Too Much, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Leslie Banks, Edna Best and Peter Lorre – (GB)
* The Man with Two Faces, starring Edward G. Robinson
* Managed Money, starring Shirley Temple
* Mandalay, starring Kay Francis
* Manhattan Melodrama, starring Clark Gable, William Powell and Myrna Loy
* Maniac, starring Horace B. Carpenter
* Mauvaise Graine, directed by Billy Wilder – (FR)
* The Merry Widow (La veuve joyeuse), directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald – (France/US)
* Les Misérables, directed by Raymond Bernard, starring Harry Baur and Charles Vanel – (France)
* The Mighty Barnum, starring Wallace Beery
* Murder at Monte Carlo, starring Errol Flynn – (GB)
* Now and Forever, starring Gary Cooper and Carole Lombard
* Now I'll Tell, starring Spencer Tracy
=== O ===
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* Of Human Bondage, starring Leslie Howard and Bette Davis
* The Old Curiosity Shop, directed by Thomas Bentley – (GB)
* The Old Fashioned Way, starring W. C. Fields
* One More River, directed by James Whale
* One Night of Love, starring Grace Moore
* Operator 13, starring Marion Davies and Gary Cooper
* Our Daily Bread, directed by King Vidor, starring Karen Morley and Tom Keene
=== P ===
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* The Painted Veil, starring Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall
* Pardon My Pups, a Shirley Temple short
* Peck's Bad Boy, directed by Edward F. Cline, starring Jackie Cooper
* Plunder of Peach and Plum (Taoli Jie) – (China)
* The Private Life of Don Juan, directed by Alexander Korda, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Merle Oberon – (GB)
* The Pursuit of Happiness, directed by Alexander Hall
=== R ===
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* Radio Parade of 1935, starring Will Hay – (GB)
* Red Ensign, starring Leslie Banks – (GB)
* The Return of Bulldog Drummond, starring Ralph Richardson and Ann Todd – (GB)
* The Richest Girl in the World, starring Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea and Fay Wray
* Riptide, starring Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery
* The Rise of Catherine the Great, starring Elisabeth Bergner and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. – (GB)
* Road House, directed by Maurice Elvey, starring Violet Loraine and Gordon Harker (GB)
* Le Roi des Champs-Élysées (The King of the Champs-Élysées), starring Buster Keaton – (France)
=== S ===
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* Sadie McKee, starring Joan Crawford
* The Scarlet Empress, directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich and John Lodge
* The Scarlet Pimpernel, starring Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon – (GB)
* Servants' Entrance, starring Janet Gaynor
* She Loves Me Not, starring Miriam Hopkins and Bing Crosby
* Shirin and Farhad, starring Roohangiz Saminejad (Iran)
* The Silver Streak, starring Charles Starrett
* Sing as We Go, starring Gracie Fields and Stanley Holloway – (GB)
* Six of a Kind, starring Charles Ruggles, Mary Boland and W. C. Fields
* Something Always Happens, directed by Michael Powell, starring, Ian Hunter, Nance O'Neil, Peter Gawthorne, Muriel George – (GB)
* The Song of Ceylon, documentary directed by Basil Wright – (GB)
* Song of the Fishermen (Yu guang qu) – (China)
* Spitfire, starring Katharine Hepburn
* The St. Louis Kid, starring James Cagney
* Stand Up and Cheer!, starring Warner Baxter and Madge Evans, featuring 5-year-old Shirley Temple
* A Story of Floating Weeds (Ukikusa monogatari), directed by Yasujirō Ozu – (Japan)
=== T ===
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* The Tars – (Netherlands)
* Tarzan and His Mate, starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan
* The Thin Man, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy
* Thirty-Day Princess, starring Sylvia Sidney and Cary Grant
* Those Were the Days, directed by Thomas Bentley, starring Will Hay and John Mills – (GB)
* The Trail Beyond, starring John Wayne
* Treasure Island, starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper
* Twentieth Century, directed by Howard Hawks, starring John Barrymore and Carole Lombard
* Twenty Million Sweethearts, starring Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers
=== U-V ===
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* Unfinished Symphony, directed by Anthony Asquith (GB/Austria)
* Viva Villa!, starring Wallace Beery, Leo Carrillo and Fay Wray
=== W ===
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* Waltzes from Vienna, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Esmond Knight and Jessie Matthews – (GB)
* We're Not Dressing, starring Bing Crosby and Carole Lombard
* We're Rich Again, starring Edna May Oliver and Billie Burke
* What Every Woman Knows, starring Helen Hayes
* Whirlpool, starring Jack Holt and Jean Arthur
* The White Parade, starring Loretta Young
* A Wicked Woman, starring Mady Christians, Jean Parker and Charles Bickford
* The Woman of the Port (La Mujer del Puerto) – (Mexico)
* Wonder Bar, starring Al Jolson
* Workers, Let's Go (Hej rup!), directed by Martin Frič – (Czechoslovakia)
=== Y-Z ===
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* You Can't Buy Everything, starring May Robson and Jean Parker
* You're Telling Me!, starring W. C. Fields
* Young and Beautiful
* Zouzou, directed by Marc Allégret, starring Jean Gabin and Josephine Baker – (France)
Category:1930s in film